The New Orleans riot of July 30, 1866 began when thugs, many of them Confederate veterans, descended on the city’s Mechanics Institute to oppose a convention of Blacks and Whites called to amend the state’s harsh Black Codes. Aided by firemen and police, the Rebs shot at delegates marching to the meeting then broke into the building to attack the attendees already inside. Thirty-seven of the delegates were killed, three of them White. During a hearing on the event, the 39th Congress determined that in addition to the deaths, hundreds more had been injured.
