| Chicago Tribune, 16-April-1923 |
150 years ago today, on 13-April-1873,
A WAR OF RACES.
Battle Between the Blacks and
Whites in Grant Parish,
Louisiana.
About 100 Negroes Killed in a
Conflict at Colfax
Court-House.
The Africans Driven from Their Barrcades
Into the Building.
When Hard Pressed, They Hang
Out a Flag of Truce -- Their
Cruel Treachery.
The Incensed Whites Fire the Court-
House and Shoot the Escaping Inmates.
Horrid Culmination of the
Political Chaos in Louisiana.
Full History of the Trouble -- Its Origin
and Progress.
New Orleans, April 15 -- The steamboat Southwestern, which arrived at about 1:30 o’clock this evening, brings stirring and important news from Grant Parish.
The whites have retaken Colfax, and there is not a negro to be found for miles around. From passengers on the Southwestern we glean the following:
The negroes had strongly entrenched themselves in the Court-House, and built breastworks three and four feet high. There were it is said about 400 men armed and equipped thoroughly.
On Sunday, at about 12 o’clock, about 150 white men, who had gathered from the surrounding parishes, made an attack on the breastworks, and a brisk fight was kept up until somewhere near 8 o'clock. The breastworks were then stormed and captured, the negroes taking refuge in the Court-House, the doors of which were barricaded.
After some fighting the negroes threw out a flag of truce, and several detachment, of men advanced on it, when they were fired on by the besieged party, wounding several, one of whom was Capt. Hadnot, who was shot in the bowels, and it is feared, fatally wounded.
They retreated on the outside of the breastworks, and, as the only means of dislodging the negroes, the Court-House was set on fire, and they were shot as they came from the burning building. It is reported that between 80 and 100 negroes were killed, and there were none now to be found for miles around.
The Captain of the steamboat Southwestern makes the following statement:
We arrived at Colfax on Sunday evening about 8 o'clock, and found that the white people, and the Sheriff I suppose at their head, had captured the town, after having had a conflict with the negroes. It was reported to me about 100 negroes had been killed, and many others wounded. We saw from the boat about eighteen or twenty lying around on the banks, dead. One white man was reported killed, whose name I did not learn, and two very seriously wounded -- Messrs. Hadnot and Harris. Mr. Hadnot was shot through the bowels, and it is supposed he is mortally wounded. We brought Messrs. Harris and Hadnot down from Colfax to Alexandria. Three or four other white men were slightly wounded.
About 100 negroes escaped, but it was reported that the whites were still pursuing them. All of the leaders of the riot escaped, especially the white men. The negroes ambuscaded themselves in the Court-House, and the whites, finding that there was no other mode of attack left them, set fire to the building. The whites numbered in the neighborhood of 150 men. The fight lasted from about 12 m. until near 5 p. m. The whites are now in possession of Colfax, and when I left, late last Sunday night, everything was very quiet.