It was in connection with Lakin’s short visit that the Independent Monitor published the famous hanging picture of the carpet-bagger (Lakin) and the scalawag (Cloud).[1727]The next offer of the presidency was made to R. D. Harper, a Northern Methodist Bureau minister, who at one time was the Bureau “Superintendent of Education” for the state, and who organized the Bureau schools and the Northern Methodist churches in north Alabama. He, after some consideration, declined the position, which, to an alien, was one of more danger than honor.[1728]

Difficulty was also experienced in securing a faculty. Some of the faculty elected by the old board of trustees were reËlected. Geary of Ohio was given the chair of mathematics, and Goodfellow of Chicago, who had previously been a clerk of the lower house of the legislature, was elected commandant and professor of military science. The latter said that he did not know anything about his work, but that he guessed he could learn. General John H. Forney, a Confederate and native, was also elected to a chair, the Board, it is said, voting for him under a misapprehension. The native contingent refused to serve under the regents, and the vacancies had again to be filled.[1729] Loomis of Illinois was elected professor of Ancient Languages; J. De F. Richards of Vermont, professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, etc. W. J. Collins, who was elected professor of Oratory and Rhetoric, wrote, “I except the situation.” The Monitor said, “We predict an uncomfortable time for the aggregation.”[1730] That paper chronicled all the weaknesses, peculiarities, and failings of the faculty. If one of them drank a little too much and staggered on the street, the Monitor informed the public.[1731] Upon the arrival of an heir in the Collins family, Randolph promptly demanded that he be named for him,—Ryland Randolph Collins,—and the name stuck.

Finally, as it seemed impossible to secure a president, the regents determined to open the University with Richards as acting president.[1732] On April 1, 1869, the University opened with thirty students, twenty-eight of whom were beneficiaries.[1733] The Monitor said that the members of the faculty were known as Shanghai, Cockeye, Tanglefoot, Old Dicks, etc. Another woodcut appeared in the Monitor—of Richards, this time.[1734]

Thirty was the highest enrolment reached under the Reconstruction faculty. The number gradually dwindled away until at the end of the session there were only ten. The next session ended with only three. In October, 1870, there were ten students, four of whom were sons of professors. William R. Smith[1735] was elected president during this session, but he reported that there was no prospect of success under the present conditions and resigned. By the end of the session not one student remained. The scientific apparatus was scattered and lost, as were also the museum specimens and library books, and the $2000 object-glass of the telescope had disappeared.[1736]

The people of Alabama did not favor the continuance of the University under the reconstructed faculty, and were glad when the doors were closed. The Ku Klux Klan took part in the work of breaking down the venture. Notices were posted on the doors, directed to the students, advising them to leave. One sent to the son of Governor Smith read as follows:—

Charles Muncel, son of Joel Muncel, the publisher, of Albany, New York,[1737] received the following notice:—

The next warning was sent to a lone Democrat:—

Before the summer of 1871 the reconstructed faculty had absolutely failed; there never had been any chance for them to succeed. The regents were unfitted to manage educational affairs, and they chose men to the faculty who would have been objectionable anywhere.[1739] The professors and their families were socially ostracized. Even southern men who accepted places in the Radical faculty were made to feel that they were scorned; no one would sit by them at public gatherings or in church. The men might have survived this treatment, but not so the women. In 1871 the Superintendent of Public Instruction and two members of the board of regents were Democrats. The faculty was reorganized for the eighth time since 1865, and a faculty of natives was elected. The effect upon the attendance was marked. In April, 1871, there were three students and in June none, while during the session of 1871-1872, 107 students were enrolled. In 1873 and 1874 the Radicals again had control, but they did not attempt to reconstruct the University.[1740]

When the land grant college, provided for in the Morrill act of 1862, was established in 1872, there was no attempt made to appoint a reconstructed faculty or board of trustees. But there was sharp competition among the towns of the state to secure the college. The legislature was to choose the location, and many of the members let it be known that their votes were to be had only in return for material considerations. It was finally located at Auburn, in Lee County. One Auburn lobbyist went out on the floor of one of the houses and there paid a negro solon $50 to talk no more against Auburn. The next day the same negro was again speaking against the location at Auburn. His purchaser went to him and remonstrated. The negro acknowledged that he had accepted the $50 not to speak against Auburn, but said, “Dat was yistiddy, boss.” Another Auburn man promised a cooking stove to a negro of more domestic inclinations, and amidst the excitement forgot all about it; but after the vote the negro came up and demanded his stove. He received it. Another was given a sewing-machine.[1741]

There was no attempt to force the entrance of negroes into the State University. Some reformers wanted the test made, but too many scalawags were bitterly opposed to such a step, to say nothing of the Ku Klux Klan. In December, 1869, the Board of Education asked the legislature to provide a university for the negroes,[1742] and several colored normal schools were established. In 1871, Peyton Finley, the negro member of the Board of Education,[1743] introduced a series of resolutions declaring that the negro had no desire to push any claim to enter the State University, but that they wanted one of their own, and Congress was urged to grant land for that purpose.[1744] But not until December, 1873, was Lincoln school at Marion, Perry County, designated as the colored university and normal school, where a liberal education was to be given the negro.[1745]

Trouble in the Mobile Schools

For more than a year Cloud had trouble in the schools of Mobile. The Mobile schools (always independent of the state system) were under the control of a school board appointed by the military authorities in 1865. When all offices and contracts were vacated, G. L. Putnam, a member of the Board of Education, and also connected with the Emerson Institute, which was conducted at Mobile by the American Missionary Association, had secured the enactment, because he wanted the position, of a school law providing for a superintendent of education for Mobile County. In August, 1868, Cloud gave him the office. The old school commissioners refused to recognize the authority of Putnam, who was unable to displace them, because he himself could not make bond. But, in order to give him some kind of office, Cloud went to Mobile and proposed a compromise, which was to appoint one of the old commissioners superintendent of education and Putnam superintendent of negro schools under the supervision of the other superintendent and the board of commissioners, which was still to exist. This was an arrangement Cloud had no lawful authority to make.

As part of the compromise the principal and teachers of the American Missionary Association were to be retained and paid by the state. The Emerson Institute (or “Blue College,” as the negroes called it) was to remain in possession of the American Missionary Association, but the school board and county superintendent were to have control over the schools in it. Putnam, as superintendent of the “Blue College” school, refused to allow the control of the board. He wanted them to pay his teachers, but would have no supervision. The general field agent of the American Missionary Association, Edward P. Smith, offered the “schools and teachers” to the school commissioners to be paid but not controlled. “We ought now in some way,” he said, “to have our teachers recognized and paid for, from the public fund, an amount equal to that paid for similar grades to other teachers in Mobile.” At the same time the state was paying $125 per month for the use of the building over which the Association and Putnam would allow no supervision. The county superintendent and the commissioners, unable to secure any control over the Putnam schools, refused to recognize them as a part of the Mobile system. Cloud declared all the offices vacant, but the commissioners refused to vacate. The case was carried into court and the commissioners were put in jail. The supreme court ordered them released. The Board of Education then met and abolished the Mobile system and merged the special and independent schools of that county into the general state system. This was done on November 13, 1869.[1746]

The judiciary committee of the legislature, consisting of three Radicals and one Democrat, was directed to investigate the conduct of Cloud in the Mobile troubles. It was reported (1) that Cloud had appointed two superintendents in Mobile County, contrary to law; (2) that on January 29, 1869, G. L. Putnam, who was not an official of the state and who, according to the compromise, should have been under the control of the county superintendent, drew from the state treasury with the connivance of Cloud between $5000 and $6000, with which he paid the teachers of “Blue College,” who were in the employ of the American Missionary Association and not of the state of Alabama; (3) that in July, 1869, Cloud again appointed Putnam superintendent of education for Mobile County, and sixty days afterwards he made a bond which was declared worthless by the grand jury, and after that Cloud gave Putnam a warrant for $9000, which he was prevented from collecting only by an injunction; (4) that while the injunction was in force as concerned both Putnam and Cloud, the latter drew from the treasury $2000 or more of the Mobile school funds to pay lawyers’ fees; (5) that while the injunction was still in force Cloud drew $3600 from the treasury for Putnam, the greater part or all of which was illegally used; (6) that Cloud again drew a warrant for $3300, which the auditor, discovering that Putnam was interested, refused to allow, and it was destroyed; (7) the committee further stated that very large salaries were paid to the teachers in “Blue College,” or Emerson Institute,—that one of them (Squires) received $4000 a year. The committee went beyond the limit of the resolution and reported that county superintendents were paid too much, and recommended the abolition of the Board of Education by constitutional amendment, the reduction of the pay of all school officials who acted as a sponge to absorb all the school funds, and, finally, that no person should hold more than one school office at the same time.[1747]

Later investigation showed that Putnam had made out pay-rolls for the teachers of the Emerson Institute for the last quarter of 1868 and presented them to A. H. Ryland, the county superintendent of Mobile, for his approval. This Ryland refused to give, as the compromise in regard to the Institute dated only from January 22, 1869. Putnam then went to his own American Missionary Association Negro Institute Board, had the pay-rolls approved, and then, as “county superintendent of education,” drew $5327.20, Cloud certifying to the correctness of his accounts.[1748] Putnam padded the pay-rolls and, in order to draw principal’s wages for each teacher, divided the Institute into ten schools. As there were only ten teachers besides the principal, there were now eleven principals.[1749] Kelsey, the principal, stated that no matter how much Putnam obtained for “Blue College,” the teachers received none of it, but were paid only their regular salaries by the Association. Kelsey himself was paid only $250 a quarter. The teachers were under contract with the Association to teach for $15 a month and board. Some of them testified that they had received no more. However, a part of the appropriation was turned into the treasury of the Association, and we may well ask what became of the remainder of it.[1750]

Irregularities in School Administration

Superintendent Cloud was handicapped, not only by his own incapacity, but also by the bad character of his subordinates, whom he appointed in great haste from the unpromising material that supported the Reconstruction rÉgime. Many of the receipts for the salaries were signed by the teachers with marks, some being unable to write their own names. From the school officials he received inaccurate reports, and on these he based his apportionments, which were defective, many of the teachers not receiving their money. The county superintendents had absolute authority over the school fund belonging to their counties, and could draw it from the treasury and use it for private purposes nearly a year before the salaries of the teachers were due.[1751] Complaint was made that the black counties received more than their proper share of the school fund. In Pickens County the superintendent neglected to draw anything but his own salary, and a north Alabama superintendent ran away with the money for his county. Other superintendents were accused of scaling down the pay of the teachers from 20 to 50 per cent, and it was estimated that in some counties two-thirds of the school money never reached the teachers. There was no check on the county superintendent, who could expend money practically at his own discretion.[1752] Three trustees were appointed in each township by the county superintendent; these trustees, who were not paid, appointed for themselves a clerk who was paid, and these clerks met in a county convention and fixed the salary of the county superintendent.[1753]

The bookkeeping in the office of State Superintendent Cloud was irregular. Some of the accounts were kept in pencil, and for a whole year the books were not posted. Of $235,000 paid to the county superintendents only $10,000 was accounted for by them. In 1871, $50,000 or more was still in the hands of the ex-superintendents, and the state and the teachers were taking legal proceedings against some of them.[1754] Both sons of Cloud embezzled school money and fled from the state.[1755] Cloud receipted for one sum of $314 in payment for sixteenth-section lands. This he forgot to pay to the treasurer. He issued patents for 4000 acres of school land and turned into the treasury only $323. A township in Marengo County rented its sixteenth-section land; nevertheless, Cloud paid to this county its sixteenth-section funds. In 1871 an investigation of Cloud’s accounts showed that a large number of his vouchers were fraudulent, hundreds being in the same handwriting. He signed the name of J. H. Fitts & Company, financial agents of the University, to a receipt by which he drew from the treasury several hundred dollars to advance to a needy professor. He said, when questioned about it, that he thought he could “draw on” Messrs. Fitts & Company. It afterwards developed that he did not know the difference between a receipt and a draft. His accounts were so confused that he often paid the same bill twice. In 1871, when he went out of office, the sum unaccounted for by vouchers amounted to $260,556.37. After two years he succeeded in getting vouchers for all but $129,595.71.[1756]

In the black counties the school finances became confused, especially as the negro and carpet-bag officials tolled the funds that passed through their hands. At the end of 1870 the school funds of Selma were $40,000 short. It was found practically impossible to collect a poll tax from the negroes, the Radical collectors being afraid to insist on the negroes’ paying taxes. In Dallas County the collector refused to allow the planters to pay taxes for their negro hands on the ground that it would be a relic of slavery. If the negroes refused to pay, nothing more was said about it.[1757] In 1869 there were 200,000 polls and only $66,000 poll tax was collected, which meant that only 44,000 men had paid the tax.[1758] In 1870 Somers states that the insurance tax was $13,327, and the number of polls was 162,819. Yet from both sources less than $100,000 was obtained.[1759]

The Board of Education, according to the constitution, was to classify by lot before the election of 1870. But in 1869, when the matter was brought up, they refused to classify. Several vacancies occurred, and these were filled by special election. Consequently the Democrats in 1870 did not get a fair representation on the board.[1760]

Objections to the Reconstruction Education

The Board of Education had the power to adopt a uniform series of text-books for the public schools; Superintendent Cloud, however, assumed this authority and chose texts which were objectionable to the majority of the whites. This was especially the case with the history books, which the whites complained were insulting in their accounts of southern leaders and southern questions. Cloud was not the man to allow the southern view of controversial questions to be taught in schools under his control. About 1869 he secured a donation of several thousand copies of history books which gave the northern views of American history, and these he distributed among the teachers and the schools. But most of the literature that the whites considered objectionable did not come from Cloud’s department, but from the Bureau and aid society teachers, and was used in the schools for blacks. There were several series of “Freedmen’s Readers” and “Freedmen’s Histories” prepared for use in negro schools. But the fact remains that for ten or fifteen years northern histories were taught in white schools and had a decided influence on the readers. It resulted in the combination often seen in the late southern writer, of northern views of history with southern prejudices; the fable of the “luxury of the aristocrats” and the numbers and wretchedness of the “mean whites” was now accepted by numerous young southerners; on such questions as slavery the northern view of the institution was accepted, but on the other hand the tu quoque answer was made to the North. Consequently, the task of the historian was not to explain the southern civilization, but to accept it as rather bad and to prove that the North was partly responsible and equally guilty—a fruitless work.[1761]

Cloud, in his first report, admitted that the opposition to schools was rather on account of the officials than because the people disliked free schools. He further stated that the opposition had ceased to a great extent. There were many whites in the Black Belt who disliked the idea of free or “pauper” schools, and to this day some of them have not overcome this feeling. They believed in education, but not in education that was given away,—at least not for the whites. Each person must make an effort to get an education. However, they, and especially the old slaveholders, were not opposed to the education of the negro, believing it to be necessary for the good of society. In the white counties of north and southeast Alabama there was less opposition to the public schools for whites. But in the same sections schools for the negroes were bitterly opposed by the uneducated whites who were in close competition with them, for they knew that the whites paid for the negro schools, and also that, having a different standard of living, it would be easier for the negroes to send their children to school than for them to send theirs. In the Black Belt there were a few of these people, who disliked to see three or four negro schools to one white school, for here the number of the negroes naturally secured for them better advantages. The whites were so few in numbers that not half of them were within easy reach of a school. Whenever the numbers of one or both races were small, it was (and has been ever since) a burden on a community to build two schoolhouses and to support two separate schools, especially where the funds provided are barely sufficient for one.[1762]

The Question of Negro Education

Before the negro question in all its phases was brought directly into politics, and before the Radicals, carpet-baggers, and scalawags had caused irritation between the races, there was a determination on the part of the best whites in public and private life, as a measure of self-defence as well as a duty and as justice, to do all that lay in their power to fit the negro for citizenship. Most of the newspapers were in favor of education to fit the negro for his changed condition. Now that he had to stand alone, education was necessary to keep him from stealing, from idleness, and from a return to barbarism; in some parts of the Black Belt there was a tendency to return to African customs. It was necessary to substitute the discipline of education for the discipline of slavery.[1763] The Democratic party leaders were in favor of negro education, and General Clanton, who for years was the chairman of the executive committee, repeatedly made speeches in favor of it, and attended the sessions and examinations at the negro schools, often examining the classes himself. He and General John B. Gordon spoke in Montgomery at a public meeting and declared that it was the duty of the whites to educate the negro, whose good behavior during the war entitled him to it. Their remarks were cheered by the whites.[1764] Colonel Jefferson Falkner, at a Baptist Association in Pike County, advised that the negro be educated by southern men and women. Pike was a white county, and while no objection was raised to Falkner’s speech, several persons told him that if he thought southern women ought to teach negroes, he had better have his own daughters do it. Falkner replied that he was willing when their services were needed.[1765] White people made destitute by the war or crippled soldiers were ready to engage in the instruction of negroes; and the Montgomery Advertiser and other papers took the ground that they should be employed, especially the disabled soldiers.[1766] General Clanton stated that many Confederate soldiers and the widows of Confederate soldiers were teaching negro schools, that he had assisted them in securing positions. Such work, he said, was indorsed by most of the prominent people.[1767]

The blacks in Selma signed an appeal to the city council for their own white people to teach them, and the churches made preparations to give instruction to the freedmen.[1768] The Monroe County Agricultural Association declared it to be the duty of the whites to teach the negro, and a committee was appointed to formulate a plan for negro schools.[1769] Conecuh and Wilcox counties followed with similar declarations. A public meeting in Perry County, of such men as ex-Governor A. B. Moore and J. L. M. Curry, declared that sound policy and moral obligation required that prompt efforts be made to fit the negro for his changed political condition. His education must be encouraged. The teachers, white and black, were to be chosen with a careful regard to fitness. A committee was appointed to coÖperate with the negroes in building schoolhouses and in procuring teachers, whom they assured of support.[1770]

Besides the purely unselfish reasons, there were other reasons why the leading whites wanted the negro educated by southern teachers. It would be a step towards securing control over the negro race by the best native whites, who have always believed and will always believe that the negro should be controlled by them. The northern school-teachers did not have an influence for good upon the relations between the races, and thus caused the southern whites to be opposed to any education of the negro by strangers, as it was felt that to allow the negro to be educated by these people and their successors would have a permanent influence for evil.[1771]

The whites generally aided the negroes in their community to build schoolhouses or schoolhouses and churches combined. Schoolhouses were in the majority of cases built by the patrons of the schools; if rented, the rent was deducted from the school money; the state made no appropriation for building. In Dallas County forty negro schoolhouses were built with the assistance of the whites. This was usually done in the Black Belt, but was less general in the white counties. In Montgomery the prominent citizens gave money to help build a negro “college”; some paid the tuition of negro children at schools where charges were made. White men were often members of the board of colored schools. All this was before the negro was seen to be hopelessly in the clutches of the northerners.[1772]

JABEZ LAMAR MONROE CURRY.

In spite of the fact that for several years there were southern whites who taught negroes, the schools were judged by the results of the teaching of the northerners. The Freedmen’s Bureau brought discredit on negro education.[1773] The work of the various aid societies was little better. The personnel of both, to a great extent, passed to the new system, Bureau and Association teachers becoming state teachers; and in the transfer the teachers tried to secure a better standing for themselves than the native teachers had. Many of the northern teachers were undoubtedly good people, but all were touched with fanaticism and considered the white people hopelessly bad and by nature and training brutal and unjust to negroes. The negro teachers who were trained by them, both in the North and in the South, and who occupied most of the subordinate positions in the schools, had caught the spirit of the teaching. The native negro teacher, however, never quite equalled his white instructor in wrong-headedness. He persisted in seeing the actual state of affairs quite often. But the results of some of the educational work done during Reconstruction for the negro was to make many white people, especially the less friendly and the careless observers, believe that education in itself was a bad thing for the negroes. It became a proverb that “schooling ruins a negro,” and among the ignorant and more prejudiced whites this opinion is still firmly held. Not all of the northern teachers were of good character, and the others suffered for the sins of these. Almost from the first the doors of the southern whites were closed against the northern teacher, not only on account of the character of some and the objectionable teachings of many, but because they generally insisted on being personally unpleasant; and, had all of them been above reproach in character and training, their opinions in regard to social questions, which they expressed on every occasion, would have resulted in total exclusion from white society. They really cared little, perhaps, but they had a great deal to say on the subject, and made much trouble on account of it.[1774]

At first, when they wished it, some northern teachers were able to secure board with white families. After a few weeks such was not the case, and, except in the cities where the teachers could live together, they were obliged to live with the negroes. This could produce only bad results. It at once caused them to be excluded from all white society, and gained for them the contempt of their white neighbors, at the same time losing them the support and even the respect of the negroes. For the negro always insists that a white person to be respected must live up to a certain standard; otherwise, he may like, or fear, or despise, but never respect. Again, some of the doubtful characters caused scandal by their manner of life among the negroes, and in several instances male teachers were visited by the Ku Klux Klan because of their irregular conduct with negro women. One in Calhoun County was killed. Negro men who lived with white women teachers were killed, and in some cases the women were thrashed. Others were driven away.[1775] But on the whole there was little violence, the forces of social proscription at length sufficing to drive out the obnoxious teachers.[1776]

Much was said during Reconstruction days about the burning of negro schoolhouses by the whites. There were several such cases, but not as many as is supposed. In the records only one instance can be found of a school building being burned simply from opposition to negro schools. As a rule the schoolhouses (and churches also) were burned because they were the headquarters of the Union League and the general meeting places for Radical politicians, or because of the character of the teacher and the results of his or her teachings. Regular instruction of the negro had been going on for two years or more before the Ku Klux Klan began burning schoolhouses. When one was burned, the Radical leaders used the fact with much effect among the negroes; and in several instances it was practically certain that the Radical leaders, when the negroes were wavering, fired a church or a schoolhouse in order to incense them against the whites, who were charged with the deed. When a schoolhouse was burned, the negroes were invariably assisted to rebuild by the respectable whites. The burnings were condemned by all respectable persons, and also by the party leaders on account of the bad effect on political questions.[1777]

Some teachers of negro schools fleeced their black pupils and their parents unmercifully. Teachers of private schools collected tuition in advance and then left. In Montgomery, a teacher in the Swayne school notified his pupils that they must bring him fifty cents each by a certain day, and that he, in return, would give to each a photograph of himself.[1778] In Eutaw, Greene County, the Rev. J. B. F. Hill, a Northern Methodist preacher who had been expelled from the Southern Methodist Church, taught a negro school and taxed his forty little scholars twenty-five cents each to purchase a forty-cent water bucket.[1779]

In the cities where there were several negro schools, it was found difficult at first to keep the small negro in attendance in the same school. A little negro would attend a school until he discovered that he did not like the teacher or the school, and then he would go to another. A rule was made against such impromptu transfers, and then the small boy changed his name when he decided to try another school. Finally, the teacher was required to ask the other children the newcomer’s name before he was admitted.[1780]

The negro children were poorly supplied with books, and what few they did have they promptly lost or tore up to get the pictures. The attendance was very irregular. For a few days there would be a great many scholars and perhaps after that almost none, for the parents were willing to send their children when there was no work for them to do, but as soon as cotton needed chopping or picking they would stop them and put them to work.[1781] If the negroes suspected that the trustees, who were (later) Democrats, had appointed a Democratic teacher, they would not send their children to school to him, and in this they were upheld by their new leaders.[1782]

When the public funds were exhausted, the majority of the white schools continued as pay schools, but the negro schools closed at once, for after 1868 the interest of the negro in education was no longer strong enough to induce him to pay for it. The education given the negro during this period was little suited to prepare him for the practical duties of life. The New England system was transplanted to the South, and the young negroes were forced even more than the white children. As soon as a little progress was made, the pupils were promoted into the culture studies of the whites. Those who learned anything at all had, in turn, to teach what they had learned; their education would help them very little in everyday life.[1783] Negro education did not result in better relations between the races. The northern teacher believed in the utter sinfulness of slavery and in all the stories told of the cruelties then practised. The Advertiser gave as one reason why the southern whites should teach negro schools, that northern teachers caused trouble by using books and tracts with illustrations of slavery and stories about the persecution and cruelties of the whites against the blacks.[1784] General Clanton stated that in the school in which he had often attended the exercises and examined the classes, and where he had paid the tuition of negro children, the teachers ceased to ask him to make visits; that the school-books had “Radical pictures” of the persecuted slaves and the freedman; that Radical speeches were made by the scholars, reciting the wrongs done the negro race; finally, that the school was a political nursery of race prejudice, and that where the negroes were greatly in excess of the whites, it was a serious matter.[1785] He also said that the teachers from the North were responsible for the prejudice of the whites against negro schools. The native whites soon refused to teach, and if they had wished to do so, they probably could have gotten no pupils. The primary education of the negro was left to the northern teachers and to incompetent negroes; higher education was altogether under the control of the alien. It was most unfortunate in every way, he added, that the southern white had had no part in the education of the negro.[1786] The higher education of the negroes in the state continued to be directed by northerners. Washington and Councill have done much toward changing the nature of the education given the negro; they have also educated many whites from opposition to friendliness to negro schools.

The Failure of the Educational System

In 1870 Cloud was a candidate for reËlection, but was defeated by Colonel Joseph Hodgson, the Democratic candidate.[1787] When Hodgson appeared as president of the Board, Cloud refused to yield on the ground that Hodgson was not eligible to the office, having once challenged a man to a duel. The Board, however, refused to recognize Cloud, and he was obliged to retire.[1788]

The first year of the reform administration was a successful one in spite of the fact that the state was bankrupt and the treasury ceased to make cash payments to county superintendents early in 1872.[1789] The second year was a fair one, although the treasury could not pay the teachers, for the Radical senate refused to make the appropriations for which their own constitution provided. However, the attendance of both whites and blacks increased, notwithstanding the fact that the United States Commissioner of Education reported that Alabama had retrograded in educational matters.[1790] The school officials elected in 1870 were much superior to their predecessors in every way. A state teachers’ association was organized, and institutes were frequently held. Four normal schools were established for black teachers and four for whites. Private assistance for public schools was now sought and obtained, and hundreds of the schools continued after the public money was exhausted.[1791]

Hodgson did valuable service to his party and to the state in exposing the corrupt and irregular practices of the preceding administration. His own administration was much more economical than that of his predecessor, as the following figures will show:—

	1870	1871	Decrease
Salaries of county superintendents	$57,776.50	$34,259.50	$23,517.00
Expenses of county superintendents	21,202.86	4,752.00	16,450.86
Expenses of disbursement	78,979.36	39,009.50	39,969.86
Clerical expenses (at Montgomery)	3,544.46	1,978.71	1,565.75
Cost of administration	86,123.82	44,588.21	41,535.61	[1792]

In the fall of 1872, owing to the operation of the Enforcement Acts, the elections went against the Democrats. The Radicals filled all the offices, and Joseph H. Speed was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction.[1793] Speed was not wholly unfitted for the position, and did the best he could under the circumstances. But nowhere in the Radical administration did he find any sympathy with his department, not even a disposition to comply with the direct provisions of the constitution in regard to school funds. So low had the credit of the state fallen that the administration could no longer sell the state bonds to raise money. The taxes were the only resources, and the office-holding adventurers, feeling that never again could they have an opportunity at the spoils, could spare none of the money for schools. Practically all of the negro schools and many of the white ones were forced to close, and the teachers, when paid at all by the state, were paid in depreciated state obligations.

The constitution required that one-fifth of all state revenue in addition to certain other funds be appropriated for the use of schools. Yet year by year an increasing amount was diverted to other uses. The poll tax and the insurance tax were used for other purposes. At the end of 1869, $187,872.49, which should have been appropriated for schools, had been diverted. In 1872, $330,036.93 was lost to the schools by failure to appropriate, and in 1873, $456,138.47 was lost in the same way. By the end of 1873 the shortage was $1,260,511.92, and a year later it was nearly two million dollars. During 1873 and 1874 schools were taught only where there were local funds to support them. The carpet-bag system had failed completely.[1794]

The new constitution made by the Democrats in 1875 abolished the Board of Education, and returned to the ante-bellum system. Separate schools were ordered; the administrative expenses could not amount to more than 4 per cent of the school fund;[1795] no money was to be paid to any denominational or private school;[1796] the constitutional provision of one-fifth of the state revenue for school use was abolished;[1797] and the legislature was ordered to appropriate to schools at least $100,000 a year besides the poll taxes, license taxes, and the income from trust funds. The schools began to improve at once, and the net income was never again as small as under the carpet-bag rÉgime.

Neither of the Reconstruction superintendents, Cloud or Speed, furnished full statistics of the schools. It appears that the average enrolment of students under Cloud was, in 1870, 35,963 whites and 16,097 blacks; under his Democratic successor the average enrolment, in spite of lack of appropriations, was 66,358 whites and 41,308 blacks in 1871, and 61,942 whites and 41,673 blacks in 1872. Speed evidently kept no records of attendance. In 1875, after the Democrats came into power, the attendance was 91,202 whites and 54,595 blacks. The average number of days taught in a year under Cloud was 49 days in white schools and the same in black; under Hodgson the average length of term was 68.5 days and 64.33 days respectively. Theoretically the salaries of teachers under Cloud should have been about $75 per month, but they received increasingly less each year as the legislature refused to appropriate the school money. The following table will show what the school funds should have been, as provided for by the constitution; the sums actually received were smaller each successive year. In no case was the appropriation as great as in the year 1858, nor was the attendance of black and white together much larger in any year than the attendance of whites alone in 1858 or 1859.

School Fund, 1868-1875

1868
1869		$524,621.68[1798]
1870		500,409.18[1799]
1871		581,389.29[1800]
1872		604,978.50[1801]
1873		524,452.40[1802]
1874		474,346.52[1803]
1875		565.042.94[1804]

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CHAPTER XX

RECONSTRUCTION IN THE CHURCHES

Sec. 1. The “Disintegration and Absorption” Policy and its Failure

The close of the war found the southern church organizations in a more or less demoralized condition. Their property was destroyed, their buildings were burned or badly in need of repair, and the church treasuries were empty. It was doubtful whether some of them could survive the terrible exhaustion that followed the war. The northern churches, “coming down to divide the spoils,” acted upon the principle that the question of separate churches had been settled by the war along with that of state sovereignty, and that it was now the right and the duty of the northern churches to reconstruct the churches in the South. So preparations were made to “disintegrate and absorb” the “schismatical” southern religious bodies.[1805]

The Methodists

In 1864 the Northern Methodist Church declared the South a proper field for mission work, and made preparations to enter it. None were to be admitted to membership in the church who were slaveholders or who were “tainted with treason.”[1806] In 1865 the bishops of the northern organization resolved that “we will occupy so far as practicable those fields in the southern states which may be open to us ... for black and white alike.”[1807] The General Missionary Committee of the northern church divided the South into departments for missionary work, and Alabama was in the Middle Department. Bishop Clark of Ohio was sent (1886) to take charge of the Georgia and Alabama Mission District. The declared purpose of this mission work was to “disintegrate and absorb” the southern church, the organization of which was generally believed to have been destroyed by the war.[1808]

In August, 1865, three Southern Methodist bishops met at Columbus, Georgia, to repair the shattered organization of the church and to infuse new life into it. They stated that the questions of 1844 were not settled by the war; that, “A large portion of the Northern Methodists has become incurably radical.... They have incorporated social dogmas and political tests into their church creeds.” They condemned the northern church for its action during the war in taking possession of southern church property against the wishes of the people and retaining it as their own after the war, and for its more recent attempts to destroy the southern church.[1809]

In the confusion following the war, before the church administration was again in working order, the Protestant Episcopal Church, especially the northern section, attempted to secure the Southern Methodists. Some Methodists wanted to go over in a body to the Episcopalians. The great majority, however, were strongly opposed to such action, and the attempt only caused more ill feeling against the North.[1810]

At the time there was a belief among the Northern Methodists that in 1845 thousands of members had been carried against their will into the southern church, and that they would now gladly seize the opportunity to join the northern body, which claimed to be the only Methodist Episcopal Church. Those thousands proved to be as disappointing as the “southern loyalists” had been, both in character and in numbers. The greatest gains were among the negroes, and to the negroes the few whites secured were intensely hostile. In 1866, A. S. Lakin was sent to Alabama to organize the Northern Methodist Church.[1811] After two years’ work the Alabama Conference was organized, with 9431 members, black and white.[1812] In 1871, Lakin reported 15,000 members, black and white.[1813] The whites were from the “loyal” element of the population. There was great opposition by the white people to the establishment of the northern church. Lakin and his associates excited the negroes against the whites and kept both races in a continual state of irritation. Governor Lindsay stated before the Ku Klux Committee that in his opinion the people bore with Lakin and his church with a remarkable degree of patience; that Lakin encouraged the negroes to force themselves into congregations where they did not belong and to obstruct the services; and that they also made attempts to get control of church property belonging to the southern churches.[1814] No progress was made among the whites, except in the white counties among the hills of north Alabama and in the pine barrens of the southeast. The congregations were small and were served by missionaries. Lakin and his assistants had a political as well as a religious mission—General Clanton said that they were “emissaries of Christ and of the Radical party.” They claimed, nevertheless, that they never talked politics in the pulpit. Lakin once preached in Blountsville, and when he opened the doors of the church to new members, he said that there was no northern church, no southern church, there was only the Methodist Episcopal Church.[1815] But every member of this church, he added, must be loyal, and therefore no secessionist could join. He said that he had been ordered by his conference not to receive “disloyal” men into the church.[1816]

The political activity of these missionaries resulted in visits from the Ku Klux Klan. Some of the most violent ones were whipped or were warned to moderate their sermons. Political camp-meetings were sometimes broken up, and two or three church buildings used as Radical headquarters were burned.[1817] Every Northern Methodist was a Republican; and to-day in some sections of the state the Northern Methodists are known as “Republican” Methodists, as distinguished from “Democratic” or Southern Methodists.

The Baptists

The organization of the Baptist church into separate congregations saved it from much of the annoyance suffered by such churches as the Methodist and the Episcopal, with their more elaborate systems of government. Yet in north Alabama, there was trouble when the negro members were encouraged by political and ecclesiastical emissaries to assert their rights under the democratic form of government by taking part in all church affairs, in the election of pastors and other officers. Often there were more negro members than white, and under the guidance of a missionary from the North these could elect their own candidate for pastor, regardless of the wishes of the whites and of the character of the would-be pastor. This danger, however, was soon avoided by the organization of separate negro congregations.[1818]

The Southern Baptist Convention, organized in 1845, continued its separate existence. The northern Baptists demanded, as a prerequisite to coÖperation and fellowship, a profession of loyalty to the government. During 1865 the southern associations expressed themselves in favor of continuing the former separate societies, and severely censured the northern Baptists for their action in obtaining authority from the Federal government to take possession of southern church property against the wishes of the owners and trustees, and for trying to organize independent churches within the bounds of southern associations. They were not in favor of fraternal relations with the northern Baptist societies.[1819]

The Presbyterians

In May, 1865, the Presbyterian General Assembly (New School) voted to place on probation the southern ministers of the United Synod South who had supported the Confederacy.[1820] Few, if any, offered themselves for probation, while as a body the United Synod joined the Southern Presbyterians (Old School). The General Assembly (O. S.) of the northern church in 1865 stigmatized “secession as a crime and the withdrawal of the southern churches as a schism.” The South, the Assembly decided, was to be treated as a missionary field, and loyal ministers to be employed without presbyterial recommendation. Southern ministers and members were offered restoration if they would apply for it, and submit to certain tests, namely, proof of loyalty or a profession of repentance for disloyalty to the government, and a repudiation of former opinions concerning slavery.[1821] Naturally this policy was not very successful in reconstructing their organization in the South. The General Assembly (O. S.) of the Presbyterian Church in the South met in the fall of 1865 at Macon, Georgia, and warned the churches against the efforts of the northern Presbyterians to sow seeds of dissension and strife in their congregations.[1822] A union was formed with the United Synod South (N. S.), and the “Presbyterian Church in the United States,” popularly known as the Southern Presbyterian Church, was formed. To this acceded in 1867 the Associate Reformed Church of Alabama.[1823]

The Episcopal Church in the United States during the war had held consistently to the same theory in regard to the withdrawal of the southern dioceses that the Washington administration held in regard to the secession of the southern states. There was no recognition of a withdrawal, nor of a southern organization. The Confederate church was called a schismatic body, and its actions considered as illegal. The roll in the General Convention was called as usual, beginning with Alabama.[1824] But after the war a generous policy of conciliation was pursued; the southern churchmen were asked to come back; no tests or conditions were imposed; the House of Bishops of the northern church upheld Wilmer in his trouble with the military authorities. The acts of the southern church during the war were recognized and accepted as valid by the northern church. Such a policy easily resulted in reunion.

The attempt at Reconstruction in the churches had practically failed. Only the Episcopal Church, one of the weakest in numbers, had reunited.[1825] The others seemed farther apart than ever.

The other denominations had recognized the legal division of their churches before the war. Now they acted on the principle that territory conquered for the United States was also conquered for the northern churches. Southern ministers and members were asked to submit to degrading conditions in order to be restored to good standing. They must repudiate their former opinions, and renouncing their sins, ask for pardon and restoration. Naturally no reunion resulted.

Sec. 2. The Churches and the Negro during Reconstruction

At the end of the war nearly every congregation had black members as well as white, the blacks often being the more numerous. With the changed conditions, the various denominations felt it necessary to make declarations of policy in regard to the former slaves. General Swayne, Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Alabama, in his report for 1866, stated that at an early date the several denominations expressed themselves as being strongly in favor of the education of the negro. “The principal argument,” he said, “was an appeal to sectional and sectarian prejudice, lest, the work being inevitable, the influence which must come from it be realized by others; but it is believed that this was the shield and weapon which men of unselfish principle found necessary at first.”[1826]

The Baptists and the Negroes

The Alabama Baptist Convention, in 1865, passed the following resolution in regard to the relations between the white and black members:—

“Resolved, That the changed civil status of our late slaves does not necessitate any change in their relations to our churches; and while we recognize their right to withdraw from our churches and form organizations of their own, we nevertheless believe that their highest good will be subserved by their retaining their present relation to those who know them, who love them, and who will labor for the promotion of their welfare.”

The Convention also ordered renewed exertions in the work among the negroes by means of lectures, private instruction, and Sunday-schools.[1827] In 1866 the North Alabama Baptist Association directed that provision be made for the religious welfare of the negroes and for their education in the common schools. The negroes were to be allowed to choose their own pastors and teachers from among the whites.[1828] But soon the results of the work of the northern missionaries and political emissaries were seen in the separation of the two races in religious matters. The negroes were taught that the whites were their enemies, and that they must have their own separate churches. They were encouraged to assert their rights by obstructing in all the affairs of the churches, and in the north Alabama Baptist churches, where they were in the majority, there was danger that they would take advantage of the democratic system of the church government and, prompted by emissaries from the North, control the administration. They were, therefore, assisted by the whites to form separate congregations and associations.[1829]

The principal work of the northern Baptists in central and south Alabama was to separate the blacks into independent churches, and the second Colored Baptist Convention in the United States was organized in Alabama in 1867. The free form of government of this church attracted both ministers and members. In 1868 Bethel Association (white) reported that a large number of the negroes desired no religious instruction from the whites, although they were in great need of it, and that this opposition was caused by ignorance and prejudice. But, the report stated, there should be no relaxation in the effort to impart to them a knowledge of the Gospel; that the first duty of the church was to instruct the ignorant and superstitious at home before sending missionaries to the far-off heathen; that all self-constituted negro preachers who claimed personal interviews with God and personal instruction from Him should be discouraged, and only the best men selected as pastors. Advice and assistance were now given to the negro congregations, which were organized into associations as soon as possible. In 1872 three negro churches with a white pastor applied for admission to Bethel Association. But it was thought best to maintain separate associations.[1830] For years the white Baptists of Alabama exercised a watchful care over the colored Baptists, whom they assisted in the work of organizing congregations and associations, and in the erection of schoolhouses and churches. Church and school buildings destroyed by the Ku Klux Klan were rebuilt by the whites, even when the colored congregation was only moderately well behaved. The whites in Montgomery contributed to build the first negro Baptist church in that city, and a white minister preached the sermon when the church was dedicated and turned over to the blacks. A number of white ladies were present at the services.[1831] For fifteen years Dr. I. T. Tichenor was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery. During that time he baptized over 500 negroes into its fellowship. At the end of the war there were 300 white and 600 negro members. Dr. Tichenor tells the story of the separation as follows: “When a separation of the two bodies was deemed desirable, it was done by the colored brethren, in conference assembled, passing a resolution, couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the division, and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action. The white church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies united in erecting a suitable house of worship for the colored brethren. Until it was finished they continued to occupy jointly with the white brethren their house of worship, as they had done previous to this action. The new house was paid for in large measure by the white members of the church and individuals in the community. As soon as it was completed the colored church moved into it with its organization all perfected, their pastor, board of deacons, committees of all sorts; and the whole machinery of church life went into action without a jar. Similar things occurred in all the states of the South.”[1832]

The old plantation preachers were ordained and others called and regularly ordained to the ministry by the whites. But good negro preachers were overwhelmed by an influx of “self-called” pastors who were often incompetent and often immoral. At last the whites seem to have given up as hopeless their work for the negroes. In 1885 an urgent appeal from the Colored Baptist Convention for advice and assistance met with no response from the white convention. Politics and prejudice, imprudent and immoral leaders, had completed the work of separation. Still something was done by the Home Mission Board towards instructing negro preachers and deacons, and in 1895 this Board and the Home Mission Board of the northern Baptists agreed to coÖperate and aid such negro conventions as might desire it. But the Alabama negro convention has not yet asked for assistance.[1833]

The Presbyterians and the Negroes

In 1869, encouraged by the white members, the negro members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Tennessee and north Alabama asked for and received separate organization and were henceforth known as the African Cumberland Presbyterian Church.[1834]

It is this division of the Cumberland Presbyterians that is now (1905) hindering somewhat the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian with the Northern Presbyterian organization. The blacks demanded the separation of the races; the whites now demand that it be continued.

Various branches of the Northern Presbyterian organizations worked in Alabama among the negroes. The principal result of their work was the separation of the blacks into independent churches. The Southern Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in the United States) made earnest efforts for the negro after the war, and with some success. The Institute at Tuscaloosa for the education of colored Presbyterian ministers is now the only school in the South for negroes which is conducted entirely by southern white teachers.[1835] The work of the Presbyterians among the negroes has continued to the present day, though in 1898 a movement was started to separate the blacks of the Southern Presbyterian Church into an independent church. This movement was not successful, as not a majority of the negro preachers desired separation. But the number of colored Presbyterians has always been small.[1836]

The Roman Catholics

The Roman Catholic Church did much work among the negroes in the cities and at first with a fair degree of success. It was strongly opposed by all Protestant denominations, both northern and southern, and especially by the Northern Methodist Church. It seemed to be dreadful news to the Methodists when it was reported that the Catholic Church was about to open fifteen schools in Alabama for the negro, where free board and tuition would be given.[1837] The American Missionary Association, supported in Alabama mainly by money from the Freedmen’s Bureau, used its influence among the negroes against the Catholic Church, which, the Association stated in a report, “was making extraordinary efforts to enshroud forever this class of the unfortunate race in Popish superstition and darkness.”[1838]

But the Catholic Church had no place for the negro preacher of little education and less character who desired to hold a high position in the negro church. There was better prospect for promotion in the Baptist and Methodist churches, and to those churches went the would-be negro preacher and, through his influence, the majority of his people.[1839]

The Episcopalians

The Protestant Episcopal Church did nearly all of its work among the negroes in the cities and among the negroes on the large plantations of the Black Belt. This church offered little more hope of advancement to the average negro preacher than the Roman Catholic, and the hostility of the military authorities to this church in 1865 and 1866 and the efforts of the missionaries and politicians caused a loss of most of the negro members that it had. In 1866 the laity of the State Convention seemed rather unenthusiastic in regard to work among the negroes, and left it to be managed by the bishop and clergy. The General Convention established the “Freedmen’s Commission” to assist in the work, which was not to be under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Bishop Wilmer stated that he was unwilling to accept this “schism-breeding proposition,” but would be glad of assistance which would be under his direction as bishop. No such aid was forthcoming. In 1867 only two congregations of negroes were left, one in Mobile and one in Marengo County. A few solitary blacks were to be found in the white congregations, and during Reconstruction these suffered real martyrdom on account of their loyalty to their old churches. They were ostracized by the other negroes, were called heathen and traitors, and were left alone in sickness and death. Under such treatment, the majority of the negro members were forced to withdraw from the Episcopal churches.[1840]

The Methodists and the Negroes

In 1861 the Methodist Episcopal Church South had more than 200,000 colored members and 180,000 children under instruction. One year after the surrender of Lee only 78,000 remained.[1841] The Montgomery Conference, in November, 1865, decided that there was no necessity for a change in the church relations of white and black; that in the church there should be no distinction on account of color and race; and that the negro had special claims on the whites. Presiding elders and preachers were directed to do all that lay in their power for the colored congregations, and establish Sunday-schools and day schools for them when practicable.[1842] The Methodist Protestants announced a similar policy.[1843] General Swayne of the Freedmen’s Bureau reported that he received much assistance toward negro education from the Southern Methodist Church, and especially from Reverend H. N. McTyeire (afterwards bishop).[1844]

The Southern Methodist congregations lost their negro members from the same causes that brought about the separation of the races in other churches. The negroes were told by their new leaders that for their safety they must consider the southerners as their natural enemies;[1845] they were convinced that there was spiritual safety only in the northern or in independent churches. All the forces of social ostracism were employed against those who chose to remain in the old churches. The southern planter was not able to support the missionary who formerly preached to his slaves, the negroes would not pay; and the church treasury was empty.[1846] In 1866 the General Conference directed that the colored members be organized as separate charges when they so desired; that colored preachers and presiding elders be appointed by the bishop, annual conferences organized when necessary, and especial attention be directed towards Sunday-schools for the negroes.[1847]

Against all efforts of the Southern Methodists to work among the negroes, the Northern Methodists struggled with a persistence worthy of a better cause. Missionaries were sent South, narrow and prejudiced, though sincere, men and women, who were possessed with the fixed conviction that no good could come to the negro except from the North; in this conviction schools were established and churches organized. The injudicious and violent methods of these persons and their bitter prejudices caused their exclusion from all desirable society, and naturally they became more violent and prejudiced than ever. Their letters written to their homes showed that they believed the native white to be possessed by an inhuman hatred of the blacks, and that on the slightest provocation the whites would slaughter the entire negro population.[1848] They favored at least a partial confiscation in behalf of the negro. Through the Freedmen’s Aid Society the northern church entered upon work among the whites also, opposing the southern church on the ground that it was sectional and condemning all its efforts among the blacks as useless and harmful. For years there was not a word of recognition of the work done by the southern churches among the slaves.[1849] The missionaries were afraid of “the old feudal forces” which were still working, they thought, under various disguises such as “Historical Societies, Memorial Days, and monuments to the Confederate dead.”[1850] Their work was thoroughly done. Two negro Methodist churches, organized in the North, secured the greater part of the negroes.[1851] Some joined the Northern Methodist Church, “which also came down to divide the spoils.”[1852]After 1866 the colored congregations still adhering to the Southern Methodists had been divided into circuits, districts, and conferences. By 1870 political differences and the efforts of other churches had so alienated the races that it was thought best to set up an independent organization for the negroes, for their own protection. This was done in 1870 by the General Conference. Two negro bishops were ordained, and all church property that had ever been used for negro congregations was turned over to the new organization, which was called the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. A few negroes refused to leave the white church, and in 1892 there were still 357 colored members on its rolls.[1853] Until recently there has been strong opposition on the part of the other African churches to the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church because of its relations to the Southern Methodist Church. The latter has continued to aid and direct its protÉgÉ, and the opposition is gradually subsiding.[1854]

After thirty years’ experience, most people who have knowledge of the subject agree that the religious interests of the negro have suffered from the separation of the races in the churches and from the enforced withdrawal of the native whites from religious work among the blacks. The influence of the master’s family is no longer felt, and instead of the white minister came the negro preacher, with “ninety-five superstitions to five eternal truths,”—superstitions, many of them reminiscences from Africa.[1855] There have been too many negro churches; every one who could read and write wanted to preach,[1856] and many of them claimed direct communication with the Supreme Being; every one who applied was admitted to the churches; morality and religion were only remotely connected; leaders of the demi-monde were stout pillars of the church. A Presbyterian minister in charge of negro interests has stated that in his church the personnel of the independent negro congregations is inferior in character and morality to the congregations under the supervision of the whites. In the colored Baptist associations it is reported that frequent and radical changes have been the custom. Discontented churches secede and form new associations, which exist for a short while, and are then absorbed by other associations. The boundaries of the associations also change frequently; the church government seems to be in a kind of fluid state. Thoughtful religious leaders now believe that the southern white, for the good of both races, should again take part in the religious training of the negro.[1857] But the difficulties in the way of such a course are almost insurmountable and date back to forced separation of the races in the churches.

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An editorial in the Nation in 1866 expressed the situation from one point of view very clearly and forcibly: The northern churches claim that the South is determined to make the religious division permanent, though “slavery no longer furnishes a pretext for separation.” Too much pains are taken to bring about an ecclesiastical reunion, and irritating offers of reconciliation are made by the northern churches, all based on the assumption that the South has not only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in slavery and in war. We expect them to be penitent and to gladly accept our offers of forgiveness. But the southern people look upon a “loyal” missionary as a political emissary, and “loyal” men do not at present possess the necessary qualifications for evangelizing the southerners or softening their hearts, and are sure not to succeed in doing so. We look upon their defeat as retribution and expect them to do the same. It will do no good if we tell the southerners that “we will forgive them if they will confess that they are criminals, offer to pray with them, preach with them, and labor with them over their hideous sins.”[1858]

“Reconstruction” in the church was closely related to “Reconstruction” in the state, and was so considered at the time by the reconstructionists of both.[1859] The same mistaken, intolerant policy was followed, on the theory that the southern whites were as incapable of good action in church as in state. Irritating and impossible tests and conditions of readmission were proposed before reconciliation. Later the efforts to weaken and destroy the southern churches after attempts at reunion had failed completed the alienation, which in several organizations seems to be permanent. There was a Solid South in church as well as in politics.

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CHAPTER XXI

THE KU KLUX REVOLUTION

The Ku Klux movement was an understanding among southern whites, brought about by the chaotic condition of social and political institutions between 1865 and 1876. It resulted in a partial destruction of the Reconstruction and a return, as near as might be, to ante-bellum conditions. This understanding or state of mind took many forms and was called by many names. The purpose was everywhere and always the same: to recover for the white race control of society, and destroy the baleful influence of the alien among the blacks.[1860]

Causes of the Ku Klux Movement

When the surviving soldiers of the Confederate army returned home in the spring and summer of 1865, they found a land in which political institutions had been destroyed and in which a radical social revolution was taking place—an old order, the growth of hundreds of years, seemed to be breaking up, and the new one had not yet taken shape; all was confusion and disorder. At this time began a movement which under different forms has lasted until the present day—an effort on the part of the defeated population to restore affairs to a state which could be endurable, to reconstruct southern society. This movement, a few years later, was in one of its phases known as the Ku Klux movement. For the peculiar aspects of this secret revolutionary movement many causes are suggested.

For several months before the close of the war the state government was powerless except in the vicinity of the larger towns, the country districts being practically without government. After the surrender there was an interval of four months during which there was no pretence of government except in the immediate vicinity of the points garrisoned by the Federal army. The people were forbidden to take steps toward setting up any kind of government.[1861] From one end of the state to the other the land was infested by a vicious element left by the war,—Federal and Confederate deserters, and bushwhackers and outlaws of every description. These were especially troublesome in the counties north of the Black Belt. The old tory class in the mountain counties was troublesome.[1862] Of the little property surviving the wreck of war, none was safe from thievery. The worst class of the negroes—not numerous at this time—were insolent and violent in their new-found freedom. Murders were frequent, and outrages upon women were beginning to be heard of.[1863] The whites, especially the more ignorant ones, were afraid of the effects of preaching of the doctrines of equality, amalgamation, etc., to the blacks. There were soon signs to show that some negroes would endeavor to put the theories they had heard of into practice.[1864]

There was much talk of confiscation of property and division of land among the blacks. The negroes believed that they were going to be rewarded at the expense of the whites, and many of the latter began to fear that such might be the case. The Freedmen’s Bureau early began its most successful career in alienating the races, by teaching the black that the southern white was naturally unfriendly to him. In this work it was ably assisted by the preaching and teaching missionaries sent out from the North, who taught the negro to beware of the southern white in church and in school. The Bureau broke up the labor system that had been patched up in the summer and fall of 1865, and people in the Black Belt felt that labor must be regulated in some way.[1865] In the white counties the poorer whites, who had been the strongest supporters of the secession movement, not because they liked slavery, but because they were afraid of the competition of free negroes, began to show signs of a desire to drive the negro tenants from the rich lands which they wanted for themselves.[1866] For years after the war it was almost impossible for the farmer or planter to raise cows, hogs, poultry, etc., on account of the thieving propensities of the negroes.[1867] Houses, mills, gins, cotton pens, and corn-cribs were frequently burned.[1868] The Union League was believed by many to be an organization for the purpose of plundering the whites and for the division of property when the confiscation should take place.[1869] It was also an active political machine. Nearly all the witnesses before the Ku Klux Committee who stated the causes of the rise of Ku Klux said that the League was the principal one. The whites soon came to believe that they were persecuted by the Washington government. The cotton frauds in 1865; the cotton tax, 1865-1868; the refusal to admit the southern states to representation in Congress, though they were heavily taxed; the passage of the Reconstruction Acts, by which the governments in the South were overturned, the negroes enfranchised, and all the prominent whites disfranchised,—all combined to make the white people believe that the North was seeking to humiliate them, to punish them when they were weak. They did not contemplate such treatment when they laid down their arms. As one soldier expressed it: the treatment received was in violation of the terms of surrender as expressed in their paroles; the southern soldiers could have carried on a guerilla warfare for years; the United States had made terms with men who had arms in their hands; they had laid them down, and the United States had violated these terms and punished individuals for alleged crime without trial; yet their paroles stated that they were not to be disturbed as long as they were law-abiding; the whole Reconstruction was a violation of the terms of surrender as the southern soldiers understood it; it was punishment of a whole people by legislative enactment, and contrary to the spirit of American institutions. It was not a matter of law, but of common honesty.[1870]

General Clanton complained that the southern people passed out of the hands of warriors into the hands of squaws.[1871] The government imposed upon Alabama after the voters had fairly rejected it according to act of Congress was administered by the most worthless and incompetent of whites—alien and native—and negroes. Heavy taxes were laid; the public debt was rapidly increased; the treasury was looted; public office was treated as private property. The government was weak and vicious; it gave no protection to person or property; it was powerless, or perhaps unwilling, to repress disorder; and was held in general contempt. The officials were notoriously corrupt and unjust in administration. There were many disorders which the people believed the state and Federal governments could not or would not regulate.[1872] There was a general feeling of insecurity, in some sections a reign of terror. Innumerable humiliations were inflicted on the former political people of the state by carpet-bagger and scalawag, using the former slave as an instrument. Negro policemen stood on the street corners annoying the whites, making a great parade of all arrests, sometimes even of white women. The elections were corrupt, and the law was deliberately framed to protect ballot-box frauds.[1873] The highest officers of the judiciary, Federal and state, took an active interest in politics, contrary to judicial traditions. Justice, so called, was bought and sold. The most thoroughly political people of the world, the proudest people of the English race, were the political inferiors of their former slaves, and the newcomers from the North never failed to make this fact as irritating as possible, by speech and print and action.[1874]

In short, there was anarchy, social and political and economic. As the negro said, “The bottom rail is on top.” The strenuous editor Randolph said, “The origin of Ku Klux Klan is in the galling despotism that broods like a nightmare over these southern states,—a fungus growth of military tyranny superinduced by the fostering of Loyal Leagues, the abrogation of our civil laws, the habitual violation of our national constitution, and a persistent prostitution of all government, all resources, and all powers, to degrade the white man by the establishment of negro supremacy.”[1875]

Secret Societies of Regulators, before Ku Klux Klan

On account of the disordered condition of the state in 1865, some kind of a police power was necessary, the Federal garrisons being but few and weak. The minds of all men turned at once to the old ante-bellum neighborhood police patrol.[1876] This patrol had consisted of men usually selected by the justice of the peace to patrol the entire community once a week or once a month, usually at night. The duty was compulsory, and every able-bodied white was subject to it, though there was sometimes commutation of service. The principal need for this patrol was to keep the black population in order, and to this end the patrollers were invested with the authority to inflict corporal punishment in summary fashion. There were about two companies, of six men and a captain each, to every township where there was a dense negro population. The attentions of the patrol were not confined to negroes alone, but now and then a white man was thrashed for some misdemeanor.[1877] In this respect the patrol was a body for the regulation of society, so far as petty misdemeanors were concerned, and every respectable white man was by virtue of his color a member of this police guard. He had the right, whether in active patrol or not, to question any strange negro found abroad, or any negro travelling without a pass, or any white man found tampering with the negroes. It was to some extent a military organization of society. Much of this was simply custom, the development of hundreds of years, not a statute regulation, for that was a recent thing in the history of slavery. It was the old English neighborhood police system become a part of the customary law of slavery. After the war some regulation was necessary; the whites were accustomed to settling such matters outside of law or court; it was bred into their nature, and they returned perhaps unconsciously to the old system.[1878]

But now, under the rÉgime of the Freedmen’s Bureau backed by the army, the old way of dealing with refractory blacks was illegal. As a matter of fact there was no legal way to control them. The result was natural—the movement to regulate society became a secret one. The white men of each community had a general understanding that they would assist one another to protect women, children, and property. They had a system of signals for communication, but no disguises, and the organization was not kept secret except from the negroes. In one locality the young men alone were united into a committee for the regulation of the conduct of negroes. They requested the women who lived alone on the plantations, the old men, and others who were likely to be unable to control the negroes, to inform the committee of instances of misconduct on the part of the blacks. When such information came, it was immediately acted upon, and the next day there were sadder and better negroes on some one’s plantation.[1879] As a rule one thrashing in a community lasted a long time. In Hale County a vigilance committee was formed to protect the women and children in a section of the black country where there were few white men, most having been killed in the war. They had a system of signals by means of plantation bells. There were no disguises, and there was a public place of meeting.[1880] In the same county, in the fall of 1865, the whites near Newberne asked General Hardee, then living on his plantation, to take command of their patrol. His answer was: “No, gentlemen, I want you to enroll my name for service, but put a younger man in command. I have served my day as commander. I will be ready to respond when called upon for active duty. I want to advise you to get ready for what may come. We are standing over a sleeping volcano.”[1881] In Limestone County a similar organization was composed of peaceable citizens united to disperse or crush out bands of thieves.[1882] This was in a white county in the northern section of the state, where the people had suffered during the war, and were still suffering, from the depredations of the tories. In Winston and Walker counties the returning Confederate soldiers banded together and drove many of the tories from the country, hanging several of the worst characters.[1883] In central and southern Alabama the citizens resolved themselves into vigilance committees and hanged horse thieves and other outlaws who were raiding the country, some of them disguised in the uniforms of Federal soldiers.[1884]

In Marengo County while negro insurrection was feared a secret organization was formed for the protection of the whites. The members were initiated in a Masonic hall. Regular meetings were held, and each member reported on the conduct of the negroes in his community. There were no whippings necessary in this section, and after a few night rides the society dissolved. The Bureau and Union League were never successful in getting absolute control over the “Cane Brake” region, and therefore the negroes were better behaved and there was less disorder.[1885]

Before Christmas, 1865, when there seemed to be danger of outbreaks of that part of the negro population who were disappointed in regard to the division of property, there was a disposition among the whites in some counties, especially in the eastern Black Belt, to form militia companies, though this was forbidden by the Washington authorities. Some of these companies regularly patrolled their neighborhoods. Others undertook to disarm the freedmen, who were purchasing arms of every description, and in order to do this searched the negro houses at night. General Swayne, recognizing the dangerous situation of the whites, forbore to interfere with these militia companies until after Christmas, when, the negroes remaining peaceable, he issued an order forbidding further interference;[1886] but the militia organizations persisted in some shape until the Reconstruction Acts were passed.

In the eastern counties of the state there was in 1865 and 1866 an organization, preceding the Ku Klux, called the “Black Cavalry.” It was a secret, oath-bound, night-riding order. Its greatest strength was in Tallapoosa County, where it was said to have 200 to 300 members. It was not only a band to regulate the conduct of the negroes, but there was a large element in it of the poorer whites, who wanted to drive the negro from the rich lands upon which slavery had settled them, in order to get them for themselves. This was generally true of all secret orders of regulators in the white counties from 1865 to 1875, and exactly the opposite was the case in the Black Belt, where the planters preferred the negro labor, and never drove out the blacks. The “Black Cavalry,” it is said, drove more negroes from east Alabama than the Ku Klux did.[1887]

There were local bands of regulators policing nearly every district in Alabama. Few of them had formal organizations or rose to the dignity of having officers or names, but there were the “Men of Justice,” in north Alabama, principally in Limestone County, and the “Order of Peace,” partially organized in Huntsville early in 1868,[1888] and many other local orders.

The Origin and Growth of Ku Klux Klan

The local bands of regulators in existence immediately after the war were a necessary outcome of the disordered conditions prevailing at the time, and would have disappeared, with a return to normal conditions under a strong government which had the respect of the people. But during the excitement over the action of the Reconstruction convention in the fall of 1867 and the elections of February, 1868, a new secret order became prominent in Alabama; and when, after the people had defeated the constitution, Congress showed a disposition to disregard the popular will as expressed in the result of the election, this order—Ku Klux Klan—sprang into activity in widely separated localities. The campaign of the previous six months had made the people desperate when they contemplated what was in store for them under the rule of carpet-bagger, scalawag, and negro. The counter-revolution was beginning.

The Ku Klux Klan originated in Pulaski, Tennessee, in the fall of 1865.[1889] The founders were James R. Crowe, Richard R. Reed, Calvin Jones, John C. Lester, Frank O. McCord, and John Kennedy. Some were Alabamians and some Tennesseeans. Lester and Crowe lived later in Sheffield, Alabama. Crowe and Kennedy are the only survivors. It was a club of young men who had served in the Confederate army, who united for purposes of fun and mischief, pretty much as college boys in secret fraternities or country boys as “snipe hunters.” The name was an accidental corruption of the Greek word kuklos, a circle, and had no meaning.[1890] The officers had outlandish titles, and fancy disguises were adopted. The regalia or uniform consisted of a tall cardboard hat covered with cloth, on which were pasted red spangles and stars; there was a face covering, with openings for nose, mouth, and ears; and a long robe coming nearly to the heels, made of any kind of cloth—white, black, or red—often fancy colored calico. A whistle was used as a signal.[1891]

This scheme for amusement was successful, and there were plenty of applications for admission. Members went away to other towns, and under the direction of the Pulaski Club, or “Den” as it was called, other Dens were formed. The Pulaski Den was in the habit of parading in full uniform at social gatherings of the whites at night, much to the delight of the small boys and girls. Pulaski was near the Alabama line, and many Alabama young men saw these parades or heard of them, and Dens were organized over north Alabama in the towns. Nothing but horse-play and tomfoolery took place in the meetings. In 1867 and 1868 the order appeared in parade in the north Alabama towns and “cut up curious gyrations” on the public squares.[1892] The Klan had not long been in existence and was still in this first stage, and was rapidly speeding, when a pretty general discovery of its power over the negro was made. The weird night riders in ghostly disguises frightened the superstitious negroes, who were told that the spirits of dead Confederates were abroad.[1893] There was a general belief outside the order that there was a purpose behind all the ceremonial and frolic of the Dens; many joined the order convinced that its object was serious; others saw the possibilities in it and joined in order to make use of it. After discovering the power of the Klan over the negroes, there was a general tendency, owing to the disordered conditions of the time, to go into the business of a police patrol and hold in check the thieving negroes, the Union League, and the “loyalists.” From being a series of social clubs the Dens swiftly became bands of regulators, adding many fantastic qualities to their original outfit. All this time the Pulaski organization exercised a loose control over a federation of Dens. There was danger, as the Dens became more and more police bodies, of some of the more ardent spirits going to excess, and in several instances Dens went far in the direction of violence and outrage. Attempts were made by the parent Den to regulate the conduct of the Dens, but owing to the loose organization, they met with little success. Some of the Dens lost all connection with the original order.

Early in 1867 the Grand Cyclops of the Pulaski Den sent requests to the various Dens in the southern states to send delegates to a convention in Nashville. This convention met in May, 1867. Delegates from all of the Gulf states and from several others were present, and the order of Ku Klux Klan was reorganized. There were at this time Dens in all the southern states, and even in Illinois and Pennsylvania.[1894] A constitution called the “Prescript” was here adopted for the entire order. The administration was centralized, and the entire South was placed under the jurisdiction of its officials. The former slave states except Delaware constituted the Empire, which was ruled by the Grand Wizard[1895] with a staff of ten Genii; each state was a realm under a Grand Dragon and eight Hydras; the next subdivision was the Dominion, consisting of several counties,[1896] ruled by a Grand Titan and six Furies; the county as a Province was governed by a Grand Giant[1897] and four Goblins; the unit was the Den or community organization. There might be several in each county, each under a Grand Cyclops and two Night Hawks. The Genii, Hydras, Furies, Goblins, and Night Hawks were staff officers. Each of the above divisions was called a Grand *. The order had no name, and at first was designated by two **, later by three ***. The private members were called Ghouls. The Grand Magi and the Grand Monk were the second and third officers of the Den, and had the authority of the Grand Cyclops when the latter was absent. The Grand Sentinel was in charge of the guard of the Den, and the Grand Ensign carried its banner on the night rides.[1898] Every division had a Grand Exchequer, whose duty it was to look after the revenue,[1899] and a Grand Scribe, or secretary, who called the roll, made reports, and kept lists of members (without anything to show what the list meant), usually in Arabic figures, 1, 2, 3, etc. The Grand Turk was the adjutant of the Grand Cyclops, and gave notice of meetings, executed orders, received candidates, and administered the preliminary oaths. The officers of the Den were elected semiannually by the Ghouls; the highest officers of the other divisions were elected biannually by the officers of the next lower rank. The first Grand Wizard was to serve three years from May, 1867.[1900] Each superior officer could appoint special deputies to assist him and to extend the order. Every division made quarterly reports to the next higher headquarters. In case a question of paramount importance should arise, the Grand Wizard was invested with absolute authority.[1901]

The Tribunal of Justice consisted of a Grand Council of Yahoos for the trial of all elected officers, and was composed of those of equal rank with the accused, presided over by one of the next higher rank; and for the trial of Ghouls and non-elective officers, the Grand Council of Centaurs, which consisted of six Ghouls appointed by the Grand Cyclops, who presided.[1902]

A person was admitted to the Den after nomination by a member and strict investigation by a committee. No one under eighteen was admitted. The oath taken was one of obedience and secrecy. The Dens governed themselves by the ordinary rules of deliberative bodies. The penalty for betrayal of secret was “the extreme penalty of the Law.”[1903] None of the secrets was to be written. There was a Register of alarming adjectives used in dating the wonderful Ku Klux orders.[1904]

In the original Prescript no mention was made of the peculiar objects of the order. The Creed acknowledged the supremacy of the Divine Being, and the Preamble the supremacy of the laws of the United States.[1905] The Revised and Amended Prescript sets forth the character and objects of the order: (1) To protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenceless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal;[1906] to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers. (2) To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to protect the states and people thereof from all invasion from any source whatever. (3) To aid and assist in the execution of all “constitutional” laws, and to protect the people from unlawful arrest, and from trial except by their peers according to the laws of the land.[1907]

Facsimile of Page 3 of the Revised and Amended Prescript of Ku Klux Klan.

The questions asked of the candidate constituted a test sufficient to exclude all except the most friendly whites. The applicant for admission was asked if he belonged to the Federal army or the Radical party, Union League, or Grand Army of the Republic, and if he was opposed to the principles of those organizations. He was asked if he was opposed to negro equality, political and social, and was in favor of a white man’s government, of constitutional liberty and equitable laws. He was asked if he was in favor of reËnfranchisement and emancipation of the southern whites, and the restoration to the southern people of their rights,—property, civil, and political,—and of maintaining the constitutional rights of the South, and if he believed in the inalienable right of self-preservation of the people against the exercise of arbitrary and unlicensed power.

The Revised and Amended Prescript, made in 1868, was an attempt to give more power of control to the central authorities in order to enable them to regulate the obstreperous Dens. The purposes of the order, omitted in the first Prescript, was clearly declared in the revision. Little change was made in the administration of the order.[1908]The order continued to spread after the reorganization in 1867. There were scattered Dens over north Alabama and as far south as Tuscaloosa, Selma, and Montgomery. It came first to the towns and then spread into the country. It was less and less an obscure organization, and more and more a band of regulators, using mystery, disguise, and secrecy to terrify the blacks into good behavior. It was in many ways a military organization, the shadowy ghost of the Confederate armies.[1909] The whites were all well-trained military men; they looked to their military chieftains to lead them. The best men were members,[1910] though the prominent politicians as a rule did not belong to the order. They fought the fight against the Radicals on the other side of the field.[1911]

After the elections in February, 1868, the Ku Klux came into greater prominence in Alabama, especially in the northern and western portions, while south Alabama was still quiet.[1912]

The counties of north Alabama infested were Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Jackson, Morgan, Lawrence, Franklin, Madison, Winston, Walker, Fayette, and Blount. In central Alabama, Montgomery, Greene, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Calhoun, Talladega, Randolph, Chambers, Coosa, and Tallapoosa.[1913] There were bands in most of the other counties, and in the counties of the Black Belt. The order seldom extended to the lower edge of the Black Belt. In the Black Belt it met the Knights of the White Camelia, the White Brotherhood, and later the White League, and in a way absorbed them all.[1914]

The actual number of the men in regular organized Dens cannot be ascertained. It was estimated that there were 800 in Madison County, and 10,000 in the state.[1915] Others said that it included all Confederate soldiers.[1916] The actual number regularly enrolled was much less than the number who acted as Ku Klux when they considered it necessary. In one sense practically all able-bodied native white men belonged to the order, and if social and business ostracism be considered as a manifestation of the Ku Klux spirit, then the women and children also were Ku Klux.

It is the nature and vice of secret societies of regulators to degenerate, and the Ku Klux Klan was no exception to the rule. By 1869 the order had fallen largely under control of a low class of men who used it to further their own personal aims, to wreak revenge on their enemies and gratify personal animosities. Outrages became frequent, and the order was dangerous even to those who founded it.[1917] It had done its work. The negroes had been in a measure controlled, and society had been held together during the revolution of 1865-1869. The people were still harassed by many irritations and persecutions, but while almost unbearable, they were mostly of a nature to disappear in time as the carpet-bag governments collapsed. The most material evil at present was the misgovernment of the Radicals, and this could not last always. But though the organized Ku Klux Klan was disbanded, the spirit of resistance was higher than ever; and as each community had problems to deal with they were met in the old manner—a sporadic uprising of a local Klan. As long as a carpet-bagger was in power, the principles of the Klan were asserted.

The Knights of the White Camelia

The order known as the Knights of the White Camelia originated in Louisiana in 1867,[1918] and spread from thence through the Gulf states. In Alabama it was well organized in the southwestern counties, and to some extent throughout the lower Black Belt. It probably did not exist in the southeastern white counties.[1919] The former local vigilance committees, neighborhood patrol parties, and disbanded militia were absorbed into the order, which gave them a uniform organization and a certain loose union, and left them pretty much as independent as before. There was a closer sympathy between southwest Alabama and Louisiana than between the two sections of Alabama, which perhaps will account for the failure of Ku Klux Klan to organize in the southern counties. The White Camelia came to Alabama from New Orleans via Mobile, and also through southern Mississippi to southwestern Alabama. Later the White League came the same way.

In June 1868 a convention of the Knights of the White Camelia was held in New Orleans, and a constitution was adopted for the order.[1920] The preamble stated that Radical legislation was subversive of the principles of government adopted by the fathers, and in order to secure safety and prosperity the order was founded for the preservation of those principles. The order consisted of a Supreme Council of the United States, and of Grand, Central, and Subordinate councils. The Supreme Council with headquarters in New Orleans consisted of five delegates from each Grand Council. It was the general legislative body of the order, and maintained communication within the order by means of passwords and cipher correspondence. Communication between and with the lowest organizations was verbal only. All officers were designated by initials.[1921]

In each state the Grand Council[1922] was the highest body, and held its sessions at the state capital. The membership consisted of delegates from the Central Councils—one delegate for one thousand members. The Grand Council had the power of legislation for the state, subject to the constitution of the order and the laws of the Supreme Council. In each county or parish there was a Central Council of delegates from Subordinate Councils.[1923] It was charged with the duty of collecting the revenue and extending the order within its limits. The lowest organization was the Council (or Subordinate Council) in a community. This body had sole authority to initiate members. In each county the Subordinate Councils were designated by numbers. Each was composed of several Circles (each under a Grand Chief); each Circle of five Groups (each under a Chief); and each Group of ten Brothers. Officials of the order were elected by indirect methods. An ex-member states that “during the three years of its existence here [Perry County] I believe its organization and discipline were as perfect as human ingenuity could have made it.”[1924]

The constitution prohibited the order as a body from nominating or supporting any candidate or set of candidates for public office. Each subordinate rank had the right of local legislation. Quarterly reports were made by each division. The officers of the higher councils were known only to their immediate subordinates. When a question came up that could not be settled it was referred to the next higher council.

Facsimile of Page 2 of the Original
Prescript of Ku Klux Klan.

Facsimile of Page from Ritual of the
Knights of the White Camelia.

Only whites[1925] over eighteen were admitted to membership, after election by the order in which no adverse vote was cast. Each council acted as a court when charges were brought against its members. Punishment was by removal or suspension from office; there was no expulsion from the order; punishment was simply a reducing to ranks. The candidate for membership into the order was required first to take the oath of secrecy, which was administered by a subordinate official, who then announced him to the next higher official.[1926] By the latter the candidate was presented to the commander of the Council, and in answer to his interrogations made solemn declaration that he had not married and would never marry a woman not of the white race, and that he believed in the superiority of the white race. He promised never to vote for any except a white man, and never to refrain from voting at any election in which a negro candidate should oppose a white. He further declared that he would devote his intelligence, energy, and influence to prevent political affairs from falling into the hands of the African race, and that he would protect persons of the white race in their lives, rights, and property against encroachments from any inferior race, especially the African. After the candidate had made the proper declarations the final oath was administered,[1927] after which he was pronounced a “Knight of the ——.”The Commander next instructed the new members in the principles of the order, which he declared was destined to regenerate the unfortunate country, and to relieve the white race from its humiliating condition. Its fundamental object was the “Maintenance of the Supremacy of the White Race.”[1928] History and physiology were called upon to show that the Caucasian race had always been superior to, and had always exercised dominion over, inferior races. No human laws could permanently change the great laws of nature. The white race alone had achieved enduring civilization, and of all subordinate races, the most imperfect was the African. The government of the Republic was established by white men for white men. It was never intended by its founders that it should fall into the hands of an inferior race. Consequently, any attempt to transfer the government to the blacks was an invasion of the sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution, as well as a violation of the laws established by God himself, and no member of the white race could submit, without humiliation and shame, to the subversion of the established institutions of the Republic. It was the duty of white men to resist attempts against their natural and legal rights in order to maintain the supremacy of the Caucasian race and restrain the “African race to that condition of social and political inferiority for which God has destined it.” There was to be no infringement of laws, no violations of right, no force employed, except for purposes of legitimate and necessary defence.

As an essential condition of success, the Order proscribed absolutely any social equality between the races. If any degree of social equality should be granted, there would be no end to it; political equality was necessarily involved. Social equality meant finally intermarriage and a degraded and ignoble population. The white blood must be kept pure to preserve the natural superiority of the race. The obligation was therefore taken “To Observe a Marked Distinction between the two Races,”[1929] in public and in private life.

One of the most important duties of the members was to respect the rights of the negroes, and in every instance give them their lawful dues. It was only simple justice to deny them none of their legitimate privileges. There was no better way to show the inherent superiority of the white race, than by dealing with the blacks in that spirit of firmness, liberality, and impartiality which characterizes all superior organizations. It would be ungenerous to restrict them in the exercise of certain privileges, without conceding to them at the same time the fullest measure of their legitimate rights. A fair construction of the white man’s duty to the black would be, not only to respect and observe their acknowledged rights, but also to see that they were respected and observed by others.

These declarations give a good idea of what was in the minds of the southern whites in 1867 and 1868, and later.[1930]

Like the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camelia disbanded when the objects of the order were accomplished, or were in a fair way toward accomplishment. In some counties it lived a year or two longer than in others. In certain counties, by order of its authorities, it was never organized. It did not extend north of the Black Belt, though it existed in close proximity to the more southerly of the Klans. As the oldest of the large secret orders, the name of Ku Klux Klan was more widely known than the others, and hence the name was applied indiscriminately to all. A local body would assume the name of a large one when there was no direct connection. The other organizations similar to Ku Klux in objects and methods[1931] did not have a strong membership in Alabama.

The Work of the Secret Orders

The task before the secret orders was to regulate the conduct of the blacks and their leaders, in order that honor, life, and property might be made secure. They planned to do this by playing upon the fears, superstitions, and cowardice of the black race; by creating a white terror to offset the black one. To this end they made use of strange and horrible disguises, mysterious and fearful conversation, midnight rides and drills, and silent parades.

The costume varied with the locality, often with the individual.[1932] The Tennessee regalia was too fine for the backwoods Ku Klux to duplicate. The cardboard hat was generally worn. It was funnel-shaped, eighteen inches to two feet high, covered with white cloth, and often ornamented with stars of gold, or by pictures of animals. The mask over the face was sometimes white, with holes cut for eyes, mouth, and nose. These holes were bound around with red braid so as to give a horrible appearance. Other eyes, nose, and mouth were painted higher up on the hat. Black cloth with white or red braid was also used for the mask. Sometimes simply a woman’s veil was worn over the head and held down by an ordinary woollen hat. The “hill billy” Ku Kluxes did not adorn themselves very much. To the sides of the cardboard hats horns were sometimes attached, and to the mask a fringe of quills, which looked like enormous teeth and made a peculiar noise. The mask and the robe were usually of different colors. Sometimes a black sack was drawn over the head, and eyes, mouth, and nose holes cut in it. False or painted beards were often worn. The robe consisted of a white or colored gown, reaching nearly to the heels, and held by a belt around the waist; it was usually made of fancy calico; white gowns were sometimes striped with red or black. As long as the negro went into spasms of fear at the sight of a Ku Klux, the usual costume seems to have been white; but after the negro became somewhat accustomed to the Ku Klux, and learned that there were human beings behind the robes, the regalia became only a disguise, and less attention was devoted to making fearful costumes. As a rule the ordinary clothes worn were underneath, but in Madison County the Ghouls sported fancy red flannel trousers with white stripes, while the west Alabama spirits were content with wearing ordinary dark trousers, and shirts slashed with red. The white robe was often a bed sheet held on by a belt. After a night ride the disguise could be taken off and stowed about the person. The horses were covered with sheets or white cloth, held on by the saddle and by belts. There was, at times, a disguise which fitted the horse’s head, and the horses were sometimes painted. Skeleton sheep’s heads or cows’ heads, or even human skulls, were frequently carried on the saddle-bows. A framework was sometimes made to fit the shoulders of a Ghoul and caused him to appear twelve feet high. A skeleton wooden hand at the end of a stick served to greet negroes at midnight. Every man had a small whistle. The costume was completed by a brace of pistols worn under the robe.[1933]

Ku Klux Costumes.
Worn in Western Alabama.

The trembling negro who ran into the Ku Klux on his return from the love-feasts at the Loyal League meetings was informed that the white-robed figures he saw were the spirits of the Confederate dead, killed at Chickamauga or Shiloh, and that they were unable to rest in their graves because of the conduct of the negroes. He was told in a sepulchral voice of the necessity for his remaining at home more and taking a less active part in various predatory excursions. In the middle of the night the sleeping negro would wake to find his house surrounded by the ghostly company, or find several standing by his bedside, ready, as soon as he woke, to inform him that they were the ghosts of men whom he had formerly known, killed at Shiloh. They had scratched through from Hell to warn the negroes of the consequences of their misconduct. Hell was a dry and thirsty land; they asked him for water. Buckets of water went sizzling into a sack of leather, rawhide, or rubber, concealed within the flowing robe. At other times, Hell froze over to give passage to the spirits who were returning to earth. It was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence. The black population was in an ecstacy of fear. A silent host of white-sheeted horsemen parading the country roads at night was sufficient to reduce the black to good behavior for weeks or months. One silent Ghoul, posted near a League meeting place, would be the cause of the dissolution of that club. Cow bones in a sack were rattled. A horrible being, fifteen feet tall, walking through the night toward a place of congregation, was pretty apt to find that every one vacated the place before he arrived. A few figures, wrapped in bed sheets and sitting on tombstones in a graveyard near which negroes passed, would serve to keep the immediate community quiet for weeks, and give it a reputation for “hants” which lasts perhaps until to-day. At times the Klan paraded the streets of the towns, men and horses perfectly disguised. The parades were always silent, and so conducted as to give the impression of very large numbers. Regular drills were held in town and country, and the men showed that they had not forgotten their training in the Confederate army. There were no commands unless in a very low tone or in a mysterious language; usually they drilled by signs or by whistle signals.[1934]

For a year or more,—until the spring of 1868,—the Klan was successful so far as the negro was concerned, through its mysterious methods. The carpet-bagger and the scalawag were harder problems. They understood the nature of the secret order and knew its objects. As long as the order did not use violence they were not to be moved to any great extent. Then, too, the negro lost some of his fear of the supernatural beings. Different methods were now used. In March and April, 1868, there was an outbreak of Ku Kluxism over a large part of the state.[1935] For the first time the newspapers were filled with Ku Klux orders and warnings. The warnings were found posted on the premises of obnoxious negroes or white Radicals. The newspapers sometimes published them for the benefit of all who might be interested. One warning was supposed to be sufficient to cause the erring to mend their ways.[1936] If still obstinate in their evil courses, a writ from the Klan followed and punishment was inflicted. Warnings were sent to all whom the Klan thought should be regulated—white or black. The warnings were written in disguised handwriting and sometimes purposely misspelled. The following warning was sent to I. D. Sibley, a carpet-bagger in Huntsville:—

Ku Klux Warning.

The published orders of the Klan served a double purpose—to notify the members of contemplated movements, and to frighten the Radicals, white or black, who had made themselves offensive. The newspapers usually published these orders with the remark that the order had been found or had been sent to them with a request for publication.[1938] Each Cyclops composed his own orders, but there was a marked resemblance between the various decrees. The most interesting and lively orders were concocted by the Cyclops editor of the Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor.[1939] Some specimens are given below.

A Black Belt warning was in this shape:—

K. K. K.
Friday, April 3rd, 1868
Warning—For one who understands.
26/3/68 No. 5—116
Recorded 8th / 16 / 24—B.
K. K. K.The following order was posted in Tuscaloosa:—

The following was circulated around Montgomery in April, 1868:—

The military authorities forbade the newspapers to publish Ku Klux orders,[1940] and the Klan had to trust to messengers. Verbal orders and warnings became the rule. The Den met and discussed the condition of affairs in the community. The cases of violent whites and negroes were brought up, one by one, and the Den decided what was to be done. Except in the meeting the authority of the Cyclops was absolute.

C. C. Sheets, a prominent scalawag, had been making speeches to the negroes against the whites. The Klan visited him at his hotel at Florence, caught him as he was trying to escape over the roof, brought him back, and severely lectured him in regard to his conduct. They explained to him that the Klan was a conservative organization to hold society together. A promise was required of Sheets to be more guarded in his language for the future. He saw the light and became a changed man.[1941] When a carpet-bagger became unbearable, he would be notified that he must go home, and he usually went. If an official, he resigned or sold his office; the people of the community would purchase a $100 lot from him for $2500 in order to pay for the office. The office was not always paid for; a particularly bad man was lucky to get off safe and sound.[1942] Objectionable candidates were forced to withdraw, or to take a conservation bondsman, who conducted the office.[1943]

Before the close of 1868 the mysterious element in the power of Ku Klux Klan ceased to be so effective. The negroes were learning. Most of the mummery now was dropped. The Klan became purely a body of regulators, wearing disguises. It was said that in order to have time to work for themselves, and in order not to frighten away negro laborers, the Klan became accustomed to making its rounds in the summer after the crops were laid by, and in the winter after they were gathered.[1944]

The activities of the Klan were all-embracing. From regulating bad negroes and their leaders they undertook a general supervision of the morals of the community. Houses of ill-fame were visited, the inmates, white or black, warned and sometimes whipped. Men who frequented such places were thrashed. A white man living with a negro woman was whipped, and a negro man living with a white woman would be killed.[1945] A negro who aired his opinion in regard to social equality was sure to be punished. One negro in north Alabama served in the Union army and, returning to Alabama, boasted that he had a white wife up North and expected to see the custom of mixed marriages grow down South. He was whipped and allowed a short time in which to return North.[1946] White men who were too lazy to support their families, or who drank too much whiskey, or were cruel to their families, were visited and disciplined. Such men were not always Radicals—not by any means.[1947] Special attention was paid to the insolent and dangerous negro soldiers who were mustered out in the state. As a rule they had imbibed too many notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity ever to become peaceable citizens. They brought their arms back with them, made much display of them, talked largely, drilled squads of blacks, fired their hearts with tales of the North, and headed much of the deviltry. The Klan visited such characters, warned them, thrashed them, and disarmed them. Over north Alabama there was a general disarming of negroes.[1948]The tories or “unionists,” who had never ceased to commit depredations on their Confederate neighbors, were taken in hand by the Klan. In parts of the white counties where there were neither negroes nor carpet-baggers the Klan’s excuse for existence was to hold in check the white outlaws. For years after the war the lives and property of ex-Confederates were not safe. A smouldering civil war existed for several years, and the Klan was only the ex-Confederate side of it.

During the administration of Governor Smith there was no organized militia. The militia laws favored the black counties at the expense of the white ones, and Smith was afraid to organize negro militia; he shared the dislike of his class for negroes. There were not enough white reconstructionists to organize into militia companies. The governor was afraid to accept organizations of Conservatives; they might overthrow his administration. So he relied entirely upon the small force of the Federal troops stationed in the state to assist the state officials in preserving order. The Conservative companies, after their services were rejected, sometimes proceeded to drill without authority, and became a kind of extra-legal militia. In this they were not secret. But the drills had a quieting effect on marauders of all kinds, and the extra-legal militia of the daytime easily became the illegal night riders of the Klan.[1949]

The operations of the Klan, especially in the white counties which had large negro populations, were sometimes directed against negro churches and schoolhouses, and a number of these were burned.[1950] This hostility may be explained in several ways: The element of poor whites in the Klan did not approve of negro education; all negro churches and schoolhouses were used as meeting places for Union Leagues, political gatherings, etc.; they were the political headquarters of the Radical Party;[1951] again, the bad character of some of the white teachers of negro schools or the incendiary teachings of others was excuse for burning the schoolhouses. The burning of school and church buildings took place almost exclusively in the white counties of northern and eastern Alabama. The school and church buildings of the whites were also burned.[1952] The negroes were invariably assisted by the whites in rebuilding the houses. Most of the burnings were probably done by the so-called spurious Ku Klux. The teachers of negro schools who taught revolutionary doctrines or who became too intimate with the negroes with whom they had to board were disciplined, and the negroes also with whom they offended.[1953] It was likewise the case with the northern missionaries, especially the Northern Methodist preachers who were seeking to disrupt the Southern Methodist Church. Parson Lakin when elected president of the State University was chased away by the Ku Klux, and life was made miserable for the Radical faculty.[1954] Thieves, black and white, and those peculiar clandestine night traders who purchased corn and cotton from the negroes after dark were punished.[1955]

The quietest and most effective work was done in the Black Belt principally by the Knights of the White Camelia. Nothing was attempted beyond restraining the negroes and driving out the carpet-baggers when they became unbearable. There were few cases of violence, fewer still of riots or operations on a large scale.[1956] In northern and western Alabama were the most disordered conditions.[1957] The question was complicated in these latter regions by the presence of poor whites and planters, negroes, Radicals and Democrats, Confederates and Unionists. Tuscaloosa County, the location of the State University, is said to have suffered worst of all. A strong organization of Ku Klux cleared it out. In the northern and western sections of the state politics were more likely to enter into the quarrels. The Radicals—white and black—were more apt to be disciplined because of politics than in the Black Belt. Negroes and offensive whites were warned not to vote the Radical ticket. There was a disposition to suppress, not to control, the negro vote as the Black Belt wanted to do. There were more frequent collisions, more instances of violence.

The most famous parade and riot of the Ku Klux Klan occurred in Huntsville, in 1868, before the presidential election. A band of 1500 Ku Klux[1958] rode into the city and paraded the streets. Both men and horses were covered with sheets and masks. The drill was silent; the evolutions were executed with a skill that called forth praise from some United States army officers who were looking on. The negroes were in a frenzy of fear, and one of them fired a shot. Immediately a riot was on. The negroes fired indiscriminately at themselves and at the undisguised whites who were standing around. The latter returned the fire; the Ku Klux fired no shots, but formed a line and looked on. Several negroes were wounded, and Judge Thurlow, a scalawag, of Limestone County, was accidentally killed by a chance shot from a negro’s gun. The whites who took part received only slight wounds. Some of the Ghouls were arrested by the military authorities, but were released.[1959] This was, in the annals of the Radical party, a great Ku Klux outrage.

Another widely heralded Ku Klux outrage was the Patona or Cross Plains affair, in Calhoun County, in 1870. It seems that at Cross Plains a negro boy was hired to hold a horse for a white man. He turned the horse loose, and was slapped by the white fellow. Then the negro hit the white on the head with a brick. Other whites came up and cuffed the negro, who went to Patona, a negro railway village a mile away, and told his story. William Luke, a white Canadian, who was teaching a negro school at Patona, advised the negroes to arm themselves and go burn Cross Plains in revenge and for protection. Thirty or forty went, under the leadership of Luke, and made night hideous with threats of violence and burning, but finally went away without harming any one. The next night Luke and his negroes returned, and fired into a congregation of whites just dismissed from church. None were injured, but Luke and several negroes were arrested. There were signs of premeditated delay on the part of some of the civil authorities, so the Ku Klux came and took the Canadian and four negroes from the officers, carried them to a lonely spot, and hanged some and shot the rest.[1960]

In Greene County the county solicitor, Alexander Boyd, an ex-convict, claimed to have evidence against members of the Ku Klux organization. He boasted about his plans, and the Ku Klux, hearing of it, went to his hotel in Eutaw and shot him to death.[1961]

Another famous outrage was the Eutaw riot, in 1870. Both Democrats and Radicals had advertised political meetings for the same time and place. The Radicals, who seem to have been the latest comers, asked the Democrats for a division of time. The latter answered that the issues as to men or measures were not debatable. So the Democrats and Radicals held their meetings on opposite sides of the court-house. The Democrats’ meeting ended first, and they stood at the edge of the crowd to hear the Radical speakers. Some of the hot bloods came near the stand and made sarcastic remarks. One man who was to speak, Charles Hays, was so obnoxious to the whites that even the Radicals were unwilling for him to speak. He persisted, and some one, presumably a Conservative, pulled his feet out from under him, and he fell off the table from which he was speaking. The negroes, seeing his fall, rushed forward with knives and pistols to protect him. A shot was fired, which struck Major Pierce, a Democrat, in the pocket. Then the whites began firing, principally into the air. The negroes tore down the fence in their haste to get away. After the whites had chased the negroes out of town the military came leisurely in and quelled the riot.[1962] The campaign report of casualties was five killed and fifty-four wounded. As a matter of fact only one wounded negro was ever found, and no dead ones.[1963]

A common kind of outrage was that on James Alston, the negro representative in the legislature from Macon County in 1870. Alston was shot by negro political rivals just after a League meeting in Tuskegee. They were arrested, and Alston asked the whites to protect him. The Democratic white citizens of Tuskegee guarded him. The carpet-bag postmaster in Tuskegee saw the possibilities of the situation and sent word to the country negroes to come in armed, that Alston had been shot. They swarmed into Tuskegee, and, thinking the whites had shot Alston, were about to burn the town. The white women and children were sent to Montgomery for safety. About the same time the negroes murdered three white men. The excitement reached Montgomery, and a negro militia company was hastily organized to go to the aid of the Tuskegee negroes. General Clanton got hold of the sheriff, and they succeeded in turning back the negro volunteer company. The affair passed off without further bloodshed, and Alston was notified to leave Tuskegee.[1964]

There were no collisions between the United States soldiers and the night riders. At first they were on pretty good terms with one another. The soldiers admired their drills and parades and the way they scared the negroes. One impudent Cyclops rode his band into Athens, and told the commanding officer that they were there to assist in preserving order, and, if he needed them, would come if he scratched on the ground with a stick.[1965]While there was not much dependence upon central authority,[1966] there was a loose bond of federation between the Dens. They coÖperated in their work; a Den from Pickens County would operate in Tuscaloosa or Greene and vice versa. Alabama Ku Kluxes went into Mississippi and Tennessee, and those states returned such favors. When the spurious organizations began to commit outrages, each state claimed that the other one furnished the men.[1967]

The oath taken by the Ku Klux demanded supreme allegiance to the order so far as related to the problems before the South. Members of the order sat on juries and refused to convict; were summoned as witnesses and denied all knowledge of the order; were members of the legislature, lawyers, etc. It is claimed that no genuine members of the order were ever caught and convicted.[1968]

Though the Klan was almost wholly a Democratic organization,[1969] it took little share in the ordinary activities of politics, more perhaps in the northern counties than elsewhere. In Fayette County, in 1870, the Klan went on a raid, and when returning stopped in the court-house, took off disguises, resolved themselves into a convention, and nominated a county ticket.[1970] Nothing of the kind was done in south Alabama; indeed, the constitution of the White Camelias forbade interference in politics.[1971] The Union League meetings were broken up only when they were sources of disorder, thievery, etc. When cases of outrage were investigated, it was almost invariably found that they had no political significance. Governor Lindsay sent an agent into every community where an outrage was reported, and in not a single instance was a case of outrage by Ku Klux discovered.

It is probably true that few, if any, of the leading Democratic politicians were members of the Klan or of any similar organization. Under certain conditions they might be driven by force of circumstances to join in local uprisings against the rule of the Radicals. But as a rule they knew little of the secret orders. There were various reasons for this. The Conservative leaders saw the danger in such an organization, though recognizing the value of its services. It was sure to degenerate. It might become too powerful. It would have a bad influence on politics and would furnish too much campaign literature for the Radicals. It would result in harsh legislation against the South. The testimony of General Clanton[1972] and Governor Lindsay[1973] shows just what the party leaders knew of the order and what they thought of it. The Ku Klux leaders were not the political leaders.[1974] The newspapers of importance opposed the order. The opposition of the political leaders to the Klan in its early stages was not because of any wrong done by it to the Radicals, but because of fear of its acting as a boomerang and injuring the white party. It was the middle classes, so to speak, and later the lower classes, who felt more severely the tyranny of the carpet-bag rule, who formed and led the Klan. The political leaders thought that in a few years political victories would give relief; the people who suffered were unable to wait, and threw off the revolutionary government by revolutionary means.[1975]

The work of the secret orders was successful. It kept the negroes quiet and freed them to some extent from the baleful influence of alien leaders; the burning of houses, gins, mills, and stores ceased; property was more secure; people slept safely at night; women and children were again somewhat safe when walking abroad,—they had faith in the honor and protection of the Klan; the incendiary agents who had worked among the negroes left the country, and agitators, political, educational, and religious, became more moderate; “bad niggers” ceased to be bad; labor was less disorganized; the carpet-baggers and scalawags ceased to batten on the southern communities, and the worst ones were driven from the country.[1976] It was not so much a revolution as a conquest of revolution.[1977] Society was bent back into the old historic grooves from which war and Reconstruction had jarred it.

Spurious Ku Klux Organizations

After an existence of two or three years the Ku Klux Klan was disbanded in March, 1869, by order of the Grand Wizard. It was at that time illegal to print Ku Klux notices and orders in the newspapers. It is probable, therefore, that the order to disband never reached many Dens. However, one or two papers in north Alabama did publish the order of dissolution, and in this way the news obtained a wider circulation.[1978] Many Dens disbanded simply because their work was done. Otherwise the order of the Grand Wizard would have had no effect. Numbers of Dens had fallen into the hands of lawless men who used the name and disguise for lawless purposes. Private quarrels were fought out between armed bands of disguised men. Negroes made use of Ku Klux methods and disguises when punishing their Democratic colored brethren and when on marauding expeditions.[1979] This, however, was not usual except where the negroes were led by whites. Horse thieves in northern and western Alabama, and thieves of every kind everywhere, began to wear disguises and to announce themselves as Ku Klux. All their proceedings were heralded abroad as Ku Klux outrages.[1980]

In Morgan County a neighborhood feud was resolved into two parties calling themselves Ku Klux and Anti Ku Klux, and frequently fights resulted. In Blount and Morgan counties (1869) former members of the Ku Klux organized the Anti Ku Klux along the lines of the Ku Klux, held regular meetings, and continued their midnight deviltry as before. It was composed largely of Union men who had been Federal soldiers.[1981] In Fayette County the Anti Ku Klux order was styled, by themselves and others, “Mossy Backs” or “Moss Backs,” in allusion to their war record. They were regularly organized and had several collisions with another organization which they called the Ku Klux. The Radical sheriff summoned the “Moss Backs” as a posse to assist in the arrest of the Ku Klux, as they called the ex-Confederates.[1982] As long as the Federal troops were in the state it was the practice of bands of thieves to dress in the army uniform and go on raids.

The Radicals took care that all lawlessness was charged to the account of Ku Klux. It was to their interest that the outrages continue and furnish political capital. Governor Smith accused Senator Spencer and Hinds and Sibley, of Huntsville, of fostering Ku Klux outrages for political purposes.[1983]

The disordered condition of the country during and after the war led to a general habit among the whites of carrying arms. This fact and the drinking of bad whiskey accounts for much of the shooting in quarrels during the decade following the war. Few of these quarrels had any connection with politics until they were catalogued in the Ku Klux Report as Democratic outrages. As a matter of fact, nearly all the whites killed by whites or by blacks were Democrats. The white Radicals were too few in number to furnish many martyrs.[1984] The anti-negro feeling of the poorer whites found expression after the war in movements against the blacks, called Ku Klux outrages. In Winston County, a Republican stronghold, the white mountaineers met and passed resolutions that no negro be allowed in the county. General Clanton stated that he found a similar prejudice in all the hill counties.[1985]

In the Tennessee valley the planters found difficulty in securing negro labor because of the operations of the spurious Ku Klux. In Limestone, Madison, and Lauderdale counties the tory element hated the negroes, who lived on the best land, and attempts were made to drive them off. The tories were incensed against the planters because they preferred negro labor.[1986] Judge W. S. Mudd of Jefferson County testified that the anti-negro outrages in Walker and Fayette counties were committed by the poorer whites, who did not like negroes and wanted a purely white population there. In the white counties generally the negro held no political power and hence the outrages were not political, but because of racial prejudice. In the north Alabama mountain counties the majority of the whites were in favor of deportation and colonization of the blacks. But in nearly every county there was also the large landholder, formerly a slaveholder, who wanted the negro to stay and work, and who treated the ex-slave kindly. The poorer whites who had never owned slaves nor much property wanted the negro out of the way.[1987] As a general rule, where the population was exclusively white, the people disliked the negro and wanted no contact with the black race. They wanted a white society, and all lands for the whites. In one precinct in Jefferson County, where all the whites were Republican, an organization of boys and young men was formed to drive out the negroes and keep the precinct white. In the black counties exactly the opposite was true. The secret orders merely wanted to control negro labor and keep it, regulate society, and protect property. General Forney stated that in Calhoun the small mountain farmers, non-slaveholding, poorer whites, were intensely afraid of social equality and hated the negroes, who called them “poor white trash.” The feeling was cordially returned by the negroes.[1988]

From Tallapoosa County and from eastern Alabama generally, where the Black Cavalry and its successors flourished, there was a general exodus of negroes who had lived on the richer lands of the larger farms and plantations. The white renters and small farmers were afraid, after slavery was abolished and the negroes were free, that the latter would drag all others down to negro level. The planters preferred negro labor. Therefore the poorer whites united to drive out the negro. This was called Ku Kluxism. The whites wanted higher pay.[1989] Wage-earners felt that they could not compete with the negro, who could work for lower wages. General Crawford, who commanded the United States troops in Alabama, stated that the planter bore no antagonism toward the negro at all, but he wanted his labor; that at present he saw the uselessness of interfering with the negro’s politics and was indifferent about whether the negro voted or not; he looked forward to the time when the black voters would fall away from their alien leaders and would vote according to the advice of their old masters; on the other hand, the poorer whites, many of them from the hill country, were hostile to the negroes; they disliked to see them at work building the new railroads, and on all the rich lands, and possessed of political privileges. If rid of the negro, they could be more prosperous and divide the political spoils now shared by the adventurers who controlled the black vote. In north Alabama the negro was more generally kept away from the polls.[1990] This feeling on the part of the poor whites was not new, but had survived from slavery days, and its manifestations were now called Ku Kluxism. The negro was no longer under the protection of a master, and the former master was no longer able to protect the negro. However, there was a general movement among the ex-slaves, under the pressure, to return to their old masters.

Attempts to suppress the Ku Klux Movement

In March and April, 1868, the operations of the Ku Klux Klan came to the notice of General Meade, who was then in command of the Third Military District. By his direction General Shepherd issued an order from Montgomery, requiring sheriffs, mayors, police, constables, magistrates, marshals, etc., under penalty of being held responsible, to suppress the “iniquitous” organization and apprehend its members. The expenses of posses were to be charged against the county. If the code of Alabama was silent on the subject of the offence, the prisoners were to be turned over to the military authorities for trial by military commission. The state officers were reminded that the code of Alabama derived its vitality from the commanding general of the Third Military District, and in case of a conflict between the code and military orders, the latter were paramount. The posting of placards and the printing in newspapers of orders, warnings, and notices of Ku Klux Klans was forbidden. In no case would ignorance be considered as an excuse. Citizens who were not officers would not be held guiltless in case of outrage in their community.[1991] This was a revival of the method of holding a community responsible for the misdeeds of individuals.

Troops were shifted about over northern and central Alabama in an endeavor to suppress Ku Klux. Several arrests were made, but there were no trials. There was much parade and night riding, but as yet little violence. The soldiers could do nothing.

When the carpet-bag government was installed, the military forces of the United States remained to support it. Every one called upon the military commands for aid—governor, sheriffs, judges, members of Congress, justices of the peace, and prominent politicians. No request from official sources was ever refused, and they were frequent. From October 31, 1868, to October 31, 1869, there were fifteen different shiftings of bodies of troops for the purpose of checking the Ku Klux movement. This does not include the movements made in individual cases, but only changes of headquarters. These were principally in northern and western Alabama—at Huntsville, Livingston, Guntersville, Lebanon, Edwardsville, Alpine, Summerfield, Decatur, Marysville, Vienna, and Tuscaloosa.[1992]

After a few months’ experience of the carpet-bag government, the bands of Ku Klux were excited to renewed activity. The legislature which met in September, 1868, memorialized the President to send an armed force to Alabama to execute the laws, and to preserve order, etc., during the approaching presidential election. Governor Smith with two members of the Senate and three of the lower house were appointed to bear the application to the President.[1993] In December an act was passed authorizing any justice of the peace to issue warrants running in any part of the state, and authorizing any sheriff or constable to go into any county to execute such process.[1994] This enabled a sheriff of proper politics to enter counties where the officials were not of the proper faith, and arrest prisoners.

One of the members of the general assembly, M. T. Crossland, was killed by the Klan, it was alleged. The legislature offered a reward of $5000 for his slayers, and authorized the appointment of a committee to investigate the recent alleged outrages and to report by bill.[1995] The committee,[1996] after pretence of an examination of about a dozen witnesses, all Radicals, some by affidavit only, reported that there was in many portions of Alabama a secret organization, purely political, known as Ku Klux Klan, and that Union men and Republicans were the sole objects of its abuse, none of the opposite politics being interfered with. It worked by means of threatening letters, warnings, and beatings; by intimidation and threats negroes were driven from the polls; negro schoolhouses were burned; teachers were threatened, ostracized, and driven from employment; officers of the law were obstructed in the discharge of their duty and driven away. In some parts of the state, the report declared, it was impossible for the civil authorities to maintain order. The governor was authorized and advised to declare martial law in the counties of Madison, Lauderdale, Butler, Tuscaloosa, and Pickens.[1997] The committee reported a bill, which was passed, with a preamble of twenty-two lines reciting the terrible condition of the state. To appear away from home in mask or disguise was made a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $100 and imprisonment from six months to one year. For a disguised person to commit an assault was made a felony, and punishment was fixed at a fine of $1000, and imprisonment from five to twenty years. Any one might kill a person in disguise. The penalty for destruction of property by disguised persons—burning a schoolhouse or church—was imprisonment from ten to twenty years. A warrant might be issued by any magistrate directed to any lawful officer of the state to arrest disguised offenders, and in case of refusal or neglect to perform his duty, the official was to forfeit his office and be fined $500.[1998]

Two days later it was enacted that in case a person were killed by an outlaw, or by a mob, or by disguised persons, or for political opinion, the widow or next of kin should be entitled to recover of the county in which the killing occurred the sum of $5000. The claimants should bring action in the circuit court, and in case judgment were rendered in favor of the claimants, the county commissioners should assess an additional tax sufficient to pay damages and costs. Failure of any official to perform his duty in such cases was punishable by a fine of $100 or imprisonment for twelve months for every thirty days of neglect or failure. In case of whipping the amount of damages collectible from the county was $1000. But if the offenders were arrested and punished, there could be no claim for damages. And if the offenders were arrested during the pendency of the suit for damages, the presiding judge might suspend proceedings in the damage suit until the result of the trial of the offenders was known. It was made the duty of the solicitor to prosecute the claim for the relatives, and his fee was fixed at 10 per cent of the amount recovered; and if the relatives failed to sue within twelve months, the solicitor was to prosecute in the name of the state, and the damages were to go to the asylums for the insane, deaf, dumb, and blind.[1999]A number of arrests were made under these acts, but only one or two convictions were secured. It resulted that most of the arrests were of ignorant and penniless negroes, who were unable to pay any fine whatever. Governor Lindsay defended several such cases. The laws were so severe that the officials were unwilling to prosecute under them, but always prosecuted under the ordinary laws.

After 1868 there was no further anti-Ku-Klux legislation by the state government, but in 1869-1870 some of the southern states, Alabama among them, began to show signs of going Democratic. Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas had been forced to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment in order to secure the requisite number for its adoption.[2000] President Grant then sent in a message announcing the ratification as “the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life.”[2001] Congress responded to the hint in the message by passing the first of the Enforcement Acts, which had been hanging fire for nearly two years. The excuse for its passage was that the Ku Klux organizations would prevent the blacks from voting in the fall elections of 1870.[2002] The act, as approved on May 31, 1870, declared that all citizens were entitled to vote in all elections without regard to color or race and provided that officials should be held personally responsible that all citizens should have equal opportunity to perform all tests or prerequisites to registration or voting; election officials were held responsible for fair elections; any person who hindered another in voting might be fined $500, to go to the party aggrieved, and persons in disguise might be fined $5000 or imprisoned for ten years, or both, and should be disfranchised besides. Federal courts were to have exclusive jurisdiction over cases arising under this law, and Federal officials were to see to its execution; the penalty for obstructing an official or assisting an escape might be $500 fine and six months’ imprisonment; the President was given authority to use the army and navy to enforce the law; the district attorneys of the United States were to proceed by quo warranto against disfranchised persons who were holding office, and such persons might be fined $1000 and imprisonment for one year,—such cases were to have precedence on the docket; the same penalties were visited upon those who under color of any law deprived a citizen of any right under this law; the Civil Rights Bill of 1866, April 9, was reËnacted;[2003] fraud, bribery, intimidation, or undue influence or violation of any election law at Congressional elections might be punished by a fine of $500 and imprisonment for three years; registrations—congressional, state, county, school, or town—came under the same regulation, and officials of all degrees who failed in their duty were liable to the same penalties; a defeated candidate might contest the election in the Federal courts when there were cases of the negro having been hindered from voting.[2004]

This act marked the arrival of the most ruthless period of Reconstruction. Endowing the negro with full political rights had not sufficed to overcome the white political people. Disappointed in that, an attempt was now to be made so to regulate southern elections as to put the mass of the white population permanently under the control of the negroes and their white leaders, and to secure the permanent control of those states to the Republican party. Tennessee had already escaped from the Radical rule, and stringent measures were necessary to prevent like action in the other states. Notwithstanding the Enforcement Act, Alabama, in the election of 1870, went partially Democratic, which was to the Radical leaders prima facie evidence of the grossest frauds in elections. Other states were in a similarly bad condition.

The supplementary Enforcement Act of February 28, 1871, provided for the appointment of two supervisors to each precinct by the Federal circuit judge upon the application of two persons; the Federal courts were to be in session during elections for business arising under this act; the supervisors were to have full authority around the polls, and were to certify and send in the returns, and report irregularities, which were to be investigated by the chief supervisor, who was to keep all records; the supervisors were to be assisted in each precinct by two special deputy marshals appointed by the United States marshal for that district. These deputies and also the supervisors had full power to arrest any person and to summon a posse if necessary. Offenders were haled at once before the Federal court. Any election offence was punishable by a fine of $3000 and imprisonment of two years, with costs. To refuse to give information in an investigation subjected the person to a fine of $100 and thirty days’ imprisonment and costs. State courts were forbidden to try cases coming under the act, and proceedings after warning, by state officials, resulted in imprisonment and fine amounting to one year and $500 to $1000, plus costs.[2005]

It was feared that these acts might prove insufficient to carry the southern states for the Republican party in 1872. Grant was becoming more and more radical as the Republican nominating convention and the elections drew nearer. Under the influence of the Radical leaders, he sent, on March 23, 1871, a message[2006] to Congress, declaring that in some of the states a condition of affairs existed rendering life and property insecure, and the carrying of mails and collection of revenue dangerous; the state governments were unable to control these evils; and it was doubtful if the President had the authority to interfere. He therefore asked for legislation to secure life, property, and the enforcement of law.[2007]

Congress came to the rescue with the Ku Klux Act of April 20, 1871, “in which Congress simply threw to the winds the constitutional distribution of powers between the states and the United States government in respect to civil liberty, crime, and punishment, and assumed to legislate freely and without limitation for the preservation of civil and political rights within the state.”[2008]

It gave the President authority to declare the southern states in rebellion and to suspend the writ of habeas corpus—after a proclamation against insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combinations, and conspiracies. Such a state of affairs was declared a rebellion, and the President was authorized to use the army and navy to suppress it. Heavy penalties were denounced ($500 to $5000 fine, and six months’ to six years’ imprisonment) against persons who conspired to overthrow or destroy the United States government or to levy war against the United States; or who hindered the execution of the laws of the United States, seized its property, prevented any one from accepting or holding office or discharging official duties, drove away or injured, in person or property, any official or any witness in court, went in disguise on highway or on the premises of others, and hindered voting or office-holding. Any person injured in person, property, or privilege had the right to sue the conspirators for damages under the Civil Rights Bill. In Federal courts the jurors had to take oath that they were not in any way connected with such conspiracies, and the judges were empowered to exclude suspected persons from the jury. Persons not connected with such conspiracies, yet having knowledge of such things, were liable to the injured party for all damages.[2009]

On May 3, 1871, Grant issued a proclamation calling attention to the fact that the law was one of “extraordinary public importance” and, while of general application, was directed at the southern states, and stating that when necessary he would not hesitate to exhaust the powers vested by the act in the executive. The failure of local communities to protect all citizens would make it necessary for the national government to interfere.[2010]

Ku Klux Investigation

In order to justify the passage of the Enforcement Acts and to obtain material for campaign use the next year, Congress appointed a committee, which was organized on the day the Ku Klux Act was approved, to investigate the condition of affairs in the southern states.[2011] From June to August, 1871, the committee took testimony in Washington. In the fall subcommittees visited the various southern states selected for the inquisition. About one-fourth of the Alabama testimony was taken in Washington, the rest was taken by the subcommittee in Alabama.

The members of the subcommittee that took testimony in Alabama were Senators Pratt and Rice, and Messrs. Blair, Beck, and Buckley of the House. Blair and Beck, the Democratic members, were never present together. So the subcommittee consisted of three Republicans and one Democrat. C. W. Buckley was a Radical Representative from Alabama, a former Bureau reverend, who worked hard to convict the white people of the state of general wickedness. The subcommittee held sessions in Huntsville, October 6-14; Montgomery, October 17-20; Demopolis, October 23-28; Livingston, October 30 to November 3; and in Columbus, Mississippi, for west Alabama, November 11. All these places were in black counties. Sessions were held only at easily accessible places, and where scalawag, carpet-bag, and negro witnesses could easily be secured. Testimony was also taken by the committee in Washington from June to August, 1871.

It is generally believed that the examination of witnesses by the Ku Klux committees of Congress was a very one-sided affair, and that the testimony is practically without value for the historian, on account of the immense proportion of hearsay reports and manufactured tales embraced in it. Of course there is much that is worthless because untrue, and much that may be true but cannot be regarded because of the character of the witnesses, whose statements are unsupported. But, nevertheless, the 2008 pages of testimony taken in Alabama furnish a mine of information concerning the social, religious, educational, political, legal, administrative, agricultural, and financial conditions in Alabama from 1865 to 1871. The report itself, of 632 pages, contains much that is not in the testimony, especially as regards railroad and cotton frauds, taxation, and the public debt, and much of this information can be secured nowhere else.

The minority members of the subcommittee which took testimony in Alabama, General Frank P. Blair and later Mr. Beck of New York, caused to be summoned before the committee at Washington, and before the subcommittee in Alabama, the most prominent men of the state—men who, on account of their positions, were intimately acquainted with the condition of affairs. They took care that the examination covered everything that had occurred since the war. The Republican members often protested against the evidence that Blair proposed to introduce, and ruled it out. He took exceptions, and sometimes the committee at Washington admitted it; sometimes he smuggled it in by means of cross-questioning, or else he incorporated it into the minority report. On the other hand, the Republican members of the subcommittee seem to have felt that the object of the investigation was only to get campaign material for the use of the Radical party in the coming elections. They summoned a poor class of witnesses, a large proportion of whom were ignorant negroes who could only tell what they had heard or had feared. The more respectable of the Radicals were not summoned, unless by the Democrats. In several instances the Democrats caused to be summoned the prominent scalawags and carpet-baggers, who usually gave testimony damaging to the Radical cause.

An examination of the testimony shows that sixty-four Democrats and Conservatives were called before the committee and subcommittee. Of these, fifty-seven were southern men, five were northern men residing in the state, and two were negroes. The Democrats testified at great length, often twenty to fifty pages. Blair and Beck tried to bring out everything concerning the character of carpet-bag rule.[2012]Thirty-four scalawags, fifteen carpet-baggers, and forty-one negro Radicals came before the committee and subcommittee. Some of these were summoned by Blair or Beck, and a number of them disappointed the Republican members of the committee by giving Democratic testimony.[2013] The Radicals could only repeat, with variations, the story of the Eutaw riot, the Patona affair, the Huntsville parade, etc. Of the prominent carpet-baggers and scalawags whose testimony was anti-Democratic, most were men of clouded character.[2014] The testimony of the higher Federal officials was mostly in favor of the Democratic contention.[2015] The negro testimony, however worthless it may appear at first sight, becomes clear to any one who, knowing the negro mind, remembers the influences then operating upon it. From this class of testimony one gets valuable hints and suggestions. The character of the white scalawag and carpet-bag testimony is more complex, but if one has the history of the witness, the testimony usually becomes intelligible. In many instances the testimony gives a short history of the witness.

The material collected by the Ku Klux Committee, and other committees that investigated affairs in the South after the war, can be used with profit only by one who will go to the biographical books and learn the social and political history of each person who testified. When the personal history of an important witness is known, many obscure things become plain. Unless this is known, one cannot safely accept or reject any specific testimony. To one who works in Alabama Reconstruction, Brewer’s “Alabama,” Garrett’s “Reminiscences,” the “Memorial Record,” old newspaper files, and the memories of old citizens are indispensable.

There is in the first volume of the Alabama Testimony a delightfully partisan index of seventy-five pages. In it the summary of Democratic testimony shows up almost as Radical as the most partisan on the other side. It is meant only to bring out the violence in the testimony. According to it, one would think all those killed or mistreated were Radicals. The same man frequently figures in three situations, as “shot,” “outraged,” and “killed.” General Clanton’s testimony of thirty pages gets a summary of four inches, which tells nothing; that of Wager, a Bureau agent, gets as much for twelve pages, which tells something; and that of Minnis, a scalawag, twice as much. There is very little to be found in the testimony that relates directly to the Ku Klux Klan and similar organizations. Had the sessions of the subcommittee been held in the white counties of north and southwest Alabama, where the Klans had flourished, probably they might have found out something about the organization. But the minority members were determined to expose the actual condition of affairs in the state from 1865 to 1871. No matter how much the Radicals might discover concerning unlawful organizations, the Democrats stood ready with an immense deal of facts concerning Radical misgovernment to show cause why such organizations should arise. Consequently the three volumes of testimony relating to Alabama are by no means pro-Radical, except in the attitude of the majority of the examiners.[2016]

Below is given a table of alleged Ku Klux outrages, compiled from the testimony taken. The Ku Klux report classifies all violence under the four heads: killing, shooting, outrage, whipping. The same case frequently figures in two or more classes. Practically every case of violence, whether political or not, is brought into the testimony. The period covered is from 1865 to 1871. Radical outrages as well as Democratic are listed in the report as Ku Klux outrages. In a number of cases Radical outrages are made to appear as Democratic. Many of the cases are simply hearsay. It is not likely that many instances of outrage escaped notice, for every case of actual outrage was proven by many witnesses. Every violent death of man, woman, or child, white or black, Democratic or Radical, occurring between 1865 and 1871, appears in the list as a Ku Klux outrage. Evidently careful search had been made, and certain witnesses had informed themselves about every actual deed of violence. There were then sixty-four counties in the state, and in only twenty-nine of them were there alleged instances of Ku Klux outrage.

Table of Alleged Outrages compiled from the Ku Klux Testimony

County	Killings	Outrages	Shootings	Whippings	Total
Autauga	—	1	—	—	1
Blount (k)	2	3	—	6	11
Calhoun	6	1	1	1	9
Chambers (k)	1	—	1	—	2
Cherokee (k)	—	2	—	1	3
Choctaw (x)	11	1	3	—	15
Coosa	—	—	1	12	13
Colbert (k)	1	1	—	1	3
Dallas (x)	1	1	—	—	2
Fayette (k)	1	—	—	3	4
Greene (x)	11	4	1	3	19
Hale (x)	1	3	2	1	7
Jackson	4	2	2	2	10
Lauderdale	—	—	—	1	1
Lawrence (k)	2	—	—	—	2
Limestone (k)	7	1	—	1	9
Macon (x)	1	4	1	1	7
Madison (x)	6	19	5	19	49
Marshall (k)	1	—	1	1	3
Marengo (x)	1	6	—	4	11
Montgomery (x)	—	1	—	—	1
Morgan (k)	4	2	1	3	10
Perry (x)	2	—	2	2	6
Pickens (x)	—	—	—	9	9
Sumter (x)	21	4	9	4	38
St. Clair	1	1	1	—	3
Tallapoosa (k)	—	—	—	1	1
Tuscaloosa (k)	8	—	—	—	8
Walker (k)	—	—	—	1	1
Total					258

(x) = black counties, and (k) = white counties, where Ku Klux Klan operated.

The Ku Klux Committee reported a bill[2017] providing for the execution of the Ku Klux Act until the close of the next session of Congress. It passed the Senate May 21, 1872, and failed in the House on June 6.[2018] The act of February 28, 1871, was amended by extending the Federal supervision of elections from towns to all election districts on application of ten persons. Other unimportant amendments were made.[2019]

The passage of these laws had no effect on the Ku Klux Klan proper, which had died out in 1869-1870. Nor did they have any effect in decreasing violence. It is quite likely that there was more violence toward the negro in 1871 and 1872 than in 1869-1870. But the laws did affect the elections. The entire machinery of elections was again under Radical control, and in 1872 the state again sank back into Radicalism. But it was the last Republican majority the state ever cast. The execution of these laws did much to hasten the union of the whites against negro rule.

Few cases were tried under the Enforcement Acts, though District Attorney Minnis and United States Marshal Healy were very active.[2020] Busteed, in 1871, testified that at Huntsville he had tried several persons for an outrage upon a negro, and that there were still untried two indictments under the Act of 1870. He stated that his jurors and witnesses were never interfered with. One of his grand juries, in 1871, encouraged by the attitude of Congress, reported that while there was no organized conspiracy throughout the middle district, there was such a thing in Macon, Coosa, and Tallapoosa. Two of the jurors—Benjamin F. Noble and Ex-Governor William H. Smith—objected to the report, and Busteed, the Federal judge, condemned it as unwarranted by the facts.[2021]

Nearly all of the carpet-bag and scalawag witnesses who testified on the Radical side before the Ku Klux Committee complained that the courts would not punish Ku Klux when they were arrested, and that juries would not indict them.[2022]

In 1872 a gang of men in eastern Alabama, the home of the Black Cavalry and the spurious Ku Klux Klan, burned a negro meeting-house where political meetings were held. They were arrested and tried under the Ku Klux Act. Four of them, R. G. Young, S. D. Young, R. S. Gray, and Neil Hawkins, were fined $5000 each and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary at Albany, New York. Ringold Young was fined $2000 and sent to prison for seven years. —— Blanks and —— Howard were each fined $100 and imprisoned for five years. The prisoners were taken from state officers by force, and during the trial there was much parade by a guard of United States troops. There was complaint that the evidence was insufficient, and the punishment disproportionate to the offence even if proven.[2023]

In the elections of 1872 and 1874 there were numerous arrests of Democrats by the deputy marshals, who often made their arrests before election day and paraded the prisoners about the country for the information of the voters. I have been unable to find record of any convictions.[2024]

Later Organizations

While the Ku Klux Klan was disbanded by order in 1869, it is not likely that the order of the White Camelia disbanded except when there was no longer any necessity for it. In one county it might disband; in another it might survive several years longer. It is said that its operations were by order suspended in counties when conditions improved.

The White Brotherhood was a later organization, but had only a limited extension over south Alabama. The most widely spread of the later organizations was the White League, which in some form seems to have spread over the entire state from 1872 to 1874. The close connection between southwestern Alabama and Louisiana accounts for the introduction of both the White Camelia and the White League. In 1875 Arthur Bingham, the ex-carpet-bag-treasurer of the state, stated that he had secured a copy of the constitution of the White League and had published it in the State Journal. Its members were sworn not to regard obligations taken in courts, and to clear one another by all means.[2025]

The White League in Barbour and Mobile, in 1874, declared that no employment should be given to negro Radicals and no business done with white Radicals, and in Sumter County they were said to have gone on raids like the Ku Klux of former days. Military organizations of whites were enrolled and applications made to the Radical Governor Lewis for arms. He rejected the services of these companies, but they remained in organization and drilled. The Confederate gray uniforms were worn. In Tuskegee arms were purchased for the company by private subscription. By 1874 the white people of the state had become thoroughly united in the White Man’s Party. There had been no compromises. The color and race line had been sharply drawn by the white counties, and the black counties later fell into line. The campaign of 1874 was the most serious of all. The whites intended to live no longer under Radical rule, and the whole state was practically a great Klan. There was but little violence, but there was a stern determination to defeat the Radicals at any cost; and if necessary, violence would have been used. At the inauguration of Governor Houston, in 1874, several of the gray-coated White League companies appeared from different parts of the state.[2026]

In several later elections the old Ku Klux methods were used, and there was much mysterious talk of “dark rainy nights and bloody moons.” The “Barbour County Fever” was prevalent for many years: young men and boys would serenade the Radicals of the community and mortify them in every possible way, and their families would refuse to recognize socially the families of carpet-baggers and scalawags. They would not sit by them in church. The children at school imitated their elders.[2027]

The Ku Klux method of regulating society was nothing new; it was as old as history; it had often been used before; it may be used again; when a people find themselves persecuted by aliens or by the law, they will find some means outside the law for protecting themselves; it is certain also that such experiences will result in a great weakening of respect for law and in a return to more primitive methods of justice.

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CHAPTER XXII

REORGANIZATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM

Break-up of the Ante-bellum System

The cotton planter of the South, the master of many negro slaves, organized a very efficient slave labor system. Each plantation was an industrial community almost independent of the outside world; the division of labor was minute, each servant being assigned a task suited to his or her strength and training. Nothing but the most skilful management could save a planter from ruin, for, though the labor was efficient, it was very costly. The value of an overseer was judged by the general condition, health, appearance, and manners of the slaves; the amount of work done with the least punishment; the condition of stock, buildings, and plantation; and the size of the crops. All supplies were raised on the plantation,—corn, bacon, beef, and other food-stuffs; farm implements and harness were made and repaired by the skilled negroes in rainy weather when no outdoor work could be done; clothes were cut out in the “big house” and made by the negro women under the direction of the mistress. The skilled laborers were blacks. Work was usually done by tasks, and industrious negroes were able to complete their daily allotment and have three or four hours a day to work in their own gardens and “patches.” They often earned money at odd jobs, and the church records show that they contributed regularly. Negro children were trained in the arts of industry and in sobriety by elderly negroes of good judgment and firm character, usually women.[2028] Children too young to work were cared for by a competent mammy in the plantation nursery while their parents were in the fields.

In the Black Belt there was little hiring of extra labor and less renting of land. Except on the borders, nearly all whites were of the planting class. Their greater wealth had enabled them to outbid the average farmer and secure the rich lands of the black prairies, cane-brakes, and river bottoms. The small farmer who secured a foothold in the Black Belt would find himself in a situation not altogether pleasant, and, selling out to the nearest planter, would go to poorer and cheaper land in the hills and pine woods, where most of the people were white.

In the Black Belt cotton was largely a surplus money crop, and once the labor was paid for, the planter was a very rich man.[2029] In the white counties of the cotton states about the same crops were raised as in the Black Belt, but the land was less fertile and the methods of cultivation less skilful. In the richer parts of these white counties there was something of the plantation system with some negro labor. But slavery gradually drove white labor to the hill and mountain country, the sand and pine barrens. No matter how poor a white man was, he was excessively independent in spirit and wanted to work only his own farm. This will account for the lack of renters and hired white laborers in black or in white districts, and also for the fact that the less fertile land was taken up by the whites who desired to be their own employers. Land was cheap, and any man could purchase it. There was some renting of land in the white counties, and the form it took was that now known as “third and fourth.”[2030] It was then called “shares.” There was little or no tenancy “on halves” or “standing rent.” But the average farmer worked his own land, often with the help of from three to ten slaves.On the borders of the Black Belt in Alabama dwelt a peculiar class called “squatters.” They settled down with or without permission on lots of poor and waste land, built cabins, cleared “patches,” and made a precarious living by their little crops, by working as carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. Some bought small lots of land on long-time payments and never paid for them, but simply stayed where they were. In the edge of the Black Belt in the busy season were found numbers of white hired men working alongside of negro slaves,[2031] for there was no prejudice against manual labor, that is, no more than anywhere else in the world.[2032]

As soon as the war was over the first concern of the returning soldiers was to obtain food to relieve present wants and to secure supplies to last until a crop could be made. In the white counties of the state the situation was much worse than in the Black Belt. The soil of the white counties was less fertile; the people were not wealthy before the war, and during the war they had suffered from the depredations of the enemy and from the operation of the tax-in-kind, which bore heavily upon them when they had nothing to spare. The white men went to the war and there were only women, children, and old men to work the fields. The heaviest losses among the Alabama Confederate troops were from the ranks of the white county soldiers. In these districts there was destitution after the first year of the war, and after 1862 from one-fourth to one-half of the soldiers’ families received aid from the state. The bountiful Black Belt furnished enough for all, but transportation facilities were lacking. At the close of hostilities the condition of the people in the poorer regions was pitiable. Stock, fences, barns, and in many cases dwellings had disappeared; the fields were grown up in weeds; and no supplies were available. How the people managed to live was a mystery. Some walked twenty miles to get food, and there were cases of starvation. No seeds and no farm implements were to be had. The best work of the Freedmen’s Bureau was done in relieving these people from want until they could make a crop.

The Black Belt was the richest as well as the least exposed section of the state and fared well until the end of the war. The laborers were negroes, and these worked as well in war time as in peace. Immense food crops were made in 1863 and 1864, and there was no suffering among whites or blacks. Until 1865 there was no loss from Federal invasion, but with the spring of 1865 misfortune came. Four large armies marched through the central portions of the state, burning, destroying, and confiscating. In June, 1865, the Black Belt was in almost as bad condition as the white counties. All buildings in the track of the armies had disappeared; the stores of provisions were confiscated; gin-houses and mills were burned; cattle and horses and mules were carried away; and nothing much was left except the negroes and the fertile land. The returning planter, like the farmer, found his agricultural implements worn out and broken, and in all the land there was no money to purchase the necessaries of life. But in the portions of the black counties untouched by the armies there were supplies sufficient to last the people for a few months. A few fortunate individuals had cotton, which was now bringing fabulous prices, and it was the high price received for the few bales not confiscated by the government that saved the Black Belt from suffering as did the other counties.

Neither master nor slave knew exactly how to begin anew, and for a while things simply drifted. Now that the question of slavery was settled, many of the former masters felt a great relief from responsibility, though for their former slaves they felt a profound pity. The majority of them had no faith in free negro labor, yet all were willing to give it a trial, and a few of the more strenuous ones said that the energy and strength of the white man that had made the savage negro an efficient laborer could make the free negro work fairly well; and if the free negro would work, they were willing to admit that the change might be beneficial to both races.

During the spring and summer and fall the masters came straggling home, and were met by friendly servants who gave them cordial welcome. Each one called up his servants and told them that they were free; and that they might stay with him and work for wages, or find other homes. Except in the vicinity of the towns and army posts the negroes usually chose to stay and work; and in the remote districts of the Black Belt affairs were little changed for several weeks after the surrender, which there hardly caused a ripple on the surface of society. Life and work went on as before. The staid negro coachmen sat upon their boxes on Sunday as of old; the field hands went regularly about their appointed tasks. Labor was cheerful, and the negroes went singing to the fields. “The negro knew no Appomattox. The Revolution sat lightly,—save in the presence of vacant seats at home and silent graves in the churchyard, in the memorials of destructive raids, in the wonder on the faces of a people once free, now ruled, where ruled at all, by a Bureau agent.” Here it was that the master race believed that after all freedom of the negro might be well.[2033] In other sections, where the negro was more exposed to outside influences, people were not hopeful. The common opinion was that with free negro labor cotton could not be cultivated with success. The northerner often thought that it was a crop made by forced labor and that no freeman would willingly perform such labor; the southerner believed that the negro would neglect the crop too much when not under strict supervision. Yet later years have shown that free white labor is most successful in the cultivation of cotton because of the care the whites expend upon their farms; while cotton is the only crop that the free negro has cultivated with any degree of success, because some kind of a crop can be made by the most careless cultivation.

At first no one knew just how to work the free negro; innumerable plans were formed and many were tried. The old patriarchal relations were preserved as far as possible. Truman,[2034] who made a long stay in Alabama, reported that in most cases there was a genuine attachment between masters and negroes; that the masters were the best friends the negroes had; and that, though they regarded the blacks with much commiseration, they were inclined to encourage them to collect around the big house on the old slavery terms, giving food, clothes, quarters, medical attendance, and a little pay.[2035] At that time no one could understand the freedom of the negro.[2036] As one old master expressed it, he saw no “free negroes”[2037] until the fall of 1865, when the Bureau began to influence the blacks. But with the extension of the Bureau and the spread of army posts, the negroes became idle, neglected the crops that had been planted in the spring, moved from their old homes and went to town to the Bureau, or went wandering about the country. The house servants and the artisans, who were the best and most intelligent of the negroes, also began to go to the towns. Negro women desiring to be as white ladies, refused to work in the fields, to cook, to wash, or to perform other menial duties. It was years before this “freedom” prejudice of the negro women against domestic service died out.[2038] The negro would work one or two days in the week, go to town two days, and wander about the rest of the time. Under such conditions there was no hope of continuing the old patriarchal system, and new plans, modelled on what they had heard of free labor, were tried by the planters. In the white counties the ex-soldiers went to work as before the war, but they had come home from the army too late to plant full crops, and few had supplies enough to last until the crops should be gathered. In most of the white counties the negroes were so few as to escape the serious attention of the Bureau, and consequently they worked fairly well at what they could get to do.[2039]The first work of the Bureau was to break up the labor system that had been partially constructed, and to endeavor to establish a new system based on the northern free labor system and the old slave-hiring system with the addition of a good deal of pure theory. The Bureau was to act as a labor clearing-house; it was to have entire control of labor; contracts must be written in accordance with the minute regulations of the Bureau, and must be registered by the agent, who charged large fees.[2040]

The result of these regulations was to destroy industry where an alien Bureau agent was stationed, for the planters could not afford to have their land worked on such terms. In some of the counties, where the native magistrates served as Bureau agents, no attention was paid to the rules of the Bureau, and the people floundered along, trying to develop a workable basis of existence. In the districts infested by the Bureau agents the negroes had fantastic notions of what freedom meant. On one plantation they demanded that the plantation bell be no longer rung to summon the hands to and from work, because it was too much like slavery.[2041] In various places they refused to work and congregated about the Bureau offices, awaiting the expected division of property, when they would get the “forty acres and one old gray mule.” When wages were paid they believed that each should receive the same amount, whether his labor had been good or bad, whether the laborer was present or absent, sick or well. In one instance a planter was paying his men in corn according to the time each had worked. The negroes objected and got an order from the Bureau agent that the division should be made equally. The planter read the order (which the negroes could not read), and at once directed the division as before. The negroes, thinking that the Bureau had so ordered, were satisfied. In the cane-brake region the agents were afraid of the great planters and did not interfere with the negroes except to organize them into Union Leagues; but elsewhere in the Black Belt the planter could not afford to hire negroes on the terms fixed by the Bureau.[2042]

Northern and Foreign Immigration

With the break-up of the slave system the planter found himself with much more land than he knew what to do with. He could get no reliable labor, he had no cash capital, so in many cases he offered his best lands for sale at low prices. The planters wanted to attract northern and foreign immigration and capital into the country; the cotton planter sought for a northern partner who could furnish the capital. Owing to the almost religious regard of the negro for his northern deliverers, many white landlords thought that northern men, especially former soldiers, might be better able than southern men to control negro labor. General Swayne, the head of the Bureau, said that the negroes had more confidence in a “bluecoat” than in a native, and that among the larger planters northern men as partners or overseers were in great demand.[2043]

For a short time after the close of the war northern men in considerable numbers planned to go into the business of cotton raising. DeBow[2044] gives a description of the would-be cotton planters who came from the North to show the southern people how to raise cotton with free negro labor. They had note-books and guide-books full of close and exact tables of costs and profits, and from them figured out vast returns. They acknowledged that the negro might not work for the southern man, but they were sure that he would work for them. They were very self-confident, and would listen to no advice from experienced planters, whom they laughed at as old fogies, but from their note-books and tables they gave one another much information about the new machinery useful in cotton culture, about rules for cultivation, how to control labor, etc. They estimated that each laborer’s family would make $1000 clear gain each year. DeBow would not say they were wrong, but he said that he thought that they should hasten a little more slowly. Northern energy and capitol flowed in; plantations were bought, and the various industries of plantation life started; and mills and factories were established. Because of the paralyzed condition of industry the southern people welcomed these enterprises, but they were very sceptical of their final success. The northern settler had confidence in the negro and gave him unlimited credit or supplies; consequently, in a few years the former was financially ruined and had to turn his attention to politics, and to exploiting the negro in that field in order to make a living.[2045] Both as employer and as manager the northern men failed to control negro labor. They expected the negro to be the equal of the Yankee white. The negroes themselves were disgusted with northern employers. Truman reported, after an experience of one season, that “it is the almost universal testimony of the negroes themselves, who have been under the supervision of both classes,—and I have talked with many with a view to this point,—that they prefer to labor for a southern employer.”[2046]

Northern capital came in after the war, but northern labor did not, though the planters offered every inducement. Land was offered to white purchasers at ridiculously low rates, but the northern white laborer did not come. He was afraid of the South with its planters and negroes. The poorer classes of native whites, however, profited by the low prices and secured a foothold on the better lands. So general was the unbelief in the value of the free negro as a laborer, especially in the Bureau districts, and so signally had all inducements failed to bring native white laborers from the North, that determined efforts were made to obtain white labor from abroad. Immigration societies were formed with officers in the state and headquarters in the northern cities. These societies undertook to send to the South laboring people, principally German, in families at so much per head. The planter turned with hope to white labor, of the superiority of which he had so long been hearing, and he wished very much to give it a trial. The advertisements in the newspapers read much like the old slave advertisements: so many head of healthy, industrious Germans of good character delivered f.o.b. New York, at so much per head. One of the white labor agencies in Alabama undertook to furnish “immigrants of any nativity and in any quantity” to take the place of negroes. Children were priced at the rate of $50 a year; women, $100; men, $150,—they themselves providing board and clothes. One of every six Germans was warranted to speak English.[2047] Most of these agencies were frauds and only wanted an advance payment on a car load of Germans who did not exist. In a few instances some laborers were actually shipped in; but they at once demanded an advance of pay, and then deserted. Like the bounty jumpers, they played the game time and time again. The influence of the Radical press of the North was also used to discourage emigration to the South;[2048] consequently white immigration into the state did not amount to anything,[2049] and the Black Belt received no help from the North or from abroad, and had to fall back upon the free negro.

In the white counties there had been little hope or desire for alien immigration. The people and the country were so desperately poor that the stranger would never think of settling there. Many of the whites in moderate circumstances, living near the Black Belt, took advantage of the low price of rich lands, and acquired small farms in the prairies, but there was no influx of white labor to the Black Belt from the white counties.[2050] Nearly every man, woman, and child in the white districts had to go to work to earn a living. Many persons—lawyers, public men, teachers, ministers, physicians, merchants, overseers, managers, and even women—who had never before worked in the fields or at manual occupations, were now forced to do so because of losses of property, or because they could not live by their former occupations.[2051]

While the number of white laborers had increased somewhat, negro labor had decreased. Several thousand negro men had gone with the armies; for various reasons thousands had drifted to the towns, where large numbers died in 1865-1866. The rural negro had a promising outlook, for at any time he could get more work than he could do; the city negro found work scarce even when he wanted it.[2052]

Attempts to organize a New System

Several attempts were made by the negroes in 1865 and 1866 to work farms and plantations on the coÖperative system, that is, to club work, but with no success. They were not accustomed to independent labor, their faculty for organization had not been sufficiently developed, and the dishonesty of their leading men sometimes caused failures of the schemes.[2053]In the summer of 1865 the Monroe County Agricultural Association was formed to regulate labor, and to protect the interests of both employer and laborer. It was the duty of the executive committee to look after the welfare of the freedmen, to see that contracts were carried out and the freedmen protected in them, and, in cases of dispute, to act as arbitrator. The members of the association pledged themselves to see that the freedman received his wages, and to aid him in case his employer refused to pay. They were also to see that the freedman fulfilled his contract, unless there was good reason why he should not. Homes and the necessaries of life were to be provided by the association for the aged and helpless negroes, of whom there were several on every plantation. The planters declared themselves in favor of schools for the negro children, and a committee was appointed to devise a plan for their education. Every planter in Monroe County belonged to the association.[2054] An organization in Conecuh County adopted, word for word, the constitution of the Monroe County association. In Clarke and Wilcox counties similar organizations were formed, and in all counties where negro labor was the main dependence some such plans were devised.[2055] But it is noticeable that in those counties where the planters first undertook to reorganize the labor system, there were no regular agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau and no garrisons.

The average negro quite naturally had little or no sense of the obligation of contracts. He would leave a growing crop at the most critical period, and move into another county, or, working his own crop “on shares,” would leave it in the grass and go to work for some one else in order to get small “change” for tobacco, snuff, and whiskey. After three years of experience of such conduct, a meeting of citizens at Summerfield, Dallas County, decided that laborers ought to be impressed with the necessity of complying with contracts. They agreed that no laborers discharged for failure to keep contracts would be hired again by other employers. They declared it to be the duty of the whites to act in perfect good faith in their relations with freedmen, to respect and uphold their rights, and to promote good feeling.[2056]

Development of the Share System

At first the planters had demanded a system of contracts, thinking that by law they might hold the negro to his agreements. But the Bureau contracts were one-sided, and the planters could not afford to enter into them. General Swayne early reported[2057] a general breakdown of the contract system, though he told the planters that in case of dispute, where no contract was signed, he would exact payment for the negro at the highest rates. The “share” system was discouraged, but where there were no Bureau agents it was developing. And so bad was the wage system, that even in the Bureau districts, share hiring was done. The object of “share” renting was to cause the laborer to take an interest in his crop and to relieve the planter of disputes about loss of time, etc. Some of the negroes also decided that the share system was the proper one. On the plantations near Selma the negroes demanded “shares,” threatening to leave in case of refusal. General Hardee, who was living near, proposed a plan for a verbal contract; wages should be one-fourth of all crops, meat and bread to be furnished to the laborer, and his share of crop to be paid to him in kind, or the net proceeds in cash; the planter to furnish land, teams, wagons, implements, and seed to the laborer, who, in addition, had all the slavery privileges of free wood, water, and pasturage, garden lot and truck patch, teams to use on Sundays and for going to town. The absolute right of management was reserved to the planter, it being understood that this was no copartnership, but that the negro was hired for a share of the crop; consequently he had no right to interfere in the management.[2058]

On another plantation, where a share system similar to Hardee’s was in operation, the planter divided the workers into squads of four men each. To each squad he assigned a hundred acres of cotton and corn, in the proportion of five acres of cotton to three of corn, and forty acres of cotton for the women and children of the four families. The squads were united to hoe and plough and to pick the cotton, because they worked better in gangs. Wage laborers were kept to look after fences and ditches, and to perform odd jobs. A frequent source of trouble was the custom of allowing the negro, as part of his pay, several acres of “outside crop,” to be worked on certain days of the week, as Fridays and Saturdays. The planter was supposed to settle disputes among the negroes, give them advice on every subject except politics and religion, on which they had other advisers, pay their fines and get them out of jail when arrested, and sometimes to thrash the recalcitrant.[2059]

Several kinds of share systems were finally evolved from the industrial chaos. They were much the same in black or white districts, and the usual designations were “on halves,” “third and fourth,” and “standing rent.” The tenant “on halves” received one-half the crop, did all the work, and furnished his own provisions. The planter furnished land, houses to live in, seed, ploughs, hoes, teams, wagons, ginned the cotton, paid for half the fertilizer, and “went security” for the negro for a year’s credit at the supply store in town, or he furnished the supplies himself, and charged them against the negro’s share of the crop. The “third and fourth” plan varied according to locality and time, and depended upon what the tenant furnished. Sometimes the planter furnished everything, while the negro gave only his labor and received one-fourth of the crop; again, the planter furnished all except provisions and labor, and gave the negro one-third of the crop. In such cases “third and fourth” was a lower grade of tenancy than “on halves.” Later it developed to a higher grade: the tenant furnished teams and farming implements, and the planter the rest, in which case the planter received a third of the cotton, and a fourth of the corn raised. “Standing rent” was the highest form of tenancy, and only responsible persons, white or black, could rent under that system. It called for a fixed or “standing” rent for each acre or farm, to be paid in money or in cotton. The unit of value in cotton was a 500-pound bale of middling grade on October 1st. Tenants who had farm stock, farming implements, and supplies or good credit would nearly always cultivate for “standing rent.” The planter exercised a controlling direction over the labor and cultivation of a crop worked “on halves”; he exercised less direction over “third and fourth” tenants, and was supposed to exercise no control over tenants who paid “standing rent.” In all cases the planter furnished a dwelling-house free, wood and water (paid for digging wells), and pasture for the pigs and cows of the tenants. In all cases the renter had a plot of ground of from one to three acres, rent free, for a vegetable garden and “truck patch.” Here could be raised watermelons, sugar-cane, potatoes, sorghum, cabbage, and other vegetables. Every tenant could keep a few pigs and a cow, chickens, turkeys, and guineas, and especially dogs, and could hunt in all the woods around and fish in all the waters. “On halves” was considered the safest form of tenancy for both planter and tenant, for the latter was only an average man, and this method allowed the superior direction of the planter.[2060] Many negroes worked for wages; the less intelligent and the unreliable could find no other way to work; and some of the best of them preferred to work for wages paid at the end of each week or month. Wage laborers worked under the immediate oversight of the farmer or tenant who hired them. They received $8 to $12 a month and were “found,” that is, furnished with rations. In the white counties the negro hired man was often fed in the farmer’s kitchen. The laborer, if hired by the year, had a house, vegetable garden, truck patch, chickens, a pig perhaps, always a dog, and he could hunt and fish anywhere in the vicinity. Sometimes he was “found”; sometimes he “found” himself. When he was “found,” the allowance for a week was three and a half pounds of bacon, a peck of meal, half a gallon of syrup, and a plug of tobacco; his garden and truck patch furnished vegetables. This allowance could be varied and commuted. The system was worked out in the few years immediately following the war, and has lasted almost without change. Where the negroes are found, the larger plantations have not been broken up into small farms, the census statistics to the contrary notwithstanding.[2061] The negro tenant or laborer had too many privileges for his own good and for the good of the planter. The negro should have been paid more money or given a larger proportion of the crop, and fewer privileges. He needed more control and supervision, and the result of giving him a vegetable garden, a truck patch, a pasture, and the right of hunting and fishing, was that the negro took less interest in the crop; the privileges were about all he wanted. Agricultural industry was never brought to a real business basis.[2062]

An essential part of the share system was the custom of advancing supplies to the tenant with the future crop as security. The universal lack of capital after the war forced an extension of the old ante-bellum credit or supply system. The merchant, who was also a cotton buyer, advanced money or supplies until the crop was gathered. Before the war his security was crop, land, and slaves; after the war the crop was the principal security, for land was a drug in the market. Consequently, the crop was more important to the creditor. Cotton was the only good cash staple, and the high prices encouraged all to raise it. It was to the interest of the merchant, even when prices were low, to insist that his debtors raise cotton to the exclusion of food crops, since much of his money was made by selling food supplies to them. Before the war the planter alone had much credit, and a successful one did not make use of the system; but after the war all classes of cotton raisers had to have advances of supplies. The credit or crop lien system was good to put an ambitious farmer on the way to independence, but it was no incentive to the shiftless. Cotton became the universal crop under the credit system, and even when the farmer became independent, he seldom planted less of his staple crop, or raised more supplies at home.

Negro Farmers and White Farmers

At the end of the war everything was in favor of the negro cotton raiser; and everything except the high price of cotton was against the white farmer in the poorer counties. The soil had been used most destructively in the white districts, and it had to be improved before cotton could be raised successfully.[2063] The high price of cotton caused the white farmer, who had formerly had only small cotton patches, to plant large fields, and for several years the negro was not a serious competitor. The building of railroads through the mineral regions afforded transportation to the white farmer for crops and fertilizers,—an advantage that before this time had been enjoyed only by the Black Belt,—and improved methods gradually supplanted the wasteful frontier system of cultivation. The gradual increase[2064] of the cotton production after 1869 was due entirely to white labor in the white counties, the black counties never again reaching their former production, though the population of those counties has doubled. Governor Lindsay said, in 1871, that the white people of north Alabama, where but little had been produced before the war, were becoming prosperous by raising cotton, and at the same time raising supplies that the planter on the rich lands with negro labor had to buy from the West. This prosperity, he thought, had done more than anything else to put an end to Ku Klux disturbances. Somers reported, as early as 1871, that the bulk of the cotton crop in the Tennessee valley was made by white labor, not by black.[2065] As long as there was plenty of cheap, thin land to be had, the poor but independent white would not work the fertile land belonging to some one else; and before and long after the war there was plenty of practically free land.[2066] Therefore the tendency of the whites was to remain on the less fertile land. Dr. E. A. Smith, in the Alabama Geological Survey of 1881-1882, and in the Report on Cotton Production in Alabama (1884), shows the relation between race and cotton production, and race location, with respect to fertility of soil: (1) On the most fertile lands the laboring population was black; the farmers were shiftless, and no fertilizers were used; there the credit evil was worse, and the yield per acre was less than on the poorest soils cultivated by whites. (2) Where the races were about equal the best system was found; the soils were medium, the farms were small but well cultivated, and fertilizers were used. (3) On the poorest soils only whites were found. These by industry and use of fertilizers could produce about as much as the blacks on the rich soils.

The average product per acre of the fertile Black Belt is lower than the lowest in the poorest white counties. Only the best of soil, as in Clarke, Monroe, and Wilcox counties, is able to overcome the bad labor system, and produce an average equal to that made by the whites in Winston, the least fertile county in the state. In white counties, where the average product per acre falls below the average for the surrounding region, the fact is always explained by the presence of blacks, segregated on the best soils, keeping down the average product. For example, Madison County in 1880 had a majority of blacks, and the average product per acre was 0.28 bale, as compared with 0.32 bale for the Tennessee valley, of which Madison was the richest county; in Talladega, the most fertile county of the Coosa valley, the average production per acre was 0.32, as compared with 0.40 for the rest of the valley; in Autauga, where the blacks outnumbered the whites two to one, the average fell below that of the country around, though the Autauga soil was the best in the region. The average product of the rich prairie region cultivated by the blacks was 0.27 bale per acre; the average product in the poor mineral region cultivated by the whites was 0.26 to 0.28; in the short-leaf pine region the whites outnumber the blacks two to one, and the average production is 0.34 bale, while in the gravelly hill region, where the blacks are twice as numerous as the whites, the production is 0.30, the soil in the two sections being about equal. In general, the fertility of the soil being equal, the production varies inversely as the proportion of colored population to white. Density of colored population is a sure sign of fertile soil; predominance of white a sign of medium or poor soil. Outside of the Black Belt, white owners cultivate small farms, looking closely after them. The negro seldom owns the land he cultivates, and is more efficient when working under direction on the small farm in the white county. In the Black Belt, nearly all land is fertile and capable of cultivation, but in the white counties a large percentage is rocky, in hills, forests, mountains, etc. Many soils in southeast and in north Alabama, formerly considered unproductive, have been brought into cultivation by the use of fertilizers, hauled in wagons, in many cases, from twenty to a hundred miles. Fertilizers have not yet come into general use in the Black Belt. In the negro districts are still found horse-power gins and old wooden cotton presses; in the white counties, steam and water power and the latest machinery. In the white counties it has always been a general custom to raise a part of the supplies on the farm; in the Black Belt this has not been done since the war.[2067] Though many of the white farmers remained under the crop lien bondage, there was a steady gain toward independence on the part of the more industrious and economical. But not until toward the close of the century did emancipation come for many of the struggling whites.

In other directions the whites did better. They opened the mines of north Alabama, cut the timber of south Alabama, built the railroads and factories, and to some extent engaged in commerce.[2068] Market gardening became a common occupation. Negro labor in factories failed. It was the negro rather than slavery that prevented and still prevents the establishment of manufactures.[2069] The development of manufactures in recent years has benefited principally the poor people of the white counties. “For this mill people is not drawn from foreign immigrants, nor from distant states, but it is drawn from the native-born white population, the poor whites, that belated hill-folk from the ridges and hollows and coves of the silent hills.”[2070] The negro artisan is giving way to the white; even in the towns of the Black Belt, the occupations once securely held by the negro are passing into the hands of the whites.

In the white counties, during Reconstruction, the relations between the races became more strained than in the Black Belt. One of the manifestations of the Ku Klux movement in the white counties was the driving away of negro tenants from the more fertile districts by the poorer classes of whites who wanted these lands. For years immigration was discouraged by the northern press. Foreigners were afraid to come to the “benighted and savage South.”[2071] But in the ’80’s the railroad companies began to induce Germans to settle on their lands in the poorest of the white counties. Later there has been a slow movement from the Northwest. As a rule, where the northerners and the Germans settle the wilderness blossoms, and the negro leaves.

After ploughing their hilltops until the soil was exhausted, the whites, even before the war, decided that only by clearing the swamps in the poorer districts could they get land worth cultivating. This required much labor and money. After the war, with the increase of transportation facilities, fertilizers came into use, the swamps were deserted, and the farmers went back to the uplands. “By the use of commercial fertilizers, vast regions once considered barren have been brought into profitable cultivation, and really afford a more reliable and constant crop than the rich alluvial lands of the old slave plantations. In nearly every agricultural county in the South there is to be observed, on the one hand, this section of fertile soils, once the heart of the old civilization, now largely abandoned by the whites, held in tenantry by a dense negro population, full of dilapidation and ruin; while on the other hand, there is the region of light, thin soils, occupied by the small white freeholder, filled with schools, churches, and good roads, and all the elements of a happy, enlightened country life.”[2072]

The Decadence of the Black Belt

The patriarchal system failed in the Black Belt, the Bureau system of contracts and prescribed wages failed, the planter’s own wage system failed,[2073] and finally all settled down to the share system. In this there was some encouragement to effort on the part of the laborer, and in case of failure of the crop he bore a share of the loss. After a few years’ experience, the negroes were ready to go back to the wage system, and labor conventions were held demanding a return to that system.[2074] But whatever system was adopted, the work of the negro was unsatisfactory. The skilled laborer left the plantation, and the new generation knew nothing of the arts of industry. Labor became migratory, and the negro farmer wanted to change his location every year.[2075] Regular work was a thing of the past. In two or three days each week a negro could work enough to live, and the remainder of the time he rested from his labors, often leaving much cotton in the fields to rot.[2076] He went to the field when it suited him to go, gazed frequently at the sun to see if it was time to stop for meals, went often to the spring for water, and spent much time adjusting his plough or knocking the soil and pebbles from his shoes. The negro women refused to work in the fields, and yet did nothing to better the home life; the style of living was “from hand to mouth.” Extra money went for whiskey, snuff, tobacco, and finery, while the standard of living was not raised.[2077] The laborer would always stop to go to a circus, election, political meeting, revival, or camp-meeting. A great desolation seemed to rest upon the Black Belt country.[2078]

In the interior of the state, the negroes worked better during and after Reconstruction than where they were exposed to the ministrations of the various kinds of carpet-baggers.[2079] In the Tennessee valley, where the negroes had taken a prominent part in politics, and had not only seen much of the war, but many of them had enlisted in the Federal army, cotton raising almost ceased for several years. The only crops made were made by whites.[2080] In Sumter County, where the black population was dense, it was, in 1870, almost impossible to secure labor; those negroes who wished to work went to the railways.[2081] A description of a “model negro farm” in 1874 was as follows: The farmer purchased an old mule on credit and rented land on shares, or for so many bales of cotton; any old tools were used; corn, bacon, and other supplies were bought on credit, and a lien given on the crop; a month later, corn and cotton were planted on soil not well broken up; the negro “would not pay for no guano,” to put on other people’s land; by turns the farmer planted and fished, ploughed and hunted, hoed and frolicked, or went to “meeting.” At the end of the year he sold his cotton, paid part of his rent, and some of his debt, returned the mule to its owner, and sang:—

“Nigger work hard all de year,
White man tote de money.”[2082]

If the negro made anything, his fellows were likely to steal it. Somers said, “There can be no doubt that the negroes first steal one another’s share of the crop, and next the planter’s, by way of general redress.”[2083] Crop stealing was usually done at night. Stolen cotton, corn, pork, etc., was carried to the doggeries kept on the outskirts of the plantation by low white men, and there exchanged for bad whiskey, tobacco, and cheap stuff of various kinds. These doggeries were called “deadfalls,” and their proprietors often became rich.[2084] So serious did the theft of crops become, that the legislature passed a “sunset” law, making it a penal offence to purchase farm produce after nightfall. Poultry, hogs, corn, mules, and horses were stolen when left in the open.

Emancipation destroyed the agricultural supremacy of the Black Belt. The uncertain returns from the plantations caused an exodus of planters and their families to the cities, and formerly well-kept plantations were divided into one-and two-house farms for negro tenants, who allowed everything to go to ruin. The negro tenant system was much more ruinous than the worst of the slavery system, and none of the plantations ever again reached their former state of productiveness. Ditches choked up, fences down, large stretches of fertile fields growing up in weeds and bushes, cabins tumbling in and negro quarters deserted, corn choked by grass and weeds, cotton not half as good as under slavery,—these were the reports from travellers in the Black Belt, towards the close of Reconstruction.[2085] Other plantations were leased to managers, who also kept plantation stores whence the negroes were furnished with supplies. The money lenders came into possession of many plantations. By the crop lien and blanket mortgage, the negro became an industrial serf. The “big house” fell into decay. For these and other reasons, the former masters, who were the most useful friends of the negro, left the Black Belt, and the black steadily declined.[2086] The unaided negro has steadily grown worse; but Tuskegee, Normal, Calhoun, and similar bodies are endeavoring to assist the negro of the black counties to become an efficient member of society. In the success of such efforts lies the only hope of the negro, and also of the white of the Black Belt, if the negro is to continue to exclude white immigration.[2087]

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CHAPTER XXIII

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS DURING RECONSTRUCTION

Sec. 1. Politics and Political Methods

During the war the administration of the state government gradually fell into the hands of officials elected by people more or less disaffected toward the Confederacy. Provisional Governor Parsons, who had been secretly disloyal to the Confederacy, retained in office many of the old Confederate local officials, and appointed to other offices men who had not strongly supported the Confederacy. In the fall of 1865 and the spring of 1866 elections under the provisional government placed in office a more energetic class of second and third rate men who had had little experience and who were not strong Confederates. Men who had opposed secession and who had done little to support the war were, as a rule, sent to Congress and placed in the higher offices of state. The ablest men were not available, being disfranchised by the President’s plan.

In 1868, with the establishment of the reconstructed government, an entirely new class of officials secured control. Less than 5000 white voters, of more than 100,000 of voting age, supported the Radical programme, and, as more than 3000 officials were to be chosen, the field for choice was limited. The elections having gone by default, the Radicals met with no opposition, except in three counties. In all the other counties the entire Radical ticket was declared elected, even though in several of them no formal elections had been held.

William H. Smith, who was made governor under the Reconstruction Acts, was a native of Georgia, a lawyer, formerly a Douglas Democrat, and had opposed secession, but was a candidate for the Confederate Congress. Defeated, he consoled himself by going over to the Federals in 1862. Smith was a man of no executive ability, careless of the duties of his office, and in few respects a fit person to be governor. He disliked the Confederate element and also the carpet-baggers, but as long as the latter would not ask for high offices, he was at peace with them. It was his plan to carry on the state government with the 2000 or 3000 “unionists” and the United States troops. He did not like the negroes, but could endure them as long as they lived in a different part of the state and voted for him. In personal and private matters he was thoroughly honest, but his course in regard to the issue of bonds showed that in public affairs he could be influenced to doubtful conduct. It is certain that he never profited by any of the stealing that was carried on; he merely made it easy for others to steal; the dishonest ones were his friends, and his enemies paid the taxes. As governor he had the respect of neither party. He went too far to please the Democrats, and not far enough to please the Radicals. He exercised no sort of control over his local officials and shut his eyes to the plundering of the Black Belt. He was emphatically governor of his small following of whites, not of all the people, not even of the blacks. During his administration the whites complained that he was very active in protecting Radicals from outrage, but paid no attention to the troubles of his political enemies. His government did not give adequate protection to life and property.

His lieutenant-governor, A. J. Applegate of Ohio and Wisconsin, was an illiterate Federal soldier left stranded in Alabama by the surrender. During the war he was taken ill in Mississippi and was cared for by Mrs. Thompson, wife of a former Secretary of the Treasury. Upon leaving the Thompson house he carried some valuable papers with him, which, after the war, he tried to sell to Mrs. Thompson for $10,000. Lowe, Walker, & Company, a firm of lawyers in Alabama, gave Applegate $300, made him sign a statement as to how he obtained the papers, and then published all the correspondence.[2088] The charge of thievery did not injure his candidacy. Before election he had been an attachÉ of the Freedmen’s Bureau. After the constitution had been rejected in 1868, Applegate went North, so far that he could not get back in time for the first session of the legislature. A special act, however, authorized him to draw his pay as having been present. In a letter written for the Associated Press, which was secured by the Democrats, there were thirty-nine mistakes in spelling. As a presiding officer over the Senate, he was vulgar and undignified. His speeches were ludicrous. When the conduct of the Radical senators pleased him, he made known his pleasure by shouting, “Bully for Alabama!”

The secretary of state, Charles A. Miller, was a Bureau agent from Maine; Bingham, the treasurer, was from New York; Reynolds, the auditor, from Wisconsin; Keffer, the superintendent of industrial resources, from Pennsylvania. Two natives of indifferent reputation—Morse and Cloud—were, respectively, attorney-general and superintendent of public instruction. Morse was under indictment for murder and had to be relieved by special act of the legislature. The chief justice, Peck, was from New York; Saffold and Peters were southern men; the senators and all of the representatives in Congress were carpet-baggers. There were six candidates for the short-term senatorship—all of them carpet-baggers. Willard Warner of Ohio, who was elected, was probably the most respectable of all the carpet-baggers, and was soon discarded by the party. He had served in the Federal army and after the war was elected to the Ohio Senate. His term expired in January, 1868; in July, 1868, he was elected to the United States Senate from Alabama. George E. Spencer was elected to the United States Senate for the long term. He was from Massachusetts, Ohio, Iowa, and Nebraska. In Iowa he had been clerk of the Senate, and in Nebraska, secretary to the governor. He entered the army as sutler of the First Nebraska Infantry. Later he assisted in raising the First Union Alabama Cavalry and was made its colonel. Spencer was shrewd, coarse, and unscrupulous, and soon secured control of Federal patronage for Alabama. He attacked his colleague, Warner, as being lukewarm.

The representatives and their records were as follows: F. W. Kellogg of Massachusetts and Michigan represented the latter state in Congress from 1859 to 1865, when he was appointed collector of internal revenue at Mobile. C. W. Buckley of New York and Illinois was a Presbyterian preacher who had come to Alabama as chaplain of a negro regiment. For two years he was a Bureau official and an active agitator. He was a leading member in the convention of 1867. B. W. Norris of Skowhegan, Maine, was an oil-cloth maker and a land agent for Maine, a commissary, contractor, cemetery commissioner, and paymaster during the war. After the war he came South with C. A. Miller, his brother-in-law, and both became Bureau agents. C. W. Pierce of Massachusetts and Illinois was a Bureau official. Nothing more is known of him. John B. Callis of Wisconsin had served in the Federal army and later in the Veteran Reserve Corps. After the war he became a Bureau agent in Alabama, and when elected he was not a citizen of the state, but was an army officer stationed in Mississippi. Thomas Haughey of Scotland was a Confederate recruiting officer in 1861-1862 and later a surgeon in the Union army. He was killed in 1869 by Collins, a member of the Radical Board of Education. It was said that he was without race prejudice and consorted with negroes, but he was the only one of the Alabama delegation whom Governor Smith liked. The latter wrote that “our whole set of representatives in Congress, with the exception of Haughey, are ... unprincipled scoundrels having no regard for the state of the people.”[2089]

In the first Reconstruction legislature, which lasted for three years, there were in the Senate 32 Radicals and 1 Democrat. In the House there were 97 Radicals (only 94 served) and 3 Democrats. The lone Democrat in the Senate was Worthy of Pike, and to prevent him from engaging in debate, Applegate often retired from his seat and called upon him to preside; the Democrats in the House were Hubbard of Pike, Howard of Crenshaw, and Reeves of Cherokee.[2090] In the Senate there was only 1 negro; in the House there were 26, several of whom could not sign their names. In the apportionment of representatives there was a difference of 40 per cent in favor of the black counties. Hundreds of negroes swarmed in to see the legislature begin, filling the galleries, the windows, and the vacant seats, and crowding the aisles. They were invited by resolution to fill the galleries and from that place they took part in the affairs of the House, voting on every measure with loud shouts. A scalawag from north Alabama wanted the negroes to sit on one side of the House and the whites on the other, but he was not listened to. The doorkeepers, sergeant-at-arms, and other employees were usually negroes. The negro members watched their white leaders and voted aye or no as they voted. When tired they went to sleep and often had to be wakened to vote. Both houses were usually opened with prayer by northern Methodist ministers or by negro ministers. None but “loyal” ministers were asked to officiate. Strobach, the Austrian member, wearied of much political prayer, moved that the chaplain cut short his devotions.

SCENES IN THE FIRST RECONSTRUCTED LEGISLATURE.
(Cartoons from “The Loil Legislature,” by Captain B. H. Screws.)

The whites in the legislature were for the most part carpet-baggers or unknown native whites. The entire taxes paid by the members of the legislature were, it is said, less than $100. Applegate, the lieutenant-governor, did not own a dollar’s worth of property in the state. Most of the carpet-bag members lived in Montgomery; the rest of them lived in Mobile, Selma, and Huntsville. Few of them saw the districts they represented after election; some did not see them before or after the election. The representative from Jackson County lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The state constitution prohibited United States officials from holding state offices, but nearly all Federal officers in the state also held state offices. This was particularly the case in the southwestern counties, which were represented by revenue and custom-house officials from Mobile. Some of them were absent most of the time, but all drew pay; one of the negro members, instead of attending, went regularly to school after the roll was called. No less than twenty members had been indicted or convicted, or were indicted during the session, of various crimes, from adultery and stealing to murder. The legislature passed special acts to relieve members from the penalties for stealing, adultery, bigamy, arson, riot, illegal voting, assault, bribery, and murder.[2091]

Bribery was common in the legislature. By custom a room in the capitol was set apart for the accommodation of those who wished to “interview” negro members.[2092] There the agents of railroad companies distributed conscience money in the form of loans which were never to be paid back. Harrington, the speaker, boasted that he received $1700 for engineering a bill through the House. A lottery promoter said that it cost him only $600 to get his charter through the legislature, and that no Radical, except one negro, refused the small bribe he offered. Senator Sibley held his vote on railroad measures at $500; Pennington, at $1000; W. B. Jones, at $500. Hardy of Dallas received $35,000 to ease the passage of a railroad bond issue, and kept most of it for himself; another received enough to start a bank; still another was given 640 acres of land, a steam mill, and a side track on a railroad near his mill. Negro members, as a rule, sold out very cheaply, and probably most often to Democrats who wanted some minor measures passed to which the Radical leaders would pay no attention. It was found best not to pay the larger sums until the governor had signed the bill. A member accepted a gift as a matter of course, and no attention was paid to charges of bribery.[2093]

The election of February 4 and 5, 1868, at which the constitution was rejected on account of the whites’ refraining from voting, was in many counties a farce. The legislature, in order to remedy any defects in the credentials of the Radical candidates, passed a number of general and special acts legalizing the “informal” elections of February 4 and 5, and declaring the Radical candidates elected. In seven counties no votes had been counted, but this made no difference.[2094]

The presiding officers addressed the members as “Captain, John, Mr. Jones,” etc. Quarrels and fights were frequent. One member chased another to the secretary’s desk, trying to kill him, but was prevented by the secretary. In the cloak-rooms and halls were fruit and peanut stands, whiskey shops, and lunch counters. Legislative action did not avail to clear out the sovereign negroes and keep the halls clean. Political meetings were held in the capitol, much to the damage of the furniture.[2095]

The only measures that excited general interest among the members were the bond-issue bills. Other legislation was generally purely perfunctory, except in case an election law or a Ku Klux law was to be passed. There was much special legislation on account of individual members, such as granting divorces, ordering release from jail, relieving from the “pains” of marriage with more than one woman, trick legislation, vacating offices, etc. When, as in Mobile, the Democrats controlled too many minor offices, the legislature remedied the wrong by declaring the offices vacant and giving the governor authority to make appointments to the vacancies. The Mobile offices were vacated three times in this way. In connection with the Mobile bill it was found that fraudulent interpolations were sometimes made in a bill after its passage. It would be taken from the clerk’s desk, changed, and then returned for printing.[2096]

Some of the laws passed failed of their object because of mistakes in spelling. A committee was finally appointed to correct mistakes in orthography. The House and Senate constantly returned engrossed bills to one another for correction. A joint committee to investigate the education of the clerks reported that they were unable to ascertain which of the clerks was illiterate, though they discharged one of them. The minority report declared that the fault was not with the clerks, but with the members, many of whom could not write. Finally a spelling clerk was employed to rewrite the bills submitted by the members.[2097] For making fun of the ignorance of the Radical members, Ryland Randolph, a Democratic member, elected in a by-election, was expelled from the House.

In 1868 the Radicals, fearing the result of the presidential election and afraid of the Ku Klux movement which was beginning to be felt, passed a bill giving to itself the power to choose presidential electors. The negroes were aroused by the Radical leaders who were not in the legislature, and sufficient pressure was brought to bear on the governor to induce him to veto the measure.[2098]

According to the constitution, the Senate was to classify at once after organization, so that half should serve two years and half four years. No one was willing to take the short term and lose the $8 per diem and other privileges. So in 1868 the Senate refused to classify. Again in 1870 it refused to classify. The Radicals permitted the usurpation because it was known that the Democrats would carry the white counties in case the classification were made and elections held. Then, too, it was feared that in 1870 the Democrats would have a majority in the lower house; hence a Radical Senate would be necessary to prevent the repudiation of the railroad indorsation. So all senators held over until 1872, and by shrewd manipulation and the use of Federal troops the Senate kept a Radical majority until 1874.[2099]

County and other local officials were incompetent and corrupt. The policy of the whites in abstaining from voting on the constitution (1868) gave nearly every office in the state to incompetent men. In the white counties it was as bad as in the black, because the Radicals there despaired of carrying the elections and put up no regular candidates. However, in every county some freaks offered themselves as candidates, and at “informal” elections received, or said they received, a few votes. After the state was admitted in spite of the rejection of the constitution, these people were put in office by the legislature. Had the white people taken part in the elections instead of relying upon the law of Congress in regard to ratification and not refrained from voting, they could have secured nearly all the local offices in the white counties. No other state had such an experience; no other state had such a low class of officials in the beginning of Reconstruction. But the very incapacity of them worked in favor of better government, for they had to be gotten rid of and others appointed. Not a single Bureau agent whose name is on record failed to get some kind of an office. In Perry County most of the officials were soldiers of a Wisconsin regiment discharged in the South; the circuit clerk was under indictment for horse stealing. In Greene County a superintendent of education had to be imported under contract from Massachusetts, there being no competent Radical. In Sumter County one Price, who had a negro wife, was registrar, superintendent of education, postmaster, and circuit clerk. A carpet-bagger, elected probate judge, went home to Ohio, after the supposed rejection of the constitution, and never returned. The sheriff and the solicitor were negroes who could not read. Another Radical was at once circuit clerk, register in chancery, notary public, justice of the peace, keeper of the county poorhouse, and guardian ad litem. In Elmore County the probate judge was under indictment for murder. In Montgomery, Brainard, the circuit clerk, killed his brother-in-law and tried to kill Widmer, the collector of internal revenue. The Radical chancellor and marshal were scalawags—one a former slave trader, the other a former divine-right slave owner. The sheriff of Madison could not write. In Dallas the illiterate negro commissioners voted for a higher rate of taxation, though their names were not on the tax books; their scalawag associates voted for the lower rate. Thus it was all over Alabama.

In July, 1868, the Reconstruction legislature continued in force the code of Alabama, which provided for heavy official bonds. But the adventurers could not make bond. So a special law was passed authorizing the supreme court, chancellors, and circuit judges to “fix and prescribe” the bonds of all “judicial and county officials.” Later the suspended code went into effect, and the Democrats succeeded in turning out many newly elected Radicals who could not make bond. Almost at the beginning the Democrats began the plan of refusing to make bond for Radicals, and thus made it almost impossible for the latter to hold office until the legislature again came to their relief.

There were many vacancies and few white Radicals to fill them; the scalawags thought that the negro ought to be content with voting. Smith had many vacancies to fill by appointment. Most of the paying ones were given to Radicals, and many of the others were given to Democrats, whom he preferred to negroes. In the black counties the property owners and the Ku Klux began to make the most obnoxious officials sell out and leave, and Governor Smith would, by agreement, appoint some Democrat to such vacancies. This custom became frequent, and, in spite of himself, Smith’s “lily white” sentiments were undermining the rule of his party.[2100] An argument used by the more liberal of the Radicals in favor of removal of disabilities was that in some counties the local offices could not be filled on account of the operation of the disfranchising laws.[2101]

The Federal judiciary was represented by Richard Busteed, an Irishman, who was made Federal judge in 1864. He came South in 1865 with bloodthirsty threats and at once began prosecutions for treason. More than 900 cases were brought before him. There were no convictions, but a rich harvest of costs. He was ignorant of law, and in the court room was arbitrary and tyrannical to lawyers, witnesses, and prisoners. It was charged that he was in partnership with the district attorney. Bribery was proven against him. The leading lawyers, both Radical and Democratic, asked Congress to impeach him, but to no effect. It was his custom to solicit men to bring causes before him. A Selma editor was brought before him and severely lectured for writing a disrespectful article about Busteed’s grand jury. There was one Democratic lawyer whom Busteed feared—General James H. Clanton. Clanton paid no attention to Busteed’s vagaries, but sat on the bench with him, advised him and made him take his advice, won all his cases, and bullied Busteed unrebuked. The latter was afraid he would be killed if he angered Clanton, and Clanton played upon his fears. At first a great negrophile, Busteed became more and more obnoxious to the Radical party, and was soon accused of being a Democrat and removed. Another Federal officer, Wells, the United States district attorney, had been discharged from the Union army on the ground of insanity.[2102]

The new constitution made all judgeships elective and also provided for the election of a solicitor in each county. The result was seen in the number of incapable judges and illiterate solicitors. The probate judge of Madison was “a common jack-plane carpenter from Oregon,” and his sheriff could not write. Many of the judges had never studied law and had never practised. Public meetings were held to protest against incompetent judges and to demand their resignations. Governor Smith usually appointed better men, and not always those of his own party, to the places vacated by resignation, sale, or otherwise. Before the war the state judiciary had stood high in the estimation of the people, and judicial officers were forbidden by public opinion to take part in party politics. Under the Reconstruction government the judicial officials took an active part in political campaigns, every one of them, from Busteed and the supreme court to a county judge, making political speeches and holding office in the party organization. From a party point of view the scarcity of white Radicals made this necessary. Notaries public, who also had the powers of justices of the peace, were appointed by the governor. Their powers were great and indefinite, and in consequence they almost drove the justices out of activity. Some of them issued warrants running into all parts of the state, causing men to be brought forty to fifty miles to appear before them on trifling charges.

The Reconstruction judiciary generally held that a jury without a negro on it was not legal. In the white counties such juries were hard to form. Northern newspaper correspondents wrote of the ludicrous appearance of Busteed’s half negro jury struggling with intricate points of maritime law, insurance, constitutional questions, exchange, and the relative value of a Prussian guilder to a pound sterling. When they were bored they went to sleep. The negro jurors recognized their own incompetence and usually agreed to any verdict decided upon by the white jurors. Had the latter been respectable men, no harm would have been done, but usually they were not. A negro jury would not convict a member of the Union League—he had only to give the sign—nor a negro prosecuted by a white man or indicted by a jury; but many negroes prosecuted by their own race were convicted by black juries. For many years it was impossible to secure a respectable Federal jury on account of the test oath required, which excluded nearly all Confederates of ability. As an example of the working of a local court, the criminal court of Dallas may be taken. The jurisdiction extended to capital offences. Corbin, the judge, was an old Virginian who had never read law. He refused to allow one Roderick Thomas, colored, to be tried by a mixed jury, demanding a full negro jury. The prosecution was then dropped because all twelve negroes drawn were of bad character. Corbin then entered on the record that Thomas was “acquitted.” Thomas had stolen cotton, and the fact had been proven; but he soon became clerk of Corbin’s court and later took Corbin’s place as judge, with another negro for clerk. Nearly every Radical official in Dallas County was indicted for corruption in office by a Radical or mixed jury, but negro juries refused to convict them.[2103]

An elaborate militia system was provided for by the carpet-baggers, with General Dustin of Iowa, a carpet-bagger, as major-general. The strength of organization was to be in the black counties, but Governor Smith persistently refused to organize the negro militia. He was afraid of the effect on his slender white following, and he did not think that the negro ought to do anything but vote. He was also afraid of Democratic militia, afraid that it would overturn the hated state government. He tried to get several friendly white companies to organize, but failed, and during the rest of his term relied exclusively upon Federal troops. Even before the Reconstruction government was set going it was seen that the whites would be restless. Forcing the rejected constitution and the low-class state government upon the people against the will of the majority had a very bad effect. They recognized it as the government de facto only, and they so considered it all during the Reconstruction. Then the Ku Klux movement began, and north Alabama especially was disturbed for several years. Smith sometimes threatened to call out the militia, but never did so. However, he kept the Federal troops busy answering his calls. After the election of Grant the army was always at the service of the state officials, who used detachments as police, marshals, and posses. The government had not the respect of its own party, and had to be upheld by military force. It was a fixed custom to call in the military when the law was to be enforced—governor, congressmen, marshals, sheriff, judge, justice of peace, politicians, all calling for and obtaining troops. It was distasteful duty to the Federal officers and soldiers. Though the people knew that only the soldiers upheld the state government, yet they were not, as a rule, sorry to see the soldiers come in. The military rule was preferable to the civil rule, and acted as a check on Radical misgovernment. The whites were often sorry to see the soldiers leave, even though they were instruments of oppression. Wholesale arrests by the army were not as frequent during Smith’s administration as later.[2104]

The state government was shaken to its foundations by the presidential campaign and election of 1868. The whites had waked up and gone to work in earnest. It was the first election in which the races voted against one another. Busteed, Strobach, and other carpet-baggers toured the North, predicting chains and slavery for the blacks and butchery for the “loyal” whites in case Seymour were elected. The Union League whipped the negroes into line. Brass bands lent enthusiasm to Radical parades. The negroes were afraid that they would “lose their rights” and be reËnslaved, that their wives would have to work the roads and not be allowed to wear hoopskirts. The Radicals urged upon the Democrats the view that those who did not believe in negro suffrage could not take the voter’s oath. Many Democrats refused to register because of the oath. There were numbers who would not vote against Grant because they believed that he was the only possible check against Congress. Others felt that so far as Alabama was concerned the election was cut and dried for Grant. But nevertheless a majority of the whites determined to resist further Africanization in government. Their natural leaders were disfranchised, but a strong campaign was made. The hope was held out of overthrowing the irregular revolutionary state government and driving out the carpet-baggers in case Seymour became President. North Alabama declared that a vote for Grant was a vote against the whites and formed a boycott of all Radicals. The south Alabama leaders tried to secure a part of the negro vote, and urged that imprudent talk be avoided and that carpet-baggers and scalawags be let alone, and the negroes be treated kindly as being responsible for none of the evils. Orders purporting to be signed by General Grant were sent out among the negroes, bidding them to beware of the promises of the whites and directing them to vote for him. Some rascally whites made large sums of money by selling Grant badges to the blacks. They had been sent down for free distribution; but the negroes, ordered, as they believed, by the general, purchased his pictures at $2 each, or less. The carpet-baggers were afraid of losing the state. Some left and went home. Others wanted the legislature to choose electors. Still others wanted to have no election at all, preferring to let it go by default; but the higher military commanders, Terry and Grant, were sympathetic and troops were so distributed over the state as to bring out the negro vote. Army officers assisted at Radical political meetings, and the negro was informed by his advisers that General Grant had sent the troops to see that they voted properly. The result was that the state went for Grant by a safe majority.[2105]

During the administration of Smith the incompatibility of the elements of the Radical party began to show more clearly. The native whites began to desert as soon as the convention of 1867 showed that the negro vote would be controlled by the carpet-baggers. The genuine Unionist voters resented the leadership of renegade secessionists. The carpet-baggers demanded the lion’s share of the spoils and were angered because Smith vetoed some of their measures; the scalawags upheld him. The carpet-baggers felt that since they controlled the negro voters they were entitled to the greater consideration. Their manipulation of the Union League alarmed the native Radicals.

The negroes were becoming conscious of their power and were inclined to demand a larger share of the offices than the carpet-baggers wanted to give them. Some of the negroes were desirous of voting with the whites. Negro leaders were aspiring to judgeships, to the state Senate, to be postmasters, to go to Congress. Even now the party was held together only by the knowledge that it would be destroyed if divided.[2106]

In 1868 Governor Smith and other Radical leaders, convinced that they were permanently in power, secured the passage of a law providing for the gradual removal of disabilities imposed by state law. The same year a complete registration had been made for the purpose of excluding the leading whites. After disabilities were removed, so far as state action was concerned there was no advantage to Radicals in a registration of voters. On the other hand, it threatened to become a powerful aid to the Democrats, who began to attend the polls and demand that only registered voters be allowed to cast ballots, thus preventing repeating. Consequently, as a preparation for the first general election in the fall of 1870, the legislature passed a law forbidding the use of registration lists by any official at any election. No one was to be asked if he were registered. No one was to be required to show a registration certificate. The assertion of the would-be voter was to be taken as sufficient. And it was made a misdemeanor to challenge a voter, thus interfering with the freedom of elections. After this a negro might vote under any name he pleased as often as he pleased. This election system was in force until 1874, when the Democrats came into power.[2107]

To the Forty-first Congress in 1869 returned only one of the former carpet-bag delegation, C. W. Buckley. Two so-called Democrats were chosen, two scalawags, and a new carpet-bagger. P. M. Dox, one of the Democrats, was a northern man who had lived in the South before the war, who was neutral during the war; and after the war he posed as a “Unionist.” Congressional timber was scarce on account of the test oath and the Fourteenth Amendment, so Dox secured a nomination. His opponent was a negro, which helped him in north Alabama. The other Democrat, W. C. Sherrod, who was also from north Alabama, had served in the Confederate army. His opponent was J. J. Hinds, one of the most disliked of the carpet-baggers. Robert S. Heflin, one of the scalawags, was from that section where the Peace Society flourished during the war. At first a Confederate, in 1864 he deserted and went within the Federal lines. Charles Hays, the other scalawag, became the most notorious of the Reconstruction representatives in Congress. He was a cotton planter in one of the densest black districts and managed to stay in Congress for four years. He is chiefly remembered because of the Hays-Hawley correspondence in 1874. Alfred E. Buck of Maine had been an officer of negro troops. He served only one term and after defeat passed into the Federal service. He died as minister to Japan in 1902. This delegation was weaker in ability and in morals than the carpet-bag delegation to the Fortieth Congress.

In the fall of 1870 Governor Smith was a candidate for reËlection against Robert Burns Lindsay, Democrat. The hostility of Smith to carpet-baggers weakened the party. The ticket was not acceptable to the whites because Rapier, a negro, was candidate for secretary of state. The genuine Unionists were becoming ultra Democrats, because of the prominence given in their party to former secessionists like Parsons, Sam Rice, and Hays, and to negroes and carpet-baggers. Lindsay was from north Alabama, which supported him as a “white man’s candidate.” The negroes had been taught to distrust scalawags, as being little better than Democrats. Smith was asked why he ran on a ticket with a negro. He replied that now that was the only way to get office. He also called attention to the fact that in north Alabama the Democrats drew the color line, and called themselves the “white man’s party,” while in the black counties they made an earnest effort to secure the negro vote. The Union League, through Keffer, sent out warning that whatever would suit “Rebels” would not suit “union men,” who must treat their “fine professions as coming from the Prince of Darkness himself,” and that if Lindsay were elected, the “condition of union men would be like unto hell itself.” Smith and Senator Warner said that the Democrats would repudiate railroad bonds, destroy the schools, and repeal the Amendments and the Reconstruction Acts. In the white counties the Radical speakers were generally insulted, and soon the white districts were given up as permanently lost. The Black Belt alone was now the stronghold of the Radicals. Strict inspection here prevented the negroes from voting Democratic, as some were disposed to do. Negroes in the white counties voted for Democrats with many misgivings. An old man told a candidate, “I intend to vote for you; I liked your speech; but if you put me back into slavery, I’ll never forgive you.” Federal troops were again judiciously distributed in the Black Belt and in the white counties when there was a large negro vote. As a result the election was very close, Lindsay winning by a vote of 76,977 to 75,568.

Ex-Governor Parsons, who had now become a Radical, advised Smith not to submit to the seating of Lindsay, but to force a contest, and meanwhile to prevent the vote from being counted by the legislature. So, by injunction from the supreme court, the Radical president of the Senate, Barr, was forbidden to count the votes for governor. But the houses in joint session counted the rest of the votes, and E. H. Moren, Democrat, was declared elected lieutenant-governor. A majority of the House was anti-Radical. The old Senate, refusing to classify, held over. As soon as Moren was declared elected, Barr arose and left, followed by most of the Radical senators, saying that he was forbidden to count the vote for governor. Moren at once appeared, took the oath, and the joint meeting not having been regularly adjourned, he ordered the count for governor to proceed. A few Radical senators had lingered out of curiosity, and were retained. Thus Lindsay was counted in, and at once took the oath of office. By the advice of Parsons, Smith, though willing to retire, refused to give place to Lindsay. The Radical senators recognized Smith; the House recognized Lindsay. Smith brought Federal troops into the state-house to keep Lindsay out, and for two or three weeks there were rival governors. Finally Smith was forced to retire by a writ from the carpet-bag circuit court of Montgomery.[2108]

Lindsay was born in Scotland and educated at the University of St. Andrews. He lived in Alabama for fifteen years before the war, opposed secession, and gave only a half-hearted support to the Confederacy. As he said: “I would rather not tell my military history, for there was very little glory in it.... I do not know that I can say much about my soldiering.”[2109] Lindsay was a scholar, a good lawyer, and a pure man, but a weak executive. In this respect he was better than Smith, however, who was supported by a unanimous Radical legislature. Under Lindsay the Senate was Radical and the House doubtful. The Radical auditor held over; Democrats were elected to the offices of treasurer, secretary of state, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction. W. W. Allen, a Confederate major-general, was placed in command of the militia and organized some white companies.

The Democratic and independent majority of the House had some able leaders, but many of the rank and file were timid and inexperienced. Several thousand of the best citizens were still disfranchised. There were too many young men in public office, half-educated and inexperienced. In the House there were only fourteen negroes. So far as the legislature was concerned, there would be a deadlock for two years. The Radicals would consent to no repeal of injurious legislation, and thus the evil effects of the laws relating to schools, railroads, and elections continued. Governor Lindsay tried to bring some order into the state finances, but the Democrats were divided on the subject of repudiating the fraudulent bond issues, while the Radicals upheld all of the bond stealing. Lindsay was blamed by the people for not dealing more firmly with the question, but, as a matter of fact, he did as well as any man in his position could do.

One cause of weakness to the administration was the fact that some of the attorneys for the railroads were prominent Democrats who insisted upon the recognition of the fraudulent bonds. These attorneys were few in number, but they caused a division among the leaders. The selfish motive was very evident, though for the sake of appearance they talked of “upholding the state’s credit,” “the fair name of Alabama,” etc. It is difficult to see that their conduct was in any way on a higher plane than that of the carpet-baggers, who issued the bonds with intent to defraud. In order to protect themselves they mercilessly criticised Lindsay.

Most of the local officials held over from 1868 to 1872; in by-elections it was clearly shown that the Radicals had lost all except the Black Belt, where they continued to roll up large majorities, but even here they were losing by resignation, sale of offices, Ku Kluxing, and removal. The more decent carpet-baggers were leaving for the North; the white Radicals were distinctly lower in character than before, having been joined by the dregs of the Democrats while losing their best white county men. Lindsay made many appointments, thus gradually changing for the better the local administration. Owing to the peculiar methods by which the first set of officials got into office, the local administration was never again as bad, except in some of the black counties, as it was in 1868-1869. As the personnel of the Radical party ran lower and lower, more and more Democrats entered into the local administration. But in spite of the fact that they secured representation in the state government, they were unable to make any important reforms until they gained control of all departments. The results of one or two local elections may be noticed. In Mobile, which had a white majority, the carpet-bag and negro government was overthrown in 1870. Though prohibited by law from challenging fraudulent voters, the Democrats intimidated the negroes by standing near the polls and fastening a fish-hook into the coat of each negro who voted. The negroes were frightened. Rumor said that those who were hooked were marked for jail. Repeating was thus prevented; many of them did not vote at all. In Selma the Democrats came into power. Property was then made safe, the streets were cleaned, and the negroes found out that they would not be reËnslaved. Governor Lindsay endeavored to reform the local judicial administration by getting rid of worthless young solicitors and incompetent judges, but the Radical Senate defeated his efforts. He was unable to secure any good legislation during his term, and all reform was limited to the reduction of administration expenses, the checking of bad legislation, and the appointment of better men to fill vacancies.[2110]

To the Forty-second Congress Buckley, Hays, and Dox were reËlected. The new congressmen were Turner, negro, Handley, Democrat, and Sloss, Independent. Turner had been a slave in North Carolina and Alabama and had secured a fair education before the war. He had at first entered politics as a Democrat, and advised the negroes against alien leaders. To succeed Warner, George Goldthwaite, Democrat, was chosen to the United States Senate.

In 1872 the Democrats nominated for governor, Thomas H. Herndon of Mobile, who was in favor of a more aggressive policy than Lindsay. He was a south Alabama man and hence lost votes in north Alabama. David P. Lewis, the Radical nominee, was from north Alabama and in politics a turncoat. Opposed to secession in 1861, he nevertheless signed the ordinance and was chosen to the Confederate Congress; later he was a Confederate judge; in 1864 he went within the Federal lines; in 1867-1868 he was a Democrat, but changed about 1870. He was victorious for several reasons: the administration was blamed for the division in the party and for not reforming abuses; Herndon did not draw out the full north Alabama vote; the presidential election was held at the same time and the Democrats were disgusted at the nomination of Horace Greeley; Federal troops were distributed over the state for months before the election, and the Enforcement Acts were so executed as to intimidate many white voters. The full Radical ticket was elected. All were scalawags, except the treasurer. In a speech, C. C. Sheets said of the Radical candidates, “Fellow-citizens, they are as pure, as spotless, as stainless, as the immaculate Son of God.”[2111]

In both houses of the legislature the Democrats had by the returns a majority at last. The Radicals were in a desperate position. A United States Senator was to be elected, and Spencer wanted to succeed himself. He had spent thousands of dollars to secure the support of the Radicals, and a majority of the Radical members were devoted to him. Most scalawags were opposed to his reËlection, but it was known that he controlled the negro members, and to prevent division all agreed to support him. But how to overcome the Democratic majorities in both houses? Parsons was equal to the occasion. He advised that the Radical members refuse to meet with the Democrats and instead organize separately. So the Democrats met in the capitol and the Radicals in the United States court-house, as had been previously arranged. The Senate consisted of 33 members and the House of 100. The Democrats organized with 19 senators and 54 members in the House, all bearing proper certificates of election, and each house having more than a quorum. At the court-house the Radicals had 14 senators and 45 or 46 representatives who had certificates of election. There were 4 negroes in the Senate and 27 in the House. In neither Radical house was there a quorum; so each body summoned 5 Radicals who had been candidates, to make up a quorum. It was hard to find enough, and some custom-house officials from Mobile had to secure leave of absence and come to Montgomery to complete the quorum.

The regular (Democratic) organization at the capitol counted the votes and declared all the Radical state officials elected. Lewis and McKinstry, lieutenant-governor, accepted the count and took the oath and at once recognized the court-house body as the general assembly. Lindsay had recognized the regular organization, but had taken no steps to protect it from the Radical schemes. The militia was ready to support the regular body, but Lewis was more energetic than Lindsay. He telegraphed to the nearest Federal troops, at Opelika, to come; when they came, he stationed them on the capitol grounds. He proposed to the Democrats that they admit the entire Radical body, expelling enough Democrats to put the latter in a minority. Upon their refusal, he told the court-house body to go ahead with legislation. Some of the Radicals—one or two whites and four or five negroes—were dubious about the security of their per diem and showed signs of a desire to go to the capitol. These were guarded to keep them in line, and were also paid in money and promises of Federal offices. The weak-kneed negroes were shut up in a room and guarded, to keep them from going to the capitol.

Spencer was determined to be elected and would not wait for the trouble to be settled. On December 3, 1872, the court-house Radicals chose him to succeed himself. The next thing was to prevent the regular assembly from electing a Senator who might contest. Two of that body had died; one or two were indifferent and easily kept away from a joint session; others were called away by telegrams (forged by the Radicals) about illness in their families; three members were arrested before reaching the city; one member was drugged and nearly killed. By such methods a quorum was defeated in both houses at the capitol until December 10, when the absent members came in, and F. W. Sykes was chosen to the United States Senate.

Meanwhile Lewis and the Radical members had appealed to President Grant to be sustained. By his direction United States Attorney-General Williams prepared a plan of compromise skilfully designed to destroy the Democratic majority in the House and produce a tie in the Senate. Lewis was assured that the plan would be supported by the Federal authorities. The plan was as follows: (1) Both bodies were to continue separate organizations until a fusion was effected. (2) On a certain day, both parties of the House were to meet in the capitol, and in the usual manner form a temporary organization—but the Democrats whose seats were contested but who had certificates of election were to be excluded, while the Radical contestants were to be seated. This would give a Radical majority. Then the contests were to be decided and a permanent organization formed. (3) In the same way the Senate was to be temporarily organized, the regularly elected Democrats being excluded, while their contestants were seated, except in the case of the Democratic senator from Conecuh and Butler, who was to sit but not to vote. By this arrangement there was a bare chance that the Democrats might secure a majority of one in the Senate. (4) As soon as the fusion was thus made, the permanent organization was to be effected. Nothing was said about the legality of past legislation by each body, but the understanding was that all was to be considered void.

Meanwhile Lewis had tried to obtain forcible possession of the capitol, but Strobach, the sheriff whom he sent, was arrested by order of the House and imprisoned until he apologized. The Democrats were plainly informed that the “gentle intimations of the convictions of the law officer of the United States” would be enforced by the use of Federal troops, and there was nothing to do but give way. The plan was put into operation on December 17.

In the House contests the Democrats lost their majority, as was intended. In the Senate they lost all except one by the plan itself. To unseat Senator Martin from Conecuh would be a flagrant outrage. So his case went over until after Christmas. The Democrats elected the clerks, doorkeepers, and pages. The Radicals still kept up their separate organization, not meaning to abide by the fusion unless they could gain the entire legislature. During the vacation Lieutenant-Governor McKinstry wrote to Attorney-General Williams asking if the Federal government would support him in case he himself should decide as to the rightful senator from Conecuh. He explained that a majority of the committee on elections was going to report in favor of Martin, Democrat, who held the certificate of election. Further, he said that if the Senate were allowed to vote on the question, the Democratic senator would remain seated. He proposed to decide the contest himself upon the report made, and not allow the Senate to vote. Williams was now becoming weary of the conduct of the Radicals; he told McKinstry that the course proposed was contrary to both parliamentary and statute law, and said that Federal troops would not be furnished to support such a ruling. Moreover, he expressed strong disapproval of the course of the Radicals in keeping up their separate organization contrary to the plan of compromise. He ordered the marshal not to allow the Federal court-house to be used by the Radicals, but the marshal paid no attention to the order.

After the holidays the Democrats and anti-Spencer Radicals hoped to bring about a new election for Senator. On February 11, 1873, Hunter of Lowndes, a Radical member of the House, proposed that the legislature proceed to the election of a Senator. Parsons, the speaker, refused to entertain the motion and ordered Hunter under arrest. McKinstry refused to consider the Senate as permanently organized until Martin was disposed of, fearing a joint session. The Radical solicitor of Montgomery secured several indictments against Spencer’s agents for bribery, and summoned several members of the legislature as witnesses. Parsons ordered Knox, the solicitor, and Strobach, the sheriff, to be arrested for invading the privileges of the House. Next, Hunter, who had been arrested for proposing to elect a Senator, had Parsons arrested for violation of the Enforcement Acts in preventing the election of a Senator. Busteed, Federal judge, discharged Parsons “for lack of evidence.”

In the Senate the Radicals matured a plan to get rid of Martin. A caucus decided to sustain McKinstry in all his rulings. It was known that Edwards, a Democratic senator, wanted to visit his home. So Glass, a Radical senator, proposed to pair with him, and at the same time both get leave of absence for ten days. Edwards and Glass went off at the same time, in different directions. A mile outside of town, Glass left the train, returned to Montgomery, and went into hiding. Now was the time. The reports on the Martin contest were called up. A Democrat moved the adoption of the majority report in favor of Martin; a Radical moved that the minority report be substituted in the motion. The Democrats were voting under protest because they wanted debate and wanted Edwards, one of the writers of the majority report, to return. In order to move a reconsideration, Cobb, a Democrat, fearing treachery, voted with the Radicals; Glass appeared before his name was reached, broke his pair, and voted; McKinstry refused to entertain Cobb’s motion for a reconsideration, and though the effect of the voting was only to put the minority report before the Senate to be voted upon, McKinstry declared that Martin by the vote was unseated and Miller admitted. The temporary Radical majority sustained him in all his rulings, and thus the Democrats lost their majority in the Senate. The whole thing had been planned beforehand; McKinstry had arms in his desk; the cloak-rooms were filled with roughs to support the Radicals in case the Democrats made a fight; the Federal troops were at the doors in spite of what Williams had said. McKinstry now announced that the Senate was permanently organized and the schism healed. Glass was expelled by the Masonic order for breaking the pair. Spencer was safe, since the Republican Senate at Washington was sure to admit him.

In the course of the contest Spencer had spent many thousands of dollars in defeating dissatisfied Radical candidates for the legislature and in purchasing voters. The money he used came from the National Republican executive committee, from the state committee, and from the government funds of the post-office at Mobile and the internal revenue offices in Mobile and Montgomery. More than $20,000 of United States funds were used for Spencer, who, after his election, refused to reimburse the postmaster and the two collectors, who were prosecuted and ruined. Every Federal office-holder was assessed from one-fifth to one-third of his pay during the fall months for campaign expenses. They were notified that unless they paid the assessments their resignations would be accepted. Spencer refused to pay the bills of a negro saloon-keeper who had, at his orders, “refreshed” the negro members of the legislature. But of those who voted for Spencer in the Radical “legislature” more than thirty secured Federal appointments. Of other agents about twenty secured Federal appointments. One of them, Robert Barbour, was given a position in the custom-house at Mobile with the understanding that he would not have to go there. His pay was sent to him at Montgomery.

As a preparation for the autumn presidential contest, Spencer worked upon the fears of Grant and secured the promise of troops, though he had some difficulty. His letters are not at all complimentary to Grant. Finally he wrote, “Grant is scared and will do what we want.” The deputy marshals manufactured Ku Klux outrages and planned the arrest of Democratic politicians, of whom scores were gotten out of the way, for a week or two, but none were prosecuted. There was no election of Senator other than that of Spencer by the irregular body and that of Sykes by the regular organization at the capitol, neither of which took place on the day appointed by law. The Senate admitted Spencer on the ground that Governor Lewis had recognized the court-house aggregation. Sykes contested and of course failed; the Senate refused for several years to vote his expenses, as was customary. In 1885, Senator Hoar secured $7,132 for Spencer as expenses in the contest. In 1875 the Alabama legislature, Radical and Democratic, united in an address to the United States Senate, asking that Spencer’s seat be declared vacant.[2112]

Under Lewis the Radical administration went to pieces. The enormous issues of bonds, fraudulent and otherwise, by Smith and Lewis which destroyed the credit of the state; ignorant negroes in public office; drunken judges on the benches; convicts as officials; teachers and school officers unable to read; intermarriage of whites and blacks declared legal by the supreme court; the low character of the Federal officials; constant arrests of respectable whites for political purposes; use of Federal troops; packed juries; purchase and sale of offices; defaulters in every Radical county; riots instigated by the Radical leaders; heavy taxes,—all these burdens bore to the ground the Lewis administration before the end of its term. The last year was simply a standstill while the whites were preparing to overthrow the Radical government, which was demoralized and disabled also by constant aid and interference from the Federal administration.

DEMOCRATIC AND CONSERVATIVE LEADERS.

Governor R. M. Patton.		General James H. Clanton. Organizer of the present Democratic Party in Alabama.
	Governor George S. Houston.
Governor R. B. Lindsay.		Major J. R. Crowe, now of Sheffield, Ala., one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan at Pulaski, Tenn.

Lewis appointed a lower class of officials than Smith had appointed, among them many ignorant negroes for minor offices. Carpet-baggers and scalawags were becoming scarce. The white counties under their own local government were slowly recovering; the formerly wealthy Black Belt counties were being ruined under the burden of local, state, and municipal taxation.[2113]

To the Forty-second Congress Alabama, now entitled to eight representatives, sent four scalawags, Pelham, Hays, White, and Sheets; one negro, Rapier; and three Democrats or Independents, Bromberg, Caldwell, and Glass; carpet-baggers were now at a discount; scalawags and negroes wanted all the spoils.

In the spring of 1874 the whites began to organize to overthrow Radical rule. They were firmly determined that there should not be another Radical administration. In the Radical party only a few whites were left to hold the negroes together. Some of the negroes were disgusted because of promises unfulfilled; others were grasping at office; the Union League discipline was missed; “outrages” were no longer so effective. The Radicals had no new issues to present. The state credit was destroyed; the negroes no longer believed so seriously the stories of reËnslavement; the northern public was becoming more indifferent, or more sympathetic toward the whites. The time for the overthrow of Radical rule was at hand.

Sec. 2. Social Conditions during Reconstruction

In previous chapters something has been said of social and economic matters, especially concerning labor, education, religion, and race relations. Some supplementary facts and observations may be of use.

The central figure of Reconstruction was the negro. How was his life affected by the conditions of Reconstruction? In the first place, crime among the blacks increased, as was to be expected. Removed from the restraints and punishments of slavery, with criminal leaders, the negro, even under the most African of governments, became the chief criminal. The crime of rape became common, caused largely, the whites believed, by the social equality theories of the reconstructionists. Personal conflicts among blacks and between blacks and whites were common, though probably decreasing for a time in the early ’70’s. Stealing was the most frequent crime, with murder a close second. During the last year of negro rule the report of the penitentiary inspectors gave the following statistics:—

Crimes	Whites	Negroes
Murder	11	43
Assault	2	21
Burglary and grand larceny	15	199
Arson	1	4
Rape	0	6
Other felonies	2	14
Total	31	287

Thus 1 white to 16,936 of population was in prison for felony; 1 black to 2294; felonies, 1 white to 8 blacks; misdemeanors, 1 white to 64 blacks. In Montgomery jail were confined about 12 blacks to 1 white. These statistics do not show the real state of affairs, since most convictions of blacks were in cases prosecuted by blacks. To be prosecuted by a white was equivalent to persecution—so reasoned the negro jury in the Black Belt. Under the instigation of low white leaders, the negroes frequently burned the houses and other property of whites who were disliked by the Radical leaders. Several attempts, more or less successful, were made to burn the white villages in the Black Belt; hardly a single one wholly escaped. For several years the whites had to picket the towns in time of political excitement. The worst negro criminals were the discharged negro soldiers, who sometimes settled in gangs together in the Black Belt. More charges were made of crimes by blacks against whites, than by whites against blacks. Most criminals did not go to prison after conviction. The Radical legislature passed a law allowing the sale of the convict’s labor to relatives. A good old negro could buy the time of a worthless son for ten cents a day and have him released.

The marriage relations of the negroes were hardly satisfactory, judged by white standards. The white legislatures in 1865-1866 had declared slave marriages binding. The reconstructionists denounced this as a great cruelty and repealed the law. Marriages were then made to date from the passage of the Reconstruction Acts. Many negro men had had several wives before that date. They were relieved from the various penalties of desertion, bigamy, adultery, etc. And after the passage of these laws, numerous prominent negroes were relieved of the penalties for promiscuous marriages. Divorces became common among the negroes who were in politics. During one session of the legislature seventy-five divorces were granted. This was cheaper than going through the courts, and more certain. The average negro divorced himself or herself without formality; some of them were divorced by their churches, as in slavery.

Upon the negro woman fell the burden of supporting the children. Her husband or husbands had other duties. Children then began to be unwelcome and foeticide and child murder were common crimes. The small number of negro children during the decade of Reconstruction was generally remarked. Negro women began to flock to towns; how they lived no one can tell; immorality was general among them. The conditions of Reconstruction were unfavorable to honesty and morality among the negroes, both male and female. The health of the negroes was injured during the period 1865-1875. In the towns the standard of living was low; sanitary arrangements were bad; disease, especially consumption and venereal diseases, killed large numbers and permanently injured the negro constitution.

Negro women took freedom even more seriously than the men. It was considered slavery by many of them to work in the fields; domestic service was beneath the freedwomen—especially were washing and milking the cows tabooed. To live like their former mistresses, to wear fine clothes and go often to church, was the ambition of a negro lady. After Reconstruction was fully established the negro women were a strong support to the Union League, and took a leading part in the prosecution of negro Democrats. Negro women never were as well-mannered, nor, on the whole, as good-tempered and cheerful, as the negro men. Both sexes during Reconstruction lost much of their cheerfulness; the men gradually ceased to go “holloing” to the fields; some of the blacks, especially the women, became impudent and insulting toward the whites. While many of the negroes for a time seemed to consider it a mark of servility to behave decently to the whites, toward the close of Reconstruction and later conditions changed, and the negro men especially were in general well-behaved and well-mannered in their relations with whites except in time of political excitement.

The entire black race was wild for education in 1865 and 1866, but most of them found that the necessary work—which they had not expected—was too hard, and by the close of Reconstruction they were becoming indifferent. The education acquired was of doubtful value. There was in 1865-1867 a religious furor among the negroes, and several negro denominations were organized. The chief result, as stated at length elsewhere, was to separate from the white churches, discard the old conservative black preachers, and take up the smooth-tongued, ranting, emotional, immoral preachers who could stir congregations. The negro church has not yet recovered from the damage done by these ministers. Negro health was affected by the night meetings and religious debauches. In general it may be said that the negro speech grew more like that of the whites, on account of schools, speeches, much travel, and contact with white leaders. The negro leaders acquired much superficial civilization, and very quickly mastered the art of political intrigue.

A very delicate question to both races was that of the exact position of the negro in the social system. The convention of 1867 had contained a number of equal-rights members, and there had been much discussion. A proposition to have separate schools was not made obligatory. A measure to prevent the intermarriage of the races was lost, and the supreme court of the state declared that marriages between whites and blacks were lawful. Laws were passed to prevent the separation of the races on street cars, steamers, and railway cars, but the whites always resisted the enforcement of such laws. Some negroes, especially the mulattoes, dreamed of having white wives, but the average pure negro was not moved by such a desire. When the Coburn investigation was being made, Coburn, the chairman, was trying to convince a negro who had declared against the policy and the necessity of the Civil Rights Bill. The negro retorted by asking how he would like to see him sitting by his (Coburn’s) daughter’s side. The black declared that he would not like to be sitting by Miss Coburn and have some young man who was courting her come along and knock over the big black negro; further he did not want to eat at the table nor sit in cars with the whites, preferring to sit by his own color. Some of the negroes were displeased at the proposed Civil Rights Bill, thinking that it was meant to force the negro to go among the whites.[2114] There were negro police in the larger towns, Selma, Montgomery, and Mobile, who irritated the whites by their arrests and by discrimination in favor of blacks. The negroes, in many cases, had ceased to care for the good opinion of the whites and, following disreputable leaders, suffered morally. The color line began to be strictly drawn in politics, which increased the estrangement of the races, though individuals were getting along better together.[2115]

The white carpet-baggers and scalawags never formed a large section of the Radical party and constantly decreased in numbers,—the natives returning to the white party, the aliens returning to the North. The native Radicals were found principally in the cities and holding Federal offices, and in the white counties were still a few genuine Republican Unionist voters. The carpet-baggers were found almost entirely in the Black Belt and in Federal offices. As their numbers decreased the general character was lowered. Some of the white Radicals were sincere and honest men, but none of this sort stood any chance for office. If they themselves would not steal, they must arrange for others to steal. The most respectable of the Radicals were a few old Whigs who had always disliked Democrats and who preferred to vote with the negroes. Such a man was Benjamin Gardner, who became attorney-general in 1872.

All white Radicals suffered the most bitter ostracism—in business, in society, in church; their children in the schools were persecuted by other children because of their fathers’ sins. The scalawag, being a renegade, was scorned more than a carpet-bagger. In every possible way they were made to feel the weight of the displeasure of the whites. Small boys were unchecked when badgering a white Radical. One Radical complained that the youngsters would come near him to hold a spelling class. The word would be given out: “Spell damned rascal.” It would be spelled. “Spell damned Radical.” That would be spelled. “They are nearly alike, aren’t they?”

The blacks always felt that the carpet-bagger was more friendly to them than the scalawag was, for the carpet-baggers associated more closely with the negroes. The alien white teachers boarded with negroes; some of the politicians made it a practice to live among the negroes in order to get their votes. The candidates for sheriff and tax collector in Montgomery went to negro picnics, baptizings, and church services, drank from the same bottle of whiskey with negroes, had the negro leaders to visit their homes, where they dined together, and the white women furnished music. The carpet-baggers seldom had families with them, and, excluded from white society, began to contract unofficial alliances among the blacks. Scarcely an alien office-holder in the Black Belt but was charged with immorality and the charges proven. Numbers were relieved by the legislature of the penalties for adultery. The average Radical politician was in time quite thoroughly Africanized. They spoke of “us niggers,” “we niggers,” at first from policy, later from habit. When Lewis was elected, in 1872, a white Radical cried out in his joy, “We niggers have beat ’em.” Two years later white Radicals marched with negro processions and sang the song:—

“The white man’s day has passed;
The negro’s day has come at last.”[2116]

One effect of Reconstruction was to fuse the whites into a single homogeneous party. Before the war political divisions were sharply drawn and feeling often bitter, so also in 1865-1867 and to a certain extent during the early period of Reconstruction. At first there was no “Solid South”; within the white man’s party there were grave differences between old Whig and old Democrat, Radical and Conservative. There were different local problems before the whites of the various sections that for a while prevented the formation of a unanimous white man’s party. There were the whites of the Black Belt, the former slaveholders, who wished well to the negro, favored negro education, and looked upon his political activity as a joke, but who came nearer than any other white people to recognizing the possibility of permanent political privileges for the black. They believed that they could sooner or later regain moral control over their former slaves and thus do away with the evils of carpet-bag government.

It must be said that the former slaveholding class had more consideration, then, before, and since, for the poor negro than for the poor white, probably because the negroes only were always with them. The poorest whites felt that the negro was not only their social but also their economic enemy, and, the protection of the owner removed, the blacks suffered more from these people than ever before. The negro in school, the negro in politics, the negro on the best lands—all this was not liked by the poorest white people, whose opportunities were not as good as those of the blacks. Between these two extremes was the mass of the whites, displeased at the way negro suffrage, education, etc., was imposed, but willing to put up with the results if good. The later years of Reconstruction found the temper of the whites more and more exasperated. They were tired of Reconstruction, new amendments, force bills, Federal troops, and of being ruled as a conquered province by the least fit. Every measure aimed at the South seemed to them to mean that they were considered incorrigible, not worthy of trust, and when necessary to punish some whites, all were punished. And strong opposition to proscriptive measures was called fresh rebellion. “When the Jacobins say and do low and bitter things, their charge of want of loyalty in the South because our people grumble back a little seems to me as unreasonable as the complaint of the little boy: ‘Mamma, make Bob ’have hisself. He makes mouths at me every time I hit him with my stick.’” Probably the grind was harder on the young men, who had all life before them and who were growing up with slight opportunities in any line of activity. Sidney Lanier, then an Alabama school-teacher, wrote to Bayard Taylor, “Perhaps you know that with us of the young generation in the South, since the war, pretty much the whole of life has been merely not dying.” Negro and alien rule was a constant insult to the intelligence of the country. The taxpayers were non-participants. Some people withdrew entirely from public life, went to their farms or plantations, kept away from towns and from speech-making, waiting for the end to come. I know old men who refused for several years to read the newspapers, so unpleasant was the news. The good feeling produced by the magnanimity of Grant at Appomattox was destroyed by his southern policy when President. There was no gratitude for any so-called leniency of the North, no repentance for the war, no desire for humiliation, for sackcloth and ashes and confession of wrong. The insistence of the Radicals upon a confession of depravity only made things much worse. There was not a single measure of Congress during Reconstruction designed or received in a conciliatory spirit.

Under the Reconstruction rÉgime the political, and to some extent the social, morality of the whites declined. Constant fighting fire with fire scorched all. While in one way the bitter discipline of Reconstruction was not lost, yet with it the pleasantest of southern life went out. During the war and Reconstruction there was a radical change in southern temperament toward the severe. Hospitality has declined; old southern life was never on a strictly business basis, the new southern life is more so; the old individuality is partially lost; class distinctions are less felt. The white people, by the fires of Reconstruction, have been welded into a homogeneous society.[2117] The material evils of Reconstruction are by no means the more lasting: the state debt may be paid and wasted resources renewed; but the moral and intellectual results will be the permanent ones.

In spite of the misgovernment during the Reconstruction, there was in most of the white counties a slow movement toward industrial development. All over the state in 1865-1868 and 1871-1874 there were poor crops. The white counties gradually found themselves better able to stand bad seasons. The decadence of the Black Belt gave the white farmer an opportunity. The railroads now began to open up the mineral and timber districts, rather than the cotton counties. During the last four years of negro rule the coal and iron of the northern part of the state began to attract northern capital and rapid development began. The timber of the white counties now began to be cut. In the mines, on the railroads, and in the forests many whites were profitably employed. Farmers in the white counties, having thrown off the local Reconstruction government, began to organize agricultural societies, Patrons of Husbandry, Grangers, etc., and to hold county fairs. The Radicals maintained that this granger movement was only another manifestation of Ku Klux, and it was, in a way.[2118]

Immigration from the North or from abroad amounted to nothing; disturbed political conditions and the presence of the negroes prevented it. Nor did the Reconstruction rulers desire immigration; their rule would be the sooner overthrown. There were two movements of emigration from the state—culminating in 1869 and in 1873-1874. Those were the gloomiest periods of Reconstruction, especially for the white man in the Black Belt. Most of the emigrants went to Texas, others to Mexico, to Brazil, to the North, and to Tennessee and Georgia, where the whites were in power. It was estimated that in this emigration the state lost more of its population than by war.

In the Black Belt the condition of the whites grew worse. Frequent elections demoralized negro labor, and crops often failed for lack of laborers. The more skilful negroes went to the towns, railroads, mines, and lumber mills. On account of this migration and the gradual dying off of slavery-trained negroes, negro agricultural labor was less and less satisfactory. The negro woman often refused to work in the fields. The white population of the Black Belt decreased in comparison with the numbers of blacks. The whites deserted the plantations, going to the towns or gathering in villages. Taxation was heavy, tax sales became frequent. One of the worst evils that afflicted the Black Belt was the so-called “deadfall.” A “deadfall” was a low shop or store where a white thief encouraged black people to steal all kinds of farm produce and exchange it with him for bad whiskey, bad candy, brass jewellery, etc. This evil was found all over the state where there were negroes. Whites and industrious blacks lost hogs, poultry, cattle, corn in the fields, cotton in the fields and in the gin. The business of the “deadfall” was usually done at night. The thirsty negro would go into a cotton field and pick a sack of cotton worth a dollar, or take a bushel of corn from the nearest field, and exchange it at a “deadfall” for a glass of whiskey, a plug of tobacco, or a dime. These “deadfalls” were in the woods or swamps on the edges of the large plantations. It was not possible to guard against them. The “deadfall” keepers often became rich, the harvests of some amounting to 30 to 80 bales of cotton for each, besides farm produce. Careful estimates by grand juries and business men placed the average annual loss at one-fifth of the crop. A bill was introduced into the legislature to prohibit the purchase after dark of farm produce from any one but the producer. The measure was unanimously opposed by the Radicals, on the ground that it was class legislation aimed at the negroes. The debates show that some of them considered it proper for a negro to steal from his employer. After the Democratic victory in 1874 a law was passed abolishing “deadfalls.”[2119]

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CHAPTER XXIV

THE OVERTHROW OF RECONSTRUCTION

The Republican Party in 1874

The Republican party of Alabama went into the campaign of 1874 weakened by dissensions within its own ranks and by the lessening of the sympathy of the northern Radicals. During the previous six years the opposition to the radical Reconstruction policy had gradually gained strength. The industrial expansion that followed the war, the dissatisfaction with the administration of Grant, the disclosure of serious corruption on the part of public officials, and the revelations of the real conditions in the South—these had resulted in the formation of a party of opposition to the administration, which called itself the “Liberal Republican” party and which advocated home rule for the southern states. The Democratic party, somewhat discredited by its course during the war, had now regained the confidence of its former members by accepting as final the decisions of the war on the questions involved and by bringing out conservative candidates on practical platforms. By 1874 nine northern states had gone Democratic in the elections; from 1869 to 1872, five southern states returned to the Democratic columns. The lower house of Congress was soon to be safely Democratic and no more radical legislation was to be expected; the executive department of the government alone was in active sympathy with the Reconstruction rÉgime in the southern states.

The divisions within the party in the state were due to various causes. In the first place, the action of the more respectable of the whites in deserting the party left it with too few able men to hold the organization well together. By 1874 all but about 4000 whites had forsaken the Republicans and returned to the Democrats. These whites were mainly in north Alabama, though there were some few in the Black Belt,—five, for instance, in Marengo County, and fifty in Dallas. A further source of weakness was the disposition of the black politician to demand more consideration than had hitherto been accorded to him. The blacks had received much political training of a certain kind since 1867, and the negro leaders were no longer the helpless dupes of the carpet-bagger and the scalawag. A meeting of the negro politicians, called the “Equal Rights Union,” was held in Montgomery in January, 1874. The resolutions adopted demanded that the blacks have first choice of the nominations in black counties and a proportional share in all other counties. They expressed themselves as opposed to the efforts of the carpet-baggers to organize new secret political societies, “having found no good to result from such since the disbursement [sic] of the Union League.”[2120] If the negroes should be able to obtain these demands, nothing would be left for the white members of the party. The rank and file of the blacks had lost much of their faith in their white leaders and were disposed to listen to candidates of their own color. Closely connected with the negroes’ demands for office were their demands for social rights. The state supreme court had decided that whites and blacks might lawfully intermarry, and there had been several instances of such marriages between low persons of each race.[2121] Noisy negro speakers were demanding the passage of the Civil Rights Bill then pending in Congress. A Mobile negro declared that he wanted to drink in white men’s saloons, ride in cars with whites, and go to the same balls. The white Radicals in convention and legislature were disposed to avoid the subject when the blacks brought up the question of “mixed accommodations.” The negroes constantly reminded the white Radicals that the latter were very willing to associate with them in the legislature and in political meetings. The speeches of Boutwell of Massachusetts and Morton of Indiana in favor of mixed schools were quoted by the negro speakers, who now became impatient of the constant request of their leaders not to offend north Alabama and drive out of the party the whites of that region. Lewis, a negro member of the legislature, declared that they were weary of waiting for their rights; that the state would not grant them, but the United States would; and then they would take their proper places alongside the whites, and “we intend to do it in defiance of the immaculate white people of north Alabama.... Hereafter we intend to demand [our rights] and we are going to press them on every occasion, and preserve them inviolate if we can. The day is not far distant when you will find on the bench of the supreme court of the state a man as black as I am, and north Alabama may help herself if she can.”[2122] An “Equal Rights Convention,” from which white Radicals were excluded, met in Montgomery in June, 1874. The various speakers demanded that colored youths be admitted to the State University, to the Agricultural and Mechanical College, and to all other schools on an equal footing with the whites, “in order that the idea of the inferiority of the negro might be broken up.” Several delegates expressed themselves as in favor of mixed schools, but advised delay in order not to drive out the white members of the party. A negro preacher from Jackson County said that he wanted to hold on to the north Alabama whites “until their stomachs grew strong enough to take Civil Rights straight.”[2123] In 1867 and 1868 there had been some blacks who had opposed the agitation of social matters on the ground that their civil and political rights would be endangered, but these were no longer in politics. The result of the agitation in 1874 was to irritate the whites generally and to cause the defection of north Alabama Republicans.

Another cause of weakness in the Radical party was the quarrel among the Reconstruction newspapers of the state over the distribution of the money for printing the session laws of Congress. The State Journal and the Mountain Home lost the printing, which, by direction of the Alabama delegation in Congress, was given to the Huntsville Advocate and the National Republican, “to aid needy newspapers in other localities for the benefit of the Republican party.” The result was discord among the editors and a lukewarm support of the party from those dissatisfied.[2124]

In 1874 in each county where there was a strong Republican vote discord arose among those who wanted office. Every white Radical wanted a nomination and the negroes also wanted a share. The results were temporary splits everywhere in the county organizations, which were usually mended before the elections, but which seriously weakened the party. The Strobach-Robinson division in Montgomery County may be taken as typical. Strobach was the carpet-bag sheriff of Montgomery County, which was overwhelmingly black. There was reason to believe that Strobach was being purchased by the Democrats.[2125] The stalwarts accused him of conspiring with the Democrats to sell the administration to them. They charged that he would not allow the negroes to use the court-house for political meetings, that entirely too many Republicans were indicted at his instance, and that he summoned as jurors too many Democrats and “Strobach traitors” and too few Republicans. As leader of the regular organization Strobach had considerable influence in spite of these charges, and his enemies undertook to form a new organization. The leaders of the bolters, known as the Robinson faction, were Busteed, Buckley, Barbour, and Robinson. They made the fairest promises and secured the support of the majority of the negroes, though Strobach still controlled many. Between the two factions there was practically civil war during 1874. The bolters organized their negroes in the “National Guards,” a semi-military society—5000 or 6000 strong. This body broke up the Strobach meetings, and serious disturbances occurred at Wilson’s Station, Elam Church, and at Union Springs. At the latter place the bolters attempted to take forcible possession of the congressional nominating convention. The negroes, led by a few whites, invaded the town, firing guns and pistols and making threats until it seemed as if a three-cornered fight would result between the whites and the two factions of the blacks. Rapier, the negro congressman, made peace by agreeing to support the Robinson-Buckley faction provided they kept the peace and allowed him to receive the nomination for Congress from the other faction. They forced him to sign an agreement to that effect, which he repudiated a few days later. The bolters were not admitted to the state convention in 1874, and thus weakness resulted. During the summer and fall of 1874, ten or twelve negroes were killed and numbers injured in the fights between the factions.[2126]The Democrats naturally did all that was possible to encourage such division in the ranks of the enemy. Bolting candidates and independent candidates, especially negroes, were secretly supported by advice and funds. Carpet-bag and scalawag leaders were purchased, and agreed to use their influence to divide their party. To some of them it was clear that the whites would soon be in control, and meanwhile they were willing to profit by selling out their party.[2127] For two or three years it had been a practice in the Black Belt for the Radical office-holders to farm out their offices to the Democrats, who appointed deputies to conduct such offices. The stalwarts now endeavored to cast these men out of the party, but only succeeded in weakening it.

The Negroes in 1874

In spite of all adverse influence, however, the great majority of the negroes remained faithful to the Republican party and voted for Governor Lewis in the fall elections. They missed the rigid organization of former years, and many of them were greatly dissatisfied because of unfulfilled promises made by their leaders; but the Radical office-holders, realizing clearly the desperate situation, made strong efforts to bring out the entire negro vote. The Union League methods were again used to drive negro men into line. They were again promised that if their party succeeded in the elections, there would be a division of property. Some believed that equal rights in cars, hotels, theatres, and churches would be obtained. Clothes, bacon and flour, free homes, mixed schools, and public office were offered as inducements to voters. In Opelika, A. B. Griffin told the negroes that after the election all things would be divided and that each Lee County negro would receive a house in Opelika. To one man he promised “forty acres and an old gray horse.” Heyman, a Radical leader of Opelika, told the blacks that if the elections resulted properly, the land would be taxed so heavily that the owners would be obliged to leave the state, and then the negroes and northerners would get the land.[2128]Promises of good not being sufficient to hold the blacks in line, threats of evil were added. Circulars were sent out, purporting to be signed by General Grant, threatening the blacks with reËnslavement unless they voted for him. The United States deputy marshals informed the blacks of Marengo County that if they voted for W. B. Jones, a scalawag candidate who had been purchased by the whites, they would be reËnslaved. Heyman of Opelika declared that defeat would result in the negroes’ having their ears cut off, in whipping posts and slavery. Pelham, a white congressman, told the blacks that if the Democrats carried the elections, Jefferson Davis would come to Montgomery and reorganize the Confederate government. So industriously were such tales told that many of the negroes became genuinely alarmed, and it was asserted that negro women began to hide their children as the election approached.[2129]

The negro women and the negro preachers were more enthusiastic than the negro men, and through clubs and churches brought considerable pressure to bear on the doubtful and indifferent. They agreed that negro children should not go to schools where the teachers were Democrats. In Opelika a negro women’s club was formed of those whose husbands were Democrats or were about to be. The initiate swore to leave her husband if he voted for a Democrat. This club was formed by a white Radical, John O. D. Smith, and the negroes were made to believe that General Grant ordered it. A similar organization in Chambers County had a printed constitution by which a member, if married, was made to promise to desert her husband should he vote for a Democrat, and a single woman promised not to marry a Democratic negro or to have anything to do with one. The negro women were used as agents to distribute tickets to voters. These tickets had Spencer’s picture on them, which they believed was Grant’s.[2130]

In the negro churches to be a Democrat was to become liable to discipline. Some preachers preferred regular charges against those members who were suspected of Democracy. The average negro still believed that it was a crime “to vote against their race” and offenders were sure of expulsion from church unless, as happened sometimes, the bolters were strong enough to turn the Republicans out. Nearly every church had its political club to which the men belonged and sometimes the women. Robert Bennett of Lee County related his experience to the Coburn Committee. He wanted to vote the Democratic ticket, he said, and for that offence was put on trial in his church. The “ministers and exhorters” told him that he must not do so, saying, “We had rather you wouldn’t vote at all; if you won’t go with us to vote with us, you are against us; the Bible says so.... We can have you arrested. We have got you; if you won’t say you won’t vote or will vote with us, we will have you arrested.... All who won’t vote with us we will kick out of the society—and turn them out of church;” and so it happened to Robert Bennett.[2131]

The efforts made to hold the negroes under control indicate that numbers of them were becoming restless and desirous of change. This was especially the case with the former house-servant class and those who owned property. One negro, in accounting for his change of politics, said, “Honestly, I love my race, but the way the colored people have taken a stand against the white people ... will not do.” Of the white Radicals he said, “They know that we are a parcel of poor ignorant people, and I think it is a bad thing for them to take advantage of a poor ignorant person, and I do not think they are honest men; they cannot be.” He said that the Radicals promised much and gave little; that they never helped him. The Democrats gave him credit and paid his doctor’s bills; so that it was to his interest to vote for the Democrats—“I done it because it was to my interest. I wanted a change.” Another negro explained his change of politics by saying that bad government kept up the price of pork, and allowed sorry negroes to steal what industrious negroes made and saved—eggs, chickens, and cotton. When Adam Kirk, of Chambers County, was asked why be belonged to the “white man’s party,” he answered: “I was raised in the house of old man Billy Kirk. He raised me as a body servant. The class that he belongs to feels nearer to me than the northern white man, and actually, since the war, everything that I have got is by their aid and assistance. They have helped me raise up my family and have stood by me, and whenever I want a doctor, no matter what hour of the day or night, he is called in whether I have got a cent or not. I think they have got better principles and better character than the Republicans.”[2132] There is no doubt that these represented the sentiments of several thousand negroes who had mustered up courage to remain away from the polls or perhaps to vote for the Democrats. And while in white counties the campaign was made on the race issue, in the Black Belt the whites, as Strobach said, “were more than kind” to negro bolters. They encouraged and paid the expenses of negro Democratic speakers, and gave barbecues to the blacks who would promise to vote for the “white man’s party.” Numerous Democratic clubs were formed for the negroes and financed by the whites. Of these there were several in each black county, but none in the white counties. Though safer than ever before since enfranchisement, negro Democrats still received rather harsh treatment from those of their color who sincerely believed that a negro Democrat was a traitor and an enemy to his race. Negro Democratic speakers were insulted, stoned, and sometimes killed. At night they had to hide out. Their political meetings were broken up; their houses were shot into; their families were ostracized in negro society, churches, and schools. One negro complained that his children were beaten by other children at school, and that the teacher explained to him that nothing better could be expected as long as he, the father, remained a Democrat. Some negro Democrats were driven away from home and others were whipped. Most of them found it necessary to keep quiet about politics; and the members of Democratic clubs were usually sworn to secrecy.[2133] The colored Methodist Episcopal Church, which was under the guardianship of the white Methodist Church, suffered from negro persecution; several of its buildings were burned and its ministers insulted.

The Democratic and Conservative Party in 1874

If the Republican party was weaker in this campaign than ever before, the Democrats, on the other hand, were more united and more firmly determined to carry the elections, peaceably if possible, by force if necessary. There are evidences that the state government in Alabama would have been overthrown early in 1874 if the Louisiana revolution of that year had not been crushed by the Federal government. The different sections of the state were now more closely united than ever before, owing to the completion of two of the railroads which had cost the state treasury so much. The people of the northern white counties now came down into central Alabama and learned what negro government really was, and it was now made clear to the Unionist Republican element of the mountain counties that while they had local white government they were supporting a state government by the negro and the alien, both of whom they disliked. In order to gain the support of north Alabama, the opposition of the whites in the Black Belt to a campaign on the race issue was disregarded, and the campaign, especially in the white counties, was made on the simple issue—Shall black or white rule the state?

It may be of interest here to examine the attitude of the whites toward the blacks since the war. In 1865, the whites would grant civil rights to the negro, but would have special legislation for the race on the theory that it needed a period of guardianship; by 1866, many far-sighted men were willing to think of political rights for the negro after the proper preparation; by 1867, there was serious thought of an immediate qualified suffrage for the black, the object being to increase the representation in Congress, to disarm the Radicals,—the native whites believing that they could control the negro vote. This shifting of position was checked by the grant of suffrage to the negroes by Congress, and during the campaigns of 1867 and 1868 the whites held aloof, meaning to try to influence the negro vote later, when the opportunity offered. From 1869 to 1872 there was an increasing tendency, especially in the Black Belt, to appeal to the negro for political support, but, though the former personal relations were to some extent resumed, the effort always ended in practical failure. The result was that by 1873-1874, the whites despaired of dividing the black vote and many of the Black Belt whites were willing to join those of the white counties in drawing the color line in politics.[2134]

The Democrats were aided in presenting the race issue to north Alabama by the attitude, above referred to, of the negroes in demanding office and social privileges and by the fact that a strong effort had been made in Congress and would again be made to enact a stringent civil rights law securing equal rights to negroes in cars, theatres, hotels, schools, etc. The Alabama members of Congress, who were Republicans, had voted for such a bill. The Democrats made the most of the issue. The speeches of Boutwell, Morton, and Sumner were circulated among the whites as campaign documents, and were most effective in securing the unionists and independents of north Alabama.[2135]

The following extracts from state papers will indicate the state of mind of the whites. The Montgomery Advertiser of February 19, 1874, declared that “the great struggle in the South is the race struggle of white against black for political supremacy. It is all in vain to protest that the southern wing of the Radical party is not essentially a party of black men arrayed against their white neighbors in a close and bitter struggle for power. The struggle going on around us is not a mere contest for the triumph of this or that platform of party principles. It is a contest between antagonistic races and for that which is held dearer than life by the white race. If the negro must rule Alabama permanently, whether in person or by proxy, the white man must ultimately leave the state.” “Old Whig” protested in the Opelika Daily Times of June 6, 1874, against the rule of the mob of 80,000 yelling negroes who, at scalawag mandate, and in the name of liberty, deposited ballots against southern white men. Another writer declared that “all of the good men of Alabama are for the white man’s party. Outcasts, libellers, liars, handcuffers, and traitors to blood are for the negro party.” Pinned down by bayonets and bound by tyranny, the whites had been forced to silence and expedients and humiliation until wrath burned “like a seven-fold furnace in the bosom of the people.” The negro must be expelled from the government. The white was a God-made prince; the black, a God-made subordinate. “What right hath Dahomey to give laws to Runnymede, or Bosworth Field to take a lesson from Congo-Ashan? Shall Bill Turner give laws to Watts, Elmore, Barnes, Morgan, and the many mighty men of the South?” “When Alabama goes down the white men of Alabama will go with her.”[2136]

The whites who still remained with the negro party were subjected to more merciless ostracism than ever before. No one would have business relations with a Republican; no one believed in his honor or honesty; his children were taunted by their schoolmates; his family were socially ostracized; no one would sit by them at church or in public gatherings.[2137] In the white counties numerous conventions adopted a series of resolutions in regard to ostracism, known as the “Pike County Platform,” which first was adopted in June, 1874, by the Democratic convention in Pike County. It read in part as follows: “Resolved that nothing is left to the white man’s party but social ostracism of all those who act, sympathize, or side with the negro party, or who support or advocate the odious, unjust, and unreasonable measure known as the Civil Rights Bill; and that henceforth we will hold all such persons as the enemies of our race, and will not for the future have intercourse with them in any of the social relations of life.”[2138]

With the changed conditions in 1874 appeared a considerable number of “independent” candidates and voters. These were (1) those whites who had wearied of radicalism, and, foreseeing defeat, had left their party, yet were unwilling to join the Democrats; (2) certain half-hearted Democrats who did not want to see the old Democratic leaders come back to power; (3) disappointed politicians, especially old Whigs of strong prejudices, who disliked the Democrats from ante-bellum days. These people, foreseeing the defeat of the Radicals, hastened to offer themselves as independent candidates and voters. They hoped to get the votes of the bulk of the Radicals and many Democrats and thus get into power. The Radicals, otherwise certain of defeat, showed some disposition to meet those people halfway, and a partial success was possible if the Democrats could not whip the “independents” into line. This was successfully done. The following dissertation on “independents” is offered as typical: The independent is the Brutus of the South, “the protÉgÉ of radicalism, the spawn of corruption or poverty, or passion, or ignorance, come forth as leaders of ignorant or deluded blacks, to attack and plunder for avarice. There may be no God to avenge the South, but there is a devil to punish independents.” The independents are only the tools of the Radicals, they are like bloodhounds,—to be used and then killed, for no sooner than their work is done the Radicals will knife them. “Satan hath been in the Democratic camp and, taking these independents from guard duty, led them up into the mountains and shown them the kingdoms of Radicalism, his silver and gold, storehouses and bacon, and all these promised to give if they would fall down and worship him; and they worshipped him, throwing down the altars of their fathers and trampling them under their feet.”[2139]

The Campaign of 1874

The Democrats nominated for governor George S. Houston of north Alabama, a “Union” man whose “unionism” had not been very strong, and the Republicans renominated Governor D. P. Lewis, also of north Alabama. The Democratic convention met in July, 1874, and put forth a declaration and a platform declaring that the Radicals had for years inflamed the passions and prejudices of the races until it was now necessary for the whites to unite in self-defence. The convention denied the power of Congress to legislate for the social equality of the races and denounced the Civil Rights Bill then pending in Congress as an attempt to force social union. Legislation on social matters was condemned as unnecessary and criminal. The Radical state administration was blamed for extravagance and corruption, and a declaration was made that fraudulent state debts would not be paid if the Democrats were successful.[2140]

The fact that the race issue was the principal one is borne out by the county platforms. In Barbour County the “white man’s party” declared that the issue was “white vs. black”; that if the whites were defeated, the county would no longer be endurable and would be abandoned to the blacks; that a conflict of races would be deplorable, but that the whites must protect themselves, and that though in the past some had stayed away from the polls through disgust, those who did not vote would be reckoned as of the negro party; that the whites would be ready to protect themselves and their ballots by force if necessary. In Lee County the convention declared that the Democrats had long avoided the race issue, but that now it had been forced upon them by the Radicals; that “this county is the white man’s and the white man must rule over it,” and that whites or blacks who aid the negro party “are the political and social enemies of the white race.” In the same county a local club declared that peace was wanted, but not peace purchased by “unconditional surrender of every freeman’s privilege to fraud, Federal bayonets, and intimidation.”[2141]

The Republican state convention in August pronounced itself in favor of the Civil Rights Bill and the civil and political equality of all men without regard to race, declared that the race issue was an invention of the Democrats which would result in war with the United States, and accused the Democrats of being responsible for the bad condition of the state finances. The Equal Rights convention and the Union Labor convention declared for the Civil Rights Bill and indorsed Charles Sumner and J. T. Rapier, the negro congressman.[2142]

In preparation for the fall elections the Radical members of Congress had secured the passage of a resolution by Congress appropriating money for the relief of the sufferers from floods on the Alabama, Warrior, and Tombigbee rivers. The floods occurred in the early spring; the appropriation became available in May, but as late as July the governor had not appointed agents to distribute the bacon which had been purchased with the appropriation. The members of Congress from the state met and agreed upon a division of the bacon without reference to flooded districts, but with reference to the political conditions in the various counties.[2143] Their agents were to distribute the bacon, but the governor was unable to get their names until August. The purpose was to hold the bacon until near the election. The governor and other Republican leaders were opposed to the use of bacon in the campaign, and the state refused to pay transportation; so the agents had to sell part of the bacon to pay expenses. In Lewis’s last message to the legislature, he said pointedly, “Our beloved state has been free from pestilence, floods, and extensive disasters to labor.”[2144] As a matter of fact, there had been the regular spring freshets, but there were no sufferers. The loss fell upon the planters, who were under contract to furnish food, stock, and implements to their tenants. In August, Captain Gentry of the Nineteenth Infantry was sent by the War Department, which was supplying the bacon, to investigate the matter of the “political” bacon. He found no suffering, and no one was able to tell him where the suffering was, though the members of Congress were positive that there was suffering. The crops were doing well. In Montgomery Captain Gentry found that the agents in charge of Congressman Rapier’s share of the bacon were J. C. Hendrix and Holland Thompson (colored), both active politicians. Distribution had been delayed because Rapier thought that he had not received his share. Congressman Hays had bacon sent to Calera, Brierfield, and Marion, none of the places being near flowing water. He sent quantities to Perry, Shelby, and Bibb counties, but none to Fayette and Baker (Chilton). As he wrote to his agent, “Of course the overflowed districts will need more than those not overflowed.” When the War Department discovered the use that had been made of the bacon, Captain Gentry was directed to seize the bacon in dry districts that was being held until the election. At Eufaula, 80 miles from the nearest flooded district, he seized 5348 pounds that Rapier had stored there; at Seale, 7638 pounds were seized; and at Opelika, 9792 pounds; but not all was discovered at either place.[2145]

An Opelika negro thus described the method of using the bacon: It was understood that only the faithful could get any of it. This negro was considered doubtful, but was told, “If you will come along and do right, you will get two or three shoulders.” Bacon suppers were held at negro churches, to which only those were admitted who promised to vote the Republican ticket.[2146]

The use of bacon in the campaign injured the Republican cause more than it aided it; the supply of bacon was too small to go around, and the whites were infuriated because the negroes stopped work so long while trying to get some of it.

In previous campaigns the Republicans had used with success the “southern outrage” issue; stories of murder, cruelty, and fraud by the whites were carried to Washington and found ready believers, and Federal troops and deputy marshals were sent to assist the southern Republicans in the elections by making arrests, thus intimidating the whites and encouraging the blacks. In the campaign of 1874 such assistance was more than ever necessary to the black man’s party in Alabama. The race line was now distinctly drawn and most of the whites had forsaken the black man’s party. The blacks, many of them, were indifferent; the whites were determined to overthrow the Reconstruction rule.

The leaders of the whites were confident of success and strongly advised against every appearance of violence, since it would work to the advantage of the hostile party. There were some, however, who did not object to the tales of outrage, since they would cause investigation and the sending of Federal troops. These would, in the black districts, really protect the whites, and any kind of an investigation would result in damage to the Radical party.

Pursuing its plan of a peaceable campaign, the Democratic executive committee, on August 29, 1874, issued an address as follows: “We especially urge upon you carefully to avoid all injuries to others while you are attempting to preserve your own rights. Let our people avoid all just causes of complaint. Turmoil and strife with those who oppose us in this contest will only weaken the moral force of our efforts. Let us avoid personal conflicts; and if these should be forced upon us, let us only act in that line of just self-defence which is recognized and provided for by the laws of the land. We could not please our enemies better than by becoming parties to conflicts of violence, and thus furnish them plausible pretext for asking the interference of Federal power in our domestic affairs. Let us so act that all shall see and that all whose opinions are entitled to any respect shall admit that ours is a party of peace, and that we only seek to preserve our rights and liberties by the peaceful but efficient power of the ballot-box.”[2147] There is no doubt but that the whites engaged in less violence in this campaign than in former election years and less than was to be expected considering their temper in 1874. But there is also no doubt that very little incentive would have been necessary to have precipitated serious conflict. The whites were determined to win, peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. This very determination made them inclined to peace as long as possible and made the opposite party cautious about giving causes for conflict.

The Republican leaders industriously circulated in the North stories of “outrages” in Alabama. The most comprehensive “outrage” story was that of Charles Hays, member of Congress, published in the famous “Hays-Hawley letter” of September 7, 1874. Hays had borne a bad character in Alabama while a slaveholder and had been ostracized for being cruel to his slaves, and as a Confederate soldier he had a doubtful record. Naturally, in Reconstruction he had sided against the whites, and the negroes, with few exceptions, forgot his past history. In order to get campaign material, Senator Joseph Hawley of Connecticut wrote to Hays to get facts for publication,—“I want to publish it at home and give it to my neighbors and constituents as the account of a gentleman of unimpeachable honor.” Hays responded in a long letter, filled with minute details of horrible outrages that occurred within his personal observation. The spirit of rebellion still exists, he said; riots, murders, assassinations, torturings, are more common than ever; the half cannot be told; unless the Federal government interposes there is no hope for loyal men. The letter created a sensation. Senator Hawley sent it out with his indorsement of Hays as a gentleman. The New York Tribune, then “Liberal” in politics, sent “a thoroughly competent and trustworthy correspondent who is a lifelong Republican” to investigate the charges made by Hays. The charges of Hays were as follows: (1) for political reasons, one Allen was beaten nearly to death with pistols; (2) five negroes were brutally murdered in Sumter County, for no reason; (3) “No white man in Pickens County ever cast a Republican vote and lived after;” (4) in Hale County a negro benevolent society was ordered to meet no more; (5) masked men drove James Bliss, a negro, from Hale County; (6) J. G. Stokes, a Republican speaker, was warned by armed ruffians not to make another Radical speech in Hale County; (7) in Choctaw County 10 negroes had been killed and 13 wounded by whites in ambuscade; (8) in Marengo County W. A. Lipscomb was killed for being a Republican; (9) “Simon Edward and Monroe Keeton were killed in Sumter County for political effect;” (10) in Pickens County negroes were killed, tied to logs, and sent floating down the river with the following inscription, “To Mobile with the compliments of Pickens;” (11) W. P. Billings, a northern Republican, was killed in Sumter County on account of his politics, and Ivey, a negro mail agent, was also killed for his politics in Sumter; (12) there were numerous outrages in Coffee, Macon, and Russell counties; (13) near Carrollton, two negro speakers were hanged. Hays also declared that “only an occasional murder leaks out;” Republican speakers were always “rotten-egged” or shot at, while not a single Democrat was injured; the Associated Press agents were all “rebels and Democrats,” and systematically misrepresented the Radical party to the North.

The Tribune after investigation pronounced the Hays-Hawley letter “a tissue of lies from beginning to end.” The correspondent sent to Alabama investigated each reported outrage and found that the facts were as follows: (1) Allen said that he was beaten for private reasons by one person with the weapons of nature; (2) three negroes were killed by negroes and two were shot while stealing corn; (3) since 1867 there had been white Republican voters and officials in Sumter County; (4) the negro societies in Hale County denied that any of them had been ordered to disband; (5) James Bliss himself denied that he had been driven from Hale County; (6) affidavits of the Republican officials of Hale County denied the Stokes story; (7) in regard to the “10 killed and 13 wounded” outrage, affidavits were obtained from the “killed and wounded” denying that the reported outrage had occurred (the truth was, a negro was beaten by other negroes, and when the sheriff had attempted to arrest them, they resisted and one shot was fired; the negroes swore that they had told Hays that none was injured); (8) Lipscomb in person denied that he had been murdered or injured; (9) Edward and Keeton lived in Mississippi and there was no evidence that either had been murdered; (10) the story of the dead negroes tied to floating logs was not heard in Pickens County before Hays published it, and no foundation for it could be discovered; (11) Billings was killed by unknown persons for purposes of robbery, and Republican officials testified that the killing of Ivey was not political; (12) nothing could be found to support the statement about outrages in Coffee, Macon, and Russell counties; (13) the hanging of the two negroes near Carrollton was denied by the Republicans of that district. The Tribune correspondent asserted that Hays “knew that his statements were lies when he made them”; that the whites were exercising remarkable restraint; that they were trying hard to keep the peace; that counties in Hays’s district were showing signs of going Democratic, and since his was the strongest Republican district, desperate measures were necessary to hold the Republicans in line; and that the administration press “had grossly slandered the people of the state.” Governor Lewis and a few of the Republicans had opposed the “outrage” issue, and though troops were sent to the state it was against the wishes of Lewis.[2148]

The Washington administration readily listened to the “outrage” stories and prepared to interfere in Alabama affairs, though Governor Lewis could not be persuaded to ask for troops. President Grant wrote, on September 3, 1874, to Belknap, Secretary of War, directing him to hold troops in readiness to suppress the “atrocities” in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Early in September Attorney-General Williams began to encourage United States Marshal Healy to make arrests under the Enforcement Acts, and on September 29, 1874, he instructed Healy to appoint special deputies at all points where troops were to be stationed. He promised that the deputies would be supported by the infantry and cavalry. During October the state was filled with deputy marshals, agents of the Department of Justice and of the Post-office Department, and Secret Service men, most of them in disguise, searching for opportunities to arrest whites. Most of these men were of the lowest class, since only men of that kind would do the work required of them. The deputies were appointed, ten to twenty-five in each county, by Marshal Healy on the recommendation of the officials of the Republican party. Charles E. Mayer of Mobile, chairman of the Republican executive committee, nominated and secured the appointment of 217 deputy marshals, vouching for them as good Republicans, all except four Democrats who were warranted to be “mild, i.e. honest.” Robert Barbour of Montgomery and Isaac Heyman of Opelika also nominated deputies.[2149]

The marshals did some effective work during October. In Dallas County, where the Democrats had encouraged a bolting negro candidate with the intention of purchasing his office from him, the negro bolter and General John T. Morgan were arrested for violation of the Enforcement Acts.[2150] In Sumter County, John Little, a negro who had started a negro Democratic club called the “Independent Thinkers,” was arrested and the club was broken up.[2151] From Eufaula several prominent whites were taken, among them General Alpheus Baker, J. M. Buford, G. L. Comer, W. H. Courtney, and E. J. Black.[2152]

In Livingston, where a Democratic convention was being held in the court-house, the deputy marshals came in, pretended to search through the whole room, and finally arrested Renfroe and Bullock, whom, with Chiles, they handcuffed and paraded about the county, exposing them to insult from gangs of negroes. The jailer in Sumter County refused to give up the jail to the use of the deputy marshals and was imprisoned in his own jail.[2153] About the same time Colonel Wedmore, chairman of the Democratic county executive committee, was arrested with forty-two other prominent Democrats, thus almost destroying the party organization in Sumter County. Though there were three United States commissioners in Sumter County, Wedmore and others were carried to Mobile for trial before a United States commissioner there, and, instead of being carried by the shortest route, they were for political effect taken on a long dÉtour via Demopolis, Selma, and Montgomery. Those arrested were never tried, but were released just before or soon after the election.[2154] The whites were thoroughly intimidated in the black districts, but were not seriously molested in the white counties. The houses of nearly all the Democrats in the Black Belt were searched by the deputies and soldiers, and the women frightened and insulted. The officers of the army were disgusted with the nature of the work.[2155]

Such was the intimidation practised by the officials of the Federal government. The Republican state administration took little part in the persecutions, because it was weak, because it was not desirous of being held responsible, and because some of the prominent officials were certain that the intimidation policy would injure their party. In the white counties there was considerably less effort to influence the elections. But by no means was all of the intimidation on the Republican side. In the counties where the whites were numerous the determination was freely expressed that the elections were to be carried by the whites. There were few open threats, very little violence, and none of the kind of persecution employed by the other side. But the whites had made up their minds, and the other side knew it, or rather felt it in the air, and were thereby intimidated. Besides the silent forces of ostracism, etc., already described, the whites found many other means of influencing the voters on both sides. Where Radical posters were put up announcing speakers and principles, the Democrats would tear them down and post instead caricatures of Spencer, Lewis, Hays, or Rapier, or declarations against “social equality enforced by law.” In white districts some obnoxious speakers were “rotten-egged,” others forbidden to speak and asked to leave. One Radical speaker complained that whites in numbers came to hear him, sat on the front seats with guns across their knees, blew tin horns, and asked him embarrassing questions about “political bacon” and race equality under the Civil Rights Bill. “Blacklists” of active negro politicians were kept and the whites warned against employing them; “pledge meetings” were held in some counties and negroes strenuously advised to sign the “pledge” to vote for the white man’s party. “The Barbour County Fever” spread over the state. This was a term used for any process for making life miserable for white Radicals. There was something like a revival of the Ku Klux Klan in the White Leagues or clubs whose members were sworn to uphold “white” principles. In many towns these clubs were organized as military companies. Some of them applied to Governor Lewis for arms and for enrolment as militia. But he was afraid to organize any white militia because it might overthrow his administration, and, on the other hand, he also refused to give arms to negro militia because he feared race conflicts. By private subscription, often with money from the North, the white companies were armed and equipped. They drilled regularly and made long practice marches through the country. They kept the peace, they made no threats, but their influence was none the less forcible. The Democratic politicians were opposed to these organizations, but the latter persisted and several companies went in uniform to Houston’s inauguration. The Republicans found cause for anxiety in the increasing frequency of Confederate veterans’ reunions, and it is said that cavalry companies and squadrons of ex-Confederates began to drill again, much to the alarm of the blacks.[2156] In truth, some of the whites were exasperated to the point where they were about ready to fight again. As one man expressed it: “The attempt to force upon the country this social equality, miscalled Civil Rights Bill, may result in another war. The southern people do not desire to take up arms again, but may be driven to desperation.”[2157]

The feelings of the poorer whites and those who had suffered most from Radical rule are reflected in the following speeches. A negro who was canvassing for Rapier, the negro congressman, was told by a white: “You might as well quit. We have made up our minds to carry the state or kill half of you negroes on election day. We begged you long enough and have persuaded you, but you will vote for the Radical party.” Another white man said to negro Republicans, “God damn you, you have voted my land down to half a dollar an acre, and I wish the last one of you was down in the bottom of hell.”[2158]

The Democratic campaign was managed by W. L. Bragg, an able organizer, assisted by a competent staff. The state had not been so thoroughly canvassed since 1861. The campaign fund was the largest in the history of the state; every man who was able, and many who were not, contributed; assistance also came from northern Democrats, and northern capitalists who had investments in the South or who owned part of the legal bonds of the state. The election officials were all Radicals and with Federal aid had absolute control over the election. If inclined to fraud, as in 1868-1872, they could easily count themselves in, but they clearly understood that no fraud would be tolerated. To prevent the importation of negroes from Georgia and Mississippi guards were stationed all around the state. To prevent “repeating,” which had formerly been done by massing the negroes at the county seat for their first vote and then sending them home to vote again, the whites made lists of all voters, white and black, kept an accurate account of all Democratic votes cast, and demanded that the votes be thus counted. So well did the Democrats know their resources that a week before the election an estimate of the vote was made that turned out to be almost exactly correct. In Randolph County, several days before the election, the Democratic manager reported a certain number of votes for the Democrats; on election day two votes more than he estimated were cast.

Tons of campaign literature were distributed mainly by freight, express, and messengers, the mails having proved unsafe, being in the hands of the Radicals. For the same reason political messages were sent by telegraph. Every man who could speak had to “go on the stump.” Toward the close of the campaign a hundred speeches a day were made by speakers sent out from headquarters. The lawyers did little or no business during October; it is said that of seventy-five lawyers in Montgomery all but ten were usually out of the city making speeches.[2159]

The Election of 1874

The election of 1874 passed off with less violence than was expected; in fact, it was quieter than any previous campaign. The Democrats were assured of success and had no desire to lose the fruits of victory on account of riots and disorder. So the responsible people strained every nerve to preserve the peace. A regiment of soldiers was scattered throughout the Black Belt and showed a disposition to neglect the affairs of the blacks. But here, in the counties where the numerous arrests had been made, the blacks voted in full strength. In fact, with few exceptions, both parties voted in full strength, and, as regards the counting of the votes, it was the fairest election since the negroes began to vote. There were instances in white counties of negroes being forced to vote for the Democrats, while in the Black Belt negro Democrats were mobbed and driven from the polls. But the negro Democrats resorted to expedients to get in their tickets. In one county where the Democratic tickets were smooth at the top and the negro tickets perforated, the Democrats prepared perforated tickets for negro Democrats which went unquestioned. In other places special tickets were printed for the use of negro Democrats with the picture of General Grant or of Spencer on them and these passed the hurried Radical inspection and were cast for the Democrats. In Marengo County the Democrats purchased a Republican candidate, who agreed for $300 that he would not be elected. By his “sign of the button,” sent out among the negroes, the latter were instructed to vote a certain colored ticket which did not conform to law and hence was not counted. Other candidates agreed not to qualify after election, thus leaving the appointment to the governor.

In the Black Belt, now as before, the negroes were marshalled in regiments of 300 to 1500 under men who wrote orders purporting to be signed by General Grant, directing the negroes to vote for him. In Greene County 1400 uniformed negroes took possession of the polls, and excluded the few whites.[2160] A riot in Mobile was brought on by the close supervision over election affairs, which was objected to by a drunken negro who wanted to vote twice, and who declared that he wanted “to wade in blood up to his boot tops.” The negro was killed. A conflict at Belmont, where a negro was killed, and another at Gainesville were probably caused by the endeavor of the whites to exclude negroes who had been imported from Mississippi. By rioting the Republicans had everything to gain and the Democrats everything to lose, and while it is impossible in most cases to ascertain which party fired the first shot or struck the first blow, the evidence is clear that the desperate Radical whites encouraged the blacks to violent conduct in order to cause collisions between the races and thus secure Federal interference. In Eufaula occurred the most serious riot of the Reconstruction period that occurred in Alabama. The negroes came armed and threatening to the polls, which were held by a Republican sheriff and forty Republican deputies. Judge Keils, a carpet-bagger, had advised the blacks to come to Eufaula to vote: “You go to town; there are several troops of Yankees there; these damned Democrats won’t shoot a frog. You come armed and do as you please.” The Democrats were glad to have the troops, who were disgusted with the intimidation work of the previous month. Order was kept until a negro tried to vote the Democratic ticket and was discovered and mobbed by other blacks. The whites tried to protect him and some negro fired a shot. Then the riot began. The few whites were heavily armed and the negroes also. The deputies, it was said, lost their heads and fired indiscriminately. When the fight was over it was found that ten whites were wounded, and four negroes killed and sixty wounded. The Federal troops came leisurely in after it was over, and surrounded the polls. The course of the Federal troops in Eufaula was much as it was elsewhere. They camped some distance from the polls, and when their aid was demanded by the Republicans the captain either directly refused to interfere, or consulted his orders or his telegrams or his law dictionary. At last he offered to notify the white men wanted by the marshal to meet the latter and be arrested. Another commander, who took possession of the polls in Opelika in order to prevent a riot, was censured by General McDowell, the department commander. The troops were weary of such work, and their orders from General McDowell were very vague.[2161] After the election, as was to be expected, an outcry arose from the Radicals that the troops had in every case failed to do their duty.

When the votes were counted, it appeared that the Democrats had triumphed. Houston had 107,118 votes to 93,928 for Lewis. Two years before Herndon (Democrat) had received 81,371 votes to 89,868 for Lewis. The presidential campaign in 1872 had assisted Lewis. Grant ran far ahead of the Radical state ticket. The legislature of 1874-1875 was to be composed as follows: Senate, 13 Republicans (of whom 6 were negroes) and 20 Democrats; House, 40 Republicans (of whom 29 were negroes) and 60 Democrats.[2162]

The whites were exceedingly pleased with their victory, while the Republicans took defeat as something expected. There were, of course, the usual charges of outrage, Ku Kluxism, and the intimidation of the negro vote, but these were fewer than ever before. There was considerable complaint that the Federal troops had sided always with the whites in the election troubles. The Republican leaders knew, of course, that for their own time at least Alabama was to remain in the hands of the whites. The blacks were surprisingly indifferent after they discovered that there was to be no return to slavery, so much so that many whites feared that their indifference masked some deep-laid scheme against the victors.

The heart of the Black Belt still remained under the rule of the carpet-bagger and the black. The Democratic state executive Committee considered that enough had been gained for one election, so it ordered that no whites should contest on technical grounds alone the offices in those black counties. Other methods gradually gave the Black Belt to the whites. No Democrat would now go on the bond of a Republican official and numbers were unable to make bond; their offices thus becoming vacant, the governor appointed Democrats. Others sold out to the whites, or neglected to make bond, or made bonds which were later condemned by grand juries. This resulted in many offices going to the whites, though most of them were still in the hands of the Republicans.[2163]

Houston’s two terms were devoted to setting affairs in order. The administration was painfully economical. Not a cent was spent beyond what was absolutely necessary. Numerous superfluous offices were cut off at once and salaries reduced. The question of the public debt was settled. To prevent future interference by Federal authorities the time for state elections was changed from November, the time of the Federal elections, to August, and this separation is still in force. The whites now demanded a new constitution. Their objections to the constitution of 1868 were numerous: it was forced upon the whites, who had no voice in framing it; it “reminds us of unparalleled wrongs”; it had not secured good government; it was a patchwork unsuited to the needs of the state; it had wrecked the credit of the state by allowing the indorsement of private corporations; it provided for a costly administration, especially for a complicated and unworkable school system which had destroyed the schools; there was no power of expansion for the judiciary; and above all, it was not legally adopted.[2164]

The Republicans declared against a new constitution as meant to destroy the school system, provide imprisonment for debt, abolish exemption from taxation, disfranchise and otherwise degrade the blacks. By a vote of 77,763 to 59,928, a convention was ordered by the people, and to it were elected 80 Democrats, 12 Republicans, and 7 Independents. A new constitution was framed and adopted in 1875.[2165]

Later Phases of State Politics

From 1875 to 1889 neither national party was able to control both houses of Congress. Consequently no “force” legislation could be directed against the white people of Alabama, who had control and were making secure their control of the state administration. The black vote was not eliminated, but gradually fell under the control of the native whites when the carpet-bagger and scalawag left the Black Belt. In order to gain control of the black vote, carpet-bag methods were sometimes resorted to, though there was not as much fraud and violence used as is believed, for the simple reason that it was not necessary; it was little more difficult now to make the blacks vote for the Democrats than it had been to make Republicans of them; the mass of them voted, in both cases, as the stronger power willed it. The Black Belt came finally into Democratic control in 1880, when the party leaders ordered the Alabama Republicans to vote the Greenback ticket. The negroes did not understand the meaning of the manoeuvre, did not vote in force, and lost their last stronghold. A few white Republicans and a few black leaders united to maintain the Republican state organization in order that they might control the division of spoils coming from the Republican administration at Washington. Most of them were or became Federal officials within the state. It was not to their interest that their numbers should increase, for the shares in the spoils would then be smaller. Success in the elections was now the last thing desired.

This clique of office-holders was almost destroyed by the two Democratic administrations under Cleveland, and has been unhappy under later Republican administrations; but the Federal administration in the state is not yet respectable. Dissatisfaction on the part of the genuine Republicans in the northern counties resulted in the formation of a “Lily White” faction which demanded that the negro be dropped as a campaign issue and that an attempt be made to build up a decent white Republican party. The opposing faction has been called “The Black and Tans,” and has held to the negro. The national party organization and the administration have refused to recognize the demands of the “Lily Whites”; and it would be exceedingly embarrassing to go back on the record of the past in regard to the negro as the basis of the Republican party in the South. In consequence the growth of a reputable white party has been hindered.

The Populist movement promised to cause a healthy division of the whites into two parties. But the tactics of the national Republican organization in trying to profit by this division, by running in the negroes, resulted in a close reunion of the discordant whites, the Populists furnishing to the reunited party some new principles and many new leaders, while the Democrats furnished the name, traditions, and organization.

To make possible some sort of division and debate among the whites the system of primary elections was adopted. In these elections the whites were able to decide according to the merits of the candidate and the issues involved. The candidate of the whites chosen in the primaries was easily elected. This plan had the merit of placing the real contest among the whites, and there was no danger of race troubles in elections. In the Black Belt the primary system was legalized and served by its regulations to confine the election contests to regularly nominated candidates, and hence to whites, the blacks having lost their organization.

The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments in their operation gave undue political influence to the whites of the Black Belt, and this was opposed by whites of other districts. It also resulted in serious corruption in elections. There was always danger in the Black Belt that the Republicans, taking advantage of divisions among the whites, would run in the negroes again. There were instances when the whites simply counted out the negro vote or used “shotgun” methods to prevent a return to the intolerable conditions of Reconstruction. The people grew weary of the eternal “negro in the woodpile,” and a demand arose for a revision of the constitution in order to eliminate the mass of the negro voters, to do away with corruption in the elections and to leave the whites free. The conservative leaders, like Governors Jones and Oates, were rather opposed to a disfranchising movement. The Black Belt whites were somewhat doubtful, but the mass of the whites were determined, and the work was done; the stamp of legality was thus placed upon the long-finished work of necessity, and the “white man’s movement” had reached its logical end.[2166]

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The mistakes and failures of Reconstruction are clear to all. Whether any successes were achieved by the Congressional plan has been a matter for debate. It has been strongly asserted that Reconstruction, though failing in many important particulars, succeeded in others. The successes claimed may be summarized as follows: (1) there was no more legislation for the negro similar to that of 1865-66, that following the Reconstruction being “infinitely milder”; (2) Reconstruction gave the negroes a civil status that a century of “restoration” would not have accomplished, for though the right to vote is a nullity, other undisputed rights of the black are due to the Reconstruction; the unchangeable organic laws of the state and of the United States favor negro suffrage, which will come the sooner for being thus theoretically made possible; (3) Reconstruction prevented the southern leaders from returning to Washington as irreconcilables, and gave them troubles enough to keep them busy until a new generation grew up which accepted the results of war; (4) by organizing the blacks it made them independent of white control in politics; (5) it gave the negro an independent church; (6) it gave the negro a right to education and gave to both races the public school system; (7) it made the negro economically free and showed that free labor was better than slave labor; (8) it destroyed the former leaders of the whites and “freed them from the baleful influence of old political leaders”; in general, as Sumner said, the ballot to the negro was “a peacemaker, a schoolmaster, a protector,” soon making him a fairly good citizen, and secured peace and order—the “political hell” through which the whites passed being a necessary discipline which secured the greatest good to the greatest number.[2167]

On the other hand, it may be maintained (1) that the intent of the legislation of 1865-1866 has been entirely misunderstood, that it was intended on the whole for the benefit of the negro as well as of the white, and that it has been left permanently off the statute book, not because the whites have been taught better by Reconstruction, but because of the amendments which prohibit in theory what has all along been practised (hence the gross abuses of peonage); (2) that the theoretical rights of the negro have been no inducement to grant him actual privileges, and that these theoretical rights have not proven so permanent as was supposed before the disfranchising movement spread through the South; (3) that the generation after Reconstruction is more irreconcilable than the conservative leaders who were put out of politics in 1865-1867—that the latter were willing to give the negro a chance, while the former, able, radical, and supported by the people, find less and less place for the negro; (4) that if the blacks were united, so were the whites, and in each case the advantage may be questioned; (5) that the value of the negro church is doubtful; (6) that as in politics, so in education, the negro has no opportunities now that were not freely offered him in 1865-1866, and the school system is not a product of Reconstruction, but came near being destroyed by it; (7) that negro free labor is not as efficient as slave labor was, and the negro as a cotton producer has lost his supremacy and his economic position is not at all assured; (8) that the whites have acquired new leaders, but the change has been on the whole from conservatives to radicals, from friends of the negro to those indifferent to him. In short, a careful study of conditions in Alabama since 1865 will not lead one to the conclusion that the black race in that state has any rights or privileges or advantages that were not offered by the native whites in 1865-1866.

For the misgovernment of Reconstruction, the negro, who was in no way to blame, has been made to suffer, since those who were really responsible could not be reached; so politically the races are hostile; the Black Belt has had, until recently, an undue and disturbing influence in white politics; the Federal official body and the Republican organization in the state have not been respectable, and the growth of a white Republican party has been prevented; the whites have for thirty-five years distrusted and disliked the Federal administration which, until recent years, showed little disposition to treat them with any consideration;[2168] the rule of the carpet-bagger, scalawag, and negro, and the methods used to overthrow that rule, weakened the respect of the people for the ballot, for law, for government; the estrangement of the races and the social-equality teachings of the reconstructionists have made it much less safe than in slavery for whites to reside near negro communities, and the negro is more exposed to imposition by low whites.

In recent years there have been many signs of improvement, but only in proportion as the principles and practices that the white people of the state understand are those of Reconstruction are rejected or superseded. To the northern man Reconstruction probably meant and still means something quite different from what the white man of Alabama understands by the term. But as the latter understands it, he has accepted none of its essential principles and intends to accept none of its so-called successes.

In destroying all that was old, Reconstruction probably removed some abuses; from the new order some permanent good must have resulted. But credit for neither can rightfully be claimed until it can be shown that those results were impossible under the rÉgime destroyed.

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APPENDIX I

PRODUCTION OF COTTON IN ALABAMA. 1860-1900

(a) Typical black counties with boundaries unchanged. (b) Typical white counties.

County	1860	1870	1880	1890	1900
	bales	bales	bales	bales	bales
Autauga	17,329	7,965	7,944	10,431	14,348
Baker (Chilton)	——	1,360	3,534	6,233	9,932
Baldwin	2,172	87	638	1,663	531
Barbour (a)	44,518	17,011	26,063	33,440	29,395
Bibb	8,303	3,973	4,843	5,216	6,535
Blount (b)	1,071	950	4,442	9,748	11,449
Bullock	——	17,972	22,578	30,547	31,774
Butler	13,489	5,854	11,895	18,200	21,147
Calhoun	11,573	3,038	10,848	11,504	11,554
Chambers	24,589	7,868	19,476	27,276	30,676
Cherokee (b)	10,562	1,807	10,777	11,870	12,767
Choctaw (a)	17,252	6,439	9,054	13,586	13,091
Clarke (a)	16,225	5,713	11,097	16,380	16,594
Clay (b)	——	1,143	4,973	8,250	10,459
Cleburne (b)	——	873	3,600	5,389	5,035
Coffee (b)	5,294	2,004	4,788	11,791	16,747
Colbert	——	3,936	9,012	3,956	9,234
Conecuh (b)	6,850	1,539	4,633	8,167	9,801
Coosa	13,990	3,893	8,411	10,141	11,370
Covington (b)	2,021	689	1,158	2,740	5,969
Crenshaw (b)	——	4,638	8,173	13,442	18,909
Cullman (b)	——	——	378	5,268	9,374
Dale (b)	7,836	4,273	6,224	16,259	17,868
Dallas (a)	63,410	24,819	33,534	42,819	48,273
De Kalb (b)	1,498	205	2,859	4,573	9,860
Elmore (b)	——	7,295	9,771	16,871	18,458
Escambia	——	605	94	462	1,131
Etowah (b)	——	1,383	6,571	8,482	11,651
Fayette (b)	5,462	1,909	4,268	6,141	9,128
Franklin	15,592	2,072	3,603	2,669	6,047
Geneva (b)	——	420	1,112	7,158	9,813
Greene (a)	57,858	9,910	15,811	20,901	23,681
Hale	——	18,573	18,093	28,973	28,645
Henry (b)	13,034	7,127	12,573	23,738	27,281
Jackson (b)	2,713	2,339	6,235	5,358	5,602
Jefferson (b)	4,940	1,470	5,333	4,829	7,044
Lamar (Sanford) (b)	——	1,825	5,015	6,998	10,118
Lauderdale	11,050	5,457	9,270	5,156	9,708
Lawrence	15,434	9,243	13,791	9,248	12,541
Lee	——	11,591	13,189	18,332	22,431
Limestone	15,115	7,319	15,724	8,093	14,887
Lowndes (a)	53,664	18,369	29,356	40,388	39,839
Macon (a)	41,119	11,872	14,580	19,099	20,434
Madison	22,119	12,180	20,679	13,150	20,842
Marengo (a)	62,428	23,614	23,481	31,651	38,392
Marion (b)	4,285	463	2,240	4,454	6,309
Marshall (b)	4,931	2,340	5,358	8,118	13,318
Mobile	440	317	1	24	116
Monroe (a)	18,226	6,172	10,421	15,919	17,101
Montgomery (a)	58,880	25,517	31,732	45,827	39,202
Morgan (b)	6,326	4,389	6,133	6,227	9,313
Perry (a)	44,603	13,449	21,627	24,873	29,690
Pickens (a)	29,843	8,263	17,283	18,904	21,485
Pike (b)	24,527	7,192	15,136	25,879	34,757
Randolph (b)	6,427	2,246	7,475	10,348	17,148
Russell (a)	38,728	20,796	19,442	20,521	21,174
Shelby (b)	6,463	2,194	6,643	7,308	10,193
St. Clair (b)	4,189	1,244	6,028	7,136	9,411
Sumter (a)	36,584	11,647	22,211	25,768	31,906
Talladega	18,243	5,697	11,832	15,686	21,563
Tallapoosa (b)	17,399	5,446	14,161	20,337	24,955
Tuscaloosa	26,035	6,458	11,137	13,008	20,041
Walker (b)	2,766	928	2,754	3,211	4,746
Washington	3,449	1,803	1,246	2,030	2,213
Wilcox (a)	48,749	20,095	26,745	32,582	35,005
Winston (b)	352	205	568	1,464	3,686
Totals	989,955	429,482	699,654	915,210	1,093,697

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APPENDIX II

REGISTRATION OF VOTERS UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION

County	Males of Voting Age in 1900		Registered Voters in 1905
	White	Black	White	Black
Autauga	1,524	2,311	1,554	35
Baldwin	2,096	991	1,390	206
Barbour	2,889	4,201	2,846	46
Bibb	2,701	1,598	2,725	59
Blount	4,401	417	3,182	—
Bullock	1,415	5,168	1,291	14
Butler	2,766	2,617	2,739	2
Calhoun	5,390	2,380	4,892	130
Chambers	3,441	3,380	3,098	28
Cherokee	3,896	702	3,004	27
Chilton	2,852	707	2,970	1
Choctaw	1,697	1,929	1,496	29
Clarke	2,652	3,103	2,485	158
Clay	3,220	393	3,501	—
Cleburne	2,565	181	2,280	—
Coffee	3,508	996	3,334	—
Colbert	2,927	2,030	2,233	22
Conecuh	2,110	1,608	2,079	7
Coosa	2,338	942	2,134	—
Covington	2,803	786	2,857	3
Crenshaw	3,062	1,156	2,982	—
Cullman	3,359	5	4,641	4
Dale	3,492	1,002	3,021	11
Dallas	2,360	9,871	2,419	52
De Kalb	4,819	226	4,388	—
Elmore	3,202	2,758	3,030	54
Escambia	1,628	821	1,676	46
Etowah	5,140	1,031	4,186	39
Fayette	2,698	338	2,563	7
Franklin	2,989	634	2,600	12
Geneva	3,355	981	2,873	30
Greene	852	4,344	739	104
Hale	1,358	5,370	1,362	92
Henry}	4,904	2,933	2,072	—
Houston }	(new	county)	2,757	—
Jackson	5,939	731	4,704	73
Jefferson	21,036	18,472	18,315	352
Lamar	2,715	592	2,356	7
Lauderdale	4,235	1,586	3,305	76
Lawrence	2,761	1,426	2,367	49
Lee	2,988	3,472	2,652	12
Limestone	2,832	2,050	2,722	28
Lowndes	1,121	6,455	1,085	57
Macon	1,042	3,782	917	65
Madison	5,788	4,397	4,479	112
Marengo	2,095	6,143	2,043	302
Marion	2,735	144	2,698	25
Marshall	4,595	333	4,251	—
Mobile	7,934	7,371	7,295	193
Monroe	2,307	2,570	2,178	40
Montgomery	5,087	11,429	4,995	53
Morgan	4,987	1,713	4,506	60
Perry	1,574	5,028	1,659	90
Pickens	2,408	2,846	2,217	111
Pike	3,598	2,611	3,126	26
Randolph	3,457	978	3,363	13
Russell	1,433	3,961	1,170	191
Shelby	3,611	1,672	3,712	19
St. Clair	3,777	712	3,340	50
Sumter	1,391	5,304	1,244	57
Talladega	3,934	3,814	3,303	81
Tallapoosa	4,185	2,056	4,166	33
Tuscaloosa	5,100	3,413	4,153	165
Walker	4,582	1,351	4,894	1
Washington	1,386	1,179	1,339	53
Wilcox	1,686	5,967	1,522	41
Winston	1,884	3	1,833	1
Totals	224,212	181,471	205,278	3,654

Number of whites of voting age not registered, estimated at 45,000.

Number of blacks of voting age not registered, estimated at 190,000.

Foreign whites of voting age, 8082.

Number of whites registered but unable to comply with other requirements for voting, estimated at 60,000.

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INDEX

Abolition sentiment in Alabama, 10.
Agriculture, during the war, 232;
since the war, 710-734.
Alabama, admitted to Union, 7;
secedes, 36;
readmitted, 547.
Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad, 591-600.
American Missionary Association and negro education, 459, 462, 463, 617, 620.
Amnesty proclamation of President Johnson, 349;
published by military commanders in Alabama, 409.
Amusements during the war, 241.
Andrew, Bishop, and the separation of the Methodist church, 22.
Anti Ku Klux, 690.
Anti-slavery sentiment in Alabama, 10.
Applegate, A. J., lieutenant-governor, 736.
Army, U. S., and the civic authorities, 410;
in conflict with Federal court, 414;
relations with the people, 417-420;
used in elections, 694-701, 746, 756, 789, 794.
Athens sacked by Colonel Turchin, 63.
Bacon used to influence elections, 785.
Banks and banking during the war, 162.
Baptist church, separation of, 22;
declaration in regard to the state of the country, 222;
during Reconstruction, 639;
relations with negroes, 642.
“Barbour County Fever,” 709.
Bingham, D. H., mentioned, 346, 350, 402;
in convention of 1867, 526;
in Union League, 557.
Birney, James G., mentioned, 10.
Black Belt, during slavery, 710;
at the end of the war, 713;
share system in, 722;
decadence of, during Reconstruction, 726.
“Black Code,” or “Black Laws,” 378.
“Black Republican” party arraigned, 20.
Blockade-running, 183.
Bonded debt of Alabama, 580-586.
Bonds, of state, 580;
of counties and towns, 580, 581;
fraudulent issues, 581, 582;
of railroads, 587-607;
fraudulent indorsements, 596-606.
Boyd, Alexander, killed by Ku Klux, 686.
Bragg, W. L., Democratic campaign manager, 793.
Brooks, William M., president of convention of 1861, 28;
letter to President Davis, 112;
advocates limited negro suffrage, 388.
Brown, John, plans negro uprising in Alabama, 18.
Buchanan, Admiral Franklin, at battle of Mobile Bay, 69.
Buck, A. E., carpet-bagger, in convention of 1867, 518;
elected to Congress, 750.
Buckley, C. W., carpet-bagger, agent of Freedmen’s Bureau, 426, 437, 440, 448, 458;
in convention of 1867, 518;
elected to Congress, 737;
on Ku Klux Committee, 702;
sides with the Robinson faction, 774.
Bulger, M. J., in secession convention, 29, 31, 33, 38;
candidate for governor, 372;
in politics, 513.
Busteed, Richard, Federal judge, on Fourteenth Amendment, 394;
in Radical politics, 511, 744, 774.
Byrd, William M., “Union” leader, 15.
Calhoun Democrats, 11.
Callis, John B., carpet-bagger, agent of Freedmen’s Bureau, 426;
in Union League, 557;
elected to Congress, 738.
Campaign, of 1867, 503-516;
of 1868, 493, 747;
of 1870, 751;
of 1872, 754;
of 1874, 782-797.
Carpet-bag and negro rule, 571 et seq.
Carpet-baggers, in convention of 1867, 517, 518, 530;
in Congress, 738, 749, 754, 761.
See also Republicans.
Chain gang abolished, 393.
Charleston convention of 1860, 18.
Churches, separation of, 21-24;
during the war, 222;
seized by the Federal army and the northern churches, 227;
condition after the war, 325, 326;
attitude toward negro education and religion, 225, 457, 641;
during Reconstruction, 636-652.
Civil Rights Bill of 1866, 393.
Civil War in Alabama, 61-78;
seizure of the forts, 61;
operations in north Alabama, 62;
Streight’s Raid, 67;
Rousseau’s Raid, 68;
operations in south Alabama, 69;
Wilson’s Raid, 71;
destruction by the armies, 74.
Clanton, Gen. James H., organizes opposition to Radicals, 508, 512;
on negro education, 625, 630;
on the religious situation, 638.
Clay, Senator C. C., speech on withdrawal from U. S. Senate, 25;
arrested by Federals, 262.
Clayton, Judge Henry D., charge to the Pike County grand jury on the negro question, 385.
Clemens, Jere (or Jeremiah), in secession convention, 29, 34, 47;
mentioned, 64, 111;
deserter, 125, 127, 143;
advocates Reconstruction, 125, 144, 145.
Clews & Company, financial agents, 592, 596, 597.
Cloud, N. B., superintendent of public instruction, 610-632.
Cobb, W. R. W., “Union” leader, 16;
disloyal to Confederacy, 139.
Colleges during the war, 212.
Colonies of negroes, 421, 444.
Color line in politics, 779.
Commercial conventions, 25.
Commissioners sent to southern states, 46, 48.
Composition of population of Alabama, 3, 4.
Concentration camps of negroes, 421, 422, 444.
“Condition of Affairs in the South,” 311.
Confederate property confiscated, 285.
Confederate States, established, 39-42;
Congress of, 130;
enrolment laws, 92, 98;
finance in Alabama, 162-183.
Confederate text-books, 217.
Confiscation, proposed in secession convention, 48;
by United States, 284 et seq.;
frauds, 284, 290;
of cotton, 290;
of lands, 425;
supports Freedmen’s Bureau, 431;
belief of negroes in, 446, 447;
for taxes, 578.
Congress, C. S., Alabama delegation to, 130.
Congress, U. S., rejects Johnson’s plan, 377, 405;
imposes new conditions, 391;
forces carpet-bag government on Alabama, 547-552;
members of, from Alabama, 737, 749, 754, 761.
“Conquered province” theory of Reconstruction, 339.
Conscription, 92-108;
enrolment laws, 92-98;
trouble between state and Confederate authorities, 96-98.
Conservative party, 398, 401, 512.
See also Democratic party.
Constitution, of 1865, 366, 367;
of 1868, 535,
vote on, 538,
rejected, 541;
imposed by Congress, 547-552, 797;
of 1875, 797;
of 1902, 800.
Contraband trade, 189.
“Convention” candidates in 1868, 493, 530.
Convention, of 1861, 27;
of 1865, 359;
of 1867, 491, 517;
of 1875, 797.
CoÖperationists, 28;
policy of, in secession convention, 30;
speeches of, 32 et seq.
“Cotton is King,” 184.
Cotton, exported through the lines, 187, 191-193;
confiscated, 290 et seq.;
agents prosecuted for stealing, 297, 413;
cotton tax, 303;
production of, in Alabama, 710-734, 804.
County and local officials during Reconstruction, 742, 743, 753, 761, 796.
County and town debts, 580, 581, 604, 605.
Crowe, J. R., one of the founders of Ku Klux Klan, 661.
Curry, J. L., M., in Confederate Congress, 131;
defeated, 134;
on negro education, 457, 467, 468, 625, 631.
Dargan, E. S., in secession convention, 29, 40, 41;
on impressment, 175.
Davis, Nicholas, in Nashville convention, 14;
in secession convention, 29, 33, 38, 54;
in Radical politics, 403, 511;
opposed by Union League, 564;
opinion of Rev. A. S. Lakin, 612.
“Deadfalls,” 769.
Debt commission, work of, 583-586.
Debt of Alabama, 580-586.
Democratic party, ante-bellum, 7 et seq.;
reorganized, 398, 401;
during Reconstruction, 748, 750, 755, 778;
Populist influence, 799.
Department of Negro Affairs, 421.
Deserters, 112-130;
outrages by, 119;
prominent men, 124;
numbers, 127.
Destitution, during the war, 196-205;
after the war, 277.
Destruction of property, 74, 9.
Indorsement of railroad bonds, 596-606.
Industrial development during the war, 149-162, 234;
military industries, 149;
private enterprises, 156.
Industrial reconstruction, 710-734, 804.
Intimidation, by Federal authorities, 789;
by Democrats, 791.
“Iron-clad” test oath, 369.
Jemison, Robert, in secession convention, 28, 29, 40, 49, 54;
elected to Confederate Senate, 134.
Johnson, President Andrew, plan of restoration, 337;
amnesty proclamation, 349;
grants pardons, 356, 410;
interferes with provisional governments, 375, 419;
his work rejected by Congress, 377, 405, 406.
Joint Committee on Reconstruction, report on affairs in the South,

313.
Jones, Capt. C. ap R., at the Selma arsenal, 152.
Juries, of both races ordered by Pope, 480;
during Reconstruction, 745.
Keffer, John C., mentioned, 506, 518, 524, 554, 737, 751.
Kelly, Judge, in Mobile riot, 481, 509.
“King Cotton,” confidence in, 184.
Knights of the White Camelia, 669, 684.
See also Ku Klux Klan.
Ku Klux Klan, causes, 653;
origin and growth, 660;
disguises, 675;
warnings, 678;
parade at Huntsville, 685;
Cross Plains or Patona affair, 685;
drives carpet-baggers from the State University, 612-615;
burns negro schoolhouses, 628;
table of alleged outrages, 705;
Ku Klux investigation, 701;
results of the Ku Klux revolution, 674.
Labor laws, 380, 381.
Labor of negroes and whites compared, 710-734.
Labor regulations of Freedmen’s Bureau, 433-438.
Lakin, Rev. A. S., Northern Methodist missionary, 637, 639, 648, 650;
in Union League, 557;
elected president of State University, 612;
Davis’s opinion of, 612.
Lands confiscated for taxes, 578.
Lane, George W., Unionist, Federal judge, 125, 127.
Lawlessness in 1865, 262.
Legislation, by convention of 1861, 49;
of 1865, 366;
of 1867, 528;
about freedmen, 379.
Legislature during Reconstruction, 738-741, 752, 755-795.
Lewis, D. P., in secession convention, 29;
deserter, 126;
repudiates Union League, 563;
elected governor in 1872, 754.
Life, loss of, in war, 251.
Lincoln, effect of election of, 20;
his plan of Reconstruction, 336.
Lindsay, R. B., taxation under, 573-576;
action on railroad bonds, 594-600;
elected governor, 1870, 751.
Literary activity during the war, 211.
Loss of life and property, 251.
“Loyalists,” during the war, 112, 113;
after the war, 316.
McKinstry, Alexander, lieutenant-governor, assists to elect Spencer, 756-760.
McTyeire, Bishop H. N., on negro education, 457, 467.
Meade, Gen. George G., in command of Third Military District, 493;
his administration, 493-502;
installs the reconstructed government, 552.
Medicines and drugs in war time, 239.
Methodist church, separation, 22;
during Reconstruction, 637;
favors negro education, 648.
Military commissions, see Military government.
Military government, 1865-1866, 407-420;
trials by military commissions, 413-415;
objections to, 416-417.
Military government under the Reconstruction Acts, 473-502;
Pope’s administration, 473-493;
Meade’s administration, 493-502;
control over the civil government, 477, 495;
Pope’s trouble with the newspapers, 485;
trials by military commissions, 487, 498.
Militia system during the Civil War, 88-92;
during Reconstruction, 746.
Miller, C. A., carpet-bagger, agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau, 425, 426;
in convention of 1867, 518;
elected secretary of state, 737.
Mitchell, Gen. O. M., 62-65.
Mobile Bay, battle of, 69.
Mobile riot, 481, 509.
Mobile schools during Reconstruction, 617.
Moore, A. B., governor, calls secession convention, 27;
orders forts seized, 61;
objects to blockade-running, 184;
arrested by Federal authorities, 262.
Morgan, John T., in secession convention, 29, 40, 42, 49.
Morse, Joshua, scalawag, attorney-general, 737.
Mossbacks, tories, and unionists, 112, 113;
numbers, 127.
Nashville convention of 1850, 14.
“National Guards,” a negro organization, 774.
National Union movement, 400, 401.
Negro Affairs, Department of, 421.
See also Freedmen’s Bureau.
Negro criminality, 762, 763;
negro labor, 710-734;
family relations, 763;
church in politics, 777;
women in politics, 776.
Negro education, favored by southern whites, 457, 626, 627;
native white teachers, 463;
Freedmen’s Bureau teaching, 456-468;
opposition to, 628;
character of, 464, 465, 625-630.
Negroes during the war, 205-212;
in the army, 86, 87, 205;
on the farms, 209;
fidelity of, 210;
in the churches, 225;
home life, 243.
Negroes under the provisional government, test their freedom, 269;
suffering among them, 273;
colonies of, 421, 444;
civil status of, 383, 384;
insurrection feared, 368, 412;
not to be arrested by civil authorities, 411;
attitude of army to, 410-413;
negro suffrage in 1866, 386.
Negroes during Reconstruction, controlled by the Union League, 553-568;
first vote, 514;
in the convention of 1867, 518, 521, 530;
in the campaign of 1874, 775, 776;
negro Democrats, 777, 778;
punished by Ku Klux Klan, 682;
negro juries, 480, 745;
disfranchised, 801, 806.
Negroes, social rights of, allowed in street cars, 393;
not allowed at hotel table, 417;
demand social privileges, 522, 764, 780, 783.
Negroes and the churches, 642, 777.
Newspapers, during the war, 218;
under Pope’s administration, 485.
Nick-a-Jack, a proposed new state, 111.
Nitre making, 152.
Non-slaveholders uphold slavery, 10, 11.
Norris, B. W., carpet-bagger, agent Freedmen’s Bureau, 426;
elected to Congress, 738.
North Alabama, anti-slavery sentiment in, 10;
in secession convention, 53;
during the Civil War, 109;
during Reconstruction, 403, 404, 748, 770, 779.
Northern men, treatment of, 318, 400.
Nullification, on Indian question, 8, 9;
divides the Democratic party, 11.
Oath, “iron-clad,” 369;
prescribed for voters, 475, 527.
Ordinance of Secession, 36, 37;
declared null and void, 360.
Painted stakes sold to negroes, 448.
Pardons by President Johnson, 356, 410.
Parsons, L. E., obstructionist and “Peace Society” man, 143, 147, 343;
provisional governor, 350, 353;
elected to U. S. Senate, 374;
speaks in the North, 392, 401;
advises rejection of Fourteenth Amendment, 396;
originates “White Man’s Movement,” 536;
Radical politician, 735, 751, 755-760.
Parties in the Convention of 1861, 28;
of 1865, 359.
Patona, or Cross Plains, affair, 686.
Patton, R. M., mentioned, 281;
elected governor, 373;
vetoes legislation for blacks, 378, 379;
on the Fourteenth Amendment, 395-397;
advises Congressional Reconstruction, 502.
Peace Society, 137-143.
Pike County grand jury, Judge Clayton’s charge to, 384.
“Pike County Platform,” 781.
“Political bacon,” 783-785.
Political beliefs of early settlers, 7.
Politics, during the war, 130-148;
1865-1867, 398;
1868-1874, 735 et seq.
Pope, General John, in command of Third Military District, 473-475;
his administration, 473-493;
quarrel with the newspapers, 485;
removed, 492.
Population, composition of, 3, 4.
Populist movement, 799.
Presbyterian church, separation, 22, 23, 24;
during Reconstruction, 640;
attitude toward negroes, 645.
Prescript of Ku Klux Klan, 664, 665.
President’s plan of reconstruction, 333 et seq.;
rejected by Congress, 377;
fails, 405, 406.
Prices during the war, 178.
Property, lost in war, 251;
decreases in value during Reconstruction, 578.
Provisional government, 351, 376.
Pryor, Roger A., debate with Yancey, 17.
Public bonded debt, 580-586.
Publishing-houses during the war, 221.
Race question, in convention of 1867, 521;
in the campaign of 1874, 679-782.
Races, segregation of, see maps in text.
Radical party organized, 505.
See also Republican party.
Railroad legislation and frauds, 587-606.
Railroads aided by state, counties, and towns during Reconstruction, 591-606.
Railroads, built during the war, 155;
destroyed, 259.
Randolph, Ryland, a member of Ku Klux Klan, 612, 667, 425;
on the temper of the people, 315;
opinion of the laws relating to freedmen, 379, 380, 384;
fears negro insurrection, 369;
in command of Alabama, 407, 476;
attitude toward civil authorities, 428, 439;
forces negro education, 459;
enters politics, 404, 511;
removed, 492.
Sykes, F. W., in Radical politics, 510;
elected to U. S. Senate, 757, 760.
Taxation during the war, 169;
during Reconstruction, 571-579;
amounts to confiscation, 578.
Temper of the people after the war, 308.
Test oath, iron-clad, 369, 370, 527.
Text-books, Confederate,

217;
Radical, 624.
Theories of Reconstruction, 333 et seq.
Third Military District, under the Reconstruction Acts, 473-502.
Thomas, Gen. G. H., mentioned, 325, 407, 408, 474.
Tories and deserters, 108-430;
in north Alabama, 109;
definition, 112, 113;
outrages by, 119;
numbers, 127.
Trade through the lines, 189.
Treasury agents prosecuted, 297.
Trials by military commission, 413, 414, 487, 498.
Tribune, of New York, investigates the “Hays-Hawley letter,” 788.
Truman, Benjamin, report on the South, 312.
Turchin, Col. J. B., allows Athens to be sacked, 63.
Underground railway in Alabama, 18.
Union League of America, 553-568;
white members, 556;
negroes admitted, 557;
ceremonies, 559;
organization and method, 561;
influence over negroes, 568;
control over elections, 514, 515;
resolutions of Alabama Council, 307.
Union troops from Alabama, 87.
Unionists, tories, mossbacks, 112, 113.
University of Alabama under the Reconstruction rÉgime, 612.
Wages of freedmen, 422, 433, 720, 731.
Walker, L. P., in Nashville convention, 14;
at Charleston convention, 18;
on negro suffrage, 389.
Wards of the nation, 421-470.
Warner, Willard, carpet-bagger, elected to U. S. Senate, 737.
Watts, Thomas H., “Union” leader, 15;
in secession convention, 29, 35, 45, 48;
defeated for governor, 131;
elected, 134;
supports the Confederacy, 135;
troubles over militia with conscript officials, 91, 97, 104;
favors blockade-running, 185;
speech in 1865, 341;
arrested by Federal authorities, 262.
Whig party, appears, 11;
its progress on the slavery question, 12;
breaks up, 16, 17.
White Brotherhood, 708.
White Camelia, 670.
White counties, agriculture in, 727;
destitution in, 196-205;
politics in, see maps.
White labor superior to negro labor, 726.
White League, 709.
“White Man’s Government,” 364.
“White man’s party,” 536, 778, 779.
Wilmer, Bishop R. H., 24;
trouble with military authorities, 325-329;
suspended, 325.
Wilson’s Raid, 71.
Women, interest in public questions, 230.
Women’s Gunboat, 245.
Yancey, William Lowndes, leader of State Rights Democrats, 12, 13;
author of Alabama Platform of 1848, 13;
advocates secession, 14, 15;
debate with Roger A. Pryor, 17;
offered nomination for vice-presidency, 19;
in secession convention, 29, 31, 36, 39, 44, 46, 57.

---

---

Footnotes:

[1]

Nativities of the Free Population

State or Country		1850		1860
Alabama		237,542		320,026
Connecticut		91		343
Florida		1,060		1,644
Georgia		58,997		83,517
Kentucky		2,694		1,966
Louisiana		628		1,149
Maine		215		272
Maryland		757		683
Massachusetts		654		753
Mississippi		2,852		4,848
New York		1,443		1,848
North Carolina		28,521		23,504
Ohio		276		265
Pennsylvania		876		989
South Carolina		48,663		45,185
Tennessee		22,541		19,139
Virginia		10,387		7,598
England		941		1,174
France		503		359
Germany		1,068		2,601
Ireland		2,639		5,664
Scotland		584		696
Spain		163		157
Switzerland		113		138

Totals		1850		1860
Native		420,032		526,769
Foreign		7,638		12,352

The total population from 1820 to 1860 was as follows:—

		White		Black
1820		85,451		41,879
1830		190,406		117,549
1840		335,185		253,532
1850		426,514		342,844
1860		526,271		435,080

[2] Hundly, “Social Relations”; Hodgson, “Cradle of the Confederacy,” Ch. 1; Garrett, “Reminiscences,” Ch. 1; Miller’s and Brown’s “Histories of Alabama,” passim; Saunders, “Early Settlers,” passim. From 1840 to 1860 there was a slight sectional and political division between the counties of north Alabama and those of central and south Alabama, owing to the conflicting interests of the two sections and to the lack of communication. By 1860 this was tending to become a social division between the white counties and the black counties. The division to some extent still exists.

[3] In all studies of the sectional spirit it should be remembered that the Southwest was settled somewhat in spite of the Washington government and without the protection of the United States army; the reverse is true of the Northwest.

[4] Hodgson, “Cradle of the Confederacy,” Chs. 2, 4, 6, 8; DuBose, “Life of William L. Yancey”; Phillips, “Georgia and State Rights,” Chs. 2, 3; Pickett, “Alabama,” Owen’s edition.

[5] In 1832 there were eight emancipation societies in north Alabama: The State Society, Courtland, Lagrange, Tuscumbia, Florence, Madison County, Athens, and Lincoln. Publications, Southern History Association, Vol. II, pp. 92, 93.

[6] See Hodgson, p. 7. In 1842 representation in the legislature was changed from the “federal” basis and based on white population alone. This change was made by the Democrats and was opposed by the Whigs. The latter predominated in the Black Belt.

[7] Hodgson, Ch. 1; Debates of Convention of 1861, passim.

[8] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 123.

[9] Known as the “Alabama Platform” of 1848.

[10] Benjamin Fitzpatrick led the conservative element of the Democratic party and opposed Yancey.

[11] This division in the State Rights ranks existed until secession was actually achieved and even after.

[12] Each extreme southern state—Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina—showed a desire to have some more moderate state act first. Some prominent men in this convention were Yancey, Seibels, Thomas Williams, John A. Elmore, B. F. Saffold, Abram Martin, A. P. Bagley, Adam C. Felder, David Clopton, and George Goldthwaite, nearly all South Carolinians by birth.

[13] A dodging of the question.

[14] For an account of one of these, see the American Historical Review, Oct., 1900.

[15] General Pryor informs me that at the convention of 1858 no one understood that there was any desire on the part of Yancey and others to reopen the slave trade. They recognized that the rest of the world was against them on that question and were demanding simply a repeal of what they considered discriminating laws. Yancey compared the question to that of the tea tax in the American colonies. See also Hodgson, p. 371, and Yancey’s speeches in Smith’s “Debates of 1861.”

[16] A branch of the Underground Railway reached from Ohio as far into Alabama as Tallapoosa County. Kagi, one of Brown’s confederates, had marked out a chain of black counties where he had travelled and where the negroes were expected to rise. He had travelled through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Russell County, Alabama, was one of those marked on his map. The people were greatly alarmed when the map was discovered. See Seibert’s “Underground Railroad,” pp. 119, 160, 167, 195; Hinton, “John Brown”; Hague, “Blockaded Family.” As early as 1835 incendiary literature had been scattered among the Alabama slaves, and in that year the grand jury of Tuscaloosa County indicted Robert G. Williams of New York for sending such printed matter among the slaves. General Gayle demanded that he be sent to Alabama for trial, but Governor Marcy refused to give him up. See Brown’s “Alabama,” p. 167, and Gulf States Hist. Mag., July, 1903.

[17] Afterwards Confederate Secretary of War.

[18] Yancey was willing to disregard instructions and not withdraw; the rest of the delegation overruled him. See paper by Petrie in Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV.

[19] Hodgson, Ch. 15.

[20] Acts of Alabama (1859-1860), pp. 689-690; Smith’s “Debates,” pp. 10, 11.

[21] Acts of Alabama (1859-1860), pp. 681-682; Senate Journal (1859-1860), pp. 147, 176, 293, 302.

[22] During this session Judge Sam. Rice, in reply to John Forsyth and others who feared that secession would lead to war, said: “There will be no war. But if there should be, we can whip the Yankees with popguns.” After the war, when he had turned “scalawag,” he was taken to task for the speech. “You said we could whip the Yankees with popguns.” “Yes,—but the damned rascals wouldn’t fight that way.”

[23] The popular vote in Alabama was: for Breckenridge, 48,831; for Douglas, 13,621; for Bell, 27,875.

[24] Many people believed that Hamlin was a mulatto.

[25] Horace Greeley, “The American Conflict,” Vol. I, p. 355. For a similar meeting in Montgomery, see Hodgson, p. 459 et seq.

[26] See Townsend Collection, Columbia University Library, Vol. I, p. 187. One poor white man in Tallapoosa County welcomed the election of Lincoln, for “now the negroes would be freed and white men could get more work and better pay.” Authorities for the political history of Alabama before 1860: Hodgson’s “Cradle of the Confederacy”; Garrett’s “Reminiscences of Public Men of Alabama”; Brewer’s “Alabama”; Brown’s “History of Alabama”; Miller’s “History of Alabama”; Pickett’s “History of Alabama” (Owen’s edition); “Northern Alabama Illustrated”; “Memorial Record of Alabama”; DuBose’s “Life and Times of William L. Yancey”; Hilliard’s “Politics and Pen Pictures and Speeches”; Transactions of Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV, papers by Yonge, Cozart, Culver, Scott, and Petrie.

[27] O’Gorman, “History of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States,” p. 425.

[28] Carroll, “Religious Forces of the United States,” p. 306; Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States,” pp. 41, 135.

[29] Statistics of Churches, Census of 1890, p. 146; Riley, “History of the Baptists in the Southern States East of the Mississippi,” p. 205 et seq.; Newman, “History of the Baptists of the United States,” pp. 443-454.

[30] See Smith, “Life of James Osgood Andrew”; Buckley, “History of Methodism”; McTyeire, “History of Methodism”; Alexander, “History of the Methodist Episcopal Church South”; Statistics of Churches, p. 581.

[31] Statistics of Churches, p. 566.

[32] Southern Aid Society Reports, 1854-1861.

[33] Statistics of Churches, p. 684; Carroll, “Religious Forces,” pp. 281, 306; Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches,” p. 135.

[34] Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches,” p. 155; Johnson, “History of the Southern Presbyterian Church,” pp. 333, 339; McPherson, “History of the Rebellion,” p. 508; “Annual CyclopÆdia” (1862), p. 707; Statistics of Churches, p. 683.

[35] Carroll, “Religious Forces,” pp. 93, 178.

[36] Annual CyclopÆdia (1864), p. 683.

[37] Wilmer, “Recent Past,” p. 248.

[38] Perry, “History of the American Episcopal Church,” Vol. II, p. 328 et seq.; McPherson, “History of the Rebellion,” p. 515; Whitaker, “Church in Alabama.”

[39] President of Columbia College (N.Y.) during and after the war.

[40] Smith, pp. 448-450, condensed.

[41] Smith, “History and Debates of the Convention of Alabama,” 1861, p. 12. My account of the convention is condensed almost entirely from Smith’s “Debates.” Smith was a coÖperationist member from Tuscaloosa County. He kept full notes of the proceedings and is impartial in his reports of speeches. Almost the entire edition of the “Debates” was destroyed by fire in 1861. Hodgson, “Cradle of the Confederacy,” and DuBose, “Life and Times of William L. Yancey,” both give short accounts of the convention.

[42] Except Yancey, who declared that the disease preying on the vitals of the Federal Union was not due to any defect in the Constitution, but to the heads, hearts, and consciences of the northern people; that no guarantees, no amendments, could reËducate the northern people on the slavery question, so as to induce a northern majority to withhold the exercise of its power in aid of abolition. Governor Moore, in the commissions given to the ambassadors to the other states, declared that the peace, honor, and security of the southern states were endangered by the election of Lincoln, the candidate of a purely sectional party, whose avowed principles demanded the destruction of slavery.

[43] It would seem that after this vote no one would say that nearly half of the members were “Unionists,” yet nearly all accounts make this statement.

[44] There were many indications that the opposition was more sectional and personal than political. It is safe to state for north Alabama that had the Black Belt declared for the Union, that section would have voted for secession.

[45] This minority report was signed by Clemens of Madison, Lewis of Lawrence, Winston of De Kalb, Kimball of Tallapoosa, Watkins of Franklin, and Jemison of Tuscaloosa, all from north Alabama.

[46] c.=coÖperationist; s.=secessionist; cs.=coÖperationist who voted for secession.

[47] It was he who compiled the debates of the convention.

[48] He was the oldest general officer in the Confederate service.

[49] Constitution, Article I, Section X: “No state shall without the consent of Congress enter into any agreement or compact with another state,” etc.

[50] He was here referring indirectly to the action of the state authorities in seizing the forts at Pensacola and Mobile before secession.

[51] Clemens was accused of voting for secession in order to obtain the command of the militia. He had formerly been an army officer, and was now made major-general of militia. It was not long before he deserted and went North.

[52] Who succeeded Yancey in the convention after the latter was sent to Europe.

[53] The present (1905) senior U. S. senator from Alabama.

[54] Bulger of Tallapoosa, Jones and Wilson of Fayette, and Sheets of Winston voted in the negative.

[55] See below, Ch. III, sec. 5.

[56] Coffee was a white county and had very few slaves.

[57] The commissioners sent to the various states were as follows: Virginia, A. F. Hopkins and F. M. Gilmer; South Carolina, John A. Elmore; North Carolina, I. W. Garrott and Robert H. Smith; Maryland, J. L. M. Curry; Delaware, David Clopton; Kentucky, S. F. Hale; Missouri, William Cooper; Tennessee, L. Pope Walker; Arkansas, David Hubbard; Louisiana, John A. Winston; Texas, J. M. Calhoun; Florida, E. C. Bullock; Georgia, John G. Shorter; Mississippi, E. W. Pettus. Only one state, South Carolina, sent a delegate to Alabama.

[58] It was not until the end of June, 1861, that the United States postal service was withdrawn and final reports made to the United States. The Confederate postal service succeeded. At first, the Confederate Postmaster-General directed the postmasters to continue to report to the United States.

[59] This account of the work of the convention is compiled from the pamphlet ordinances in the Supreme Court Library in Montgomery.

[60] So Smith, the coÖperationist historian, reported.

[61] See Smith’s “Debates”; Hodgson’s “Cradle of the Confederacy”; DuBose’s “Yancey”; Wilmer’s “Recent Past.”

[62] Gov. A. B. Moore to President Buchanan, Jan. 4, 1861, in O. R. Ser. I, Vol. I, pp. 327, 328.

[63] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 89.

[64] Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 158.

[65] See D. C. Buell, “Operations in North Alabama,” in “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,” Vol. II, pp. 701-708.

[66] Miller, p. 160; Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 65; Mrs. Clay-Clopton, “A Belle of the Fifties,” Chs. 18-22; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 204, 294, 295, et passim. Buell stated that “habitual lawlessness prevailed in a portion of General Mitchell’s command,” and that though authority was granted to punish with death there were no punishments. Discipline was lost. The officers were engaged in cotton speculation, and Mitchell’s wagon trains were used to haul the cotton for the speculators. Flagrant crimes, Buell stated, were “condoned or neglected” by Mitchell. “Battles and Leaders,” Vol. II, pp. 705, 706. North Alabama was not important to the Federals from a strategic point of view, and only the worst disciplined troops were stationed in that section.

[67] His real name was Ivan Vasilivitch Turchinoff. Several other officers were court-martialled at the same time for similar conduct. Keifer, “Slavery and Four Years of War,” Vol. I, p. 277; Miller, p. 160; “Battles and Leaders,” II, p. 706. A former “Union” man declared after the war that the barbarities of Turchin crushed out the remaining “Union” sentiment in north Alabama. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Testimony, p. 850 (Richardson); O. R., Ser. I, Vols. X and XVI, passim; Brewer, “Alabama,” pp. 319, 348. Accounts of eye-witnesses.

[68] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 204, 294, 295.

[69] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, p. 212.

[70] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 167, 168, 174 (May, 1862); for Clemens and Lane, see Ch. III, sec. 4.

[71] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 290-293.

[72] Brewer, p. 485, et passim; Miller, p. 125; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, Pt. III, pp. 750-751.

[73] Gen. D. S. Stanley to Gen. William D. Whipple, Feb., 1865; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, p. 718.

[74] Clanton’s report, March, 1864; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, Pt. III, p. 718.

[75] Miller, “Alabama.”

[76] Miller, p. 165.

[77] Miller, “Alabama”; Brewer, pp. 318, 348.

[78] Brewer, pp. 284, 383.

[79] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XVI, Pt. I, pp. 841, 839; Wyeth, “Life of Forrest,” pp. 111-113.

[80] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXII, Pt. I, p. 394.

[81] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XX, Pt. II, p. 442.

[82] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XX, Pt. II, p. 443.

[83] The Andrews raiders in Georgia were hanged as spies for being dressed “in the promiscuous southern style.”

[84] Wyeth, “Life of Forrest,” pp. 185-222; Mathes, “General Forrest,” pp. 109-127; Miller, Ch. 32.

[85] Brewer, p. 339.

[86] Miller, p. 213.

[87] After completion at Selma the Tennessee was taken down the river to defend Mobile. It was found, even after removing her armament, that the vessel could not pass the Dog River bar, and timber was cut from the forests up the river and “camels” made with which to buoy up the heavy vessel. By accident these camels were burned and more had to be made. At last the heavy ram was floated over the bar. Of course the newspapers harshly criticised those in charge of the Tennessee. Maclay, “History of the United States Navy,” Vol. II, p. 448.

[88] Brewer, p. 389; Scharf, “Confederate Navy,” Ch. 18; Miller, pp. 205-206.

[89] Brewer, p. 120; Miller, p. 207.

[90] Some of the Confederate gunboats were sunk (Huntsville and Tuscaloosa), and Commander Farrand surrendered twelve gunboats in the Tombigbee. All of these had been built at Mobile, Selma, and in the Tombigbee.

[91] Miller, pp. 208, 217-221.

[92] It was intended that Wilson should raid to and fro all through central Alabama. His men were armed with repeating carbines; his train of 250 wagons was escorted by 1500 unmounted men who secured mounts as they went farther into the interior. Greeley, Vol. II, p. 716.

[93] N. Y. Herald, April 6, 1865.

[94] April 5 Cahaba was captured by a part of Wilson’s force and twenty Federal prisoners released from the military prison at that place. They reported that they had been well treated.—N. Y. Herald, April 29, 1865.

[95] Wyeth, “Life of Forrest,” pp. 606, 607.

[96] Parsons’s Cooper Institute Speech in N. Y. Times, Nov. 27, 1865; Trowbridge, “The South,” pp. 435, 440. Accounts of eye-witnesses.

[97] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 435.

[98] Hardy, “History of Selma,” p. 51; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 221-226; Parsons, speeches in N. Y. Times, Nov. 27, 1865, Apr. 20, 1866; N. Y Herald, May 4, and Apr. 6, 1865; Montgomery Advertiser, July 14, 1867; Wilson’s Report, June 29, 1865; Selma Times, Feb. 13, 1866; “Our Women in War Times,” p. 277; Greeley, Vol. II, p. 719; Wyeth, “Life of Forrest,” pp. 604-607; “Northern Alabama,” p. 655.

[99] Hardy, “History of Selma,” p. 52, says four regiments were organized, and the others were driven away.

[100] 125,000 bales, according to Greeley, Vol. II, p. 719.

[101] The Advertiser of April 18, 1865.

[102] N. Y. World, May 1 and July 18, 1865; N. Y. Herald, May 4 and 15, and June 17, 1865; Brewer, p. 512; Greeley, Vol. II, p. 720.

[103] N. Y. Daily News, May 29, 1865; Century Magazine, Nov., 1889; Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV, p. 449.

[104] Report, June 29, 1865.

[105] Somers, “The South Since the War,” pp. 134, 135.

[106] Truman in N. Y. Times, Nov. 2, 1865.

[107] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. III, pp. 230-233.

[108] See Brewer, “County Notes.”

[109] Brewer, p. 188 et passim; Miller, p. 179; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXIII, Pt. I, pp. 245-249.

[110] Miller, p. 183; Garrett, “Public Men.”

[111] Miller, p. 301.

[112] Speech at Cooper Institute, Nov. 13, 1865, in N. Y. Times, Nov. 27, 1895.

[113] N. Y. Herald, May 4 and 15, 1865; the World, May 1, 1865; the Times, April 20, and Nov. 2, 1865; Montgomery Advertiser, July 14, 1867; Selma Times, Feb. 13, 1866; Wilson’s Report, June 29, 1865: Hardy, “History of Selma,” pp. 46, 51.

[114] “The South,” p. 440.

[115] Hague, “Blockaded Family,” passim; Riley, “Baptists in Alabama,” pp. 304, 305; “Our Women in the War,” p. 275 et seq.; Riley, “History of Conecuh County,” p. 173.

[116] Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 359; Brewer, “History of Alabama,” pp. 68, 69; Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. II, p. 188.

[117] Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 360; Colonel Moore’s article in the Louisville Post, May 30, 1900.

[118] Miller, p. 359.

[119] For other estimates, see Livermore, “Numbers and Losses,” and Curry, “Civil History of the Confederate States,” pp. 152, 153.

[120] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 102, 103.

[121] Livermore, “Numbers and Losses,” pp. 20, 21.

[122] Alabama did not succeed in organizing the militia.

[123] Miller, “Alabama,” Appendix; Report of Col. E. D. Blake, Supt. of Special Registration, in O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 102, 103; Brewer, “Alabama,” see “Regimental Histories.”

[124] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. III, pp. 440, 445; Brewer, “Alabama.” Several commands were equipped at the expense of the commanders; others were equipped by the communities in which they were raised; one old gentleman, Joel E. Matthews of Selma, gave his check for $15,000 to the state, besides paying for the outfitting of several companies of soldiers. “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 661.

[125] These regiments were the 57th and 61st Infantry, and 7th Cavalry.

[126] General Lee protested against this practice as preventing the proper recruitment of the armies. Livermore, “Numbers and Losses in the Civil War,” p. 12.

[127] The infantry regiments in Lee’s army had 12 companies.

[128] See summary of Confederate legislation on the subject. Livermore, p. 30. The purpose of these laws was to discourage the formation of new commands. It was not effective in Alabama.

[129] These were the infantry regiments numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 41, 44, 48.

[130] The infantry regiments numbered 9, 11, 44, 48.

[131] The infantry regiments numbered 43, 47, 49, 61. Brewer, “Regimental Histories.”

[132] These were the infantry regiments numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 41, 44, 48.

[133] When the regiments enlisted for a short time were retained in the service, the men were allowed to change to other regiments if they desired, and many did so. These transfers and reËnlistments swelled the total enrolment of popular regiments.

[134] This has since been the method of estimating the number of soldiers furnished by Alabama,—each enlistment counting as one man.

[135] The infantry regiments numbered 20, 23, 28, 31, 34, 37, 42, 55.

[136] The 23d Infantry.

[137] The regiments that were united were: 24, 34, and 28; 33 and 38; 32 and 58; 23 and 46; 7, 39, 22, and 26-50. All were in Johnston’s army except the 32d and 58th, which were in Taylor’s command. Some of these regiments were consolidated after only one year’s service; the others after less than two years. This indicates a low enrolment. Many companies were never recruited to the minimum. Three infantry regiments were disbanded after short service,—1, 2 and 7,—and the men reËnlisted in other organizations.

[138] The 62d, 63d, 65th. A thousand to the regiment is a very liberal estimate; 500 is probably more nearly correct, I am told by old soldiers.

[139] Jeff Davis Artillery, Hadaway’s Battery, Jeff Davis Legion, 4th Battalion Infantry, 23d Battalion Infantry.

[140] The 1st, 3d, 8th, 10th, and 15th Confederate regiments of cavalry had some companies from Alabama.

[141] The 6th Infantry.

[142] Miller, p. 374.

[143] Brewer evidently follows Fowler, as to the Army of Northern Virginia.

[144] Not that this deceived the Confederate administration, but the large estimates sounded well in the governor’s messages, and when there was a dispute with Richmond about the quota of the state.

[145] In 1861 and 1862 some regiments enlisted for short terms, some for three years, some for the war. I have been unable, in more than two or three cases, to find out the exact term, but there could hardly have been more than one reËnlistment of an organization.

[146] The 1st, 2d, 7th, 11th, 21st, 25th, 26th-50th, 27th, 29th, 42d, 46th, 54th, 55th, 56th, 58th, 59th, 60th, 62d, 65th.

[147] The 3d, Russell’s 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th.

[148] (a) There had been to the end of 1863, 90,857 enlistments in Alabama. Included in these figures were all reËnlistments and transfers.

(b) In the summer of 1863 the state took a census of all males from sixteen to sixty years of age, a total of 40,500 names. These included 8835, and later 10,000, exempts, and all the cripples and deadheads in the state. Since this was six months previous to the report of the 90,857 enlistments, there must have been in the latter number many that were on the former list. See O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 101-103, 1101.

[149] West Point graduates, nine.

[150] Killed in battle, ten.

[151] Derry, “Story of the Confederate States”; Southern Hist. Soc. Papers, Vol. VI; Brewer, “Alabama,” “Regimental Histories”; Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 375; Brown, “History of Alabama,” pp. 238-254.

[152] Annual CyclopÆdia (1864), p. 7.

[153] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 10.

[154] Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” p. 305; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 1193.

[155] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol I, p. 1088; Vol. II, pp. 94, 197.

[156] N. Y. World, March 12, 1864; “The Land We Love,” Vol. II, p. 296.

[157] Southern Hist. Soc. Papers, Vol. II, p. 61; Shaver, “History of the Sixtieth Alabama,” p. 106; Miller, “History of Alabama,” pp. 359, 374; Brewer, “Alabama,” pp. 586-705; “Confederate Military History”—Alabama; Longstreet, “Manassas to Appomattox”; “Memorial Record of Alabama” (Wheeler’s “Military History”); McMorries, “History of the First Alabama Regiment.”

[158] Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. II, p. 188; also John S. Wise, “End of an Era”; Longstreet, “Manassas to Appomattox.”

[159] Montgomery Advertiser Almanac (1901), p. 220.

[160] Report of 1866, Appendix, Pt. I, p. 166.

[161] Report of the Secretary of War, 1866, Appendix, Pt. I, p. 69; Report of the Secretary of War (1864-1865), p. 28; Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. VII, p. 45; Miller, p. 360; O. R., Ser. III, Vol. III, pp. 1115, 1190, and Vol. IV, pp. 16, 921, 925, 269, 1270; O. R., Ser. II, Vol. V, pp. 589, 570, 626, 627, 716, 946, 947; “Confederate Military History”—Alabama.

[162] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 592.

[163] Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Supplement.

[164] The 89th, 94th, 95th, etc. See Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Supplement. The highest number of a militia regiment to be found on the records was the 102d, in Sumter County.

[165] See O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II (Shorter to Johnston).

[166] Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. VI; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 253-256.

[167] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIX, Pts. II and III, pp. 780, 855; Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 175, 323.

[168] Act of General Assembly, Aug. 29, 1863, which seems to have followed an act of Congress of similar nature.

[169] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 1133.

[170] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 172-174, 256, 376. The state supreme court held the same view.

[171] Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. VIII, p. 378.

[172] Acts of General Assembly, Dec. 12, 1864.

[173] N. Y. Times, April 16, 1865; Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 10.

[174] See O. R., General Index.

[175] The 61st, 62nd, and 65th regiments were thus formed, the men becoming subject to duty under the conscript act, or by volunteering.

[176] Act, April 16, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[177] Act, April 21, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[178] Act, Sept. 27, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 2d Sess.

[179] Act, Oct. 9, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 2d Sess. These details were still carried on the rolls of the company.

[180] Act, Oct. 11, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 2d Sess. The exemption of one white for twenty negroes was called the “twenty-nigger law.” One peaceable Black Belt citizen wished to stay at home, but he possessed only nineteen negroes. His neighbors thought that he ought to go to war, and no one would give, lend, or sell him a slave. Unable to purchase even the smallest negro, he was sadly making preparations to depart, when one morning he was rejoiced by the welcome news that one of the negro women had presented her husband with a fine boy. The tale of twenty negroes was complete, and the master remained at home.

[181] Act of April 14, 1863, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 3d Sess.

[182] Acts, Dec. 28, 1863, and Jan. 5, 1864, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 4th Sess.

[183] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 4th Sess.

[184] Act, Feb. 17, 1864, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 4th Sess.

[185] Acts, Jan. 31, 1861, 1st Called Session.

[186] Act, Aug. 29, 1863.

[187] Nov. 25, 1862.

[188] Dec. 6, 1862.

[189] Act, Aug. 29, 1863.

[190] Dec. 13, 1864. This was a measure of obstruction, since the Confederate laws did not exempt millers. The legislature elected in 1863 contained many obstructionists.

[191] Act, Aug. 29, 1863.

[192] Resolution, Dec. 4, 1863.

[193] Ex parte Hill, In re Willis et al. vs. Confederate States—38 Alabama Reports (1863), 429. All over the state at various times men sought to avoid conscription or some certain service under every pretext, sometimes “even resorting to a habeas corpus before an ignorant justice of the peace, who had no jurisdiction over such cases.” See O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 139; also Governor Shorter to General Johnston. Aug., 1863.

[194] Dunkards, Quakers, Nazarenes. In re Stringer—38 Alabama (1863), 457.

[195] 38 Alabama, 458.

[196] 39 Alabama, 367.

[197] 39 Alabama, 254.

[198] 39 Alabama, 457.

[199] 39 Alabama, 440.

[200] 39 Alabama, 611.

[201] 39 Alabama, 609.

[202] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 256, 463, et passim.

[203] Memorial, Oct. 7, 1864.

[204] Acts, Dec. 12, 1864.

[205] Dec. 13, 1864.

[206] Curry, “Civil History of the Confederate States,” p. 151.

[207] The Conscript Bureau had posts at the following places: Decatur, Courtland, Somerville, Guntersville, Tuscumbia, Fayetteville, Pikeville, Camden, Montgomery, Selma, Lebanon, Pollard, Troy, Mobile, West Point (Ga.), Marion, Greensborough, Blountsville, Livingston, Gadsden, Cedar Bluff, Jacksonville, Ashville, Carrollton, Tuscaloosa, Eutaw, Eufaula, Jasper, Newton, Clarksville, Talladega, Elyton. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 819-821.

[208] See De Leon, “Four Years in Rebel Capitals.”

[209] President Davis visited Mobile in October, 1863, and upon reviewing the Alabama troops recently raised, was much moved at seeing the young boys and the old gray-haired men in the ranks before him. See Annual CyclopÆdia (1863), p. 8. The A. and I. General of Alabama reported, July 29, 1862, that not more than 10,000 conscripts could be secured from Alabama unless the enemy could be expelled from the Tennessee valley. In that case, 3000 more men might be secured. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 21.

[210] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 1149; Vol. II, pp. 87, 207, 208, 790.

[211] See Curry, “Civil History,” p. 151.

[212] James Phelan to President Davis, O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XVII, Pt. II, p. 790.

[213] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XVII, Pt. II, p. 790.

[214] C. C. Clay, Jr., to Secretary of War, O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 141, 142.

[215] I know of one man who for two years carried his arm in a sling to deceive the enrolling officers. It was sound when he put it into the sling. After the war ended he could never regain the use of it.

A draft from the Home Guards of Selma was ordered to go to Mobile. The roll was made out, and opposite his name each man was allowed to write his excuse for not wishing to go. One cripple, John Smith, wrote, “One leg too short,” and was at once excused by the Board. The next man had no excuse whatever, but he had seen how Smith’s excuse worked, so he wrote, “Both legs too short,” but he had to go to Mobile. “The Land We Love,” Vol. III, p. 430.

[216] Shorter’s Proclamation, Dec. 22, 1862.

[217] M. J. Saffold, afterward a prominent “scalawag,” escaped service as an “agent to examine political prisoners.” O. R., Ser. II, Vol. VI, p. 432.

[218] The list of pardons given by President Johnson will show a number of the titles assumed by the exempts. The chronic exempts were skilled in all the arts of beating out. If a new way of securing exemption were discovered, the whole fraternity of “deadheads” soon knew of it. In 1864 nearly all the exemptions and details made in order to supply the Quartermaster’s Department were revoked, and agents sent through the country to notify the former exempts that they were again subject to duty. Before the enrolling officers reached them nearly all of them had secured a fresh exemption, and from a large district in middle Alabama, I have been informed by the agent who revoked the contracts, not one recruit for the armies was secured. Often the exemption was only a detail, and large numbers of men were carried on the rolls of companies who never saw their commands. Often a man when conscripted would have sufficient influence to be at once detailed, and would never join his company. Little attention was paid to the laws regarding exemption.

[219] Curry, “Civil History,” pp. 142-148. The wealthy young men volunteered, at first as privates or as officers; the older men of wealth nearly all became officers, chosen by their men. One company from Tuskegee owned property worth over $2,000,000. Opelika Post, Dec. 4, 1903.

[220] Act of Feb. 17, 1864, Pub. Laws, C. S. A.

[221] Curry, “Civil History,” pp. 142-148, 151.

[222] N. Y. World, March 28, 1864.

[223] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 881.

[224] The law of Feb. 17, 1864, provided for the separate enrolment of these two classes, and the enrolling officers interpreted it as requiring separate service. Such an interpretation would practically prohibit the formation of volunteer commands and would leave the reserves to the enrolling officers to be organized in camp.

[225] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 322, 323, 463, 466, 1059, 1060.

[226] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 817, 819, 920.

[227] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 821, 848. At this time there were in the state 1223 officials who had the governor’s certificate of exemption. There were 1012 in Georgia, 1422 in Virginia, 14,675 in North Carolina, and much smaller numbers in the other states. See O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 851.

[228] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 224 (March 18, 1864).

[229] An ex-Confederate related to me his experiences with the conscript officers. In 1864 he was at home on furlough and was taken by the “buttermilk” cavalry, carried to Camp Watts, at Notasulga, and enrolled as a conscript, no attention being paid to his furlough. To Camp Watts were brought daily squads of conscripts, rounded up by the “buttermilk” cavalry. They were guarded by conscripts. When rested, the new recruits would leave, the guards often going with them. Then another squad would be brought in, who in a day or two would desert. This soldier came home again with a discharge for disability. The conscript officials again took him to Camp Watts. He presented his discharge papers; the commandant tore them up before his face, and a few days later this soldier with a friend boarded the cowcatcher of a passing train and rode to Chehaw. The commandant sent guards after the fugitives, who captured the guards and then went to Tuskegee, where they swore out, as he said, a habeas corpus before the justice of the peace and started for their homes with their papers. They found the swamps filled with the deserters, who did not molest them after finding that they too were “deserters.”

[230] 8835 to January, 1864. See report of Colonel Preston, April, 1864, in O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 355, 363. The estimate was based on the census of 1860.

[231] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 101, 103, et passim.

[232] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 355, 363.

[233] Feb. 17, 1864.

[234] There were 1223 to Nov. 30, 1864.

[235] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 1, 103-109.

[236] G. O., No. 144, Dept. of the Cumberland, Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 4, 1864, War Department Archives. There were other similar cases, but I found record of no other conviction. The “tories” were sometimes in league with the conscript officers, and sometimes they shot them at sight.

[237] D. P. Lewis of Lawrence, Jeremiah (or Jere) Clemens of Madison, and C. C. Sheets of Winston deserted later.

[238] T. H. Clark, “Railroads and Highways,” in the “Memorial Record of Alabama,” Vol. I, pp. 322-323.

[239] Smith, Clemens, Jemison, and Bulger, in Smith’s “History and Debates of the Convention of 1861”; Hodgson, “Cradle of the Confederacy”; Garrett, “Public Men of Alabama.”

[240] See Smith’s “History and Debates of the Convention of 1861”; Nicolay and Hay, “Lincoln,” Vol. III, p. 186.

[241] A. B. Hendren, mayor of Athens and editor of the Union Banner, wrote in 1861 to Secretary Walker, stating that he had strongly opposed secession, but was now convinced that it was right; as mayor, he was committed to reconstruction, which he no longer favored; he did not proclaim his new sentiments through his paper for fear of pecuniary loss, but people were becoming suspicious of his lukewarm reconstruction spirit. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, pp. 181, 182.

[242] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 47; Ku Klux Rept. Ala. Test., pp. 592, 824; Saunders, “Early Settlers”; Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 65; Garrett, “Public Men”; Miller, “Alabama”; Nicolay and Hay, Vol. III, p. 186; DuBose, “Life of Yancey,” pp. 562, 563.

[243] See DuBose, “Life of Yancey,” p. 563.

The non-slaveholders in the Black Belt appear to have been more dissatisfied than those of the white counties at the outbreak of the war. May 13, 1861, William M. Brooks, who had presided over the secession convention, wrote from Perry County to President Davis in regard to the bad effect of the refusal to accept short-time volunteers. He said that though there were 20,000 slaves in Perry County, most of the whites were non-slaveholders. Some of the latter had been made to believe that the war was solely to get more slaves for the rich, and many who had no love for slaveholders were declaring that they would “fight for no rich man’s slave.” The men who had enlisted were largely of the hill class, poor folks who left their work to go to camp and drill. Here, while their crops wasted, they lost their ardor, and when they heard that their one-year enlistment was not to be accepted, they began to murmur. They were made to believe by traitors that a rich man could enter the army for a year and then quit, while they had to enlist for the war. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. VIII, pp. 318-319.

Horace Greeley in the Tribune was reported to have said: Large slaveholders were not secessionists, they resisted disunion; those who had much at stake hesitated a long while; it was not a “slaveholders’ rebellion”; it was really a rebellion of the non-slaveholders resident in the strongholds of slavery, springing from no love of slavery, but from the antagonism of race and the hatred of the idea of equality with the blacks involved in simple emancipation.—Ku Klux Rept., p. 519. There is a basis of truth in this.

[244] North Alabama before the war was overwhelmingly Democratic and was called “The Avalanche” from the way it overran the Whiggish counties of the southern and central sections. This was shown in the convention, where representation was based on the white vote. Since the war representation in the conventions is based on population, and the Black Belt has controlled the white counties. “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” pp. 251, 756. See also DuBose, “Yancey,” p. 562.

[245] Professor George W. Duncan of Auburn, Ala., and many others have given me information in regard to the people in that section. See also H. Mis. Doc. No. 42, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 14, 1862.

[246] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. III, p. 249. For much information concerning the conditions in north Alabama during the war, I am indebted to Professor O. D. Smith of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, a native of Vermont who was then a Confederate Bonded Treasury Agent and travelled extensively over that part of the country.

[247] Reid, “After the War,” pp. 348-350; Saunders, “Early Settlers,” pp. 115, 164; Jones, “A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary,” Vol. I, pp. 182, 208.

[248] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 141. 142.

[249] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, p. 638.

[250] Moore, “Anecdotes, Poetry, and Incidents of the War,” p. 215 (Letters from the chaplain of Streight’s regiment); O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XVI, Pt. I, pp. 124, 785 (Streight’s Report); Miller, “Alabama”; Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, pp. 182-208.

[251] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. VII, p. 840.

[252] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. VII, pp. 153-156, 424.

[253] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 1149.

[254] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 258.

[255] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 819-821.

[256] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, p. 431.

[257] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIX, Pt. II, p. 57.

[258] The official statement of the War Department. See also “Confederate Military History,” Vol. XII, p. 502.

[259] Act of General Assembly, Aug. 29, 1863.

[260] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 680.

[261] Joint Resolution, Dec. 4, 1863.

[262] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXII, Pt. I, p. 671.

[263] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXII, Pt. I, p. 671, and Vol. XXXIII, Pt. III, pp. 570, 683, 856.

[264] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, Pt. III, pp. 825, 826, 856.

[265] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, p. 659.

[266] Somers, “The Southern States since the War,” p. 135; Montgomery Advertiser, Aug. 17, 1902; N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 10, 1865; Freemantle, “Three Months in the Southern States.”

[267] Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. VII, p. 45; Freemantle, p. 141.

[268] Freemantle, “Three Months in the Southern States,” p. 141, quoted from a local newspaper; accounts of eye-witnesses.

[269] Miller, passim; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 135.

[270] Miller, p. 193; Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. VII, p. 357.

[271] Saunders, “Early Settlers,” pp. 115, 164.

[272] This correspondent defined a “unionist” or “loyalist” as one truly devoted to the Union and who had never wavered, thus excluding from consideration those who had gone with the Confederacy and later become disappointed. Boston Journal, Nov. 15, 1864; N. Y. Herald, April 7, 1864; The Tribune, Nov. 14, 1862; N. Y. Times, Nov. 23, 1862; Tharin, “The Alabama Refugee.”

[273] The World, Feb. 15, 1865.

[274] Information in regard to affairs in southeast Alabama during the war I have obtained from relatives (all of whom were “Union” men before the war) and from neighbors who were acquainted with the conditions in that section of the country.

[275] Miller, “Alabama.” Sanders had been a Confederate officer.

[276] Thickets which the eye could not penetrate.

[277] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LII, p. 403.

[278] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVIII, Pt. II, p. 273; Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 1043.

[279] Joint Resolution, Oct. 7, 1864. J. J. Seibels proposed to raise a regiment for state defence of men under and over military age. He wanted, also, to get the skulkers who could not otherwise be obtained. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 604.

[280] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 1042, 1043 (Solicitor James N. Arrington and Attorney-General M. A. Baldwin).

[281] Clemens was a cousin of “Mark Twain.” He was fond of drink, and once when William L. Yancey asked him not to drink so much, he answered that he was obliged to drink his genius down to a level with Yancey’s.

[282] N. Y. Tribune, May 23, 1865. See Smith, “Debates,” Index.

[283] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 167, 168, 174, 178. Clemens had been captain, major, and colonel of the Thirteenth United States Infantry. From 1849 to 1853 he was United States Senator. He died in Philadelphia a few years after the war. Garrett, “Public Men of Alabama,” pp. 176-179.

[284] Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 364.

[285] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LII, Pt. II, p. 35.

[286] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 161-163.

[287] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 327; Acts of Alabama, 1862, p. 225; Moore, “Anecdotes, Poetry, and Incidents of the War,” p. 215.

[288] Lewis became the second “Radical” or scalawag governor of Alabama, serving from 1872 to 1874. Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 260, 261; Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 368.

[289] O. R., Ser. II, Vol. VIII, p. 86.

[290] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXX, Pt. III, pp. 750-751.

[291] It is a notable fact that among the disaffected persons of prominence there were none of the old Whigs, or Bell and Everett men. Nearly all were Douglas Democrats. The Bell and Everett people so conducted themselves during the war that afterwards they were as completely disfranchised and out of politics as were the Breckenridge Democrats. The work of reconstruction under the Johnson plan fell mainly to the former Douglas Democrats and the lesser Whigs.

[292] Report of the Secretary of War, 1865, Vol. I, p. 45; “Confederate Military History,” Vol. XII, p. 501.

[293] Report of the Secretary of War, Vol. I, p. 45; “Confederate Military History,” Vol. XII, p. 501.

[294] I am indebted to old soldiers for descriptions of conditions in north and west Alabama before and following Taylor’s surrender. All agree in their accounts of the conditions in Alabama and Mississippi at that time.

[295] These estimates are based on half a hundred other estimates made during the war by state, Confederate, and Federal officials, and by other observers, and from estimates made by persons familiar with conditions at that time. They are rather too small than too large. O. R., Ser. IV, Vols. I to IV passim.

[296] O. R., Ser. IV, pp. 880, 881.

[297] See also Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 563; Schwab, p. 190.

[298] See below, Ch. XXI.

[299] See DuBose, “Yancey,” pp. 566, 567, and Brewer and Garrett under the names of the above.

[300] Brewer, p. 126; Garrett, p. 723.

[301] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 709.

[302] Joint Resolution, Acts of 1st Called Sess., 1861, p. 142.

[303] Joint Resolution, Acts of Called Sess. and 2d Regular Sess., 1862, p. 202.

[304] Acts of Called Sess. and 3d Regular Sess., 1863, p. 52.

[305] A “bomb-proof” was a person who secured a safe position in order to keep out of service in the field. A “feather bed” was one who stayed at home with good excuse,—a teacher, agriculturist, preacher, etc., who had only recently been called to such profession.

[306] By act of the legislature soldiers in the field were to vote, but no instance is found of their having done so.

[307] See Hannis Taylor, “Political History of Alabama,” in “Memorial Record of Alabama,” Vol. I, p. 82.

[308] Jones, “A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary,” Vol. I, pp. 250, 335, 391; Schwab, “Confederate States,” p. 210; Garrett, p. 385; Brewer, p. 411.

[309] Acts of 2d Regular Sess., 1862, p. 200.

[310] Annual CyclopÆdia (1862), p. 9; Schwab, “Confederate States,” pp. 195, 196; Brewer, 127; Garrett, pp. 722, 724. See infra, p. 97.

[311] Shorter’s Proclamation, Dec. 22, 1862, in Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. IV, and above, p. 88.

[312] Annual CyclopÆdia (1863), p. 6; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 126; Brewer, pp. 66, 126, 460; Garrett, p. 722; Hannis Taylor, in “Memorial Record of Alabama,” p. 82.

[313] Acts, 3d Regular Sess., 1864, p. 217.

[314] Annual CyclopÆdia (1863), p. 7. Francis Wayland, Jr., in a “Letter to a Peace Democrat” in the Atlantic Monthly, Dec., 1863, quotes Governor Watts as saying immediately after he had been elected: “If I had the power I would build up a wall of fire between Yankeedom and the Confederate States, there to burn for ages.” See also O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 120; McMorries, “History of the First Alabama Regiment of Infantry.”

[315] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 37, 463, 466, 817, 820. See also above, pp. 97, 103, 104.

[316] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 683, 685, 735, 736.

[317] Act, Oct. 7, 1864.

[318] Act, Dec. 12, 1864.

[319] See McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 419-421.

[320] The “Confederate Military History” states that in 1864 the people hoped for terms of peace, believing that Democratic successes in the northern elections would result in an armistice, and later reconstruction; that the people were always ready to go back to the principles of 1787, and it was believed that Davis was willing, but that the unfavorable elections of 1864 and the military interference by the Federal administration in the border states killed this constitutional peace party. See Vol. I, pp. 505, 537.

[321] Williamson R. W. Cobb of Jackson County, a very popular politician, a member of the 36th Congress, met his first defeat in 1861, when a candidate for the Confederate Congress. In 1863 he was successful over the man who had beaten him in 1861. After the election, if not before, he was in constant communication with the enemy and went into their lines several times. The Congress expelled him by a unanimous vote. It was rumored that President Lincoln intended to appoint him military governor, but he killed himself accidentally in 1864. Cobb was a “down east Yankee” who had come into the state as a clock pedler. He had no education and little real ability, but was a smooth talker and was master of the arts of the demagogue. In political life he was famed for shaking hands with the men, kissing the women, and playing with the babies. At a Hardshell foot-washing he won favor by carrying around the towels, in striking contrast with his Episcopalian rival, who sat on the back bench. Cobb was for the Confederacy as long as he thought it would win; when luck changed, he proceeded to make himself safe. After his desertion he lost influence among the people of his district. See Brewer, pp. 286, 287; McPherson, pp. 49, 400, 402, 411.

[322] O. R., Vol. II, p. 726 (W. T. Walthall, commandant of conscripts for Alabama, Talladega, Aug. 6, 1863). In the fall of 1864 a secret peace society was discovered in southwest Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 802-820.

[323] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, pp. 555-557.

[324] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 548.

[325] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, pp. 551, 552.

[326] The 61st Alabama Regiment was composed largely of conscripts under veteran officers. It was evidently at first called the 59th. Brewer, p. 673.

[327] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 550.

[328] The 57th Alabama Regiment was recruited in the counties of Pike, Coffee, Dale, Henry, and Barbour. See Brewer, p. 669.

[329] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 550.

[330] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 556. The 59th Alabama Regiment was formed from a part of Hilliard’s Legion. Brewer, p. 671.

[331] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, pp. 552, 556.

[332] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 556; Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 671. It may be that the 59th Regiment here spoken of as consolidated was not the 59th under the command of Bolling Hall, but was merely the first number given to the regiment, which later became the 61st. See Brewer, pp. 671, 673. However, the society existed in Bolling Hall’s regiment.

[333] See Nicolay and Hay, “Lincoln,” Vol. VIII, pp. 410-415; McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 320-322.

[334] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, Pt. III, pp. 682, 683, and Vol. XXII, Pt. I, p. 671; Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 393-397. A fuller account of the Peace Society will be found in the South Atlantic Quarterly, July, 1903. Some of the prominent leaders in the Peace Society were said to be: Lewis E. Parsons, later provisional governor, said to be the head of it; Col. J. J. Seibels of Montgomery; R. S. Heflin, state senator from Randolph County; W. W. Dodson, William Kent, David A. Perryman, Lieut.-Col. E. B. Smith, W. Armstrong, and A. A. West, of Randolph County; Capt. W. S. Smith, Demopolis; L. McKee and Lieut. N. B. DeArmon.

General James H. Clanton testified in 1871 that while in the Alabama legislature during the war L. E. Parsons, afterwards governor, introduced resolutions invoking the blessings of heaven on the head of Jefferson Davis and praying that God would spare him to consummate his holy purposes. Jabez M. Curry charged Parsons with being a “reconstructionist” during the war, that is, with being disloyal to the government. Parsons had two young sons in the Confederate army, and one of them was so indignant at the charge against his father that he shot and wounded Curry. Dr. Ware of Montgomery afterwards made the same charge. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 234.

[335] See O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, p. 718. “Confederate Military History,” Vol. I, pp. 505, 509, 511, 512, 537.

[336] A Douglas Democrat, a Douglas elector, and a strong secessionist, who had deserted to the enemy. Brewer, p. 364.

[337] N. Y. Times, Feb. 14, 1864; Annual CyclopÆdia (1864), pp. 10, 11; N. Y. Daily News, April 16, 1864, from Columbus (Ga.) Sun.

[338] N. Y. Tribune, May 23, 1865.

[339] N. Y. World, March 28, 1864.

[340] N. Y. Times, March 24, 1864; N. Y. World, March 28, 1864. Busteed was a newly appointed Federal judge who afterward became notorious in “carpet-bag” days. He succeeded George W. Lane in the judgeship.

[341] There were several regular, reliable correspondents in north Alabama, for the New York, Boston, and Chicago papers. Their accounts are corroborated by the reports made later by Confederate and Federal officials.

[342] At this time Bulger was in active service. See Brewer, “Alabama,” pp. 548, 660; “Confederate Military History”—Alabama, see Index. Bradley was a north Alabama man who had gone over to the enemy to save his property. This was his chief claim to notoriety. He became a prominent “scalawag” later.

[343] N. Y. Herald, Nov. 29, 1864; N. Y. Times, Feb. 10, 1865; Boston Journal, Nov. 15, 1864; The World, March 28, 1864, Feb. 11, 1865; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, pp. 590, 659.

[344] Later governor, succeeding Parsons.

[345] Letter from Giers at Decatur, Jan. 26, 1865; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, pp. 590, 718. See also Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, pp. 13-15, 60, 64.

[346] Giers, from Nashville, to Grant; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, p. 659.

[347] Judging from the correspondence of Giers, the plan had the approval of General Grant.

[348] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, p. 560.

[349] This fear is expressed in all their correspondence.

[350] Davis, “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,” Vol. I, p. 471; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. III, p. 440.

[351] Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 158; Davis, “Confederate Government,” Vol. I, p. 476; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. III, p. 440.

[352] Acts of 2d Called and 1st Regular Sess. (1861), pp. 75, 211.

[353] April 10, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[354] April 16, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.; Governor’s Proclamation, March 1, 1862.

[355] April 17, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[356] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. III, pp. 870, 875.

[357] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 986, 987; Davis, Vol. I, p. 480; “Southern Hist. Soc. Papers,” Vol. II, p. 61.

[358] Miller, “History of Alabama,” pp. 180, 181; Davis, Vol. I, pp. 480, 481; Hardy, “History of Selma,” pp. 46, 47; N. Y. Times, Nov. 2, 1865 (Truman); O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 986, 987. The arsenal was commanded by Col. J. L. White; the naval foundries and the rolling mills were under the direction of Capt. Catesby ap Roger Jones, the designer of the Virginia; Commodore Ebenezer Farrand superintended the construction of war vessels at the Selma navy-yard. Captain Jones cast the heavy ordnance for the forts at Mobile, Charleston, and Wilmington. Five gunboats were built at Selma in 1863 and two or three others in 1864-1865. The ram Tennessee, built in 1863-1864, was constructed like the Virginia, but was an improvement except for the weak engines. When the keel of the Tennessee was laid, in the fall of 1863, some of the timbers to be used in her were still standing in the forest, and the iron for her plates was ore in the mines. Scharf, “Confederate Navy,” pp. 50, 534, 550, 555; “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 654; Maclay, “History of United States Navy,” Vol. II, pp. 446, 447; Wilson, “Ironclads in Action,” Vol. I, p. 116.

[359] Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 765.

[360] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 29, 102.

[361] Miller, pp. 201, 230; Davis, Vol. I, p. 473; Porcher, p. 378.

[362] April 11, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[363] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 195, 697.

[364] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 695.

[365] One of the most valuable of these caves was the “Santa Cave.” See O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 29, 102.

[366] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 695, 698.

[367] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 29, 102.

[368] In 1861 the War Department gave Leonard and Riddle of Montgomery an order for 60,000 pounds of nitre, and a company near Larkinsville in north Alabama was making 700 pounds a day, which it sold to the government at 22 to 35 cents a pound. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 556.

[369] April 17, 1862. Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.; Acts of Ala., Dec. 7, 1861, and Dec. 2, 1862; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 195, 698, 702, 987; Davis, Vol. I, pp. 316, 473, 477; Miller, pp. 201, 230; Schwab, “Confederate States,” p. 270; Annual CyclopÆdia (1862), p. 9; Le Conte’s “Autobiography,” p. 184.

[370] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 556.

[371] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 162.

[372] Somers, p. 175.

[373] April 9, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[374] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 695, 700, 702, 990.

[375] Freight rates in Alabama were as follows in December, 1862:—

1. Ammunition		$0.60 per 100 lbs., per 100 miles.
2. (Second class)		0.30 per 100 lbs., per 100 miles.
3. Live stock		30.00 per car, per 100 miles.
4. Hay, fodder, wagons, ambulances, etc.		20.00 per car, per 100 miles.

Troops were to be carried for 2½ to 3½ cents a mile per man. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 276.

[376] Charles T. Pollard, president of the Montgomery and West Point R.R., who ran his road under direction of the government, reported, April 4, 1862, that he had placed the whole line between Montgomery and Selma under contract, and that it would be completed within the year if iron could be obtained. He thought the road between Selma and Meridian ought to be completed at once. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, pp. 10, 48. On Sept. 14, 1864, it was reported that the grading was finished on the road between Montgomery and Union Springs, but that no iron could be obtained. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 576.

[377] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 941; Pub. Laws, C.S.A., Feb. 15, 1862.

[378] On April 4, 1862, the Secretary of War wrote to A. S. Gaines that the road from Selma to Demopolis had been completed; from Demopolis to Reagan, a distance of 24 miles, a part of the grading had been done; while the road from Reagan to Meridian, a distance of 27 miles, had been graded, bridged, and some iron had been laid. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, pp. 1048-1049, 1061. Gaines stated, April 24, 1852, that on the Mississippi end of the road the road was completed to within 8 miles of Demopolis, Ala., and was being built at the rate of 3 miles a week. Connection was made by boat to Gainesville, within 2 miles of which a spur of the Mobile and Ohio, 21 miles long, had been completed. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 1089.

[379] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 1171.

[380] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, pp. 1089, 1145; Vol. II, pp. 106, 148, 149, 655.

[381] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 144-145; Vol. III, p. 312; Stats.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., C.S.A., Feb. 15, 1862; Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess., April 7 and Oct. 2, 1862.

[382] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 783.

[383] Acts, Feb. 8, 1861.

[384] Acts, 2d Called and 1st Regular Sess., p. 70.

[385] Governor Moore to Sec. L. P. Walker, July 2, 1861, O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 493; Somers, p. 136.

[386] Schwab, “Confederate States,” p. 271.

[387] Somers, p. 136.

[388] Acts, Dec. 13, 1864, Acts of Ala., 2d Called and 1st Regular Sess. passim.

[389] Le Conte states that in 1863 he found the only Bessemer furnace in the Confederacy at Shelbyville; it was the first that he had ever seen. “Autobiography,” pp. 184-185. It was probably the first in America.

[390] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 3.

[391] Miller, pp. 179, 180, 181, 193; Davis, Vol. I, p. 481; Montgomery Advertiser, July 14, 1867; N. Y. Herald, May 15, 1865.

[392] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 1010.

[393] This act authorized the governor to lease the salt springs belonging to the state and to require the lessee to sell salt at 75 cents a bushel at the salt works. The state paid 10 cents a bushel bounty and advanced $10,000 to the salt maker. Acts, Nov. 11 and Nov. 19, 1861.

[394] One private maker with one furnace and from 15 to 20 hands made 60 bushels a day. Another, with 15 hands, burning 5 cords of wood, made 36 bushels a day. There were also many other private salt makers.

[395] Ball, “Clarke County,” pp. 645-649, 765; “Our Women in War,” p. 275 et seq.

[396] Acts, Nov. 9, 1861, and Dec. 9, 1862.

[397] Acts, Dec. 9, 1862, Oct. 11, 1864, and Dec. 13, 1864.

[398] Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 156, 167, 230; Hague, “Blockaded Family”; “Our Women in War,” pp. 267, 268.

[399] N. Y. Herald, Sept. 20, 1864; Miller, p. 167.

[400] American CyclopÆdia (1864), p. 10; N. Y. Times, April 15, 1864. To show the character of the white laborers employed in the salt works: in reconstruction days, a prominent negro politician told how, when a slave, he had to keep accounts, and read and write letters for the whites at the salt works, who were very ignorant people.

[401] Later the Southern Express Company, which is still in existence. It was the southern division of the Adams Express Company.

[402] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 711.

[403] Miller, pp. 179, 180, 181, 193; Davis, Vol. II, p. 481; Montgomery Advertiser, July 14, 1867; N. Y. Herald, May 15, 1865; Acts of the General Assembly of Alabama, 1861-1864, passim. The Freedman’s Bureau was largely supported by sales of the remnants of iron works, etc.

[404] Smith, “Debates,” pp. 38, 39.

[405] Smith, “Debates,” pp. 37, 39.

[406] In his message of Oct. 25, 1861, Governor Shorter made a report showing that the finances of the state for 1861 were in good condition, and advised against levying a tax on the people to pay the state’s quota of the Confederate tax. He stated that the banks had done good service to the state; that, though in time of peace they were a necessary evil, now they were a public necessity; that all the money used to date by the state in carrying on the war had come from the banks. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, pp. 697-700.

[407] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, pp. 697-699; Acts of Gen. Assembly, Feb. 2, Nov. 27 and 30, and Dec. 7 and 9, 1861; Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866.

[408] Ordinance No. 33, amending sections 1373, 1375, 1393, of the Code, March 16, 1861.

[409] In 1861 two banks were chartered, two in 1862, five in 1863, and two in 1864. Several of these were savings-banks.

[410] Ordinance No. 18, Jan. 19, 1861; Nos. 35 and 36, March 18, 1861.

[411] Schwab, p. 302; Davis, Vol. I, p. 495; Journal of the Convention of 1865, p. 61; Acts of Ala., Jan. 29, Feb. 6 and 8, Dec. 10, 1861; Stats.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., C. S. A., Feb. 8, 1861; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 152, 157.

[412] Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 61; Acts of Ala., Nov. 8, Dec. 4, 8, and 9, 1862; Miller, p. 168.

[413] Jour. of the Convention of 1865, p. 61; Acts of Ala., Aug. 29, Dec. 8, 1863; Miller, pp. 186, 189.

[414] Miller, p. 215; Acts of Ala., Oct. 7 and Dec. 13, 1864.

[415] Resolutions of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 1, 1862; Schwab, p. 50.

[416] Resolutions, Dec. 8, 1863.

[417] Confederate Funding Act, Feb. 17, 1864.

[418] Acts of Ala., Oct. 7, 1864; Schwab, pp. 73, 74.

[419] Acts of Ala., Dec. 10, 1861.

[420] Acts of Ala., passim. Notes of the state and of state banks were hoarded, while Confederate notes were distrusted. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 421.

[421] Acts of Ala., Nov. 9, 1861; Schwab, p. 8. It was considered a matter of patriotism to invest funds in Confederate securities. Not many other investments offered; there was little trade in negroes. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 424.

[422] Acts of Ala., Dec. 8, 1863.

[423] Acts of Ala., Dec. 13, 1864.

[424] Clark, “Finance and Banking,” in the “Memorial Record of Alabama,” Vol. I, p. 341. Statement of J. H. Fitts.

[425] Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866.

[426] Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, p. 114. North Carolina alone had contributed more—$325,000.

[427] Clark, “Education in Alabama,” p. 90.

[428] Acts of Ala., Dec. 7, 1863.

[429] The state authorities considered it inexpedient to levy heavier state taxes. The people had always been opposed to heavy state taxes, but paid county taxes more willingly. So the gift of $500,000 to the Confederate government in 1861 and the $2,000,000 war tax of the same year were assumed by the state, and bonds were issued. Stats.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., C.S.A., Feb. 8, 1861; Acts of Ala., Nov. 27, 1861.

[430] Another measure aimed at the speculator.

[431] Acts of Ala., Dec. 8, 1863.

[432] Acts of Ala., Dec. 13, 1864.

[433] Pub. Laws, 1st Cong., 1st Sess., April 21, 1862.

[434] Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 427.

[435] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 3d Sess., April 24, 1863.

[436] See also Curry, “Confederate States,” p. 110.

[437] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 4th Sess., Jan. 30, 1864.

[438] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 2d Cong., 1st Sess., June 10 and 14, 1864.

[439] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 190.

[440] N. Y. Times, Feb. 2, 1864.

[441] Fitzgerald Ross, “Cities and Camps of the Confederate States,” pp. 237, 238.

[442] Miller, p. 230.

[443] Acts of Ala., Nov. 19, 1862.

[444] Acts of Ala., Nov. 17, 1862.

[445] Acts of Ala., Oct. 31, 1862.

[446] O. R., Ser. II, Vol. III, p. 933; G. O., 86, A. and I. G. Office, Richmond, Dec. 12, 1864; Miller, pp. 198, 199; Beverly, “History of Alabama,”; A. C. Gordon, in Century Magazine, Sept., 1888; David Dodge, in Atlantic Monthly, Aug., 1886.

[447] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 3d Sess., March 26, 1863.

[448] A conference of impressment commissioners met in Augusta, Ga., Oct. 26, 1863. Among those present were Wylie W. Mason, of Tuskegee, Ala., and Robert C. Farris, of Montgomery, Ala. See O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 898-906.

[449] Schwab, p. 202; Saunders, “Early Settlers.” Schedules were printed in all the newspapers, and many have been reprinted in the Official Records.

[450] Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, p. 194; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 198, 199; Pollard, “Lost Cause,” pp. 487-488.

[451] Acts of Ala., Nov. 25, 1863.

[452] Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, p. 301.

[453] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 2d Cong., 1st Sess., June 14, 1864; Saunders, “Early Settlers.”

[454] Resolutions of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 26, 1864.

[455] Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 501.

[456] Smith, “Debates,” pp. 174-183.

[457] Stats.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., C.S.A.

[458] Stat.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., 2d Sess.; McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 203, 204. European merchants and capitalists also had a large trade with the South when the war broke out, and thus sustained great losses. They had made large advances to southern planters and merchants, and were also interested in property in the South. Proceeds were remitted to foreign creditors or owners in Confederate or state currency or bonds for there was no other form of remittance. Robertson, “The Confederate Debt and Private Southern Debts” (English pamphlet).

[459] McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 203, 204; Acts of Prov. Cong., Aug. 30, 1861; Benjamin’s “Instructions to Receivers,” Sept. 12, 1861.

[460] Stats.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., 3d Sess., Feb. 15, 1862.

[461] McPherson, “Rebellion,” p. 613.

[462] Acts of Ala., Dec. 10, 1861.

[463] Two years after the passage of the Sequestration Law its entire proceeds in the Confederacy amounted to less than $2,000,000. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 220.

[464] Suspension of specie payments had been made in order to prevent a drain on the banks. The Confederate government took possession of some of the coin, while much was used in the contraband and blockade trade. All this contributed to discredit Confederate paper currency. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 421. In May, 1862, General Beauregard seized $500,000 in coin from a bank in Jackson, Ala. The coin belonged to a New Orleans bank and had been sent out to prevent confiscation by Butler. Confederate money was almost worthless at Mobile in 1864, while in the interior of the state it still had a fair value.

[465] Confederate paper held up well in 1861 and 1862, though prices were very high. The people were opposed to fixing a depreciated value to Confederate money, but they were forced to do so by speculators. The money was worth more the farther away from Richmond, though comparison with gold should not be made, as gold was scarce, and prices in gold fell. Board, which formerly cost $2 a day, could now be had for fifty cents in gold. Gold was not a standard of value, but an article of commerce with a fictitious value. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 425.

[466] Clark, “Finance and Banking Memorial Record,” Vol. I, p. 341; “Two Months in the Confederate States by an English Merchant,” pp. 111, 115; DeBow’s Review for 1866.

[467] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. X, Pt. II, p. 639.

[468] Ball, “Clarke County,” pp. 294, 295; Miller, p. 230; oral accounts.

[469] N. Y. Times, April 5, 1864 (from Mobile papers).

[470] N. Y. Times, Sept. 6, 1864.

[471] Smedes, “A Southern Planter,” p. 226.

[472] Hague, “Blockaded Family,” passim; “Our Women in the War,” passim; Jacobs, “Drug Conditions.”

[473] Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 501.

[474] Miller, p. 232. A negro went to a conscript camp in 1864 with a fifty-cent jug of whiskey. He gave his master a bottleful from the jug, replacing what he had taken out by water. The resulting mixture he sold for $5 a drink, a drink being a cap-box full. Each drink poured out of the jug was replaced by the same measure of water. In this way he made $300 before the mixture was so diluted that the thirsty soldiers would not buy. Related by the negro’s master.

[475] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 686.

[476] Montgomery Daily Advertiser, April 18, 1865. But for another month state money circulated in Montgomery.

[477] See Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 14.

[478] Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, pp. 15, 37.

[479] In 1860 the South exported $150,000,000 worth of cotton, and Mobile was the second cotton port of America. Scharf, “History of the Confederate Navy,” pp. 439, 533. Besides the regular ship channel there were two shallow entrances to Mobile Bay, through which blockade-runners passed. Soley, “The Blockade and the Cruisers,” p. 134. Regular water communication with New Orleans was kept up until 1862 through Mississippi Sound. Scharf, p. 535; Maclay, “A History of the United States Navy,” Vol. II, p. 445.

[480] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 167; Acts of the Called Sess. (1861), p. 123; Acts of 2d Called and 1st Regular Sess. (1861), pp. 151, 168, 214, 278.

[481] The blockading force before Mobile in 1861 often consisted of only one vessel (Soley, p. 134), and the people of Mobile believed that foreign nations would not recognize the blockade as effective. There was an English squadron under Admiral Milne in the Gulf, and on Aug. 4, 1861, the Mobile Register and Advertiser said that a conflict between the English and United States forces was expected; the English were then to raise the blockade. Scharf, p. 442.

[482] This, however, was not the plan favored by Ex-Gov. A. B. Moore, who, on Feb. 3, 1862, wrote to President Davis stating his belief that the permission given by the Federal fleet to export cotton was a “Yankee trick” to get cotton to leave port in order to seize it. He thought that the Confederate government should forbid all exportation of cotton until the close of the war. “This leaky blockade system should be deprecated as one [in which the parties] are either dupes or knaves and [is] not in the least calculated to demonstrate the fact that our cotton crops are a necessity to the commerce of the world.” If cotton was not a necessity to Europe, then the sooner the South knew it the better; if it was a necessity, the sooner Europe knew it the better. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 905.

[483] Acts of Feb. 6 and Dec. 10, 1861.

[484] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 735; Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, Pt. III, p. 805.

[485] The Confederate War and Treasury Departments required that each steamship coming and going should reserve one-half its tonnage for government use. The owners of an outgoing vessel had to make bond to return with one-half the cargo for the government and the other half in articles the importation of which was not prohibited by the Confederate government. The Confederate government paid five pence sterling a pound on outgoing freight, payable in a British port. On return freight £25 a ton was paid in cotton at a Confederate port. The expenses of one blockade-runner for one trip amounted to $80,265; while the gross profits were $172,000, leaving a net gain of $91,735 on the trip. Scharf, pp. 481, 485.

[486] Joseph Jacobs, “Drug Conditions.”

[487] Soley, pp. 44, 156.

[488] See Taylor, “Running the Blockade.” A typical blockade-runner of 1862-1864 was a long, low, slender, rakish sidewheel steamer, of 400 to 600 tons, about nine times as long as broad, with powerful engines, twin screws, and feathering paddles. The funnels were short and could be lowered to the deck. It was painted a dull gray or lead color, and the masts being very short, it could not be seen more than two hundred yards away. When possible to obtain it, anthracite coal was burned, and when running into port all lights were turned out and the steam blown off under water. Scharf, p. 480; Soley, p. 156; Spears, Vol. IV, p. 55.

[489] “Two Months in the Confederate States by English Merchant,” p. 111; Taylor, “Running the Blockade”; Hague, “A Blockaded Family”; “Our Women in War,” passim; Jacobs, “Drug Conditions.”

[490] Report of A. Roane, Chief of the Produce Loan Office; Richmond, to Secretary of Treasury Trenholm, Oct. 30, 1864, in H. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.; “Two Months in the Confederate States,” p. 111.

[491] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 462.

[492] Jones, “A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary,” Vol. I, p. 350.

[493] Scharf, pp. 484, 486; Spears, Vol. IV, p. 56.

[494] Bancroft. “Seward,” Vol. II, p. 209; Wilson, “Ironclads in Action,” Vol. I, pp. 196-197.

[495] Scharf, p. 487; Wilson, pp. 187, 192.

[496] Scharf, p. 446, says that the press and public sentiment were against allowing shipment of cotton to districts or through ports held by the United States. When in danger of capture the cotton was burned. Pollard states that the Richmond authorities were opposed to allowing any extensive cotton trade through the lines or through blockaded ports, because it was believed that the Union finances were in bad condition and would not stand the loss of cotton manufacturing. Moreover, the Confederate authorities were afraid of the demoralization caused by contraband trade, and also feared that Europe might consider that licensed trade through ports in possession of the enemy, like New Orleans, was a confession of the weakness of King Cotton, and would refuse to recognize the Confederacy. “Lost Cause,” pp. 484-485.

[497] The North was determined to show that cotton was not king, and to do this it must get all the cotton possible from the South by allowing a contraband trade in which nearly or quite all the profits on the cotton should be stripped off, leaving only the bare cost to the Confederate government or cotton planter. The North was willing that the South should sell all its cotton, but the North was to be middleman. Scharf, p. 443; “Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant,” Vol. I, p. 331.

[498] The various proclamations, orders, regulations, and laws affecting commercial intercourse between the United States and the Confederate States will be found in a compilation of the United States Treasury Department entitled “Acts of Congress and Rules and Regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance thereto, with the approval of the President, concerning Commercial Intercourse with and in States and parts of States declared in insurrection, Captured, Abandoned, and Confiscable Property, the care of freedmen, and the purchase of products of insurrectionary districts on government account.” The proclamations of the President will be found in the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. See also Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 56, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and No. 23, 43d Cong., 3d Sess., p. 58; Ho. Ex. Doc., No., 45th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 36; Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 39. A fuller account of the trade regulations is in the South Atlantic Quarterly, July, 1905.

[499] Act, April 19, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess.

[500] Act, Feb. 6, 1864, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 4th Sess.

[501] The state officials in 1862-1863 planned to exchange cotton from Mississippi and Alabama with the cotton speculators in Tennessee for bacon. Davis opposed (Pollard, p. 481), but, nevertheless, the change was made. Along the Tennessee River there was much trading with the enemy. In order to conform with the United States regulations forbidding the payment of coin for Confederate staples, the northern speculator bought Confederate and state money, often at a high price ($100 gold for $225 in Confederate currency or $120 to $125 in Alabama, Georgia, or South Carolina bank-notes), with which to carry on the cotton trade. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 10.

[502] Shorter, who was opposed to contraband trade, complained in July, 1862, that the cotton speculators in Mobile had an understanding with Butler and Farragut by which salt was allowed to come in and cotton, in unlimited quantities, allowed to go out. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, p. 21.

[503] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 16, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.

[504] Ho. Rept., No. 24, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.

[505] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 16, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.

[506] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 1180, 1181. Davis probably made his last official indorsement on this report, Apr. 10, 1865. He forwarded it to the Adjutant and Inspector-General with instructions to look into the matter.

[507] Somers, “The Southern States since the War,” p. 134. General Grant, July 21, 1863, stated that this trade through west Tennessee was injurious to the United States forces. “Restriction, if lived up to,” he said, “makes trade unprofitable and hence none but dishonest men go into it. I will venture to say, that no honest man has made money in west Tennessee in the last year, while many fortunes have been made there during the time.” So vexed was General Grant with the speculators that, early in 1865, he suspended all permits, but within a month he had to remove the suspensions. Scharf, pp. 443, 446, 447.

[508] Taylor, “Destruction and Reconstruction,” pp. 227, 235.

[509] Confederate currency was plentiful in the North, where it was made even more cheaply than in the South, and the southerners did not notice the difference.

[510] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, Pt. II, pp. 291-293, 638-640.

[511] Ho. Rept., No. 83, 45th Cong., 3d Sess.; No. 618, 46th Cong., 2d Sess.

[512] N. Y. Herald, April 7, 1864.

[513] Jacobs, “Drug Conditions,” p. 7. The Southern Express Company worked in connection with the Adams, of which it had been a part before 1861.

[514] Jacobs, “Drug Conditions,” pp. 7-10.

[515] Ho. Repts., 38th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 174. Before this, Samuel Noble of Rome, Georgia, representing himself as a “loyal” man (he was introduced and vouched for by George W. Quintard), made a contract with a United States Treasury agent to deliver 250,000 bales of cotton from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. In Alabama at that time he owned 800 bales at Selma, 1256 at Mobile, and had much more contracted for. The cotton was to be delivered at Huntsville, Mobile, and places in the adjoining states. Noble was to get three-fourths of the proceeds, according to the regulations. Ho. Rept., No. 24, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.

[516] Statement of Professor O. D. Smith of Auburn, Ala., who was then a Confederate bonded agent operating in north Alabama.

[517] Taylor, “Destruction and Reconstruction,” p. 232.

[518] Letter of Secretary Chase to Hon. E. B. Washburne, in Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 78, 38th Cong., 1st Sess.

[519] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 11, 1861. As early as Jan. 14, 1861, Governor Moore reported that the poorest classes were in want and that much suffering, perhaps starvation, would result unless aid were given. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 51. The soldiers’ families were reported to be almost destitute in April, 1861. Idem, p. 220.

[520] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 31, 1861.

[521] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 29, 1861.

[522] Annual CyclopÆdia (1862), p. 9.

[523] Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, pp. 194, 198.

[524] Act of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 8, 1862.

[525] Act of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 11, 1862.

[526] Act of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 8, 1862.

[527] Act of Gen. Assembly, Oct. 16, 1864.

[528] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Oct. 9 and Dec. 9, 1862, and Aug. 29, 1863. Miller, “Alabama,” p. 167.

[529] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 26, 1862.

[530] Act of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 28, 1862.

[531] Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, p. 194.

[532] Annual CyclopÆdia (1863), p. 6.

[533] N. Y. Herald, Dec. 26, 1863.

[534] Act, April 19, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 18th Sess.; Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 5, 1863.

[535] Act of Gen. Assembly, Aug. 29, 1863.

[536] Act of Gen. Assembly, Aug. 27, 1863.

[537] Act of Gen. Assembly, Aug. 27, 1863.

[538] Resolutions of Gen. Assembly, Aug. 27, 1863.

[539] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 8, 1863.

[540] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 4 and Dec. 7, 1863.

[541] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Oct. 7, 1864, and Dec. 13, 1864.

[542] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 9, 1864.

[543] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 13, 1864.

[544] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 4, 1864.

[545] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 8, 1862, Aug. 27 and 29, 1863, and Dec. 13, 1864.

[546] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 8, 1863. There were Confederate soldiers who were paid only twice in two years’ service, and then not enough to buy a new uniform. The following incident is related of the 9th Alabama Infantry: at Chancellorsville some Federals had been captured by the regiment, and as they were being sent back over the field covered with dead Federals, one of the prisoners remarked: “You rebs are sharper than you used to be. You used to shoot us anywhere; now you shoot us in the head so as not to bloody our clothes.” The 9th was a regiment of sharpshooters from north Alabama. The narrator says that the prisoner was alluding to “the practice of stripping the dead of their clothing to cover our nakedness.”—“The Land We Love,” Vol. II, pp. 216.

[547] The legislature had offered $200,000 for 50,000 pairs of shoes, but received none.

[548] Miller, p. 167; Acts of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 8, 1863; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. II, pp. 32, 196.

[549] Resolutions of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 28, 1863.

[550] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 229.

[551] Miller, p. 198.

[552] Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 198, 199, 229.

[553] Saunders, “Early Settlers,” p. 68.

[554] Saunders, “Early Settlers,” p. 206; Hague, “Blockaded Family”; Clayton, “White and Black under the Old RÉgime”; “Our Women in the War.”

[555] Governor Shorter’s Proclamation, March 1, 1862; Annual CyclopÆdia (1862), p. 9.

[556] Annual CyclopÆdia (1863), p. 6; Resolution, April 4, 1863, Pub. Laws, 15th Cong., 3d Sess.

[557] A report to Davis in October, 1864, stated that Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi had been supplying the Confederate armies. Georgia was exhausted, and Alabama, having sent 125,000 pounds of bacon, could do no more. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” pp. 648-649. But in remote counties were large stores of supplies that could not be moved for want of transportation facilities.

[558] “Our Women in the War,” p. 275 et seq.

[559] Moore, “Rebellion Records,” p. 3; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 701.

[560] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 11, 1862.

[561] Jones, “Diary,” Vol. I, p. 198; Schwab, p. 180.

[562] Acts of Gen. Assembly, Nov. 8, 1862.

[563] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 13, 1864.

[564] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 8, 1862.

[565] Act of Gen. Assembly, Dec. 8, 1863.

[566] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. X, p. 971.

[567] In September, 1864, Surgeon Richard Potts was instructed to buy all the apple brandy to be had, at not more than $35 a gallon, but to purchase as a private individual in order not to have to pay too much. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 682.

[568] Saunders, “Early Settlers of Alabama,” p. 29; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. I, p. 608.

[569] See also article by C. C. Jones, Jr., in Magazine of American History, Vol. XVI, pp. 168-175; J. W. Beverly (colored), “History of Alabama,” p. 22.

[570] Act, Jan. 31, 1861; Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 200.

[571] April 15 and 21, 1862, Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 2d Sess.

[572] Acts, Oct. 31 and Nov. 20, 1862.

[573] Resolutions, Aug. 29, 1863.

[574] I have known two men who hired negro substitutes to go to the army, and the negroes having been killed in battle, the whites were forced to go.

[575] Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 200; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 198, 199, 207; Curry, “Civil History,” p. 110; O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, p. 933.

[576] John S. Wise, “End of an Era,” pp. 161, 212, speaks of the impression made by the 3d Alabama before and after the two years’ service. The privates in one company in this regiment paid tax on $3,000,000.

[577] See also Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 200. Several of these old body-servants have related their experiences to me.

[578] Sewanee Review, Vol. II, pp. 94-95; Acts of Ala., Nov. 20, 1863, and Resolution of Aug. 29, 1863; Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 10.

[579] See also C. C. Jones, Jr., in the Magazine of American History, Vol. XVI, pp. 168-175. When the war ended General (now Senator) Morgan was recruiting near Selma for a Confederate negro brigade.

[580] His master was named Godwin. Horace learned to make bridges, and became so skilful and was so much in demand that he was set free. By special act of the Alabama legislature he was given civil rights and at once he became a slave owner. After the war he was in Republican politics for a while, but soon went back to bridge-building.

[581] Some masters, like General John B. Gordon, informed their slaves that the victory of the North meant the freedom of the negroes. See Ku Klux Rept., Ga. Test., and Sewanee Review, Vol. II, p. 95. I have been told by ex-slaves that the negroes in the quarters believed from the first that their freedom would follow the defeat of the masters, but that few slaves believed that their masters could be defeated.

[582] The following are some of the various occupations in which slaves relieved whites: spinners, weavers, dyers, cutters and dressmakers, body-servants, butlers, coachmen, gardeners, carpenters, planters, brick masons, painters, tanners, shoemakers, harness makers, barrel makers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, machinists, engineers, millers, seine and sail makers, and ship carpenters, besides farm occupations. Nearly all of the skilled laborers were negroes. Their industrial capacity was even greater during the war than in time of peace. President Winston in Proceedings of Fourth Conference for Education in the South, pp. 40, 41. See also the books of Miss Hague, Mrs. Clayton, and Booker T. Washington.

[583] Harrison, “Gospel Among the Slaves,” p. 299.

[584] See Mallard, pp. 209, 210; Hague, “Blockaded Family”; Clayton, “White and Black”; “Our Women in War”; Sewanee Review, Vol. II, p. 95.

[585] See Mallard, p. 210; Sewanee Review, Vol. II, pp. 94-95; Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874.

[586] It has been estimated that one-fourth of the total number of negroes was not engaged in field labor, but in some kind of service which brought them into close relations with the whites. Tillinghast, “Negro in Africa and America,” p. 126. And on the farms and smaller plantations also the blacks knew their “white folks.”

[587] See W. H. Thomas, “American Negro,” p. 41.

[588] The experiences of Reconstruction showed that the negro had only to feel the touch of a stronger hand, and, with most of them, the attachments of a lifetime were of no force. The negro was as wax in the hands of a stronger race. Hence the influence of the carpet-baggers, who were for a time the stronger power.

[589] Harrison, “Gospel among the Slaves,” pp. 299, 300; McTyeire, “A History of Methodism”; Riley, “Baptists in Alabama”; Mallard, “Plantation Life,” p. 74 et seq. W. H. Thomas (colored), “American Negro,” pp. 41, 149, gives as reasons why the slaves did not revolt during the war: (1) genuine affection for the whites; (2) the desire on the part of the negro to do the duty intrusted to him; (3) and most important—the supreme and all-pervading influence of religion. The mission work among the negroes was kept up all during the war. Harrison, pp. 292-300; Tichenor, “Work of Southern Baptists among the Negroes” (pamphlet).

[590] Harrison, pp. 299, 300. For general information in regard to the negroes during the war, consult Beverly (colored), “Alabama,” pp. 201, 202; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 142-157; Mallard, “Plantation Life”; Washington, “Up from Slavery”; Washington, “Future of the American Negro”; Thomas, “The American Negro”; Tillinghast, “Negro in Africa and America”; Hague, “A Blockaded Family”; Clayton, “White and Black under the Old RÉgime”; Smedes, “Southern Planter”; “Our Women in War.”

[591] W. G. Clark, “Education in Alabama,” pp. 87-92; W. G. Clark, “The Progress of Education,” in “Memorial Record,” Vol. I, p. 160; Acts, 1st Called Sess. (1861), p. 56; N. Y. Daily News, May 29, 1865; Century Magazine, Nov., 1889. In recent years Congress has made a grant of lands in north Alabama to replace the burned buildings. Rept. Comr. of Ed., 1899-1900, Vol. I, p. 484.

[592] Clark, “Education in Alabama,” pp. 149, 152, 153, 156; “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 453.

[593] Clark, “Education in Alabama,” pp. 164, 174, 179, 180.

[594] Clark, “Education in Alabama,” pp. 204, 208, 259; Acts, 1st Called Sess. (1861), pp. 67, 70, 82, 113; Acts, 2d Called Sess. and 1st Regular Sess., pp. 92, 93, 94; Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 347.

[595] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 513.

[596] Clark, “Education in Alabama,” pp. 6, 7, 224, 226, 229, 239, 259; Ingle, “Southern Side-Lights,” p. 172.

[597] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess., April 21, 1862; 1st Cong., 2d Sess., Oct. 11, 1862.

[598] Acts, 1st Called Sess. (1861), p. 82.

[599] Acts (1862), p. 97.

[600] Acts, 2d Called and 1st Regular Sess. (1861), pp. 65, 182, 183, 223, 253, 255; Acts of 1863 and 1864, passim.

[601] My chief source of information in regard to the common schools during the war has been the accounts of persons who were teachers and pupils in the schools.

[602] From 1863 to 1865 W. G. Clark and Co. of Mobile, the chief educational publishers of the state, brought out a series of five readers, “The Chaudron Series,”—by Adelaide de V. Chaudron, a well-known writer of Mobile. Large numbers were sold. S. H. Goetzel of Mobile published Madame Chaudron’s spelling-book, of which 40,000 copies were sold in 1864 and 1865. W. G. Clark and Co. printed a revision of Colburn’s Mental Arithmetic in 1864. A Mental Arithmetic by G. Y. Browne of Tuscaloosa is dated Atlanta, 1865, but was probably published in North Carolina. In 1864 W. G. Clark and Co. announced “A Book of Geographical Questions.” Before the close of the war Confederate text-books were quite common in the state. The series were usually named “Confederate,” “Dixie,” “Texas,” “Virginia,” etc. Stephen B. Weeks, in “A Preliminary Bibliography of Confederate Text-books” (Rept. of Comr. of Ed., 1898-1899, Vol. I, p. 1139), lists 16 primers, 14 spellers, 29 readers, 4 geographies, 1 dictionary, 12 arithmetics, 12 grammars, 8 books in foreign languages, 20 Sunday-school and religious works, and 10 miscellaneous educational publications. Those published in Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia sold largely in Alabama. Few came from the West. See also Yates Snowden, “Confederate Books.”

[603] See Weeks, “Bibliography of Confederate Text-books.”

[604] See Mrs. Clayton, “White and Black,” p. 115, and Hague, “Blockaded Family.”

[605] See Hague, “A Blockaded Family.” Miss Hague was a teacher in a plantation school during the war.

[606] W. W. Screws, “Alabama Journalism,” in “Memorial Record,” Vol. II, pp. 195, 234.

[607] Screws, pp. 194, 195, 205, 212, 218, 233, 234; Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess., April 21, 1862; 2d Sess., Oct. 11, 1862; Yates Snowden, “Confederate Books.”

[608] Screws, pp. 161, 166, 188, 192, 231.

[609] See also Yates Snowden, “Confederate Books.” I have examined copies of most of the books mentioned.

[610] Riley, “History of the Baptists of Alabama,” p. 279.

[611] McPherson, “Rebellion,” p. 514.

[612] Smith, “Life and Letters of James Osgood Andrew,” p. 473.

[613] N. Y. World, Dec. 26, 1860.

[614] Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” p. 291.

[615] McPherson, “Rebellion,” p. 591.

[616] Pub. Laws, C.S.A., 1st Cong., 1st Sess., April 21, 1862, and 2d Sess., Oct. 11, 1862.

[617] Acts of Ala., Dec. 9, 12, and 13, 1864.

[618] N. Y. Times, Aug. 30, 1865.

[619] Rev. J. William Jones, “The Great Revival in the Southern Armies”; Rev. J. William Jones, “Confederate Military History,” Vol. XII, p. 119 et seq.; Bennett, “The Great Revival in the Southern Armies”; Alexander, “History of the Methodist Church South,” p. 74.

[620] Hague, “Blockaded Family,” pp. 111, 112, 142; Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 283.

[621] For one instance, see Hague, “Blockaded Family,” p. 141; and for others, Jones on the “Morale of the Confederate Armies,” in Vol. XII, “Confederate Military History.”

[622] By the Alabama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, there was appropriated for slave missions in the state

From 1829 to 1844		$17,366.36
From 1845 to 1864		340,166.67

Before the separation the planters were not favorably inclined toward Methodist missionaries on account of the attitude of the northern section of the church. They preferred the Baptists and Presbyterians, who did most of their work with the blacks in connection with the white congregations. After the separation, in 1845, there was a greater demand for Methodist missionaries. Many planters of the Episcopal Church paid the salaries of Baptist and Methodist missionaries to their slaves, and erected chapels for their use. Harrison, “Gospel among the Slaves,” pp. 302, 312, 313, 326. In 1860 there were 20,577 negro southern Methodists in Alabama, about half of whom were attached to the white churches and the rest to plantation missions. The number was rapidly increasing. The number of negro Baptists was much greater, but there are no exact statistics of membership. There were smaller numbers in all the other churches.

[623] The following statistics relate to colored mission work by the Methodists:—

Year	Number of Missions	Members	Missionaries	Appropriations
1859	38	8381	39	$25,849.10
1860	40	9208	40	27,091.66
1861	40	——	40	27,091.66
1862	36	8962	35	10,800.00
1863	37	9020	37	31,311.59
1864	22	5153	22	24,508.00
	(Montgomery Conference)
1864	23	5684	33	26,938.16
	(Mobile Conference)
1865				Some money was raised in 1864 for 1865.

The General Conference raised, in 1862, $93,509.87 for negro missions; in 1864, $158,421.96; and, for 1865, $80,000.

[624] Harrison, p. 314.

[625] Riley, “Baptists of Alabama.”

[626] Hague, pp. 10, 11.

[627] Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 286, 300; McTyeire, “A History of Methodism,” p. 671; Tichenor, “The Work of the Baptists among the Negroes.” The war records of the churches show that sometimes the slaves gave more money for church purposes than the whites; for example, in the Methodist church of Auburn, Ala.

[628] Smith, “Methodists in Georgia and Florida.”

[629] McPherson, p. 521.

[630] McPherson, p. 521.

[631] McPherson, pp. 521, 522; Nicolay and Hay, Vol. V, p. 337.

[632] See Gulf States Hist. Mag., Sept., 1902, on “The Churches in Alabama during Civil War and Reconstruction”; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, p. 718; Southern Review, April, 1872, p. 414; Boston Journal, Nov. 15, 1864; McTyeire, “A History of Methodism,” p. 673.

[633] Richardson, “Lights and Shadows of Itinerant Life,” p. 183.

[634] See Whitaker’s paper in Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV, p. 211 et seq.

[635] Col. Higginson seems to understand the influence of the women, but not the reason for their interest in public questions. He says: “But for the women of the seceding states, the War of the Rebellion would have been waged more feebly, been sooner ended, and far more easily forgotten.... Had the voters of the South been all women, it would have plunged earlier into the gulf of secession, dived deeper, and come up even more reluctantly.” Higginson, “Common Sense about Women,” pp. 54, 209. Professor Burgess, with a better understanding, explains the reason for the interest of the women in sectional questions. He says that, after the attempt of John Brown to incite the slaves to insurrection, “especially did terror and bitterness take possession of the hearts of the women of the South, who saw in slave insurrection not only destruction and death, but that which to feminine virtue is a thousand times worse than the most terrible death. For those who would excite such a movement or sympathize with anybody who would excite such a movement, the women of the South felt a hatred as undying as virtue itself. Men might still hesitate ... but the women were united and resolute, and their unanimous exhortation was: ‘Men of the South, defend the honor of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your daughters. It is your highest and most sacred duty.’” Burgess, “Civil War and the Constitution,” Vol. I, p. 42.

[636] “Our Women in War,” passim; Ball, “Clarke County,” pp. 261-274; oral accounts, scrap-books, letters.

[637] One of my acquaintances says that quite often she had only bread, milk, and syrup twice a day. Sometimes she was unable to eat any breakfast, but after spinning an hour or two she was hungry enough to eat. To many the diet was very healthful, but the sick and the delicate often died for want of proper food.

[638] At the close of the war my mother was twelve years old; for more than two years she had been doing a woman’s task at spinning. Her sister had been spinning for a year, though she was only six years old.

[639] Many of the heavier articles woven during the war, such as coverlets, counterpanes, rugs, etc., are still, after forty years, almost as good as new.

[640] Acts, Dec., 1861, 2d Called and 1st Regular Sess., p. 70.

[641] Hague, “Blockaded Family,” passim; Miller, pp. 223-232; “Our Women in the War,” p. 275 et seq.; Clayton, “White and Black under the Old RÉgime,” pp. 112-149; Porcher, “Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests,” pp. 70, 107, 284-295, 351, 372, 657.

[642] Clayton, “White and Black under the Old RÉgime”; Hague, “Blockaded Family,” passim; Miller, p. 229; Jacobs, “Drug Conditions,” p. 16; oral accounts; Porcher, passim.

[643] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 1073-1075; Jacobs, “Drug Conditions.”

[644] Jacobs, pp. 4-6, 12-14, 16-21; Porcher, p. 65.

[645] Hague, “Blockaded Family.”

[646] Jacobs, “Drug Conditions,” pp. 4-6, 12-14, 16-21; Hague, “Blockaded Family,” passim; “Our Women in the War”; Ball, “Clarke County”; Miller, “Alabama”; Porcher; Pub. So. Hist. Ass’n, March, 1903.

[647] Smedes, “A Southern Planter,” p. 226.

[648] In the early part of the war when a soldier received a slight wound he was given a furlough for a few weeks until he was well again. Slight wounds came to be called “furloughs,” and some soldiers when particularly homesick are said to have exposed themselves unnecessarily in order to get a “furlough.”

[649] See Boston Journal, Sept. 29 and Nov. 15, 1864.

[650] See Mrs. Clayton’s “White and Black” in regard to rations for negroes.

[651] See Acts of Ala., Nov. 28 and 30, 1861, Dec. 9, 1862, and Dec. 8, 1863; Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV, pp. 219 et seq.

[652] It was estimated that one-fourth of the people of the state were furnished for three years with meal and salt.

[653] Moore, “Rebellion Record,” Vol. IV (1862).

[654] N. Y. News, March 29, 1864, from the Richmond Whig, from the Mobile Evening News; oral accounts. There were numbers of women who actually cut off their hair, thinking that it could be sold through the blockade. For a while they were hopeful and enthusiastic in regard to the plan of selling their hair.

[655] P. A. Hague’s “Blockaded Family” is the best account of life in Alabama during the war. Mrs. Clayton’s “White and Black under the Old RÉgime” is very good, but brief. “Our Women in the War” is a valuable collection of articles by a number of women. Nearly all the incidents mentioned I have heard related by relatives and friends. “John Holden, Unionist,” by T. C. De Leon, gives a good account of life in the hill country. Mary A. H. Gay’s “Life in Dixie during the War” and Miller’s “History of Alabama” give information based on personal experiences. Porcher’s “Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests,” published in 1863, is a mine of information in regard to economic conditions in the South. Porcher quotes much from the newspapers and from correspondence. The second edition, published in 1867, omits much of the more interesting material.

[656] In his inaugural proclamation of July 20 (or 21), 1865, Governor Parsons gives the following figures:—

Alabama male population (1860), 15 to 60 years		126,587
Connecticut male population (1860), 15 to 60 years		120,249
Alabama soldiers enlisted		122,000
Connecticut soldiers enlisted		40,000
Alabama soldiers died in service		35,000
Alabama soldiers disabled		35,000

N. Y. Times, Aug. 2, 1865; N. Y. Herald, Aug. 11, 1865; Parsons’s Message, Nov. 22, 1865; Parsons’s Speech at Cooper Institute, Nov. 13, 1865.

[657] Fowler’s Report, Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. II, p. 188.

[658] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[659] N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865.

[660] Southern Hist. Soc. Papers, Vol. XV (Paroles at Appomattox); Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 233; Brewer, “Regimental Histories.”

[661] Census of 1866, Selma Times and Messenger, March 24, 1868.

[662] Censuses of 1860, 1866, 1870.

	Whites				Blacks
1860		526,271		1860		437,770
1866		522,799		1866		423,445
1870		521,384		1870		475,510

[663] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[664] Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 141.

[665] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 141 (Auditor’s Report).

[666] 1860, 6,385,724 acres; 1880, 6,375,706 acres.

[667] 1860, $7,433,178; 1890, $4,511,645; 1900, $8,675,900.

[668] Which must be reduced by one-fifth for depreciated currency.

[669] See Census Bulletin, No. 155, 12th Census.

[670] Census, 1860 and 1900; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 235.

[671] N. Y. Times, Nov. 2, 1865 (Truman).

[672] The explosion was caused by fire reaching the ordnance stores left by the Confederate troops. One of the cotton agents claimed that 9000 bales of cotton were destroyed for him in the explosion. But the government held otherwise. It was charged, without satisfactory proof, that the cotton agents caused the explosion to cover their shortage.

[673] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 321.

[674] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 427.

[675] M. G. Molinari, “Lettres sur les États-Unis et le Canada,” p. 233; Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 181, 183.

[676] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 114; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[677] John Hardy, “History of Selma,” pp. 51, 52; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 211, 214, 222, 371; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 233-235; Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. (Patton to Congress); N. Y. Times, Nov. 2, Oct. 31, and Aug. 17, 1865; Riley, “History of Conecuh County”; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 304, 305; Brewer, “Alabama,” pp. 65, 69; Brown, “Alabama,” pp. 254, 256; DuBose, “Alabama,” pp. 114, 115; “Our Women in the War,” p. 277 et seq.

[678] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 115.

[679] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 115.

[680] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 114.

[681] Reid, “After the War,” pp. 222, 371; Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 294; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 304-305; N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865; N. Y. Herald, July 23, 1865.

[682] An indignant northern newspaper correspondent appealed to the military authorities to check this “rebellious discrimination,” but nothing was done. The railroad officials, as well as all other southern people, were now suspicious of paper money.

[683] Ho. Repts., Vol. IV, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., on “Affairs of Southern Railroads”; Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 451; Reid, “After the War,” p. 212; Brewer, “Alabama,” pp. 78, 79; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 141, 234; N. Y. World, July 18, 1865; Selma Times, Jan. 25 and Feb. 2, 1866; N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865; April 25 and July 2, 1866; Berney, “Handbook of Alabama”; Hodgson, “Alabama Manual and Statistical Register.”

[684] N. Y. Herald, June 17 and Aug. 30, 1865; Taylor, “Destruction and Reconstruction,” pp. 227, 228; Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 237; McCulloch, “Men and Measures,” p. 235.

[685] N. Y. Herald, July 17 and 20, 1865; N. Y. World, July 20, 1865; N. Y. Times, Aug. 17 and Dec. 27, 1865; Miller, “History of Alabama,” pp. 235, 237; Herbert, “The Solid South,” pp. 18, 19; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 451; oral accounts.

[686] “Our Women in the War,” p. 279; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 304, 305. See also Elizabeth McCracken, “The Southern Woman and Reconstruction,” in the Outlook, Nov., 1903.

[687] Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 238; Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866.

[688] Brewer, “Alabama,” pp. 205, 206.

[689] N. Y. Times, Nov. 2, 1865 (Truman).

[690] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 5, 1895; Report of Carl Schurz.

[691] Chicago Tribune, (fall of) 1865, Montgomery correspondence.

[692] Governor Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866.

[693] Oral accounts; Daily News, Sept. 3, 1865 (Selma correspondence).

[694] Ordinances, No. 4, Sept. 20, 1865, and No. 54, Sept. 30, 1865.

[695] Reid, “After the War,” pp. 351, 352; Ordinance, No. 43, Sept. 30, 1865.

[696] Daily Times, Aug. 17, Nov. 2, and Dec. 27, 1865; Report of Carl Schurz; oral accounts.

[697] Report of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Oct. 24, 1865; Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866; Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, p. 140.

[698] N. Y. Times, Oct. 10, 1865. See also Resolutions of Legislature, 1865-1866.

[699] Joint Memorial and Resolutions of the General Assembly, in Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 598-600.

[700] Memorial and Joint Resolutions, Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 601-603.

[701] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 242.

[702] N. Y. Herald, Dec. 15, 1865.

[703] The wife of one of these officers was a notorious prostitute.

[704] Selma Times, Feb. 22, 1866.

[705] From Ms. account by a citizen of Greensboro. The young man who came so near hanging was some years later a hotel proprietor in Birmingham and created much newspaper discussion by ordering General Sherman to leave his hotel.

[706] See Mrs. Clayton, “White and Black Under the Old RÉgime,” pp. 152-153.

[707] Washington, “Up From Slavery,” pp. 23, 24.

[708] Columbus (Ga.) Sun, Nov. 22, 1865; The World, July 20, 1865; N. Y. Herald, July 23, 1865; Parsons’s Speech, Cooper Institute, Nov. 13, 1865; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 305, 307; Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 294; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 19, 20; Miller, “History of Alabama,” Ch. CXLI; oral accounts.

[709] N. Y. Herald, Aug. 27, 1865; Mobile Register, Aug. 16, 1865.

[710] Huntsville Advocate, July 26 and Nov. 9, 1865; McTyeire, “History of Methodism”; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama”; conversations with various negroes and whites.

[711] Hardy, “History of Selma,” p. 85.

[712] DeBow’s Review, March, 1866.

[713]

Negro population in 1860		437,770
Negro population in 1866		423,325
Decrease		14,445

[714] Estimated 20,000—Census of 1866.

[715] Southern Mag., Jan., 1874. Authorities as already noted and DeBow’s Review, March, 1866; Montgomery Advertiser, March 21, 1866; Hardy, “History of Selma,” p. 85; N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865; Huntsville Advocate, Nov. 9, 1865; N. Y. Herald, July 17, 1865; N. Y. News, Sept. 7 and Dec. 4, 1865; Census of 1866 in Selma Times and Messenger, March 24, 1868; Mrs. Clayton, “White and Black,” pp. 152, 153; “Our Women in the War”; Thomas, “The American Negro,” p. 190; Report of the Joint Committee, Pt. III, p. 140; B. C. Truman, Report to the President, April 9, 1866; Carl Schurz, Report to the President, see Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; General Grant, Report to the President, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[716] Southern Mag., Jan., 1874.

[717] Protestant Episcopal Freedmen’s Commission, Occasional Papers, Jan., 1866.

[718] N. Y. Times, Aug. 17, 1865, Jan. 25, Feb. 12, and July 2, 1866; N. Y. Herald, June 24, 1866; The Nation, Feb. 15 and April 19, 1866; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 369-371; Reports of Grant, Truman, and Schurz; Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction (Fisk); Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 20; Paper by Petrie in Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV, p. 465.

[719] Brown, “Alabama,” p. 259.

[720] Montgomery Advertiser, Dec., 1865, and Jan. 31, 1866; N. Y. Times, Oct. 31 and Dec. 27, 1865; N. Y. News, Dec. 4, 1865; N. Y. Herald, Dec., 1865, and Jan. 31, 1866; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 42, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. (W. H. Smith); Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 2d Sess. (Swayne’s Report); Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” p. 305; Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 445; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 228, 229; Somers, “South since the War,” p. 134; Huntsville Advocate, Nov. 23, 1865.

[721] Montgomery Advertiser, Jan. 31, 1866.

[722] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Buckley’s Report, Jan. 16, 1865; Report of John H. Hurst and A. B. Strickland, Oct. 4, 1865.

[723] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866; R. T. Smith to Swayne, Jan. 6, 1866 (in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.); W. H. Smith, D. C. Humphreys, and J. J. Giers, Memorial to Congress, Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 42, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866.

[724] Report of M. H. Cruikshank, March, 1866.

[725] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 1st Sess; National Intelligencer, Oct. 2, 1866.

[726] Huntsville Independent, April 3 and 19, 1866; Selma Times, June 9, 1866; oral accounts.

[727] W. Garrett to Swayne, Jan. 15, 1866, in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 38th Cong., 1st Sess.

[728] Chicago Tribune, June 2, 1866 (Correspondent at Bellefonte, Jackson County); Huntsville Independent, April 3 and 19, 1866; Reports of General Swayne, 1865-1866.

[729] March 8, 1867, General Howard of the Freedmen’s Bureau reported that in Alabama there were 10,000 whites and 5000 blacks in a destitute condition, and that during the next five months, owing to the failure of the crops in 1866, there would be needed 2,250,000 rations valued at $562,500, or 25 cents per ration. Sen. Ex. Docs., No. 1, 40th Cong., 1st Sess. Report of Swayne, Oct. 31, 1866; Report of Com. Bureau, Nov. 1, 1867; G. O., No. 4, Hq. Dist. of Ala., Montgomery, Oct. 10, 1866.

[730] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Oct. 24, 1868.

[731] Swayne’s Report, Nov., 1866; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; Reid, “After the War,” p. 221; Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Nov. 1, 1866, Nov. 1, 1867, Oct. 2, 1868; and other authorities noted above.

[732] These were general agents, supervising special agents, assistant special agents, local special agents, agency aids, aids to the revenue, customs officers, and superintendents of freedmen. Rules and Regulations, July 29, 1864. Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.

[733] Amended regulations, Sec. IV, March 30, 1865.

[734] Rules and Regulations, Sec. IX, Treasury Department, May 9, 1865. Renewed by Circular Instructions, May 16, 1865, and in force to June 30, 1865. In Alabama the regulation was enforced during the entire summer. Ho. Rept., No. 83, 45th Cong., 3d Sess.

[735] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 9.

[736] Proclamations, June 13 and 23, 1865.

[737] Proclamation, Aug. 29, 1865.

[738] Wilson burned at Selma 32,000 bales, and at Columbus, Ga., 150,000 bales, much of which came from Alabama. During the raid he destroyed 275,000 bales, 125,000 of which were burned in Alabama. The Confederates destroyed at Montgomery 80,000 bales (other accounts say 97,000 and 125,000; see Greeley, Vol. II, p. 19). Government cotton was, of course, the first destroyed, and there is no doubt but that nearly all of it was burned either by the raiders or by the Confederates to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. Cotton was also destroyed at Mobile and by the Federal armies that came up from the South.

[739] Report of A. Roane, Chief of the Produce Loan, C.S.A. Office, in Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.

[740] Roane then estimated that by April 1, 1865, the Confederacy owned in all no more than 150,000 bales. Dr. Curry, a member of the Confederate Congress, stated that only 250,000 bales were ever owned by the Confederate government. “Civil History,” pp. 115, 128. F. S. Lyon, when a member of the Confederate Congress in 1864, found that the Confederacy had a claim on about 150,000 bales scattered over ten states. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., 1426.

[741] J. Barr Robertson, “The Confederate Debt and Private Southern Debts,” p. 25.

[742] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 78, 38th Cong., 1st Sess. (Chase).

[743] Circular, Sept. 9, 1865.

[744] Act, March 12, 1863.

[745] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; Treasury Department Doc., No. 2261. According to a decision of the Supreme Court in case of Klein vs. United States (13 Wallace, 128), “disloyal” owners might become “loyal” by pardon and thus have all rights of property restored. This was the effect of proclamations of the President. “The restoration of the proceeds [then] became the absolute right of persons pardoned.” See Ho. Repts., No. 784, 51st Cong., 1st Sess., and No. 1377; 52d Cong., 1st Sess. The Attorney-General stated that “Congress took notice of the fact that captures of private property on land had been made and would continue to be made by the armies as a necessary and proper means of diminishing the wealth and thus reducing the powers of the insurgent rulers,” and that after a seizure had been made there could be no question of whether the usages of war were observed or violated, except through the courts; the President and the Secretary of the Treasury had no discretion in the matter. Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 114, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. According to the opinion of the United States law officers, “No one who submitted to the Confederate States, obeyed their laws, and contributed to support their government ought to recover under the statute” of March 12, 1863, See Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 22, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[746] Secretary McCulloch to President of the Senate, Jan. 16, 1869. Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 22, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., No. 37, 39th Cong., 25th Sess.

[747] Department Circular, No. 4, Jan. 9, 1900; 15 Stats.-at-Large, p. 251.

[748] See Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 16, 42d Cong., 2d Sess.; No. 12, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.; No. 23, 43d Cong., 1st Sess.; No. 18, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; No. 30, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.; No. 4, 45th Cong., 2d Sess.; Nos. 10 and 30, 46th Cong., 2d Sess.; also Treasury Department Doc., No. 2261 (1901); Department Circular, No. 4. Jan. 9, 1900.

[749] Sen. Rept., No. 41, Pt. I, pp. 442, 445, 42d Cong., 2d Sess.

[750] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 1941.

[751] Curry, “Civil History Confederate States,” pp. 115, 126, 128. See testimony of Lieut.-Col. Hunter Brooke in Rept. Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, p. 115.

[752] Whitelaw Reid, “After the War,” p. 204.

[753] Reid, “After the War,” pp. 208, 209.

[754] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 236.

[755] One who suffered writes from Selma: “Our cotton, the only thing left us with which to buy the necessaries of life, was seized at the point of the bayonet under the plea that it was Confederate cotton and that it was being seized by the government for its own use, whereas it was taken by the officers and sold, and the money put into their own pockets. It was then worth $255 a bale. Gen. —— commanded at this place, and he and his staff coined money faster than a mint could turn it out.” Judge B. H. Craig. In July, 1865, a train of wagons at Talladega was sent to the ginnery of Ross Green, at Alexandria, and 59 bales of cotton, Green’s own property, worth $100 a bale in gold, were carried off. Miller, p. 236.

[756] Testimony in Rept. of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, p. 115; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 1426. F. S. Lyon said that the people would have been better reconciled to the confiscation had the cotton been sold for the benefit of the United States, but it was plainly stolen by the agents and the army, and they began to resist in every way. Some of them concealed Confederate cotton; some stole from the government, some from the agents what the latter had stolen from them; some went into partnership with the agents. No one believed that any one except the original owner had a right to the cotton, and they did anything to get even.

[757] Miller, p. 236; N. Y. Times, March 2 and Aug. 30, 1865. In the Black Belt the United States military authorities collected the tax-in-kind which had been levied by the Confederate authorities but not collected. One planter had to pay one thousand bushels of corn, two barrels of syrup, and smaller quantities of other produce. From those who refused to pay the tax was taken forcibly. See Ku Klux Rept., p. 446 (F. S. Lyon).

[758] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 30, 46th Cong., 2d Sess.

[759] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 447; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 208, 209, 375; N. Y. Times, Aug. 30, 1865; N. Y. Herald, June 23, 1865.

[760] N. Y. Times, Aug. 30 and Nov. 2, 1865; De Bow’s Review, 1866; oral accounts.

[761] McCulloch, “Men and Measures,” pp. 234, 235.

[762] Sen. Rept., No. 41, Pt. I, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 442-445.

[763] The minority Ku Klux Report asserted that it was a well-known fact that Draper when appointed cotton agent was a bankrupt, and that when he died he was a millionnaire.

[764] The cotton secured in this way was, it was claimed, sold as “waste,” “trash,” or “dog tail” to some friend of the agent, who would divide with the latter.

[765] All freight, agency, auctioneer, insurance, storage, etc., charges, and fees for legal advice, were charged against the cotton, and had to be paid before it was restored.

[766] Probably Draper was correct here. The agents would consign to him all cotton that they felt sure the government had record of, and the rest they sold for their own benefit.

[767] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.

[768] Secretary McCulloch to President of the Senate, March 2, 1867, in Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 37, 39th Cong., 2d Sess. In this way, during the summer of 1865, $616,844.34 was restored to owners, and to the end of 1866 $1,018,459.83 was restored. Most of the owners lived in Alabama and Louisiana.

[769] See Brewer, p. 375, and Garrett, p. 587. Lyon was one of the most useful, reliable, and respected public men of Alabama and his account is entitled to confidence. He had been a lawyer, clerk of the senate, senator, member of Congress, state bank commissioner, presidential elector, member Confederate Congress, etc.

[770] Letter to F. P. Blair, in Sen. Rept., No. 41, Pt. I, p. 445, 42d Cong., 2d Sess.

[771] Under the reconstruction government Dustin held the office of major-general of militia.

[772] See Ku Klux Rept., pp. 444-446. Letter of F. S. Lyon to General Blair. Also Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 1410-1426, 1661.

Lyon had been agent for the Confederate Produce Loan, and consequently knew what was government cotton and what was not. After the war he acted as attorney for those whose cotton was unlawfully seized. The general officers commanding in his district approved his conduct, but he was hated by the cotton agents, who frequently complained of his “rebellious conduct.” Lyon tried to save even the cotton pledged to the Confederacy, on the ground that the promise or sale had not been completed and that the transaction was void from the beginning, and that the right of capture did not exist after the close of the war.

[773] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 146.

[774] Calculation based on subscriptions to Produce Loan. Most of it had been destroyed.

[775] N. Y. Times, June 2, 1865; Huntsville Advocate, May 26, 1866. Report of Grand Jury.

[776] N. Y. Times, June 2, 1866.

[777] Worth $500,000, at the lowest price.

[778] G. O., No. 55, Department of Ala., Oct. 30, 1865; G. O., No. 8, Department of Ala., Feb. 14, 1866; Ms. records in War Department archives. For years these men were in prison while their friends were working to secure their release. The principal arguments for Dexter’s release were the virtue of his wife’s relations in New England and the illegality of the trial before the military commission in time of peace. Judging from the tone of the indorsements he was probably released, though there is no record of the fact in the archives. The manuscript proceedings of the trial show that thousands of bales of cotton had been “spirited away,” but everything was in such a state of confusion that little could be plainly proven against the agents. Only one thing was certain, “that much more cotton was seized for the government than was received by the government.” The investigation was hushed up as soon as possible; too many were implicated.

[779] Sen. Rept., No. 41, Pt. I, pp. 442, 445, 42d Cong., 2d Sess. This estimate is probably too large for both numbers.

[780] “Civil History, Confederate States,” pp. 115, 128.

[781] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 37, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[782] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 56, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[783] Sen. Rept., No. 41, Pt. I, p. 444, 42d Cong., 2d Sess.

[784] After which date confiscation was forbidden by Treasury regulation.

[785] An example of the way charges were piled up: A lot of 448 bales of cotton was seized in Eufaula, Alabama, and shipped to New York, via Appalachicola. The expenses were:—

Expenses to and at Appalachicola		$24,264.85
Freight		4,164.69
Expenses at New York		2,500.05
Information and collecting		30,893.31
Total expenses		61,822.90
Gross proceeds of sale		78,352.56
Net proceeds of sale		16,529.66

Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 23, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.

The following cotton statistics show how the Mobile agents ran up expenses:—

J. R. Dillon, 1st Agency:	Cotton sales		$57,033.66
	Total proceeds of all sales		129,076.33
	Expenses, total		64,350.01
S. B. Eaton, 1st Agency:	Cotton sold		15,963.01
	Total receipts		27,799.48
	Total expenses		27,799.48
T. C. A. Dexter, 9th Agency:	Cotton sold		39,945.39
	Total receipts		783,152.62
	Expenses		485,137.77
J. M. Tomeny, 9th Agency:	Cotton sold		14,159.51
	Total receipts		208,185.63
	Expenses		208,185.63
Total expenses of every kind amounted to			6,546,000.95
On receipts of			34,396,189.95
Of which cotton sold for			29,518,041.17

[786] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 56, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[787] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 97, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[788] See Ku Klux Rept., pp. 443-446; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 37, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 97, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 113, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 23, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; Department Circular, No. 4, Jan. 9, 1900.

[789] Department Circular, No. 4, Jan. 9, 1900; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 23, 43d Cong., 2d Sess. There are imperfect records of only two Alabama agencies, which reported a certain number of bales seized. The other agencies did not report their operations in Alabama. The agents not reporting were: J. R. Dillon, H. M. Buckley, S. B. Eaton, E. P. Hotchkiss, L. Ellis, A. D. Banks, James and Ellis Carver, and perhaps others. None of the numerous collecting agents made reports or kept records. In 1876, thirty-three cotton agents were defaulters to the United States, one man owing the United States $337,460.44. Of these, sixteen were not to be found anywhere. Four of the defaulters had operated in Alabama. These men were by their own records defaulters—having failed to turn over to the government the proceeds of sales they had reported. Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.

[790] In addition to the tax of twenty-five per cent on purchases of cotton levied by a Treasury regulation during the war and in force during 1865. Treasury regulations, May 9, 1865. See also President’s proclamation, in McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 9.

[791] Governor Patton, in his message of Nov. 12, 1866, stated that the cotton tax of three cents a pound was oppressive and unjust, a burden on the farmers and on the laborers also; that the tax went into the United States Treasury and then passed into the hands of the manufacturers as a gratuity of three cents per pound; that there was no way of getting the ruinous tax raised or lightened unless by an appeal in the form of a petition; that the people of Alabama had no voice in the government; that this “law paralyzes our energies and represses the development of our resources and is injurious to the whole country.” Governor’s Message, House Journal, 1866-1867, p. 21.

[792] Twenty states and territories are not included in these sums, as no reports were received from them. Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess., and Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[793] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.

[794] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 47, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.

[795] $54,191,229 in 1870.

[796] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.

[797] The cotton tax was justified on the ground that while Alabama had paid $14,200,982 from 1862 to 1872, New Jersey had paid a total tax of $48,528,298, the two states having very nearly the same population. But no account was taken of the fact that for four years no tax was collected from Alabama by the United States, while nearly all of the movable wealth was destroyed during the war, and that in 1865 property was almost non-existent in Alabama. New Jersey, however, was a rich state. Alabama had besides paid an enormous war tax and had been looted of millions of dollars’ worth of cotton. And in Alabama there were 500,000 negroes who paid no tax, while most of the population of New Jersey were taxpayers. Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.

[798] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 34, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[799] Sen. Mis. Doc., No. 100, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. (A. A. Low, Chairman of Committee of the N. Y. Chamber of Commerce).

[800] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 383, 403 (General Pettus); Journal of the Convention of 1867.

[801] See Saunders, “Early Settlers,” p. 31 (Reverdy Johnson to Saunders). Jan. 18, 1872, the Alabama legislature (Republican Senate and Democratic House) memorialized Congress, asking to have the cotton tax refunded to the impoverished people, and stating that the tax was “most unjust and oppressive, a direct tax upon industry”; that to refund the tax would be “evenhanded but tardy justice.” Acts of Ala., 1871-1872, pp. 445-446. A similar petition was made on Feb. 23, 1875. Acts of Ala., 1874-1875, p. 674.

[802] In December, 1903, Representative J. S. Williams of Mississippi introduced a measure in Congress to refund the amount of the cotton tax to the southern states.

[803] It is difficult to understand now how thoroughly the Confederate soldier realized that the questions at issue were decided against him. But that it was a crime to have been a Confederate soldier, he did not understand. See also testimony of John B. Gordon and of Edmund W. Pettus in the Ku Klux Testimony.

[804] A neglected point of view is the attitude of the Confederate soldier. He had surrendered with arms in hand, and certain terms had been made with him, as he thought, a contract, embodied in the parole. This he believed secured his rights in return for laying down arms, and that as long as he was law-abiding his rights were to be inviolate. He was well pleased with the “spirit of Appomattox,” but nearly all that happened after Appomattox was in violation, he felt, of the terms of surrender. The whole radical programme was contrary to the contract made with men who had arms in their hands. Lee had decided that there should be no guerilla warfare, and in return certain moral obligations rested on the North. See the statements of General (now Senator) Edmund W. Pettus, in Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 377, 383, and of General John B. Gordon, in Ga. Test., pp. 314, 332, 333, 343.

[805] See “Our Women in the War,” p. 280; Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 463; Le Conte, “Autobiography,” p. 236.

[806] N. Y. Herald, June 17 and Aug. 30, 1865; N. Y. Times, Aug. 17 and Oct. 31, 1865; Mrs. Clay, “A Belle of the Fifties”; Nation, Feb. 15, 1865; oral accounts; Clayton, “White and Black under the Old RÉgime.”

[807] Letter concerning affairs at the South, Dec. 18, 1865, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 67. General Grant’s conclusions were undoubtedly correct, but they evidently could not be based on the information gathered in a week’s journeying through the South. This gave the Radicals an opportunity to attack his report as being based on insufficient information. But General Grant knew the men against whom he had fought, he had talked with many of the representative men of the South, and through military channels was well informed as to actual conditions at the South.

[808] Report of Carl Schurz, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. Schurz made a journey of more than two months through the southern states. Judging from the testimony which he submits, his confidence must have been confined to the officers of the Freedmen’s Bureau. As a foreigner (a German), he would not be able, even if so inclined, to ascertain anything of the sentiments of the representative people. However, his report was evidently not based entirely on the evidence submitted with it; if it had been, it would have been even more unfavorable. In McClure’s Magazine, January, 1904, Schurz has an article which is practically a rewriting of this report made nearly forty years before. He repeats some of the same stories told him then, and endeavors to reconcile his attitude in 1865-1866 with his course as a Liberal Republican in 1871-1872.

[809] Report of Benjamin C. Truman to the President, April 9, 1866, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 43, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; N. Y. Times, March 2, 1865. Truman spent two months in Alabama, and saw many prominent men whom Schurz did not see, and came in contact with thousands of other citizens. His aim was to picture conditions as they were. The newspaper correspondents, regardless of politics, gave better accounts than the volunteer officers, who had little training or education and much prejudice.

[810] See Blaine, Vol. II, p. 127.

[811] The sub-committee: Senator Harris (New York) and Senator Boutwell (Massachusetts) and Morrill (Vermont) from the House.

[812] Smith and Humphreys.

[813] J. J. Giers.

[814] M. J. Saffold. He was pardoned by President Johnson for that offence.

[815] George E. Spencer, Colonel 1st Alabama Union Cavalry.

[816] The witnesses who furnished testimony to the Congressional committee were:—

Name		Nativity	Remarks
1.	Warren Kelsey	Massachusetts	Cotton speculator
2.	General Edward Hatch	Iowa	Volunteer army
3.	General George E. Spencer	Iowa	Volunteer army
4.	William H. Smith	Alabama	Deserter
5.	J. J. Giers	Alabama	Tory
6.	Mordecai Mobley	Iowa
7.	General George H. Thomas	Virginia	U. S. Army
8.	General Clinton B. Fisk	North	Freedmen’s Bureau
9.	M. J. Saffold	Alabama	“Union” man
10.	D. C. Humphreys	Alabama	Deserter
11.	Colonel Milton M. Bane	Illinois	Volunteer army
12.	General Joseph R. West	California	Volunteer army
13.	Colonel Hunter Brooke	North	Volunteer army
14.	General Grierson	Illinois	Volunteer army
15.	General Swayne	North	Freedmen’s Bureau
16.	General C. C. Andrews	Minnesota	Volunteer army
17.	General Chetlain	Illinois	Volunteer army
18.	General Tarbell	North	Volunteer army

[817] One of these men (W. H. Smith) became the first scalawag governor of Alabama, another (George E. Spencer) became a United States senator by negro votes, the third (Giers) was provided for in the departments at Washington, the fourth (Saffold) became a circuit judge in Alabama, and the fifth (Humphreys) a judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. See Herbert, “The Solid South,” pp. 19, 20.

[818] Testimony of General Swayne, Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 1866, Pt. III, pp. 138-141.

[819] Other witnesses gave, in some respects, more favorable testimony, though most of them were very much more bitter. General Swayne showed no bias except the natural bias of one who did not understand the people, and who had no sympathy with any of the southern social or political principles. Of the northern men he was the best qualified by experience and observation to testify as to conditions in the South. He was an intelligent, educated man, trained in the law, and had a good military record. Most of the others were distinctly below his standard,—ignorant, prejudiced officers of volunteers from the West.

[820] General Swayne was in Alabama nearly three years as the head of the unpopular Freedmen’s Bureau, and his accounts, from first to last, of conditions in Alabama were marked by a fairness which can be found in but little of the official correspondence from the South. He believed in the Freedmen’s Bureau, in negro suffrage, and in the political proscription of white leaders; but his feelings influenced his judgment but little, and, unlike other Bureau officials, he never made misrepresentations.

[821] The Nation, Feb. 15, 1866.

[822] Huntsville Advocate, July 26, 1865.

[823] Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 29, 30; Atlantic Monthly, Feb., 1901.

[824] See Memorial of William H. Smith, J. J. Giers, and D. C. Humphreys to Congress, Feb., 1866, in Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 42, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. Testimony of the same and of M. J. Saffold in Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 1866; letter of D. H. Bingham from West Point, New York; Reid, “After the War,” passim.

[825] See Le Conte, “Autobiography,” p. 236; Montgomery correspondent in N. Y. Daily News, May 7, 1866.

[826] A newspaper correspondent, the guest of ex-Governor C. C. Clay, wrote: “While the Yankee boldly marched in at the front door into his [Clay’s] parlors and best chambers to dream loyal dreams and rest now that the warfare’s o’er, the quondam aristocrat [a son of ex-Governor Clay, editor of a paper in Huntsville, had been outlawed for his sentiments during the occupation of north Alabama by the Federal troops and was in hiding] must plod around to the rear and there eat the (corn) bread of mad passion weighed down with mad remorse.” Letter from a travelling correspondent of the N. Y. Times, Aug. 17, 1865. The Times usually had very little of such correspondence. The Times, the Herald, and the World had good correspondents in the South, especially during Reconstruction.

[827] An old Alabama river steamboat captain had had his boat burned by Wilson, but had secured another. The Federal army regarded him as a most unmitigated “rebel.” He would play “Dixie” in spite of all prohibitions. He was finally arrested on a more serious charge.

“What do you answer to the charge against you?”

“Faith, an’ which one?”

“That you refuse to take the bodies of dead Federal soldiers on your boat to Montgomery.”

“No, no, that’s not true. God knows it would be the pleasure of my life to take the whole Yankee nation up the river in that same fix.” “Our Women in the War,” p. 281.

Colonel Robert McFarland returned to Florence in the only suit he possessed—a gray uniform. He was peremptorily ordered by the Federal officers not to wear it. He was in a quandary until a friend secured a long linen duster for him to wear. “Northern Alabama,” p. 291.

[828] Gen. T. Kilby Smith, on Sept. 14, 1865, in Mobile, made a statement for Carl Schurz in which he asserted that one of the most intelligent, well-bred, pious ladies of Mobile wanted the military authorities to whip or torture into a confession of theft two negroes whom she suspected of stealing. She considered it a hardship, he said, that a negro might not be whipped or tortured in order to force a confession, when there was no evidence against him. “I offer this,” he wrote, “as an instance of the feeling that exists in all classes against the negro.” See Doc. No. 9, accompanying the report of Schurz.

[829] I have seen a coarse article reflecting on the character of southern women originally published in the Tribune and copied in a small Alabama paper each issue for several weeks. It asserted in thinly veiled terms that many of the young southern women were too intimate with negro men; the solution of the race question by amalgamation was asserted as sure to come; details of such a solution were suggested, and examples of what was taking place were cited.

[830] General Terry attempted to explain the condition of affairs by saying that the results of the war were but the legitimate consequence of a conflict between an inferior and a superior race. “Land We Love,” Vol. IV, p. 243. Gen. T. Kilby Smith, in September, 1865, complained that Federal officers were not received in society in Mobile. General Wood, he said, had been six weeks in Mobile, “ignored socially and damned politically”; and this, he said, in a community which before the war was considered one of the most refined and hospitable of all the southern maritime cities, the favorite home of army and naval officers. Doc. No. 9, accompanying the report of Schurz.

[831] In addition to references cited above, see also Huntsville Advocate, March 9 and 23, July 26, 1865; Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 42, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Sen. Mis. Doc., No. 43, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. (Truman); Reid, “After the War,” pp. 211, 212, 218, 219; “The Land We Love,” passim; “Our Women in the War,” p. 279 et passim; Abbott, “The Rights of Man,” pp. 224-226; Clayton, “White and Black,” pp. 150-152; Clay, “A Belle of the Fifties”; Straker, “The New South Investigated,” pp. 24, 57; Report of the Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III; N. Y. Daily News, April 16, 1864, and Dec. 4, 1865; Reports of Schurz, Truman, and Grant; Reports of the Freedmen’s Bureau; Southern Magazine, 1874 (DeLeon); N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865; N. Y. Herald, July 23, 1865; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 233-251; Columbus (Ga.) Sun, March 22 and April 19, 1865; The Nation, Feb. 15, 1866; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., passim; Reconstruction articles in Atlantic Monthly, 1901.

[832] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 448.

[833] Thomas W. Conway, of the Freedmen’s Bureau, who passed through the state in 1866, stated that there were men in Alabama who, rather than sell their lands to northern men or borrow money in the North, would see their plantations lie waste, and before they would hire their former slaves as free laborers they would starve. The spirit of hatred toward northern men was universal, he said. Report to Chamber of Commerce, New York, June 7, 1866.

[834] Jan. 17, 1867, the state legislature declared that the reports published in the northern papers that it was unsafe for northern men to reside in Alabama were false. The lower house declared that “we, in the name of the people of Alabama, most cordially invite skilled labor and capital from the world, and particularly from all parts of the United States, and pledge the hearty coÖperation and support of the state.” Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 15. For several years every inducement was offered by the planters to encourage immigration to the Black Belt. As late as 1869 immigration conventions were held. Annual CyclopÆdia (1869), p. 10. During 1865 the north Alabama “unionists” hoped to see northern white men come in and take the place of the negroes. The Nation, Aug. 17, 1865.

[835] Report of Truman, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 43, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Reid “After the War,” passim; Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 448; N. Y. Times, Nov. 10, 1865, July 2 and Oct. 31, 1866; General Swayne’s testimony, Report Joint Committee, Pt. III, p. 141; General Tarbell’s testimony, Report Joint Committee, Pt. III, pp. 155, 156.

[836] Report Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III, pp. 139-141.

[837] In addition to the above references, see The World, Nov. 13, 1865; N. Y. Times, July 2 and Sept. 9, 1866; N. Y. Herald, July 23 and Aug. 28, 1865 (Swayne); Truman’s Report, April 9, 1866; Swayne’s Report, Jan., 1866; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874.

[838] Pastoral Letters, May 30 and June 20, 1865.

[839] Perry, “History of the American Episcopal Church,” Vol. II, p. 328 et seq.; Whitaker, “The Church in Alabama,” pp. 172-175; N. Y. Herald, Sept. 4, 1865; Wilmer, “The Recent Past from a Southern Standpoint,” p. 143. Gen. T. Kilby Smith said that Wilmer had great influence among the better class of people, especially the women. Doc. No. 9, accompanying the report of Carl Schurz.

[840] Perry, “History of the American Episcopal Church,” Vol. II, p. 328 et seq.; Whitaker, pp. 175, 176; Wilmer, pp. 143-145.

[841] Whitaker, p. 177; Wilmer, “Recent Past,” p. 145. A copy of the order was also found in the War Department archives.

[842] Pastoral Letter, Sept. 28, 1865.

[843] Whitaker, pp. 180, 181; Wilmer, pp. 145, 146; Montgomery Mail, Oct. 2, 1865.

[844] Whitaker, p. 182; Wilmer, p. 146; Copy of order in War Department archives. Republished on G. O. 2, Jan. 10, 1866, Hq. Dept. Ala., Mobile.

[845] Whitaker, p. 186; Mobile Register, Jan. 9, 1866; Montgomery Mail, Jan. 19, 1866.

[846] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 25; Wilmer, pp. 147-152; Whitaker, pp. 189-194; Perry, Vol. II, p. 328 et seq. The northern conferences of the Methodist Protestant Church returned in 1877 to the southern organization. See “Statistics of Churches,” p. 566.

[847] See Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. X, p. 562.

[848] See Dunning, “Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction,” pp. 100-103.

[849] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 121, 122, 504, 505.

[850] Taylor, “Destruction and Reconstruction”; Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, pp. 15, 60.

[851] See Dunning, “Essays,” pp. 103-104.

[852] With only two dissenting votes.

[853] Some of these were southerners who were about to withdraw.

[854] Cong. Globe, July 22, 24, 25, 1861.

[855] Cong. Globe, Dec. 5, 1862.

[856] Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, pp. 5-12.

[857] Proclamation, Dec. 8, 1863, in Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 213.

[858] Proclamation, July 8, 1864, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 223.

[859] Lincoln to Reverdy Johnson, Nicolay and Hay, p. 349.

[860] Nicolay and Hay, Vol. IX, p. 457; Vol. X, p. 123.

[861] Nicolay and Hay, Vol. VIII, p. 434.

[862] Message, Dec. 4, 1865, in Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 379.

[863] Cong. Globe, Feb. 11, 1862.

[864] Atlantic Monthly, Oct., 1863.

[865] Globe, Feb. 25, 1865, and Dec. 4, 1865. See Henry Adams, “Historical Essays.”

[866] Speeches in the Globe, 1865-1867.

[867] Globe, Aug. 2, 1861.

[868] Globe, Jan. 8, 1863.

[869] Globe, Jan. 22, 1864.

[870] Globe, Jan. 8, 1863.

[871] Globe, Dec. 4, 1865, March 10, 1866; Taylor, “Destruction and Reconstruction,” p. 244.

[872] See also Dunning, “Essays,” pp. 106-108.

[873] See Dunning, “Essays,” pp. 99-112; Texas versus White (1869), 7 Wallace 700; Scott, “Reconstruction during the Civil War”; McCarthy, “Lincoln’s Plan of Reconstruction”; Burgess, “Reconstruction and the Constitution,” pp. 1-143.

[874] N. Y. Times, April 4, 1865.

[875] Elected in 1863.

[876] Testimony of M. J. Saffold, Report Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III, p. 60. The “union” men greatly exaggerated the strength of the “union” sentiment in the state during the war and their individual part in the peace movement. This was necessary in order to secure recognition as representatives of a strong “union” element. When the plan of the President was so modified as to leave them in their natural position of no influence, they became very bitter against it and played the martyr act to perfection.

[877] Testimony of J. J. Giers, Report Joint Committee, Pt. III, p. 15; O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, pp. 473, 485, 505, 506.

[878] See pp. 143-148.

[879] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, p. 560.

[880] Judge Byrd was elected to the Supreme Court in 1865. He was a distant relative of Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, Va., Esq. Brewer, p. 224.

[881] General C. C. Andrews, in O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, p. 727; N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, May 27, 1865; N. Y. Tribune, June 2, 1865.

[882] There were present: Ex-Gov. John G. Shorter, M. A. Baldwin (Attorney-General, Brewer, p. 445), W. B. Bell, A. B. Clitherall (Brewer, p. 479), all of whom had been ardent secessionists, and L. E. Parsons (see p. 143), Col. J. C. Bradley, Col. J. J. Seibels (Brewer, p. 459; see p. 143), W. J. Bibb, J. G. Strother, M. J. Saffold (Brewer, p. 215), George Goldthwaite (Brewer, p. 451, A. and I. General). It was a fairly representative body of government officials and “stay-at-homes.”

[883] Garrett, p. 166. Reese was a “Union” man.

[884] N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, May 27, 1865; N. Y. Tribune, June 2, 1865; Montgomery Mail, May 12, 1865. The members of the committee which went to Washington were: Joseph C. Bradley, L. E. Parsons, M. J. Saffold, Lewis Owen, George S. Houston, James Birney, W. J. Bibb, John M. Sutherlin, Albert Roberts, Luke Pryor. None of the committee had been secessionists. Reese had been a “Union” man, Saffold a “political agent.” W. J. Bibb had made a visit to Washington during the war and had a consultation with Lincoln. Parsons was a “Union” man. Houston and Pryor (see Brewer, pp. 324, 326) were neither “Union” nor “secessionist,” but “constitutional.” The others were unknown to public life.

[885] Formerly colonel of the 48th Alabama Infantry.

[886] N. Y. Daily News, May 29, 1865.

[887] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, p. 826.

[888] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, p. 971.

[889] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, pp. 810, 854, 877.

[890] Member of Congress, Confederate colonel of the 36th Alabama, former Whig. Brewer, p. 425.

[891] Former Whig, Adjutant and Inspector-General during the war. Brewer, p. 397.

[892] N. Y. Herald, June 15, 1865.

[893] N. Y. World, June 13, 1865. The absence of the old names in all these movements is noticeable. The old leaders had been strongly in favor of the Confederacy and now took back seats while smaller men came forward. They never came into power again.

[894] Huntsville Advocate, July 19, 1865.

[895] In one of the mountain counties, but the exact location was never named in any of the accounts of the convention.

[896] N. Y. Herald, June 17, 1865.

[897] He represented Talladega in the convention of 1867.

[898] See above, p. 125.

[899] Parsons, Bradley, Houston, Nicholas Davis, Pryor, Saffold, Bibb, Roberts, etc.

[900] Letter in N. Y. Herald, June 17, 1865.

[901] See McPherson, “Rebellion,” p. 286.

[902] The Mobile Register and Advertiser (John Forsyth, editor) supported the President’s policy: “The states were never out of the Union”—July 18, 1865. The Huntsville Advocate, July 19, said, “The presidential policy is simple, direct, and emphatic.” Henry W. Hilliard, General Cullen A. Battle, Ex-Governors Shorter, Moore, Watts, and Fitzpatrick declared that there would be no opposition but a hearty effort “to get straight.”

[903] Lilian Foster, “Andrew Johnson: Services and Speeches,” pp. 199, 210, “Address to Loyal Southerners,” April, 1865.

[904] There is little reason to believe that Lincoln could have succeeded in the struggle with Congress.

[905] See Foster, “Andrew Johnson,” for change of feeling in Johnson as expressed in his speeches in 1865 and 1866.

[906] “President Tamers” the Radicals called them.

[907] McCulloch, p. 517 and Preface; Nation, Oct. 26, 1865; Mayes, “L. Q. C. Lamar”; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 404, 405, 578; Mobile Register and Advertiser, July 18, 1865; Huntsville Advocate, July 18, 1865.

[908] McPherson, p. 10; Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 310.

[909] McPherson, p. 10.

[910] G. O., Nos. 5, 13, and 14, Department of Alabama, 1865.

[911] N. Y. Herald, June 21, 1865; Brewer and Garret, sub. nom.

[912] Article II, section 2: Article IV, section 4.

[913] Lewis Eliphalet Parsons, born 1817, Boone County, New York, was the son of a farmer and the grandson of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards. He came to Alabama in 1840 and practised law in Talladega, was a Whig, later a Douglas Democrat, and on both sides during the war. See above, p. 143.

[914] Here “loyal” seems to mean those who had taken the amnesty oath.

[915] Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 323.

[916] Those who could take the iron-clad test oath of 1862.

[917] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 26, p. 97, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[918] James Redpath in The Nation, Aug. 17, 1865, condensed.

[919] See Foster, “Andrew Johnson,” pp. 199, 210, 214, 220, 250.

[920] The 22d of May was the date when the Confederate state government ceased to exist.

[921] Garrett, p. 735, says Aug. 30 and Sept. 12. The convention met on Sept. 12.

[922] Parsons’s Proclamation, July 20 (or 22), 1865; in N. Y. Herald, July 26 and Aug. 11, 1865; Garrett, p. 735; McPherson, p. 21.

[923] Parsons’s Message to Convention, Sept. 21, 1865; Proclamation, July 20, 1865; in N. Y. Herald, Aug. 11, 1865.

[924] Huntsville Advocate, Aug. 17, 1865.

[925] See McCulloch, p. 517 and passim; N. Y. Tribune, May 4, 1866; Mobile Times, April 25, 1866.

[926] N. Y. Herald, Sept. 3, 1865.

[927] Testimony of M. J. Saffold, Report of Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III, pp. 59-63.

[928] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 16, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[929] Others were pardoned for having aided the Confederacy in the following occupations: agents of the Nitre and Mining Bureau; tax collector and state assessor; tax receiver (Confederate); general officer of the Confederate army; postmasters who had held office before the war; members of the state legislature; cotton agents; foreign agents and commissioners; graduates of West Point and Annapolis; resigning United States service to join Confederacy; mail contractors; clerks of the Confederate government; state and Confederate judges; members of Congress; receivers of subscriptions for the Confederacy; marshals and deputy marshals; clerks of state and Confederate courts; agents for the purchase of supplies; members of advisory board; cotton bond agent; Confederate government official; commissioner of appraisement; depositary; route agent; commissioner of Indian affairs; member of convention of 1861; prize commissioner; commissioner to take testimony; Indian agent; Confederate financial agent; commissioner to examine prisoners held by military authorities; agent of the Produce Loan; receiver of the tax-in-kind; leaving loyal state; commissioner of “fifteen million loan”; agent to receive subscriptions for cotton and produce loans; depot agent to receive the tax-in-kind; agent under sequestration laws; enrolling officer; impressment agent; Treasury agent; Confederate contractor; sequestration commissioner; agent to collect provisions for the army; district attorney; state printer; border agriculturist; custom officer; agent to receive titles; commissioner to examine political prisoners. Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 16, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., gives a list of those pardoned. Some of the more well-known men pardoned were: R. M. Patton, “agent for the sale of rebel bonds, and worth over $20,000”; Nicholas Davis, “member of rebel provisional Congress”; Charles Hays, worth over $20,000; Benjamin Fitzpatrick, “resigned United States Senate”; J. G. Gilchrist, “member of Secession Convention”; S. F. Rice, worth over $20,000; S. S. Scott, Indian agent; H. C. Semple, worth over $20,000; Thomas H. Watts, “member of rebel convention, voted for ordinance of secession, colonel in rebel army, attorney-general of the would-be Southern Confederacy, rebel governor of Alabama, and worth $20,000”; M. J. Saffold, “commissioner to examine political prisoners, and state printer.”

[930] The names and offences of those pardoned are given in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 99, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; No. 16, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; and No. 31, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[931] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865.

[932] Montgomery Daily Advertiser, Oct. 1, 1865.

[933] N. Y. Herald, Sept. 26 and Oct. 15, 1865.

[934] N. Y. Herald, Sept. 26, 1865.

[935] Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 28.

[936] Journal of the Convention, 1865, pp. 16, 57, 58; N. Y. Herald, Sept. 26 and Oct. 15, 1865.

[937] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), pp. 16, 17; Journal of the Convention, 1865, pp. 57, 58.

[938] The vote cast was 92, probably all who were present. Journal of the Convention, p. 59; N. Y. Herald, Sept. 26, 1865; Shepherd, “Constitution and Ordinances,” 1865, p. 48; Code of 1867, Ordinance No. 13, Sept. 25, 1865. Early in the session Mardis of Shelby, a “loyal” member, proposed a resolution to the effect that the ordinance of secession was “unconstitutional and therefore illegal and void, [and that] the leaders of the rebellion having been forced to lay down their arms and turn over to the conservative people of the state the reigns of the civil government by which the state has become more peaceful and loyal to the United States government. She is now entitled to all the rights as before ordinance of secession.” Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 16. The resolutions of the “loyalists” were curiosities, and the secretary did not always expurgate bad spelling, etc.

[939] Shepherd, “Constitution and Ordinances,” 1865, p. 49; Ordinance No. 14.

[940] N. Y. Herald, Sept. 22, 1865.

[941] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 17; N. Y. Times, Sept. 29, 1865; N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865; Shepherd, “Constitution and Ordinances,” 1865, pp. 53, 54; Ordinances Nos. 25-28, September, 1865. In spite of this ordinance certain war debts were paid. Fowler, Superintendent of Army Records, was paid $3000 for his work during the war, the legislature buying the records from him. Coleman, a Confederate judge, was paid for services during the war. See Acts 65-66 and the Journal of the Convention of 1867. The newspaper reports give summaries of the debates on the more important ordinances; the Journal of the Convention gives only the votes and resolutions.

[942] Chairman of the committee on suffrage, Convention of 1901.

[943] It seems to have been taken for granted by the convention that slavery was already abolished.

[944] The amnesty proclamation expressly excepted property in slaves.

[945] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 14; N. Y. Times, Sept. 30, 1865.

[946] “Loyalist,” and later a “scalawag.”

[947] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865.

[948] Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 49.

[949] Journal of the Convention, 1865, pp. 49, 50; N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865; Shepherd, “Constitution and Ordinances,” 1865, p. 45, Ordinance No. 6. The three members who voted against the abolition ordinance were Crawford of Coosa, Cumming of Monroe, and White of Talladega. They wanted to let the Supreme Court decide. The Supreme Court of Alabama, a year later, held that, as a matter of history which the court would recognize, slavery was dead as a result of war before the passage of the ordinance of Sept. 22, 1865.

[950] That class of men called all negroes “free negroes” and “freedmen” for years after the war as a term of contempt.

[951] Afterwards second provisional governor.

[952] N. Y. Times, Sept. 30, 1865.

[953] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865.

[954] N. Y. Times, Sept. 30, 1865.

[955] Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 80; Shepherd, “Constitution and Ordinances,” 1865, p. 61, Ordinance No. 34.

[956] Huntsville Advocate, Sept. 28, 1865. A “Johnson reconstruction paper.”

[957] Huntsville Advocate, Oct. 12, 1865.

[958] Shepherd, p. 57, Ordinance No. 30; Journal of the Convention, 1865, pp. 67, 68. See Constitution of 1865, Article IV, Section 4.

[959] Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 34.

[960] A member of the convention of 1861.

[961] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865.

[962] Journal of the Convention, 1865, p. 74.

[963] Shepherd, p. 44, Ordinance No. 5.

[964] Shepherd, p. 54, Ordinance No. 26.

[965] Shepherd, p. 46, Ordinance No. 7.

[966] Shepherd, p. 63, Ordinance No. 39.

[967] Shepherd, p. 74, Ordinance No. 42. See Constitution, 1865, Article IV, Section 31.

[968] Shepherd, pp. 44, 53, 65, Ordinances Nos. 4, 23, 43.

[969] Shepherd, pp. 49, 62, 68, Ordinances Nos. 15, 37, 49.

[970] Ordinances Nos. 8, 16, 22, 33.

[971] Shepherd, p. 70.

[972] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 15, 1865; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 26, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. (Parsons); Report Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III, pp. 138-141.

[973] Parsons’s Proclamation, Sept. 28, 1865.

[974] Montgomery Advertiser, May 12, 1866.

[975] In Macon, Russell, and Lowndes counties.

[976] N. Y. Daily News, Sept. 7, 1865; N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 6, 1866; Swayne’s Report, Jan., 1866, in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Report Joint Committee of Reconstruction, 1866, Pt. III, p. 140 (Swayne).

[977] “I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have never sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority, in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto; and I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 193.

[978] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 81, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., McCulloch, Report, March 19, 1866; McCulloch, “Men and Measures,” pp. 227, 233. The Finance Committee reported in favor of paying these officials, accepting as correct the secretary’s statement. They were paid, in spite of the opposition of Sumner, who voted not to pay “those rebels.” McCulloch, p. 232.

[979] On March 17, 1866, the Postmaster-General, in a letter to the President, stated that the test oaths of July 2, 1862, and March 3, 1863, hindered the reconstruction of the postal service in the South. Of 2258 mail routes in 1861, only 757 had been restored. Before the war there were 8902 postmasters, and in 1866 there were but 2042, of whom 420 were women and 865 others could not take the oath. Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 81, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[980] N. Y. News, Dec. 8 and Oct. 23, 1865; N. Y. Times, July 2, 1866.

[981] Cox, “Three Decades,” p. 603; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 401, 402; N. Y. Daily News, Oct. 23 and Dec. 8, 1865; N. Y. Times, July 2, 1866.

[982] Selma Times, April 10, 1866. The rejection of such men as Dr. F. W. Sykes of Lawrence as tax commissioner was especially discouraging to the anti-Democratic party in the state. Sykes had been an obstructionist in the legislature during the war. Brewer, p. 309.

[983] One official who had suffered from objections made against his past record inserted the following advertisement in the Selma Times, April 11, 1866:—

[984] There were no nominating conventions; the candidates were announced by caucuses of friends. Several other men were spoken of, but the contest narrowed down to three.

[985] N. Y. Times, Nov. 10, 1865.

[986] R. M. Patton, 21,442; M. J. Bulger, 15,234; W. R. Smith, 8194. The total vote was 44,870; the registration to Sept. 22, 1865, had been 65,825; the vote for delegates to the convention had been about 56,000; the vote for presidential electors in 1860 had been 89,579. The falling off in the vote may be explained by the death and disfranchisement of voters and by the indifference of south Alabama people to the north Alabama candidates.

[987] The convention in September had proceeded to correct the theory of the situation by conferring the powers of a civil governor upon Parsons, and authorizing him to act as governor until the elected governor should be qualified.

[988] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 21. Alabama was the twenty-seventh state to ratify, and with seven other seceding states made up the necessary three-fourths of the thirty-six states. So far the Johnson state governments were recognized. Tribune Almanac, 1866. Later, when all that the “restoration” administration had done was found to be useless or worse than useless, an Alabama writer, in “The Land We Love,” complained:—

“The constitutional amendment abolishing slavery could only be passed constitutionally when the southern states were in the Union. We were then in the Union for the few weeks during which time this was being done. For this brief privilege we lost 4,000,000 of slaves valued at $1,200,000,000. We have every reason to be thankful for being wakened out of our brief dream of being in the Union. A few more weeks of such costly sleep would have stripped us entirely of houses and lands.”

[989] N. Y. Herald, Dec. 19, 1865.

[990] Inaugural Addresses, Dec. 13, 1865; Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 19.

[991] Both Parsons and Houston had been “Unionists,” but neither could have subscribed to the oath exacted from members of Congress. The representatives chosen were: (1) C. C. Langdon, Whig, Bell and Everett man, of northern birth, opposed secession, a member of the legislature of 1861; (2) George C. Freeman, Whig, Bell and Everett man, opposed secession, captain and major 47th Alabama; (3) Cullen A. Battle, Democrat, major-general C.S.A.; (4) Joseph W. Taylor, Whig, Bell and Everett man, opposed secession; (5) Burwell T. Pope, Whig, opposed secession; (6) Thomas J. Foster, Whig, Bell and Everett man, opposed secession. None of the congressmen-elect could subscribe to the test oath. The people would have voted for no man who could take the test oath.

[992] McPherson, p. 15.

[993] Cong. Globe, Dec. 4, 1865.

[994] Globe, Dec. 4, 1865. This was a distinct refusal to recognize, for the present at least, the restoration as done by the President.

[995] Cong. Globe, Dec. 18, 1865.

[996] Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 12.

[997] McPherson made a collection of extracts from various newspapers relating to his action in omitting the names of the southern members. Few of the editorials seem to indicate any belief that a grave constitutional question was to be settled. Most of the editors believed that he had exceeded his authority, but approved his action because the southern members were Democrats. The general opinion seemed to be that their politics alone was a cause of offence. See McPherson’s scrap-book, “The Roll of the 39th Congress,” in the Library of Congress.

[998] Globe, March 2, 1866.

[999] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1000] Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), p. 601.

[1001] Swayne’s Reports, Dec. 26, 1865, Jan. 31, 1866, and Oct. 31, 1866, in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., and Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Patton’s Message, Jan. 16, 1866; N. Y. Times, Jan. 18, 1866; N. Y. Evening Post, Jan. 29, 1865; McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 21; McPherson’s scrap-book, “Freedmen’s Bureau Bill,” 1866.

[1002] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 21, 22; Act, approved Feb. 23, 1866, Penal Code of Ala., pp. 6-8; Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 121, 124.

[1003] Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), Act of Dec. 15, 1865; Penal Code of Ala., p. 12. The compilers of the Penal Code placed this act in the Code separate from the rest, as irreconcilable with the provisions of the Code and with other legislation. That is, they refused to codify it and left it for the courts to decide. The law was meant to suppress a common practice of encouraging negroes to steal cotton, etc., for sale.

[1004] Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), p. 98; Penal Code, pp. 164, 165. In one respect the negro had a better standing in court than the white: he was a competent witness in his own behalf, and his wife might also be a witness.

[1005] Acts, Dec. 11 and 26, 1865. See below, Ch. XII.

[1006] In an interview with General Swayne, in 1901, he informed me that he was present when the bills were drawn up. The governor and the president of the Senate in consultation decided that all measures already brought forward should be vetoed or dropped; the apprentice and contract laws as they stood on the statute book were then drawn up, and no objection was made to them by General Swayne, who was present by request. He made suggestions as to what would be acceptable to the Bureau and to northern public opinion.

[1007] Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 111, 112 (Act of Feb. 16, 1866); Penal Code, p. 13.

[1008] Penal Code, pp. 50, 51.

[1009] Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 128-131 (Act Feb. 23, 1866).

[1010] Penal Code, pp. 34, 35.

[1011] Penal Code of Ala., pp. 10-12; Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 119-121. This was another act which the compilers refused to incorporate into the Penal Code. It was an amendment to the law already on the statute books, and the constitution of the state provided that the law revised or amended must be set forth in full (Article IV, Section 2.) The next legislature repealed this and similar laws as being in conflict with the Code. Acts of Ala. (1866-1867), pp. 107, 115, 504. It was never in force, being practically repealed by the later adoption of the Penal Code, which had the old ante-bellum law of vagrancy, which provided a fine of $10 to $50 for the first offence, and for a second conviction, $50 to $100 and hard labor for not more than six months. (See Penal Code, p. 37). The laws regulating labor and vagrancy were so carelessly drawn that it would have been practically impossible to enforce them. Not only were they technically unconstitutional, but they were also in conflict with the provisions of the Code. The consequence was confusion and the suspension of both Code and statutes. Colonel Herbert, in “The Solid South” (pp. 31-36), gives a summary of similar laws of the northern states which were more stringent than the Alabama laws. As a matter of fact, all the states had similar laws, but in the South they had always been a dead letter on the statute book.

[1012] See Blaine, “Twenty Years,” Vol. II, p. 93.

[1013] It was not possible then, nor is it now, to pass any law in regard to labor contracts, vagrancy, or minor crimes, that would not affect the negroes to a much greater degree than the whites. All laws regulating society, if strictly enforced, would bear with much greater force upon blacks than upon whites.

[1014] Neither Swayne nor Howard made any objection to the apprentice and vagrancy laws, and so far as I can gather from the reports of General Swayne, they were not enforced. If so, there were no results unfavorable to the freedmen. In 1901, in an interview, Swayne stated that all measures that he considered objectionable had either failed to pass the Senate or had been vetoed by the governor. He intimated that he had a great deal to do with the suppression of such measures and the framing of new ones.

[1015] Feb. 13, 1866.

[1016] The date of the beginning of the provisional government.

[1017] General Swayne’s account.

[1018] Montgomery Advertiser, Feb. 14, 1865; Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866; Swayne’s Testimony, Report Joint Committee, Pt. III, pp. 138-141.

[1019] Truman’s Report, April 19, 1866; Mrs. Clayton, “White and Black,” p. 152 et passim; “Our Women in the War,” passim; The Nation, Oct. 5, 1865; Reid and Trowbridge.

[1020] Truman’s Report, April 19, 1865.

[1021] The Nation, Feb. 15, 1866.

[1022] Referring to the emigration movement to Mexico, Brazil, Europe, etc.

[1023] This charge was published in the general presentments of the Pike County grand jury and was immediately taken up by the northern Democratic and the conservative Republican papers and given a wide publication. Mrs. Clayton republished it in her book (pp. 156-165). Judge Clayton was disfranchised by the Reconstruction Acts, and not until 1874 was he again able to hold judicial office. The bench and bar were generally in favor of admitting the negro to the fullest standing in the courts. Under slavery, when a case turned on negro testimony, extra-legal trials were often held and the decision given by “lynch-law” jury, the court officials presiding. In 1865 the lawyers and judges were ready to admit negro testimony, according to General Swayne, but made more or less objection in order not to alienate those of the people who objected.

[1024] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 43, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1025] The Nation, Oct. 5, 1865.

[1026] Brooks was a cousin of Preston Brooks of South Carolina, and had been president of the convention of 1861. The measure was indorsed by Governor Patton, Judge Goldthwaite, and a respectable minority. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 226.

[1027] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Fourteenth Amendment,” p. 55.

[1028] First Confederate Secretary of War, brigadier-general, C.S.A.

[1029] For this incident my authority is a statement of General Swayne made to me in 1901. He was much interested in the movement, and was positive that in time the native whites would have given the suffrage to the negro had not the Reconstruction Acts and other legislation so alienated the races. General Swayne gave me full explanations of his policy in Alabama. His death, a year after the interview, prevented him from verifying some details. His account, though given thirty-five years after the occurrences, was correct so far as I could compare it with the printed matter available. It agreed almost exactly with his reports as printed in the public documents, though he had not those at hand, and had not seen them for thirty years. I have several times been told by old citizens that negroes voted in 1866, in minor elections, by consent of the whites.

[1030] “Diary and Correspondence of S. P. Chase,” in the Annual Report of the Amer. Hist. Assn. (1902), Vol. II, p. 517.

[1031] Stephen B. Weeks, in Polit. Sci. Quarterly (1894), Vol. IX, pp. 683-684.

[1032] See Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 29, 30, 37.

[1033] Resolution, Dec. 2, 1865, Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), p. 598.

[1034] Resolution, Jan. 16, 1866, Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), p. 603.

[1035] Resolution, Dec. 15, 1865, Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), p. 604.

[1036] Resolution, Feb. 22, 1866, Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), p. 607; McPherson, p. 22; Selma Times, Feb. 27, 1867.

[1037] See N. Y. Herald, April 17, 1866 (Alabama correspondence).

[1038] McPherson’s scrap-book, “The Campaign of 1866,” Vol. I, pp. 84, 122.

[1039] See Burgess, “Reconstruction,” pp. 64-67.

[1040] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, 1866,” pp. 47, 128.

[1041] The reconstruction laws of Congress were almost invariably referred to as “Bills” even in official documents and military orders.

[1042] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Civil Rights Bill, 1866,” pp. 136, 151.

[1043] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Civil Rights Bill, 1866,” p. 135.

[1044] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Civil Rights Bill, 1866,” p. 110.

[1045] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Civil Rights Bill, 1866,” p. 120.

[1046] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Fourteenth Amendment,” pp. 33, 34.

[1047] The cotton tax, for instance.

[1048] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 226.

[1049] N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 30, 1866. I have not been able to discover what the name of the paper was, but very likely it was the Mobile National.

[1050] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Fourteenth Amendment,” pp. 39, 55, 56.

[1051] Governor’s Message, Nov. 12, 1866, in House Journal (1866-1867), p. 35; N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 19, 1866; Annual CyclopÆdia (1866), pp. 11, 12.

[1052] House Journal (1866-1867), p. 198.

[1053] McPherson, p. 194; McPherson’s scrap-book, “Fourteenth Amendment,” p. 55; N. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1867. General Wager Swayne to S. P. Chase, Dec. 10, 1866, wrote, in substance, that—the evident intention of Congress to enforce its own plan makes it seem possible to secure from the Alabama legislature the ratification of the Amendment; that the Senate was ready to ratify in spite of the governor’s message against it, and of the certain disapproval of “the people, poor, ignorant, and without mail facilities,” but a despatch had been sent to Parsons in the North for advice, and he advised rejection; inspired, it was asserted by the President, the cry was raised, “we can’t desert our President,” and the measure was lost; but when they return (in January) they will be prepared for either course, and the governor will recommend ratification. “Diary and Correspondence of S. P. Chase,” in the Annual Rept. of the Amer. Hist. Assn. (1902), Vol. II, pp. 516-517.

[1054] N. Y. Times, Jan. 9, 1867. Patton also went to Washington during the recess.

[1055] Annual CyclopÆdia (1866), pp. 11, 12.

[1056] McPherson, pp. 352, 353; McPherson’s scrap-book, “Fourteenth Amendment,” pp. 60, 66. The telegrams are in the Impeachment Testimony, Vol. I, pp. 271-272. Interview with General Swayne, 1901.

[1057] Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 15.

[1058] See McPherson, pp. 118, 240, 241.

[1059] N. Y. Herald, July 19, 1866.

[1060] According to his own report. See Nation, Feb. 15, 1866. Hart, “American History as told by Contemporaries,” Vol. IV, p. 49.

[1061] Report of B. C. Truman, April 9, 1866; Report of Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III, passim; Report of Schurz with accompanying documents; N. Y. Times, Sept. 9 and Oct. 3, 1866; Nation, Feb. 15, et passim; World and Tribune; Herald and Tribune correspondent, 1865; Montgomery Mail and Advertiser; Selma Times; Tuscaloosa Monitor and Blade, 1865 to 1875. Of the New York papers the Nation and Tribune were especially violent at first, but changed later. The Times and the Herald had fair correspondents most of the time.

[1062] N. Y. Daily News, May 7, 1866 (Montgomery correspondent).

[1063] See N. Y. Times, Sept. 9, 1866 (Federal soldier), Oct. 3, 1866 (Ohio man); N. Y. News, May 7, 1866 (Montgomery correspondent).

[1064] Lewis E. Parsons (New York), Whig; George S. Houston; A. B. Cooper (New Jersey), Whig; John Forsyth, State Rights Democrat; R. B. Lindsay (Scotch), Douglas Democrat; James W. Taylor, Whig; Benjamin Fitzpatrick, Douglas Democrat.

[1065] Some of them were W. H. Crenshaw (Democrat), who presided,—Crenshaw was then president of the Senate; John G. Shorter (Democrat), war governor of Alabama; H. D. Clayton (Whig), Confederate general; C. C. Langdon (Whig); William S. Mudd (Whig); William Garrett (Whig); M. J. Bulger (Douglas Democrat), Confederate general; C. A. Battle (Democrat), Confederate general; A. Tyson (Whig). See Brewer and Garrett, and N. Y. Times, Aug. 3 and 9, 1866.

[1066] McPherson, pp. 240, 241.

[1067] N. Y. Times, Aug. 27, 1866. By “Union” party, Parsons evidently meant those who opposed secession.

[1068] The northern business men were on the side of the whites.

[1069] McPherson, p. 124.

[1070] McPherson, p. 242.

[1071] N. Y. Times, Sept. 8, 1866.

[1072] Davis was of good middle-class Virginia stock. A Whig in politics, Mrs. Chesnut called him “a social curiosity.” In convention of 1861 he voted against immediate secession, threatened resistance among the hills of north Alabama, and ended by signing the ordinance of secession; was chosen to succeed Dr. Fearn in the Confederate Provisional Congress; was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 19th Alabama Infantry, but declined; commanded a battalion for a while; his “loyalty” consisted in his leaving the Confederate service and returning to Huntsville within the Federal lines. Brewer, p. 365, Garrett, pp. 341, 342; Smith’s Debates, passim. He soon fell out with the carpet-baggers and “formed a party of one.”

[1073] The disposition of some of the north Alabama leaders (even among the Conservatives) to play the childish act was one of the disgusting features of Reconstruction.

[1074] N. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1867. Among those present were: D. C. Humphreys (Douglas Democrat), Confederate officer, who deserted to Federals (he was in the first carpet-bag legislature, and later judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia; see Garrett, p. 364); John B. Callis, agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Veteran Reserve Corps, member of Congress, 1868; C. C. Sheets, in convention of 1861, refused to sign ordinance of secession and deserted to Federals, a member of Congress, 1868; Thomas M. Peters, Whig, deserted to Federals, later judge of Supreme Court of Alabama (see Brewer, p. 309; Garrett, p. 440); F. W. Sykes, member of legislature during war, soon returned to Conservative party (Brewer, p. 309); J. J. Hinds, afterward a notorious scalawag.

[1075] One new man was S. C. Posey of Lauderdale, who had been in the convention of 1861 and refused to sign the ordinance of secession and was in the legislature during the war. Returned soon to Conservative party. Brewer, p. 299, Garrett, p. 389.

[1076] The Radical party might have done much worse than to send him to the Senate. Warren and Spencer, the senators elected, were far inferior in character and abilities to Swayne. He was too decent a man to suit the Radicals and was soon dropped.

[1077] N. Y. Herald, March 6, 1867.

[1078] The proclamation announcing that the rebellion had ended was issued April 2, 1866. McPherson, p. 15.

[1079] Van Horne, Life of Thomas, pp. 153, 399, 400, 408; Huntsville Advocate, June 9, 1866 (for copy of order relating to Department of the South that I have not found elsewhere); G. O. No. 1, Mil. Div. Tenn., June 20, 1865; G. O. No. 118, W. Dept., June 27, 1865; G. O. No. 1, Dept. Ala., July 18, 1865; G. O. No. 1, Dist. Ala., June 4, 1866; G. O. No. 1, Dept. Tenn., Aug. 13, 1866; G. O. No. 42, Dept. Tenn., Nov. 1, 1866. The general and special orders cited in this chapter are on file in the War Department at Washington.

[1080] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLIX, Pt. II, pp. 505, 560, 727, 826, 854, 971; Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III.

[1081] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 236; Acts of Ala. (1865-1866), pp. 598, 601.

[1082] That is, the officers had the privileges and authority of officers of a division. G. O. Nos. 1, 9, 17, 29, 54, Dept. Ala., 1865; G. O. No. 1, Mil. Div. Tenn., 1865.

[1083] The “Amnesty Oath.” The oath of allegiance had already been administered to all who would take it. See McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 9, 10.

[1084] G. O. Nos. 13 and 14, Dept. Ala., 1865.

[1085] G. O. No. 3, Dept. Ala., July 21, 1865. There was complaint about the stealing of cotton by troops.

[1086] G. O. No. 6, Post of Montgomery, May 15, 1865. This order is printed on thin, blue Confederate writing paper, which seems to have been shaped with scissors to the proper size. Supplies had not followed the army.

[1087] G. O. No. 24, Dept. of Ala., Aug. 25, 1865.

[1088] G. O. No. 6, Post of Mobile, in N. Y. Daily News, June 27, 1865.

[1089] G. O. No. 48, Dept. Ala., Oct. 18, 1865.

[1090] Statement of General Woods, Sept. 4, 1865, Document No. 11, accompanying the Report of Schurz.

[1091] See statement of Woods, Sept. 4, 1865, Schurz’s Report.

[1092] G. O. No. 4, Dept. Ala., Jan. 26, 1866.

[1093] N. Y. Daily News, Sept. 7, 1865.

[1094] Statement of Gen. T. K. Smith, Sept. 14, 1865, in Schurz’s Report.

[1095] Statement of General Woods, Sept. 4, 1865.

[1096] G. O. No. 5, Sub-dist. Ala., Oct. 13, 1866.

[1097] See Ch. VI, sec. 1.

[1098] G. O. No. 30, Dept. of Ala., Sept. 4, 1865; Statement of General Woods, Sept. 4, 1865, in Schurz’s Report.

[1099] See Ch. VI, sec. 1.

[1100] N. Y. Herald, Nov. 26 and Dec. 15, 1865.

[1101] Document No. 19, accompanying Schurz’s Report.

[1102] G. O. No. 55, Dept. Ala., Oct. 30, 1865.

[1103] G. O. No. 8, Dept. Ala., Feb. 17, 1866.

[1104] G. O. No. 1, Dept. Ala., Jan. 5, 1866.

[1105] G. O. No. 13, Dept. Ala., 1866.

[1106] G. O. No. 17, Dept. Ala., 1866.

[1107] G. O. No. 20, Dept. Ala., 1866.

[1108] G. O. No. 23, Dept. Ala., 1866.

There were other trials, but the records are missing and the names of the parties are unknown. A large number of cases were prosecuted before military commissions convened at the instance of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

[1109] For two years after the war the Confederate sympathizers in north Alabama suffered from persecution of this kind. During the war the Confederates in north Alabama had been classed as guerillas by the Federal commanders.

[1110] G. O. No. 29, Mil. Div. Tenn., Sept. 21, 1865; G. O. No. 42, Dept. Ala., Sept. 26, 1865.

[1111] G. O. No. 3, H. Q. A., Jan. 12, 1866; G. O. No. 7, Dept. Ala., Feb. 12, 1866.

[1112] G. O. No. 48, Dept. Ala., Oct. 18, 1865.

[1113] G. O. No. 6, Mil. Div. Tenn., Feb. 21, 1866.

[1114] G. O. No. 25, Mil. Div. Tenn., Sept. 13, 1865.

[1115] G. O. No. 44, H. Q. A., July 6, 1866; G. O. No. 13, Dept. of the South, July 21, 1866.

[1116] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 26, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1117] P. M. Dox to Governor Parsons, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 26, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1118] See p. 327.

[1119] Selma Times, Feb. 3, 1866.

[1120] There were really three governments in Alabama based on the war powers of the President: (1) the army ruling through its commanders; (2) the Freedmen’s Bureau, with its agents; (3) the provisional civil government.

[1121] Circular No. 1, Aug. —, 1865; G. O. No. 21, Dept. Ala., April 9, 1866.

[1122] De Bow’s Review, 1866. De Bow made a trip through the South. Nation, Oct. 5 and 26, 1865; Truman, Report to President, April 9, 1866. See also Grant, Letter to President, Dec. 18, 1865.

[1123] Colonel Herbert says that the relations between the soldiers and the ex-Confederates were very kindly, but the latter hoped the army would soon be removed, when civil government was established. “Solid South,” p. 30.

[1124] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 242; Resolutions of the Legislature, Jan. 16, 1866.

[1125] Testimony of Swayne, Report Joint Committee, 1866, Pt. III, p. 139; various reports of Swayne as assistant commissioner of Freedmen’s Bureau. It was noticeable that when Swayne was placed in command of the army in the state there was less interference and better order than before, though he never obtained the cavalry.

[1126] For instance: In the city of Mobile a petition of some kind might be made out in proper form and given to the commander of the Post of Mobile. The latter would indorse it with his approval or disapproval, and send it to the commander of the District of Mobile, who likewise forwarded it with his indorsement to the commander of the Department of Alabama at Mobile or Montgomery. In important cases the paper had to go on until it reached headquarters in Macon, Nashville, Louisville, Atlanta, or Washington, and it had to return the same way.

The following orders relate to the changes made so often:—

G. O. Nos. 1, 9, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20, 27, Dept. Ala., from July 18 to Sept. 1, 1865; G. O. No. 18, Dept. Ala., March 30, 1866; G. O. No. 1, Dist. Ala., June 1, 1866; G. O. No. 1, Sub-dist. Ala., Oct. —, 1866; G. O. No. 1, Mil. Div. Tenn., June 20, 1865; G. O. Nos. 1 and 42, Dept. of the Tenn., Aug. 13 and Nov. 1, 1866; G. O. No. 1, Dept. of the South, June 1, 1866; G. O. No. 1, Dept. of the Gulf, ——, 1865; G. O. No. 1, Dist. of the Chattahoochee, Aug. —, 1866.

There were numerous general orders from local headquarters of the same nature. See also Van Horne, “Life of Thomas,” pp. 153, 399, 400, 418; and Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 13, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1127] G. O. No. 1, Sub-dist. Ala., March 28, 1867.

[1128] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Oct. 20, 1869; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 143, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1129] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 28, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1130] Regulations, July 9, 1864.

[1131] Stats.-at-Large, Vol. XIII, pp. 507-509. See also O. O. Howard, “The Freedmen during the War,” in the New Princeton Review, May and Sept., 1886.

[1132] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 7, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1133] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 69-74, 147-151, 349, 350, 378; Burgess, “Reconstruction,” pp. 87-90.

[1134] N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865.

[1135] Circular No. 16, Sept. 19, 1865 (Howard); Circular No. 6, June 13, 1865 (Howard); Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Circular No. 1, July 14, 1865 (Conway); Circular No. 2, July 14, 1865 (Conway).

[1136] One of them—Chaplain C. W. Buckley—was guardian of the blacks at Montgomery. He afterwards played a prominent part in carpet-bag politics.

[1137] Ku Klux Rept., p. 441; N. Y. World, July 20, 1865; oral accounts and letters. It was on this theory that the Bureau was established, and at the head of the institution was placed General O. O. Howard, who was a soft-hearted, unpractical gentleman, with boundless confidence in the negro and none whatever in the old slave owner. A man of hard common sense like Sherman would have done less harm and probably much good with the Bureau.

[1138] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1139] Circular No. 5, June 2, 1865 (Howard); Circular No. 2, July 14, 1865 (Conway); Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1140] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Dec., 1865.

[1141] In November, 1866, the following army officers, most of whom were members of the Veteran Reserve Corps, were made superintendents of these depots: Montgomery, Capt. J. L. Whiting, V.R.C.; Mobile, Brevet Major G. H. Tracy, 15th Infantry; Huntsville, Brevet Col. J. B. Callis, V.R.C.; Selma, Lieut. George Sharkley; Greenville, James F. McGogy, Late First Lieut. U.S.A.; Tuscaloosa, Capt. W. H. H. Peck, V.R.C.; Talladega, J. W. Burkholder, A.A.G., U.S.A.; Demopolis, Brevet Major C. W. Pierce, V.R.C. Other Bureau officials who afterward became well-known carpet-baggers were: Major C. A. Miller, 2d Maine Cavalry, A.A.G.; Major B. W. Norris, Additional Paymaster; Lieut.-Col. Edwin Beecher, Additional Paymaster; Rev. C. W. Buckley, Chaplain 47th U.S.C. Infantry. Other officers of the V.R.C. who arrived later were Capt. Roderick Theune, Lieuts. George F. Browing, G. W. Pierce, John Jones, P. E. O’Conner, and Joseph Logan. See Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 21, 40th. Cong., 2d Sess. With one exception these later assisted in Reconstruction.

[1142] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Oct. 24, 1869.

[1143] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Oct. 24, 1868.

[1144] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, 1866,” p. 128.

[1145] For examples, see Schurz’s Report and accompanying documents, Nos. 20, 21, 22, 28; Taylor, “Destruction and Reconstruction”; article by Schurz in McClure’s Magazine, Jan., 1904.

[1146] The Nation, Feb. 15, 1866.

[1147] Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, p. 138.

[1148] G. O. No. 7, Montgomery, Aug. 4, 1865.

[1149] No one ever knew exactly how far the military commander was bound to obey the assistant commissioner and vice versa. The problem was at last solved by making Swayne military commander also.

[1150] Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, p. 138 (testimony of General Wager Swayne).

[1151] Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III, p. 138.

[1152] Swayne did not hesitate to intimidate such men as Parsons. He would treat old men—former senators, governors, and congressmen—as if they were bad boys; he himself was under thirty.

[1153] The reason for this was that the day before several Federal drunken officers had been careering around the bay in a boat, and Forsyth, who was on this boat, did not want his party of ladies to meet them.

[1154] Statement of Swayne, 1901; N. Y. News, Aug. 21, 1865.

[1155] Circular No. 20 (Freedmen’s Bureau), War Dept., Nov. 30, 1865.

[1156] Circular No. 15, Sept. 12, 1865.

[1157] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 13.

[1158] Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VI, p. 352; G. O. No. 64, Dept. Ala., Dec. 10, 1865; Swayne’s Report, Jan. 31, 1865; Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, Dec., 1865, and Nov., 1866.

[1159] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Dec., 1895; Swayne’s Reports, Jan. 31 and Oct. 31, 1866, in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, and Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1160] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Nov. 1, 1866.

[1161] Ho. Rept., No. 121, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1162] Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, Dec., 1865, and Nov., 1866; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 142 41st Cong., 2d Sess.; Miller, “History of Alabama,” p. 240. Congress appropriated $20,000,000, and there was an immense amount of Confederate property confiscated and sold for the benefit of the Bureau. Of this no account was kept. One detailed estimate of Bureau expenses is as follows:—

Appropriations by Congress		$20,000,000
General Bounty Fund		8,000,000
Freedmen and Refugee Fund		7,000,000
Retained Bounty Fund (Butler)		2,000,000
School Fund (Confiscated Property)		2,500,000
Total		$39,500,000

Edwin De Leon, “Ruin and Reconstruction of the Southern States,” in Southern Magazine, 1874. See also Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 142, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1163] G. O. No. 4, July 28, 1865.

[1164] N. Y. News, Sept. 7, 1865 (Montgomery correspondent); Ku Klux Rept., p. 441; oral accounts.

[1165] Montgomery Mail, May 12, 1865.

[1166] Howard’s Circular, May 30, 1865; War Department Circular No. 11, July 12, 1865.

[1167] Huntsville Advocate, July 26, 1865. This was when the army officials were conducting the Bureau. Later the civilian agents charged $2 for making every contract, and the negroes soon wanted the Bureau abolished so far as it related to contracts. N. Y. Times, March 12, 1866 (letter from Florence, Ala.). In Madison County some of the negroes tarred and feathered a Bureau agent who had been collecting $1.50 each for drawing contracts. N. Y. Herald, Dec. 22, 1867.

[1168] Swayne’s Report, Jan. 31, 1866.

[1169] These regulations bear the approval of the other two rulers of Alabama—General Woods and Governor Parsons. See G. O. No. 12, Aug. 30, 1865.

[1170] G. O. No. 13, Sept., 1865. This order was in force until 1868. See N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1867.

[1171] These propositions were approved by A. Humphreys, assistant superintendent at Talladega, and by General Chetlain, commanding the District of Talladega. Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865.

[1172] Selma Messenger, Nov. 15, 1865; N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1867.

[1173] Ku Klux Rept., p. 441; N. Y. News, Sept. 7, 1865; oral accounts.

[1174] Swayne’s Report, Jan., 1866. Rev. C. W. Buckley, in a report to Swayne (dated Jan. 5, 1866), of a tour in Lowndes County, stated that while the Bureau and the army and the “government of the Christian nation,” each had done much good, all was as nothing to what God was doing. The hand of God was seen in the stubborn and persistent reluctance of the negro to make contracts and go to work; God had taught the 8,000,000 arrogant and haughty whites that they were dependent upon the freedmen; God had ordained that “the self-interest of the former master should be the protection of the late slaves.”

[1175] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1865.

[1176] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Oct. 24, 1868.

[1177] De Bow’s Review, 1866.

[1178] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Dec., 1865.

[1179] Howard’s Circular Letter, Oct. 4, 1865.

[1180] Report, Oct. 31, 1866.

[1181] Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 31; N. Y. News, Sept. 3, 1865 (Selma correspondent).

[1182] In one case the agent in Montgomery sent to Troy, fifty-two miles distant, and arrested a landlord who refused to rent a house to a negro. The negro told the Bureau agent that he was being evicted.

[1183] There were several plantations near Montgomery, Selma, Mobile, and Huntsville where negroes were thus collected.

[1184] In Montgomery, the Rev. C. W. Buckley, a “hard-shell” preacher, looked after negro contracts. A negro was not allowed to make his own contract, but it must be drawn up before Buckley. When a negro broke his contract, Buckley always decided in his favor, and avowed that he would sooner believe a negro than a white man. His delight was to keep a white man waiting for a long time while he talked to the negro, turning his back to and paying no attention to the white caller. He preached to the negroes several times a week, not sermons, but political harangues. The audience was composed chiefly of negro women, who, if they had work, would leave it to attend the meetings. They would not disclose what Buckley said to them, and when questioned would reply, “It’s a secret, and we can’t tell it to white folks.” Buckley advocated confiscation, but Swayne, who had more common sense, frowned upon such theological doctrines.

[1185] Barker, a carriage-maker at Livingston, was arrested and confined in prison for some time, and finally was released without trial. He was told that a negro servant had preferred charges against him, and later denied having done so. Such occurrences were common. Ku Klux Rept. Ala. Test., pp. 357, 371, 390, 475, 487, 1132; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 27, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Swayne’s Reports, Dec., 1865, and Jan., 1866.

[1186] Selma Times, April 11, 1866. Busteed was a much-disliked carpet-bag Federal judge. Mr. Burns survived the Busting, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1901.

[1187] The Bureau courts continued to act even after the state was readmitted to the Union. In 1868, two constables arrested a negro charged with house-burning in Tuscumbia. Col. D. C. Rugg, the Bureau agent at Huntsville, raised a force of forty negroes and came to the rescue of the negro criminal. “If you attempt to put that negro on the train,” he said, “blood will be spilled. I am acting under the orders of the military department.” The officers were trying to take him to Tuscumbia for trial. Rugg thought the Bureau should try him, and said, “These men [the negroes] are not going to let you take the prisoner away, and blood will be shed if you attempt it.” N. Y. World, Oct. 23, 1868; Tuscaloosa Times.

[1188] Probably more. Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Nov. 1, 1866.

[1189] Bureau Reports, 1865-1869.

[1190] Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, 1865-1870; Hardy, “History of Selma”; N. Y. World, Nov. 13, 1865.

[1191] The Southern Famine Relief Commission of New York, which worked in Alabama until 1867, reported that there was much greater suffering from want among the whites than among the blacks. This society sent corn alone to the state,—65,958 bushels. See Final Proceedings and General Report, New York, 1867.

[1192] Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, 1865-1868.

[1193] Ho. Rept., No. 121, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1194] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1195] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Dec., 1865.

[1196] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866; N. Y. Daily News, Sept. 7, 1865 (Montgomery correspondent).

[1197] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 446.

[1198] In the convention of 1867 this teaching bore fruit in the ordinance authorizing suits by former slaves to recover wages from Jan. 1, 1863.

[1199] N. Y. World, Nov. 13, 1865 (Selma correspondent); oral accounts.

[1200] De Bow’s Review, March, 1866 (Dr. Nott); N. Y. Times, Oct. 3, 1865; Montgomery Advertiser, March 21, 1866.

[1201] Du Bois in Atlantic Monthly, March, 1901.

[1202] A Tallapoosa County farmer stated that for three years after the war the crops were very bad. Yet the whites who had negroes on their farms felt bound to support them. But if the whites tried to make the negroes work or spoke sharply to them, they would leave and go to the Bureau for rations. P. M. Dox, a Democratic member of Congress in 1870, said that in north Alabama, in 1866-1867, negro women would not milk a cow when it rained. Servants would not black boots. There was a general refusal to do menial service. Ala. Test., pp. 345, 1132. The Alabama cotton crop of 1860 was 842,729 bales; of 1865, 75,305 bales; of 1866, 429,102 bales; of 1867, 239,516 bales; of 1868, 366,193 bales. Of each crop since the war an increasingly large proportion has been raised by the whites.

[1203] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866.

[1204] Within the last five years I have seen several old negroes who said they had been paying assessments regularly to men who claimed to be working to get the “forty acres and the mule” for the negro. They naturally have little to say to white people on the subject. From what I have been told by former slaves, I am inclined to think that the negroes have been swindled out of many hard-earned dollars, even in recent times, by the scoundrels who claim to be paying the fees of lawyers at work on the negroes’ cases.

[1205] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866; Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Dec., 1865; Grant’s Report; Truman’s Report, April 9, 1866; DeBow’s Review, March, 1866; Montgomery Advertiser, March 1, 1866; N. Y. News, Nov. 25, 1865 (Selma correspondent); N. Y. World, Nov. 13, 1865; N. Y. Times, Oct. 31, 1865; N. Y. News, Sept., and Oct. 2, 7, 1865. B. W. Norris, a Bureau agent from Skowhegan, Maine, told the negroes the tale of “forty acres and a mule,” and they sent him to Congress in 1868 to get the land for them. He told them that they had a better right to the land than the masters had. “Your work made this country what it is, and it is yours.” Ala. Test., pp. 445, 1131.

[1206] Ala. Test., p. 314.

[1207] Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 627.

[1208] Ala. Test., p. 1133.

[1209] Ala. Test., p. 460; see Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), article “Confiscation.”

[1210] Montgomery Advertiser, March, 1866. Buckley was known among the “malignants” as “the high priest of the nigger Bureau.” N. Y. World, Dec. 22, 1867.

[1211] N. Y. Herald, July 23, 1865; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 30.

[1212] DeBow’s Review, 1866; oral accounts.

[1213] N. Y. Times, Feb. 12, 1866 (letter of northern traveller); Steedman and Fullerton’s Reports; N. Y. Herald, June 24, 1866; Columbus (Ga.) Sun, Nov. 22, 1865; N. Y. Times, Jan. 25, 1866.

[1214] Account by Col. J. W. DuBose in manuscript.

[1215] Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 30, 31; N. Y. Times, Jan. 25, 1866.

[1216] Ho. Rept., No. 121, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.; Ku Klux Rept., p. 441. See chapter in regard to Union League.

[1217] See also DuBois, in Atlantic Monthly, March, 1901; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 241, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1218] Ho. Rept., No. 121, p. 47, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1219] Some of the prominent incorporators were Peter Cooper, William C. Bryant, A. A. Low, Gerritt Smith, John Jay, A. S. Barnes, J. W. Alvord, S. G. Howe, George L. Stearns, Edward Atkinson, and A. A. Lawrence. The act of incorporation was approved by the President on March 3, 1865, at the same time the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill was approved. Numbers of the incorporators and bank officials were connected with the Bureau. See Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 16, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.

[1220] A Bureau paymaster.

[1221] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 16, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.

[1222] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1223] See Williams, “History of the Negro Race in America,” Vol. II, p. 410. August was a month in which there was little money-making among the negroes. It was vacation time, between the “laying by” and the gathering of the crop.

[1224] Hoffman, “Race Traits and Tendencies,” p. 290, says $3,013,699.

[1225] Hoffman, p. 290; also Sen. Rept., No. 440, 46th Cong., 2d Sess. Williams, Vol. II, p. 411, states that the total deposits amounted to $57,000,000, an average of $284 for each depositor.

[1226] Dividends were declared as follows: Nov. 1, 1875, 20%; March 20, 1875-1878, 10%; Sept. 1, 1880, 10%; June 1, 1882, 15%; May 12, 1883, 7%; making 62% in all. To 1886, $1,722,549 had been paid to depositors, and there was a balance in the hands of the government receivers of $30,476.

[1227] Williams, “History of the Negro Race,” Vol. II, pp. 403-410; Fred Douglass, “Life and Times,” Ch. XIV; Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 16, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; Du Bois, “The Souls of Black Folk”; the various reports of the Freedmen’s Bureau and of the commissioners appointed to settle the affairs of the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company, to 1902; Hoffman, “Race Traits and Tendencies,” pp. 289, 290; Fleming, “Documents relating to Reconstruction,” Nos. 6 and 7.

[1228] Regulations of the Treasury Dept., July 29, 1864.

[1229] McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 594, 595; McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 147-151.

[1230] See Ch. IV, sec. 7.

[1231] DuBois (Atlantic Monthly, March, 1901) declares that the opposition to the education of the negro was bitter, for the South believed that the educated negro was a dangerous negro. This statement is perhaps partially correct for fifteen or twenty years after 1870, but it is not correct for 1865-1869.

[1232] The Gulf States Hist. Mag., Sept., 1902; Report of General Swayne to Howard, Dec. 26, 1865. The evidence on this point that is worthy of consideration is conclusive. It is all one way. See also Chs. XIX and XX, below.

[1233] Report of Swayne, Oct. 31, 1866.

[1234] “Up from Slavery,” pp. 29, 30.

[1235] Daily News, Sept. 7, 1865 (Montgomery correspondence). Oral accounts.

[1236] G. O. No. 11, July 12, 1865 (Montgomery); Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, 1865-1869.

[1237] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866; Freedmen’s Bureau Report, 1866.

[1238] Swayne’s Report., Oct. 31, 1866.

[1239] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Dec., 1865; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1240] Daily News, Oct. 21, 1865 (Mobile correspondent); De Bow’s Review, 1866 (Dr. Nott).

[1241] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866.

[1242] The account of this particular school was given me by Dr. O. D. Smith of Auburn, Ala., who was one of the men who chose the white teacher.

[1243] Swayne’s Report, Oct. 31, 1866.

[1244] Report, Oct. 31, 1866.

[1245] Rent was usually paid at the rate of $20 a month for thirty pupils. Ho. Rept., No. 121, pp. 47, 369, 374, 377, 41st Cong., 2d Sess. The books of the American Missionary Association showed that it had received, in 1868 and 1869, from the Freedmen’s Bureau for Alabama, the following amounts in cash, though how much it received before these dates is not known.

December, 1867		$4000.00
October, 1868		583.86
February, 1868		25.41	(?)
January, 1869		218.25
April, 1869		683.53
May, 1869		1397.49
June, 1869		95.87
July, 1869		527.00
September, 1869		3049.59
November, 1869		3469.50
December, 1869		2083.78
For building (?)		20,000.00

An item in the account of the Association was “Chicago to Mobile, $20,000.” No one was able to explain what it meant unless it was the $20,000 building in Mobile used as a training school for negro teachers and on which the Bureau paid rent. In the southern states the Bureau paid to the American Missionary Association, as shown by the books of the latter, $213,753.22. Judging from the variable items not noted above, rent was evidently not included nor even all the cash. Ho. Rept., No. 121, p. 369 et seq., 41st Cong., 2d Sess. (Howard Investigation).

[1246] Buckley’s Report for March 15, 1867; Semiannual Report on Schools for Freedmen, July 4, 1867; General Clanton in Ku Klux Rept. Ala. Test.

[1247] Francis Wayland.

[1248] S. G. Greene, president of the association.

[1249] President Hill of Harvard College.

[1250] Reports, Proceedings, and Lectures of the National Teachers’ Association, 1865 to 1880; Reports of the Freedmen’s Aid Societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church. For results of the mistaken teachings of the radical instructors, see Page’s article on “Lynching” in the North American Review, Jan., 1904.

[1251] Miss Alice M. Bacon, in the Slater Fund Trustees, Occasional Papers, No. 7, p. 6. Armstrong, at Hampton, Va., was a shining exception to the kind of teachers described above.

[1252] The Reconstruction government was now in power. There were, at this time, thirty-one Bureau schools at thirty-one points in the state.

[1253] Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, 1867-1870.

[1254] Atlantic Monthly, March, 1901.

[1255] Sir George Campbell, “White and Black,” pp. 131, 383; Thomas, “The American Negro,” p. 240; Washington, “The Future of the American Negro,” pp. 25-27, 55; DeBow’s Review, 1866; Slater Fund Trustees, Occasional Papers, No. 7. Washington tells of the craze for the education in Greek, Latin, and theology. This education would make them the equal of the whites, they thought, and would free them from manual labor, and above all fit them for office-holding. Nearly all became teachers, preachers, and politicians. “Up from Slavery,” pp. 30, 80, 81; “Future of the American Negro,” p. 49.

[1256] From the surrender of the Confederate armies, to his death in 1903, Dr. Curry was a stanch believer in the work for negro education. No other man knew the whole question so thoroughly as he. And he had the advantage of a close acquaintance with the negro from his early childhood. His observations as to the effects of alien efforts to educate the black will be found in the Slater Fund Occasional Papers, and in an address delivered before the Montgomery Conference in 1900. See also Ch. XIV.

[1257] I have talked with many who uniformly assert that they were unable to conform to the Bureau regulations. It was better to let land remain uncultivated. Wherever possible no attention was paid to the rules. The negro laborers themselves have no recollections of any real assistance in labor matters received from the Bureau. They remember it rather as an obstruction to laboring freely.

[1258] The President and the Supreme Court now being powerless.

[1259] That is, blacks and such whites as were not “disfranchised for participation in the rebellion or for felony.”

[1260] July 11, 1868, the oath was modified for those whose disabilities had been removed by Congress; Feb. 15, 1871, those not disfranchised by the Fourteenth Amendment were allowed to take the modified oath of July 11, 1868, instead of the iron-clad oath. See MacDonald, “Select Statutes.” The Alabama representatives all took the “iron-clad” oath.

[1261] Text of the Act, McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 191, 192; G. O. No. 2, 3d M. D., April 3, 1867. For criticism, Burgess, “Reconstruction,” pp. 112-122; Dunning, “Civil War and Reconstruction,” pp. 123, 126-135, 143.

[1262] G. O. Nos. 10 and 18, H. Q. A., March 11 and 15, 1867; McPherson, p. 200.

[1263] Report of Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 321.

[1264] The oath was: “I, —— ——, do solemnly swear (or affirm), in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State of Alabama; that I have resided in said State for —— months, next preceding this day, and now reside in the county of —— in said State; that I am twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any State or of the United States; that I have never been a member of any State legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in any State and afterward engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof; that I have never taken an oath as a member of Congress of the United States, as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others to do so, so help me God!” McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 192, 205; G. O. No. 5, 3d M. D., April 8, 1867.

[1265] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 192-194; Burgess, “Reconstruction,” pp. 129-135; Dunning, “Civil War and Reconstruction,” pp. 124, 125.

[1266] G. O. Nos. 1 and 2, 3d M. D., April 1 and 3, 1866; N. Y. Herald, April 6, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 19; McPherson, pp. 201, 205; Report of Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 322; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 38.

[1267] G. O. No. 1, Dist. Ala., April 2, 1867; McPherson, p. 206.

[1268] Report of Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 466; N. Y. Herald, April 6, 1867.

[1269] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 20, 40th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1270] G. O. No. 52, H. Q. A., April 11, 1867.

[1271] Report of Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 353.

[1272] G. O. No. 4, 3d M. D., April 4, 1867.

[1273] G. O. No. 10, 3d M. D., April 23, 1867.

[1274] G. O. No. 48, 3d M. D., Aug. 6, 1867.

[1275] Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 17.

[1276] G. O. No. 25, 3d M. D., May 29, 1867. (This was to favor Radical meetings. There were many stump speakers sent down from the North to tell the negro how to vote, and it was feared they might excite the whites to acts of violence.) N. Y. Herald, June 4, 1867 (explanatory order).

[1277] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 335, 336; Dunning, pp. 153, 154.

[1278] As long as Pope was in command at Montgomery and Atlanta, he and Grant kept up a rapid and voluminous (on the part of Pope) correspondence. They were usually agreed on all that pertained to Reconstruction, both now being extreme in their views.

[1279] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 30, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; No. 20, 40th Cong., 1st Sess.; McPherson, p. 312.

[1280] G. O. No. 45, 3d M. D., Aug. 2, 1867; McPherson, p. 319.

[1281] G. O. Nos. 53 and 55, 3d M. D., Aug. 19 and 23, 1867; Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 331; McPherson, p. 319.

[1282] See Selma Messenger, Jan. 17, 1868.

[1283] See McPherson, p. 312.

[1284] Eutaw Whig and Observer, Dec. 12 and 24, 1867.

[1285] S. O. No. 2, 3d M. D., April 15, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 20; Montgomery Mail, April 30, 1867.

[1286] See p. 509.

[1287] G. O. Nos. 35, 38, 40, Post of Mobile, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), pp. 20-23; N. Y. Times, May 21, 1867.

[1288] N. Y. World, May 28, 1867; S. O. No. 34, 3d M. D., May 31, 1867; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 40; N. Y. Times, May 21, 1867.

[1289] S. O. No. 38, 3d M. D., June 6, 1867; S. O. No. 27, 3d M. D., May 22, 1867; N. Y. Tribune, June 12, 1867; Selma Messenger, June 18, 1867; Evening Post, May, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), pp. 20-25; Mobile Register, Oct. —, 1867.

[1290] Mobile Register, Oct. —, 1867.

[1291] Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 40, 41; N. Y. Times, Dec. 27, 1867. See above, p. 393.

[1292] S. O. Nos. 9, 10, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 3d M. D., 1867; Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 327. (Some of the persons appointed were B. T. Pope and David P. Lewis, judges; George P. Goldthwaite, solicitor; and B. F. Saffold, mayor of Selma.)

[1293] Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 364.

[1294] G. O. No. 77, 3d M. D., Oct. 19, 1897; McPherson, p. 319.

[1295] G. O. No. 103, 3d M. D., Dec. 21, 1867.

[1296] Report of the Secretary of War, 1877, Vol. I, p. 333; McPherson, p. 316.

[1297] S. O. 254, 3d M. D., Nov. 26, 1867; Pope to Swayne, Nov. 20, 1867; N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867.

[1298] G. O. No. 3, Sub-dist. Alabama, April 12, 1867; McPherson, p. 319.

[1299] McPherson, p. 319.

[1300] N. Y. Herald, April 6, 1867.

[1301] N. Y. Tribune, June 1, 1867; N. Y. Herald, June 4, 1867; G. O. No. 28, 3d M. D., June 3, 1867; Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 326.

[1302] Aug. 12, 1867.

[1303] G. O. Nos. 1 and 10.

[1304] G. O. No. 49, 3d M. D., Aug. 12, 1867.

[1305] Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 235.

[1306] Selma Messenger, Dec. 25, 1867.

[1307] G. O. No. 25, 3d M. D., 1867.

[1308] S. O. No. 53, 3d M. D., June 27, 1867; G. O. No. 44, 3d M. D., Aug. 1, 1867; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 30, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1309] G. O. No. 94, 3d M. D., 1867.

[1310] S. O. No. 96, 3d M. D., Aug 5. 1867; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 30, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. There were other cases not referred to in general and special orders, but this was the only case in which Pope himself directly interfered.

[1311] G. O. No. 5, 3d M. D., April 8, 1867.

[1312] In this way, white majorities in ten counties were overcome by black majorities in the adjoining counties of the district.

[1313] Of the registrars who later became somewhat prominent in politics, the whites were Horton, Dimon, Dereen, Sillsby, William M. Buckley, Stanwood, Ely, Pennington, Haughey—all being northern men. Of the negro members of the boards, Royal, Finley, Williams, Alston, Turner, Rapier, and King (or Godwin) rose to some prominence, and their records were much better that those of their white colleagues.

[1314] G. O. No. 20, 3d M. D., May 21, 1867.

[1315] G. O. No. 12, 3d M. D., 1867.

[1316] Smith was later the first Reconstruction governor of Alabama.

[1317] G. O. No. 41, 3d M. D., 1867.

[1318] G. O. No. 50, 3d M. D., Aug. 15, 1867.

[1319] Governor, secretary of state, treasurer, comptroller, sheriff, judicial officers of every kind, and all court clerks and other officials, commissioners, tax assessors and collectors, county surveyors, treasurers, mayor, councilmen, justices of the peace, solicitors.

[1320] Special Instructions to Registrars in Alabama, Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, p. 339.

[1321] Registration Orders, June 17, 1867.

[1322] Record of Cabinet Meeting, June 18, 1867, in Ho. Ex. Doc., No, 34, 40th Cong., 1st Sess.; Burgess, p. 136; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 20, 40th Cong., 1st Sess.

[1323] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 20, 40th Cong., 1st Sess.; McPherson, p. 311. See above, p. 479.

[1324] McPherson, pp. 335, 336; Burgess, pp. 138-142.

[1325] McPherson, pp. 335, 336.

[1326] G. O. No. 59, 3d M. D., Aug. 31, 1867; Journal of Convention of 1867, pp. 3-5; Report of the Secretary of War, 1867, Vol. I, pp. 356, 357; Tribune Almanac, 1868.

[1327] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 53, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. Tribune Almanac, 1867, 1868; Report of Col. J. F. Meline, Inspector of Registration, Jan. 27, 1868. These figures are based on the latest reports of 1867. According to the census of 1866, there would be in 1867, 108,622 whites over twenty-one years of age, and 89,663 blacks.

[1328] Meline’s Report, Jan. 27, 1868. See also Ch. XIII below.

[1329] G. O. No. 76, Oct. 18, 1867; Journal of Convention of 1867, pp. 1-3.

[1330] McPherson, p. 319; Journal of Convention, 1867, pp. 110, 111, 276; N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867. When the convention passed a resolution indorsing the “firm and impartial, yet just and gentle,” administration of Pope, three delegates voted against it because they said Pope had not done his full duty in removing disloyal persons from office but, after being informed of their politics, had left them in office. Journal of Convention, 1867, pp. 110, 111. For account of the convention, see below, Ch. XIV.

[1331] G. O. No. 101, Dec. 20, 1867; McPherson, p. 319; Journal of Convention, p. 267.

[1332] The 45th United States Infantry, a negro regiment.

[1333] McPherson, p. 346; G. O. No. 104, H. Q. A. (A. G. O.), Dec. 28, 1867; G. O. No. 1, 3d M. D., Jan. 1, 1868.

[1334] Herbert, “Solid South”; N. Y. Times, Jan. 24, 1868.

[1335] G. O. No. 3, 3d M. D., Jan. 6, 1868.

[1336] G. O. No. 16, 3d M. D., Jan. 27, 1868; Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 15; Report of Major-General Meade’s Military Operations and Administration of the 3d M. D., etc. (pamphlet); N. Y. Times, Jan. 24, 1868.

[1337] See Ch. XV for “convention” candidates.

[1338] Report of Meade, etc., 1868; Telegrams of Meade to Grant, Jan. 11, 12, and 18, and of Grant to Meade, Jan. 13 and 18.

[1339] Report of Meade, etc., 1868; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 48, 49. In his first report Meade estimated that the constitution failed of ratification by 8114 votes (Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 49). In his report at the end of the year, based on the official report of General Hayden, which was made a month after the election, he changed the number to 13,550. See also Ch. XVI, on the rejection of the constitution.

[1340] G. O. No. 42, 3d M. D., March 12, 1868; McPherson, p. 320; Meade’s Report, 1868.

[1341] In one case he reinstated Charles R. Hubbard, Clerk of the District Court, who had been removed by Swayne. This was contrary to instructions from the War Department, which forbade the reappointment of an officer who had been removed. Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 15.

[1342] Report of Meade, etc., 1868; G. O. No. 10, 3d M. D., Jan. 15, 1868.

[1343] G. O. No. 7, Jan. 11, 1868, republishing G. O. No. 3, War Department, 1866.

[1344] G. O. No. 47, 3d M. D., March 21, 1868.

[1345] Pope was in feeble health, and this treatment hastened his death, which occurred shortly after being released from jail. Brewer, “Alabama,” p. 524.

[1346] G. O. No. 53, 3d M. D., April 7, 1868; N. Y. Herald, April 1, 1868. Judge Pope was arrested for violating Pope’s G. O. Nos. 53, 55, which certainly provided for mixed juries. Meade was simply putting his own interpretation on these orders.

[1347] G. O. No. 22, 3d M. D., Feb. 2, 1868; Report of Meade, etc., 1868.

[1348] Report of Meade, etc,. 1868; Independent Monitor, April and May, 1868. The Independent Monitor was a long-established and well-known weekly paper. F. A. P. Barnard, who was afterwards president of Columbia College, New York, was, when a professor at the University of Alabama, the editor of the Monitor, and under him it won a reputation for spiciness which it did not lose under Randolph. See also Ch. XXI, for Randolph and the Ku Klux Klan.

[1349] G. O. No. 31, Feb. 28, 1868; G. O. No. 44, March 18, 1868; G. O. No. 69, April 24, 1868; McPherson, p. 320; Report of Meade, etc., 1868.

[1350] G. O. No. 6, Jan. 10, 1868; G. O. No. 79, May 20, 1868; McPherson, p. 320; Report of Meade, 1868.

[1351] Report of Meade, 1868.

[1352] G. O. No. 64, 3d M. D., April 19, 1868; Selma Times and Messenger, April 29, 1868.

[1353] This was the offence according to conservative testimony. The Radical testimony did not differ greatly, but the “hog thief” happened to be a carpet-bag politician also.

[1354] These were the “Eutaw cases,” and were tried at Selma. Meade commuted some of the sentences at once. The prisoners were sent to Dry Tortugas, and were later pardoned by Meade. The officials spoiled the effect of his leniency by putting the pardoned prisoners ashore at Galveston, Texas, without money and almost without clothes, while some of the party were ill. Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 17; Selma Times and Messenger, May 5, 1868; N. Y. World, May 28, 1868; G. O. No. 80, 3d M. D., May 20, 1868.

[1355] Independent Monitor, April and May, 1868; Report of Meade, 1868; G. O. No. 78, 3d M. D., May 13, 1868.

[1356] G. O. Nos. 64 and 65, 3d M. D., April 19 and 20, 1868.

During the eight months of Meade’s administration in the Third District, there were thirty-two trials by military commission in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Only fifteen persons were convicted. The sentences in four cases were disapproved, in eight cases remitted, and two cases were referred to the President, leaving only one person confined in prison. Report of Meade, 1868.

[1357] Selma Messenger, Oct. 25, 1867.

[1358] Montgomery Mail, June 17, 1868; Independent Monitor, June 16, 1868.

[1359] Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 17; Montgomery Advertiser, June 5, 1868.

[1360] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 1285-1286.

[1361] McPherson, p. 337; see below, Ch. XV.

[1362] Only the Radical candidates had been voted for.

[1363] Report of Meade, 1868.

[1364] G. O. No. 91, 3d M. D., June 28, 1868.

[1365] G. O. No. 100, July 9, 1868.

[1366] G. O. No. 101, July 14, 1868.

[1367] The volume of orders numbered 598 in the Adjutant-General’s office at Washington contains the General Orders of the Third Military District. Volume 599 relates to civil affairs in the same district.

[1368] N. Y. Herald, June 27, 1867.

[1369] Washington (in “The Future of the American Negro,” pp. 11, 112, 136) thinks it unfortunate that the native whites did not make stronger efforts to control the politics of the negro, and prevent him from falling under the control of unscrupulous aliens. But any attempt to influence the negro voters was looked upon as “obstructing reconstruction,” and, in fact, was contrary to the spirit of the reconstruction laws and rendered a person liable to arrest. This was recognized by Patton and others, who, however, never dreamed that the negroes would be so successfully exploited by political adventurers, or perhaps they would have pursued a different policy. General Clanton, the leader of the Conservatives, said that early in 1867 the whites had endeavored to keep the blacks away from Radical leaders by giving them barbecues, etc. On one occasion a Radical, who had once been kept from mistreating negroes by the military authorities at Clanton’s request, told the negroes that the whites intended to poison them at the barbecue. Two long tables had been set, one for each race, and the preachers, speakers, and the whites were present, but the blacks did not come. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 237, 246.

[1370] N. Y. Herald, March 26, 1867.

[1371] Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 39; Herbert, “Political History” in “Memorial Record of Alabama,” Vol. I, p. 88; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 16.

[1372] Northern observers who were friendly to the South saw the danger much more clearly than the southerners themselves, who seemed unable to take negro suffrage seriously or to consider it as great a danger as it is generally believed they did. Two years of the Freedmen’s Bureau had not wholly succeeded in alienating the best of the whites and the negroes. The whites thought that the removal of outside interference would quiet the blacks. To give the negro the ballot was absurd, they thought, but they did not consider it necessarily as dangerous as it turned out to be. A remarkable prophecy of Reconstruction is found in Calhoun’s Works, Vol. VI, pp. 309-310. The behavior of the negro during and after the war, in spite of malign influences, had been such as to reassure many whites, who began to believe that to accept negro suffrage and get rid of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the army would be a good exchange. The northern friendly observers saw more clearly because, perhaps, they better understood the motives of the Radicals. The N. Y. Herald said: “Briefly, we may regard the entire ten unreconstructed southern states, with possibly one or two exceptions, as forced by a secret and overwhelming revolutionary influence to a common and inevitable fate. They are all bound to be governed by blacks, spurred on by worse than blacks—white wretches who dare not show their faces in respectable society anywhere. This is the most abominable phase barbarism has assumed since the dawn of civilization. It was all right and proper to put down the rebellion. It was all right, perhaps, to emancipate the slaves, although the right to hold them had been acknowledged before. But it is not right to make slaves of white men, even though they may have been former masters of blacks. This is but a change in a system of bondage that is rendered the more odious and intolerable because it has been inaugurated in an enlightened instead of a dark and uncivilized age.” See Annual Register, 1867.

[1373] See McPherson’s scrapbook, “The Campaign of 1876,” Vol. I, p. 105, for an account of a typical meeting.

[1374] Selma Times, March 19, 1867.

[1375] N. Y. Herald, March 27, 1869.

[1376] N. Y. Herald, April 25, 1869; Annual CyclopÆdia (1869), p. 19.

[1377] Annual CyclopÆdia (1869), p. 19; N. Y. Herald, April 25, 1869.

[1378] N. Y. Herald, May 17, 1869; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), pp. 18, 21. It is noticeable all through Reconstruction that most of the demands for social rights or privileges came from Mobile mulattoes.

[1379] For an estimate of the importance of the Union League, see Ch. XVI.

[1380] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” pp. 249, 250. The last assertion refers to such statements as those of Secretary McCulloch and the Postmaster-General in regard to the character of the “loyalists.” See McCulloch, “Men and Measures,” p. 228.

[1381] See Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 41.

[1382] On March 15, 1867, Senator Wilson, in a speech in favor of negro suffrage, said that when the purpose of the act of March 2 was carried out, the “majority of these states will, within a twelvemonth, send here senators and representatives that think as we think, and speak as we speak, and vote as we vote, and will give their electoral vote for whoever we nominate as candidate for President in 1868. The power is all in our hands.” Cong. Globe, March 15, 1867.

[1383] Clanton had been a Whig, had opposed secession, made a brilliant war record, became the leader of the Democratic and Conservative party in 1866, and led the fight against the carpet-bag government until his death in 1871. He was killed in Knoxville by a hireling of one of the railroad companies which had looted the state treasury and against which he was fighting. Brewer, p. 466; Garrett, pp. 632-645.

[1384] See Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 40; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 249.

[1385] N. Y. Tribune, May 16, 1867, editorial. When the shots were fired Kelly showed the white feather, and reclined upon the platform behind and under the speaker’s chair; afterwards he ran hatless to the hotel, and told the clerk to “swear he was out.” A special boat at once took him from the city to Montgomery.

[1386] N. Y. Tribune, May 16, 1767; N. Y. Times, May 21, 1867; N. Y. World, May 28, 1867; Mobile Times, ——, 1867; Mobile Register, ——, 1867; Evening Post, ——, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), pp. 22, 23.

[1387] N. Y. Herald, May 26, 1867.

[1388] See Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 43; oral accounts, etc.

[1389] Sykes soon deserted the Radicals, and was a Seymour elector the next year. Later he was a candidate for the U. S. Senate against Spencer. Brewer, p. 309.

[1390] He was the north Alabama candidate for appointment as provisional governor in 1865, but was defeated by Parsons, the middle Alabama candidate. Parsons made him a judge, but he resigned because the lawyers who argued before him spoke in insulting phrases concerning his war record. In 1867 Pope appointed him superintendent of registration for the state. He was a prominent member of the Union League. Brewer, p. 508; N. Y. Herald, June 20, 1867; Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Pt. III.

[1391] N. Y. Herald, June 20, 1867, a northern Republican account.

[1392] Nicholas Davis of Madison County and Judge Busteed were both candidates for the chairmanship. But the negroes and Union Leaguers were hostile to Davis, because he did not like negro politicians and carpet-baggers and was opposed to the Union League. Busteed was not a favorite for practically the same reasons, and because the negroes thought he was trying to “ride two horses at once.” He had spoken at a meeting of moderate reconstructionists in Mobile, had presided over the Kelly meeting where the riot occurred, and was believed to be in favor of moderate measures. He wrote a letter to the president of the convention, advising moderation and criticising certain methods of the Radicals. This letter was styled the “God save the Republic” letter, and was characterized, his enemies said, by its bad taste and malignant spirit, and was a stab at his best friends. He was chosen a member of the Lowndes County delegation, but his name was erased from the list of delegates. He then asked to have the privileges of the floor as a courtesy, but his request was denied. One cause of dislike of him was that he was believed to have senatorial aspirations, and expected the support of the moderates, or “rebel” reconstructionists. But he was very unfortunate, for the “rebels” also thought he was trying to play a double game and were dropping him. Suits were pending against him charging him with malfeasance in office, fraudulent conversion of money, and corrupt abuse of the judicial office. Ex-Governor Watts, Judges S. F. Rice and Wade Keys, John A. Elmore, H. C. Semple, D. S. Troy, and R. H. Goldthwaite were the parties prosecuting him. N. Y. Herald, June 20, 1867; Brewer, p. 365; Montgomery Mail, June 5, 1867.

[1393] Swayne, as well as Busteed, was an aspirant for senatorial honors. Busteed had succeeded in causing the rejection of Albert Griffin, the editor of the Mobile Nationalist, as register in chancery. Griffin was Swayne’s friend, and now each gave the other the benefit of his influence. N. Y. Herald, June 20, 1867; Montgomery Mail, June 5, 1867.

[1394] N. Y. Herald, June 17, 1867.

[1395] The only taxes that affected these people.

[1396] Annual CyclopÆdia (1869), pp. 25, 26; Montgomery Mail, June 5, 1867; N. Y. Herald, June 19, 20, 1867.

[1397] Montgomery Advertiser, July 19, 1867.

[1398] Herbert, pp. 43, 44; N. Y. Herald, June 20 and 27, 1867. Most of the violent and radical schemes originated and were advocated by the white Radical leaders. Generally the negro leaders made moderate demands. Holland Thompson, a negro leader, in a speech at Tuskegee, advised his race not to organize a negro military company, as it would be sure to cause trouble. He said that the negro did not ask for social equality. He told the negroes to stop buying guns and whiskey and go to work. McPherson’s scrapbook, “The Campaign of 1867,” Vol. I, p. 107. In striking contrast were the speeches of such white men as B. W. Norris and A. C. Felder, who undertook to persuade the negroes that Reconstruction was the remedy for all the ills that affected humanity. McPherson’s scrapbook, “The Fourth of July” (1867), pp. 124, 125.

[1399] Herbert, p. 44.

[1400] Lawyer, colonel of 7th Alabama Cavalry, superintendent of education, 1870-1872, author of “The Cradle of the Confederacy,” “Alabama Manual and Statistical Register,” editor Montgomery Mail, Mobile Register, etc.

[1401] A reign of terror had followed the reconstruction of Tennessee under “Parson” Brownlow.

[1402] N. Y. Times, Aug. 19, 1867.

[1403] N. Y. Herald, Sept. 6, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 28; Herbert, p. 44.

[1404] Herbert, pp. 44, 45; N. Y. Herald, Sept. 6, 1867.

[1405] Montgomery Sentinel, July 3, 1867; N. Y. Herald, Aug. 5, 1867.

[1406] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 357. A frequent threat.

[1407] N. Y. World, Nov. 11, 1867; Harris, “Political Conflict in America,” p. 479.

[1408] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 13, 1867.

[1409] Accounts of negroes and whites who were at the polls.

[1410] Selma Messenger, Oct. 10 and 12, Dec. 20 and 22, 1867, and Jan. 2, 1868; Montgomery Mail, Jan. 30, 1868; Ball, “Clarke County”; oral accounts.

[1411] Freedmen’s Bureau Report, Nov. 1, 1867.

[1412] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 53, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 238, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. The N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 21, 1867, gives slightly different figures. Statements of the vote do not agree. There was much confusion in the records. For statistics, see above, pp. 491, 494.

[1413] Samuel A. Hale, a dissatisfied Radical from New Hampshire, a brother of John P. Hale, wrote to Senator Henry Wilson, on Jan. 1, 1868, concerning the character of the members of the convention. He said that many were negroes, grossly ignorant; a large proportion were northern adventurers who had manipulated the negro vote; and all were “worthless vagabonds, homeless, houseless, drunken knaves.” Hale had lived for several years in Alabama. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 1815-1830.

[1414] There is doubt about four or five men, whether they were black or white. The lists made at the time do not agree.

[1415] N. Y. World, Nov. 11, 1867, and Feb. 22, 1868; Selma Messenger, Dec. 20 and 22, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 30; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 45. A partial list of aliens as described by a northern correspondent: A. J. Applegate of Wisconsin; Arthur Bingham of Ohio and New York; D. H. Bingham of New York, who had lived in the state before the war, an old man, and intensely bitter in his hatred of southerners; W. H. Block of Ohio; W. T. Blackford of New York, a Bureau official, “the wearer of one of the two clean shirts visible in the whole convention”; M. D. Brainard of New York, a Bureau clerk who did not know, when elected to represent Monroe, where his county was located; Alfred E. Buck of Maine, a court clerk of Mobile appointed by Pope; Charles W. Buckley of Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois, chaplain of a negro regiment, later a Bureau official; William M. Buckley of New York, his brother; J. H. Burdick of Iowa, extremely radical; Pierce Burton of Massachusetts, who had been removed from the Bureau for writing letters to northern papers, advocating the repeal of the cotton tax, but now that the negroes desired the repeal of the tax, the breach was healed; C. M. Cabot of (unknown), member of Convention of 1865; Datus E. Coon of Iowa; Joseph H. Davis of (unknown), surgeon U.S.A., member of convention of 1865; Charles H. Dustan of Illinois; George Ely of Massachusetts and New York; S. S. Gardner of Massachusetts, of the Freedmen’s Bureau; Albert Griffin of Ohio and Illinois, Radical editor; Thomas Haughey of Scotland, surgeon U.S.A.; R. M. Johnson of Illinois, lived in Montgomery and represented Henry County; John C. Keffer of Pennsylvania, chairman of Radical Executive Committee, “known to malignants as the ‘head devil’ of the Loyal League”; David Lore of (unknown); Charles A. Miller of Maine, Bureau official, “wore the second clean shirt in the convention”; A. C. Morgan of (unknown); B. W. Norris of Maine, Commissioner of National Cemetery, 1863-1865, Commissary and Paymaster, 1864-1866, Bureau official; E. Woolsey Peck of New York; R. M. Reynolds of Iowa, six months in Alabama and “knew all about it”; J. Silsby of Massachusetts, another Bureau reverend; N. D. Stanwood of Massachusetts, a Bureau official who had caused several serious negro disturbances in Lowndes County; J. P. Stow of (unknown); Whelan of Ireland; J. W. Wilhite of (unknown), U.S. sutler; Benjamin Yordy of (unknown), a Bureau official and revenue official who never saw the county he represented; Benjamin Rolfe, a carriage painter from New York, was too drunk to sign the constitution, and was known as “the hero of two shirts,” because when he failed to pay a hotel bill in Selma his carpet-bag was seized, and was found to contain nothing but two of those useful garments. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., passim; N. Y. World, Nov. 11, 1867; Herbert, p. 45.

[1416] Some of the better known were: R. Deal of Dale County, a Baptist preacher, one of those who, in 1865, negligently reconstructed the state, and the hope was now expressed that “he has better success in reconstructing souls than sovereignties”; W. C. Ewing of Baine County, “one of the original Moulton Leaguers who, in 1865, first organized the Radical party in Alabama,” a bitter Radical; W. R. Jones of Covington, had been barbarously murdered in “a rebel outrage,” but came to the convention notwithstanding; B. F. Saffold, an officer of the Confederate army and military mayor of Selma; Henry C. Semple, ex-Confederate, nephew of President Tyler; Joseph H. Speed, cousin of Attorney-General Speed.

[1417] The negro members were: Ben Alexander of Greene, field hand; John Caraway of Mobile, assistant editor of the Mobile Nationalist; Thomas Diggs of Barbour, field hand; Peyton Finley, formerly doorkeeper of the House; James K. Green of Hale, a carriage driver; Ovid Gregory of Mobile, a barber; Jordan Hatcher of Dallas and Washington Johnson of Russell, field hands, were the blackest negroes in the convention; L. S. Latham of Bullock; Tom Lee of Perry, field hand, who had a reputation for moderation; Alfred Strother of Dallas; J. T. Rapier of Lauderdale, educated in Canada; J. W. McLeod of Marengo; B. F. Royal of Bullock; J. H. Burdick of Wilcox; H. Stokes and Jack Hatcher of Dallas; Simon Brunson and Benjamin Inge of Sumter; Samuel Blandon of Lee; Lafeyette Robinson and Columbus Jones of Madison. Beverly, “History of Alabama,” p. 203; N. Y. World, Nov. 11, 1867; Owen, “Official and Statistical Register,” p. 125.

[1418] Journal Convention of 1867, pp. 3-5.

[1419] Journal Convention of 1867, p. 5; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 30.

[1420] Selma Messenger, Dec. 22, 1867; Journal Convention of 1867, p. 6; N. Y. World, Nov. 11, 1867.

[1421] Journal, pp. 69-71, 249, 251, 264; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 32; N. Y. Herald, March 16, 1867.

[1422] Journal, pp. 10, 12, 13; N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1869; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 30.

[1423] Journal, pp. 13, 110, 111, 276; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867.

[1424] Twice the pay in the convention of 1865.

[1425] Journal, pp. 79, 178, 249-251; Pope to Swayne, Nov. 20, 1867; N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867; G. O. No. 254, 3d M. D., Nov. 26, 1867.

[1426] Journal, p. 57.

[1427] Journal, p. 61; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 15, 1867.

[1428] Journal, p. 189; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 46; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 33.

[1429] Journal, pp. 262, 263.

[1430] Journal, pp. 15, 212, 263; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867.

[1431] Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 33; Selma Messenger, Dec. 22, 1867.

[1432] Journal, p. 149; N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867.

[1433] Dubbed “the incarnate fiend” by the whites because of his violent prejudice.

[1434] N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867; Montgomery Mail, Nov., 1867; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13 and 23 and Dec. 8, 1867.

[1435] Journal, pp. 8, 12, 17; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867.

[1436] By Griffin of Ohio, Keffer of Pennsylvania, Norris of Maine, and Davis of (?). It was said that Norris and Davis had to be influenced by Swayne to sign the majority report. N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1867.

[1437] Journal, pp. 30-34; N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1867.

[1438] By Speed of Virginia, Whelan of Ireland, and Lee (negro).

[1439] Journal, pp. 36, 37; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 31.

[1440] Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 32; N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1867.

[1441] N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867; Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 31.

[1442] Journal, pp. 42, 55, 82, 100.

[1443] Journal, pp. 47, 48, 54, 83.

[1444] Journal, p. 47.

[1445] Journal, p. 47.

[1446] Journal, p. 45.

[1447] Journal, p. 53.

[1448] Selma Messenger, Dec. 22, 1867.

[1449] Journal, pp. 84, 85.

[1450] N. Y. World, Nov. 20 and Dec. 6 and 14, 1867.

[1451] Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 33.

[1452] Code of Alabama, 1876, p. 113. Griffin said that the oath required the voter never to favor a change in the new constitution so far as the suffrage was concerned; that “it was the determination of the committee to forever fasten this constitution on the people of Alabama. He wanted to tie the hands of rebels, so that complete political equality should be secured to the negro.” Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), p. 32.

[1453] This was aimed at the Confederate soldiers of north Alabama, who had imprisoned and in some cases hanged the tories and outlaws of that section.

[1454] Code of Alabama, 1876; Constitution of 1868, Article VII.

[1455] Annual CyclopÆdia (1867), pp. 34, 35; Journal, pp. 186, 187.

[1456] Journal, pp. 257-262; N. Y. World, Nov. 20, 1867.

[1457] Journal, pp. 265-269.

[1458] Journal, pp. 255, 571.

[1459] Journal, pp. 271, 272, 273; N. Y. World, Nov. 11, 1867.

[1460] Journal, pp. 272, 273.

[1461] Journal, p. 63. The whites had for more than two years been asking for the repeal of this unjust tax, but they were not heeded. As soon as the negroes demanded its repeal, it was repealed. That was certainly one advantage they received from the possession of political rights. One petition from the negroes asked that the tax be repealed because, in many instances, it was greater than the value of the land. If this was not done, they wanted the land taken from the owners and worked in common. N. Y. Herald, Nov. 13, 1867.

[1462] Journal, p. 244.

[1463] Journal, pp. 266, 267.

[1464] Journal, p. 240; Meade, Speed, Semple, Cabot, Graves, J. L. Alexander, Ewing, Latham, and Hurst.

[1465] Journal, p. 242; J. P. Stow of (?).

[1466] Address of Protesting Delegates to the People of Alabama, Dec. 10, 1867.

[1467] Journal, p. 243.

[1468] The Codes of Alabama for 1876 and 1896 do not recognize the validity of the constitution of 1868. It is listed as the “Constitution (so-called) of the State of Alabama, 1868.” The president of the convention of 1875 said, “What is called the present constitution of the state of Alabama is a piece of unseemly mosaic, composed of shreds and patches gathered here and there, incongruous in design, inharmonious in action, discriminating and oppressive in the burdens it imposes, reckless in the license it confers on unjust and wicked legislation, and utterly lacking in every element to inspire popular confidence and the reverence and affection of the people.” Journal, 1875, p. 5.

[1469] Ely, a delegate from Russell, was a candidate in Montgomery; Brainard, a delegate from Monroe, was a candidate in Montgomery; R. M. Johnson, a delegate from Henry, was also a candidate in Montgomery. These men, however, lived in Montgomery and had never seen the counties they represented.

[1470] N. Y. World, Feb. 13 and 22, 1868; Selma Times and Messenger, Feb. 28, 1868; Cong. Globe, March 11, 1868; Herbert, “Solid South”; Beverly, “Alabama”; Owen, p. 125.

The above list is not complete, as there were undoubtedly other candidates among those who did not sign the constitution, since a number of them fell into line later. The starred names are those of candidates who were also registrars, and who not only conducted their own elections for the convention, but also for office under the new constitution. Three members of the majority who signed the report were not eligible for office when the election came off, two being in jail,—one for stealing and the other for fraud,—while a third “had been betrayed into an act of virtue by dying.” N. Y. World, Feb. 13, 1868.

[1471] Selma Messenger, Jan. 10, 1868.

[1472] Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 47; N. Y. World, Feb. 5, 1868.

[1473] After the election, Governor Patton, who at first had supported Reconstruction, issued an address complaining that nearly all the candidates voted for were strangers to the people; that many were ignorant negroes, and that in one county all the commissioners-elect were negroes who were unable to read; that unlicensed lawyers, wholly uneducated, were chosen for state solicitors; that the strangers were too often of bad character; and that the Radical party consisted almost entirely of negroes, the native whites having forsaken the party as soon as the negroes fell under the control of the imported Radicals who ran the machine. N. Y. Times, April 23, 1868.

[1474] Herbert, p. 47.

[1475] Montgomery Mail, July 25, 1868; N. Y. World, Sept. 22, 1868.

[1476] The Radical papers in Alabama were supported almost entirely by campaign funds and by appropriations from the government for printing the session laws of the United States. They styled themselves the “Official Journals of the United States Government.” When one offended and the Washington patronage was withdrawn, it always collapsed. In 1867 the reconstructionist papers in the state were Alabama State Sentinel, The Nationalist, Elmore Standard, East Alabama Monitor, Alabama Republican, The Tallapoosian, The Reconstructionist, Huntsville Advocate, Moulton Union, Livingston Messenger. See Journal Convention of 1867, p. 242. The circulation of each paper was small and almost entirely among the negroes. Special campaign editions were printed and scattered broadcast. The constitution was printed in all of the above-named papers, and also in a Washington paper which was franked by the thousands from Congressmen through the Union League as a campaign document. N. Y. World, Feb. 22, 1868.

[1477] See, for example, The Nationalist, Feb. 4, 1868 (editorial). On Jan. 16, 1868, an “Address to the Laboring Men of Alabama” stated in part, “If you fail to vote and the constitution fails to be ratified, your right to vote hereafter closes and all participation on your part in the administration of the laws of the state is at an end.” Montgomery Mail, Jan., 1868.

[1478] Selma Messenger, Jan. 24, 1868.

[1479] Cong. Globe, March 28, 1868, p. 2195.

[1480] Not yet called Democrats, but sometimes “Democratic and Conservative.”

[1481] Popular accounts say thousands, but not as many went this time as later, in the early 70’s.

[1482] Herbert, p. 46, and Journal Convention of 1867.

[1483] Cong. Globe, March 12, 1868, p. 1824.

[1484] Selma Messenger, Dec. 20, 1867.

[1485] Selma Messenger, Dec. 22, 1867.

[1486] Both later became Radicals.

[1487] Tuskegee News, Oct. 1, 1874.

[1488] N. Y. Times, Jan. 14, 1898; Montgomery Mail, Jan. 17, 1868; Herbert, p. 48; Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 15.

[1489] Thirty-five white counties with a population of 393,441—282,282 whites and 111,159 blacks—had 135 representatives, or one representative to 11,241 of the population. Twenty-four black counties with a population of 580,717—252,407 whites and 328,300 blacks—had 65 representatives, or one to 8933. Three small white counties were not represented, but had to vote with others.; Selma Times and Messenger, March 10, 1868; Cong. Globe, 1867-1868, pp. 2197, 2198.

[1490] Variously estimated at from 10,000 to 40,000.

[1491] Selma Times and Messenger, March 10, 1868. The minority report, March 17, 1868, of Beck of Kentucky and Brooks of New York, on the admission of Alabama, sums up the Conservative objections to the constitution. See Cong. Globe, March 17, 1868, p. 1937.

[1492] Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 15; N. Y. Times, Jan. 24, 1865; Selma Times and Messenger, March 10, 1868.

[1493] Tribune Almanac, 1868. Pope reported 164,800; Meline, 165,000.

[1494] Tribune Almanac, 1868. The methods of the registrars may be imagined, since Meade had more than 15,000 names of negroes struck from the lists.

[1495] It is impossible to obtain exact figures of the registration; no one ever knew exactly what they were, and accounts never agree. Meade’s estimate was 170,734, Report, 1868. Another estimate was 170,000, Cong. Globe, March 17, 1868, p. 1904; and still another 171,378, Alabama Manual and Statistical Register, p. xxiii. It is evident that the registration was about 170,000.

[1496] In 1867 the vote on holding a convention had been more than a majority of registered voters.

[1497] Report of Meade, 1868, published in Atlanta.

[1498] For instance, William H. Smith, candidate for governor.

[1499] The Nationalist, Aug. 24, 1868; Mobile Register, Feb. 6, 1868; Report of Meade, 1868.

[1500] Report of Meade, 1868.

[1501] Montgomery Mail, Feb. 4, 5, 12, and 19, 1868; N. Y. World, March 14, 1868; Cong. Globe, March 17, 1868, p. 1937; Mobile Register, Feb. 6, 1868; Selma Times and Messenger, Feb. 29, 1868.

[1502] Selma Times and Messenger, Feb. 29, 1868.

[1503] A political adviser at the polls.

[1504] The Conservatives had challenged such voters several times and Johnson sent the following order:—

—Mobile Register, Feb. 6, 1868.

[1505] Cong. Globe, March 17, 1868, p. 1937; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 303, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; N. Y. World, March 14, 1868.

[1506] In Henry County the registrars had all forsaken the party and resigned. On the last day the United States troops opened the polls and 29 people voted. Abbeville Register, Feb. 16, 1868. In Dale County it was much the same way. After a careful search one John Metcalf of Skipperville was found to make complaint on behalf of the reconstructionists. It was a sad story: “We had,” he said, “depended on Mr. Deal, the delegate to the convention, to bring the registration books, ‘but he fused with the destructive party’ and we couldn’t register. On the fourth day an election was held anyway, but the Conservatives would not let us hold it on the fifth. It was the almost united wish of the voters of the county to adopt the constitution. There are about 150 in the county that are opposed to it, and they united on the fifth and broke us up. We would have polled 1400 to 1500 votes for the constitution.” Ho. Mic. Doc., No. 111, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1507] In Montgomery 41 whites of 4200 voted. Of these 15 were carpet-baggers and nearly all were candidates for office. The Montgomery Mail of Feb. 11 printed the entire list, with sarcastic comments on their past history and present aspirations. The list was headed, Our White Black List, The Roll of Dishonor. See Cong. Globe, March 11, 1868, p. 1827.

[1508] The storm played a very effective part in the debates in Congress later. Moving tales were told of negroes swimming the swollen streams in order to get to the polls. One instance was given where, in swimming the Alabama River, which was beyond its banks and floating with ice, a negro was drowned. Cong. Globe, 1867-1868, p. 2865. The river at this point when out of its banks is not less than a mile wide, and there was never any ice in it since the glacial epoch.

[1509] The Conservatives claimed that the Lowndes county box was stolen by the Radicals themselves as soon as they saw the constitution had failed of ratification, in order to give point to charges of fraud. In the same way the returns from Baine, Colbert, and Jones counties were so tampered with by the Radical election officials that the military canvassers were obliged to reject them. Montgomery Mail, Feb. 12, 1868; Cong. Globe, 1867-1868, p. 2139.

[1510] The Nationalist, Feb. 13 and 20, and Aug. 24, 1868; N. Y. World, March 14, 1868; Selma Times and Messenger, Feb. 28, 1868; Cong. Globe, March 11, 1868, pp. 1818, 1823. This is a statement signed by Griffin of Ohio, Keffer of Pennsylvania, Burton of Massachusetts, Hardy and Spencer of Ohio, and indorsed by Joshua Morse, who signed himself as “disfranchised rebel.”

[1511] Report of Meade, 1868. Meade made this report to Grant at the time, and at the end of the year he made practically the same, though perhaps a little stronger. The Nationalist (Albert Griffin of Ohio, editor) said, April 9, 1868, that the statements of Meade, the “military saphead,” were “false in letter and false in spirit.”

[1512] Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 111, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. The whites were complaining loudly because of the scarcity of labor, and few would discharge a negro laborer, no matter how often he might vote the Radical ticket. General Hayden sent a list of eighteen questions in regard to the election to every election official. They covered every possible point, and full answers were required. One of the questions was in regard to the proportion of white voters. A summary of the answers is here given: 1. Elmore County. Intimidation and threats of discharge; of the 1000 to 1200 whites who registered, from 12 to 15 voted. 2. Autauga. No intimidation, but threats of discharge; of the 900 whites registered, 200 voted. 3. Chambers. Fair election, with 23 white voters of the 1400 registered. 4. Russell. Threats of discharge; one-thirty-sixth of the whites voted. 5. Tallapoosa. “Persuasion and arguments” deterred the blacks from voting; 20 whites voted of the 1500 who registered. 6. Coosa. Two discharges; one-third of the whites voted. 7. Montgomery. “Ostracism,” and two discharges; 41 whites voted of the 4200 who registered. 8. Macon. Fair election and 4 whites voted of the 800 registered. 9. Lee. One discharge and threats; 30 or 40 whites voted of 1500 registered. 10. Randolph. Fair election. 11. Clay. Threats of ostracism and one discharge. 12. Crenshaw. Two discharges. 13. Lowndes. Three threats of discharge; “too much challenging;” 10 whites voted of 850 registered. 14. Barbour. Four threats of discharge; “whites afraid of social proscription.” 15. Bullock. “Needless questions” to voters, and three threats of discharge; no whites voted. 16. Pike. One threat of discharge; one-fourth of the whites voted. 17. Butler. Eight threats; 3 whites of 1400 voted. 18. Covington. “Threats;” 225 whites voted of the 900. 19. Coffee. “Threats” and “proscription.” 20-21. Dale and Henry. No election; no registrars; none would serve. In Dale County were a number of “outrageous acts committed by a Mr. Oats.” 22-27. Mobile, Washington, Baldwin, Clarke, Monroe, and Conecuh. “Threats and social ostracism;” 125 of 3750 whites voted. 28. Walker. Fair election; one negro driven away; “more whites voted than were expected.” 29-30. Winston and Jackson. More whites voted than were expected; one threat in Jackson. 31-32. Madison and Lauderdale. Fair elections; in Lauderdale 150 of 1500 whites voted. 33. Lawrence. “Persuasion;” 311 of 1400 whites voted. 34-35. Colbert and Franklin. Twenty-five per cent of the whites voted; 75 per cent “were opposed to article 7, paragraph 4, of constitution.” 36-38. Limestone, Morgan, and Cherokee. Fair elections; few whites voted. 39. Marshall. “Threats”; one-third of the whites voted. 40. De Kalb. Fair; 650 of the 900 whites. 41. Baine. “Handbills advised people not to vote;” only one-fifth voted. 42. Blount. One threat; “persuasion;” one-fourth of the whites voted. 43. St. Clair. Threats; one-third of the whites voted. 44-45. Marion and Jones. Fair; two-sevenths of the whites voted. 46. Fayette. Speeches published against the constitution, three drunken men threatened the managers at one box; liquor given to negroes to “vote against their intentions,” all of which “prevented full and free expression of opinion by ballot”; two-sevenths of the whites voted. 47. Shelby. Fair; one-fourth of the whites voted. 48. Talladega. Fair, though threats were heard; three-tenths of the whites voted. 49. Perry. Fair; 24 of the 1066 whites voted. 50. Bibb. Fair; 167 of the 1021 whites. 51. Dallas. Fair; 78 whites voted; others suffered from “want of independence.” 52. Wilcox. Ten threats; 12 whites of 800. 53. Tuscaloosa. One threat; one-fifth of the whites voted. 54. Pickens. “Threats too numerous to mention;” 60 to 70 of the 1100 whites voted. 55. Jefferson. Fair; one-fifth of the whites voted. 56. Sumter. Threats against blacks; whites to be ostracized. 57. Greene. Threats, though the “Union Men” were afraid to tell who threatened them; 446 ballots had “Constitution” torn off. 58. Marengo. Voters were refused at one box because the names were not on the list, though the parties were willing to swear they had been registered. Threats and speeches were made at the polls and one man made 16 discharges; 16 whites of the 997 voted. 59-62. No reports from Choctaw, Calhoun, Cleburne, and Hale.

Nearly all officials reported quiet elections; the assertions about threats were almost invariably hearsay. Even the few specific instances were based on hearsay. The worst complaint was that Conservatives sometimes attended and challenged the votes of certain negroes, and made speeches or used persuasion to induce the negroes not to vote. Much importance was attached to the ridicule and jeers of the white leaders. These reports were made by the election officials, who were thoroughgoing reconstructionists. General Meade denied the charges of fraud and intimidation.

It will be noticed that the heaviest white vote was cast in the counties where there were few negroes, and where the Peace Society had been strongest during the war. If the estimates given above by the registrars were correct, it is doubtful if 5000 whites voted in the election, as was asserted. The judges were supposed to mark “C” on the ballot of a negro and “W” on that of a white. Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 111, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 303, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; Report of Meade, 1868; Montgomery Mail, Feb. 19, 1868; N. Y. World, March 14, 1868.

[1513] Strobach, the Austrian, went so far off in the Northwest that after the state was admitted he could not return to the special session of the legislature. He drew his pay, however, the Speaker certifying that he was present. N. Y. World, Oct. 8, 1868; Montgomery Mail, April 14, 1869; Nationalist, Feb. 18, 1868.

[1514] In North Alabamian, 1868.

[1515] He had evidently not seen Meade’s report.

[1516] Dustan had been a candidate for major-general of militia.

[1517] Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 16.

[1518] Globe, Feb. 17, 1868, p. 1217.

[1519] Cong. Globe, March 10, 11, and 17, 1868, pp. 1790, 1818, 1821, 1823, 1824, 1825, 1827, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938.

[1520] Both statements were incorrect.

[1521] Globe, March 18 and 26, 1868, pp. 1972, 2138, 2139, 2140.

[1522] McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 337; Globe, March 28, 1868, pp. 2193, 2216.

[1523] Globe, March 28, 1868, pp. 2203, 2209, 2214.

[1524] April 23, 1868.

[1525] Nationalist, April 9, 1868.

[1526] Independent Monitor, April 21, 1868.

[1527] Yordy, a carpet-bag Bureau agent, registrar, and senator-elect from Sumter County, was turned out of a hotel at Eutaw and told to go to the negro inn. Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor, Sept. 1, 1868.

[1528] Globe, March 28, 1868, p. 2140. Claus and Wilson were two carpet-baggers of Tuscaloosa.

[1529] Annual CyclopÆdia (1868), p. 16; Cong. Globe, March 11, 1868, p. 1825.

[1530] Globe, May 11, 1868, p. 2412.

[1531] Cong. Globe, June 5 and 6, 1868, pp. 2858, 2865, 2867, 2900, 2964; McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 340; Foulke, “Life of Morton,” Vol. II, p. 47.

[1532] Globe, June 9 and 10, 1868, pp. 2965, 3017.

[1533] Globe, June 12, 1868, pp. 3089, 3090, 3097.

[1534] Globe, June 25, 1868, p. 3484.

[1535] Globe, June 25, 1868, pp. 3466, 3484; McPherson, p. 338.

[1536] McPherson, p. 337. The present constitution of the state, adopted in 1901, nullifies this fundamental condition. Other southern states have also disregarded this limitation.

[1537] McPherson, p. 338.

[1538] G. O. No. 101, July 14, 1868.

[1539] Warner, who was said to have gone to his own state—Ohio—and run for office, now returned.

[1540] The credentials were signed by E. W. Peck, president of the convention of 1867, who certified to their election. Globe, July 24, 1868, p. 4294.

[1541] Globe, July 17, 18, 21, and 25, 1868, pp. 4173, 4213, 4293, 4295, 4459, 4466.

[1542] President Jay’s Address, March 26, 1868; Bellows, “History Union League Club of New York,” pp. 6-9; “Chronicle of Philadelphia Union League,” pp. 5-8.

[1543] “Chronicle of Philadelphia Union League,” pp. 5-8; Bellows, “Union League Club,” p. 9.

[1544] First Annual Report of Board of Directors of Union League of Philadelphia; Bellows, pp. 9, 32; “Chronicle of Philadelphia Union League,” pp. 70, 112.

[1545] See Bellows, “History Union League Club.”

[1546] Bellows, p. 90.

[1547] There were 144 different pamphlets published by the Philadelphia League and 44 posters; 56,380 pamphlets were issued in 1865; 867,000 pamphlets were issued in 1866; 31,906 pamphlets were issued in 1867; 1,416,906 pamphlets were issued in 1868; 4,500,000 pamphlets were issued in eight years. “Chronicle of Philadelphia Union League,” pp. 106, 107, 145.

[1548] “Chronicle of Philadelphia Union League,” p. 169; Bellows, pp. 90, 99, 100, 102; Reports of the Executive Committee, Union League Club of N. Y., 1865-1866; Century Magazine, Vol. VI, pp. 404, 949; oral accounts.

[1549] I am especially indebted to Professor L. D. Miller, Jacksonville, Ala., for many details concerning the Loyal Leagues. He made inquiries for me of people who knew the facts. I have also had other oral accounts. See also Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Pierce), p. 305; (Lowe), p. 894; (Forney), p. 487.

[1550] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Sayre), p. 357; (Governor Lindsay), p. 170; (Nicholas Davis), p. 783; (Richardson), pp. 815, 855; (Ford), p. 684; (Lowe), p. 892; (Forney), p. 487; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 246; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 36, 41; also oral accounts.

[1551] There is a copy of the charter of a local council in the Alabama Testimony of the Ku Klux Report, p. 1017. The Montgomery Council was organized June 2, 1866, and three days later General Swayne, of the Freedmen’s Bureau, joined it. It was charged that even thus early he was desirous of representing Alabama in the Senate. Herbert, pp. 41-43.

[1552] N. Y. Herald, Aug. 5, 1867.

[1553] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Lowe), p. 872; (English), pp. 1437, 1438; (Lindsay), p. 170; N. Y. Herald, Aug. 5, 1869, and June 20, 1867; Professor Miller’s account; oral accounts.

[1554] In Sumter County a northern teacher of a negro school informed a planter that the Leaguers were sworn to defend one another, and that he, the planter, would be punished for striking a Leaguer whom he had caught stealing and had thrashed. Selma Times and Messenger, July 21, 1868.

[1555] The Montgomery Council, May 22, 1867, resolved “That the Union League is the right arm of the Union Republican party of the United States, and that no man should be initiated into the League who does not heartily indorse the principles and policy of the Union Republican party.” Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 41. A Confederate could not be admitted to the League unless he would acknowledge that during the war he had been guilty of treason.

[1556] Alcohol on salt burns with a peculiar flame, making the faces of those around, especially the negroes, appear ghostly.

[1557] A copy of the constitution and ritual was secured by the whites and published in the Montgomery Advertiser, July 24, 1867; printed also in Fleming, “Documents relating to Reconstruction,” No. 3.

[1558] The Montgomery Council was composed of white Radicals, and the Lincoln Council in the same city was for blacks. Most of the officers of the latter were whites. Herbert, p. 41.

[1559] This fact will partly explain why there were burnings of negro churches and schoolhouses by the Ku Klux Klan. These were political headquarters of the Radical party in each community.

[1560] See Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 246, 247; Lester and Wilson, “Ku Klux Klan,” pp. 45, 46.

[1561] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Lindsay), pp. 170, 179; (Nicholas Davis), p. 783; (Richardson), pp. 839, 355; (Lowe), pp. 872, 886, 907; (Pettus), p. 384; (Walker), pp. 962, 975.

[1562] Thaddeus Stevens’s speech on confiscation, through the Loyal League, had a wide circulation in Alabama. Agents were sent to the state to organize new councils and to secure the benefits of the proposed confiscation; free farms were promised the negroes. N. Y. Herald, June 20, 1867. Many whites now believed that wholesale confiscation would take place.

[1563] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Sanders), pp. 1803, 1811; (Dox), p. 432; (Herr), pp. 1662, 1663.

[1564] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Lowe), pp. 886, 887, 894, 997; (Davis), p. 783; (Cobbs), p. 1637; (Pettus), p. 6393.

[1565] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Ford), p. 684; (Herr), p. 1665; (Pettus), p. 381; (Jolly), pp. 283, 291; (Sayre), p. 357; (Pierce), p. 313; N. Y. Herald, Dec. 4, 1867, Oct. 2, 1868; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 45. One Wash Austin, a Democratic negro, was attacked by a mob, pursued, and when he reached home his wife called him “a damned Conservative,” struck him on the head with a brick, and then left him. Norris V. Hanley, in Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 15, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1566] N. Y. Herald, Oct. 13 and Nov. 11, 1867, Eufaula correspondence; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Sanders), p. 1812; (Pettus), p. 381; (Herr), p. 1663; (Pierce), p. 313; (Sayre), p. 357; Harris, “Political Conflict in America,” p. 479.

[1567] A notice posted on the door of a citizen of Dallas County was to this effect, “Irvin Hauser is the damnedest rascal in the neighborhood, and if he and three or four others don’t mind they will get a ball in them.” Selma Times and Messenger, April 21, 1868; oral accounts; see also Brown, “Lower South,” Ch. IV; Herbert, pp. 3, 8.

[1568] The Macon Telegraph, March 12, 1905.

[1569] N. Y. Herald, Dec. 5 and 22, 1867; Montgomery Advertiser, Dec. 4, 1867 (J. M. Chappell).

[1570] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Lyon), pp. 1422, 1423; (Abrahams), pp. 1382, 1384.

[1571] See Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Alston), p. 1017; (Herr), p. 1665; (Sayre), p. 357; (Pierce), p. 313.

[1572] Selma Messenger, July 19, 1867; see Fleming, “Documents relating to Reconstruction,” No. 3.

[1573] It is certain that the estimate of 18,000 white and 70,000 black members at the same time is not correct. As the latter increased in numbers the former decreased. Early in 1867 Keffer said there were 38,000 whites and 12,000 blacks in the League. N. Y. Herald, May 7, 1867. Perhaps he meant the total enrolment early in the year. In 1868 he claimed 20,000 whites, about 17,000 too many.

[1574] Lester and Wilson, “Ku Klux Klan,” p. 47; also Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., passim.

[1575] Montgomery Mail, Aug. 20, 1870.

[1576] In the Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., the Conservative and sometimes the Radical witnesses assert that the Ku Klux movement was caused partly by the workings of the Union League.

[1577] Senate Journal, 1875-1876, p. 214.

[1578] Ku Klux Rept., p. 171.

[1579] Ku Klux Rept., p. 318.

[1580] Auditor’s Report, 1902, p. 19.

[1581] Ku Klux Rept., p. 170; Census of 1860. The assessed valuation of property increased 117% from 1850 to 1860. The comptroller’s report of Nov. 12, 1858, states that the slave property of the state at that time paid nearly half the taxes. This was true of all ordinary taxes to 1865. See Senate Journal, 1866-1867, p. 291.

[1582] Journal Convention of 1867, p. 125; Patton’s Report to the Convention, Nov. 11, 1867.

[1583]

Cotton crop, 1860		842,729 bales
Cotton crop, 1865		75,305 bales
Cotton crop, 1866		429,102 bales
Cotton crop, 1867		239,516 bales
Cotton crop, 1868		366,193 bales

Most of the war crop was confiscated by the United States. The crops of 1866-1868 show the effects of politics among the negro laborers rather than unfavorable seasons. Hodgson, “Alabama Manual and Statistical Register,” 1869.

[1584] The exemption laws were so framed as to release the average negroes from paying tax, and also the class of whites that supported the Radical policy. The following list will show the incidence of taxation for 1870:—

	Value	Tax
Lands	$81,109,102.03	$607,979.52
Town property	36,005,780.50	268,865.89
Cattle	1,180,106.00	8,851.36
Mules	4,845,736.00	36,042.68
Horses	2,214,376.00	16,599.83
Sheep and goats	111,001.00	832.50
Hogs	277,735.50	2,083.02
Wagons, carriages, etc.	131,235.00	8,480.81
Tools	237,534.50	1,769.96
Farming implements	235,600.00	1,744.71
Household furniture	1,691,807.00	12,731.98
Cotton presses	41,360.00	310.30

Besides these items, heavy taxes were laid on the following: wharves, toll bridges, ferries, steamboats, and all water craft, stocks of goods, libraries, jewellery, plate and silverware, musical instruments, pistols, guns, jacks and jennies, race-horses, watches, money in and out of the state, money loaned, credits, commercial paper, capital in incorporated companies in or out of the state, bonds except of United States and Alabama, incomes and gains over $1000, banks, poll tax, insurance companies, auction sales, lotteries, warehouses, distilleries, brokers, factors, express and telegraph companies, etc. See Ku Klux Report and Auditor’s Report, 1871.

[1585] Revenue Laws of Ala., 1865-1870; Report of the Debt Commission, Jan. 24, 1876; Governor Lindsay’s Message, Nov. 21, 1871; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 227, 340, 976, 1056, 1504.

[1586] See Acts of Ala., 1868-1874, passim.

[1587] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 240, 360.

[1588] Ala. Test., pp. 1303, 1304.

[1589] Ala. Test., pp. 461, 963, 964.

[1590] Taxes are paid on $307,312,000, slaves included; see Census of 1860; Census of 1870; Ku Klux Rept., pp. 170, 171, 175, 317, 318.

[1591] Includes receipts and disbursements in Confederate money.

[1592] License taxes only.

[1593] License taxes, bond issues, and temporary loans.

[1594] Interest paid on the public debt with bond issues included, and expenses of the convention of 1867. The actual expenses of the state administration were $262,627.47.

[1595] The first figures for 1868 include the receipts from taxes and the expenditures for state purposes only; the other figures include the proceeds from sale of bonds used for state purposes. The Radicals always gave the first set of figures, and the Democrats the second.

[1596] $620,000 should be added for the sale of bonds and state obligations.

[1597] Issue of bonds to railroads included.

[1598] Includes interest paid on railroad bonds.

[1599] Currency had depreciated. Many claims went unpaid. The “home debt” amounted to $823,454.64. The actual state expenses were $1,384,044.46.

[1600] State expenses only. Democrats in power. See Auditor’s Reports, 1869-1873, 1900; Ku Klux Rept., pp. 170, 174, 176, 1055, 1057; Report of the Debt Commission, 1876; Journal Convention of 1867, p. 125.

[1601] Ku Klux Rept., pp. 170, 174, 176; Auditor’s Reports, 1869-1870; Reports of the Alabama Debt Commission.

[1602] Report of Governor Patton to the Convention, Nov. 11, 1867; Journal Convention of 1867, p. 125.

[1603] See Tuskegee News, June 3, 1875; Auditor’s Reports, 1868-1874.

[1604] The average legislator in 1872-1873 was paid $904.00 and mileage. The Senate had 33 members and 44 attending officers, clerks, and secretaries; the lower house, with a membership of 100, had from 77 to 84 attending officials. Besides these there were dozens of pages, doorkeepers, firemen, assistants, etc. In 1869 there were 105 regular capitol servants who received $31,900 in wages. Auditor’s Report, 1869-1873; Montgomery Mail, Dec. 31, 1870. There were about 10 in 1900.

[1605] Journal of the “Capitol” Senate, 1872, p. 19-34; in Senate Journal, 1873.

[1606] The older and abler men were disfranchised.

[1607] Montgomery Mail, Sept. 22, 1872.

[1608] Auditor’s Reports, 1869-1873.

[1609] The purpose of the act was to liberate negro prisoners and save money for the officials to spend in other ways.

[1610] These items are taken from the accounts of Lewis’s administration.

[1611] The Investigating Committee remarked that had he chartered a parlor car and paid hotel bills at the rate of $10 a day, he would have been unable to spend $800 on that trip.

[1612] See Ch. XXIV.

[1613] Report of the Committee to Investigate the Contingent Fund, 1875; Senate Journal, 1874-1875, pp. 581-607.

[1614] Caffey, “The Annexation of West Florida to Alabama,” p. 10; Senate Journal, 1869-1870, pp. 234-244.

[1615] Report of the Committee to examine the Offices of Auditor and Treasurer, 1875; Report of the Debt Commission, 1875, 1876.

[1616] See Edwin DeLeon, “Ruin and Reconstruction of the Southern States,” in the Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874.

[1617] Ala. Test., p. 1409.

[1618] State Journal, April 19, 1874.

[1619] Ala. Test., p. 1409. The Radical newspapers that had the public printing made money from the tax sale notices by dividing each lot into sixteenths of a section, advertising each, and charging for each division. The author of the tax sale law was Pierce Burton, a Radical editor.

[1620] Scribner’s Monthly, Aug., 1874; King, “The Great South.”

[1621] Southern Argus, Jan. 17 and Feb. 8, 1872; Scribner’s Monthly, Aug., 1874; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 64, 67. Colonel Herbert believes that during the six years of Reconstruction the state gained practically nothing by immigration, while it lost more by emigration than it had by the Civil War.

[1622] Auditor’s Reports, 1869-1873; Comptroller’s Reports, 1861-1865, 1866; Patton’s Report, 1867, to the Convention; Journal Convention of 1867, pp. 46, 123; Ku Klux Rept., pp. 169, 317, 1055.

[1623] The following is a partial list compiled from the session laws:—

Issues of County Bonds

1868.	Walker County		$14,000.00
1868.	Dallas County		50,000.00
1868.	Bullock County		40,000.00
1868.	Limestone County		100,000.00
1869.	Hale County		60,000.00
1869.	Greene County		80,000.00
1869.	Pickens County		100,000.00
1870.	Baldwin County		5,000.00
1870.	Bibb County		5,000.00
1870.	Choctaw County		(?) unlimited
1870.	Crenshaw County		10,000.00
1872.	Pickens County		30,000.00
1873.	Butler County		12,000.00
1873.	Jefferson County		50,000.00
1873.	Montgomery County		130,000.00
1873.	Madison County		130,000.00
(?)	Dallas County		140,000.00
(?)	Chambers County		150,000.00
(?)	Lee County		275,000.00
(?)	Randolph County		100,000.00
(?)	Barbour County		(?)
(?)	Tallapoosa County		125,000.00

Issues of Town and City Bonds

1868.	Troy		$75,000.00
1869.	Eutaw		20,000.00
1869.	Greensboro		15,000.00
1871.	Mobile		1,400,000.00
1871.	Selma		5 00,000.00
1872.	Prattville		50,000.00
1873.	Mobile		200,000.00
	Opelika		25,000.00

And in addition each county and town had a large floating debt in “scrip” or local obligations. Speculators gathered up such obligations and sold them at reduced prices to those who had local taxes, fines, and licenses to pay.

[1624] Auditor’s Reports, 1871-1872; Report of Committee on Public Debt, 1876; McClure, “The South: Industrial, Financial, and Political Condition,” p. 83.

[1625] Report of the Committee on Public Debt, 1876; Senate Journal, 1872-1873, p. 544; Auditor’s Report, 1873.

[1626] Senate Journal, 1875-1876, pp. 212, 213; Report of the Committee on the Public Debt, 1876. In his book Clews tells how he invested in the securities of the struggling southern states, being desirous of assisting them. But when the ungrateful states refused to pay the claims that he and others like him presented, he says it was because they, the creditors, were northern men. See Clews, “Twenty-eight Years in Wall Street,” pp. 550, 551.

[1627] DeLeon, “Ruin and Reconstruction,” in the Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874. The state debts of the ten southern states were then estimated at $291,626,015, while the debts of the other twenty-seven states amounted to only $293,872,552.

[1628] Houston’s Message, 1876; Senate Journal, 1874-1875, p. 7.

[1629] Act of Dec. 17, 1874.

[1630] Later increased to $1,192,000.

[1631] Report of the Debt Commission, 1876. This was nearly half the value of the farm lands of the state, which were worth $67,700,000, and was much more than the gross value of a year’s cotton crop.

[1632] Report of the Debt Commission, Jan. 24, 1876; Senate Journal, 1875-1876, pp. 203-232; Report of the Joint Committee on the Public Debt, Feb. 23, 1876; Annual CyclopÆdia (1875), p. 14; “Northern Alabama,” p. 52; Final Report of the Committee of the Alabama and Chattanooga Bondholders, London, 1876; McClure, “The South,” p. 83; Second Report of the Debt Commission, Dec. 13, 1876.

[1633] Senate Journal, 1876-1876, p. 316.

[1634] Second Report, Dec. 13, 1876.

[1635] Second Report of the Debt Commission, Dec. 13, 1876.

[1636] Annual CyclopÆdia (1875), p. 14; “Northern Alabama,” pp. 51, 51; Acts of 1874-1875.

[1637] Auditor’s Report, 1902, p. 14.

[1638] E.g. the State Bank.

[1639] T. H. Clark, “Railroads and Navigation,” in “Memorial Record of Alabama,” Vol. II, pp. 322-323; Martin, “Internal Improvements in Alabama,” pp. 72-77; Garrett, “Public Men,” pp. 577, 580.

[1640] Martin, “Internal Improvements,” pp. 65-68.

[1641] Martin, “Internal Improvements,” p. 42 et seq.

[1642] Martin, “Internal Improvements,” pp. 68-71; Auditor’s Report, Oct. 12, 1869.

[1643] Census, 1850, 1860.

[1644] Acts of Ala., 1866-1867, pp. 686-694.

[1645] The constitution of 1867, Art. 13, Sec. 13, provided that the credit of the state should not be given nor loaned except in aid of railways or internal improvements, and then only by a two-thirds vote of each house.

[1646] Acts of Ala., Aug. 7 and Sept. 22, 1868. The promoters of the roads claimed that the old law was useless, but that $16,000 a mile would attract northern and European capital. Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 52.

[1647] Governor’s Message, Nov. 15, 1869. The carpet-bag auditor also advocated the repeal of the law. He thought that no road should be indorsed for more than $10,000 a mile, since the average value was less than $13,000 a mile.

[1648] Act of Feb. 21, 1870, Acts of Ala., 1869-1870

[1649] Act of March 1, 1870, Acts of Ala., 1869-1870, p. 286.

[1650] Act of April 21, 1873, Acts of Ala., 1872-1873, p. 45.

[1651] Acts of Oct. 6 and Nov. 17, 1868, Acts of Ala., 1868, pp. 207, 347; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 52; Annual CyclopÆdia (1871), pp. 7, 8. The railroad must have intended to profit by the indorsement, and must have paid for it, for when, a year later, ex-Governor Patton, who for the sake of respectability was made the nominal president, was in Boston, he was reproached by the Alabama and Chattanooga officials for allowing their charter to cost them $200,000. See Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 232.

[1652] Alabama vs. Burr, 115 United States Reports, p. 418. Burr, J. C. Stanton, and D. N. Stanton had been prosecuted by the state of Alabama for the fraudulent use of indorsed bonds.

[1653] Governor Smith’s Message, Nov. 15, 1869.

[1654] Auditor’s Report, 1870.

[1655] Message in Independent Monitor, Dec. 13, 1870.

[1656] Independent Monitor, June 14, 1871; Ku Klux Rept., pp. 172, 317; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 193; Auditor’s Report, 1871.

[1657] Act of Feb. 11, 1870, Acts of Ala., 1869-1870.

[1658] Montgomery Mail, Jan. 25, 1871; Southern Argus, Feb. 2, 1872, and Feb. 28, 1873; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 157; Report of the House Railroad Investigation Committee, 1871; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 52, 53. Colonel Herbert says that the Alabama and Chattanooga officials demanded the $2,000,000 and received it. “Solid South,” p. 53. The legislature that voted the gift of $2,000,000 was composed as follows: Senate, 32 Radicals and 1 Democrat; House, 85 Radicals (of whom 20 were negroes) and 15 doubtful Democrats. The carpet-bag editor of the Demopolis Republican said: “Men who never paid ten dollars’ tax in their lives talk as flippantly of millions as the schoolboy of his marbles. Meanwhile, outsiders talk of buying and selling men at prices which would have been a disgrace to a slave before the war.” Montgomery Mail, Jan. 25, 1871.

[1659] Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), p. 10.

[1660] Report of the House Railroad Committee, 1871; Ku Klux Rept., p. 319.

[1661] Ku Klux Rept., p. 319; House Journal, 1870-1871, p. 236; Report of the House Railroad Investigating Committee, 1871; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 232; J. P. Stow, Radical senator from Montgomery, said that when Hardy left at the end of the session, he carried away $150,000. Not all of it was his own; some of it he had collected for others. One senator is said to have held his vote at $1000 regularly.

[1662] Senate Journal, 1873; Appendix containing Journal of the Capitol Senate, 1872, pp. 19-34; Lindsay’s Message, 1872, to the Capitol Legislature. Lindsay said that all the Democrats worked hard to prevent the passage of the $2,000,000 bill; that he himself worked in the lobby until three o’clock in the morning trying to defeat the thieves. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 199.

[1663] Ku Klux Rept., p. 318; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 196; Report of the House Investigation Committee, p. 1871. Ex-Governor Patton testified that though president of the Alabama and Chattanooga road, he had opposed the bill and in consequence had been displaced, D. N. Stanton of Boston being elected. Patton stated that none of the capital stock had at this time been paid in by the stockholders.

In 1870-1871 “another set of financiers had made up their minds to come down South and help Alabama. Their demand was for $5,000,000 with which to set furnaces and factories going. They were too late. If they had only come the session before, there was no chance for a bill containing $5,000,000, properly pressed, to have failed.” But the lower house now had a Democratic majority. Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 57.

[1664] Senate Journal, 1870-1871, p. 78; Lindsay’s Message, Nov. 21, 1871; Senate Journal, 1870-1871.

[1665] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 195, 196; Lindsay’s Messages, 1871-1872; Lindsay’s Statement of Facts, April 22, 1871; Report of Commissioners of the Public Debt, Jan. 24, 1876.

[1666] Act of Feb. 25, 1871.

[1667] Statement of Facts which influenced Governor Robert B. Lindsay in his Action in regard to the Bonds of the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad Company, April 22, 1871; Lindsay’s Message, Nov. 21, 1871. While Lindsay was in New York, Ex-Governor Smith called on him and half acknowledged the whole affair. Ala. Test., p. 199. Afterwards in a letter Smith strongly protested that some of the bonds signed and sealed by himself were fraudulent, and blamed Governor Lindsay and the legislature for recognizing them. He acknowledged that his carelessness had resulted in the present state of affairs. Somers, “Southern States,” p. 158. April 3, 1871, Smith wrote, “I admit that if I had attended strictly to the indorsement and issue of these bonds, that all this never would have occurred.” Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 53.

[1668] Statement of Facts, April 22, 1871; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 198, 199. Lindsay said that since the Alabama and Chattanooga road was indorsed under the laws of 1867 and 1868, it did not come under the laws of 1870. Consequently, when the Alabama and Chattanooga defaulted, the state was not bound to pay interest on the $2,000,000 state bonds until the legislature acted in March, 1871.

In his Statement of Facts, Lindsay relates a suggestive and illuminating incident: On Dec. 13, 1870, John Demerett, an Alabama and Chattanooga bondholder, brought suit in the Superior Court of King’s County, New York, against the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad Company, the state of Alabama, and one F. B. Loomis (of the Alabama and Chattanooga Company), alleging that the said railway company was about to place on the market 500 first mortgage bonds numbered from 4800 to 5300, indorsed by the governor of Alabama in violation of the law. Demerett prayed for an injunction to restrain the company from selling the bonds. The records showed that the state of Alabama appeared by her attorney, one William D. Vieder, who declared on affidavit that he was employed by Henry Clews & Company, financial agents of Alabama. Vieder filed an answer in behalf of Alabama, stating that the bonds numbered 4801 to 5300 were properly indorsed, and were of the same class as others issued by the company, that the indorsement was in conformity to law, and that in no case would the bonds be repudiated. The injunction was dissolved and the company permitted to sell. To the Ku Klux Committee Lindsay suggested that Smith might have signed the illegal bonds after he went out of office, as they were not placed on the market until January, 1871. (See Ala. Test., p. 197.) But the Demerett case seems to disprove this and to show that the bonds were issued while Smith was governor. The House Railroad Investigation Committee, in 1871, reported that Smith asserted that the fraudulent indorsements were secured by the active coÖperation of Henry Clews & Company, Souter & Company, and Braunfels of Émile Erlanger et Cie., with the Stantons. Southern Argus, Feb. 2, 1875. Lindsay further stated that there were evidences of collusion between Stanton and Smith to secure the election of the latter in 1870 at all hazards. They wanted to gain time in order to conceal the irregularity in the issue of bonds. Stanton furnished much money to the campaign fund, and on election day marched to the registration office at the head of 900 railroad employees, who came from the entire length of the road, had them registered, gave each of them a Radical ticket, and then voted them in a body. Ala. Test., pp. 193, 197.

[1669] Acts of Alabama, 1870-1871, pp. 12, 13.

[1670] Ku Klux Rept., p. 172.

[1671] Annual CyclopÆdia (1871), pp. 7, 8; Lindsay’s Message, Nov. 21, 1871; Senate Journal, 1871-1872, pp. 44, 320; Report of John H. Gindrat, Receiver of the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad, 1871.

The engineers in the employ of the state reported that to put the road in Alabama in fair condition at the time it was seized would require $507,983.74. Twenty-four miles of rails were old ones that Sherman had burned. Report of Farrand and Thom, Nov. 9, 1871; Senate Journal, 1871-1872, p. 43. To complete the road, Gindrat reported that $1,000,000 would be needed. Senate Journal, 1871-1872, p. 337.

At the time the road was seized $10,500,000 from all sources had disappeared. Part of it was spent on the road, which, with all equipment, in 1871 was valued at $6,120,995. (An estimate of its value in 1873 was $4,183,388.) The capital stock authorized was $7,500,000, of which only $2,700,000 was ever paid in. Ku Klux Rept., pp. 172, 173; Auditor’s Report, 1871 and 1873. The earnings of the road from November, 1872, to November, 1873, were $232,583.96. The expenses of the road from November, 1872, to November, 1873, were $1,083,851.90. Report of the Receiver of the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad, 1873.

[1672] Rice and Chilton, attorneys of the Alabama and Chattanooga road, gave the state much trouble. Rice was a scalawag, but several partners he had at that time and later were Democrats.

[1673] During the whole time there was a large element in favor of not recognizing the legality of the bond issues authorized by the carpet-bag legislatures. The carpet-bag government was not a government of the people, but was imposed and upheld by military force, some said, and had no right to vote away the money of the people without their consent. The Selma Times, March 5, 1874, voiced this sentiment: “Alabama must and will be ruled by whites.... We will not pay a single dollar of the infamous debt, piled upon us by fraud, bribery, and corruption, known as the ‘bond swindle’ debt. Let the bondholders take the railroads.” See Senate Journal, 1875-1876, pp. 213-221.

[1674] Annual CyclopÆdia (1871), p. 8; (1872), pp. 8, 9; Lewis’s Message, Dec. 20, 1872; Senate Journal, 1872-1873, p. 43; Lewis’s Message, Nov. 1874; Senate Journal, 1874-1875; Final Report of the Committee of the Alabama and Chattanooga Bondholders, London, 1876; Acts of Ala., Dec. 21, 1872; Acts of Ala., March 20, 1875.

[1675] Lewis’s Message, Nov., 1874.

[1676] Ku Klux Rept., p. 173; Governor Houston’s Message, Dec., 1875; Senate Journal, 1875-1876.

[1677] Governor Lewis’s Message, Nov., 1874; Senate Journal, 1874-1875.

[1678] Report of House Railroad Committee; Auditor’s Report, 1873.

[1679] Auditor’s Report, 1871.

[1680] Martin, “Internal Improvements,” p. 70; Auditor’s Report, 1869; Acts of Dec. 30, 1869, Acts of Ala., 1868, pp. 487, 494. The South and North road was merely an expansion of “The Mountain Railroad Company,” an old corporation.

[1681] Acts of 1869-1880, p. 374.

[1682] Message, in Independent Monitor, Dec. 13, 1870.

[1683] Report of House Railroad Inv. Com., 1871. See also Report of Auditor, 1870, which says $1,980,000 indorsement.

[1684] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 197.

[1685] Auditor’s Report, 1871.

[1686] Ku Klux Rept., p. 318; Report of House Railroad Inv. Com., 1871.

[1687] Montgomery Mail, Feb. 24, 1870.

[1688] Message, Nov. 17, 1874.

[1689] Report of House Railroad Inv. Com., 1871; Lewis’s Message, Nov. 17, 1873; Auditor’s Report, 1869; Auditor’s Report, 1873; House Journal, 1871-1872, pp. 305, 353; Acts of 1869-1870, p. 290.

[1690] Southern Argus, Feb. 2, 1872; Governor Lewis’s Message, Nov. 17, 1873; Auditor’s Report, 1871 and 1873.

[1691] Lewis’s Message, Nov. 17, 1873; Auditor’s Report, 1873; Act of Jan. 17, 1870.

[1692] Southern Argus, Feb. 2, 1872; Auditor’s Report, 1873; Lewis’s Messages, 1873.

[1693] Southern Argus, Feb. 2, 1872; Auditor’s Reports, 1871 and 1873; Mathes, “General Forrest,” p. 362; Wyeth, “Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest,” pp. 617, 619. When Smith had indorsed this road for $720,000, he reported the amount as $640,000. Independent Monitor, Dec. 13, 1870.

[1694] Act of Dec. 30, 1868.

[1695] Senate Journal, 1872-1873, pp. 416-422; Acts of Ala., 1872-1873, p. 58; Auditor’s Reports, 1871, 1873; Governor Lewis’s Report, Nov. 17, 1873.

[1696] Act of Feb. 25, 1870.

[1697] Auditor’s Report, 1873.

[1698] $1,300,000 fraudulent indorsement; $2,000,000 in state bonds in addition.

[1699] No record of $80,000 indorsement.

[1700] Also “three per cent fund” amounting to $30,000+, and state bonds amounting to $300,000. No record of $720,000.

[1701] No record of $1,500,000.

[1702] No record of $160,000. Also a loan of $40,000.

[1703] No record of $45,000.

[1704] Including $2,200,000, of which no record was found.

[1705] Act of Dec. 31, 1868; Acts of 1868, p. 514.

[1706] Southern Argus, June 14, 1872; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 278; Acts of Ala., passim; “Northern Alabama,” p. 737; Brown, “Alabama,” p. 291; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 53.

[1707] A commission from Mobile visited the schools in New York, Boston, and other cities of the North.

[1708] Exclusive of Mobile County, which, as the honored pioneer, has always been outside of, and a model for, the state system.

[1709] Clark, “History of Education in Alabama,” pp. 221-241; Report of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1876, p. 6.

[1710] The son of ex-Governor Watts. Clark, p. 94.

[1711] See Ch. XI, Sec. 3.

[1712] Clark, p. 95 et passim. In 1869 N. B. Cloud, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, asked the legislature to make the loan a gift, since the destruction of the buildings was “the natural fruits of secession,” the fault of the “purblind leaders” who “pretended to secede.” Therefore he thought the state was responsible for the damage done the University.

[1713] See Journal Convention of 1867, p. 242 et passim, and above, Chs. XIV and XV.

[1714] There were four congressional districts.

[1715] The supreme court decided in regard to the Board of Education: “The new system has not only administrative, but full legislative, powers concerning all matters having reference to the common school and public educational interests of the state. It cannot be destroyed nor essentially changed by legislative authority.” Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1873, p. 5. But in 1873-1874 the legislature, however, by refusing appropriations, did manage to nullify the work of the Board.

[1716] Constitution of 1867, Art. XI.

[1717] In 1871 the legislature repealed this act, and a case that arose was carried to the United States supreme court, which, reversing a former decision of the state supreme court, held that the action of one legislature could not restrain subsequent legislatures from legislating for the public welfare by suppressing practices that tended to corrupt public morals. Besides, the court professed itself unable to find in the act any authority for a lottery. See Boyd vs. Alabama, 94 United States Reports, p. 645 (opinion by Justice Field).

[1718] Act of Dec. 31, 1868. At the same time the office of Commissioner of Lotteries was created, with a salary of $2000 a year.

[1719] This is the opinion of two subsequent members—one a Democrat and one a Radical. See also Ku Klux Report, Ala. Test., p. 426. The members were G. L. Putnam, A. B. Collins (Collins was made a professor in the University, but murdered Haughey, the Radical Congressman, and fled from the state), W. D. Miller, Jesse H. Booth, Thomas A. Cook, James Nichols, William H. Clayton, Gustavus A. Smith,—four scalawags and four carpet-baggers. The first two named resigned to accept offices created by the board. See Register of the University of Alabama, 1831-1901, p. 20.

[1720] Report, Nov. 10, 1869.

[1721] This was done at the instance of the aid societies from the North which had been doing work among the negroes.

[1722] Acts, Aug. 11, 1868. Public School Laws (pamphlet). See also Acts of Ala., 1868, pp. 147-160.

[1723] Clark, p. 98.

[1724] See Ch. XX.

[1725] Nicholas Davis, a north Alabama Republican, had this to say about Lakin to the Ku Klux subcommittee: “He called on me to explain why I said unkind things about his being candidate for president of the Alabama University, and I said, ‘Mr. Lakin, you and I are near neighbors, and I don’t want to have much to do with you—not much; but I think this: didn’t you try to be president of the Alabama University?’ He said he did. I said, ‘It would have been a disgrace to the state. You don’t know an adjective from a verb, nor nothing else.’... He says, ‘... but I rather didn’t like what you said.’ I said, ‘Doctor, you will have to like it or let it alone.’ He let it alone.”—Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 784.

[1726] Clark, p. 98, is not correct on this point; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 111, 112, 113, 114; account of Dr. O. D. Smith of the second Board of Education; Independent Monitor, Aug. 9 and Sept. 1, 1868.

[1727] For the picture see Ala. Test., p. 113, or the Independent Monitor, Sept 1, 1868. Ryland Randolph, the editor of the Monitor at that time, says that the picture was made from a rough woodcut, fashioned in the Monitor office. The Cincinnati Commercial published an edition of 500,000 copies of the hanging picture for distribution as a campaign document. A Columbus, Ohio, newspaper also printed for distribution a larger edition containing the famous picture. This was during the Seymour-Grant campaign, and the Democratic newspapers and leaders of the state were furious at Randolph for furnishing such excellent campaign literature to the Radicals.

[1728] Clark, p. 98; Independent Monitor, Jan. 5 and March 23, 1869.

[1729] Selma Times and Messenger, Aug. 9, 1868.

[1730] Clark, pp. 98, 99. Monitor, Jan. 5, March 1 and 23, 1869. “The Reconstruction University,” a farce, was acted at the court-house for the benefit of the brass band. There was no hope whatever that the reconstructed faculty would have a pleasant time.

[1731] See the Monitor, March 1, 1869.

[1732] Richards was at the same time state senator from Wilcox, sheriff of the same county, contractor to feed prisoners, and professor in the University. His income from all the offices was about $12,000, the professorship paying about $2500.

[1733] Report of Cloud, Nov., 1869. Clark, p. 99.

[1734] See Monitor, April 6, 1869. The editor of the Monitor finally came to grief because of his attacks on the Radical faculty. His paper had charged Professor V. H. Vaughn with drunkenness, whipping his wife, incompetence, etc. After a year of such pleasantries, Vaughn, who was a timid man, determined to secure assistance and be revenged. In the University was a student named Smith, son of a regent and nephew of the governor, who, on account of his Union record, was given the position of steward of the mess hall, after the removal of the old steward. Smith had been in trouble about abstracting stores from the University commissary, and the Monitor had not spared him. So he and Vaughn with their guns went after Randolph, and Smith shot him “while Vaughn stood at a respectful distance.” Randolph lost his leg from the shot. Smith and Vaughn were put in jail, but through the connivance of the officials made their escape. Vaughn went to Washington and was given an office in Utah territory. See Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 1979.

[1735] He was a competent man, well educated and possessing administrative ability. In the secession convention he had led the coÖperationist forces.

[1736] Clark, pp. 99-101; Monitor, Jan. 10 and 25 and March 28, 1871. The Register of the University (p. 218) gives only thirteen names for the session 1870-1871. No record was kept at the University.

[1737] See Register of the University of Alabama, p. 217.

[1738] These notices were printed in the Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 418. They were fastened to the door with a dagger. The students who were notified left at once.

[1739] See Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 426 (Speed).

[1740] The following table gives the enrolment of students during Reconstruction:—

Session		Students
1868-9
1869-70		30
1870-1		21
1871-2		107
1872-3		135
1873-4		53
1874-5		74
1875-6		111
1876-7		164

[1741] I have this account from the men who furnished the bribes.

[1742] Clark, p. 99.

[1743] Finley had been doorkeeper for the first Board (1868-1870), and in 1870 was elected to serve four years. He was a member of the convention of 1867 and of the legislature. He had no education and no ability, but he was a sensible negro and was an improvement on the white men of the preceding Board.

[1744] Journal of the Board of Education and Regents, June 20, 1871.

[1745] Act of Dec. 6, 1873, School Laws.

[1746] Clark, p. 232; Report of Cloud, Nov., 1869; Montgomery Mail, Sept. 16, 1870. In connection with the act merging the Mobile schools into the state system, the Board of Education took occasion to enlarge or complete its constitutional powers. There was no limit, according to the Constitution, to the time for the governor to retain acts of the Board. Governor Smith had pocketed several obnoxious educational bills, and the Board now resolved “that the same rules and provisions which by law govern and define the time and manner in which the governor of the state shall approve of or object to any bill or resolution of the General Assembly shall also apply to any bill or resolution having the force of law passed by this Board of Education.” The governor approved neither resolution nor the Mobile act, but they were both declared in force. Montgomery Mail, Nov. 3, 1870.

[1747] Senate Journal, 1869-1870, p. 419.

[1748] Montgomery Mail, Sept. 16, 1870.

[1749] A specimen pay-roll of Emerson Institute (“Blue College”) for the quarter ending March 31, 1869:—

	Months	Salary	Total
G. L. Putnam, Supt. of Colored Schools	3	$333.33	$1000.00
H. S. Kelsey, Prin. Emerson Institute	3	225.00	675.00
E. I. Ethridge, Prin. Grammar School	3	200.00	600.00
Susie A. Carley, Prin. Lower School	3	180.00	540.00
A. A. Rockfellow, Prin. Intermediate School	3	105.00	315.00
Sarah A. Primey, Prin. Intermediate School	3	105.00	315.00
M. L. Harris, Prin. Intermediate School	3	105.00	315.00
M. A. Cooley, Prin. Intermediate School	3	105.00	315.00
M. E. F. Smith, Prin. Intermediate School	3	105.00	315.00
Ruth A. Allen, Primary School	3	105.00	315.00
N. G. Lincoln, Primary School	3	105.00	315.00
M. L. Theyer, Primary School	3	105.00	315.00
Judge Rapier, legal opinion	—	—	50.00
American Missionary Association, fuel	—	—	40.00
Total			$5425.00

At this time the average salary of the teacher in the state schools was $42 a month.

[1750] Montgomery Mail, Sept. 16, 1876. Cloud’s Report, Nov., 1869, shows that $10,447.23 had been drawn out of the treasury by Putnam, and he had also drawn $2000 for his salary as county superintendent.

[1751] Report of the Auditor, 1871; Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1871, 1876.

[1752] See Act of Dec. 2, 1869; Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 169, 170.

[1753] The law stated that the trustees were to receive $2 a day, but Cloud said that it was a mistake, as it should be the clerks who were paid, and thus it was done. There were 1485 clerks in the state; they were paid about $60,000 a year. The county superintendents received about $65,000, an average of $1000 each, which was paid from the school fund. Before the war the average salary of the county superintendent was $300 and was paid by the county. In few counties was the work of the county superintendent sufficient to keep him busy more than two days in the week. Many of the superintendents stayed in their offices only one day in the week. The expenses of the Board of Education were from $3000 to $5000 a year, not including the salary of the state superintendent. Montgomery Mail, Sept. 15 and 16, 1870.

[1754] Hodgson’s Report, 1871; Ala. Test., p. 233.

[1755] Cloud, the state superintendent, had power of attorney to act for certain county superintendents. This he sub-delegated to his son, W. B. Cloud, who drew warrants for $8551.31, which were allowed by the auditor. This amount was the school fund for the following counties: Sumter, $1,535.59; Pickens, $6,423.17; Winston, $215.89; Calhoun, $176.66; Marshall, $200.00.

A clerk in the office of C. A. Miller, the secretary of state, forged Miller’s name as attorney and drew $3,238.39 from the Etowah County fund. Miller swore that he had notified both auditor and treasurer that he would not act as attorney to draw money for any one.

John B. Cloud bought whiskey with tax stamps. See Hodgson’s Report, 1871; Ala. Test., p. 233; Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 27, 1872.

[1756] Hodgson’s Report, 1871; Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 27, 1872; Report of the Commission to Examine State Offices, 1871.

[1757] Somers, pp. 169, 170.

[1758] Montgomery Mail, Sept. 15, 1870.

[1759] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 170; voters only counted as polls.

[1760] Montgomery Mail, Sept. 15, 1870.

[1761] In recent years the people have demanded and obtained a different class of school histories, such as those of Derry, Lee, Jones, Thompson, Cooper, Estill, and Lemmon. Adams and Trent is an example of one of the compromise works that resulted from the demand of the southerners for books less tinctured with northern prejudices.

[1762] Cloud’s Report, Nov., 1869; Hodgson’s Report, 1871; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 426; Montgomery Conference, “Race Problems,” p. 107.

[1763] See Ala. Test., p. 236 (General Clanton).

[1764] Ku Klux Rept., p. 53; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 234, 235.

[1765] Ala. Test., p. 1123.

[1766] Montgomery Advertiser, July 30, 1866; Selma Times, June 30, 1866.

[1767] Ala. Test., p. 236.

[1768] Selma Times, Dec. 30, 1865; Gulf States Hist. Mag., Sept., 1902.

[1769] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 431.

[1770] Marion Commonwealth; meeting held May 17, 1866.

[1771] Montgomery Advertiser, July 24, 1867; Ala. Test., p. 236.

[1772] Montgomery Advertiser, July 24, 1867; Ala. Test., pp. 236, 246.

[1773] See Ch. XI, Sec. 3.

[1774] For specimen letters written to their homes, see the various reports of the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Church, and the reports of other aid societies.

[1775] The best-known instances of the killing of such negroes were in Tuscaloosa and Chambers counties. The Ku Klux Report gives only about half a dozen cases of outrages on teachers. See Ala. Test., pp. 52, 54, 67, 71, 140, 252, 755, 1047, 1140, 1853. Cloud in his report made no mention of violence to teachers, nor did the governor. Lakin said a great deal about it, but gave no instances that were not of the well-known few. There was much less violence than is generally supposed, even in the South.

[1776] Ala. Test., p. 252.

[1777] See Ala. Test., pp. 236, 1889; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 169; Report of the Joint Committee on Outrages, 1868. In Crenshaw, Butler, and Chambers counties some schools existed for a year or more until teachers of bad character were elected. Then the neighborhood roughs burned the school buildings. Neither Cloud nor any other official reported cases of such burnings. The legislative committee could discover but two, and in both instances the women teachers were of bad character. In the records can be found only seventeen reports of burnings, and several of these were evidently reports of the same instance; few were specific. Lakin, who spent several years in travelling over north Alabama, and who was much addicted to fabrication and exaggeration, made a vague report of “the ruins of a dozen” schoolhouses. (Ala. Test., pp. 140, 141.) There may have been more than half a dozen burnings in north Alabama, but there is no evidence that such was the case. The majority of the reports originated outside the state through pure malice. The houses burned were principally in the white counties and were, as Lakin reports, slight affairs costing from $25 to $75. It was so evident that some of the fires were caused by the carelessness of travellers and hunters who camped in them at night, that the legislature passed a law forbidding that practice. See Acts of Ala., p. 187. About as many schoolhouses for whites were destroyed as for blacks. Some were fired by negroes for revenge, others were burned by accident.

[1778] Weekly Mail, Aug. 18, 1869.

[1779] Demopolis New Era, April 1, 1868.

[1780] Hodgson’s Report, Nov. 11, 1871.

[1781] Hodgson’s Report, Nov. 15, 1871.

[1782] Hodgson’s Report, Nov. 15, 1871.

[1783] For opinions in regard to the value of the early education among the negroes, see Washington’s “Future of the American Negro” and “Up from Slavery”; W. H. Thomas’s “American Negro”; P. A. Bruce’s “Plantation Negro as a Freeman”; J. L. M. Curry, in Montgomery Conference.

[1784] Montgomery Advertiser, July 24, 1867.

[1785] Ala. Test., p. 236.

[1786] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. Dr. J. L. M. Curry, who, in 1865, began his work for the education of the negro, has thus expressed his opinion of the early attempts to educate the blacks: “The education was unsettling, demoralizing, pandered to a wild frenzy for schooling as the quick method of reversing social and political conditions. Nothing could have been better devised for deluding the poor negro, and making him the tool, the slave, of corrupt taskmasters.... With deliberate purpose to subject the southern states to negro domination and secure the states permanently for partisan ends, the education adopted was contrary to common sense, to human experience, to all noble purposes. The aptitude and capabilities and needs of the negro were wholly disregarded. Especial stress was laid on classics and liberal culture to bring the race per saltum to the same plane with their former masters, and realize the theory of social and political equality. Colleges and universities, established and conducted by the Freedmen’s Bureau and northern churches and societies, sprang up like mushrooms, and the teachers, ignorant and fanatical, without self-poise, proceeded to make all possible mischief.” Montgomery Conference, “Race Problems,” p. 109. See also the papers of Rev. D. Clay Lilly and Dr. P. B. Barringer in Montgomery Conference, “Race Problems,” p. 130; William H. Baldwin and Dr. Curry in Second Capon Springs Conference; Barringer, “The American Negro: His Past and Future”; Barringer, W. T. Harris, and J. D. Dreher in Proceedings Southern Education Association, 1900; Haygood, “Pleas for Progress” and “Our Brother in Black”; Abbott, “Rights of Man,” pp. 225-226.

[1787] The United States Commissioner of Education, in his report for that year, made before the elections, stated that in educational matters the state of Alabama was about to take a “backward step,” meaning that it was about to become Democratic. Report, 1870, p. 15. Later he made similar remarks, much to the disgust of Hodgson, who was an enthusiast in educational matters.

[1788] Journal of the Board of Education and Regents, 1870. Dr. O. D. Smith, who was one of the newly elected Democratic members of the Board, says that Cloud refused to inform the Board of the contents of Hodgson’s communications. Thereupon Hodgson addressed one to the Board directly and not to Cloud. When it came in through the mail, Cloud took possession of it, but Dr. Smith, who was on the lookout, called his attention to the fact that it was addressed to the Board and reminded him of the penalties for tampering with the mail of another person. The secretary read Hodgson’s communication, and the Board was then free to act. The Democratic members convinced the Radicals that if Cloud continued in office they would not be able to draw their per diem, so Cloud was compelled to vacate at once. When he left he had his buggy brought to the door, and into it he loaded all the government coal that was in his office and carried it away.

[1789] Hodgson’s Report, 1872.

[1790] See Hodgson’s Report, 1871.

[1791] Hodgson’s Report, 1871; Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1876, p. 7; Journal of the Board of Education and Regents, 1871; Acts of the Board of Education, pamphlet.

[1792] And this was the case notwithstanding the fact that the county superintendents were now allowed mileage at the rate of eight cents a mile in order to get them to come to Montgomery for their money and thus to decrease the chances of corrupt practices of the attorneys. Hodgson complained that many old claims which should have been settled by Cloud were presented during his administration.

[1793] Speed was a southern Radical. During the war he was a state salt agent at the salt works in Virginia. He was a member of the Board of Education from 1870 to 1872, and was far above the average Radical office-holder in both character and ability.

[1794] Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1873, 1874, 1876; Speed’s Report, 1873. Speed was ill much of the time, and his bookkeeping was little better than Cloud’s. Two clerks, who, a committee of investigation stated, were distinguished by a “total want of capacity and want of integrity,” managed the department with “such a want of system ... as most necessarily kept it involved in inextricable confusion.” Money was received and not entered on the books. A sum of money in coin was received in June, 1873, and six months later was paid into the treasury in depreciated paper. Vouchers were stolen and used again. Bradshaw, a county superintendent, died, leaving a shortage of $10,019.06 in his accounts. A large number of vouchers were abstracted from the office of Speed by some one and used again by Bradshaw’s administrator, who was no other than Dr. N. B. Cloud, who made a settlement with Speed’s clerks, and when the shortage was thus made good, the administrator still had many vouchers to spare. This seems to have been Cloud’s last raid on the treasury. Montgomery Advertiser, Dec. 18, 1873; Report of the Joint Committee on Irregularities in the Department of Education, 1873.

[1795] Under the Reconstruction administrative expenses amounted to 16 per cent, and even more.

[1796] The experiences with the American Missionary Association, etc., made this provision necessary.

[1797] The United States Commissioner of Education gave a disapproving account of these changes. It was exchanging “a certainty for an uncertainty,” he said. Speed had not found it a “certainty” by any means.

[1798] Plus the poll tax, which was not appropriated as required by the constitution, but diverted to other uses.

[1799] There was a shortage of $187,872.49, diverted to other uses.

[1800] Shortage unknown; teachers were paid in depreciated state obligations.

[1801] Shortage was $330,036.93.

[1802] Only $68,313.93 was paid, the rest diverted; shortage now was $1,260,511.92.

[1803] None was paid, all diverted; shortage nearly two millions.

[1804] All was paid (by Democrats, who were now in power).

[1805] McTyeire, “A History of Methodism,” p. 670; Smith, “Life and Times of George F. Pierce”; Southern Review, April, 1872.

[1806] Buckley, “History of Methodism in the United States,” pp. 516, 517.

[1807] Matlack, “Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church,” p. 339; Smith, “Life and Times of George F. Pierce,” p. 530.

[1808] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 552; Caldwell, “Reconstruction of Church and State in Georgia” (pamphlet).

[1809] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 552.

[1810] “The schismatical plans of the Northern Methodists and the subtle proselytism of the Episcopalians” (Pierce). See Smith, “Life and Times of George F. Pierce,” pp. 491, 499, 505, 530; West, “History of Methodism in Alabama,” p. 717; McTyeire, “A History of Methodism,” p. 673.

[1811] A Federal official in north Alabama who had known of Lakin in the North testified that he had had a bad reputation in New York and in Illinois and had been sent South as a means of discipline. See Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 619 (L. W. Day, United States Commissioner). Governor Lindsay said that Lakin was a shrewd, cunning, strong-willed man, given to exaggeration and lying,—one who had a “jaundiced eye,” “a magnifying eye,” and who among the blacks was a power for evil. Ala. Test., p. 180.

[1812] N. Y. Herald, May 10, 1868; Buckley, “History of Methodism,” Vol. II, p. 191.

[1813] In 1871, Lakin stated that of his 15,000 members, three-fourths were whites of the poorer classes; that there were under his charge 6 presiding elders’ districts with 70 circuits and stations, and 70 ministers and 150 local preachers; and that he had been assisted in securing the “loyal” element by several ministers who had been expelled by the Southern Methodists during the war as traitors. Ala. Test., pp. 124, 130. Governor Lindsay stated that some of the whites of Lakin’s church were to be found in the counties of Walker, Winston, and Blount; that there were few such white congregations, and that some of these afterward severed their connection with the northern church, and by 1872 there were only two or three in the state. Lakin worked among the negro population almost entirely, and his statement that three-fourths of his members were whites was not correct. See Ala. Test., pp. 180, 208.

[1814] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 111, 112, 124, 180, 623, 957. Lakin secured all church property formerly used by the southern church for negro congregations.

[1815] Lakin never acknowledged the present existence of the southern church.

[1816] Ala. Test., pp. 238, 758.

[1817] One of Lakin’s relations was that while he was conducting a great revival meeting among the hills of north Alabama, Governor Smith and other prominent and sinful scalawag politicians were under conviction and were about to become converted. But in came the Klan and the congregation scattered. Smith and the others were so angry and frightened that their good feelings were dissipated, and the devil reËntered them, so that he (Lakin) was never able to get a hold on them again. Consequently, the Klan was responsible for the souls lost that night. Lakin told a dozen or more marvellous stories of his hairbreadth escapes from death by assassination,—enough, if true, to ruin the reputation of north Alabama men for marksmanship.

[1818] Shackleford, “History of the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association,” p. 84.

[1819] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 106. In 1905 there is a much better spirit, and the churches of the two sections are on good terms, though not united.

[1820] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 705. See p. 23 and Ch. IV, Sec. 7, above.

[1821] Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches,” p. 167.

[1822] Annual CyclopÆdia (1865), p. 706.

[1823] Carroll, “Religious Forces,” p. 281; Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches,” pp. 163, 171; Johnson, “History of the Southern Presbyterian Churches,” pp. 333, 339.

[1824] Perry, p. 328 et seq.

[1825] Later the northern congregations of the Methodist Protestant Church rejoined the main body, which was southern.

[1826] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1827] Riley, “History of the Baptists in Alabama,” p. 310; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 15, 1865; N. Y. Times, Oct. 22, 1865; George Brewer, “History of the Central Association,” pp. 46, 49.

[1828] Huntsville Advocate, May 16, 1866.

[1829] Shackleford, “History of the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association,” p. 84.

The Radical missionaries, in order to further their own plans, encouraged the negroes to assert their equality by forcing themselves into the congregations of the various denominations. Governor Lindsay related an incident of a negro woman who went alone into a white church, selected a good pew, and calmly appropriated it. No one molested her, of course. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 208.

America Trammell, a negro preacher of east Alabama, before the war and afterward as late as 1870 preached to mixed congregations of blacks and whites. A part of the church building was set apart for the whites and a part for the blacks. Later he became affected by the work of the missionaries, and in 1871 began to preach that “Christ never died for the southern people at all; that he died only for the northern people.” A white woman teacher lived in his house, and he was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 1119.

[1830] Ball, “History of Clarke County,” pp. 591, 630; Statistics of Churches, p. 171.

[1831] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 236, 1067.

[1832] “The Work of the Southern Baptists among the Negroes” (pamphlet).

[1833] See the Southern Baptist Convention Advanced Quarterly, p. 30, “Missionary Lesson, The Negroes,” March 29, 1903, which is a most interesting, artless, southern lesson. The northern Baptists also have a mission lesson on the negroes which is distinctly of the abolitionist spirit. The average student will get about the same amount of prepared information from each. See “Home Mission Lesson No. 3, The Negroes.”

[1834] Foster, “Sketch of History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,” p. 300; Carroll, “Religious Forces,” p. 294; Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches,” p. 193.

[1835] Thompson, “History of the Presbyterian Churches,” p. 193; Scouller, “History of the United Presbyterian Church of North America,” p. 246.

[1836] Montgomery Conference, “Race Problems,” p. 114.

[1837] Eighth Annual Report of the Freedmen’s Aid Society.

[1838] House Rept., No. 121, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.

[1839] See “Race Problems,” p. 139, for a statement of the work now being done among the negroes in Alabama by the Catholic Church.

[1840] Whitaker, “The Church in Alabama,” pp. 193, 205, 206-212. The work of the Episcopal Church among the negroes is more promising in later years. See “Race Problems,” pp. 126-131. It is not a sectional church, with a northern section hindering the work of a southern section among the negroes, as is the Methodist Episcopal Church.

[1841] Carroll, “Religious Forces,” p. 263.

[1842] Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 24, 1865.

[1843] Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 11, 1865.

[1844] Report for 1866, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 6, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[1845] Lakin fomented disturbances between the races. His daughter wrote slanderous letters to northern papers, which were reprinted by the Alabama papers. Lakin told the negroes that the whites, if in power, would reËstablish slavery, and advised them, as a measure of safety, physical as well as religious, to unite with the northern church. The scalawags did not like Lakin, and one of them (Nicholas Davis) gave his opinion of him and his talks to the Ku Klux Committee as follows: “The character of his [Lakin’s] speech was this: to teach the negroes that every man that was born and raised in the southern country was their enemy, that there was no use trusting them, no matter what they said,—if they said they were for the Union or anything else. ‘No use talking, they are your enemies.’ And he made a pretty good speech, too; awful; a hell of a one; ... inflammatory and game, too, ... it was enough to provoke the devil. Did all the mischief he could.... I tell you, that old fellow is a hell of an old rascal.” Ala. Test., pp. 784, 791. One of Lakin’s negro congregations complained that they paid for their church and the lot on which it stood, and that Lakin had the deed made out in his name.

[1846] In the Black Belt and in the cities the slaveholders often erected churches or chapels for the use of the negroes, and paid the salary of the white preacher who was detailed by conference, convention, association, or presbytery to look after the religious instruction of the blacks. Nearly always the negro slaves contributed in work or money towards building these houses of worship, and the Reconstruction convention in 1867 passed an ordinance which transferred such property to the negroes whenever they made any claim to it. See Ordinance No. 25, Dec. 2, 1867. See also Acts of 1868, pp. 176-177; Governor Lindsay in Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 180; Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 24, 1865.

[1847] Huntsville Advocate, May 5, 1865; Carroll, “Religious Forces,” p. 263.

[1848] Reports of the Freedmen’s Aid Society, 1866-1874.

[1849] The first recognition of such work, I find, is in the Report of the Freedmen’s Aid Society in 1878.

[1850] Tenth and Eleventh Reports of the Freedmen’s Aid Society.

[1851] These religious bodies were the African Methodist Episcopal and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion. The former was organized in Philadelphia in 1816, and the latter in New York in 1820. Both were secessions from the Methodist Episcopal Church. See Statistics of Churches, pp. 543, 559. At first there were bitter feuds between the blacks who wished to join the northern churches and those who wished to remain in the southern churches, but the latter were in the minority and they had to go. See Ala. Test., p. 180; Smith, “History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida”; “Life and Times of George F. Pierce,” p. 491.

The main difference between the A. M. E. and the A. M. E. Zion Church, according to a member of the latter, is that in one the dues are 25 cents a week and in the other 20 cents.

[1852] McTyeire, “History of Methodism,” pp. 670-673. A Southern Methodist negro preacher in north Alabama was trying to reorganize his church and was driven away by Lakin, who told his flock that there was a wolf in the fold. See Ala. Test, p. 430. The statements of several of the negro ministers would seem to indicate that Lakin took possession of a number of negro congregations and united them with the Cincinnati Conference without their knowledge. Few of the negroes knew of the divisions in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and most of them thought that Lakin’s course was merely some authorized reorganization after the destruction of war. One witness who knew Lakin in the North said that he was an original secessionist, since, in Peru, Indiana, he broke up a church and organized a secession congregation because he was opposed to men and women sitting together. The same person testified that once in north Alabama Lakin asked for lodging one night at a white man’s house. The host was treated to a lecture by Lakin on the equality of the races, and thereupon sent out and got a negro and put him in a bed to which Lakin was directed at bedtime. He hesitated, but slept with the negro. Ala. Test., pp. 791-794. Lakin was a strange character, and for several years was a powerful influence among the Radicals and negroes of north Alabama. See Ala. Test., p. 959. A Northern Methodist leader among the negroes of Coosa County was the Rev. —— Dorman, who had formerly belonged to the southern church, but had been expelled for immorality. He lived with the negroes and led a lewd life. He advised the negroes to arm themselves and assert their rights, and required them to go armed to church. See Ala. Test., pp. 164, 230. Rev. J. B. F. Hill of Eutaw was another ex-Southern Methodist who taught a negro school and preached to the negroes. He had been expelled from the Alabama Conference (Southern) for stealing money from the church, and it was charged that he tried to sell a coffin which had been sent him and in which he was to send to Ohio the body of a Federal soldier who had died in Eutaw. See Demopolis New Era, April 1, 1868. During the worst days of Reconstruction a number of negro churches which were used as Radical headquarters were burned by the Ku Klux Klan. The Northern Methodist Church is the weakest of the three negro churches; mountaineers and negroes do not mix well. The church is not favored by the whites, and there is opposition to the establishment of a negro university at Anniston by the Freedmen’s Aid Society of this church, on the ground that socially, commercially, and educationally the interests of the white race suffer where an institution is located by this society. See Brundidge (Ala.) News, Aug. 22, 1903.

[1853] McTyeire, “A History of Southern Methodism,” p. 670; Carroll, “Religious Forces,” p. 263; Alexander, “Methodist Episcopal Church South,” pp. 91-133.

[1854] Carroll, “Religious Forces,” p. 263; Bishop Halsey in the N. Y. Independent, March 5, 1891; Statistics of Churches, p. 604.

[1855] W. T. Harris, Richmond Meeting, Southern Educational Association (1900), p. 100.

[1856] See Washington, “Up from Slavery.” One church with two hundred members had eighteen preachers. Exhorters or “zorters” and “pot liquor” preachers were still more numerous.

[1857] “Race Problems,” pp. 114, 120, 123, 126, 130, 131, 135; Haygood, “Our Brother in Black,” passim; Statistics of Churches, p. 171.

[1858] The Nation, July 12, 1866, condensed.

[1859] Caldwell, “Reconstruction of Church and State in Georgia” (pamphlet). The circulars of advice to the blacks by the Freedmen’s Bureau officials repeatedly mention the advisability of the separation of the races in religious matters. But this was less the case in Alabama than in other southern states.

[1860] See Testimony of Minnis in Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test.; Brown, “Lower South,” Ch. IV.

[1861] See above, Ch. VIII, Sec. 2.

[1862] Saunders, “Early Settlers”; Miller, “Alabama”; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 394 (General Pettus); Somers, “Southern States,” p. 153.

[1863] Ku Klux Rept., pp. 80-81; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 170 (Governor Lindsay).

[1864] Ala. Test., pp. 433, 459 (P. M. Dox, M. C.); p. 1749 (W. S. Mudd); p. 476 (William H. Forney); Beard, “Ku Klux Sketches.”

[1865] Somers, p. 153; Birmingham Age-Herald, May 19, 1901 (J. W. DuBose); Ala. Test., p. 487 (Gen. William H. Forney).

[1866] Ala. Test., p. 230 (General Clanton); pp. 1751, 1758, 1765 (W. S. Mudd).

[1867] Planters who before the war were able to raise their own bacon at a cost of 5 cents a pound now had to kill all the hogs to keep the negroes from stealing them, and then pay 20 to 28 cents a pound for bacon. The farmer dared not turn out his stock. Ala. Test., pp. 230, 247 (Clanton).

[1868] N. Y. World, April 11, 1868 (Montgomery Advertiser). There was a plot to burn Selma and Tuscumbia; Talladega was almost destroyed; the court-house of Greene County was burned and that of Hale set on fire. In Perry County a young man had a difficulty with a carpet-bag official and slapped his face. That night the carpet-bagger’s agents burned the young man’s barn and stables with horses in them. It was generally believed that the penalty for a dispute with a carpet-bagger was the burning of a barn, gin, or stable. See also Brown, “Lower South,” Ch. IV.

[1869] Ala. Test., p. 487 (Gen. William H. Forney).

[1870] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 377, 381, 382, 400, statement of General Pettus, the present junior Senator from Alabama. Pope and Grant continually reminded the old soldiers that their paroles were still in force. Also Beard, “Ku Klux Sketches”; testimony of John D. Minnis, a carpet-bag official, in Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 527-571.

[1871] Ala. Test., p. 224.

[1872] Ala. Test., p. 873 (William M. Lowe).

[1873] See Ch. XXIII.

[1874] For general accounts: Lester and Wilson, “Ku Klux Klan”; Beard, “Ku Klux Sketches”; Brown, “The Lower South in American History,” Ch. IV; Nordhoff, “Cotton States in 1875”; Somers, “The Southern States.” For documents, see Fleming, “Docs. relating to Reconstruction.” For innumerable details, see the Ku Klux testimony and the testimony taken by the Coburn investigating committee.

[1875] Independent Monitor (Tuscaloosa), April 14, 1868.

[1876] The negroes called them “paterollers.”

[1877] Ala. Test., p. 490 (William H. Forney).

[1878] Ala. Test., p. 873 (William. M. Lowe); p. 443 (P. M. Dox); oral accounts. It must be remembered that, so far as numbers of whites are considered, the Black Belt has always been as a thinly populated frontier region, where every white must care for himself.

[1879] Rev. W. E. Lloyd and Mr. R. W. Burton, both of Auburn, Ala., and numerous negroes have given me accounts of the policy of the black districts soon after the war.

[1880] Ala. Test., p. 1487 (J. J. Garrett).

[1881] Birmingham Age-Herald, May 19, 1901 (J. W. DuBose).

[1882] Ala. Test., p. 592 (L. W. Day).

[1883] Saunders, “Early Settlers”; oral accounts.

[1884] Ala. Test., p. 445 (P. M. Dox); Miller, “Alabama.” The negroes still point out and avoid the trees on which these outlaws were hanged.

[1885] J. W. DuBose and accounts of other members.

[1886] Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 1866, Pt. III, p. 140 (Swayne).

[1887] Ala. Test., pp. 1125, 1126 (Daniel Taylor); pp. 1136, 1142 (Col. John J. Holley).

[1888] Ala. Test., p. 877 (Wm. M. Lowe); p. 664 (Daniel Coleman).

[1889] “The so-called Ku Klux organizations were formed in this state (Alabama) very soon after the return of our soldiers to their homes, following the surrender. To the best of my recollection, it was during the winter of 1866 that I first heard of the Klan in Alabama.”—Ryland Randolph. The quotations from Randolph are taken from his letters, unless his paper, the Independent Monitor, is referred to.

[1890] “This fellow Jones up at Pulaski got up a piece of Greek and originated it, and then General Forrest took hold of it.”—Nicholas Davis, in Ala. Test., p. 783.

[1891] Lester and Wilson, “Ku Klux Klan,” p. 17; Ala. Test., pp. 660, 661, 1282; accounts of members.

[1892] Ala. Test., p. 660.

[1893] “It [the Klan] originated with the returned soldiers for the purpose of punishing those negroes who had become notoriously and offensively insolent to white people, and, in some cases, to chastise those white-skinned men who, at that particular time, showed a disposition to affiliate socially with negroes. The impression sought to be made was that these white-robed night prowlers were the ghosts of the Confederate dead, who had arisen from their graves in order to wreak vengeance upon an undesirable class of white and black men.”—Randolph.

[1894] Lester and Wilson, Ch. I; Ala. Test., p. 1283 (Blackford); Somers, p. 152; oral accounts.

[1895] General Forrest was the first and only Grand Wizard.

[1896] There could not be more than two Dominions in a single congressional district.

[1897] There might be two Grand Giants in a province.

[1898] The office of Grand Ensign was abolished by the Revised and Amended Prescript, adopted in 1868. The banner was in the shape of an isosceles triangle, five feet by three, of yellow cloth with a three-inch red border. Painted on it in black was a Draco volans, or Flying Dragon, and this motto, “Quod semper, quod umbique, quod ab omnibus.” This, in a note to the Prescript, was translated, “What always, what everywhere, what by all is held to be true.”

[1899] Sources of revenue: (1) sale of the Prescript to Dens for $10 a copy, of which the treasuries of Province, Dominion, and Realm each received $2 and the treasury of the Empire $4; (2) a tax levied by each division on the next lower one, amounting to 10% of the revenue of the subordinate division; (3) a special tax, unlimited, might be levied in a similar manner, when absolutely necessary; (4) the Dens raised money by initiation fees ($1 each), fines, and a poll tax levied when the Grand Cyclops saw fit.

[1900] The Revised Prescript made all officers appointive except the Grand Wizard, who was elected by the Grand Dragons,—a long step toward centralization.

[1901] It was by virtue of this authority that the order was disbanded in 1869.

[1902] The judiciary was abolished by the Revised Prescript.

[1903] “We had a regular system of by-laws, one or two of which only do I distinctly remember. One was, that should any member reveal the names or acts of the Klan, he should suffer the full penalty of the identical treatment inflicted upon our white and black enemies. Another was that in case any member of the Klan should become involved in a personal difficulty with a Radical (white or black), in the presence of any other member or members, he or they were bound to take the part of the member, even to the death, if necessary.”—Randolph.

[1904] “Terrible, horrible, furious, doleful, bloody, appalling, frightful, gloomy,” etc. The Register was changed in the Revised Prescript. It was simply a cipher code.

[1905] The Revised Prescript says “the constitutional laws.” Lester and Wilson, p. 54.

[1906] Compare with the declaration of similar illegal societies,—the “ConfrÉries” of France in the Middle Ages,—which sprang into existence under similar conditions seven hundred years before, “pour defendre les innocents et rÉprimer les violences iniques.” See Lavisse et Rambaud, “Histoire GÉnÉrale,” Vol. II, p. 466.

[1907] See also Lester and Wilson, pp. 55, 56.

[1908] I have before me the original Prescript, a small brown pamphlet about three inches by five, of sixteen pages. The title-page has a quotation from “Hamlet” and one from Burns. At the top and bottom of each page are single-line Latin quotations: “Damnant quod non intelligunt”; “Amici humani generis”; “Magna est Veritas, et prevalebit”; “Hic manent vestigia morientis libertatis”; “Cessante causa, cessat effectus”; “Dormitur aliquando jus, moritur nunquam”; “Deo adjuvante, non timendum”; “Nemo nos impune lacessit,” etc. This Prescript belonged to the Grand Giant of the Province of Tuscaloosa County, the late Ryland Randolph, formerly editor of the Independent Monitor, and was given to me by him. It is the only copy known to be in existence. He called it the “Ku Klux Guide Book,” and states that it was sent to him from headquarters at Memphis. An imperfect copy of the original Prescript was captured in 1868, and printed in Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 53, pp. 315-321, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and again in the Ku Klux Rept., Vol. XIII, pp. 35-41.

There is a copy of the Revised and Amended Prescript in Columbia University Library, the only copy known to be in existence. No committee of Congress ever discovered this Prescript, and when the Klan disbanded, in March, 1869, it was strictly ordered that all papers be destroyed. A few Prescripts escaped destruction, and years afterward one of these was given to the Southern Society of New York by a Nashville lady. The Southern Society gave it to Columbia University Library. It was printed in the office of the Pulaski Citizen in 1868. The Revised and Amended Prescript is reproduced in facsimile as No. 2 of the W. Va. Univ. “Docs, relating to Reconstruction.” Lester and Wilson use it incorrectly (p. 54) as the one adopted in Nashville in 1867. At this time General Forrest is said to have assumed the leadership. See Wyeth, “Life of Forrest,” p. 619; Mathes, “General Forrest,” pp. 371-373; Ku Klux Rept., Vol. XIII, Forrest’s testimony.

[1909] Somers, p. 153.

[1910] “Breckenridge Democrats, Douglas Democrats, Watts State Rights Whigs, Langdon Consolidation Know-Nothings,” united in Ku Klux. Birmingham Age-Herald, May 19, 1901; Ala. Test., p. 323 (Busteed) et passim.

[1911] But some survivors are now inclined to remember all opposition to the Radical programme as Ku Klux, that is, to have been a Democrat then was to have been a member of Ku Klux.

[1912] General Terry, in Report of Sec. of War, 1869-1870, Vol. II, p. 88.

[1913] “The Ku Klux organizations flourished chiefly in middle and southern Alabama; notably in Montgomery, Greene, Tuscaloosa, and Pickens counties.”—Randolph.

[1914] Ku Klux Rept., p. 21; Ala. Test., pp. 67, 68 (B. W. Norris); pp. 364, 395 (Swayne); p. 443 (P. M. Dox); p. 385 (General Pettus); p. 462 (William H. Forney); p. 77 (Parsons); pp. 1282, 1283 (Blackford); p. 547 (Minnis); p. 660 (Daniel Coleman); p. 323 (Busteed).

[1915] Ala. Test., p. 785 (Nicholas Davis); pp. 79, 80 (Governor Parsons).

[1916] Ala. Test., p. 1282.

[1917] “Had these organizations confined their operations to their legitimate objects, then their performances would have effected only good. Unfortunately the Klan began to degenerate into a vile means of wreaking revenge for personal dislikes or personal animosities, and in this way many outrages were perpetrated, ultimately resulting in casting so much odium on the whole concern that about the year 1870 there was an almost universal collapse, all the good and brave men abandoning it in disgust. Many outrages were committed in the name of Ku Klux that really were done by irresponsible parties who never belonged to the Klan.”—Randolph.

[1918] It was evidently organized May 23, 1867, since the constitution directed that all orders and correspondence should be dated with “the year of the B.—computing from the 23d of May, 1867.... Thursday the 20th of July, 1868, shall be the 20th day of the 7th month of the 2d year of the B. of the ——.” Constitution, Title VIII, Article 77.

[1919] Ala. Test., pp. 1282-1283 (Blackford); p. 9 (William Miller); accounts of former members. P. J. Glover testified in the Coburn-Buckner Report, pp. 882-883 (1875), that in 1867-1868 he was a member of the order of the White Camelia in Marengo County, and that it coÖperated with a similar order in Sumter County. The Ku Klux testimony relating to Alabama (p. 1338) shows that in 1871 Glover had denied any knowledge of such secret orders.

[1920] W. Va. Univ. Docs., No. 1; Brown, “Lower South,” Ch. IV.

[1921] The officers of the Supreme Council were: (1) Supreme Commander, (2) Supreme Lieutenant Commander, (3) Supreme Sentinel, (4) Supreme Corresponding Secretary, (5) Supreme Treasurer.

[1922] The officers were Grand Commander, Grand Lieutenant Commander, etc.

[1923] The officers of a Central Council were Eminent Commander, etc.; of a Subordinate Council, Commander, etc.

[1924] Dr. G. P. L. Reid, Marion, Alabama, formerly an official in the order. Mr. William Garrott Brown gives the statement of one of the leaders of the order: “The authority of the commander [this office I held] was absolute. All were sworn to obey his orders. There was an inner circle in each circle, to which was committed any particular work; its movements were not known to other members of the order. This was necessary because, in our neighborhood, almost every southern man was a member.” “Lower South,” p. 212.

[1925] It is said that the Ku Klux Klan had a number of negro members.

[1926] In making the presentation the following dialogue took place: Q. Who comes there? Ans. A son of your race. Q. What does he wish? Ans. Peace and order; the observance of the laws of God; the maintenance of the laws and Constitution as established by the Patriots of 1776. Q. To obtain this, what must be done? Ans. The cause of our race must triumph. Q. And to secure its triumph, what must we do? Ans. We must be united as are the flowers that grow on the same stem, and, under all circumstances, band ourselves together as brethren. Q. Will he join us? Ans. He is prepared to answer for himself, and under oath.

[1927] The oath: “I do solemnly swear, in the presence of these witnesses, never to reveal, without authority, the existence of this Order, its objects, its acts, and signs of recognition; never to reveal or publish, in any manner whatsoever, what I shall see or hear in this Council; never to divulge the names of the members of the Order, or their acts done in connection therewith; I swear to maintain and defend the social and political superiority of the White Race on this continent; always and in all places to observe a marked distinction between the White and African races; to vote for none but white men for any office of honor, profit, or trust; to devote my intelligence, energy, and influence to instil these principles in the minds and hearts of others; and to protect and defend persons of the White Race, in their lives, rights, and property, against the encroachments and aggressions of persons of any inferior race. I swear, moreover, to unite myself in heart, soul, and body with those who compose this Order; to aid, protect, and defend them in all places; to obey the orders of those who, by our statutes, will have the right of giving those orders; to respond at the peril of my life, to a call, sign, or cry coming from a fellow-member whose rights are violated; and to do everything in my power to assist him through life. And to the faithful performance of this Oath I pledge my life and sacred honor.”

[1928] The motto is printed in large capitals in the original text.

[1929] Large capitals in the original text.

[1930] The Constitution and the Ritual of the Knights of the White Camelia are reprinted in W. Va. Univ. Docs., No. 1. They were preserved by Dr. G. P. L. Reid of Perry County, Alabama, who buried his papers when the order was disbanded, and years afterward dug them up. The secrets of the Knights of the White Camelia were more closely kept than those of the Ku Klux Klan, and the Federal officials were unable to find out anything about the order.

[1931] Constitutional Union Guards, Sons of ’76, The ’76 Association, Pale Faces, White Boys, White Brotherhood, Regulators, White League, White Rose, etc. Sumarez de Haviland, in an article on “Ku Klux Klan” in the Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. XL, 1888 (evidently based on Lester and Wilson), gives the names of a number of secret societies, which he says were connected in some way; the first group was absorbed into Ku Klux Klan; the second consisted of opposing societies; they existed before, during, and after the Civil War. 1. The Lost Clan of Cocletz, Knights of the Golden Circle, Knights of the White Camelia, Centaurs of Caucasian Civilization, Angels of Avenging Justice, etc. 2. The Underground Railroad, The Red String Band, The Union League, The Black Avengers of Justice, etc.

“The generic name of Ku Klux was applied to all secret organizations in the South composed of white natives and having for their object the execution of the ‘first law of nature.’ There were many organizations (principally of local origin) which had no connection one with another; others, again, were more extended in their influence and operations. The one numerically the largest and which embraced the most territory was the White Camelia.”—Dr. G. P. L. Reid.

[1932] “Their robes used in these nocturnal campaigns consisted simply of sheets wrapped around their bodies and belted around the waist. The lower portion reached to the heels, whilst the upper had eyeholes through which to see, and mouth holes through which to breathe. Of course, every man so caparisoned had one or more pistols in holsters buckled to his waist.”—Randolph.

[1933] Ala. Test., pp. 149-152, 275, 452, 453, 535, 574, 579, 597, 668, 707, 919, 1048, 1553; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 152; Report of Joint Committee, Alabama Legislature, 1868; oral accounts. The Ku Klux costumes represented in Wilson’s “History of the American People,” Vol. V, Ch. I, were captured after a Ku Klux parade in Huntsville, Ala. When costumes were to be made, the materials were sometimes sent secretly to the women, who made them according to directions and returned them secretly.

[1934] Ala. Test., pp. 352, 452, 453, 490, 533, 534; Beard, “Ku Klux Sketches”; Brown, “Lower South,” Ch. IV; Lester and Wilson, Ch. III; Weir, “Old Times in Georgia,” p. 32; accounts of former members.

[1935] “Concerning any elaborate organization, I am unable to state from any personal experience. There were certain heads of departments or organizations, under heads or chiefs bearing titles intended to strike awe into the minds of the ignorant. In some instances organizers were sent to towns to establish the Klans. These latter were formed into companies officered somewhat in military style. In (1868) I was honored by being chosen leader of the Tuscaloosa Klan, and even at this late day I am gratified to be able to say that my company did good service to Tuscaloosa.”—Randolph.

[1936] “We had regular meetings about once a week, at which the conduct of certain offensive characters would be discussed, and if the majority voted to punish such, it would be done accordingly on certain prescribed nights. Sometimes it was deemed necessary only to post notices of warning, which, in some cases, were sufficient to alarm the victims and to induce them to reform in their behavior. To the best of my recollection, our company consisted of about sixty members. As soon as our object was effected, viz., got the negroes to behave themselves, we disbanded. I well remember those notices in The Monitor, for they were concocted and posted by my own hand—disguised of course.”—Randolph.

[1937] Printed in Report of Joint Committee, Alabama Legislature, 1868. The warning is not in the ordinary Ku Klux form. The purpose is clear, however. The illiteracy is probably assumed, though not necessarily.

[1938]

Headquarters S. V. W.,
Ancient Commandery,
Mother Earth.
1st Quarter New Moon.
1st year of Revenge.

Special Order:

The worldly medium for the expression of SOUTHERN OPINION is notified to publish for the eyes of humanity the orders of the offended Ghosts. Failing to do so, let him prepare his soul for travelling beyond the limits of his corporosity.

Cyclops warns it—print it well,
Or glide instanter down to h—l!

By order of the Great
BLUFUSTIN
The Mighty Chief.Hobgoblin

True Copy,Peterloo
S. K. K. K.

—Independent Monitor, April 1, 1868.

[1939] “They [Ku Klux orders] had this meaning: the very night of the day on which said notices made their appearance, three notably offensive negro men were dragged out of their beds, escorted to the old boneyard (¾ mile from Tuscaloosa) and thrashed in the regular ante-bellum style, until their unnatural nigger pride had a tumble, and humbleness to the white man reigned supreme.”—Randolph.

[1940] Report of Meade, 1868.

[1941] Report of Joint Committee, 1868; Ala. Test., p. 876 (William M. Lowe).

[1942] In 1869-1870 there was an epidemic of resignations in the Black Belt. It was in the rich Black Belt that the carpet-bagger flourished. The departing Radical could always sell his property at a high price, the whites often uniting to purchase it. In Perry, Pickens, Choctaw, Marengo, Hale, and other Black Belt counties the carpet-baggers resigned and left. Ala. Test., pp. 103, 104.

[1943] The case of W. B. Jones of Marengo County was well known. See Ala. Test., p. 1455 et passim.

[1944] Ala. Test., p. 935 (a Bureau agent). It is more likely that this was when the Klan was dying out and the class of men composing it had no time to go on night rides while the crops were needing their attention. During the leisure seasons time would hang heavy on their hands, and they would begin their deviltry again.

[1945] I have learned of only two such cases; one was in Tuscaloosa County. The woman was a Bureau school-teacher from the North. Independent Monitor, May 24, 1871. The other was the case of America Trammell in east Alabama. Ala. Test., p. 1119.

[1946] Ala. Test., pp. 166, 433, 459, 462, 476, 1125, 1126, 1749.

[1947] Ala. Test., pp. 476, 1125, 1126.

[1948] Ala. Test., pp. 922, 923, et passim. I have been told that in one place 2000 muskets were collected, taken from negroes.

[1949] Ala. Test., p. 1179. The legal militia consisted of Major-General Dustan only.

[1950] Not nearly so many as is usually supposed. Lakin, who never underestimated anything, could think of only six in all north Alabama.

[1951] Ala. Test., 1138; Coburn-Buckner Report.

[1952] Several southern churches seized by Lakin for the northern church were burned.

[1953] Report of Joint Committee, 1868; Ala. Test., p. 1138.

[1954] Ala. Test., pp. 126, 127, 230, 418. See above, p. 612.

[1955] Ala. Test., p. 1983.

[1956] “Of the acts of this Order much has been written which is untrue; every disturbance between the races was laid at its door; every act of violence, in which the negro or the northern man was the victim, it was charged with. I do not deny that extreme measures were sometimes resorted to, but of such I have no personal knowledge.... Four hours would have been in [Perry County] ample time to secure the assembly, at any central point, of a thousand resolute men who would have done the bidding of their commander whatever it might have been, yet in this time [three years] no single act of violence was committed on the person or property of a negro or alien by its order or which received its sanction or indorsement.”—Dr. G. P. L. Reid.

[1957] However, in 1871 Governor Lindsay stated that there were in the state fewer feuds, crimes, difficulties, etc., than since 1819, when the state was admitted. This was especially the case, he said, in northern Alabama, for this reason: the people of the mountain and hill county were now prosperous; cotton was selling for $100 to $150 a bale; these white mountaineers by their own labor were doing well. Such was not the case with the planter who had to hire negro labor and pay high prices for provisions, farming implements, and mules. Meat that cost the planter 22 cents a pound was raised by the mountain people. Outrages against negroes were now very rare. Ala. Test., pp. 206-207. It is certain that the prosperity of the white counties which in 1870 got rid of the alien local officials had much to do with allaying disorder.

[1958] The estimate is Lakin’s.

[1959] Report Joint Committee of 1868; Ala. Test., p. 115 et passim. The N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 14, 1868, states that Gustavus Horton, the first Radical mayor of Mobile, was killed in this riot. After the riot was over the United States troops appeared too late, as they usually were in such cases.

[1960] Ala. Test., pp. 77, 429 et passim; Montgomery Mail, July 16, 1870. The mountain people had another grudge against Luke. He associated constantly with negroes and was said to be a miscegenationist. The mountain farmers had the greatest horror of such.

[1961] Ala. Test., pp. 257, 266, 275, et passim. Boyd had many private enemies, among them relatives of a man he had killed, and it was charged that they killed him. He was a man of low character, and his own party was not sorry to lose him.

[1962] It was a marked fact that no resistance to the United States soldiers was ever attempted. When the soldiers appeared, all violence ceased. The soldiers were as a rule in favor of the whites and sometimes took a hand in the Ku Kluxing. They usually appeared after the row was over.

[1963] Ala. Test., pp. 81, 221, et passim; Eutaw Whig, Oct. 27, 1870.

[1964] Ala. Test., p. 229 et passim. When he testified before the Ku Klux Committee, Alston swore that it was the men whom he had asked to protect him that had shot him,—such men as General Cullen A. Battle.

[1965] Ala. Test., p. 723.

[1966] “The company of K. K. K.’s which was organized in Tuscaloosa, was an independent organization, i.e. it was altogether a local affair, having no connection with any general Klan.”—Randolph.

[1967] Miss. Test., pp. 60, 223, 249; Ala. Test., pp. 213, 1822-1824; Garner, “Reconstruction in Mississippi,” pp. 345, 346.

[1968] Ala. Test., p. 942; Lester and Wilson, p. 78.

[1969] The anti-negro bands of the hills and mountains were rather of the spurious Ku Klux and were largely composed of tories and Radicals.

[1970] Ala. Test., p. 1763.

[1971] Constitution, Article 76; Brown, “Ku Klux Movement,” Atlantic Monthly, May, 1901.

[1972] Ala. Test., pp. 226-257.

[1973] Ala. Test., pp. 159-225.

[1974] With the White Camelia in south Alabama the case was somewhat different.

[1975] See Testimony of Lindsay and Clanton, cited above; also Ala. Test., p. 376 (Pettus); p. 896 (Lowe).

[1976] Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 4, 15, 21; Lester and Wilson, Chs. III, IV, V; Sanders, “Early Settlers,” p. 31. “The peaceful citizen knew that a faithful patrol had guarded his premises while he slept.”—Mrs. Stubbs. Brown, “Lower South,” Ch. IV; Ala. Test., pp. 432, 1520, 1532, 1803.

[1977] Throughout the pages of the Ku Klux Testimony are found assertions that Ku Klux was not an organization, but merely the understanding of the southern people, the spirit of the community, the concert of feeling of the whites, a state of mind in the population.

[1978] Ala. Test., pp. 165, 380, 649, 724; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 154. Governor Lindsay said that the so-called Ku Klux who went over to Mississippi were roughs and that the people were glad when they heard that one of them had been shot. In 1870-1871, while living in Alabama, General Forrest, the reputed Grand Wizard, repeatedly condemned in the strongest terms the conduct of the so-called Ku Klux. Ala. Test., pp. 212, 213.

[1979] Ala. Test., pp. 162, 376.

[1980] Ala. Test., p. 719.

[1981] Ala. Test., pp. 610, 778.

[1982] Ala. Test., pp. 559, 560, 1229.

[1983] Ala. Test., p. 679. Governor Smith, a Radical, said in regard to the motives of Senator George E. Spencer, I. D. Sibley, and J. J. Hinds, carpet-baggers: “My candid opinion is that Sibley does not want the law executed, because that would put down crime and crime is his life’s bread. He would like very much to have a Ku Klux outrage every week to assist him in keeping up strife between the whites and blacks, that he might be more certain of the votes of the latter. He would like to have a few colored men killed every week to furnish semblance of truth to Spencer’s libels upon the people of the state generally. It is but proper in this connection that I should speak in strong terms of condemnation of the conduct of two white men in Tuskegee a few days ago, in advising the colored men to resist the authority of the sheriff; these men were not Ku Klux, but Republicans.” Letter in Huntsville Advocate, June 25, 1870. See also Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 55.

[1984] See Ala. Test., p. 433.

[1985] Ala. Test., p. 230. In some communities a negro is still told that he must not let the sun go down on him before leaving.

[1986] Ala. Test., pp. 944, 947, 948.

[1987] Ala. Test., pp. 1757, 1758, 1764, 1765, 1768. Judge Mudd was by no means a representative of the old slaveholding element, but rather of the white county people.

[1988] Ala. Test., p. 492.

[1989] Ala. Test., pp. 1127, 1128, 1139.

[1990] Ala. Test., pp. 1175, 1179.

[1991] G. O. No. 11, Sub-Dist. Ala., April 4, 1868; Selma Times and Messenger, April 9, 1868; N. Y. Herald, April 7, 1868.

[1992] Report of the Secretary of War, 1869, p. 83 et seq.; Report of Meade, 1868.

[1993] Joint Resolution, Sept. 22, 1868, in Acts of Ala., p. 292. The delegation to Washington did not provide themselves with an authenticated copy of the resolution and had to wait for it. Governor Smith, who was with the delegation, spoiled everything by declaring that there was no disorder except along the Tennessee River and in southwestern Alabama and that troops were not needed. No officials had been resisted, he said, and it would be imprudent to send troops. N. Y. Herald, Sept. 27, 1868. The citizens of Montgomery held a mass-meeting and denied in toto the allegations of the memorial, denouncing it as a move of partisan politics. The strangers were sure to fall from power unless upheld by outside force. N. Y. Herald, Sept. 25, 1868.

[1994] Act of Dec. 24, 1868; Acts of Ala., p. 439.

[1995] Joint Resolutions, Nov. 14 and Dec. 8, 1868; Acts of Ala., pp. 593, 594.

[1996] J. DeF. Richards and G. R. McAfee of the Senate, and E. F. Jennings, W. R. Chisholm, and G. W. Malone of the House.

[1997] Report of Joint Committee on Outrages, 1868.

[1998] Act Dec. 26, 1868; Acts of Ala., 444-446. A supplementary act had to be passed allowing the probate judges to license for one dollar the wearing of masks or disguises at balls, theatres, and circuses and other places of amusement, public and private. Application had to be made at least three days beforehand by “three responsible persons of established character and reputation.” Act Dec. 31, 1868; Acts of Ala., p. 521.

[1999] Act of Dec. 28, 1868; Acts of Ala., pp. 452-454.

[2000] See Dunning, “Essays,” pp. 243-246.

[2001] Messages and Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 55, 56, March 30, 1871.

[2002] The Nation, Feb. 4, 1875, in regard to the “Force” legislation: “It would not have been possible for the most ingenious enemy of the blacks to draw up a code better calculated to keep up and fan the spirit of strife and contention between the races.” James L. Pugh, later United States Senator from Alabama: The people were tired of being reconstructed by President and by Congress. Now the Enforcement Laws punish all for the crime of a few. They are an insult to a whole people, assuming them incorrigible. Alabama Testimony, pp. 407, 408, 411.

[2003] See Burgess, “Reconstruction,” pp. 69-73.

[2004] Text of act in McPherson, pp. 549-550. This act was ostensibly to provide for the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments. Its constitutionality has been criticised on these grounds: (1) the amendments were directed against states, not persons; (2) the law enacted penalties not only against state officers, but also against any person who might offend against the election laws of the state or against this act; (3) it is entirely out of the question to claim that the amendments protect the right of a person within a state against infringement by other persons, or even against the state itself unless on account of race, color, or previous condition. See Burgess, pp. 253-255.

[2005] Text of act in McPherson, “Handbook of Politics,” 1872, pp. 3-8. While only the congressional elections and all the registrations were to be guarded, the chief purpose of the act was to control state elections, which were held at the same time and place. See Burgess, “Reconstruction,” pp. 256-257. This was so clearly the purpose that after the rescue of the state government from carpet-bag rule the time of the state and local elections was changed from November to August in order to escape Federal espionage.

[2006] “Upon the basis of information which turned out to be very insufficient and unreliable.”—Burgess, p. 257.

[2007] Messages and Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 127-128.

[2008] Burgess, pp. 257, 258.

[2009] Text in McPherson, “Handbook,” 1872, pp. 85-87. For criticism, Burgess, pp. 257, 259.

[2010] Messages and Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 134, 135.

[2011] Report of the Committee, pp. 1, 2.

[2012] Some of the Conservatives who testified were Gen. Cullen A. Battle, R. H. Abercrombie, Gen. James H. Clanton, P. M. Dox, Gov. Robert B. Lindsay, Reuben Chapman, Thomas Cobbs, Daniel Coleman, Jefferson M. Falkner, William H. Forney, William M. Lowe, William Richardson, Francis S. Lyon, William S. Mudd, Gen. Edmund W. Pettus, Turner Reavis, James L. Pugh, P. T. Sayre, R. W. Walker,—all prominent men of high character.

[2013] Some of those who gave, willingly or unwillingly, Democratic testimony: W. T. Blackford (c.), Judge Busteed (c.), General Crawford, Nicholas Davis (s.), L. W. Day (c.), Samuel A. Hale (c.), J. H. Speed (s.), Senator Willard Warner (c.), N. L. Whitfield (s.). (c.) = carpet-bagger; (s.) = scalawag.

[2014] Charles Hays (s.), W. B. Jones (s.), S. F. Rice (s.), John A. Minnis (c.), A. S. Lakin (c.), B. W. Norris (c.), L. E. Parsons (s.), E. W. Peck (s.), and L. R. Smith (c.).

[2015] Day, Busteed, Van Valkenburg, General Crawford, etc.

[2016] Senate Report, No. 48, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., Pts. 8, 9, and 10, and House Report, No. 22, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., Pts. 8, 9, and 10, contain the Alabama Testimony.

[2017] Feb. 17, 1872; Report of Committee, p. 626.

[2018] McPherson, “Handbook,” 1872, pp. 89, 90.

[2019] McPherson, “Handbook,” 1872, pp. 90, 91. These provisions had to be inserted in the Sundry Civil Bill, which was approved June 10, 1872. Kellogg of Louisiana introduced the “rider.”

[2020] For instances of petty annoyances to the people from marshals, deputy marshals, and supervisors, see Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 119, 47th Cong. 1st Sess., and Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 246, 48th Cong., 2d Sess. These annoyances lasted for several years.

[2021] Ku Klux Rept., pp. 320, 330.

[2022] In his Message, Nov. 15, 1869, Smith stated: “Nowhere have the courts been interrupted. No resistance has been encountered by the officers of courts in their effort to discharge the duties imposed upon them by law.” Smith was criticised by the carpet-baggers for not calling out the negro militia to “enforce the laws.” He stood out against them, and on July 25, 1870, he replied to their criticisms, denouncing George E. Spencer (United States Senator), J. D. Sibley, J. J. Hinds, and others as systematically uttering every conceivable falsehood. “During my entire administration of the state government,” he said, “but one officer had certified to me that he was unable, on account of lawlessness, to execute his official duties. That officer was the sheriff of Morgan County. I immediately made application to General Crawford for troops. They were sent and the said sheriff refused their assistance.” “Solid South,” p. 55.

[2023] Montgomery Mail, July 3, 1872. The Black Cavalry and its spurious Ku Klux successors infested those parts of eastern Alabama where, in 1903, the existence of a system of peonage was discovered.

[2024] Tuskegee News, Sept. 3, 1874; Report of Joint Committee on Election of George Spencer. During the remainder of Reconstruction under the Enforcement Acts, the Federal government exercised supervision over all elections. Election outrages by the Democrats probably decreased, while outrages by the Radicals tended to increase. The Democrats put in their work of influence and intimidation in the summer and early fall, and when the elections came were quiet, trusting to the influence brought to bear some months previously. After the carpet-bag government collapsed, the Federal Enforcement Acts still gave supervision of elections to the Washington government. The Democrats in Congress were unable to secure the repeal of the force legislation. “We do not expect to repeal any of the recent enactments [Force Laws]. They may stand forever, but we intend by superior intelligence, stronger muscle, and greater energy, to make them dead letter upon the statute books.” Birmingham News, quoted in the State Journal, June 24, 1874. But in 1880 no appropriation was made for the pay of the deputy marshals and supervisors.

In 1875 the supreme court in the case of United States vs. Reese declared the two most important sections of the Enforcement Act of 1870 unconstitutional. In 1883, in the case of the United States vs. Harris, the Ku Klux Act of April 20, 1871, was declared unconstitutional. In 1888, when House, Senate, and President were Republican, an attempt was made by Mr. McKinley (afterward President) to pass a Force Bill to enforce the old election laws, which were still on the statute book. The measure failed to pass. It was in opposition to this Force Bill that Colonel Hilary A. Herbert of Alabama and other southern congressmen wrote the work called “Why the Solid South? or Reconstruction and its Results.” It is said that this book had some influence in causing a halt in force legislation. It was the first attempt to write the history of the Reconstruction period, and is still the best general account. In 1894, when House, Senate, and President were Democratic, the remnants of the Enforcement Acts were repealed, and thus was swept away the last of the Radical system. See Dunning, “The Undoing of Reconstruction,” in the Atlantic Monthly, Oct., 1901.

[2025] Coburn-Buckner Report, p. 238. The constitution is not in the Journal, however.

[2026] Coburn-Buckner Report, pp. 7, 12, 19, 702, 882, 883.

[2027] Cameron Report, 1876, pp. 53, 108; oral accounts.

[2028] The accounts of the wild and idle negro children of the rice and tobacco districts are not true of those in the Cotton Belt. The smallest tot could do a little in a cotton field.

[2029] See Birmingham Age-Herald, March 31 and April 7, 1901 (J. W. DuBose); Review of Reviews, Sept., 1903, on “The Cotton Crop of To-day,” by R. H. Edmonds; Ingle, “Southern Sidelights,” p. 271; Address of President Thach, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, before the American Economic Association, 1903; Tillinghast, “Negro in Africa and America,” pp. 126, 143; Mallard, “Plantation Life before Emancipation”; Washington, “Up from Slavery,” and “The Future of the American Negro,” passim. The immense cost of slave labor is seen when the value of the slaves is compared with the value of the lands cultivated by their labor. In 1859 the cash value of the lands in Alabama was $175,824,622, and that of the slaves was $215,540,000. The larger portion of this land had not a negro on it, and if cultivated, was cultivated exclusively by whites. See Census of 1860. The effect of the loss of slaves on the welfare of a planter is shown in the case of William L. Yancey. His slaves were accidentally poisoned and died. The loss ruined him, and he was forced to sell his plantation and engage in a profession. A farmer in a white county employing white labor would have been injured only temporarily by such a loss of labor.

[2030] The tenant furnished labor, supplies, and teams, and paid the landlord a fourth of the cotton and a third of the corn produced.

[2031] There was usually good feeling between the whites and blacks at work together; but the negroes, at heart, scorned the poor whites, and had to be closely watched to keep them from insulting or abusing them. The negro had little respect for the man who owned no slaves or who owned but few and worked with them in the fields. To protect the slaves against outsiders was one reason why discipline was strict, supervision close, passes required, etc. When both white and black were allowed to go at will over the plantation and community, trouble was sure to result from the impudent behavior of the negro to “white trash” and the consequent retaliation of the latter. The whites often came to the master and wanted him to whip his best slaves for impudence to them. The master, to prevent this, regulated the liberty of the slave by passes, etc., and the whites, especially strangers, were expected not to trespass on a plantation where slaves were.

[2032] The idea of the so-called “prejudice” against manual labor is perhaps due largely to abolitionist theories and arguments, which have been partially accepted since the war by some southerners who think it due to the old system to show its lofty attitude toward the common things of life. But the negro had, and still has, a contempt for a white who works as he does. And it has always been a custom of mankind,—white, yellow, or black,—to get out of doing manual labor if there was anything else to do.

[2033] Accounts from old citizens, former planters.

[2034] The agent of President Johnson.

[2035] Report to President, April 9, 1866.

[2036] Colonel Saunders, a noted slaveholder in one of the white counties in north Alabama, established a patriarchal protectorate over his former slaves. He built a church for them, and organized a monthly court, presided over by himself, in which the old negro men tried delinquents. It is said that the findings of this court were often ludicrous in the extreme, but order was preserved, and for a long while there was no resort to the Bureau. Saunders, “Early Settlers,” p. 31. Many similar protectorates were established in the remote districts, but the policy of the Bureau was to break them up.

[2037] A term of contempt.

[2038] See Sewanee Review, Jan., 1905, article on “Servant Problem in a Black Belt Village.”

[2039] N. Y. Herald, July 17, 1865; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 211, 218, 219; Tillet, in Century Magazine, Vol. XI; Reports of General Swayne, 1865, 1866; Van de Graaf, in Forum, Vol. XXI, pp. 330, 339; DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1866, p. 220; oral accounts.

[2040] For a description of the Bureau labor regulations, see Chapter XI, Sec. 1. Also Montgomery Mail, May 12, 1865; Howard’s Circular, May 30, 1865; Circular No. 11, War Department, July 12, 1865; Huntsville Advocate, July 26, 1865; Swayne’s Reports, 1865, 1866; G. O. No. 12, Dept. Ala., Aug. 30, 1865; G. O. No. 13, Dept. Ala., Sept., 1865; Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865. The so-called “Black Laws” passed by the legislature in 1865-1866 to regulate labor were scarcely heard of by the people who hired negroes.

[2041] Somers, “Southern States,” 130.

[2042] Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874; Selma Messenger, Nov. 15, 1865; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874; Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865; oral accounts; DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1866.

[2043] Swayne to A. F. Perry, N. Y. Herald, Aug. 28, 1865; N. Y. Herald, July 17, 1865; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 211-219; DeBow’s Review, 1866, pp. 213, 220; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 131.

[2044] DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1866.

[2045] Many of the carpet-bag politicians were northern men who had failed at cotton planting.

[2046] Report to the President, April 9, 1866; “Ten Years in a Georgia Plantation,” by the Hon. Mrs. Leigh; oral accounts. On account of the general failure of the northern men who invested capital in the South in 1865 and 1866, there grew up in the business world an unfavorable feeling against the South, and for the remainder of Reconstruction days that section had to struggle against adverse business opinion. Harper’s Magazine, Jan., 1874.

[2047] Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865. Nearly all the newspapers printed advertisements of the immigration societies.

[2048] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 378.

[2049] Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865; N. Y. Times, July 2, 1866.

[2050] The great evil of slavery was its tendency to drive the whites who were in moderate circumstances away from the more fertile lands of the prairie and cane-brake and river bottoms, leaving them to the few slaveholders and the immense number of slaves. Emancipation thus left on the finest lands of the state a shiftless laboring population, which still retains possession. Now, as in slavery times, the white prefers not to work as a field hand in the Black Belt when he can get more independent work elsewhere. And besides, he does not wish to live among the negroes. Slavery kept white farmers from settling on the fertile lands; the negro keeps whites from taking possession now.

[2051] Mobile Daily Times, Oct. 21, 1860; Montgomery Advertiser, March 21, 1866; DeBow’s Review, March 18, 1866.

Several young women of Montgomery, who were once wealthy, worked in the printing-office of the Advertiser. One of them was a daughter of a former President of the United States. Many women became teachers, displacing men, who then went to the fields. Disabled soldiers generally tried teaching.

There seems to be a belief that emancipation had a good effect in driving to work a certain “gentleman of leisure” class, who had been supported by the work of slaves and who had scorned labor. (See W. B. Tillett, in the Century Magazine, Vol. XI, p. 769.) It is a mistake to regard the slaveholding, planting class as, in any degree, idle, unless from the point of view of the negro or the ignorant white, who believed that any man who did not work with his hands was a gentleman of leisure. The Alabama planter was and had to be a man of great energy, good judgment, and diligence. It was a belief that a man who could not manage a plantation or other business should not be intrusted with an official position. One of the most serious objections made by the cotton planters to Jefferson Davis as President was that he had failed to manage his plantation with success. See also Somers, “Southern States,” p. 127.

[2052] DeBow’s Review, Feb. and March, 1866; Montgomery Advertiser, March 21, 1866; N. Y. Herald, July 17, 1866. It was estimated that in the fall of 1865 the negro male population of the state was reduced by 50,000 able-bodied men, who were hanging around the cities and towns, doing nothing. At Mobile there were 10,000; at Meridian, Miss., 5000; at Montgomery, 10,000; at Selma, 5000; and at various smaller points, 20,000. Mobile Times, Oct. 21, 1865.

[2053] See also Reid, “After the War,” p. 221.

[2054] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 431 et seq.

[2055] Trowbridge, “The South,” p. 431; Reports of General Swayne, Dec. 26, 1865, and Jan., 1866, in Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. General Swayne strongly approved the objects of these societies. He said there was not and never had been any question of the right of the negro to hold property. Free negroes had held property before the war.

[2056] DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1868.

[2057] Jan. 31, 1866.

[2058] I have this account from a planter of the district.

[2059] Somers, an English traveller, thought that the economic relations of planter and negro were startling, and that anywhere else they would be considered absurd. The tenant, he said, was sure of a support, and did not much care if the crop failed. Even his taxes, when he condescended to pay any, were paid by his master. For all work outside of his crop he had to be paid, and often he went away and worked for some one else for cash. And his privileges were innumerable. “The soul is often crushed out of labor by penury and oppression. Here a soul cannot begin to be infused into it through the sheer excess of privilege and license with which it is surrounded.” “Southern States since the War,” pp. 128, 129.

[2060] My father’s tenants, white and black, rented on all systems. The negroes usually began as wage laborers or as tenants “on halves,” for they had no supplies when they came. Then the more industrious and thrifty would save and rent farms for “third and fourth” or for “standing rent.” The whites usually obtained the highest grade, and the average white man would save enough of his earnings to purchase a team, wagon, buggy, farm implements, and a year’s supply and spend all else, though some saved enough to buy land of their own in cheaper districts or to support themselves for a year or two while opening up a homestead in the pine woods. The negro, as a rule, rented “on halves,” for he spent all his earnings and required supervision. The average negro stays only a year or two at one place before he longs for change and removes to another farm. About Christmas, or just before, the negroes and many of the whites begin to move to new homes. For a description of conditions in Mississippi, where the negro has somewhat better opportunities than in Alabama, see Mr. A. H. Stone’s article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb., 1905.

[2061] In the census each person cultivating a crop is counted as a farmer and the land he cultivates as a farm. Thus a plantation might be represented in the census statistics by from five to twenty-five farms.

[2062] See also Otken, “Ills of the South”; Somers, “South since the War,” p. 281; Harper’s Monthly, Jan., 1874; DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1868.

[2063] Any stick is good enough to beat slavery with, so it is usually stated that slavery was responsible for the wasteful methods of cultivation that prevailed in the South before the war. That can be true only indirectly, for the soil always received the worst treatment in the white counties. Like frontiersmen everywhere, the Alabama white farmers found it easier to clear new land or to move West than to fertilize worn-out soils. The lack of transportation facilities in the white districts made it almost impossible to bring in commercial fertilizers or to move the crops when made. The railroads had opened up only the rich slave districts. If there had not been a negro in the state, the frontier methods would have prevailed, as they still do among the farmers in some parts of the West. On the other hand, the rich lands worked by slave labor under intelligent direction were kept in good condition. Under free negro labor they are in the worst possible condition. Experience, necessity, the disappearance of free land, and the increase of transportation facilities have caused the white county farmer to employ better methods, and to keep up and increase the fertility of the land by using fertilizers.

[2064] But it was nearly forty years before the entire cotton crop of the state was as large as in 1859.

[2065] Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 206, 207; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 117. In 1860 it was estimated that of the whole cotton crop 10 to 12 per cent was produced by white labor; in 1876 the proportion of whites to blacks in the cotton fields was 30 to 51; in 1883 white labor produced 44 per cent of the cotton crop; in 1884, 48 per cent; in 1885, 50 per cent; in 1893, 70 per cent. And this was done by the whites on inferior lands. See W. B. Tillett, in Century Magazine, Vol. XI, p. 771; Hammond, “The Cotton Industry,” pp. 129, 130, 132.

[2066] DeBow estimated that the entire acreage of the cotton crop was as follows:—

1836.		2,000,000 acres
1840.		4,500,000 acres
1850.		5,000,000 acres
1860.		6,968,000 acres

The Commissioner of Agriculture in 1876 estimated that the acreage in 1860 was 13,000,000. Taking this estimate, which, while probably too large, is more nearly correct, only 4 per cent of the arable land was planted in cotton—the staple crop. Hammond, “The Cotton Industry,” p. 74.

[2067] Smith, “Cotton Production in Alabama” (1884); Census, 1880; Smith in Ala. Geolog. Survey, 1881-1882; Kelsey, “The Negro Farmer”; oral accounts and personal observation.

[2068] So poor were the people after the war that, even though the value of the mineral and timber lands was well known, there was no native capital to develop them, and the lion’s share went to outsiders, who bought the lands at tax and mortgage sales during and after the carpet-bag rÉgime.

[2069] Slavery or negroes prevented the establishment of manufactures by crowding out a white population capable of carrying on manufactures. The census shows that in 1860 the white districts had a fair proportion of manufactures for a state less than forty years old.

[2070] Address of President C. C. Thach, Dec. 29, 1903.

[2071] “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” p. 378; see article on “Immigration to the Southern States” in the Political Science Quarterly, June, 1905.

[2072] Address of President C. C. Thach, Dec. 29, 1903.

[2073] The decreasing value of the wage laborer is shown by the following table of wages:

Year	Men	Women	Youths, 14-20
1860	$138	$89	$66
1865-1866	150-200	100-150	75-100
1867	117	71	52
1868	87	50	40
1890	150	100	60-75

The figures of 1860 are based on the wages of an able-bodied negro. The statistics of 1865-1866 are taken from tables of wages prescribed by the Freedmen’s Bureau; those for 1867 and 1868 show the decline caused by the inefficiency of the free negro laborer. Yet the demand for labor was always greater than the supply. In 1860 clothing and rations were also given; in 1866-1868 rations and no clothing. In 1890 nothing was furnished. In 1866-1868 the currency was inflated, and the wages for 1868 were really much lower. Hammond, “The Cotton Industry,” p. 124; Montgomery Mail, May 16, 1865; Freedmen’s Bureau Reports, 1865-1870.

[2074] A convention held in Montgomery, in 1873, recommended that the share system be abolished and a contract wage system be inaugurated; wages should be secured by a lien on the employer’s crop; separate contracts should be made with each laborer, and the “squad” system abolished. In this way the laborer would not be responsible for bad crops. To aid the laborers, Congress was asked to pass the Sumner Civil Rights Bill, providing for the recognition of certain social rights for negroes, to exempt homesteads from tax action, and to increase the tax on property held by speculators. And the President was asked to supply bread and meat to the negro farmers. Annual CyclopÆdia (1873), p. 19; Tuscaloosa Blade, Nov. 30, 1873.

[2075] See Willet, “Workers of the Nation,” Vol. II, pp. 701, 702.

[2076] Willet, Vol. II, p. 714.

[2077] Washington, in Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXXVIII, pp. 324-326.

[2078] Somers, p. 166.

[2079] Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874.

[2080] Somers, p. 117.

[2081] Somers, p. 159.

[2082] Southern Magazine, March, 1874.

[2083] “Southern States,” p. 131.

[2084] The prosperity of several large commercial houses in Alabama is said to date from the corner groceries of the ’70’s.

[2085] Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 159, 272; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874; King, “The Great South”; C. C. Smith, “Colonization of Negroes in Central Alabama”; Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874; The Forum, Vol. XXI, p. 341; Hoffman, p. 261; Hammond, p. 191. See also Appendix II.

[2086] A northern traveller in the Alabama Black Belt in recent years says of it: “The white population is rapidly on the decrease and the negro population on the increase.... There are hundreds of the ‘old mansion houses’ going to decay, the glass broken in the windows, the doors off the hinges, the siding long unused to paint, the columns of the verandas rotting away, and the bramble thickets encroaching to the very doors. The people have sold their land for what little they could get and moved to the cities and towns, that they may educate their children and escape the intolerable conditions surrounding them at their old beloved homes.... These friends have largely gone from the negro’s life, and he is left alone in the wilderness, held down by crop liens and mortgages given to the alien. Land rent is half its value; the tenant must purchase from the creditor’s store and raise cotton to pay for what he has already eaten and worn.” C. C. Smith, “Colonization of Negroes in Central Alabama,” published by the Christian Women’s Board of Missions, Indianapolis, Ind.

[2087] See also Edmunds, in Review of Reviews, Sept., 1900; Dillingham, in Yale Review, Vol. V, p. 190; Stone, “The Negro in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta”; Stone, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb., 1905; Gunton’s Magazine, Sept., 1902 (Dowd); Brown, in North American Review, Dec., 1904; Census 1900, Vol. VI, Pt. II, pp. 406-416; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874, and Jan., 1881; Stone, in South Atlantic Quarterly, Jan., 1905; Kelsey, “The Negro Farmer”; Hammond, “The Cotton Industry.”

Another solution of the problem is often suggested, viz. the crowding out of the blacks from the Black Belt by the whites—especially northerners and Germans—who want to cultivate the Black Belt lands, who settle in colonies, and who have no place for the negro in their plans of industrial society. The Black Belt landlords are becoming weary of negro labor, and some are disposed to make special inducements to get whites to settle in the Black Belt. In Louisiana and Mississippi, Italians have replaced negroes on many sugar and cotton plantations. Georgia and Alabama, in order to make the negro work, have recently passed stringent vagrancy laws, and the planters are talking of Chinese labor. For the opinions of those who favor white immigration to the South, see the Manufacturers Record, the Atlanta Constitution, and the Montgomery Advertiser, during recent years. There is a general demand for foreigners who will perform agricultural labor.

[2088] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 879 (Lowe); N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867, Aug. 15, 1868.

[2089] For information in regard to the Radical congressmen: Barnes, “History of the 40th Congress,” Index; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Clanton, Lowe, Lindsay); Harper’s Weekly, May 1, 1869 (picture of Spencer); Elyton Herald, ——, 1868; Montgomery Mail, July 25, 1868; N. Y. World, Feb. 15 and Sept. 22, 1868; Alabama Manual (1869), p. 32; N. Y. Herald, ——, 1868.

[2090] Pike was the only county that never fell completely into the hands of the Radicals.

[2091] “North Alabama Illustrated,” p. 50; Montgomery Advertiser, July 13, 1866; N. Y. World, April 11 and July 23, 1868; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 187, 188, 881, 1815, 1956; Acts of Ala. (1868), p. 414; (1869-1870), pp. 157, 336; Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 203. A vivid description of the first session of the reconstructed legislature was published by Capt. B. H. Screws, “The Loil Legislature.”

[2092] Tradition says that what is now known as the Davis Memorial Room was the one thus used.

[2093] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 231, 881, 1411, 1424, 1468; Weekly Mail, March 24, 1869; Independent Monitor, Jan. 11, 1870; Report of Investigating Committee; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 254; “Northern Alabama,” p. 50; oral accounts of former members.

[2094] Acts of Ala. (1868), pp. 67, 71, 79, 212, 305, 352.

[2095] Senate Journal (1868), pp. 168, 176, 297.

[2096] Acts of Ala. (1868), pp. 113, 129, 133, 350, 407, 414, 421; (1869-1870), p. 451; Montgomery Mail, Feb. 24, 1870; Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), p. 12.

[2097] Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), p. 13; Journal (1869-1870), passim; Brown, “Alabama,” p. 268.

[2098] Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), p. 19; N. Y. Herald, Aug. 17, 1868.

[2099] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 90, 91, 187; Senate Journals (1868-1874).

[2100] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 189, 239, 240, 324, 435, 523, 962, 1421, 1590, 1816, 1819, 1820, 1957; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 53; Coburn Report, p. 256; N. Y. World, April 11, 1868; Montgomery Mail, April 21, 1870.

[2101] Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), p. 13.

[2102] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 510; Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, June 13, 1866; Selma Times and Messenger, June 9, 1868.

[2103] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 93, 103, 104, 358, 435, 1878; N. Y. World, Nov. 3, 1868; Coburn Report, p. 512; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 60.

[2104] Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), p. 14; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 91, 1177, 1178, 1179, 1242; N. Y. Herald, Sept. 27 and Oct. 26, 1868; Report of Sec. of War, 1869, vol. I, p. 88.

[2105] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Campaign of 1868,” Vol. I, p. 156; Vol. V, pp. 43, 45, 46, 48, 49; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 95, 360, 502, 1956; N. Y. World, Sept. 12, 1868; G. O. No. 27, Dept. of the South, Oct. 8, 1868; G. O. No. 38, Dept. of the South, Nov. 10, 1868; Tuskegee News, July 29, 1876.

[2106] N. Y. Times, Sept. 7, 1868 (speech of Judge T. M. Peters).

[2107] Nordhoff, “Cotton States in 1870,” pp. 85, 86; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 185, 209, 210, 434, 435, 1879.

[2108] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 256; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 84, 182, 183, 216, 232, 311, 356, 357, 378, 379, 512, 531, 1038, 1625; McPherson’s scrap-book, “Campaign of 1870,” Vol. I, pp. 55, 61; Annual CyclopÆdia (1870), pp. 16, 17; “Northern Alabama,” p. 50; Montgomery Mail, Aug. 20, 1870 (Union League Appeal).

[2109] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 132; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 225; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 256.

[2110] Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 167, 186; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., 214, 232, 381, 423, 1299, 1371, 1558-1561 (see also the whole of Lindsay’s testimony); “Northern Alabama,” p. 50; Annual CyclopÆdia (1871), p. 11; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 259-261; Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 204.

[2111] Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 23, 1872.

[2112] Report of Joint Committee in regard to election of George E. Spencer; Taft, “Senate Election Cases,” pp. 558, 562, 574-578; Annual CyclopÆdia (1872), pp. 11, 12; (1873), 16-18; Memorial of General Assembly (Radical) to President, November, 1872; Coburn Report, p. 716; Senate Journal (1872-1873), pp. 15-86 (“Court-House Senate”); Senate Journal, 1871 (“Capitol Senate”), Appendix; McPherson, “Handbook of Politics” (1874), pp. 85, 86; Acts of Ala. (1872-1873), p. 532; Acts of Ala., 1873, p. 156; Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 12 and 24, 1872; Jan. 4, Feb. 22 and 23, 1873; Southern Argus, Nov. 22, 1872; Jan. 10, 1873; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 57-59; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 261.

[2113] Coburn Report, pp. 230, 262, 267, 271, 274, 280, 525, 528, 529; “Northern Alabama,” p. 51; Tuscaloosa Blade, Nov. 27, 1873; Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 27, 1872.

[2114] See Coburn Report, pp. 154, 161.

[2115] Montgomery Advertiser, March, 1870; Report of Inspector of Penitentiary, 1873-1874; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 230, 244, 1220, 1380, 1384; Acts of Ala. (1869-1870), p. 28; Washington, “Up from Slavery,” pp. 83-90; N. Y. World, Feb. 22 and April 11, 1868; Tuscaloosa Monitor, Dec. 18, 1867; Coburn Report, pp. 108, 110, 161, 203, 204, 295; Clowes, “Black America,” pp. 131, 140; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 59.

[2116] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 71, 233, 390, 391, 881, 1815, 1816; Coburn Report, p. 861; Huntsville Democrat, 1872; Straker, “The New South Investigated,” pp. 24, 41, 57; Ala. State Journal, May 20, 1874; McPherson’s Scrap-book, “Campaign of 1869,” Vol. I, p. 57.

[2117] International Monthly, Vol. V, p. 220; Coburn Report, p. 527; “The Land We Love,” Vol. I, p. 446; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 390, 391, 405, 411, 926; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 321, 322, 329; Clowes, “Black America,” pp. 53, 131, 140, 144; Murphy, “The Present South.”

[2118] See also Ch. XXII.

[2119] Charge of Judge H. D. Clayton to Barbour County grand jury in Coburn Report, p. 839; Report of Montgomery grand jury in Advertiser, Oct. 20, 1871; Tuskegee News, March 16, 1876; Little, “History of Butler County,” p. 111; Tuscaloosa Blade, Nov. 19, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 524, 1219; Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 27, 1873; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 230, 1175, 1179; Scribner’s Monthly, Sept., 1874; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 63, 67.

[2120] Ala. State Journal, Jan. 14, 1874.

[2121] State Journal, March 10, 1874. The justice who performed the ceremony in one case gave as his excuse that the woman was so bad that nothing she could do would make her worse.

[2122] Montgomery Advertiser and other Montgomery papers of March 5, 1873.

[2123] Coburn Report on Affairs in Alabama, 1874, pp. xiv, 341, 519, 520, 521, 743; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1902.

[2124] See State Journal, Jan. 10 and Feb. 1, 1874.

[2125] A few years ago Strobach offered to tell me all about his political career in exchange for $50, but died before he could begin the account.

[2126] Coburn Report, pp. 225, 230, 272, 280-282; State Journal, May 20 and 27, 1874; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1902.

[2127] See Coburn Report, pp. 225, 282-288.

[2128] Coburn Report, pp. 118, 135, 145, 151, 279. When the Coburn Committee was in Opelika, Washington Jones, colored, appeared before it and demanded that the promises made to him be fulfilled. He wanted the mule, the land, “overflow” bacon, etc. The committee got rid of him in a hurry. See Coburn Report, p. 135.

[2129] Coburn Report, pp. 59, 63, 106, 118, 122, 142, 181, 641; State Journal, June 10, 1874.

[2130] Coburn Report, pp. 58, 59, 92, 106, 136, 275, 295, 296, 416, 641.

[2131] Coburn Report, pp. 58, 59, 106, 203, 204.

[2132] Coburn Report, pp. 59, 63, 109, 118, 119. See also Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 1072-1075.

[2133] Coburn Report, pp. 58, 59, 61, 118, 278, 280, 308, 317, 320, 446.

[2134] The State Journal of Aug. 1, 1874, has a list of extracts from Democratic papers from 1868 to 1874, showing the change of attitude in regard to the negro.

[2135] Tuskegee News, June 4, and Aug. 20, and Sept. 10, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 120, 860, 861, 1231, 1232, et passim; Eufaula Times, July 30, 1874, quoting from the Birmingham News, Shelby Guide, and Eutaw Whig; State Journal, June 24, 1874.

[2136] Opelika Times, Aug. 22, 1874, condensed; Coburn Report, pp. 97, 100, 104.

[2137] See testimony of Dunbar and Gardner in Coburn Report, pp. 101, 209, 210, 300, 302; Opelika Daily Times, Sept. 30, 1874.

[2138] State Journal, June 16, 1874. For a typical readoption of this platform see the resolutions of the Tuscaloosa County Democrats in State Journal, June 24, 1874. “Old Whig” in the Opelika Daily Times, Sept. 30, 1874, proposed that the whites “fall back upon the old Wesleyan doctrine ‘to prefer one another in business’;” “Give the Radicals no support;” “The adder that stings should find no warmth in the bosom of the dying victim.”

[2139] Opelika Times, Oct. 14, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 97, 103-104.

[2140] Coburn Report, p. 856; Annual CyclopÆdia (1874), p. 15.

[2141] Coburn Report, pp. 99, 101, 856, 859; Opelika Daily Times, June 29 and Oct. 3, 1874; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1902.

[2142] State Journal, June 4 and 27, 1874; Coburn Report, p. 881; Annual CyclopÆdia (1874), pp. 15, 16; Tuskegee News, July 2, 1874.

[2143] The division was as follows:—

District	Distributing Points	Pounds
First	Mobile, Selma, Camden	55,851
Second	Montgomery	44,402
Third	Opelika, Talladega, Seale	41,802
Fourth	Demopolis	53,663
Fifth and sixth	Decatur	31,278

[2144] Senate Journal, 1874-1875, p. 7.

[2145] For full account of the bacon question see Ho. Doc., No. 110, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; also Tuskegee News, June 4, Aug. 27, and Sept. 24, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 36, 50, 69, 207, 241.

The following list shows how one distribution was made in October, just before the elections:—

County	Pounds
Montgomery	14,151
Lowndes	8,283
Butler	4,235
Dale (to P. King, Haw Ridge)	2,482
Barbour	4,527
Bullock	5,169
Pike (to Gardner and Wiley)	2,066
Henry	1,036
Clay	3,000
Randolph	2,000
Coosa	3,000
Elmore	3,500
Talladega	7,500
Lee (to W. H. Betts)	9,792
Russell (to W. H. Betts)	2,390
Walker	2,178
“To G. P. Plowman, by order of Charles Pelham, M. C.”	1,000

[2146] Coburn Report, pp. 59, 60.

[2147] Annual CyclopÆdia (1874), p. 13; Coburn Report, pp. 247-254.

[2148] The Tribune, Oct. 7, 8, and 12, 1874; The Nation, Aug. 27, and Oct. 15 and 27, 1874; Annual CyclopÆdia (1874), p. 12; Foulke, “Life of O. P. Morton,” Vol. II, p. 350. The Hays-Hawley letter was first published in the Hartford Courant and in the Boston Daily Advertiser. It is also in the Coburn Report, pp. 1254-1260.

[2149] N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 7, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 244, 245, 1221, 1226, 1241, 1247, 1264, 1266.

[2150] Coburn Report, p. 512.

[2151] Coburn Report, p. 931.

[2152] Eufaula News, Sept. 3, 1874; Coburn Report, p. 855.

[2153] Coburn Report, pp. 679, 681, 746.

[2154] Coburn Report, pp. 514, 515, 681, 1239.

[2155] Coburn Report, pp. 680, 682; “An appeal to Governor Lewis from the People of Sumter.”

[2156] Coburn Report, pp. 236, 244, 245, 289, 291, 702, 1201, 1231-1235.

[2157] Union Springs Herald and Times, quoted in State Journal, June 13, 1874.

[2158] Coburn Report, pp. 130, 948.

[2159] For information in regard to the campaign of 1874 I am indebted to several of those who took part in it, and especially to Mr. T. J. Rutledge, now state bank examiner, who was then secretary of the Democratic campaign committee.

[2160] Coburn Report, pp. 125, 530.

[2161] Coburn Report, pp. xix, 43, 80-84, 427, 434, 476, 794, 850, 851, 949, 1200-1204; Tuskegee News, Nov. 5, 1874; State Journal, Oct. and Nov., 1874.

[2162] Annual CyclopÆdia (1874), p. 17; Tribune Almanac, 1875.

[2163] Coburn Report, pp. 239, 253, 701, 703; The Nation, Nov. 30, 1874; Tuskegee News, Dec. 10, 1874.

[2164] In the code of Alabama (1876), pp. 100-120, is printed the “Constitution (so-called) of the State of Alabama, 1868,” as the code terms it. The last three amendments are thus noted, “Adoption proclaimed by the Secretary of State, Dec. 18, 1865” (or July 20, 1868, or March 30, 1870). The other amendments have notes stating date of submission and date of ratification by the state. See code of 1876, pp. 27, 28; also code of 1896.

[2165] The negroes voted against it. Some of them were told that, if adopted, a war with Spain would result and that the blacks, being the “only truly loyal,” would have to do most of the fighting against the Spanish, who would land at Apalachicola, Milton, and Eufaula. See Tuskegee News, Dec. 9, 1875. See also in regard to the new constitution, Tuskegee News, June 3, 1875; “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” pp. 51, 52; Annual CyclopÆdia (1875), p. 14; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 46, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; “Report of the Joint Committee in regard to the Amendment of the Constitution.”

[2166] Most whites believe that eliminating the negro has solved the problem of the negro in politics. It seems to me that this is a superficial view. The black counties are still represented in party conventions and legislature in proportion to population. The white counties are jealous of this undue influence and would like to reduce this representation. The party leaders have been able to repress this jealousy, but it is not forgotten. Before it will submit to loss of representation the Black Belt, it is believed, will gradually admit to the franchise those negroes who have been excluded, and they will vote with the whites. Such a course will undoubtedly cause political realignments. Notice on the maps that the Republican strongholds are now in the white counties. The “Lily Whites” are increasing in numbers.

[2167] These views are set forth most clearly by Alexander Johnston in Lalor’s “CyclopÆdia of Political Science,” Vol. III, p. 556. See also McCall, “Thaddeus Stevens,” and his article in the Atlantic Monthly, June, 1901; Blaine, “Twenty Years”; Schurz, in McClure’s Magazine, Jan., 1905; Grosvenor, in Forum, Aug., 1900.

[2168] For a belated recognition of the reasons for this, see H. L. Nelson, “Three Months of Roosevelt,” in the Atlantic Monthly, Feb., 1902.