The 1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre

by C. Dier

  AFTER THE WAR, many of St. Bernard Parish’s famous participants returned distraught. P.G.T. Beauregard pledged an oath to the Union and was pardoned for his participation. He was asked to serve in multiple foreign armies: Brazil, Romania and Egypt. He declined all and stated he would rather be forgotten in his home country than given riches to fight for another. He lived a postwar life engaged with engineering and politics. He oversaw General Robert E. Lee’s funeral but refused to attend the funeral of Jefferson Davis due to personal differences.82

  Ignatius Szymanski returned to his plantation in Terre-aux-Boeufs, Sebastopol, which still stands today. He started a successful cotton press business that operated on the corner of Clouet and Levee Streets in New Orleans. Despite a defeat at Union hands, Szymanski and others did not face substantial losses.83

  Sebastopol Plantation, home of Ignatius Szymanski. Courtesy of Rhett Pritchard.

  The renovated house of Albert Estopinal at the Los Isleños Heritage and Multi-Cultural Museum. Author’s collection.

  Albert Estopinal, a wealthy Isleño, was another important Confederate veteran from St. Bernard Parish. At seventeen, he quit school to enlist and, because of his education, was immediately promoted to sergeant of his company. He fought in many battles, including the decisive Battle of Vicksburg, which resulted in a Union victory. The result divided the Confederacy and granted the Union the necessary conditions for a victory at Port Hudson. Although not to the extent of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Vicksburg is considered a major turning point of the Civil War. After the war, Estopinal began a colorful political career that led to his election as a United States representative.84

  THE CIVIL WAR had dire consequences for the Louisiana economy. It nearly halted sugar cane production throughout the sugar cane region. Production in Louisiana fell from 110,500 tons of sugar prior to the war to 6,000 tons in 1864. Competition increased from Cuba, Hawaii and other regions where cheap labor was abundant and the climate was optimal. The industry took decades to return to its prewar output.85

  The Civil War significantly altered the social, political and economic structure of St. Bernard Parish. Poor rural whites did not fare well after the war. Employment opportunities were slim, wages were low, prices were high and newfound competition ignited already existing racial tension. The Civil War impaired some of the privileges previously enjoyed by whites, as many whites viewed Reconstruction as an unnecessary occupation that favored freedpeople and disparaged their way of life. Freedpeople were scapegoated and received the brunt of the blame. Newspapers owned by planters or business elites invested in slavery were consistently full of anti-Republican and racial propaganda. Illiterate whites, such as most of the poor whites in St. Bernard Parish, heard rhetoric from wealthy elites that made them fear freedpeople or regard them as inferior. They were told their economic hardships were the fault of their black counterparts. The business community exploited their economic distress and fears and organized them in Democratic clubs. One St. Bernard Parish politician later testified, “I know some of the richest merchants here in New Orleans who subscribed large sums of money towards organizing and getting up these different clubs.” This racist mentality coupled with distressed economic conditions led to a dangerous instability. The conditions were ripe for tensions to escalate.86

  Chapter 3

  ESCALATION

  Vallvey Veillon shot him with a pistol killing him dead.

  —a freedman’s testimony of a murder

  In 1863, as the Civil War raged, President Lincoln took a moderate stance on normalizing relations with states that seceded. In Louisiana, he proposed a lenient plan to bring the state back into the Union; his plan granted immediate amnesty to Rebels who pledged their loyalty to the Union. Under this plan, freedpeople were to be paid at least ten dollars a month on plantations. Lastly, in order for Louisiana to be admitted back into the Union, only 10 percent of the state’s electorate had to pledge the loyalty oath, and the state’s new constitution must abolish slavery.

  In 1864, Lincoln’s plan was put into effect in Louisiana, but not without great objection. Louisiana sent two senators and five representatives to Washington. Congress, controlled by Radical Republicans with deep animosity toward the South, refused to acknowledge their votes as protest toward Lincoln’s plan. In addition, many of the nation’s prominent figures, including Fredrick Douglass, opposed the plan.

  Reconstruction in the South ushered a new wave of opportunities for previously enslaved people. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment, the first of the three Reconstruction amendments, formally abolished slavery. Louisiana was the second ex-Confederate state to ratify it, following Virginia. Furthermore, the federal government also established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, to aid freedpeople and some white refugees. It was designed to help freedpeople find lost loved ones, expand education, assist with employment and provide desperately needed legal representation. Although the Freedmen’s Bureau had a positive impact, black Louisianans still experienced discrimination in every facet of daily life, and racial tensions remained high.

  An agent from the Freedmen’s Bureau stopping a conflict between armed white and black groups. Harper’s Weekly, 1868. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

  In St. Bernard Parish, freedpeople took immediate advantage of these new prospects. Jean Pierre Fazende, a free man of color and successful merchant, inherited a stretch of land from the Chalmette Plantation on the grounds where the Battle of New Orleans occurred. In 1856, his son subdivided the land and sold thirty-three lots to other free people of color. After the Civil War, the opportunity to buy land was also presented to freedpeople.87

  The residents of this community, “Fazendeville,” were proud of their history and felt a close connection to it. They even named their church Battle Ground Baptist Church. Although similar to other African American communities, it was unique in a parish that would eventually become predominately white in the twentieth century. The community consisted of dozens of families, complete with a barroom, a baseball field, a grocery store and a one-room schoolhouse. It thrived for over a century.88

  Despite monumental gains by freedpeople, they continued to face state-sanctioned discrimination. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, the Louisiana legislature and parish governments passed a series of laws that disproportionately impacted people of color, known collectively as Black Codes. The Black Codes reversed many improvements granted by the federal government. African Americans were stripped of or denied several rights: housing options were severely limited, carrying weapons or anything that could be identified as such was prohibited, labor contracts closely resembled slavery and vagrancy was outlawed, but a “good behavior” clause was enacted for these laws for the possibility of racial interpretation. The strict policing and the incarceration of freedpeople provided employers with free labor, as the Thirteenth Amendment created an exception to slavery in which the government was sanctioned to use prisoners as free labor.89

  Violence toward freedpeople continued in St. Bernard Parish after the Civil War. On Christmas Day 1866, Washington Rehan, a freedman, was boasting to his friend at a local bar about purchasing a pistol. This was quite the feat considering just a few years earlier Rehan was enslaved. Santiago Artialla, the bar owner, was appalled by a former slave owning a firearm. When Rehan set the pistol on the counter, Artialla picked it up, aimed it at Rehan and said, “Look out!” before discharging a bullet into Rehan’s head. The coroner ruled death by accidental discharge. This individual act of hatred and brutality was merely a precursor to the impending violence.90

  Beyond St. Bernard Parish, freedpeople experienced consistent violence throughout the region. On July 30, 1866, the Louisiana Constitutional Convention convened in part to address the enactment of the Black Codes and how it undermined Republican progress. White Democrats were suspicious of this convention and felt Republicans were attempting to solidify more power in New Orlean
s. As members of the convention exited, they were met by black marchers and a marching band. In contrast, a group of heavily armed whites, many of whom were veterans of the Confederate army bitter about their recent defeat, waited on the corner of Common and Dryades Streets.

  It is unknown who shot first, but a battle between the two crowds ensued. The majority of the black marchers were unarmed and sought refuge in a nearby building. The white mob relentlessly attacked the black marchers who attempted to retreat. Eventually, federal troops regained order and martial law was declared. Many of the white rioters were jailed. The exact death toll varies depending on the source. It is estimated between thirty-four to over one hundred, the majority of whom were African American.91

  The calamity, along with a similar event in Memphis, created national outrage toward white southerners and the Democratic Party. Three months after the riot, the Republicans gained a sizable majority in both houses of Congress. They worked to pass the Fourteenth Amendment, officially adopted in 1868, which granted citizenship to freedpeople, and other measures that established stronger federal military oversight of vast areas of the South.

  THESE NEW LEGAL rights allowed Republicans, the overwhelming majority of whom were freedpeople, to better organize in St. Bernard Parish. In 1867, over nine hundred people gathered at the residence of freedman Leopold Guichard. Prominent black Republican C.C. Morgan spoke at the event. The New Orleans Tribune, a historic bilingual African American newspaper founded in 1864, documented his speech in an article covering the event:

  Fellow citizens, I thank God that after centuries of slavery the hour has at last come when you are freemen and the principles of Thomas Jefferson are not only acknowledged to be correct in theory, but are about to be put to a practical test; your enemies, the enemies of human progress, have declared that the natural condition of the black race is that of servitude, that no good can come out of Africans except as “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” and therefore, that you ought to be slaves; that you are incapable of receiving education, even where you have the opportunity; that you will not work except under the lash. Let us answer these declarations in their order if as they say your natural condition is one of servitude, is it not a little singular that you accepted unanimously the liberty which the immortal Lincoln offered you, and that there is not a black man or woman on the face of the earth who is willing to return to slavery. If as they say you are incapable of receiving education, why is it, I ask, that so many thousands of our race who knew not one letter of the alphabet before the rebellion are now able to read and write. If while slaves you were sunk into the lowest depths of ignorance, whose fault was it who made the laws which declared it a crime to teach the poor slave his ABC’s. If as they say, you are idle vagabonds and will not work except under the lash, I ask you but to look around you now that the lash dare not be used, and judge for yourselves who are the idle, the thriftless rebel loafers, whose occupation of whipping niggers is gone. Now my friends, you are not only freedmen but you are citizens of the United States, voters, and as such, responsible for your acts. Prove to the world that you are worthy of taking part in the government of this great country, that your oppressors have belied you, that you have intelligence to discriminate between a bad man and a good one, you know the difference between a rebel and a Union man, and when you come to elect candidates for the coming election, which is shortly to take place, see that you elect good, loyal men, who have always been your friends, and will support the rights of our race.

  Ask of those who want your vote what they have done for the cause; whether in the times that tried men’s souls, they abandoned the protection of the Stars and Stripes and took protection under the bastard flag of barbarism, the flag of the Confederacy. If they did, turn your back upon them, and vote for those who were willing to sacrifice all for the sake of the Union, whose hearts were heavy when they heard of a rebel victory and leaped with joy when Farragut and Butler came to the rescue. Vote for those who on the battle-field stared death in the face for their country’s sake, vote for those who suffered in rebel prisons, for your sake and for mine, and, finally, vote for men who are honest, capable, and loyal to the Government.92

  The meeting ended with the “wildest enthusiasm.” A month later, the New Orleans Tribune requested letters from Republican officials throughout Louisiana to report on the violent disturbances between Republicans and Democrats. Guichard sent in his letter: “Sir—In the parish of St. Bernard everything is progressing well. Our club has been formed since the 12th of May, 1867. We are progressing very well and have not, as yet, been interfered with or threatened. I am under the impression that we owe our escape from interference to our close proximity to the city.”93

  Freedpeople not only organized politically; they also organized for better working conditions as they became more accustomed to noncoercive labor. They continued to be protected by federal troops and quickly realized their labor was in dire need by planters. Despite elevated tensions, in 1867, white planters in St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes agreed to pay twelve dollars a month with rations and eighteen dollars a month to the hardest and most successful laborers. However, freedpeople exercised their rights to leave in search of better wages, causing the idea of a uniform wage rate to dissipate. Some monthly wages rose to fifteen and twenty dollars, respectively. In May 1868, laborers around the area organized and went on strike for better wages. Laborers exploited the times of high harvest, as any delay would financially destabilize planters. However, when labor needs were low, there were instances of planters firing freedpeople in St. Bernard Parish for attending Republican meetings.94

  African Americans in St. Bernard Parish also exercised their newly granted voting rights. In April 1868, Louisiana ratified a new constitution by 58 percent to 42 percent due to the votes of freedpeople. St. Bernard Parish voted in favor by 55 percent to 45 percent. The Louisiana Constitution of 1868 was one of the most progressive constitutions in the South. It abolished the Black Codes, granted African Americans equal access to public accommodations and even attempted to integrate public schools. While theoretically progressive, it did little to end racial discrimination.95

  Oscar J. Dunn, lieutenant governor of Louisiana, seated in the middle and surrounded by twenty-nine portraits of African American delegates to the Louisiana Constitution of 1868. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

  Henry Warmoth, circa 1870. Courtesy of Library of Congress.

  A cartoon attempting to link the Democratic Party with the Confederate cause. The Confederate flag was exchanged for a “Seymour & Blair” sign; a CSA (Confederate States of America) hat was exchanged for a KKK hat. Harper’s Weekly, 1868. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

  St. Bernard Parish also helped elect twenty-six-year-old Republican governor Henry Clay Warmoth and Lieutenant Governor Oscar Dunn by 65.5 percent. Warmoth, a Union veteran, was one of the youngest governors to be elected in United States history and had a keen interest in black suffrage. Dunn, a former slave, was the first African American lieutenant governor in the country. He died while in office in 1871 and had one of the largest funerals in Louisiana history; an estimated fifty thousand people lined Canal Street for his procession. He was succeeded by Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, who fought with the First Louisiana Native Guard during the Civil War. Pinchback went on to become the country’s first African American governor. It was not until the election of Douglas Wilder of Virginia in 1990 that the United States saw another African American governor. Local politics also changed due to the voting power of people of color. Dr. A.G. Thornton, a white physician and known Republican, was elected parish judge. St. Bernard Parish was well underway in becoming a Republican stronghold and perturbing the established political and economic status quo.96

  In July 1868, with Republican control solidified and the Fourteenth Amendment ratified, Louisiana was readmitted into the Union. This Republican dominance intensified the upcoming presidential election of 1868, which was to be held on November
3. Democrats of St. Bernard Parish were fuming at the harsh realization of being a minority without political dominance. The ticket options consisted of Republican and famed Union veteran Ulysses S. Grant against Democrat Horatio Seymour, former governor of New York. Whites in Louisiana had much to gain with a Seymour victory; Seymour vehemently opposed Reconstruction policies and believed in stronger autonomy for states. He appealed to the vast racism of the country for votes. He labeled Grant the “Nigger” candidate and painted himself as the “White Man’s” candidate. It was obvious St. Bernard Parish, along with Louisiana, would vote Republican unless Democrats could hinder the black vote. A Seymour victory meant the end of federal occupation. The stakes were high.

  IN APRIL 1868, Republicans held a meeting while Democrats held a barbecue. The Daily Picayune reported a harrowing account, although the details are potentially misconstrued given the newspaper’s political sentiments. At the Republican meeting, Henry Clay Warmoth and other prominent Republicans spoke. Some freedmen participated in the Democratic barbecue, and a black preacher was scheduled to speak at the event. Freedmen participating in the Democratic barbecue angered black Republicans. Black Republicans, some of whom were armed, went to the barbecue waving the U.S. flag to anger ex-Confederates and their sympathizers. Tensions escalated, and the Republicans shot one black attendee and beat others. The preacher refused to speak under such conditions. Gunfire was exchanged, and freedmen and whites from nearby joined the fight before the groups dispersed.97

  Both parties continued to hold meetings and rallies as the election drew nearer. Given St. Bernard Parish’s racial makeup and political instability, it was a hotbed for partisan activism. Democrats frequently held their meetings without any more interference from the Republicans. Prominent Democrats such as General James B. Steedman spoke at several rallies, while Republicans, on the other hand, gathered less frequently as threats and intimidation tactics increased. According to First Lieutenant Jesse Matlock Lee, the Freedmen’s Bureau officer tasked with investigating the massacre, Republican “meetings were generally looked upon by the opposite party as a toleration, not a right. Certain white men residing in the Parish, who were leaders of the Republicans, were threatened with assassination.”98