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The Coushatta Massacre (1874) was the result of an attack by the White League, a paramilitary organization composed of white Southern Democrats, on Republican officeholders and freedmen in Coushatta, the parish seat of Red River Parish, Louisiana. They assassinated six white Republicans and five to 20 freedmen who were witnesses.〔(Danielle Alexander, "Forty Acres and a Mule: The Ruined Hope of Reconstruction", ''Humanities'', January/February 2004, Vol.25/No.1. Her article says 20 freedmen were killed. ), accessed 14 Apr 2008〕〔Nicholas Lemann, ''Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War'', New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006, p.76-77. His book says five freedmen were killed.〕 The White League had organized to drive out Republicans from Louisiana, disrupt their political organizing, and intimidate or murder freedmen to restore white supremacy.〔Eric Foner, ''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877'', New York: Perennial Classics, 2002, p.550〕 Like the Red Shirts and other "White Line" organizations, they were described as "the military arm of the Democratic Party." ==Background== In the period after the American Civil War, Marshall H. Twitchell, a Union veteran from Vermont who had led United States Colored Troops, came to Red River Parish, Louisiana to become an agent for the Freedmen's Bureau, having passed the administrative examination. He married Adele Coleman, a young local woman. Her family taught him about cotton farming. In 1870, Twitchell was elected as a Republican to the Louisiana State Senate. He appointed his brother and three brothers-in-law (the latter natives of the parish) to local positions, including sheriff, tax assessor and clerk of court. Twitchell worked to promote education and to extend public representation and civil rights to the former slaves, known as freedmen.〔 The White League arose in the Red River valley in 1874, first in Grant Parish and nearby parishes. It was a group of Confederate veterans whose stated purpose was "the extermination of the carpetbag element" and restoration of white supremacy. Most had been with the white militias that had taken part in the Colfax Massacre, but units later arose in other communities across the state. Unlike the secret Ku Klux Klan, the White League operated openly and were more organized. They intended to overturn Republican rule. They targeted local Republican officeholders for assassination, disrupted political organizing, and terrorized freedmen and their allies. One historian described them as "the military arm of the Democratic Party."〔George C. Rable, ''But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction'', Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984, p. 132〕 In Coushatta, the White League criticized Republican leadership. Members publicly accused Twitchell and his brothers-in-law of inciting what they termed "a black rebellion." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Coushatta massacre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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