Battle of Liberty Place

Battle of Liberty Place
Battle of Canal Street
Part of the Reconstruction Era

The "Louisiana Outrages", as illustrated in Harper's Weekly, 1874
DateSeptember 14–17, 1874
Location
Result

Louisiana state government victory

  • Rebellion suppressed
Belligerents
White League

Louisiana State Government

Commanders and leaders
Frederick Nash Ogden James Longstreet (WIA)
Strength
5,000 insurgents 3,500 police officers and militiamen
Casualties and losses
21+ killed
19 wounded[1]
11 killed
60 wounded[2]

The Battle of Liberty Place, or Battle of Canal Street, was an attempted insurrection by the Crescent City White League against the Reconstruction Era Louisiana Republican state government on September 14, 1874, in New Orleans, which was the capital of Louisiana at the time. Five thousand members of the White League, a paramilitary organization made up largely of Confederate veterans, fought against the outnumbered racially integrated New Orleans Metropolitan Police and state militia. The insurgents held the statehouse, armory, and downtown for three days, retreating before arrival of federal troops that restored the elected government. At least 32 people, including at least 21 members of the White League, were killed in the fighting. No insurgents were charged in the action.

This was the last major event of violence stemming from the disputed 1872 gubernatorial election, after which Democrat John McEnery and Republican William Pitt Kellogg both claimed victory.

  1. ^ Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p.251.
  2. ^ Clodfelter, page 251.