Following failed negotiations, Republican forces led by former Confederate General James Longstreet and Metropolitan Police "General" Algernon Badger moved several thousand men into position on the downtown side of Canal Street. Badger commanded hundreds of Metropolitan Police, along with 12-pound cannons and Gatling guns, in a location between the Customs House and the levee.
The White League paramilitary forces assembled uptown and hoped to lure Republican forces from their positions at the edge of the French Quarter. Shouted taunts, snipers and a quick attack and retreat failed to entice Longstreet into an advance.
Captain Macheca's Company B of Second Regiment "Louisiana's Own" made the decisive move. Using an approaching train as cover, Macheca's 300 men (the roster of his Company B at Jackson Barracks Military Museum lists only 120) advanced along the levee and flanked Badger's position.
As Company B swarmed in from the levee, most of Badger's men fled back into the French Quarter. Badger himself fell wounded and was protected from further injury by Macheca and his men. (Some wished to hang the wounded Badger as a traitor.)
Though Republican positions melted away into the French Quarter, the White League did not pursue. The White League victory was not complete until the following morning, Sept. 15, when White League Colonel Angell began to probe across Canal Street. In the French Quarter, Macheca's men were found to be in possession of key Republican positions, thousands of seized weapons and two artillery pieces, and hundreds of surrendered prisoners.
Democratic forces retained control only for a short time, as President Grant moved the federal military into the area to support the return of the Republican government. White League supporters, viewing the conflict in New Orleans as a battle against oppression, later named the fight, "the Battle of Liberty Place."
A number of Macheca's men later became key figures in the New Orleans Sicilian business community and the Sicilian underworld organization.
Read more about the Battle of Liberty Place and the early days of the American Mafia in New Orleans - Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia
