1888 Biography of Judge William R. Rutland (1836 - after 1910), Union Parish Louisiana Submitted by: T. D. Hudson Date of Submission: 12 May 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================== ================================================================================== 1888 Biography of Judge William R. Rutland (1836 - after 1910), Union Parish Louisiana From "A History of the Baptists of Louisiana From The Earliest Times to the Present", by Rev. W. E. Paxton, C. R. Barnes Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1888. ================================================================================== ================================================================================== [pages 563-566] Hon. WILLIAM R. RUTLAND - A prominent lawyer, and an active Baptist at Farmersville, La., Judge Rutland was born in Graves County, Kentucky, April 28th, 1836. His father having died in 1840, his mother married Col. Hardy Jackson in 1843, and in 1846 the family settled in what was then Claiborne (now Bienville) Parish. Young rutland labored on the farm of his step-father until 1854, at which time he was baptized into the church at Aurelia by Elder John Q. Burnett. In the winter of 1854 he returned to Kentucky, to go to school, and entered the Feliciana Academy. But on account of failing health he was compelled the following year to return South. After spending a short time at school in Arcadia, and in teaching a country school, he entered Mount Vernon University in 1856, wher he took an irregular course, and then engaged in teaching in Natchitoches Parish. He was married to Mrs. C. A. Montgomery, September 10th, 1858. In 1859 he began to study law in the office of Judge James G. Campbell. In 1861 he entered the Confederate Army as First Lieutenant in the Eleventh Louisiana Batallion, which was subsequently consolidated with the Crescent City Regiment. In the early part of 1865 he was discharged from the service on account of bad health, and returned home to begin life anew. He removed to the Gulf coast and began the practice of law at Lake Charles. During his stay at that place he oranized a Sunday-school. At that time the population was composed chiefly of Catholics, lumber-men and sailors. This Sunday-school was for that country a novelty, but it proved a success. He also hunted up a few scattered Baptists, and with the aid of Elder M. Scarborough and Nathan Smart, they were organized into a church. Elder R. F. Fancher and other ministers moved into the Parish about the same time, and churches enough were soon gathered to form Calcasieu Baptist Association. By 1869 his heath was restored, and he removed to Colfax, in Grant Parish, where he was soon appointed Judge. This Parish was in the hands of the negroes, whose numbers largely predominated; and the instincts of self-preservation solidified the white people of the whole Red River Valley, into one political party. Judge Rutland was the recognized leader of the white man's party in his parish. It was a struggle of intellience and property against ignorance, brutality and numbers. Under his leadership the whites succeeded in carrying the election in 1872. This so incensed the negroes that under the instigation of a few bad men they organized a rebellion against the newly elected authorities, to put them down by force. They seized the town of Colfax, and drove out the white people, except Judge Rutland, whom they held as a prisoner, closely guarded in his house, where he remained an anxious watcher by the corpse of one of his children, who had just died. He was compelled to listen to the curses of the brutal wretches who held him as a prisoner, and who made several demonstrations of violence. However, during the confusion occasioned by a report that they were soon to be attacked by the whites, Judge Rutland left the house with his family, being compelled to leave the body of their child behind, and entering a skiff crossed to the opposite side of the river. Here he placed his family on board a steamboat and sent them up to Montgomery, a place of security above, and himself took refuge in the house of a friend. This, however, he was compelled to abandon before morning, being threatened by negroes. in a day or two the whites had collected sufficient forces, and in company with Judge Rutland, under the lead of the Sheriff, re-entered Colfax, and after a stubborn resistance, in which several negroes and one white man were killed, the negroes were compelled to retire. Judge Rutland found his house completely sacked, and his poor dead child hurled into the street by the brutal savages who had held him prisoner. Such is the true history of the Colfax Riot, or "The Colfax Massacre," as it was falsly termed by partizan [sic] newspapers at the North. Judge Rutland was made the object of cruel persecution on the part of the corrupt radical leadersand to escape it, retired to Texas. He settled at Fort Worth, and engaged in teaching. He aided in organizing the First Baptist Church of that city. He remained there until 1874, when he returned to Louisiana and resumed the practice of law at Farmerville, his present place of residence. He soon identified himself prominently with the movements of the Baptists. In the fall of 1875 he was appointed one of the committee of fifteen by the Concord Association, with instructions to devise some plan for the establishment and maintenance of an institution of learningg, within the bounds of the association. The result was the establishment of the Concord Institute, at Shiloh. As chairman of the Executive Board of the STate Convention, in 1877, he did much to arouse the leading brethren to renewed labors. It was mainly through his influence that the present efficient evangelist was put in the field; and his suggestions have done much to give shape to the policy of the Board. Judge Rutland is yet in the prime of life, is a decided Baptist, and exercises a wide influence in the affairs of the Baptists of his State. ======================================================================================== File posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/union/bios/rutland-wr.txt ########################################################################################