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<p align="center"><b><font size="3">Old Pete at Liberty Place: Links to
1876 and Election 2000</font></b></p>
<p align="center"><font size="2">by Nicholas E. Hollis</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">The roller coaster ride of Election 2000 and its
chaotic aftermath may be over, but the nation's jarred sensibilities,
upset stomachs and exhausted disenchantment will take some time to
adjust. Historians are reminding us of comparisons with the last
electoral "train wreck" in 1876, another presidential struggle
which dragged on too long. Samuel Tilden (D) had rolled up nearly
300,000 more popular votes than his Republican rival, Rutherford B.
Hayes. But in the end, a "smoke-filled room" negotiation
in Washington (Wormley Hotel) probably ratified Hayes after assurances
were given for the removal of remaining Federal troops from three
contested southern states -- Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina --
leading to the end of the Reconstruction Era.<sup>1</sup></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b><i>Critical Links to Liberty Place</i><br>
</b>A critical event in the sequence leading to the <a href="wormley.htm"> Wormley
Agreement</a>,
often overlooked, took place on September 14, 1874 in New Orleans where
General James Longstreet, as head of the Louisiana State Militia, moved
to quell an incendiary mob whose purpose was the violent overthrow of
the government of Governor Kellogg, a much reviled carpetbagger.
Longstreet tried to intercept a shipment of weapons "behind the
lines" (via a dock at the foot of Canal Street on the Mississippi
River). Old Pete's militia and metropolitan police under A.S.
Badger, were outnumbered more than two to one. At the ripe age of
fifty-three, Longstreet found himself in the midst of the worst street
fight in U.S. history. The two sides, Republicans vs. Democrats,
exchanged volleys and a fifteen-minute battle ensured. When the
smoke cleared, more than 100 people lay dead or wounded.
Longstreet's forces were not up to the task and, despite superior
weaponry, they broke ranks and were routed. Most fled into the
streets of the Latin Quarter. Longstreet suffered the humiliation
of being wounded by a spent bullet and was captured by the mob.
Kellogg remained in hiding on U.S. property at the Customs House.
Within days, Federal gunboats and fresh troops arrived and restored
order to "The Big Easy." But, as history demonstrated,
the aftermath was anything but easy.</font></p>
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<font size="1" face="Times New Roman"><i>Courtesy of Frank Leslie, Library of
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<td width="100%" height="20"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON --
Longstreet tries to intercede as angry mob approaches US Customs House on
Canal Street, in New Orleans (September 14, 1874).<br>
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<p><font size="2">In some respects, the "Battle of Liberty
Place" settled nothing. But the outraged members of the
Knights
of the White Camelia in New Orleans did make a point which probably
figured heavily in the "deal of 1877." Reconstruction by
Radical Republicans had been a disaster, and a new tragedy of missed
opportunities for reconciliation was about to unfold. The seeds of
wrath, which Abraham Lincoln had hoped to expunge with the nation's
"better angels," were instead further nurtured into poisoned
fruit by unchecked and somewhat vindictive excesses of the brutal
Federal occupation and democracy itself! It took over eighty years
for the New South to finally emerge and rejoin the Nation's
prosperity. Even today, there remain great pockets of poverty and
key sectors of our agricultural/rural economy which are ignored in a
virtual "bayou of economic despair." The spiral of lower
commodity prices and growing, fear-driven concentrations in the ag
sector, are crushing what remains of the independent American farmer,
grinding the "culture" out of agriculture.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Our Nation's wound's barely healed after the Civil War
and the rancorous Reconstruction which culminated with the infamous
Tilden/Hayes struggle. But the "Battle of Liberty Place"
was a pivotal event, rippling across the country's political and social
landscape, leading to major Democratic gains at the polls in 1874, and
signaling the beginning of the end of Reconstruction. When
Longstreet rode out on Canal Street that balmy September afternoon to
rally his troops, he demonstrated anew his resolute courage of
conviction, his devotion to duty, and his unusual prescience. It
also showed Old Pete's near-complete disregard for his own personal
safety. Was he a traitor? or a true son of the South?</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Six years earlier Longstreet's proposals for peaceful
reconciliation and black suffrage issues had been rejected, and now it
was time to "pay the piper." Consistent with his belief
that reunification and compromise were needed to preserve the South from
further oppression -- and possibly vital to salvaging the best elements
of southern culture, Longstreet's vision was decades ahead of his
time. Yet, he was vilified and ridiculed -- his ideas ignored.</font></p>
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<p><font size="2"><b><i>"No Guts, No Glory:" 1876 in
Perspective<br>
</i></b>1876 was a year for grandstanding. The economy was still
limping from the Panic of 1873, and Reconstruction was suffocating the
South. General George Armstrong Custer rode into the history books
by foolishly trying to impress the national nominating convention in St.
Louis with his Indian fighting prowess (he had a reporter from The
Bismarck Tribune along for the ride at Little Big Horn).</font></p>
<p><font size="2">As we struggle to analyze our current political
predicament for reconciliation themes -- and perhaps necessary reform,
some historical consultation might be reassuring, even remedial.
We have the opportunity to make some corrective choices. But any
comparison with 1876 lacks "traction" today without a
reference tot he Battle of Liberty Place. What happened there,
painful as it is to recount, was more than a footnote in our
history. After all, the 1874 clash reflects a struggle which
continues to this day, barely under the surface, and it spells a warning
for present-day policymakers: there is a price for disenfranchisement
and close elections in a democracy. We will need to be
industrious, honest, and vigilant in pursuing inclusive ways to
strengthen our Nation in the wake of Election 2000. But, if we
listen to "Old Pete," we can be stronger for it.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">____________________<br>
<sup>1</sup>. Other features of the "Wormley conference"
reportedly included certain appropriations for southern infra-structural
improvements, cabinet posts and aid for the
development of the Texas Pacific Railroad. Neither Hayes nor
Tilden were present. Some historians view the "deal" as
overrated since Hayes had made campaign promises to remove remaining
Federal troops from the South.</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><i><b>Further Suggested Readings:</b></i></font></p>
<p><font size="2">William A. Dunning, <u><i>Reconstruction, Political
and Economic, 1865-1877</i>,</u> New York: Harper Brothers, 1907, pp.
338-341.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Judith K. Schafer, "The Battle of Liberty Place:
A Matter of Historical Perception," <u><i>Cultural Vistas,</i></u>
Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring 1994), pp. 9-17.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Robert G. Kaiser, "1876's Parallels Hold No
Comfort," <u><i>The Washington Post</i></u> (December 17, 2000),
pp. 34-35.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">N.R. Kleinfield, "President Tilden? No, but
Almost, in Another Vote that Dragged On," <u><i>The New</i> <i>York
Times</i></u> (November 12, 2000).</font></p>
<p><font size="2">"A Disputed Election's End Was Only the
Beginning," <i><u>The New York Times</u></i> (November 19, 2000).</font></p>
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