White League
The White League (engl .: white league) was a paramilitary racist organization of white residents of the American southern states .
history
The White League was founded in Louisiana in 1874 and aimed to defend itself against the Reconstruction . Blacks should continue to be intimidated and members of the Republican Party driven out of their offices. The group is largely made up of veterans of the Confederate Army . Many of them were involved in the racist Colfax massacre in 1873. Former slaves were attacked, overwhelmed and later shot in this crime.
In contrast to similarly oriented groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or the Knights of the White Camelia , the White League appeared openly and the identity of its members was well known. A comparable group were the Red Shirts , which were founded in Mississippi in 1875 and were active in South Carolina .
Among the leaders of the White League was Civil War veteran and former sheriff Christopher Columbus Nash . He justified his crimes with the fight for Christianity and against "Africanization".
The White League was among other things for the Coushatta Massacre responsible where in the city Coushatta ( Louisiana six Republican incumbent and twenty black companions were murdered).
On September 4, 1874, 5,000 members of the White League fought a battle with 3,500 police officers from the city of New Orleans and brought the seat of government of Republican Governor William P. Kellogg into their power in the so-called Battle of Liberty Place . They pursued Kellogg's removal and the appointment of Democratic Party candidate John McEnery in his place. Kellogg asked US President Grant for help, who then sent troops to New Orleans. After three days they had restored the old balance of power. 100 people lost their lives in the fighting.
In 1876 the Democratic Party won a majority in Louisiana Parliament and gave former members of the White League positions in the State Militia and National Guard .
Individual evidence
- ↑ George C. Rable: But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction . University of Georgia Press, Athens 1984, p. 132.
- ^ Adolph Reed, Jr .: The Battle of Liberty Monument: New Orleans, Louisiana White Supremacist Statue. In: The Progressive , June 1993.
- ↑ a b James K. Hogue: The Battle of Colfax: Paramilitarism and Counterrevolution in Louisiana (PDF; 197 kB). Website warhistorian.org . Retrieved August 11, 2012.
- ↑ Nicholas Lemann: Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War . Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, New York 2006, p. 77.