500 



LOUISIANA. 



murders committed in this State during the last 

 three or four years, the perpetrators of which are 

 still unpunished. I think the number will startle. 

 It will be up in the thousands. The city is perfectly 

 quiet. No trouble is apprehended. 



P. H. SHEKIDAN, Lieutenant-General. 

 NEW ORLEANS, January 8, 1875. 

 W. W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War, Washington : 



I shall send you this evening a report of affairs as 

 they actually occurred here on the 4th inst. My 

 telegram to you of that date, and those of the 5th 

 and 6th instants, are so truthful of the condition of 

 affairs in this section, and strike so near the water- 

 line, that ministers of the gospel and others are ap- 

 pe^led to to keep the ship from sinking. Human 

 life had been held too cheaply in this State for many 

 years. 



P. H. SHERIDAN, Lieutenant-Gencral. 



In support of the statements contained in 

 his dispatches, General Sheridan, on the 10th, 

 made the following report to the Government : 



NEW ORLEANS, January 10, 1875 11.30 P. M. 

 Jfon. W. W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War, Washington : 



Since the year 1866 nearly 3,500 persons, a great 

 majority of whom were colored men, have been 

 killed and wounded in this State. In 1868 the offi- 

 cial record shows that 1 ,884 were killed and wounded. 

 From 1868 to the present time no official investiga- 

 tion has been made, and the civil authorities in all 

 but a few cases have been unable to arrest, convict, 

 and punish the perpetrators. Consequently there 

 are no correct records to be consulted for informa- 

 tion. There is ample evidence, however, to show 

 that more than 1,200 persons have been killed and 

 wounded during this time on account of their politi- 

 cal sentiments. Frightful massacres have occurred 

 in the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, Catahoula, Saint 

 Bernard, Saint Landry, Grant, and Orleans. The 

 general character of the massacres in the above- 

 named parishes is so well known that it is unneces- 

 sary to describe them. The isolated cases can best 

 be illustrated by the following instances, which I 

 take from a mass of evidence now lying before me, 

 of men killed on account of their political prin- 

 ciples : In Natchitoches Parish the number of iso- 

 lated cases reported is thirty-three ; in the parish of 

 Bienville the number of men .killed is thirty ; in 

 Eed Eiver Parish the isolated cases of men killed is 

 thirty-four; in Winn Parish the number of isolated 

 cases where men were killed is fifteen j in Jackson 

 Parish the number killed is twenty ; in Catahoula 

 Parish the number of isolated cases reported where 

 men were killed is fifty ; and most of the country 

 parishes throughout the State will show a corre- 

 sponding state of affairs. 



The following statements will illustrate the char- 

 acter and kind of these outrages. On the 30th of 

 August, 1874, in Eed Eiver Parish, six State and 

 parish officers, named Twitchell, Divers, Holland, 

 Howell, Edgerton, and Willis, were taken, together 

 with four negroes, under guard to be carried out of 

 the State, and were deliberately murdered. On the 

 29th of August, 1874, the White League tried, sen- 

 tenced, and hanged two negroes. On the 28th of 

 August, 1874, three negroes were shot and killed at 

 Brownsville just before the arrival of the United 

 States troops in the parish. Two Wliite-Leaguer.s 

 rode up to a negro cabin and called for a drink of 

 water. When the old colored man turned to draw 

 it they shot him in the back and killed him. 



The courts were all broken up in this district and 

 the District Judge was driven out. In the parish 

 of Caddo, prior to the arrival of the United States 

 troops, all of the officers at Shreveport were com- 

 pelled to abdicate by the White League, which took 

 possession of the place. Among those obliged. to 

 abdicate were Walsh, the mayor; Eapers, the sher- 

 iff; Wheaton, the clerk of the court; -Durant, the 



recorder ; and Fergus"on and Eenfro, administrators. 

 Two colored men, who had given evidence in regard 

 to frauds committed in the parish, were compelled 

 to flee for their lives, and reached this city last 

 night, having been smuggled through in a cargo of 

 cotton, in the parish of Bossier the White League 

 have attempted to force the abdication of Judire 

 Baker, the United States Commissioner, and the 

 Parish Judge, together with O'Neal, the sheriff, and 

 Walker, the clerk of the court ; and they have com- 

 pelled the parish and district courts to suspend 

 operations. Judge Baker states that the White- 

 Leaguers notified him several times that if he became 

 a candidate on the Eepublican ticket, or if he at- 

 tempted to organize the Eepublican party, he should 

 not live till election. They also tried to intimidate 

 him through his family by making the same threats 

 to his wife, and, when told by him that he was a 

 United States Commissioner, they notified him not 

 to attempt to exercise the functions of his office. In 

 but few of the country parishes can it be truly said 

 that the law is properly enforced, and in some of the 

 parishes the judges have not been able to hold court 

 for two years. Human life in this State is held so 

 cheaply that when men are killed on account of po- 

 litical opinions the murderers are regarded rather as 

 heroes than as criminals in the localities where they 

 reside, and by the White League and their sup- 

 porters. 



An illustration of the ostracism that prevails in 

 the State may be found in a resolution of a White- 

 League club in the parish of De Soto, which states 

 that they pledge themselves, " under no circum- 

 stances, after the coming election, to employ, rent 

 land to, or in any other manner give aid, comfort, or 

 credit to any man, white or black, who votes against 

 the nominees of the White Man's party." .Safety 

 for individuals who express their opinion in the 

 isolated portions of the State has existed only when 

 that opinion was in favor of the principles and party 

 supported by the Ku-klux and White-League organi- 

 zations. Only yesterday Judge Myers, the Parish 

 Judge of the parish of Natchitoches, called on me 

 upon his arrival in this city, and stated that, in 

 order to reach here alive, he was obliged to leave his 

 home by stealth, and after nightfall, and make his 

 way to Little Eock, Ark., and come to this city 

 by way of Memphis. He further states that while 

 Ins father was lying at the point of death, in the 

 same village, he was unable to visit him for fear of 

 assassination. And yet he is a native of the parish, 

 and proscribed for his political sentiments only. 



It is more than probable that, if bad government 

 has. existed in this State, it is the result of the armed 

 organizations which have now crystallized into what 

 is called the White League. Instead of bad govern- 

 ment developing them, they have by their terrorism 

 prevented to a considerable extent the collection 

 of taxes, the holding of courts, the punishment of 

 criminals, and vitiated public sentiment by familiar- 

 izing it with the scenes above described. 



I am now engaged in compiling evidence for a 

 detailed report upon the above subject, but it will 

 be some time before I can obtain all the requisite 

 data to cover the cases that have occurred through- 

 out the State. I will also report in due time upon 

 the same subject in the States of Arkansas and 

 Mississippi. 



P. H. SHESIDAN, Lieutenant-General. 



On the 16th of January, General Sheridan 

 sent the following communication to Washing- 

 ton : 



NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 16, 1875. 

 To Hon. W. W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War : 



A report has just been received from Major Mer- 

 rill, at Shreveport, which is too long for telegraphic 

 transmission, out will be sent by mail. The follow- 

 ing is an epitome, almost in Major Merrill's own 

 words : 



