Since Mardi Gras was and is so central to the life of the entire community of New Orleans, we probably have to look at the background of the era in which parades rolled through the city. In our own era, there were questions about whether to cancel Mardi Gras after Katrina, but the events went on. A satirical Krewe which parades through the French Quarter took as its theme, "Like a Fridge Over Troubled Water" and featured cardboard refrigerators and blue tarps (all refrigerators had to be discarded post Katrina and removing them was a major task requiring new landfills) and floats called “Give Me That Mold Time Religion.”
Given that the men described as forming the Comus Krewe were "Anglo-American," and that this took place during a time when there was a continuing division between the old French and Spanish cultures of New Orleans and the newer Anglo citizens with both groups jostling for power, one could assume that part of the rationale behind this Krewe and parade was to assert Anglo dominance over what is usually a tradition in Latin countries, the celebrations preceding Lent. This quote from a Creole newspaper reinforces that impression.
Similarly, some authors feel the return to parading after the Civil War, especially in the early 1870s, was marked by an attempt to reinforce notions of ****, particularly after the passage of the 14th and 15th amendments.
The 1873 Comus parade was set against a background of increasing Reconstruction violence in Louisiana. It set the stage for a satirical side to Mardi Gras that would persist through the future. The parade theme, "The Missing Links to Darwin's Origin of the Species," allowed for costumes that targeted various politicians and even Union generals.
Although we may not recognize some of the caricatures of political figures of the 1870s, that of Benjamin Butler is easily discerned (with his spoon).