Hugh Kennedy was the 27th mayor of New Orleans (March 21, 1865 - May 5, 1865 and June 28, 1865 - March 18, 1866), and also a journalist and businessman.[1] His brother was Samuel H. Kennedy, proprietor of S.H. Kennedy & Co., president of The Louisiana State Bank, member of the New Orleans Board of Liquidation and president of The Boston Club.[2] [3] [4] Kennedy was the first civilian mayor of the city since its occupation during the early years of the Civil War.[5]
From the 1850s to 1864, Kennedy was editor and publisher of the True Delta daily newspaper until 1864.[6] The True Delta was a Unionist paper that split from the older Delta newspaper in 1849. It was the first paper to welcome the Union forces that captured New Orleans in 1862, and Kennedy was described as being in the "Anti-Jeff Davis Party of the Confederacy."[7] An Irishman who was well aware of the strength of the Know Nothings in the city before the Civil War, Kennedy welcomed the Union commander Benjamin Butler to the city, pointing to his prior resistance to Know Nothings in Massachusetts.[8]
In May 1865, as part of the restoration of civilian government to the city, Kennedy was appointed mayor of New Orleans by Governor James Madison Wells. General Nathaniel P. Banks, concerned that opponents of Reconstruction were gaining too much power, ousted Kennedy from office and replaced him with Colonel Samuel Miller Quincy from Massachusetts as "military vice-regent." Wells appealed the decision to President Andrew Johnson, who removed Banks. By June 28th, Kennedy had resumed his position as mayor.[9]