Sheridan’s Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War

In the months leading up to the 1874 midterm elections, the White League, a racist vigilante organization, terrorized Louisiana, recounts former Wall Street Journal editor Cwiklik (House Rules) in this meticulous and propulsive blow-by-blow chronicle of the political violence and the federal government’s response. To prevent Black freedmen from being elected or reelected by majority Black populations, the White League sought to suppress Black voters and their white allies. Several massacres occurred; the largest were at Colfax and Coushatta, where more than 150 Black people were tortured and executed. In the wake of the election violence—which culminated with a White League coup attempt in New Orleans—President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched Civil War general Philip Sheridan to New Orleans, Vicksburg, and other restive locales (the White League had inspired copycat groups across the Deep South) on an undercover mission. Claiming to be on his way to vacation in Cuba, Sheridan was tasked to “devise a plan for dealing with the new paramilitary threat.” His telegrams, which described white “terrorism” in the region, were leaked to the press, causing a scandal. Cwiklik’s narrative seamlessly moves between developments in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, while bringing into focus other events, including a state visit by the king of Hawaii, that shed light on contemporary attitudes regarding race and governance. Readers will be engrossed. (Jan.)