[1][2][3] In August 1863 after the emancipation proclamation was signed, President Abraham Lincoln ordered Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks to oversee the creation of a new Louisiana state constitution, and in December he granted Banks wide-ranging authority to create a new civilian government.
[4][5] An emancipation convention with delegates was formed by Banks in order navigate the intricate social and economic problems in Louisiana's Reconstruction era.
[6] Edward Henry Durell was the president of Bank's convention, and Rufus K. Howell served as a delegate and chairman alongside Maximilian F. Bonzano and Christian Roselius.
[6] In 1865, Howell was appointed by Governor James Madison Wells to the newly constituted post-American Civil War court.
[7] The court was thereafter completely replaced by the new Democratic administration which took over the state government at that time.