ABSTRACT
New Orleans paid a heavy price for its participation in the sectional conflict, secession, and the Civil War, and its troubles began long before the war ended in 1865. There were several street fights and violent confrontations between white citizens and the police during New Orleans's reconstruction, but none is better known than the Battle of Liberty Place on September 14, 1874. The most inflammatory and sensational writing prior to the battle is found in the New Orleans Daily Picayune, the forebear of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which is the only daily newspaper serving the city today. In 1891, New Orleans's white population had regained power and developed a fondness for remembering the insurrection of 1874. The New York Times covered the story with the headline, lawless Louisiana. An estimated 88 percent of White League members had served in Louisiana regiments during the Civil War.
