PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



718 



information, the general condition of matter* in tboe 

 localitu-. Y-MI need not confine your visit to the 

 States of Louisiana and Mississippi, and may extend 

 your trip to other States Alabama, etc., if you ae 

 r ; nor need you eonflno your visit in the. States 

 li-iium and Mississippi to tho places natnod. 

 tin- President desires Is tho truo condition of 

 affairs, and to receive such suggestions from you an 

 \"i ui.i\ .loom advisable and judicious. Inclosed 

 herewith is an or.U-r autlinrixing you to assume com- 

 mand oft ho Military OiviMon of tlie South, or of any 

 ]>i>rtiiiM of that ilivisimi, should you see proper to do 

 be possible that circumstances may arise 

 which would render this a proper course to pursue. 

 You can, if you desire it, see General MoDowtU in 

 Loulsvi lie, and make known to him confidentially the 

 ur trip, but this is not required of you. 

 Communication with him by you is left entirely to 

 \i>ur own judgment. Of course you can take with 

 > "ii such gentlemen of your staff as you wish, and it 

 that the trip should appear to be one as much 

 of pleasure as of business, for tho fact of your mere 

 presence in the localities referred to will have, it is 

 mod, a beneficial effect. The President thinks, 

 and so do I, that a trip South might be agreeable to 

 \ <>ii, and that you might be able to obtain a good deal 

 of int'ormution on the subject about which we desire 

 to learn. You can make your return by Washington 

 and make a verbal report, and also inform me from 

 time to time of your views and conclusions. Yours 

 truly, etc., 



W. W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War. 



WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, I 

 WASHINGTON, December 24.1874. ) 

 To Lieutenant- General P. II. SHERIDAN, United Stattt 



Army, Chicago, III. 



SIR : It, in the course of tho inspection and investi- 

 gation the Secretary of War has directed you to make 

 in his communication of this date, you should find it 

 necessary to assume command over the Military 

 Division of the South or any portion thereof, the 

 President of the United States hereby authorizes and 

 instructs you to take the command accordingly, and 

 to establish your headquarters at such a point as you 

 may deem best for the interests of the public service. 

 I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

 E. D. TOWNSEND, Adjutant-General. 



A copy of tho above letter was furnished 

 General McDowell, commanding the Military 

 Division of the South, on January 5, 1875 : 



[Telegram.] 



HEADQUARTERS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE Mis- ) 

 SOUHI, CHICAGO, ILL., December 26, 1874. j 

 To General W. W. BELKNAP, Washington, D. C.: 

 Your letter has been received all right. 



P. H. SHERIDAN, Lientenant-General. 

 HEADQUARTERS, ARKT OF THE UNITED STATES, I 

 ST. Louis, December 80, 1874. j 

 GENERAL : I have the honor to acknowledge the re- 

 ceipt of your confidential communication of December 

 26th, with inclosures. Your obedient servant, 



W. T. SHERMAN, General. 

 To W. W. BELKNAP, Sec'y of War, Washington, D. C. 



Next follows a telegram of Mr. Wiltz's to the 

 President, informing him of his election as 

 Speaker of the House, and protesting against 

 armed interference with the Legislature. Next 

 appear the telegrams of Sheridan, dated Janu- 

 ary 5, 1875, addressed to the Secretary of War, 

 relating to terrorism, banditti, etc. General 

 Sheridan sends to the War Department for its 

 information a letter from Major Merrill, dated 

 Shreveport, December 80th. He gives the 

 facts as to the probabilities of violence there, 

 and says : 



The three Republican member* declared elected to 

 the Legislature by tho Returning Board, who have 

 gone to New Orleans to take their soaU, beyond doubt 

 could not safely return here now. OuUide of tho 

 officers named above there is no one left to do vio- 

 lence upon. The leading Radicals have left; tho 

 worrying and harassing of tho negroes goes on with 

 little intermission, but lately no acts of violence to 

 their persons have come to my knowledge. Huch act* 

 now are confined to plundering them with or without 

 some show of legal form, and driving them froc. 

 homes to seek places to live elsewhere. The conflict 

 for offices, whether conducted by peaceable legal 

 means, or violence, will stop what little legal check 

 now exists upon crime and wrong-doing, and will 

 greatly aggravate the condition of things, which is 

 already serious enough. But I do not apprehend that 

 it will result in extended disorder at present, because 

 there is nothing left to work upon except the com- 

 moner orders, and partly because the leading White- 

 Leaguers have gone to New Orleans. 



The telegrams of General Sheridan to tho 

 Secretary of War, and those from the latter to 

 the former, appear in the correspondence, and 

 also the following telegram : 



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

 Tlie Hon. W. W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. : 



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 1863 the official record 

 shows that 1,884 were killed and wounded. From 

 1868 to the present time, no official investigation 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 con- 

 vict records to be consulted for information. 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 political sentiments. 

 Frightful massacres have occurred in the parishes of 

 Bossier, Caddo, Catahoula, St. Bernard, St. Landry, 

 Grant, and Orleans. The general character of th'e 

 massacres in the above-named parishes is so well 

 known, that it is unnecessary to describe them. The 

 isolated cases can be best 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 principles : 



In Natchitoches Parish, the number of isolated 

 cases reported is 33 ; in the parish of Bienville the 

 number of men killed is 80 ; in Red River Parish tho 

 isolated cases of men killed are 34 ; in Winn Parish the 

 number of isolated cases where men were killed is 

 15; in Jackson Parish the number killed is 20; in 

 Catahoula Parish the number of isolated cases re- 

 ported where men were killed is 50, and most of the 

 country parishes throughout the State will show a 

 corresponding state of affairs. The following state- 

 ments will illustrate the character and kind of these 

 outrages. On the 30th of August. 1874, in Red Riv- 

 er Parish, six State and parish officers, named 

 Twitchell, Divers, Holland, Howell, Edgerton, and 

 Willis, were taken, together with the 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, sentenced, 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 White-Leaguers rode up to a negro cabin anl 

 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 the 

 district, and the district judge driven out. In the par- 

 ish 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 



