The Louisiana legislature had earlier passed a bill that mandated earlier than scheduled municipal elections in New Orleans. Governor James Wells, worried about what he called bluntly "a subsidized scum" influencing the election with violence in a county that comprised half the state's electorate, vetoed the measure. The Republican went on to recommend that holding elections on the scheduled date would provide more time for calm and reform of what he saw as a tempestuous, and pro-Democrat political situation. The Louisiana legislature promptly over-rode the veto and the election took place on March 12, 1866. (By John Osborne)
"Louisiana," The American Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1866 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 447-448.
