| dc.description.abstract | The 7th Cavalry Regiment participated in Reconstruction during two of its most critical phases. Companies from the regiment were deployed to South Carolina, from 1871-73, to conduct the federal government's campaign to eradicate the Ku Klux Klan and to Louisiana, from 1874-76, in an effort to protect the legally-elected state government against White League depredations. In both cases, the regiment carried out the federal government's Reconstruction policies under the Enforcement Acts and operated against two distinct white supremacist organizations intent on using racial terrorism to end the Republican party's dominance in state politics. As a result of these unique experiences, the 7th Cavalry presents an invaluable lens through which to evaluate how Reconstruction, and the Army's role in it, evolved during the early 1870s as the federal government moved from aggressive enforcement of its policies to acquiescence in the face of Conservative white opposition. In particular, careful examination of the regiment's performance of its duties offer indications of the effectiveness of military intervention in civil affairs and demonstrate whether or not the Army could have protected the new social and political order created in the South under Reconstruction. In suppressing racial terror and upholding African-American civil and political rights, this dissertation concludes that the 7th Cavalry performed its mission professionally and effectively throughout both of its Southern tours, but especially in South Carolina where it helped eradicate the Ku Klux Klan as an active opponent of Reconstruction. In late-Reconstruction Louisiana, however, the regiment confronted new circumstances that mitigated its effectiveness. These included deeply partisan state authorities who frequently manipulated the application of military force to suit their own particular agendas, an Army headquarters opposed to further military intervention in Louisiana affairs, and rapidly diminishing popular support for Reconstruction within the U.S. electorate. | en |
