In 1876 I was made chairman of a committee of the Senate charged with
the duty of investigating the election of 1875 in the State of
Mississippi. My associates were Cameron of Wisconsin, McMillan of
Missouri, Bayard of Delaware, and McDonald of Missouri.
By the election of 1875 the Republican Party had been overthrown and
the power of the Democratic Party established upon a basis which has
continued firm, until the present time. The question for investigation
was this: Was the election of 1875 an honest election? There was an
agreement of opinion that there were riots, shootings and massacres.
On the side of the Democrats it was contended that these outrages had
no political significance, that they were due to personal quarrels,
and to uprisings of negroes for the purpose of murdering the whites.
The testimony was of the same character and the conclusions of the two
branches of the committee followed the lead of these conflicting
theories and statements. For myself I had no doubt that the election
of 1875 was carried by the Democrats by a preconcerted plan of riots
and assassinations. To me the evidence seemed conclusive.
The town of Aberdeen was the scene of murderous intimidation on the
day of election, and at about eleven o'clock the Republicans left the
polling place and abandoned the contest.
One of the principal witnesses for the Democrats was General Reuben
Davis, a cousin of Jefferson Davis. He had been a member of the
Thirty-sixth Congress, and he had resigned his seat to take part in the
Rebellion. He was a Brigadier-General in the service, but without
distinction. He explained and excused all the transactions at
Aberdeen and with emphasis and adroitness he laid the responsibility
upon the Republicans. Of certain things there was uncontradicted
testimony. 1. That the Democrats placed a cannon near the voting-place
and trained it upon the window where the Republicans, mostly negroes,
were to vote, and that there was a caisson at the same place. 2. That
there was a company of mounted men and armed cavalry upon the ground.
3. That guns were discharged in the vicinity of the voting place.
4. That at about eleven o'clock the sheriff of the county, a white man
and a Republican, who had been a colonel in the rebel army, made a
brief address to the Republican voters in which he said that there could
be no election and advised them to go to their homes. This they did
without delay. The sheriff locked himself in the jail where he remained
until the events of the day were ended. General Davis insisted that
all these demonstrations of apparent hostility had no significance--
that the artillery men had no ammunition--that the cavalry men were
assembled for sport only--and that the discharge of muskets was made by
boys and lawless persons, but without malice.
In many parts of the State the canvass previous to the election was
characterized by assassinations and midnight murders. But all were
explained upon non-political grounds.
In 1878 General Davis offered himself to the electors as a Democratic
candidate for Congress. The convention nominated another person. He
then entered the field as an independent candidate. He was defeated,
or rather the Democrat was declared to have been elected. The
Republicans had voted for Davis, and when the contest was decided by
the returning board Davis published a letter in which he charged upon
the Democratic leaders the conduct which in 1876, he had explained and
defended. After the election of General Harrison in 1888, General Davis
appeared at Indianapolis as a Republican, and as such he had an
interview with the President-elect.
While I was conducting the investigation at Jackson, a stout negro from
the plantation sought an interview with me after he had been examined
by the committee. He was a mulatto of unusual sense, but he was under
a strong feeling in regard to the outrages that had been perpetrated
upon the negro race.
Finally he said: "Had we not better take off the leaders? We can do it
in a night."
I said: "No. It would end in the sacrifice of the black population.
It would be as wrong on your part as is their conduct towards you.
Moreover, we intend to protect you, and in the end you will be placed
on good ground."
There is, however, a lesson and a warning in what that negro said. If
the wrongs continue, some "John Brown" black or white, may appear in
Mississippi or South Carolina or in several states at once, and engage
in a vain attempt to regain the rights of the negro race by brutal
crimes. The negroes are seven million to-day, and they are increasing
in numbers and gaining in wealth and intelligence. The South, and
indeed the whole country were not more blind to impending perils in the
days of slavery than we now are to the perils of the usurpation in
which the South is engaged. With such examples as this country
furnishes and with the traditions under whose influence all classes are
living, there will always be peril as long as large bodies of citizens
are deprived of their legal rights.
Should such a contest arise, there will be wide spread sympathy in the
North, which might convert a servile or social war into a sectional
civil war.