This event started with the Louisiana Election of 1872. At the time, battles between Black people and KKK had been ongoing almost since the end of the war. Black people had registered to vote across the south, and many had even gained political office there. Southern conservatives were very unhappy with this, of course, as the law was that those who had been officials or officers in the Confederate Army were not allowed to vote. When the election of 1872 was over, Louisiana had two Senators who both claimed the same seat in the US Senate: William Pitt Kellogg, recognized by the United States as legitimate, and John McEnery, whom the Southern Conservatives recognized. When the time came for the Senator to take office, President Grant had to call in troops in an attempt to allow Kellogg to take his position. This resulted in days of violence, and ultimately the Governor agreed to recognize McEnery instead of Kellogg. Unfortunately, the violence did not end there. In Colfax, a group of Black men were guarding the Colfax courthouse to keep the Conservative Southerners from taking it by force. They held the town for three weeks. The Conservatives gathered a white militia to oppose them. On Easter Sunday, April 13th, a group of more than 300 white men rushed the courthouse. The fighting lasted several hours, and had few casualties. Many of the now-surrounded Black men tried to flee into the woods, where many of them were killed by those in the militia. When the white militia called for the Black men to surrender, one of the white militia men was killed. Some say by one of the defenders, some say by someone in the militia on accident. Either way, after that, there was no mercy for the Black defenders. All but one of the Black men defending the courthouse were killed by the militia, either because they were hunted down, or called forth and shot by the militia. Some 50 men were taken prisoner, who were then killed that night by those who were supposedly guarding them. In the end, 97 men were indicted for the incident, only 9 of whom were actually brought to trial. After three trials, only three of the men were convicted, and when they were released after the hearing, they vanished, and were never brought to justice. To this day, there is a memorial to the three white men who died during the fight, as well as a plaque which reads: "On this site occurred the Colfax Riot, in which three white men and 150 n*s were slain. This event on April 13, 1873, marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South." The full number of Black people killed in this Massacre is still uncertain, even today.
Sources:
- Wikipedia: Colfax Massacre
- Library of Congress: Civil War and Reconstruction (for information on voting laws)
- Smithsonian Magazine: The 1873 Colfax Massacre Crippled the Reconstruction Era
- What Was the Colfax Massacre (video)
- The Colfax Massacre 1873 (video)
- The Colfax Massacre 1873
- Colfax Massacre Reports
- What Was the Colfax Massacre?
- Colfax Massacre
- The Colfax Massacre
- Colfax Massacre
There are so many statues in the South (and North) that need to be taken down, but let's not forget. It's not just statues. There are memorials like this all over the place. Things named for "heroes" of the South. People who can be remembered just fine by history books, the way they should be remembered--the same way Benedict Arnold is--as traitors to the US. They all need to be taken down. Those names need to be removed from memorial statues and plaques. They need to be relegated to footnotes, and stop being raised up as heroes. And that is something any white person in those areas can easily advocate for. And if you're hesitant, time to look into why. These men were never heroes. They were the villains. Never forget that.
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