Louisiana Supreme Court Justices: Profiles of Three Reconstruction-Era Justices
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Louisiana Supreme Court Justices: Profiles of Three Reconstruction-Era Justices By Evelyn L. Wilson ineteen justices served on the Indian relics.3 Louisiana Supreme Court At the 1861 Secession Convention, Nduring the period 1865-1880. Taliaferro was one of 17 delegates who They are properly divided into three opposed the ordinance of secession, and distinct periods of service. The justices one of nine who refused to sign it. He selected to serve in 1865 were supporters of delivered a Protest to the convention the Union. They faced the task of bringing objecting to secession. During the war, he order to chaos. was carried to a military prison but stayed Louisiana’s 1868 Constitution ended only a short while. their terms. The 1868 court included two After the war, as a Conservative justices from the earlier court and three new Republican, Taliaferro actively sought appointees. Republican governors appointed Louisiana’s readmission to the Union.4 Republicans and Union supporters to the He served as president of the 1868 court. Operating in the face of open hostility Constitutional Convention that produced from practitioners who had fought for or a Constitution acceptable to Congress5 and supported the Confederacy, this court was voted in favor of free public schools open careful to examine the applicable law and to all children without distinction of race, Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice James to explain its reasoning thoroughly. Govan Taliaferro. Published with permission from color or previous condition. In 1877, the era of Reconstruction the Louisiana Supreme Court Archives. In the state elections that followed, ended when Democrats gained control Taliaferro was a candidate for governor. of the state. The set of justices appointed a small sawmill. His biographer described He received support from Radical in 1877 qualified by their commitment to him as “a poor boy, with only his energy Republicans, Democrats and conservative the Confederacy or by their opposition to and honesty for patrimony.”1 He attended newspapers but was easily defeated by the federal influence in the state. Though Transylvania University in Lexington, Henry Clay Warmoth, who received the considered political conservatives, they Kentucky, where he met the statesman, majority of the votes from the new black were judicial activists. Henry Clay. He was admitted to the voters.6 Taliaferro had been a slaveholder The Civil War and Reconstruction Kentucky Bar in 1820 and returned to and an opponent of equality for blacks. years were not easy times for any of these Harrisonburg, La., where he established Warmoth of Illinois had not. Newly elected men. Sentiment ran high and violence was a law practice and entered politics.2 Governor Warmoth reappointed Taliaferro common. Criticism was as harsh as it was Taliaferro served as parish judge for to the Louisiana Supreme Court, where he unwarranted. The work of the court is a many years and served in Louisiana’s 1852 served until shortly before his death. testament to the integrity of these justices, and 1868 Constitutional Conventions. He Once on the Supreme Court, Taliaferro to their commitment to service, and to their was a staunch supporter of the Union. As changed his position on slavery, declaring it devotion to the law. In each period, one man early as 1856, he published a scathing a violation of the natural right of freedom.7 stands out as characteristic of that court. denunciation of secession in his newspaper, His participation alongside blacks and the Harrisonburg Independent. his vote in favor of universal education 1865-1868 He raised sheep and cattle and was an suggest that he accepted political equality, authority on the geological characteristics if not social equality. His turnaround was James Govan Taliaferro, born Sept. of Catahoula Parish. He was a scholar of acknowledged when Governor P.B.S. 28, 1798, in Virginia, moved to Catahoula classical studies, science and history, and Pinchback chose him to administer his Parish in 1815 where his father established owned a large collection of books and oath of office. 100 August / September 2013 Justice Taliaferro served on the Supreme Court with Zenon Labauve from West Baton Rouge Parish; John Ilsley from New Orleans; William Hyman from Alexandria; and Rufus King Howell from West Feliciana Parish. He died at age 78 on Oct. 13, 1876. 1868-1877 William Wirt Howe, born in New York, came to New Orleans during the war. Valedictorian at Hamilton College in New York, Howe studied law in St. Louis and settled in New York City, where he practiced law.8 He enlisted in the war, was taken prisoner, paroled and returned Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice to service. He served as adjutant-general William Wirt Howe. Published with permission from Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc. on the staff of Major General Ulysses S. the Louisiana Supreme Court Archives. Published with permission from the Louisiana Grant.9 In 1863, he qualified by the Board Supreme Court Archives. of Examiners for Major in the 1st Regt. Cavalry Corps d’Afrique, Headquarters and Throat Hospital, and the Society for and, after that date, remained at home until Department of the Gulf.10 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He his death.18 Howe was one of more than 5,000 Union was an Episcopalian vestryman and senior soldiers who settled in Louisiana after the warden of Christ Church Cathedral.14 1877-1880 war.11 He established a law practice,12 and Howe, an active member of the bar, was Governor Warmoth appointed him to the president of the American Bar Association Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Louisiana Supreme Court in 1868.13 Howe in 1897. He focused on the professional Derneville DeBlanc was born Sept. 16, served with Rufus King Howell of West ethics of lawyers and lectured at law 1821, in St. Martinville, La. He read law Feliciana Parish, James Govan Taliaferro, schools and before state and local bar and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar John T. Ludeling of Ouachita Parish as associations. In 1899, Hamilton College in 1845. He practiced in St. Martinville. Chief Justice and W.G. Wyly of Carroll. conferred upon him an honorary Doctor DeBlanc served in the state Legislature Howe resigned from the Supreme Court of Laws degree.15 From 1903-1909, he sat and the 1861 Secession Convention, shortly after the November 1872 contested on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie where he advocated for secession.19 A large election to become more involved in the Institution of Washington. landowner and slaveholder, DeBlanc was civic and social activities of the city. In 1900, President William McKinley nearly 40 years old when he enrolled to The court, with its Republican and anti- appointed Howe as the United States serve the Confederacy at Camp Moore in secession members, was ostracized by the District Attorney for the Eastern District Tangipahoa Parish. He helped to organize practicing bar, many of whom had fought of Louisiana, where he served until 1907, the Attakapas Guards, Company C, Eighth for the Confederacy. when his declining health compelled him Regiment, Louisiana Infantry, and served In private practice, Howe became legal to resign.16 as captain. Francis R.T. Nicholls, who counsel for the Texas and Pacific Railway A prolific author, Howe wrote scholarly would later appoint DeBlanc to sit on the Company, the New Orleans Board of articles on Roman law, Spanish law and the Louisiana Supreme Court, served in the Trade and the Louisiana Sugar Refining law within the Territory of the Louisiana Eighth Regiment with him.20 Company. He took an active part in civic Purchase. He wrote historical pieces on DeBlanc’s regiment was assigned to and philanthropic work in the city and ancient and medieval law schools and the Department of Northern Virginia, was involved in various capacities with wrote a history of New Orleans. His and DeBlanc was promoted to the rank the University of Louisiana, the New works appeared in the nation’s leading of lieutenant colonel at Fredericksburg Orleans Art Association, the New Orleans law journals.17 on April 6, 1863. He was permanently Chamber of Commerce, the New Orleans Judge Howe gave an address to the disabled in his right arm at the Battle of Board of Trade, New Orleans Charity Louisiana State Bar Association on Jan. Gettysburg and promoted to the rank of Hospital, the Louisiana Historical Society, 8, 1909, and was to have spoken to the colonel. the New Orleans Board of Civil Service, Executive Committee of the American DeBlanc was one of three military the Board of Trustees of the Eye, Ear, Nose Bar Association. He was unable to do so officers sent by Major General Harry LouisianaLouisiana BarBar JournalJournal Vol.Vol. 61,61, No.No. 22 101101 Hays to Baton Rouge on May 23, Conclusion 12. Daily Picayune, Mar. 18, 1909, at 4, col. l. 1865, to negotiate the surrender of the 13. 17 Minute Book 127 (Nov. 2, 1868). 14. IX Dict. of Am. Biog. 300 (1932). Confederate troops still operating in The Reconstruction Courts left little 15. In Memoriam (Howe), 127 La. Ann. xxv (1909). Louisiana. DeBlanc’s military records impact on the state’s laws. They were 16. IX Dict. of Am. Biog. 300. include the remark that DeBlanc was a interim courts. Although many of the 17. Dargo, Am. Natl. Biog. 345. perfect gentleman and an excellent officer. 18. Daily Picayune, Mar. 18, 1909, at 4, col. l. justices who served on these courts were 19. Editorial, Obituaries, Daily Picayune, Nov. It stated that all respected, obeyed and extremely well-trained and talented, they 10, 1883, at 2, col. 2. loved him.21 were victims of their times. Their work was 20.