The Counterrevolution

The Colfax Massacre (April 13, 1873)

The bloodiest single day of Reconstruction.

Context

A disputed Louisiana gubernatorial election produced two rival governments. Black militiamen and Republican officials occupied the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax to defend the Republican claimant.

The Attack

• 150+ armed whites surrounded the courthouse
• After hours of fighting, defenders surrendered
• Attackers executed prisoners—shot, stabbed, burned alive
• Death toll: 100–150 Black men
• 3 white attackers died

Aftermath

Federal prosecutors charged 97 men. Only 3 were convicted—and the Supreme Court overturned those convictions in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876).

The Vicksburg Massacre (December 1874)

A weeks-long campaign of terror that "redeemed" Warren County, Mississippi.

Context

Black voters were the majority in Warren County. White Democrats organized to overturn Republican rule by force.

The Violence

• Armed mobs drove the Black sheriff from office
• Bands of white men roamed the countryside killing Black residents
• Violence continued for weeks
• Death toll: Estimates range from 75 to 300

Result

Democrats seized control of Vicksburg and Warren County. The violence served as a model for the Mississippi Plan the following year.

The Coushatta Massacre (August 1874)

The targeted assassination of Republican officeholders.

Context

Red River Parish in northwest Louisiana was controlled by Republicans, including several Northern-born whites ("carpetbaggers").

The Killings

• White League forces demanded Republican officials resign and leave the state
• Officials agreed and were given "safe conduct" to leave
• En route, they were seized and executed
• Victims: 6 white Republican officials + 4 Black witnesses

Message

Even surrender and flight offered no safety. The message to Republicans: leave or die.

The Ellenton Riot (September 1876)

Five days of organized terror in Aiken County, South Carolina.

Context

South Carolina's 1876 election was the most violent in the state's history. Red Shirts operated openly to suppress Black voting.

The Violence

• Began with a dispute over alleged theft
• Escalated into organized hunt for Black residents
• Red Shirts from multiple counties converged on the area
• Black homes burned, residents shot on sight
• Death toll: 80–100 Black citizens; 2 whites

Result

Federal troops eventually restored order, but the terror achieved its goal: suppressing Black turnout in November. Democrat Wade Hampton won the governorship after the disputed 1876 election and the end of sustained federal enforcement.”

Ku Klux Klan (1866–1871)

Founded in Pulaski, Tennessee by Confederate veterans. Originally a social club that quickly became a terrorist organization.

Tactics

• Night riding in disguise
• Whippings, beatings, murder
• Targeted Black voters, teachers, officeholders
• Also attacked white Republicans ("scalawags")

Suppression

The Enforcement Acts (1870–1871) and federal prosecution temporarily suppressed the first Klan by 1872.

White League (1874–1876)

Successor organization after Klan suppression. Operated openly—no disguises needed.

Key Difference

The White League didn't hide. They marched in daylight, wore their own clothes, and announced their goals publicly. This signaled intervention was becoming politically harder to sustain.

Battle of Liberty Place (1874)

White League forces fought the New Orleans police and state militia, briefly seizing control of the statehouse. Federal troops eventually restored order.

Red Shirts (1875–1876)

Paramilitary organization in South Carolina and Mississippi. Named for their distinctive red shirts.

Tactics

• Armed escorts of Democratic candidates
• Breaking up Republican meetings
• Intimidating voters at polling places
• Hamburg Massacre (1876): killed 6 Black militiamen

The Colfax Massacre (April 13, 1873)

The bloodiest single act of violence during Reconstruction.

What Happened

• Disputed Louisiana election led to two rival governments
• Black militia and Republican officeholders occupied the Colfax courthouse
• White paramilitary force (150+ armed men) attacked
• After Black defenders surrendered, attackers executed prisoners
• Death toll: 100–150 Black men killed

Aftermath

Federal prosecutors charged 97 men; only 3 were convicted. Cruikshank overturned even those convictions.

Legacy

A monument erected in 1921 praised the attackers for ending "carpetbag misrule." It stood until 2021.

Sharecropping

A labor system where families farmed land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crop (usually 50%).

The Trap

• Sharecroppers bought supplies on credit from the landlord's store
• Interest rates were crushing (often 50%+ annually)
• At harvest, the crop rarely covered the debt
• Debt carried to next year—a cycle of poverty
• Laws prevented leaving while in debt ("debt peonage")

Convict Leasing

States leased prisoners to private companies for labor—mines, railroads, plantations.

How It Worked

• Black men arrested on minor charges (vagrancy, loitering)
• Unable to pay fines, sentenced to labor
• Leased to companies who paid the state
• Death rates often exceeded slavery-era mortality
• Historian Douglas Blackmon calls it "slavery by another name"

Benjamin "Pap" Singleton (1809–1892)

Former enslaved person from Tennessee who became the leading organizer of the Exoduster movement.

Background

• Escaped slavery multiple times
• Lived in Detroit during the war
• Returned to Tennessee after emancipation
• Became disillusioned with conditions in the South

Organizing

Singleton distributed thousands of circulars advertising Kansas as a promised land. He called himself "the Moses of the Colored Exodus."

Legacy

Testified before Congress in 1880 about why Black Southerners were fleeing: "The whole South—every State in the South—had got into the hands of the very men that held us slaves."