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Christopher Columbus Nash

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christopher Columbus Nash
Sheriff of Grant Parish, Louisiana
In office
1873–Unknown
Personal details
Born(1838-07-01)July 1, 1838
Sabine Parish, Louisiana
US
Diedafter 1922
Political partyFusionist/Democratic Party
SpouseMalinda Williams Nash
Parent(s)Valentine and Mary Anderson Nash
OccupationMerchant; law-enforcement officer
founder of the white league

Christopher Columbus Nash (July 1, 1838 – June 29, 1922) was a Louisiana merchant and Democratic sheriff.[1] In 1873, Nash led a company of white militiamen in the Colfax Massacre to take the courthouse in Colfax, from armed African-Americans.[2] Three white men were killed; the number of African-Americans killed is estimated to have been between 60 and 150.[2][3]

Nash participated in the formation of the White League,[4] a white supremacist organization that claimed to defend a "hereditary civilization and Christianity menaced by a stupid Africanization".[5] He was later buried in Natchitoches, Louisiana.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Nash, Christopher Columbus". A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (lahistory.org). Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Danny (April 13, 2016). "The 1873 Colfax Massacre Crippled the Reconstruction Era". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  3. ^ A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, in its article on Nash, uses these sources: Milton Dunn, Christopher Columbus Nash (1925), Mabel Fletcher Harrison and Lavinia McGuire McNeely, Grant Parish, Louisiana: A History (1969), and Manie White Johnson, "The Colfax Riot of April, 1873," Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIII (1930).
  4. ^ James K. Hogue The Battle of Colfax: Paramilitarism and Counterrevolution in Louisiana (June 2006), p. 21
  5. ^ Adolph Reed Jr., "The battle of Liberty Monument – New Orleans, Louisiana white supremacist statue", The Progressive, June 1993, accessed 18 May 2010
  6. ^ "American Cemetery". ruscahouse.com. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
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