Original sentence: In Colfax, fearing a white Democratic take-over of parish government, freedmen and state militia, also African-American, tried to defend the courthouse after Republicans took office.In the wake of a contested election for Governor and local offices, whites armed with rifles and a small cannon overpowered freedmen and African-American state militia trying to control the parish  courthouse.The attack was the most violent example of turmoil following the contest in 1872 between Republicans and Democrats for the Louisiana Governor's office, in which both candidates claimed victory.The prisoners were told they were going to be taken to a local jail, but later that night they were killed
Edited sentence: "The organization against them is too strong."They attempted [armed self-defense] in Colfax...." Louisiana black teacher and legislator John G.18-20<ref>.<ref>Nicholas Lemann, Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, New York: Farrar Strauss & Giroux, paperback, 2007, p.Among blacks, the incident was long remembered as proof that in any large confrontation, they stood at a fatal disadvantage.In Colfax, fearing a white Democratic take-over of parish government, freedmen and state militia, also African American, tried to defend the courthouse after Republicans took office.In the wake of a contested election for governor and local offices, whites armed with rifles and a small cannon overpowered freedmen and African-American state militia trying to control the parish  courthouse.Lewis later remarked.The attack was the most violent example of turmoil following the contest in 1872 between Republicans and Democrats for the Louisiana governor's office, in which both candidates claimed victory.The bloodiest single instance of racial carnage in the Reconstruction era, the Colfax massacre taught many lessons, including the lengths to which some opponents of Reconstruction would go to regain their accustomed authority.The prisoners were told they were going to be taken to a local jail, but later that night they were murdered.The result was that on Easter Sunday of 1873, when the sun went down that night, it went down on the corpses of two hundred and eighty negroes