The Reconstruction Authorized tips of 1867 absolutely upended society throughout the American South by giving black males the right to vote in all states of the earlier Confederacy and inserting these states (in addition to Tennessee) beneath the authority of the U.S. military. The legal guidelines created 5 military districts throughout the South, requiring the drafting of newest state constitutions and the ratification of the 14th Modification. Whereas black Southerners rejoiced of their citizenship standing and set about exercising their newfound rights, federal occupation and black suffrage have been met with good resistance from the realm's white inhabitants. The sight of blacks voting, negotiating labor contracts, and carrying weapons prompted panic amongst many former slave householders. Nevertheless similtaneously residents branded the federal occupation “bayonet rule,” they’ve been quick to hunt intervention from U.S. troops after they felt threatened by politically energetic freedmen.
In 1867, whites in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, have been shocked by the emergence of a well-regulated black militia that carried out public exercises, marches, and different military pageants and, perhaps most importantly, guarded Republican conferences from native combatants ( the Ku Klux Klan, and so forth.) and escorted Republican voters safely to the polls. Undoubtedly, the white residents of St. Landry's would not have opposed a return to the prewar institution, as black Southerners would have primarily returned to a state of servitude—one factor they thought-about unattainable as long as a black militia remained mobilized.
Civil Battle hero Primary Widespread Winfield S. Hancock served as commander of the Fifth Military District, which consisted of Louisiana and Texas. In December 1867, planters in St. Landry petitioned Hancock to ship a full agency of U.S. cavalry “beneath the command of a prudent and discreet officer.” White Democrats all through Louisiana railed in opposition to the federal occupation in newspapers and in public speeches, nonetheless have been nonetheless keenly aware that almost all U.S. troopers had solely a lukewarm dedication to Reconstruction.
Of their petition, the planters claimed they’ve been proud of their earlier put up commander, Captain William W. Webb. Males like Webb—and white officers principally—had reservations about occupying a country they believed was populated by Individuals. Few have been eager to interact in battle between the occasions, even when the clashes turned violent and deadly.
The petition beneath, signed by an entire lot of native residents, was merely one amongst dozens despatched to Hancock throughout the fall of 1867.
St. Landry Parish, LA
Opelousas, December 27, 1867
Sir: The undersigned residents… are impressed by the importance and necessity of the peaceful have an effect on of a small organized military energy in our midst and respectfully request the Commanding Widespread to assign to this place a corporation of United States Cavalry beneath the command of a prudent and prudent soldier stationing discreet officers.
There have been no riots all through the time that Capt. W. W. Webb of the Co. E. 4th U.S. Cavalry was stationed at Opelousas; There was silence far and wide and the neighborhood felt a means of full security. [He] was excellently licensed for his positions. His firmness, justice and discretion, to not level out his affable manners and conciliatory demeanor, made him often acceptable and gave him a commanding have an effect on which he used to promote the widespread good. As various weeks previously Widespread [Joseph A.] Mower, who was in command on the time, seen match to revoke Captain Webb's order…our residents respectfully protested in a written memorial, which appears to have gone unnoticed…
By the use of numbers, that’s the state's main rural inhabitants. This neighborhood alone has about 5 thousand registered voters; and there are more than likely 1000’s further male adults who couldn't or weren't allowed to register. This huge inhabitants is compact enough to allow simple and speedy focus. It is roughly equally divided between the two races, which, beneath the have an effect on of artful demagogues and planners, are transferring day by day into positions of additional decided hostility. The failed harvests of the earlier yr and the great difficulty of managing situations for the long run have left the colored inhabitants confused, dissatisfied and confused. They’re taught by unscrupulous leaders to think about that good injustice is being carried out to them and that white people are their enemies. Beneath these influences they flip into more and more extra lazy and vagabond and, accordingly, a lot much less obedient to the laws. Theft is popping into epidemic amongst them… They’re now in a state the place various rebellious leaders could encourage them to acts of violence and good indignation. We want to stay away from that; and we think about we aren’t mistaken throughout the remedy we recommend.
Such is the ultimate respect for the authority of the U.S. Authorities, notably as exercised by the prepared and patriotic commander of the Fifth Military District, that the mere presence of a corporation of U.S. Cavalry beneath a day by day officer would convey a means of guaranteeing security and efficiently cease the outbreak of public unrest. We ask for permission to ensure this [you]…that we do not invoke the presence of the military wing of the federal authorities out of mere non-public fear of the outcomes of such an outbreak; nonetheless that is on account of we think about that the ultimate pursuits of the neighborhood, state and nation may very well be materially prejudiced by any collision between the races.
In forwarding the petition to Hancock, native Freedmen's Bureau agent Oscar H. Violet emphasised that there was no set off for alarm and that the “armed assemblies” of freedmen have been peaceful and have been using their weapons to resist coercion into unfair labor contracts . Violet acknowledged the validity of the black militia, nonetheless nonetheless urged Hancock to ship a cavalry unit immediately. He obeyed and the troopers began disarming and demobilizing the militia upon arrival.
In February 1868, this energy, accompanied by Violet, disrupted a gathering of the Opelousas Republican Membership, declaring it illegal and ordering the freedmen present to disarm their weapons. The unit commander resented the “garrison service” and loudly opposed armed gatherings of freedmen and ordered them to be stopped. Black Republicans could not carry their weapons in public. The native black militia had been so weakened that it actually prompted one of many horrific massacres in U.S. historic previous.
In September 1868, a battle broke out between black militiamen and residents of St. Landry when white assailants beat the teacher at a neighborhood freedmen's faculty. Disarmed and demobilized with no federal troops eager to come back again to their assist, the militiamen have been merely outnumbered. White extremists, just a few of whom had even signed the 1867 petition, combed the neighborhood, capturing or killing any freedmen unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Inside the so-called Opelousas Massacre, 21 captured militiamen have been led to a mass grave in a close-by forest and killed by a firing squad, sparking weeks of racist violence and the murder of an estimated 200 freedmen. The 1867 petition and the demobilization of the St. Landry black militia had made this doable in some methods.
J. Jacob Calhoun is a UVa. PhD Candidate.
This textual content initially appeared throughout the Spring 2024 scenario of America's Civil Battle Journal.