Alcibiades DeBlanc

Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc

(September 16, 1821 November 8, 1883) was a lawyer
and state legislator in Louisiana. He served as a Colonel
for the Confederate States Army during the American
Civil War. Afterward, he founded the Knights of the
White Camellia, a white insurgent militia that operated from 1867-69 to suppress freedmen's voting, disrupt Republican Party political organizing and try to
regain political control of the state government in the
1868 election.[1] A Congressional investigation overturned 1868 election results in Louisiana.

der in the former Confederate areas of Louisiana until

Union forces arrived.[2][3]

3 Knights of the White Camellia

DeBlanc was the founder and commander (from 18671868) of the Knights of the White Camellia. This was an
insurgent group founded to oppose the implementation of
Congressional Reconstruction in Louisiana; it was similar
to chapters of Ku Klux Klan and later paramilitary groups
in Louisiana and other states. The goal of the Knights of
the White Camellia was victory for the Democratic party,
by whatever means necessary, in the presidential election
of November 1868. This was achieved. More votes were
counted for the Democratic candidate, Horatio Seymour,
than there were registered Democratic voters in the state.
Due to the widespread violence and intimidation tactics
against blacks in the eort to suppress freedmen's voting,
in addition to electoral fraud, a congressional investigation resulted in overturning the results of the 1868 election in Louisiana.

But DeBlanc continued to oppose the Reconstruction effort; he was inuential in commanding 600 men to oppose
the disputed election of Governor William Pitt Kellogg
in 1874 and try to seat the Democrats. He was briey
arrested and held by US Marshals. In 1876 he was appointed by Democratic governor Francis T. Nicholls as a
Louisiana Supreme Court Justice after white Democrats
regained political control in the state.[1]

Early life and family

The Knights of the White Camellia were no longer acJean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc was
tive after the 1868 election, but other paramilitary groups
born in 1821 in St. Martinville, Louisiana. He had French
arose to carry on an insurgency with the goal of regainancestors, whose descendants had been in Louisiana since
ing political control. The White League in Louisiana and
the early colonial period.
the Red Shirts and White-Liners in Mississippi used similar intimidation tactics in the 1870s against Republicans.
Elections were surrounded by violence and fraud.

Civil war

DeBlanc also continued to oppose the Reconstruction effort; he was inuential in commanding 600 men to oppose
the disputed election of Governor William Kellogg in
1874. His forces were among thousands of armed white
militia in what was called the Battle of Liberty Place who
opposed Metropolitan troops in New Orleans, then the
seat of government. They took control of the legislature
and major buildings for three days before retreating in advance of federal troops. DeBlanc was briey arrested and
held by US Marshals but was never charged. He was considered a hero and known as the King of the Cadiens
(Acadians). [1]

A lawyer and former state legislator, DeBlanc enlisted

June 19, 1861 at Camp Moore, Louisiana. He was captain of Company C in the Eighth Louisiana Infantry,
which became attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. He was promoted to major in 1862 and then lieutenant colonel at Fredericksburg, Virginia on April 6,
1863. He was captured at Banks Ford May 4, 1863 and
paroled at Old Capitol Prison in Washington a short time
later.
He was present at the Battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863
where he assumed command of a regiment when the regiments commander was killed. He suered an arm wound
and was promoted to the rank of colonel July 2, 1863 by
President Jeerson Davis. Upon returning to Louisiana
in 1864, he commanded Confederate reserve troops at
Natchitoches. He surrendered to Union General Francis
Herron in June 1865 and aided Herron in maintaining or-

In 1876 DeBlanc was appointed by Democratic governor

Francis T. Nicholls as a Louisiana Supreme Court Justice after white Democrats regained political control in
the state.[1] Federal troops were withdrawn the following
year.[4] He served until 1879, when a new constitution
was passed changing the structure of the court. DeBlanc
returned to St. Martinville, St. Martin Parish.
1

Death

He died in 1883 at the age of nearly 62.

References

[1] Obituary: Gen. Alcibiade DeBlanc, New York Times,

10 November 1883
[2] Andrew Booth, compiler, Records of Louisiana confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands (New
Orleans: no publisher, 1920)p. 572
[3] Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc, Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, published by the
Louisiana Historical Association in cooperation with
the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of
Louisiana-Lafayette, 1988. See page 222.
[4] J. Dauphine, The Knights of the White Camellia in
Louisiana, 1867-1869, M.A. Thesis, University of
Louisiana-Lafayette, 1983.

REFERENCES

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