In 1874, conservative resentment against the power of the Republican office holders led to the formation and spread of militaristic White League branches across Louisiana. That summer, Frederick Ogden Nash led the formation of the Crescent City White League, aided by false reports of violent "Black Leagues" published in the Picayune. On September 14, 1874, thousands of members of the White League attacked and defeated the city police and militia in the center of New Orleans, then the capital of Louisiana. They successfully overthrew the government of Republican Governor William Pitt Kellogg. A few days later, General William H. Emory and a group of Army officers sent by President Grant arrived in the city and negotiated its surrender back to Republican and Union control. None of the insurrectionists were ever prosecuted.
Courtesy Historic New Orleans Collection
