on the House Committee on Private Land Claims. According to GovTrack, Bouligny missed 197 of 433 roll call votes during his one term in Congress. In the 1860 presidential election, Bouligny publicly supported the Democratic candidate Stephen A. Douglas. Bouligny was strongly opposed to Louisiana's secession from the United States of America, stating in a speech before Congress on February 5, 1861, that he answered not to the Louisiana secession convention but to the people who elected him. Bouligny went on to say that if his constituents called for him to step down, he would do so but would "remain a Union man." Despite the rest of the Louisiana delegation resigning or vacating their seats after Louisiana withdrew from the Union on January 26, 1861, Bouligny remained in Congress until the expiry of his term on March 3, 1861. After secession Bouligny returned to New Orleans and in November 1861 stood unsuccessfully for election as a justice of the peace. Reportedly, Bouligny fought a number of duels (at least one per month between late 1861 and mid 1862) due to his support for the Union. His left hand was shot through in a duel on December 29, 1861, but he continued to duel into 1863 by which time his arm was also paralyzed. He was referred to as "probably the most famous duelist in the State" by Confederate sailor James M. Morgan. 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. Once elections were approved, Bouligny ran for reelection to his vacant seat in Congress, but was handily defeated by Benjamin Flanders who had the backing of the Union military governor of Louisiana, Benjamin Butler. Bouligny won just 136 votes against Flanders's 2,184 votes. Bouligny attributed his loss to interference by Butler in the election, which Butler denied, and Bouligny was later (falsely) rumored to have shot Butler in a duel. Although Lincoln had considered appointing Bouligny to a position at the Port of New Orleans after he left Congress, after Bouligny lost his bid for reelection Lincoln was less willing to find a patronage position for him. Bouligny later returned to Washington where he died at his father-in-law's house in February 1864. He was interred in a Parker family plot at Congressional Cemetery. Personal life Bouligny was