The cause of the Battle of Liberty Place was the result of several years of the troubled Reconstruction period, the coerced adoption of the 14
th Amendment, and the stealing of elections and the injustices of the carpetbag regime forced upon Louisiana by the Federal authorities. In particular, the usurpation of the State government in 1873 by Governor William Pitt Kellog and his “Custom House gang” contributed significantly to the events that led up to the battle.
Even today, when these nearly forgotten events are mentioned, they inevitably stir emotions that run almost as deep as those of more than one hundred years ago. Whether the Battle of Liberty Place is more akin to what transpired at Lexington and Concord or at Ft. Sumter remains the subject of heated debate. Were the men memorialized by the Liberty Place monument patriots or traitors?
About the Author
Stuart Omer Landry, one-time owner and publisher of Pelican, felt very strongly about the Battle of Liberty Place. Regarding the book he compiled on the subject, Landry wanted readers to bear in mind that “the author’s idea is to include all the material relating to the Battle of the Fourteenth that he could find. He is not trying to condense it, to describe the day’s events in a few words or to paraphrase or digest the words of others. His aim is to ‘gather’ the writings and statements made by the participants and the journalists of the time, and to let the story tell itself.”
BATTLE OF LIBERTY PLACE
The Overthrow of Carpet-bag Rule in New Orleans—September 14, 1874
By Stuart Omer Landry
HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
276 pp. 8 1/4 x 11
Illustrations Photos Bibliography Index
ISBN: 9781565544321 pb (F)