USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 74
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"And how those women prayed! Just Heaven! The churches might open early, but our women were carlier. In the dawn, see the anxious souls. Anxious-yes, their hearts outstrip the hour to claim Heaven's protection for the soldier son, husband or father. Before the altars the candles used to burn brightly and steadily as the faith that placed them there, and the burden of prayer that rose from the heart of the kneeling worshiper, and went up with the burning incense, was evermore the same: 'Ay de mi! ay de mi! God guard our beloved ones and bless our cause!' "
Act No. 156, of the legislative session of 1908, approved by Gov. Sanders on July 2, provides: 1-That there be collected and pre- served all muster rolls, records and other facts and materials, showing the officers and enlisted men of the several companies, battalions, regiments and other organizations from Louisiana in the military, marine or naval service of the Confederate States of America, and the names of all Louisianians of whatever rank in the military, marine or naval service of the Confederate States of America whether regulars, volunteers, conscripts, militia. reserves, home guards, or local troops. 2-The governor is authorized to appoint a Confederate veteran from a list of names submitted by the Louisiana division of the United Confederate Veterans, to be known as the commissioners of Louisiana military records, to col- lect and preserve muster rolls, etc., and prepare a short history of each organization, the battles and skirmishes in which it was engaged, collect pictures of officers and soldiers as far as prac- ticable, compile a list of battles and actions in Louisiana, and mark the location of these engagements on a map of the state. 3 -. Work on the collection of records, muster rolls, etc., to begin immediately after the passage of the act and the appointment of the commis- sioner, and to cease upon the assembling of the legislature elected
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in 1912, unless otherwise directed by the general assembly. 4-An appropriation of $1.200 was made for the work in 1908. and a similar amount for the year 1909.
War with Spain .- (See Spanish-American War.)
Ward, a money order post-village in the northeastern part of Calcasieu parish, is about 2 miles southwest of Simmons, the nearest railroad station, and nearly 50 miles northeast of Lake Charles, the parish seat.
Warmoth, Henry Clay, elected governor of Louisiana in 1808. was born at McLeansboro, 111., May 9. 1842. His great-grand- father was a Virginia planter and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His father removed from Virginia to Sumner county, Tenn .. about the beginning of the 19th century, thence to Kentucky, and finally to Illinois. Henry was educated in the public and private schools, worked in a newspaper office at Springfield, Ill., and as opportunity offered studied law. He was admitted to the bar at Lebanon, Mo., in 1861, and the following year was appointed dis- triet attorney, but soon resigned to accept a commission as lieu- tenant-colonel of the 32nd Mo. infantry. He took part in the engagements at Chickasaw bluffs (where he was slightly wounded 1. and Arkansas Post, after which he was attached to the staff of Gen. J. A. McClernand, and served in the campaign about Vicks. burg, Miss. When Gen. MeClernand was relieved. Warmoth was assigned to duty on the staff of Gen. Ord for a short time and then took command of his regiment. He was at the battles about Chattanooga, Tenn., and in the spring of 1864 joined the army under Gen. Banks, who appointed him judge of the provost court for the Department of the Gulf. His first appearance in the his- tory of Louisiana was in Nov., 1865, when the Radical Republican- claimed his election as delegate to Congress from Louisiana, the claim being based upon negro votes. In 1866 he was a delegate to the Philadelphia convention, and in 1868 was elected governor, as above stated. His administration was somewhat stormy, and he was finally impeached and suspended from office. He then took up his residence on a sugar plantation which he had bought in Plaquemines parish, but in 1876 again entered politics as a member of the Louisiana legislature. In 1879 he was a delegate to the constitutional convention, and soon after President Harrison's inauguration was appointed collector of customs for the port of New Orleans, which position he held until the beginning of Presi- dent Cleveland's second administration. In 1896 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention, and supported Mr. MeKinley for the presidential nomination. In 1890 he built the New Orleans. Fort Jackson & Grand Isle railroad, and was elected president of the company.
Warmoth's Administration .- Gov. Warmoth was the first civil governor of Louisiana under the constitution of 1868. He was elected in April of that year, and on June 27, by order of Gen. Grant, he was appointed to succeed Gov. Baker. The term for which he was elected began on July 13, on which date he was
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inaugurated. In his address he declared that the legislature had not met to brood over the past, but to provide a better order of affairs for the future. In view of the fact that all persons were politically equal before the law, he recommended immediate meas- ures for the suppression of riot, disorder, lawlessness, violence, out- rage and murder. "We have been cursed for our sins with war," said he, "scourged with epidemic, our crops blighted for a num- ber of years, our fair state overflowed by torrents of the Missis- sippi, commerce paralyzed, the people impoverished-the event of my inauguration is welcomed by the full restoration of civil gov- ernment and readmission into the Union, the fairest prospect for crops, receding floods, and improving credit. Let us vie with each other in seeing who of us shall receive most blessings for good and faithful service rendered the state."
Immediately after his inauguration the governor notified Gen. Buchanan, military commander of the district, that the legislature had ratified the 14th anfendment to the Federal constitution, and the same day Buchanan issued an order turning over the admin- istration of the civil affairs of the state to the duly elected state officials. "Military authority," said he, "will no longer be exer- cised under the reconstruction acts in said state, and all officers commanding posts or detachments are forbidden to interfere in civil affairs, unless upon a proper application by the civil authori- ties to preserve the peace, or under instructions duly received from the commanding general of the district. Military law no longer exists, civil law is supreme."
A bill was introduced in the legislature of 1868 for the establish- ment of a constabulary system throughout the state. It did not become a law, but a bill was passed authorizing the governor to appoint a board of five police commissioners for the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard, the board to have full power over the police regulations within that district. This was known as the Metropolitan Police bill, and in appointing the commis- sioners the governor selected two white men and three negroes. This measure subsequently caused much trouble in the administra- tion of civil matters. General interest was aroused over a bill entitled "An act to protect all persons in their civil and public rights." The opponents of the measure called it the "social equal- ity bill," which provided that all persons, "without regard to race, color or previous condition, shall enjoy equal rights and privileges in their traveling and being entertained upon any conveyance of a publie character, or place of public resort, or any place of busi- ness where a license is required of the state." The bill passed both houses early in the session, but was vetoed by the governor. In September it again passed, with some modifications, but again it was vetoed. Another bill that occupied a prominent place in the deliberations of the general assembly and in the public mind was an act providing for the registration of voters, the object being to mitigate the severity of Article 99 of the new constitution. After
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considerable discussion the bill was passed on Sept. 8. (See Re- construction.)
In July some disorder occurred in the northern part of the state and the people of that section sent a petition to the governor, calling upon him for protection. The matter was laid before the general assembly, a joint resolution was passed by that body and was sent by special messenger to Washington with a letter from the governor, in which he said: "From the very best information, Mr. President, I have no doubt that 150 men have been murdered in Louisiana in the last month and a half." He also referred to "a sect organizing throughout the state as the .K. W. C.,' the full details of which, the questions, oaths, etc .. Col. Dean will explain to you. It is founded for the purpose of placing and keeping the colored people in a condition of inferiority, and with a view to this end it contemplates and designs the precipitation of a conflict be- tween the two races." When the contents of this letter were made public, the governor's statements were attacked by members of the legislature and the press. The New Orleans Times said: "It is true that disturbances have taken place in one or two of the in- terior parishes, but such a fact is by no means surprising, for in staid communities of the North, which have not been subjected to any of the extraordinary convulsions which have affected our people, disturbances quite as violent and quite as bloody have occurred. * * * As to the bloody revolution so glibly fore- told, and so religiously believed in, we can only say that the very idea is ridiculous. But if the thief believes each bush an officer, a man who feels that he has been placed in a conspicuous position by fraud and usurpation may be excused for believing, on slight testimony, that the vengeance of the people had been aroused against him and his. Warmoth is undoubtedly frightened; why, we need not ask."
On Sept. 19 Gov. Warmoth issued a proclamation that an election would be held on Nov. 3, for the choice of presidential electors and members of Congress, "said election to be conducted and returns thereof made in all respects according to the provi- sions of the constitution of the state and laws in such cases made and provided." A Democratic convention was called to meet at New Orleans on the 30th to fill vacancies upon the electoral ticket at large, to nominate electors and alternates in place of those who might be found ineligible under the 14th amendment, and to nominate candidates for Congress. The committee on resolutions presented a report "on the state of the country," from which the following is an extract: "Our present state government presents a spectacle calculated to excite no other feelings than those of shame and disgust. The ascendency of the negroes at the ballot- box has enabled them to clect the lieutenant-governor and about one-half of the legislature of their own race, and a large number of reckless and unprincipled adventurers from other states, who ยท have no home or interest here, and are strangers to our laws, man- ners and customs. These men seem to labor for but
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two objects-to perpetuate their own power, and to devise new and hitherto unheard-of schemes for plundering the state. They have created about 200 new offices, with enormous salaries, and have increased and, in most instances, doubled the salaries of the old ones. Under this profligate legislation the public debt is daily increased at a fearful rate ; the public credit is utterly ruined, and the ability of the people to support the enormous taxation levied upon them, by men who pay no portion of it, constantly diminishing. Nor is this all. The white people of the state, smarting under a sense of wrong, groaning under an almost intol- erable load of taxation, seeing their money daily squandered to enrich needy adventurers, while they are in the same proportion impoverished and ruined, are becoming hourly more restless, dis- contented and hopeless of the future.'
A gloomy picture, truly, but one that was based upon absolute truth. The resolutions adopted by the convention indorsed the platform of the Democratic national convention and the nomina- tions of Seymour and Blair: pledged the party to protect and defend the colored people of this state in the full and free exercise of all their legal rights; looked with indignation and alarm "upon the attempts now being made by the Republican party of this state to deny the white people of the state a fair registration and a fair election"; and demanded that all who were entitled to it should be registered and given an opportunity to vote at the elec- tion in November. The election passed off without serious dis- turbance. The whole number of votes cast was 113,388, and the Democratic presidential electors carried the state by a majority of 46,962. In his message to the legislature on Jan. 4, 1869, the gov- ernor said: "In many parishes the late election was the occasion of most disgraceful acts of intimidation, eventuating in several in- stances in scenes of massacre shocking to the sense of civilized man." He then gave a lot of statistics to show how the election had been conducted, and how the electoral vote of the state had been given to Seymour and Blair.
"Let us forget," said he in the same message, "the passions of the great past. forgive those who have done us evil, and offer to all the same protection and encouragement claimed for ourselves. In this spirit, I have recommended the abrogation of the 99th article of our constitution, and believe, if an amendment should be submitted to the people at the next general election, it would receive their unanimous approval. I regretted its insertion in the constitution, favored the proposition made to abrogate it at the last session, and now officially recommend it." The article in ques- tion was repealed by an amendment the following year. The legislative session of 1869 lasted over two months. A bill was passed over the governor's veto, incorporating the Ship Island canal company. to construct a canal from the Mississippi river at Carrollton to the bayous about 10 miles distant. and on the ground that the drainage of the district would be accomplished by this canal the funds of the old board of drainage commissioners,
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amounting to about $2.000.000, were turned over to the new com- pany. Some litigation resulted, but the law was finally held by the courts to be constitutional. The "social equality bill" was also passed and the 15th amendment to the Federal constitution ratified.
During the year a warfare arose between the governor and the state auditor, George M. Wickliffe. The governor accused Mr. Wickliffe of extortion and corruption in the administration of his office and had him arrested on several specific charges. Fourteen indictments were returned by the grand jury, and pending the trial of the auditor he was suspended from exercising the duties of the office. Mr. Wickliffe was tried on two of the charges, but acquitted in both. The attorney-general then dismissed the other cases, because a constitutional officer could not be tried by a jury until after he had been regularly impeached. The matter was taken up in the general assembly which met on Jan. 3, 1870, when the governor sent a special message to the legislature, in which he said: "His offenses against the constitution and laws of the state have seriously embarrassed the government and ren- dered it difficult to pay the interest on the state bonds. He has been guilty of numerous acts involving extortion against individ- uals, and against the charitable institutions of the state; also involving fraud against the commonwealth and collusion with evil- disposed persons to defraud the same. He has extorted sums of money from the creditors of the state, as a condition precedent to the issuance to them of certificates of indebtedness or warrants to which they were entitled by law." A committee of the legislature reported in favor of sustaining the governor's charges, and the house, by a vote of 72 to 2, voted to prefer articles of impeachment. The senate, as a court of impeachment, found the auditor guilty on March 3, removed him from office and disqualified him "from holding any office of honor. trust or profit in this state."
Some of the inconsistencies of Gov. Warmoth's attitude are made apparent by comparing his message of Jan. 3, 1870, with that of the previous year. In the former he spoke of "disgraceful acts of intimidation" and "scenes of massacre" in connection with the election of 1868. In the latter he said:' "It has always been my sincere conviction that it is safe to trust to the good sense, the honor, and the sober second thought of the people. This convic- tion has determined my course on matters of state policy, even in matters where I was forced for a short time to differ from many of my political friends. The peaceable character of the late elec- tion, and the favorable condition of Louisiana, as compared with many other Southern states, have, I think, convinced both friends and foes that I was right." It certainly requires a considerable stretch of the imagination to conceive of an election of a "peace- able character," with which "disgraceful acts of intimidation and scenes of massacre" were connected.
During the first three days of the session of 1870 the governor vetoed 21 bills that had been passed by the preceding legislature, appropriating nearly $7,000,000 in the interest of various schemes,
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the Mississippi Valley levee company heading the list with an appropriation of $3,000,000. This extravagance caused widespread dissatisfaction, and when the session of 1870 began the considera- tion of similar bills, a call was issued for "all citizens opposed to the financial schemes now pending before the legislature to attend a mass meeting in New Orleans on Jan. 28." At that meeting the state debt was shown to be $28,000,000, and instead of trying to reduce it, if the bills then before the legislature became laws, it would be increased to $54,000,000. Resolutions were adopted de- nouncing in unmeasured terms the extravagance and a committee was appointed to call upon the governor and enlist his aid in check- ing the corruption. In reply to the committee, the governor com- plained that "the best people of the city of New Orleans are crowd- ing the lobbies of the legislature, continually whispering bribes" to secure the passage of such measures, and that he had been offered a bribe of $50.000 to sign the Nicholson pavement bill- taking $200,000 out of the state treasury for the benefit of a private corporation-and added: "Some of the most respectable men in the city are among the directors." Granting the truth of all this, it does not reflect much credit upon the integrity of the members of the general assembly to admit that they were not morally strong enough to resist the blandishments of the lobbyists.
The election laws were revised at this session, and under the operation of the new law the Republicans carried the state, elect- ing a state auditor and treasurer, five congressmen, and a majority of both branches of the legislature. Four amendments to the state constitution were also adopted at the election, the most important of which were the ones abrogating the 99th article, and limiting the amount of the state debt that could be contracted up to the year 1890 to $25.000.000. (See Finances, State.)
The legislature of 1871 met on Jan. 2, and immediately a fight was commenced between two factions of the Republican party- one headed by Gov. Warmoth and P. B. S. Pinchback, a negro, and the other by Lieut-Gov. Dunn and U. S. Marshal S. B. Pack- ard. Mortimer Carr, who had been speaker of the house during the previous session, was reelected, but soon resigned, and George WV. Carter was elected. who joined the Dunn-Packard forces. The expenses of this legislature amounted to $958,956.50, or $113.50 a day for cach member. After the adjournment the governor applied to Judge Dibble of the 8th district court, whom he had appointed the year before, for an injunction restraining the auditor from pay- ing outstanding warrants "for mileage. per diem and contingent expenses," on the ground that fraudulent warrants had been issued. The injunction was granted and a committee appointed to investi- gate the matter. Toward the close of the year this committee reported "raised" warrants and other frauds amounting to nearly $300,000. Referring to the inordinate expenses of this legislature in his message to the succeeding general assembly, the governor said: "A careful calculation of the expenses of the general as- sembly for mileage and per diem, even at the enormous rate of
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20 cents per mile, each way, shows that the total expenses of the annual session, and the legitimate contingent expenses of both houses ought not to exceed $25,000. Then what has become of the excess, $833,956.50? It has been squandered by the officers of the assembly in paying extra mileage and per diem of members for days' services never rendered ; for an enormous corps of useless clerks, pages, etc .; for publishing the journals of each house in 15 obscure newspapers, some of which have never existed, while some of those that did exist never did the work they were em- ployed to do, although every one has received the compensation for it; in paying committees authorized by the house to sit during vacation, and to travel throughout the state and into Texas, and in a hundred other different ways. The enrollment committee of the house had over 80 clerks, most of whom were under pay during the whole session at $8 per day, during which time only 120 bills were passed, which did not require more than 8 or 10 clerks to perform the whole labor of enrollment."
In July, 1871, S. B. Packard, chairman of the Republican state central committee, issued a call for a convention to meet in New Orleans on Aug. 9, to elect a new state committee. Before that date it became apparent that the Warmoth-Pinchback faction had obtained a majority of the delegates, and on the 8th, the day before the convention, Packard announced that the meeting would be held in the U. S. circuit court room in the custom house, the object being to exclude the governor and his followers. The cus- tom house was guarded the next day by three companies of U. S. infantry, with two Gatling guns. When the governor and his supporters arrived they were denied admission. After haranguing the crowd in front of the building. Warmoth suggested that they adjourn to Turner hall and there hold a convention, and 108 dele- gates followed the governor, leaving but 60 to hold a convention in the court room. Lieut .- Gov. Dunn, who presided at the custom house convention, died on Nov. 22, and immediately afterward the governor called the senate to meet in extra session. "to fill the vacancy caused by his death, by electing a president. who, under the constitution. would be ex-officio lieutenant governor, and for other purposes." The choice fell upon Pinchback, who was a willing ally of the governor, and the year closed with the Warmoth faction in the saddle.
At the beginning of the legislative session of 1872 several rep- resentatives belonging to the Warmoth faction were unseated through the influence of Speaker Carter. Several other members and the governor were arrested by Federal officials, on the charge of interfering with the organization of the house, and taken before the U. S. marshal. who released them on bail of $500 each. War- moth then called an extra session of the general assembly, to meet at once. The two houses met that afternoon. but there was no quorum in the senate. and it was charged that some of the members of that body were unlawfully detained on board the revenue cutter Wilderness. In the house 56 members assembled,
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adopted resolutions censuring Carter and his "conspiracy," unani- mously declared the speaker's chair vacant, and elected O. H. Brewster. A request was sent to the governor to prevent forcible seizure of the assembly halls by the "Carterites." and a strong guard of soldiers and police was accordingly placed at Mechanics' Institute. Carter and his followers then met in a hall over the Gem saloon, and on Jan. 6 two bodies, each claiming to be the legal house of representatives, were in session. Warmoth obtained a writ of habeas corpus from Judge Dibble, commanding Carter to produce in court certain persons-members of the general as- sembly-but the writ was ignored, as was also a proclamation of the governor, ordering all members of the assembly to return to the places at the Mechanics' Institute. On the 10th a force of police took possession of the Gem saloon, and the Carter legisla- ture moved first to the marshal's office in the custom house and later to the Cosmopolitan club. A proclamation was issued by Carter on the 20th. announcing his intention to take possession by force of the Mechanics' Institute, and two days later he ap- peared before the building with a large body of men to carry out his threat. Gen. Emory, acting under orders from Washington. prevented a conflict. By this time the senators who had been de- tained on the Wilderness made their appearance and the Warmoth legislature thus obtained a quorum. The Carterites returned to their seats, though Brewster remained in the speaker's chair, and the governor's victory was complete.
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