Year: 1873

The COlfax Horror.


COLONEL T. w. DEKbYNE and Colonel
William Wright, of General Longstreet's
staff, who had been sent to investigate the
troubles in Grant Parish, have made an
official report to the Adjutant General Of
Louisiana. From this report we take the
following:


We crossed the river into Grant Parish carly
on the morning OF Tuesday, the 10Th inst, and
started for Colfax, distant about fifteen miles.
We found the parish in a most deplorable state.
The crops are being neglected, many Of the res
idents, both white and eolored, have left their
homes, and general sense of insecurity pre-
walls, which we are satisfied can only be re-
moved by the presence Of troops


About one-third of mile below the Court
House we came upon party of colored men
and women carrying away wounded COlOred
man upon 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 thickly sttewn with
dead. We were unable TO find the body of q
single white man or to ascertain the loss of the
whites. Coored women assert that two wagon
loads OF whites, dead and wounded, were car
ried away, but 1t is persistently denied by any
OF the whites claiming to have any knowledge
of the actual loss, they asserting that but one
man on their side was killed, and Hadnot and
Harris were wounded. We may state here that
Hadnot has since died in Alexandria


We send herewith plan of the Court House
and its defenses space Of about 200 yards
square was inclosed in a slight earthwork, with
a 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 protected in front by two and
a half inch planking. On the lower side OF the
he for rti - bo ~
work was composed Of planking alone, laid in
zigzags and without ditch


From what Information we could get we be-
lieve that the fight commenced on Sunday, the
18th inst, between 10 and IL a. m, and con-
tinued until nearly dark OF the numbers en-
gagged on either side it is impossible for us to
form any definite idea, though we were satisfied
that the parties holding the Court House were
less in number than their assailants 1t is as
serted by the colored people that the assaiants
consisted Of parties from the parishes of Winn,
Rapides, Natchitoches, Catahoula and Caddo
in addition to those from Grant, but they were
either unable or unwilling to give us the names
of any parties participating in the attack. This
information, however, will doubtless be OBJ
tanned hereafter.


All statements that we have heard agree sub
stantially in the main particulars. 1t is agreed
that the attacking party was commanded by
Z. Z. Nash, and the assailed by man named
Lev Allen; that 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 attacking
party. Appended hereto, and marked A, is the
statement of q meeting between Columbus c.
Nash and Colonel DeKlyne.


The attacking party had in their possession
a small cannon, taken from the steamboat John
I. Moore, from which they fred bolts, a sam
pie of which we deposit in your office. The
besieged had rugged up a couple of guns by
fastening lengths OF gas pipe on rafter timbers,
blocking up one end with pine plug and drill
ing 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 col
ored man named Isaiah Atkins informed us
that Mr.. Nash had forced a colored man call
ed Pink to come to this end of the building and
hold pine torch to the edge of the roof until
it caught fire. 1t is our opinion that few of
the colorcd men had been killed up to this
time, but that when forced by the fire to leave
the Court House they were shot down with
out mercy. The position and condition of
many of the bodies go far to prove this. I'm
der the warehouse, between the Court House
and the river were the dead bodies of six col





concealment, and were there shot like dogs.
Many were shot in the back of the head and
neck; one man still lay with his hands elapsed
in supplication; the face of another was com
pletely iattened by blows from n gun, the
broken stock of a double-barrel shotgun being
on the ground near him; another had been cut
across the stomach with a knife after being
shot; and almost all had from three to a dozen
wounds. Many of them had their brains liter
ally blown out II is asserted by the colored
people that after the fight thirty prisoners
who were taken before the burning of the
Court House, were taken to the river bank
two by two, executed and hurled into the
river. We caused to be buried in the ditch
near the ruins of the Court House the remains
of fifty-fo colored men, three of whom were
so badly burned as to be unrecognzable
There were inside the Conrt House the charred
bones of one other, and five bodies we gave to
their friends for intermeut elsewhere. We saw
also twelve wounded colored men, two of
whom will certainly die, and Others of whom
are very unlikely to recover


The names of the killed and wounded are
hereto appended, marked b.


We are informed that since the fight parties
of armed men have been securing the country
surrounding Colfax, taking the mules and
other property Of the colored people.


Since writing the above report we have seen
on board the steamboat the colored man Lev
Allen, who commanded the party holding the
Court House. He assures us that not a single
colored man was killed or wounded until after
their surrender, and that they were shot down
without mercy. We will obtain his sworn
statement hereafter.


On our return TO Alexandria yesterday we
were again implored by citizens TO have troops
sent there at once as the only means of avert
ing disturbance.