Loyeau Berhel

Loyeau Berhel
Mayor of Baton Rouge
In office
1871–1871
Preceded byJames Essex Elam
Succeeded byJames Essex Elam
Personal details
Bornca. 1810
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
Diedca. 1901
PartyRepublican
SpouseCoralie Berhel

Loyeau Berhel was a Reconstruction-era politician who served as the first African American and first Republican mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[1]

Early life

Berhel was born in Baton Rouge[2] in approximately 1810. He was a free person of color and considered a "mulatto" for contemporary demographic purposes. A bricklayer by trade, he married Coralie Berhel and had at least seven children.[3]

In 1856, Berhel was charged with assault and battery and sentenced to thirty days in the parish prison and assessed court costs.[4]

Berhel acquired numerous properties within the Baton Rouge area. During the Battle of Baton Rouge in the American Civil War, Union troops burned houses between the garrison and downtown to limit available cover for counterattacking Confederates. Berhel lost more houses to the fire (six, valued at $10,000 total) than anyone else. None of the arson victims received any kind of compensation after the war for their troubles.[5]

In 1867, Berhel had the honor of being elected to the position of sergeant-at-arms for the Louisiana constitutional convention.[6]

1871 mayoral bid

In 1871, Berhel sought to challenge the Democratic incumbent mayor, James Essex Elam. The election returns showed Berhel receiving 536 ballots to Elam's 521 and L. C. Morris' 1.[7]

Democrats initially appeared to be accepting of Berhel's victory. The mostly-Democrat commissioners of election certified the results without issue,[8] and even the pro-Democrat Baton Rouge newspaper called the Journal offered a post-mortem analysis of the results that was somewhat conciliatory in tone, complimentary toward Berhel and the election process in general.[9] Berhel was formally issued a commission to assume office by Gov. Henry C. Warmoth, also a Republican[1] but acting from the temporary capital in New Orleans.

However, with the election decided by only 15 votes, it may have been inevitable that a Democratic-controlled electoral investigative committee would be created. The committee eventually reported that it was able to find fault with eight votes, exactly enough to reverse the election totals to a mere one-vote win for Elam.[1]: 254  This made it the second-closest mayoral election in Baton Rouge history (the 1856 election had ended in a tie[10]). Eventually, the majority-Democrat Board of Selectmen[11] would publicly announce that they would accept the investigative committee's findings, alter the election results of record, and consider Elam as the mayor going forward.[12] With few Republican officials holding any positions of influence that could directly help Berhel, his mayoral win had now effectively been tossed aside by the Democrats. Warmoth himself was still attempting to balance the state's difficult post-war peace and opted to not use any kind of force to prop up Berhel's administration. A committee formed in subsequent weeks by local African American Republican politician J. Henri Burch continued to keep Berhel's claim to the office in the news, in hopes that acting governor Lt. Gov. Oscar J. Dunn, also a black Republican, might more actively support Berhel.[13] However, Dunn too declined to get involved as well.

Following the next mayor's election, in 1872, a similar controversy erupted between the incumbent Elam and his Republican challenger Henry Schorten, but by then the Republicans had apparently built up a stronger local party organization and were able to hold on to a share of the mayor's office even after the investigation for voting irregularities.[1]: 254 

Personal life

Berhel later served as a trustee for the Louisiana Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb.[14]

Late in his life, multiple properties of his were dispersed through tax sales.[15][16] A Baton Rouge newspaper reported in November 1901 that Berhel was "nearing the end of his earthly career" and possibly as old as 96 at that point[2] (though this age figure conflicts with past census numbers that would have put his age closer to being around 91[3] or even 86[17]).

His surname is sometimes incorrectly rendered as "Brahil"[17] or "Brahill."[18]

Legacy

Berhel's six-week tenure in 1871 would mark the last time that an African American would hold the mayor's seat until 2005, when Kip Holden took office for the first of his three consecutive terms[19] (another African American, Sharon Weston Broome, was elected right after Holden and served between 2017 and 2024[20]).

Berhel's brief term also blazed a trail for future Republican candidates for office in the area. When the next Republican contender for the municipality's mayoral seat faced a scenario similar to that which Berhel had, the party was better prepared to stay and fight for the position. Further more, Berhel's own two sons, Felix Berhel and J. Oscar Berhel,[3] followed in their father’s footsteps and were active in Republican politics in subsequent decades.[21][22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mark T. Carleton; Perry H. Howard; Joseph B. Parker, eds. (1975). Readings in Louisiana Politics. Claitor's Publishing Division. p. 253-254.
  2. 1 2 "Loyeau Berhel, a native of this city, aged 96 years, is nearing the end of his earthly career". Baton Rouge Daily Advocate (p. 1). November 17, 1901.
  3. 1 2 3 "Loyean Berhel", United States census, 1860; Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana; page 88, line 24, Family History film 803408. Retrieved on 2026-06-18.
  4. ↑ "Adjournment Of Court". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 4). December 14, 1856.
  5. ↑ "Baton Rouge Property Was Burned By the Federals". Baton Rouge Daily State–Times (Holiday ed., Sec. 2, p. 1). December 14, 1908.
  6. ↑ "The Convention on Monday elected Talliaferro, President". Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Advocate (p. 2). November 27, 1867.
  7. ↑ "Mayor's Election—Radical Fraud". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 3). April 15, 1871.
  8. ↑ "'Why dont (sic) you choose good men from your own race, and run them for office instead of putting these carpet baggers in all the offices'". New Orleans Louisianian (p. 2). April 23, 1871.
  9. ↑ "Baton Rouge Election". New Orleans Republican (p. 5). April 14, 1871.
  10. ↑ Ernest Gueymard (September 22, 1980). "Gueymard Notebook: Bynum was Mayor longest". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. A, p. 3).
  11. ↑ "Election in Baton Rouge". New Orleans Republican (p. 1). April 6, 1871.
  12. ↑ "The Board of Selectmen of Baton Rouge have declared Mayor Elam the duly elected Mayor of the city". New Orleans Daily Picayune (p. 1). May 24, 1871.
  13. ↑ "J. Henri Burch and others have constituted themselves into a committee of five on reconstruction". Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Advocate (p. 3). July 5, 1871.
  14. ↑ "Louisiana Institution for the Deaf and Dumb". Alexandria (La.) Rapides Gazette (p. 3). December 13, 1873.
  15. ↑ "Real Estate". Baton Rouge Daily Advocate (p. 1). February 18, 1900.
  16. ↑ "Real Estate Transfers". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 3). October 6, 1900.
  17. 1 2 "Loys Barhil", United States census, 1850; Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana; line 22, Family History film 229. Retrieved on 2026-06-18.
  18. ↑ "Baton Rouge Republican". New Orleans Republican. April 11, 1871 – via NewspaperArchive.com. We learn by dispatch from Hon. John S. Chapman that at the election in Baton Rouge for mayor, yesterday, the Republican candidate, Mr. L. Brahill, was elected by fifteen majority.
  19. ↑ Nigell Moses (May 14, 2025). "Former Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden dies at 72, funeral service announced: Holden is set to lie in state at Baton Rouge City Hall on Wednesday, May 21". wwltv.com.
  20. ↑ "Istrouma High football coach Sid Edwards defeats incumbent Sharon Weston Broome for mayor-president". wbrz.com. December 7, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Lily Whites Recant: At Least as Far as First District Goes, The Colored Brother Being Given Place on Delegation to National Convention". New Orleans Times–Picayune (p. 15). May 10, 1908.
  22. ↑ "The Election". Baton Rouge Daily Capitolian–Advocate (p. 3). November 2, 1886.
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