immediately followed them disclose the motives
and purposes of their perpetrators. These reports show that in
the year 1868 a reign of terror prevailed over almost the entire
State. In the parish of Saint Landry there was a massacre from
three to six days, during which between two and three hundred
colored men were killed. "Thirteen captives were taken from the
jail and shot, and a pile of twenty-five dead bodies were found
burned in the woods." The result of this Democratic campaign in
the parish was that the registered Republican majority of 1,071
was wholly obliterated, and at the election which followed a few
weeks later not a vote was cast for General Grant, while Seymour
and Blair received 4,787.

In the parish of Bossier a similar massacre occurred between the
20th and 30th of September, 1868, which lasted from three to four
days, during which two hundred colored people were killed. By the
official registry of that year the Republican voters in Bossier
parish numbered 1,938, but at the ensuing election only _one_
Republican vote was cast.

In the parish of Caddo during the month of October, 1868, over
forty colored people were killed. The result of that massacre was
that out of a Republican registered vote of 2,894 only one was
cast for General Grant. Similar scenes were enacted throughout
the State, varying in extent and atrocity according to the
magnitude of the Republican majority to be overcome.

The total summing-up of murders, maimings, and whippings which
took place for political reasons in the months of September,
October and November, 1868, as shown by official sources, is over
one thousand. The net political results achieved thereby may be
succinctly stated as follows: The official registration for that
year in twenty-eight parishes contained 47,923 names of
Republican voters, but at the Presidential election, held a few
weeks after the occurrence of these events but 5,360 Republican
votes were cast, making the net Democratic gain from said
transactions 42,563.

In nine of these parishes where the reign of terror was most
prevalent out of 11,604 registered Republican votes only 19 were
cast for General Grant. In seven of said parishes there were
7,253 registered Republican votes, but not one was cast at the
ensu