April 13, 1873
The Colfax massacre, in which more than 60 African Americans were murdered, took place. In the wake of the contested 1872 election for governor of Louisiana and local offices, a group of white Democrats, armed with rifles and a small cannon, overpowered Republican freedmen and state militia (also black) trying to control the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax. Most of the freedmen were killed after they surrendered.
