John Edward Bouligny

Bouligny, who went by his middle name Edward, was born in New Orleans. He was son of Louisiana state Representative Louis Bouligny and Elizabeth Virginie D'Hauterive. His uncle, Charles Dominique Joseph Bouligny, had served one term as U.S. Senator from Louisiana in the 1820s and his grandfather, Francisco Bouligny, was a high-ranking Spanish colonial official and military governor in the late 18th century in Spanish Louisiana. Bouligny attended public schools in New Orleans before studying law and being admitted to the bar.[1][2]

He became involved with Know Nothing politics in the 1850s and by 1855 was a party secretary in the state.[3] While the national American Party was firmly pro-Protestant, the Know Nothings found strong support in Louisiana, including in largely Catholic New Orleans.[4] In contrast to the national party, the Louisiana American Party refused to adopt a religious test for membership,[5] making it welcoming to pro-slavery, anti-immigrant former Whigs,[6] including Catholic Creoles like Bouligny.

In 1859, in what was described as a "brisk, close and earnest" nomination contest, Bouligny was selected to run as the American Party candidate for Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He defeated Judge T.G. Hunt Jr., an old-line Whig, and state Rep. Charles Didier Dreux. Bouligny edged Dreux by just two votes at the party convention.[7] Bouligny won the election with plurality of 48.78% of the vote, defeating former Democratic representative Emile La Sére and States Rights candidate Charles Bienvenu.[8]

In the 1860 presidential election, Bouligny publicly supported the Democratic candidate Stephen A. Douglas.[9]

Bouligny was strongly opposed to Louisiana's secession to join the Confederate States of America, stating that he answered not to the Louisiana legislature but the people who elected him.[10] He retained his seat in Congress after Louisiana withdrew from the Union on January 26, 1861 until the expiry of his term on March 3, 1861.

Bouligny returned to New Orleans and in November 1861 stood for election as a justice of the peace.[11] Reportedly, Bouligny fought a number of duels (at least one per month between late 1861 and mid 1862)[12] due to his support for the Union, leaving him with a shattered left hand and paralyzed arm. Reports of his dueling continued into 1863.[13][14]

In 1862, after issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln engaged Bouligny to determine if Union-occupied New Orleans and other portions of Louisiana could hold early elections to send representatives to Congress.[15] Once elections were approved, Bouligny ran for reelection to his vacant Congress, but was handily defeated by Benjamin Flanders who had the backing of the Union military governor of Louisiana, Benjamin Butler.[16] Bouligny won just 136 votes against Flanders's 2,184 votes.[17] Bouligny attributed his loss to interference by Butler in the election, which Butler denied,[18] and Bouligny was later (falsely) rumored to have shot Butler in a duel.[19]

Bouligny later returned to Washington where he died in 1864.

Bouligny was multilingual. French and Spanish were used in his family home and in correspondence with cousins in Europe.[20] In 1825, while a senior at Transylvania University, Bouligny reportely delivered a speech of congratulations in French to the visiting Marquis de Lafayette.[21] (Other sources attribute the speech of congratulations to Bouligny's first cousin, Ursin Bouligny.[22])

Bouligny arrived in Washington as a bachelor, but in April 1860 he married Mary Elizabeth Parker, the daughter of Washington merchant George Parker. The wedding was considered "perhaps the most brilliant wedding that has ever taken place in the Federal metropolis."[23] The event was attended by President James Buchanan, several cabinet secretaries, and numerous members of Congress. Years later, the wedding was misidentified as where Buchanan learned of South Carolina's secession; however, that did not happen until December 1860.[24]

The couple had two daughters, Corrine and Felicie.[2] Felicie's daughter, Odette Le Fontenay, was an opera singer in the 20th century.[25]

• List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress

• United States Congress. "John Edward Bouligny (id: B000665)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• John Edward Bouligny at Find a Grave