The Civil War and its aftermath

During the American Civil War the strategic location of the city was inadequately appreciated by the Confederate military. The Union fleet of Admiral David Farragut was able to capture New Orleans in April 1862. The city was placed under the military command of General Benjamin Butler, and city officials were removed from office. Although Butler was replaced as commander by Nathaniel Banks by the end of 1862, his brief regime became infamous in local history for his roughshod handling of the population.

During the period of Reconstruction, 1865–77, racial tensions ran high. “Scalawags” (white Southerners who cooperated with Republican forces) and “carpetbaggers” (Northerners accused of exploiting the situation for personal gain) cooperated to gain political control of the city and state, with the support of Black voters. By 1872 amnesty had been granted to the ex-Confederates, and the municipal government returned to traditional white control, although the state government and the city police force remained under Radical Republican control until 1877.

In the 1880s the debt of $24 million, incurred under carpetbag regimes, increased steadily with each subsequent administration. This municipal debt had to be paid before the city could undertake any new bond issues for sorely needed municipal improvements. In the last 20 years of the 19th century, therefore, New Orleans made limited, though steady, progress. Between 1840 and 1900 it had dropped from 3rd to 12th place in national rank, although its population had increased to 287,104.

Yellow fever was sharply curtailed after the Civil War and was finally eradicated by 1906. By the early 20th century the river steamboats, unable to compete with railroads, disappeared; the Port of New Orleans, attracting less railroad freight than Eastern ports, reached a low ebb shortly before World War I. With the development of towboats and barges large enough to hold almost an entire trainload of cargo, however, the port grew to be second in the nation after World War II. Substantial progress, at least in physical improvements, came to the city in the 1950s. During the administration of Mayor DeLesseps S. Morrison, a vast railroad consolidation program was achieved and a new railroad terminal constructed. Streets were widened, railroad ground crossings were spanned with overpasses, and a civic centre, which includes the 11-story City Hall, was built.

Also in the 1950s, petrochemical industries began locating in New Orleans, followed in the 1970s by oil refineries. The 1984 Louisiana World Exposition revitalized the warehouse district but was a financial disaster. In the mid-1980s the local oil industry went bust, and the city’s fortunes began to decline. Movement of middle-class citizens to the suburbs, which had begun in the ’60s, continued in earnest. High rates of crime in general and murder in particular and police corruption characterized the city into the mid-1990s; subsequently, however, the situation improved considerably, buoyed by a strong tourism-based economy.

The 2005 hurricanes caused an unprecedented disaster for the city and surrounding communities. Although some wards, notably the Vieux Carré, escaped the most serious damage, large areas were completely destroyed, and a great many buildings left standing after the storm’s initial onslaught were rendered unusable by the severity of the subsequent widespread flooding. The extent of the devastation forced the bulk of the population to find temporary housing elsewhere for varying lengths of time, and some chose not to return. As cleanup operations got underway, many questions arose about how New Orleans would be rebuilt.