[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] _Selma Messenger_, Jan. 10, 1868.
[1471] Herbert, "Solid South," p. 47; _N. Y. World_, Feb. 5, 1868.
[1472] _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.
[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:--
"AT OFFICE, MOBILE, Feb. 5, 1868.
"The Judges of the Election at the Mississippi Hotel will receive all
ballots endorsed by the voter and my signature. The certificate of voters
is in my possession.
"Respectfully,
"D. G. JOHNSON,
"Registrar District No. 1."
--_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.