from Ketchie to Red Bluff crosses, where we took the direction of the latter place, marched two miles, and went into camp. Soon after dark, the deputy marshal made a request for a noncommissioned officer and seven men, which were given him, with which he proceeded to the vicinity of Dr. Fryerson's mill, about eight miles from my camp, and there made the arrest of three of the persons for whom warrants were issued. Having made the arrests, he returned to camp with detachment and prisoners, arriving there about 4 o'clock a. m. At 5 a. m. I started with the marshal for the house of John Fisher, a distance of two and a half miles, with a detachment of five men, but, upon arriving at his house, found that he had left suddenly the previous morning. I accompanied the marshal to make this arrest, because the report had reached us that Fisher, who was the prime mover in the murder, had declared his intention not to be arrested, and I desired to be present to direct matters in case of trouble or violence. We then returned to camp, and at 8 a. m. broke camp, and started on the march for Kingston and vicinity, where the remaining persons for whom warrants were held were supposed to live; but after marching about thirty-five miles in different direction, we went into camp near Emory's store, about twenty miles from Shreveport, on the road to Kingston, the parties for whom the marshal was in search having left their homes for parts unknown. The day following, December 2, being informed by the marshal that nothing further could be done, the command returned to camp. In no community where I have yet been have I found the condition of things as unfavorable as in the parish of De Soto. There seems to be a perfect condition of lawlessness, and the negroes are in a continual state of terror, and hopeless as to their prospect of obtaining justice from the parish court. The whites, as far as I could learn, are members of the White League, and are bitter in their enmity to the blacks, and unquestionably intend to adhere to the resolution of the league, entered into before the election, to drive out of the country, or kill if they remained, all colored citizens who voted the radical ticket. The murder of Alston is the first fruit of this determination, and unless the law takes prompt and severe action toward the murderers of this man, other crimes still more atrocious will unquestionably follow. I visited the scene of the Alston murder, and from all the circumstances in the case, am free to denounce it as one of the most barbarous and unwarranted murders which has ever come under my notice. The party which did the killing consisted of seven white men, armed and under the leadership of one John Fisher, acting as deputy constable, or sheriff of the parish, as he claimed. Alston was arrested by this party on his own premises, and being unarmed was in no way able to inflict harm upon the white men composing the party. Apparently without cause, they made an attack upon him and beat him over the head with a pistol, whereupon Alston, fearing he would be killed, started to run, but was overtaken while crossing the fence surrounding his lot, and struck on the head with an ax. Having recovered from the blow of the ax, he again ran for the woods a few hundred yards distant, but was again overtaken just as he got to the edge of the timber and shot dead, one shot taking effect in the head and the other in the neck. When shot he fell dead on his face, after which the body was turned upon its back and shot full of balls. A coroner's jury, composed of white men, sat upon the body and rendered a verdict to the effect that the man came to his death from gunshot wounds received at the hands of John Fisher, done in self-defense, or while in the legitimate discharge of his duty. The day following the murder, John Fisher collected a company of about sixty armed men and visited the vicinity of the murder for the purpose of intimidating the black people, and to deter them from taking revenge upon the white people of the neighborhood. The result was that many of the negroes took to the woods. No demonstration was made against the marshal, nor effort made to rescue the prisoners by any one. Much of my information as to the condition of De Soto Parish was received from a member of the White League, and is thoroughly reliable. From what I know of De Soto Parish I do not think arrests could be made by any United States officer unaccompanied by a military posse. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAS. M. BELL, First Lieutenant, Seventh Cavalry. COMMANDING OFFICER DISTRICT UPPER RED RIVER, (Through post headquarters.) Shreveport, La. [Indorsements.] (Forwarded by commmanding officer, Shreveport, La.) [Second indorsement.] HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT UPPER RED RIVER, Shreveport, December 13, 1874. Respectfully forwarded to headquarters Department of the Gulf. This report flatly contradicts the statement published in some of the New Orleans papers, as made officially to the State returning board, that the military in Bossier Parish interfered with the freedom of numerous whites on election day. I have no question this report is accurate in all particulars. LEWIS MERRILL, Major Seventh Cavalry, Commanding District. [Third indorsement.] HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, New Orleans, La., December 21, 1874. Respectfully forwarded to headquarters Division of the South, for the information of the division commander. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. W. T. SHERMAN, General. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT UPPER RED RIVER, SIR: The disturbed condition of affairs in this district is likely to be so much aggravated by the state of things hereinafter referred to that it becomes necessary to report the facts, and ask that the attention of the proper departments of the National and State governments be given them promptly, with a view, if possible, to prevent the mischief threatening to result. While the military have no immediate concern with what is being done, and no authority in the premises, it promises to complicate very seriously the duty put upon them, and to add such grave difficulties to those already existing that no time should be lost in having the proper civil officers urged to take legal action to correct it. There is no civil functionary of the United States now here who could act in the matter. The only United States commissioner within reach is worthless and ignorant of his duty. The State laws in this parish have little show of execution, and practically afford no relief for persecuted negroes, while in De Soto there is no more law in force than is convenient to use in robbing a negro of his year's earnings, or in shielding a party of brutal murderers by holding a sham inquest on the body of their victim, and pronouncing a cruel and bloody murder justifiable homicide. There is therefore no local civil remedy. It will become necessary for the higher civil functionaries of the State and United States to act. Before the late election, the white people generally of this parish and De Soto endeavored to control the colored vote by threatening to deprive of homes and labor all negroes who did not vote as they might dictate. This threat, coupled with the turbulent violence of language and conduct habitual with the political leaders of the whites during the political canvass and closely imitated by many of their followers, had, in considerable measure, the effect intended. Many negroes voted as required to, and a still larger number did not vote at all; but great numbers in both parishes refused to yield, and voted the so-called radical ticket. At most of the polling-places outside of the town, lists were kept of those who voted in that way, and these lists have since been printed and distributed among the planters with a view to carrying out the threat. I have had occasion several times in my previous reports to say that I believe it was the fixed purpose of the majority of the whites in this section to compel the radical leaders to leave the country. I have had Do occasion as yet to modify this belief. I believe nothing less will content the leaders, and that they well enough control the followers to secure this end. But the great mass of the radical voters being the common laborers of the country, though they were threatened with proceedings which would drive out of the country them also, I supposed until recently would not be seriously disturbed in this way. It now seems that even self-interest will not control the blind passion and intolerance of these people, and that they seriously contemplate driving away all the negroes who voted the radical ticket, so far as this can be accomplished by carrying out the agreement which they entered into before the election. A good deal of this has been going on ever since the election, but, until recently, the cases which came to my knowledge, although very numerous, had appearance of being prompted chiefly by greed, being generally accompanied by the plundering of the negro of pretty much all of his possessions, usually under some form of legal authority, but rarely with any show of justice. This gave me the im pression that the agreement was being used only as a cloak and excuse for robbery, and, while a serious evil, was not likely to become general. Within the last three, and especially last two, weeks, however, the cases have become so numerous, and occurring with persons who pecuniarily deal fairly with the negroes, that I am satisfied there is to be a general turning adrift of all negroes who voted the radical ticket. Two meetings that I know of have been held, where it was resolved to do this. Other similar meetings are stated to have been held. Within the last week two committees of negroes from De Soto Parish, one from the eastern side and one from the northwest side, have come to me to state the facts and ask advice. Individual negroes in numbers have come from other parts of that parish and from the southern end of this one, with the same statements. It has become evident that the movement is general and extensive. The facts, as I learn them from them and from other sources, I believe to be as follows: Extensive organizations of white people were made before the elec tion, who agreed and pledged themselves to the effect that they would not renew contracts of labor or leases of land or houses on any terms with any negro who voted the radical ticket; that they would not give employment or leases to any such who were driven away from others: that they would not trade with, countenance, or have any relations with any merchant who traded with persons who refused to come into this agreement; that they would not hold any relations with any planter or employer of labor who refused to join in this agreement. These organizations practically cover the whole of De Soto Parish and the southern end of Caddo, and exist extensively in the west of Caddo, including this town. They exist extensively elsewhere in the district; but of other places, from insufficient information, I do not now speak. Persons who have not seen the social ostracism practiced by these people upon any one who is independent enough to assert his right to do his own thinking can form little idea of the tremendous pressure which is brought to bear upon the unwilling by a general agreement of the kind noted. Indeed, the tyranny and intolerance of the few violent leaders is so great that few have the moral courage to stand out against it in anything, and the effect is that they rule the whole community with a rod of iron. From this it comes that such agreements, when once begun in any neighborhood, soon compelled every white man to join in them. This agreement is now being carried out, in many cases, beyond doubt, unwillingly, which, however, only proves how strong the pressure is. The result is that already there are very many negroes driven from their present homes, and the number is daily and very rapidly increas ing. The statement is uniform that they are told that they must go because they voted the radical ticket at the election, and that every ap plication for a lease or employment from others is met at once by the inquiry, "How did you vote?" and the statement that no radical shall find a home or employment in this country. From the information I now have, I think it is a moderate estimate to state at over five hundred the number of families in this and De Soto Parish who are now driven out for this cause and wandering in search of new homes. I have no doubt, indeed, that the number by this time greatly exceeds that given. These families will probably average four persons each, which makes, men, women, and children, more than two thousand persons in this small section who are homeless wanderers, and by far the larger part of whom have insufficient food and clothing at ordinary times, and are now on the verge of starvation, so far as their own means are concerned. When it is considered that this is midwinter, that few have any means of going anywhere away from where they are, and none any place they can go to, it is easily seen what must result. The negroes who have sought me for advice, especially the more intelligent ones, feel and speak very bitterly of the inhumanity and injustice shown them, and it is very evident that a deep feeling of resentment is being roused, which will easily run into a spirit of revenge. The greater the number of such cases becomes, and the longer they wander about, seeking in vain for labor and homes, the worse the matter becomes. The best that can happen will be a frightful amount of suffer ing, inevitably accompanied by crime, chiefly thefts, and it is gravely to be apprehended that more serious disorders will be the result. These homeless negroes will naturally drift together. The white people are not slow, as the past has shown, to set afloat inflammatory rumors of intentious of organized violence on the part of the negroes, and where the revolver and mob-law are the common resort in such cases, as they usually have been here, disorders more or less extensive are certain to result, if some preventive is not found for such a state of things. It is impossible for any appreciable number of these people to go else. where where they could find homes and labor, and it is needless to dilate upon the certain consequences of such a number becoming for an indefinite time practically vagrants. The remedy, I have no doubt, is simple enough if it can be applied. In by far the larger part of these cases the acts of the whites are in violation of the express provisions of both national and State law. The State laws on this subject are a dead letter here. Where the organized butchery of half a dozen unarmed and defenseless men is perpetrated, as in this parish, in the case of the Coushatta prisoners, and hardly a voice raised even to condemn it, and where, as in De Soto in the Alston case, a deliberately-planned and cold-blooded murder is committed and glozed over by a sham inquest as justifiable homicide, it would be too much to expect that the venial offense of harassing a few hundred negroes into starvation and crime because of their political opinions would be either prevented or punished by any local authority. As for the violation of the national law in this matter, there is, as before stated, no commissioner here who knows his duty or dares discharge it. Under these circumstances the only persons who can act are the officers of the Federal courts at New Orleans. If a dozen of the principal actors in this matter were indicted by the grand jury, now, as I understand, in session, or if even preliminary proceedings looking to that were had, I have no doubt it would break up and stop the whole thing. I am confident that many of the planters would be only too glad of an excuse to rid themselves of the tyrannical interference of these self-constituted managers of other men's business. Some of them are driving away men whom they have had working on their places for five years, in one instance one who, slave and free, has lived with and worked for his present employer forty years. It cannot be that this is done otherwise than reluctantly, and indeed a number of the negroes have stated that this reluctance was freely expressed. I see no other remedy than the one suggested. People who permit their own opinions and actions to be dominated and controlled by the blatant demagogues who propose to remedy the evils of bad government by denying to their political opponents even the right to earn an honest livelihood, are not likely to be reached and influenced except by enforcement of the laws they are defying. In my view, the timely action of |