Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc (September 16, 1821November 8, 1883) was a lawyer and state legislator in Louisiana. He served as a colonel for the

Confederate army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Afterward, he founded the

Knights of the White Camelia The Knights of the White Camelia was an American political terrorist organization that operated in the Southern United States in the late 19th century. Similar to and associated with the Ku Klux Klan, it supported white supremacy and opposed free ...

, a white insurgent militia that operated from 1867-69 to suppress

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

's voting, disrupt Republican Party political organizing and try to regain political control of the state government in the 1868 election."Obituary: Gen. Alcibiade DeBlanc"
''New York Times'', 10 November 1883 A Congressional investigation overturned 1868 election results in Louisiana. But DeBlanc continued to oppose the Reconstruction effort; he was influential in commanding 600 men to oppose the disputed election of Governor

William Pitt Kellogg William Pitt Kellogg (December 8, 1830 – August 10, 1918) was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as a United States Senator from 1868 to 1872 and from 1877 to 1883 and as the Governor of Louisiana from 1873 to 1877 du ...

in 1874 and try to seat the Democrats. He was briefly arrested and held by U.S. Marshals. In 1876 he was appointed by Democratic governor

Francis T. Nicholls Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls (August 20, 1834January 4, 1912) was an American attorney, politician, judge, and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He served two terms as the 28th Governor of L ...

as a Louisiana Supreme Court Justice after white Democrats regained political control in the state.

Early life and family

Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc was born in 1821 in St. Martinville, Louisiana. He was the great-great-grandson of

Louis Juchereau de St. Denis Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis (September 17, 1676 – June 11, 1744) was a French-Canadian soldier and explorer best known for his exploration and development of the Louisiana (New France) and Spanish Texas regions. He commanded a small gar ...

, founder of

Natchitoches, Louisiana Natchitoches ( ; french: link=no, Les Natchitoches) is a small city and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named ...

. DeBlanc had French ancestors, whose descendants had been in Louisiana since the early colonial period.

Civil War

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 The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

in July, 1863 where he assumed command of a regiment when the regiment's commander was killed. He suffered an arm wound and was promoted to the rank of colonel July 2, 1863, by Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Upon returning to Louisiana in 1864, he commanded Confederate reserve troops at Natchitoches. He surrendered to Union General Francis J. Herron in June 1865 and aided Herron in maintaining order in the former Confederate areas of Louisiana until Union forces arrived."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.

Knights of the White Camelia

DeBlanc was the founder and commander (from 1867-1868) of the Knights of the White Camelia. This was an

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric na ...

group founded to oppose the implementation of Congressional Reconstruction in Louisiana; it was similar to chapters of

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

and later

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

groups in Louisiana and other states. The goal of the Knights of the White Camelia 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 effort to suppress

's voting, in addition to electoral fraud, a congressional investigation resulted in overturning the results of the 1868 election in Louisiana. The Knights of the White Camelia were no longer active after the 1868 election, but other paramilitary groups arose to carry on an insurgency with the goal of regaining political control. The

White League The White League, also known as the White Man's League, was a white paramilitary terrorist organization started in the Southern United States in 1874 to intimidate freedmen into not voting and prevent Republican Party political organizing. Its f ...

in Louisiana and the Red Shirts and White-Liners in Mississippi used similar intimidation tactics in the 1870s against Republicans. Elections were surrounded by violence and fraud. DeBlanc also continued to oppose the Reconstruction effort; he was influential 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 The Battle of Liberty Place, or Battle of Canal Street, was an attempted insurrection and coup d'etat by the Crescent City White League against the Reconstruction Era Louisiana Republican state government on September 14, 1874, in New Orleans ...

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 briefly arrested and held by US Marshals but was never charged. He was considered a hero and known as the "King of the Cadiens" (

Acadians The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...

). In 1877, DeBlanc was appointed by Democratic governor

as a Louisiana Supreme Court Justice after white Democrats regained political control in the state. Federal troops were withdrawn soon after.J. Dauphine, ''The Knights of the White Camellia in Louisiana, 1867-1869,'' M.A. Thesis, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, 1983. He served January 9, 1877, to April 5, 1880,''Celebration of the Centenary of the Supreme Court of Louisiana'' (March 1, 1913), in John Wymond, Henry Plauché Dart, eds., ''The Louisiana Historical Quarterly'' (1922), p. 121. his service being ended by the passage of a new constitution changing the structure of the court. DeBlanc returned to St. Martinville. He died in 1883 at the age of 62.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeBlanc, Alcibiades Confederate States Army officers 1821 births 1883 deaths Louisiana Democrats People from St. Martinville, Louisiana People from Franklin, Louisiana American white supremacists People of Louisiana in the American Civil War Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court Members of the Louisiana State Legislature Louisiana lawyers 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American judges American people of French descent