Video: 'The Horrifying True Story Behind the Colfax Massacre | True Crime Stories'

(Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, approximately 12:30 p.m. local time; during the Colfax massacre, part of the Reconstruction Era) — A mob of former Confederate soldiers and Ku Klux Klan members killed an estimated 62-153 black militiamen occupying the Grant Parish, Louisiana, courthouse today over a contested gubernatorial election.

After the contested 1872 election for governor of Louisiana and local offices, a group of white men armed with rifles and a small cannon overpowered black freedmen and state militia occupying the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax.

Video: 'THE COLFAX MASSACRE 1873'

Most of the freedmen were killed after surrendering, and nearly another 50 were killed later that night after being held as prisoners for several hours.

Estimates of the number of dead have varied over the years, ranging from 62 to 153; three whites died but the number of black victims was difficult to determine because many bodies were thrown into the Red River or removed for burial, possibly at mass graves.

Historian Eric Foner described the massacre as the worst instance of racial violence during Reconstruction.