Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1977 The Louisiana Scalawags. (Volumes I and II). Francis Joseph Wetta Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Wetta, Francis Joseph, "The Louisiana Scalawags. (Volumes I and II)." (1977). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3176. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3176 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms Internationa! 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 78-7567 WETTA, Francis Joseph, 1942- THE LOUISIANA SCALAWAGS (VOLUMES I AND II). The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1977 History, United States. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan48ioe 0 1978 FRANCIS JOSEPH WETTA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE LOUISIANA SCALAWAGS Volume I A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Frank Joseph Wetta B.S., Saint Louis University, 1964 M.A., Saint Louis University, 1965 December, 1977 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My grateful thanks are due to my major professor, Dr. T. Harry Williams, for his advice and helpful criticism. My gratitude is also due to Professors F. Wayne Binning, Howard Nichols, E. Russ Williams, Terry Seip, and Richard Hume for their advice and generous sharing of research data. I am especially grateful to Professor Richard Scorza, my friend and colleague at Galveston College, for reading and criticizing the handwritten manuscript. X am deeply indebted to the members of my graduate committee, Professors John Loos, Anne Loveland, Gary Crump and Burl Noggle, who kindly read and criticized the typescript. I wish to record my appreciation of the courtesy and helpfulness of Mrs. Joan Hyatt, the reference librarian at Galveston College. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Michael and Phyllis Ward who made my research trip to Washington, D.C. such an enjoyable one. And finally, I should particularly note the patience and unfailing support of my wife Jean during the prepara­ tion of the dissertation. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OP CONTENTS VOLUME I PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................... ii ABSTRACT................................................. iv CHAPTER I. THE SCALAWAG IMAGE.............................. 1 II. THE ORIGINS OF THE LOUISIANA SCALAWAGS........ 49 III. THE SCALAWAG CONNECTION: WHIG OR UNIONIST? 121 IV. FROM UNIONISM TO REPUBLICANISM: THE SCALAWAGS AND THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN LOUISIANA................ 151 VOLUME II V. BLOODY MONDAY: THE SCALAWAGS AND THE NEW ORLEANS RIOT OF JULY 30, 1866................ 206 VI. THE SCALAWAGS AND RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION IN LOUISIANA ............................ 254 VII. "BULLDOZING" THE SCALAWAGS: THE PERSECUTION AND OSTRACISM OF SOUTHERN WHITE REPUBLI­ CANS IN LOUISIANA. ......................... 321 VIII. AFTER THE DELUGE: THE LOUISIANA SCALAWAGS AND THE POST-RECONSTRUCTION YEARS............ 343 IX. CONCLUSIONS...................................... 367 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................. 378 VITA...................................................... 3 94 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Of The Louisiana Scalawags by Frank Joseph Wetta This investigation is a case study of Southern white Republicans— the scalawags— during Reconstruction. The term "scalawag" has been used to define native-born white Southerners who supported the Radical movement. In this study, which focuses on Louisiana, the word is broadened to encompass Northern-born and foreign-born whites who settled in the South before the Civil War. They were ab­ sorbed into Southern community life and became identified with the "Southern Establishment" through social, business, or political connections. Information concerning the lives and careers of these politicians came from a variety of sources: letters of application and recommendation con­ tained in the records of the Treasury and Justice Depart­ ments; census returns; congressional reports, papers and documents; newspapers; school records; and manuscript col­ lections. These sources indicate that in contrast to the image of the scalawags created by popular writers and those scholars influenced by the writings of historian William A. Dunning, the scalawags were often well-educated and prestigiously employed. They counted among their ranks iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. physicians, journalists, educators, ministers, businessmen, dentists, soldiers, and civil servants. They were not poor, ignorant men seeking to rise above a hard-scrabble existence at the expense of the Southern aristocrats. They were not raw, unsettled men, men without form or fundation. Neither were the Louisiana scalawags political adolescents. When they came into the Republican movement, they brought with them experience gained on the municipal, parish, state, and federal levels. This political experience was combined with a strong sense of nationalism. Their Republicanism was an extension of their wartime Unionism. Persistent Unionism rather than persistent Whiggery provides a clue to the ideological appeal that the radical movement held for the Louisiana scalawags. There is little evidence to show that ex-Whigs entered the Louisiana Republican party in any significant number. The evidence also indicates that the scalawags were most active and influential during the early stages of Reconstruction. It was the Southern whites who took the lead in founding the Republican party in the state. After the bloody New Orleans riot of 1866, however, the power and the influence of the scalawags gradually declined as the carpetbaggers took control of the party. The white Republicans, both carpetbaggers and scala­ wags, demonstrated distinct paternalistic or racist attitudes. Their support of black political equality did v with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. not imply a belief in social equality. Yet, their support for the Federal Reconstruction policies and Radical-oriented Louisiana State Constitution of 1868, which significantly broadened the rights of black people, helped lay the foundations of racial democracy. Only a tiny fraction of white Louisianians, however, were willing to follow the scalawags into the Republican party. Racism, terrorism, and social ostracism kept the number of Southern white Republicans small. The scalawags and the carpetbaggers made up the leadership of the party; the blacks made up the