But the black sheriff and his deputy were in turn arrested by the civil authorities.

The Negroes then organized for resistance, flocked into the county seat, and threatened to exterminate the whites and take possession of the county.

Their agents visited the plantations and forced the laborers to join them by showing orders purporting to be from General Swayne, the commander in the state, giving them the authority to kill all who resisted them.

Swayne, however, sent out detachments of troops and arrested fifteen of the ringleaders, and the League government collapsed.
After it was seen that existing political institutions were to be overturned in the process of reconstruction, the white councils of the League and, to a certain extent, the Negro councils were converted into training schools for the leaders of the new party soon to be formed in the state by act of Congress.

The few whites who were in control were unwilling to admit more white members to share in the division of the spoils; terms of admission became more stringent, and, especially after the passage of the reconstruction acts in March 1867, many white applicants were rejected.