An Absolute Massacre: The New Orleans Race Riot of July 30, 1866

187 Pages·2001·8.62 MB·English

by  James G. Hollandsworth

An Absolute Massacre
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An Absolute Massacre
The New Orleans
Race Riot of
July 30, 1866
James G. Hollandsworth, Jr.
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Baton Rouge
Copyright © 2001 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
5 4 3 21
Designer: Amanda McDonald Scallan
Typeface: Adobe Caslon and Caslon Open Face
Typesetter: Coghill Composition
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hollandsworth, James G.
An absolute massacre : the New Orleans race riot of July 30, 1866 /James G. Hollandsworth, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8071-2588-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. New Orleans (La.)—History—19th century. 2. New Orleans (La.)—Race relations.
3. Riots—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century.
4. Afro-Americans—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. 5. Louisiana—Politics
and government—1865-1950. 6. Reconstruction—Louisiana. I. Tide.
F379.N557 H65 2001
976.3'34064—dc21 00-059675
The author is grateful for permission to quote from the Henry Clay Warmoth Diary, #752, in The
Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. ©
For a friend, mentor, and remarkable person, John D. Alcorn
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The more information I obtain of the affair of the 30th in this city
the more revolting it becomes. It was no riot; it was an absolute
massacre.
—P. H. Sheridan to U. S. Grant, August 2, 1866
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Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1
Give Us a Free State 5
2
No Better Constitution 19
3
There Is No Middle Ground 28
4
We Are in Revolutionary Times 43
5
Not More Than Half a Million Will Survive S3
6
Please Instruct Me at Once by Telegram 61