76: Reconstruction Part 4: The Battle of Liberty Place and the Mississippi Plan

“Hang Kellogg! We’ll fight!”

This is the story of the end of Reconstruction.

Voter fraud and intimidation has made Louisiana’s 1872 Gubernatorial election a mess. So, when a Federal judge and Republican President Ulysses S. Grant uphold the Republican candidate, the stage is set for more partisan and racial violence in the Bayou state. The outcome is Reconstruction’s worst episode of violence and murder (the Colfax Massacre), and a full on street battle in New Orleans between the paramilitary White League and the racially integrated state and municipal police (the Battle of Liberty Place). 

Meanwhile, Democrats have grown sick of what they see as Federal overreach imposing Republican policies rule over them. Starting in Mississippi, they come up with a new plan to disenfranchise Republicans in order to reestablish “home rule.” 

But will the federal government allow this to happen? With Ulyss leaving the White House, the 1876 presidential election’s voter fraud and backroom dealings create a compromise that ensures Republicans retain the presidency, while Democrats regain control of the South. Reconstruction is over. Welcome to the era of Jim Crow.