In 1875 the city government of Vicksburg and the state government of Louisiana were overturned by the whites, but General Sheridan at once intervened to put back the Negroes and carpetbaggers.

He suggested to President Grant that the conservatives be declared "banditti" and he would make himself responsible for the rest.

As soon as a State showed signs of going over to the Democrats or an important election was lost by the radicals, one House or the other of Congress in many instances sent an investigation committee to ascertain the reasons.

The Committees on the Condition of the South or on the Late Insurrectionary States were nearly always ready with reports to establish the necessity of intervention.
Besides the army there was in every state a powerful group of Federal officials who formed a "ring" for the direction of all good radicals.
These marshals, deputies, postmasters, district attorneys, and customhouse officials were in close touch with Washington and frequently dictated nominations and platforms.

At New Orleans the officials acted as a committee on credentials and held all the state conventions under their control in the customhouse.
Such was the machinery used to sustain a party which, with the gradual defection of the whites, became throughout the South almost uniformly black.