The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-04-26
Grant Par1sh---Omcial Report,

Ne" orleans "RepuDllcan OF the 18th
inst. We omit the list of names of
killed and wounded.
The steamer B. L. Hodge, which ar
rived in this city yesterday afternoon,
brought back to the city Colonel T. W.
Deklyne and Colonel William Wright,
OF General LOngstreet's staff, who had
been sent on the Saturday previous to
investigate the troubles in Grant parish.
We publish below the official report
of these officers to the Adjutant General
OF the State:
HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION
Louisiana State National Guard,
49, New Orleans, April It, 1873
Brigadier General Henry Street, Adjutant
GENERAL-In obedience to special or
der No. %, current series, Adiutant
Generals office, the undersigned off
GERS left New Orleans on Saturday,
April 10, instant, to proceed to Colfax,
Grant parish.
We reached Pineville, opposite Alex
andria, at about $3.50 A. NJ, on Monday,
the fourteenth instant, where we were
informed that q severe action had taken
place at CO1faX the day before (Sunday):
that from $50 to 200 colOred men had
been killed; that two white men, named
SNtH SAANA AAtAA . SlC "OU1lNtCOS JIlC
former mOrtally, and that Colfax, or
part of it, had been burned.
Upon crossing the river to Alexandria
we become cOgnizant of the existence
OF a violent, though suppressed popular
excitement. Numbers of men from the
parish Of Rapides had participated in
the struggle, and were now returning to
Alexandria. Parish officials expressed
themselves as apprehensive of an out
break in Alexandria, directed against
the colOred men and the officials hold
ing office under the administration of
Governor Kellogg. We were urged
to procure the presence of troops as
speedily as possible. Attempts had been
made to induce MI. De Lacy, the sheriff
OF Rapldes, to go to Grant parish, and
failing, the person claiming to have been
elected sheriff on the Fusion ticket &C
companied the party that went from
Alexandria.
Weleft Alexandria at abOut11:3OA A. NJ.
During our stay there mounted men
We're constantly crossing the river, COM
ing from the direction of Colfax, and
just as we left party of twenty, mount
ed, and armed apparently with shot
guns, crossed the river in a body.
believing that COlfax was DESTROYED,
and as we could not reach there before
dark, on our arrival at COtile we
deemed it eXpedfent to remain there for
the night. Everything in this vicinity
appeared perfectly quiet and peaceful.
Having secured an ambulance, we
crossed the river into Grant parish ear
Iy on the morning of Tuesday, the fif-
teenth instant, and started for COlfax,
distant about fifteen miles, We found
the parish in a most d~eplorable state.
Tho aEnnS n no hAinrr vr~Joo+,1
the residents, both white and colOred,
have left their homes, and a general
SENSE Of insecurity prevails, which we
are satisfied can only be removed by the
presence of troops.
About One-thlrd of a mile below the
courthouse We came upon a party of
cOlOred mel and women carrying away
a wounded cOlOred man upon a sled.
At a little distance in the field were the
dead bodies Of two colored men. About
two hundred yards nearer the court
house were three dead bodies of colored
men, and from that point to the court
house and its vicinity the ground was
thlckly strewn with dead. We were
unable to find the body of a single white
man, or to ascertain the loss of the
whites. COlored women assert that
two wagon loads Of whites, dead and
wounded, were carried away, but it is
perslstently denied by any of the whites
claiming to have knowledge of the ac-
tuaI loss, they asserting that but one
man Oh their side was killed, and Had
not and Harris We're wounded. We
may state here that Hadnot has since
died in Alexandria.
We send herewith a plan of the court
house and it's defenses. A space of
about 200 hundred yards square was
mclOsed in n slight earthwork, with
ditch inside. This ditch was from ten
to eighteen inches in depth, and the
breastWork in front of it from twenty
to thirty inches in height, and was pro
tected IN front by two and a half inch
planklng. On the lower side of the
courthouse the greater portion of the
breastWOrk was composed of planking
alone, laid in zig-zags and without
ditch.
From what information we could get.
we believe that the fight commenced
on Sunday, the thirteenth instant, be-
tween 10 and II A. NJ, and continued
until nearly dark. Of the numbers en-
gagged on either side it is impossible for
us to form any definite idea, though we
are satisfied that the parties holding
the courthouse were less In number
1ACSGA a. II Is dSSSILeu Nv
the eolored people that the assailants
consisted of parties from the parishes
of VIM, Rapides, NatchitOches, Cata-
houla and CaddO, in addition to those
from Grant, but they were either un-
able Or unwilling to give us the names
OF any PARTIES participating in the at
tack. This information, however, will
doubtless be obtained hereafter.
All statements that we have heard
agree substantially in the main particu-
lars. 1t is agreed that the attacking
party. was commanded by G.. G.. Nash.
and the assailed by a man named Lev,
Allen : that a surrender was demanded
and refused that the besieged were
given thirty minutes to remove their
women and children, and that at the
expiration of that time the fight was
commenced by the assailing party,
Appended hereto, and marked A, is the
statement OF a meeting between Column
bus =. Nash and Colonel DeKlyne.
The attacking party had In their DOS
session a small cannon. taken from the
steamboat John THMOore, from which
they fired bolts, a sample of which we
deposit in your Office. The besieged
had rugged up a couple of guns by fast
enlng lengths of gas pipe on rafter tim
bers, blocking up one end with o pine
plug and drilling a touch=hole. One of
these was bursted while trying it, some
days before the fight, and the other has
not the appearance Of having been used,
Some time during the afternoon the
besieged were drawn from the field and
from their breastworks into the court
house. One end of this building was
without windows, nor had the besieged
prepared .loopholes. A colored man
named Isaiah Atkins informed rs that