H J3
yoiK
I
ASTOR,
TILDEN I-
Charles Brantley Aycock
HISTORY
OF
NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME III
NORTH CAROLINA SINCE 1 860
By"]. G. de ROULHAC HAMILTON. Ph. D.
Alumni Professor o( History, University of North Carolina
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHERS
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1910
I.
Copyright, 1919
BY
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
TO
MY UNTIRING COWORKER
IN\\A.LUABLE ADVISER
AND
STEADFAST FRIEND
MY WIFE
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED
PREFACE
This final vohuiu' of llic inTseiit series is conchulod willi
the full consciousness that, because it deals in f!:reat part witii
a period so recent, it cannot be regarded in its entirety as
definitive history, if, indeed, there is any such thin,l,^ Ap
proximately half of tlie space of tlic nanativc is devoted to
the period of the Civil "War and Reconstruction. With the ad-
dition of one chapter on military affairs in the state, it sniii-
niarizes the narrative and conclusions contained in my
Reconstruction in NorfJi Carolnid, ])nblislied in 1IM4, ami rov-
ering the period in nnich greater detail. SufliciiMit lime lias
already passed to permit int('ri)retatii)n of that ]ii'riii(| with
some pretension to finality, and I have nut nindirvd th in-
clusions reached in the former work.
In respect to the period since 1876, wiiilc 1 have sought
always to present with the narrative of fact suflicient inter-
pretation to make an accurate picture of the time, and while T
came to the task with little political prejudice and leave it
with less, I am aware that there has not been a sullicieiit lapse
of years, for any part of it, to make it a proper subject for de-
finitive historical narrative, much less for any autlioritative
interpretation. Undoubtedly, some of my conclusions will be
altered with the passage of time, and certainly it will Im-
possible later to secure the use of a vast amount of niateiial,
now inaccessible, which ^\•ill make the narrative nnicli nuire
complete and the interpretation more accurate. Where 1 have
attempted any interpretation it has been with a full conscious-
ness of the difficulty and danger of the proceeding, aii<l I have
carefully refrained where there appeared to be any donbt
whatever of its correctness.
For the later period the chief sources of matr-rial have
been the newspapers, public documents, political handbooks,
v
VI PREFACE
the census reports, and contemporary pamphlets and
speeches. There is an ahnost complete lack of secondary
material and as yet but few letters are available.
To the great number who have given kind and generous
assistance in the difficult task I return my grateful thanks.
In particular, I wish to express my indebtedness to Col. F. A.
Olds, of the North Carolina Hall of History, through whose
kindness the greater number of the illustrations were secured.
Chapel Hill, N. C. J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton.
January 28, 1918.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Secession and War 1
CHAPTER II
Military and Xaval Operations in North Carolina. ; . . . 7
CHAPTER III
Political Sentiment in "War 30
CHAPTER IV
Economic Conditions in AVar 4()
CHAPTER V
Presidential Restoration o()
CHAPTER VI
Congressional Reconstruction 85
CHAPTER Vll
The Republican Reuime 11-^
CHAPTER VII!
The Downfall 1 ■*'"•
CIIAI'TEH IX
Social and Economic Conditions Duiuno Reconstruction Kil
r-HAPTER X
The End of Reconstruction 1 ' '^
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTEE XI
Rebuilding the Commonwealth 192
CHAPTER XII
The Rise of Populism '2'2'i
CHAPTER XIII
Fusion and Its Results 244
CHAPTER XIV
White Supremacy 279
CHAPTER XV
The Recent Years 316
CHAPTER XVI
Educational Development 347
CHAPTER XVII
Agriculture and Industry 376
CHAPTER XVIII
Railroad Development Since 1860 394
CHAPTER XIX
Social Tendencies 404
Bibliography 421
History of North Carolina
CHAPTER I
SECESSION AND WAR
The election of Liueolu in 1860 served as the signal for
the secession of the Cotton States, but in the Border States it
was soon clear that to a goodly majority of the people, the
election of a President by a sectional party furnished in itself
not a sufficient cause for withdrawal from the Union. Never-
theless, the action of the Cotton States precipitated a crisis
and made the action of every border state a matter for grave
debate.
North Carolina was no exception to this rule. Even before
the legislature of 1860-1861 met, the people, through public
meetings sought to turn popular sentiment for or against
secession, and when the sessions of the legislature began, a
struggle for supremacy between the two factions into which
the state, irrespective of party, was now divided, commenced
at once and lasted without intennission until definite action
was finally taken. In the main, the wliigs were Union men,
and the bulk of secessionists were democrats, but further tlian
this, party affiliations did not influence the struggle.
The battle commenced when the General Assembly met.
All the members seemed conscious of the gravity of the situ-
ation and of the importance of the work ahead of them. The
elements favorable to secession were well organized, and this
fact later prevented some of the Union uwn from voting with
them on the question of a convention. Tlie body, as a whole,
was able and conservative, but still there was a tendency on
the part of some of the Union men to be factious, and some of
the secessionists were illiberal.
Vol. in— 1
2 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
The governor, in his message, recommended the call of a
convention, although he did not openly advocate secession. A
joint committee of the two houses upon federal relations final-
ly reported favorably a bill submitting the question to the
people which after long and heated debate was finally passed
late in January, receiving the support of many Union men
who thought a convention would do much to relieve tension
and who believed that Union men would control it.
In the meantime, provision was made for the reorgani-
zation of the militia, a considerable volunteer force was au-
thorized, $300,000 were appropriated to buy arms, and com-
missioners were sent to represent the state near the Con-
federate government which was about to be formed. An
able delegation was also later appointed to attend the sessions
of the Peace Conference, called by the State of Virginia to
meet in Washington in a final attempt at compromise. Among
conservative men the Peace Conference appeared to offer the
best hope of a pacific settlement of the vital national prob-
lem confronting the people of the United States, and its utter
failure brought keenest disappointment as well as the grav-
est forebodings. The secession movement also received con-
siderable impetus.
The contest which followed was heated. Secession senti-
ment was much more loudly expressed than Union feeling
and at times seemed dominant. The majority of the state's
senators and representatives in Congress favored a conven-
tion, and exerted much influence. Excitement was caused,
too, by the existence within the borders of the state of four
United States posts. Forts Johnston, Caswell, and Macon, and
the arsenal at Fayetteville, which keenly stimulated a genu-
ine fear of interference by the Federal government in what
everyone regarded as exclusively a state matter. Just before
the passage of the convention bill Forts Johnston and Caswell
were seized by hotheads from Wilmington, but Governor El-
lis forced their immediate evacuation.
On February 28th, the convention was defeated by the nar-
row margin of 651 votes. At the same time the delegates
chosen showed a Union majority of twenty-eight. Clearly
the state was in no mood for secession for any causes exis-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 3
tent at the time. And yet no one believed tlio eiuestion set-
tled. It was only a delay, momentarily favorable to the
Unionists, a triumph of the "Watch and Wait" policy advo-
cated by "W. W. Holdeu in the Standard. The secessionists,
while disappointed, were not downcast and immediately com-
menced organization of their forces and the education of pub-
lic sentiment by a new series of public meetings. A state con-
ference was held in Goldsboro under the presidency and
leadership of Weldon N. Edwards at which a party was duly
organized and a call issued for a state convention at Char-
lotte on May 20th.
Before that time came, however, the question of the state's
position was definitely settled, not by secessionists but by the
logic of events. Fort Sumter fell, Lincoln called for troops
which Governor Ellis promptly refused to furnish, and all
doubt disappeared as to the proper course to pursue. Gov-
ernor Ellis at once called the legislature into extra session,
ordered the seizure of the United States posts in the state,
promised the Confederate government a regiment for im-
mediate service, and called for thirty thousand volunteers. By
these acts North Carolina was definitely identified with the se-
ceded states and was included in President Lincoln's procla-
mation of April 27th, declaring the Southern ports blockaded.
No one in North Carolina questioned this inclusion, so defi-
nitely were the people committed to the defense of the South.
The Union leaders and press frankly admitted the necessity
of withdrawal from the Union in preference to fighting the
other Southern states, and it was solely on that basis that
North Carolina entered the war. The legislature met on
May 1st, and within a few houi's passed, with only three dis-
senting votes, a bill calling a convention of the people. This
done, it turned its attention to active preparations for war.
The election of delegates to the convention was held on May
17th and on May 20th, the convention assembled in Raleigh, in
membership, easily the ablest and most distinguishod public
assembly in the history of the state, on account of the fact
that party lines were ignored in the choice of delegates. It
was for that very reason full of political leaders who could
not forget politics even in the midst of a great crisis. At
4 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the beginning of the session this was made apparent when
the former Union element, who were inclined to doubt or
even deny the constitutionality of secession, nominated for
president of the convention William A. Graham in opposition
to Weldon N. Edwards, the candidate of the original seces-
sionists. The election was a test of strength of the two fac-
Weldon N. Edwards
tions and resulted in the triumph of the secessionists who
elected Edwards by a vote of sixty-five to forty-eight.
A second manifestation of the division of sentiment as
well as of the inclination of the delegates to play politics
was the support by the Union element of Judge Badger's dec-
laration of independence from the United States in opposi-
tion to the Craige ordinance which had been written by Judah
P. Benjamin at Montgomery and sent to Governor Ellis. This
HISTORY OF xXORTIl CAKOLIXA 5
of course assumed the complete sovoroiiifiity of tlie state. Hero
again the secessionists triumphed and after the defeat of the
Badger ordinance, seventy-two to forty, the Ci'aige ordi-
nance was adopted unanimously. It was as follows :
An ordinaiipc dissolviiitr the union lu'twoen the State of .North
Carolina and the other states united with her under tlie eonijiacl of
government entitled "The Constitution of the I'nited States."
W(. the j)(<iplc of till State of North Caroliua, in convention asseni-
hIeeL do dielare and ordain, and it w hereb;/ d-eehired and ord<tinrd^
that the ordinance adopteil by tlie State of North Carolina in the con-
vention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the llnitwl States was
ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General
Assembly, ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitu-
tion, are hereby rejiealed, rescinded, and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain that the union now subsisting
between the State of North Carolina and the other States, under the
title of "The Fnited States of America." is hereby dissolved, and that
the State of North Carolina is in full possession and exerci.se of all
those rights of sovereignty which belong and ajipertain to a free and
independent State.
The provisional constitution of the Confederate States was
then ratitied. Some difference of opinion manifested itself on
the question of ratification of the permanent constitution but
the forces in favor of such action were too strong to he over-
come and on June 19th ratification was finally acc()mi)lish(sl.
With the completion of these acts of separation, factional
differences disappeared for a time and the convention, in-
stead of adjourning, or, at least, confining its activities to
constitutional revision or to the passage of ordinances of an
organic nature, began to legislate. This was politics. As
time passed criticism of the convention became widespread.
It was controlled by a conservative group of elderly men
who were mainly formor wjiigs and unionists and for that
reason out of sympathy with the legislature, with its seces-
sionist majority, and apparently they were determined to
keep themselves in power. They postponed the meeting of the
legislature, debated seriously the question of dissolving it, and
clearly regarded themselves as supreme, which doubtless, in
law, if not in morals, they were. Finally the more extreme
of the delegates proceeded with some secrecy to form a party
which they later called conservative. Composed in tin- main
of good men, it was nevertheless a serious obstacle to united
6 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
feeling and united action and helped mightily to bring about
the seditious politics of the next three years. Its first parti-
san act was insistence upon a party electoral ticket at the
presidential election of 1861 to oppose one already nomi-
nated. Since both were committed to Davis and Stephens, it
could have no other motive than partisanship. The conven-
tion adjourned at the end of June, met again in November
for a month, met for another month's session in January,
1862, and began the fourth and final session in April and
finally adjourned on May 13th, subject to the call of the Presi-
dent. If not called by November 1st, the adjournment became
sine die. By this time it was bitterly unpopular. Governor
Vance, soon after his elec^on, tried to persuade Edwards to
summon it again, but Edwards, doubtful of the governor's
intentions and still more doubtful of the convention, refused
to consider it, and the adjournment became final. Its chief
constructive work were two amendments to the constitution
providing for ad valorem taxation of slaves, and allowing
Jews to hold office.
CHAPTER II
MILITARY AND NAVAL OPERATIONS IX NORTH
CAROLINA
In spite' of the strong Union feeling in the state and the long
delay in seceding, when once the die was cast, there was no
indecision in support of the cause. A peace-loving, agricul-
tural population with only a small group of trained soldiers
to organize and prepare the troops for service, without arms,
ammunition, and equipment, and with no facilities for making
or procuring them, the people of the state turned resolutely
and unreservedly to the task before them. In charge of the
work of organization was James G. Martin, adjutant-general
of the state, a graduate of West Point and a veteran of the
Mexican War. He was admirably adapted for the task, and
taking the volunteers as they poured in, he proceeded to or-
ganize them for training and service. Within seven months
the state turned over to the Confederacy forty thousand men,
armed and ready for service. By Au.gust, 1862, the total
number of volunteers was more than sixty thousand. More
than twenty-one thousand had been added by November, 18G4.
In addition there were conscripts, reserves, and detailed
men. The report of the adjutant-general, made November 19,
1864, summarizes them as follows :
Number of troops transferred to the Confederate
service 64,636
Number of conscripts September 30, 1864 18,.j85
Number of volunteers since date of original rolls .... 21,603
Number in unattached companies and in regiments
from other states 3.103
Number of regulars in state service 3,203
"O^
Total offensive troops 111,135
7
8 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Junior reserves 4,217
Senior reserves 5,686
Troops in active service 121,038
Home Guard and Militia 3,962
Total in state and Confederate service 125,000
These were organized into more than eighty regiments. After
the troops were raised, they had to be armed and equipped.
The state had already a few muskets and captured thirty-
seven thousand in the arsenal at Fayetteville, along with a
battery of artillery and a considerable quantity of ammunition
and equipment. Some of the muskets were given to Virginia
and the rest turned over to the North Carolina regiments.
They did not go far and the deficiency was supplied in part by
remaking old rifles collected in the state, by importing them
from abroad, and by manufacturing them in various parts of
the state, ten thousand being made by one firm in Guilford
County alone. The Confederacy anned some of the regiments
and captured arms supplied the rest. Powder was made in
great quantity at Raleigh by a mill subsidized by the state. So
abundant was the supply that the state was able to furnish the
Confederate government with more than $500,000 worth in one
year. The state also started a cartridge factory which was
operated throughout the war. Sabres, swords, and bayonets
were also made in large quantities.
Alone of the Confederate States, North Carolina under-
took to clothe her Soldiers. The legislature in 1861 directed
the adjutant-general to furnish the clothing and an agreement
was made with the quartermaster's department of the Con-
federacy that the agents of the department should be with-
drawn from the state, and North Carolina, furnishing clothes
and shoes and turning over any surplus to the Confederacy,
was to receive commutation therefor. But the agreement
was violated by the department and the cost to the state
largely increased thereby. Nevertheless, the work was con-
tinued. General Martin had little time before winter but he
organized a clothing factory, purchased the entire output of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 9
all the cloth mills in the state and sent agents into South
Carolina and Georgia to buy what they could there. The
women of the state co-operated splendidly, cutting up car-
pets for blankets, making quilts, and sending such clothing
as could be used. As a result there was little suffering among
the North Carolina troops the first winter.
The next year, however, with a vastly increased number
of troops and the supplies in the state greatly decreased, the
problem was much more serious. General Martin then con-
cluded that the solution was for the state to buy a fast vessel
and bring supplies in through the blockade. Governor Clark,
who was about to go out of office, asked that the matter be
deferred until Vance could decide it. When Vance was in-
augurated Martin advised that it be done at once. Vance
laid the question before a number of friends, including B. F.
Moore who attacked it as unwarranted by law and likely to
result in the impeachment of the governor and adjutant-gen-
eral. Holden who %vas also present opposed it bitterly for
reasons of his own. General Martin contended that it would
be no more illegal than to buy a wagon.
After consideration Vance took Martin's advice and au-
thorized him to buy the ship. John White was sent abroad
to make the selection and purchase. The "Lord Clyde,"
which Vance described as "long-legged," was bought for
$190,000 and re-named the "Ad-Vanee." It was an English
boat, built for passenger service, and capable of great speed.
After the necessary changes were made, it was able to carry
eight hundred bales of cotton and a double supply of mal
which enabled it to bring enough Welsh coal from Nassau for
the return trip, and thus avoid the use of the smoky North
Carolina coal. Eleven successful trips were made. After the
fifth trip Governor Vance sold a half-interest for $1.10,000,
wdth which he redeemed state bonds. The vessel was finally
lost through the act of the captain of the Confederate cruiser,
"Tallahassee." Being short of coal, he took from the "Ad-
Vance" her extra supply. This obliged her to make her out-
ward trip with North Carolina coal, which reduced her speed,
left a trail of smoke, and thus made her fall a victim to tlie
Federal blockaders. The state also had an inferesf in the
The Blockade-Runner "Ad-Vance"
From a war-time painting in the Hall of History, Raleigh
^'t-
Capture op the "Lillian'
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 11
"Hansa" and the "Don." Their use, however, was abandoned
on account of the excessive charge made by the Confederate
government, one-half of each cargo being seized. Through the
use of these vessels an immense amount of valuable stores
was imported. No entirely accurate figures can be obtained
as to the amount, but Governor Vance said in 1S85 that he
had distributed large quantities of machinery, 60,000 pairs of
hand wool cards, 10,000 scythes, 200 barrels of bluestone
for fertilizing wheat, 250,000 pairs of shoes, 50,000 blankets,
cloth for 250,000 uniforms, 12,000 overcoats, 2.000 Enfield
rifles with 100 rounds of ammunition each, 100,000 pounds of
bacon, 500 sacks of coffee, $50,000 worth of medicines at gold
prices, and an immense supply of minor stores. Through this
means the Xorth Carolina troops were clothed. Nor were
North Carolina troops alone served. After Chickaniauga
Longstreet's men received 14,000 complete uniforms and when
Johnston surrendered the state had on hand 92,000 suits. To
pay for all these things some cotton was sent out and war-
rants were issued payable in cotton and rosin in Xorth Caro-
lina which the Union army afterwards captured.
With the same activity and forethought vast supplies of
food were secured. Much was bought in Kentucky before
conmiunication was closed and at the same time horses for
two regiments were bought. The supplies increased during
the war, and for some months before the end the state fed
more than half of Lee's army.
It was in consequence of these operations that North Caro-
lina troops were better armed, clothed, fed and equipped than
those from any other state in the Confederacy. In all. the
state war supplies amounted to more than $26,000,000. Had
not the transportation broken down almost completely, the
entire Confederate army might have been adequately fed
and clothed.
The troops for whom this tremendous task was undertaken
well repaid the state for its care. Nearly every battle was
witness to their prowess and on the field of every battle in
which they fought, they left their dead. Everj-Avliero their
bravery and obedience won the praise of those who com-
manded them and of those from other states who fought at
12 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
their side, and again and again they by name received the un-
stinted praise of their great commander. At Bethel, where
they opened the war, at Manassas, Williamsburg, Hanover
Court House, Seven Pines, the Seven Days, Cedar Mountain,
the Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry, South Mountain,
Fredericksburg, Murfreesboro, Chaneellorsville, Gettysburg,
Charleston, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary
Ridge, the Wilderness, Drewry's Bluff, Spottsylvania, Cold
Harbor, Petersburg and the Crater, Altanta, Nashville, Cedar
Creek, Ream's Station, Five Forks, and to the end at Appo-
mattox where Cox 's Brigade fired the last volley of the Army
of Northern Virginia they proved their valor and devotion
and gave to their state a priceless heritage.
To the cause North Carolina contributed two lieutenant-
generals, seven major-generals, and twenty-six brigadier-gen-
erals. Of these nine were killed in battle or mortally wounded.
She lost in battle thirty-six colonels, twenty-five lieuten-
ant colonels, and twenty-seven majors. The total losses were
killed, 14,452 ; died of wounds, 5,151 ; died of disease, 20,602 ; a
total of 40,305.. One-fifth of those killed and one-fourth of
those wounded in the Seven Days, almost one-third of each at
Fredericksburg, one-third of the killed and one-fourth of the
wounded at Chaneellorsville, and one-fourth of the killed at
Gettysburg were North Carolinians. At Gettysburg the
Twenty-Sixth North Carolina sustained a heavier loss than
any regiment on either side in the entire war.
It was not alone in the furnishing of men and supplies,
however, that the state felt the war. Wliile she was in no
sense a battle ground as was Virginia, nevertheless, during a
large part of the war Federal troops occupied a part of her
soil and jurisdiction and frequent engagements took place,
though few were of any vital importance. The state, too, was
an important centre in blockade running, the Cape Fear oper-
ations being equalled by those of Charleston alone and con-
tinuing after Charleston was successfully bottled up.
On April 19, 1861, President Lincoln issued a proclamation
declaring the blockade of the South from South Carolina to
Texas. On April 27th, Virginia and North Carolina were in-
cluded. Wliile the United States was not a party to the Dec-
-'-'^■"■'
Governor Z. B. Vance and North Caroi.ina Lieutenant-Generals
AND Major-Generals, C. S. A.
From war-time photographs
14 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
laration of Paris, the day of the paper blockade was over and
it was generally recognized that to be binding a blockade must
be actual and effective. The United States navy was in no
sense prepared to make the blockade thus proclaimed im-
mediately effective, and it was not until July that there was
even a pretense of actual blockade. In that month the steam-
er, "Daylight" arrived off the mouth of the Cape Fear. Prior
to this an English vessel out of Beaufort had been captured
by vessels cruising off the coast two hundred miles from land
and held as a prize. Even after the arrival of the ' ' Daylight, ' '
the flow of commerce was little interrupted. During June,
July, and August, forty-two vessels entered and cleared at
Wilmington, most of them coasters which up to this time com-
posed the bulk of the vessels entering the port. Beginning
now, blockade running on a large scale started and it became
one of the most prominent and important ports in the world.
The coast of North Carolina is well adapted for opera-
tions of the sort. A double coast extends the whole distance,
the outer being a long, narrow belt of sand jutting out at
Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, and Cape Fear. This is broken
at intervals by shallow inlets. Within lie the great line of
sounds, the three most important, Pamlico, Albemarle, and
Currituck, being very extensive. Upon their tributary rivers
were situated a group of towns of considerable importance.
The most important in every way was Wilmington. In situa-
tion this was particularly true. Lying about twenty-eight
miles from the mouth of the Cape Fear Eiver, it was out of
danger of direct attack so long as the mouth of the river was
in Confederate hands. There were two entrances to the river,
one from the east, called New Inlet; the other, the mouth of
the river, from the south. These were about six miles apart
on an interior line but between them lay Smith's Island with
Cape Fear running out at the southern end and, extending
seaward in the same line, the Frying Pan Shoals, which made
the distance for vessels outside about forty miles. This made
necessary two blockading squadrons for the river.
Each channel was guarded by strong works, the mouth by
Fort Caswell and Fort Campbell, and New Inlet by Fort
Fisher. Smithville, now Southport, a little village on the river
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 15
furnished an anchorage where blockade runners after loading
at Wilmington could wait for a good opportunity to go out.
Equally distant from both channels, the favorable chances of
each could be considered and taken advantage of. Outside
each channel the blockading fleet lay in a semi-circle with the
extremities as close in as they dared to come. The blockade
runners coming in sight of land about evening would wait
for darkness and then run in at full speed through the fleet
and take refuge under the guns of the forts. It was utterly
impossible to close such a port and blockade running con-
tinued until Fort Fisher and Wilmington fell. Beginning in
1861, business reached its height in 1863 and 18G4, declining
towards the end of the latter year because of the increased
efficiency of the blockading fleet, due in part to experience,
but more to the increase in the number of ships. By 1864 not
less than fifty steamers were stationed at each entrance, som«
of them the best in the Federal service. During the war the
blockaders captured or destroj-ed sixty-five steam vessels, but
many of them had been running successfully for a long time
before they were stopped. Between November, 1861, and
March, 1864, eighty-four were engaged in the trade, thirty-
seven were captured, twelve were totally lost, eleven were lost
and their cargoes saved in whole or in part, and one foundered
at sea. They made 363 successful trips to Nassau and sixty-
five to other ports. The "Siren," the most successful, made
sixty-four runs through the blockade. The "B. E. Lee" ran
twenty-one times, the "Fannie" and the "Margaret and Jes-
sie" eighteen each. Of 425 runs from Nassau including
schooners, only sixty-two were unsuccessful. From January
to October, 1863, ninety vessels came in.
Mr. James Sprunt in his Chronicles of the Cape Fear
River records the names of the more notable of the vessels.
They were the "Lady Davis," "R. E. Lee," "Siren," "Fan-
ny," "Hansa," "Fox," "Pet," "Grayhound," "Virp-inia,"
"Stag," "Chameleon," "City of Petersburg," "Old Domin-
ion," "Alice," "i\rargaret and Jessie," "Hebe," "Ad-
Vance," "Atlanta," "Eugenia," "Ella and Annie," "Ban-
shee," "Venus," "Don," "Lynx," "Let Her Be," "Let Her
Rip,' "Lillian," "North Heath," "Little Hattie," "Beaure-
16 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
gard," "Owl," "Agnes Fry," "Kate," "Calypso," "Ella,"
"Condor," "Mary Celeste," "Susan Bierne," "Coquette,"
"Britannic," "Emma," "Dee," "Antonica," "Victory,"
'Granite City," "Stonewall Jackson," "Flora," "Have-
lock," "Hero," "Eagle," "Duoro," "Thistle," "Scotia,"
"Gertrude," "Charleston," "Colonel Lamb," "Dolphin,"
"Dream," "Spunkey," "Bat," "Orion," "Hope," "Sum-
ter," "Phantom," "Will o' the Wisp," "Whisper," "Rat-
tlesnake," "Armstrong," "Wild Dayrell," "Stormy Petrel,"
"Wild Rover," "Night Hawk," "Florie," "Chicora," "Fal-
con," "Flamingo," "Vulture," "Ptarmigan," "Charlotte,"
"Blenheim," "Deer," "Maud Campbell," "Florence,"
"Modern Greece," and "Georgiana McCall."
A number of the captured blockade-runners were put into
the service of the United States. The "Ad- Vance" became
the "Frolic" and the "Ella and Annie" served under the
name "Malvern" as Admiral Porter's flagship. Of those de-
stroyed, the "Beauregard" and "Venus" lie at Carolina
Beach, the "Modern Greece" at New Inlet, the "Antonica" on
Frying Pan Shoals, the "Spunkey" and the "Georgiana Mc-
Call" on Caswell Beach, and the "Hebe" and the "Dee' be-
tw^een Masonboro and Wrightsville.
Nassau, situated only 570 miles from Wilmington, 515
miles from Charleston, and 500 miles from Savannah, be-
came the most important intermediary port in the trade
through the blockade, though Bermuda, 674 miles from Wil-
mington, was also used. Prior to the war, Nassau was chiefly
a fishing and wrecking village. It now became a shipping de-
pot of vast importance to the Confederacy and to the outside
world. Cargoes were sent there from Europe, transhipped
to the blockade-runners, and exchanged for cotton and naval
stores which brought immense prices in Europe. The block-
ade-runners, which were chiefly a new type of vessel, designed
for the purpose, were light, long, side-wheeled steam vessels,
Ijang very low in the water. They averaged from four hun-
dred to six hundred tons burden, and were of slight frame and
narrow beam, with engines designed to develop great speed.
They carried from six hundred to one thousand two hundred
bales of cotton ; a compress at Wilmington assisting greatly
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 17
in increasing the number. With cottnii si'lling at I'runi
four to eight cents at Wihiiington and from fifty to seventy
in Liverpool, the inducements were gi'eat. In the South,
too, was an equal or even greater anxiety to secure
manufactured goods of all sorts and this meant double profits.
Freights rose until they ranged from $300 to $1,000 per ton.
The captains often received $5,000 for a return trip, the pilot
$750, a deck hand, $50. The profits on a single return voyage
often reached $150,000.
To North Carolina and the Confederacy the blockade-run-
ners were of inestimable service. But for them the Confed-
eracy would have been strangled long before it was. During
the latter years of the war the Cape Fear was the most im-
portant centre in the Confederacy of this important trade. No
record was ever made of what was brought in l)ut according
to Confederate reports between October -6, and DecemlK-r (i,
1864, there were brought into Charleston and Wilmington to-
gether 8,632,000 pounds of meat, 1,507,000 pounds of lead.
1,933,000 pounds of saltpetre, 546,000 pairs of shoes, 316,000
pairs of blankets, 520,000 pounds of coffee, 69,000 rifles, 97
packages of revolvers, 2,639 packages of medicines, 43 can-
non, and a very large quantity of other ai-ticles. As Charles-
ton was by this time almost closed, the bulk of these came to
Wilmington. These with the report on the "Ad- Vance," al-
ready mentioned, give a fair idea of the immensity and im-
portance of the business. Blockade-running lasted till the
fall of Fort Fisher and three vessels came in after its fall
only to be captured by the Federal forces. One came in that j
succeeded in escaping.
The first amied conflicts within North Carolina were on
the coast. The command of the sounds and their tributary
rivers, controlling as it did more than a third of the state, was
of vital importance. An enemy in control would threaten the
chief railroad communication between 'Riclimond and the
southern coast, cut off a vast trade, and cramp the whole state.
The necessities of the case were at once seen and after the
seizure of Forts Caswell, Johnston, and Macon, defences were
begun at Oeracoke Inlet, at Ilatteras Inlet and on Roanoke
Island. On Beacon Island at Oeracoke, Fort Morgan wag
18 HISTORY OF NOETH CAROLINA
erected and at Hatteras Forts Ellis and Clark. On Roanoke
Island were Forts Huger, Blanchard, and Bartow, all on the
western side of the island on Croatan Sound, and a battery at
Ballast Point on the eastern side commanding the entrance
to Manteo or Shallow Bay. Across Croatan Sound, on the
mainland was Fort Forrest. At Cobb's Point on the Pasquo-
tank River was another battery. None of these were real
forts, the strongest. Fort Ellis, having only twelve smooth-
bore 32-pounders. The total number on Roanoke Island was
thirty 32-pounders, most of them smooth-bore. The supply
of ammunition was very small.
Operating in the sounds were four small steamers, the
' ' Winslow, " the " Beaufort, " the " Ellis, ' ' and the ' ' Raleigh, ' '
purchased in Norfolk by the state and converted into gun-
boats, each mounting one gun. The "Winslow" was in com-
mission as early as June, 1861, and at once began to prey upon
United States commerce, capturing in a short time eight ves-
sels which were then sent to New Bern and condemned as
prizes. The total captures by the little fleet were eight schoon-
ers, seven barks and a brig.
Public demands in the North and the evident value to the
Union cause of establishing Federal control in this region led
the Navy Department to order an expedition to go out from
Norfolk against Hatteras. In August, 1861, six war vessels,
two transports, and two schooners carrying a force of more
than nine hundred men, under the command of Commodore
Stringham and General B. F. Butler proceeded to Hatteras.
After a short bombardment, the troops having in the mean-
time landed. Fort Clark was abandoned and Fort Ellis surren-
dered with six hundred and fifteen prisoners. Beacon Island
was at once abandoned and the Federal forces destroyed Fort
Morgan a few days later. In results the defeat was disas-
trous. Hatteras became an important supply point for the
Federal vessels and forces, and it is was the key to the Albe-
marle and Pamlico sections. The loss of Roanoke Island and
New Bern followed naturally.
Active attention was at once given to strengthening Roa-
noke Island and the other strategic points. General Henry A.
"Wise was assigned to command at Roanoke and General L.
HISTOKY OP NORTH CAROLINA 19
O'B. Branch at New Bern. The defences, liowever, were in the
main, absurd. Old smooth-bore cannon, mounted on cart
wheels and drawn by mules masqueraded as field pieces. One
of the regiments on Eoanoke was armed with squirrel rifles
and sho.t guns with carving knives for bayonets. Delay, also
was characteristic of the preparations. The Confederate au-
thorities felt unable to furnish troops and all of the state's
trained men were in A'irg-inia. Branch at New Bei'u had but
seven regiments; Shaw, who eomniaiulcd at Eoanoke, in the
absence of "Wise, but two. The latter had several times re-
ported his inability to hold his position for even a day.
Flag-Officer AVilliam F. Lynch was placed in command of
the naval defences. The fleet under his command was now
increased by the addition of the "Seabird," the "Curlew,"
the "Appomattox," the "Black Warrior," the "Junaluski,"
the "Forrest," and the "Fanny," the last having been cap-
tured in October by the "Raleigh" and the "Junaluski," aft-
er an engagement of fifty-five minutes. In November the
"Winslow" was wrecked and lost.
In the late autumn an expedition against Eoanoke was
planned and finally reached Hatteras in January, 1862. It con-
sisted of twenty war vessels and forty-six anned army trans-
ports, almost all suited for the shallow waters of the sounds,
under the command of Eear-Admiral L. M. Goldsborough and
Commodore Rowan. The military force under General A. E.
Bumside assisted by Generals Foster, Eeno, and Parke, con-
sisted of about fifteen thousaml men. The attack began on Feb-
ruary 7th, and lasted all day. The Confederate vessels having
used all their ammunition, were forced to retire with the loss of
the "Curlew." Federal troops were landed during the day and
the next morning renewed the attack. The Confederate
forces, driven to the north end of the island were forced to
surrender.
The next day the retreating vessels were followed by
Rowan witli fourteen vessels. On February 10th, at Cobb's
Point, the two squadrons met. The shorw battery was aban-
doned and later destroyed, the "Seabird" was sunk, and the
"Ellis" and the "Fanny" captured, the latter on fire and
aground. The Federal squadron followed to Elizabeth City
20 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
where the "Forrest" was found on fire with some other ves-
sels still on the ways. The "Raleigh," "Beaufort," and
"Appomattox," escaped up the Pasquotank River and
through the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal to Norfolk.
Edenton was then visited, the militia there retreating, and
a vessel there and some cannon were destroyed. The retreat-
ing Confederates from Elizabeth City had partially blocked
the entrance to the canal and this was made complete by the
Federal fleet. AVinton was next visited and the raw militia
placed there for defence fled after firing upon the fleet. Fed-
eral troops under Colonel Rush C. Hawkins at once landed and
burned part of the town.
The way now lay open for the attack on New Bern. On
March 12th, Rowan with thirteen vessels and twelve thousand
men sailed from Ilatteras and at sunset they were in sight of
New Bern. Elaborate preparations had been made against at-
tacks from the water, including sunken vessels, chevaux de
frise and sunken torpedoes, attached to piles. There were also
six small forts mounting thirty-two gims. Little attention,
however, had been paid to possible land attacks. Under
Branch were less than five thousand men.
On the next day the Federal forces were landed and
marched towards the Confederate lines without opposition.
On the following day the Federal troops attacked, supported
by the fleet. A break in the Confederate lines was finally
found and penetrated and after some hours of sharp fighting
the Confederates were forced to retreat. The fleet had in the
meantime reached the town which was occupied.
Following the fall of New Bern, Carolina City, Morehead
City, Newport, and Beaufort were occupied. Fort Macon,
garrisoned by five companies with more than fifty guns, was
besieged and, after being heavily shelled from both land and
pea was forced to surrender on April 25th.
Sharp fighting took place in the same month at South
Mills. A Federal force of three thousand was sent to destroy
the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Chesapeake and Albemarle
Canal to prevent the coming of giniboats from Norfolk to the
North Carolina sounds. A force of seven hundred and fifty
Confederates succeeded in driving the Federals to their boats
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 21
before they accomplished thfir purpose. Later in tlu' luouth
the Chesapeake and Albciuarlc Canal was finally and ftVct't-
ively blocked.
About this time there occurred flic first o\' the exploits
which brought fame to Lieutenant Cusliing of the I'nited
States Navy. Li command of the captured "pjllis," he was
blockading New River Inlet. In November, 1S6'2, he went up
New Elver to destroy salt works, capture vessels, and visit
Jacksonville. Upon his return he was attacked from tlie
shore and shelled. In escaping the "Elllis" went aground and
was destroyed to prevent her capture. Cushing was eager
to wipe out this reverse and in August of the following year,
having seen from a small boat a sehooni'r in New Topsail
Inlet, he led in a small force and having destroyed the vessel
and the salt works on shore, returned with a number of pris-
oners. He was the most active and energetic of the Federal
naval officers in North Carolina waters and his destruction
of the "Albemarle" was only the climax of a nnnil)er of dar-
ing exploits.
In 1864 he was in command of the "Monticello," one of
the vessels in the blockading fleet at tlie Cape Fear. In
February, accompanied by several other officers and two boat
crews he came in the mouth of the river at night and landed
at Smithville, then occupied by a garrison of a thousan<l Con-
federate soldiers. Goingatonce to h('ad(|narti'rs in the hope of
capturing General Herbert, he found him out Imt (a)ituriMl a
subordinate officer and n■tnrnin^■ to his boats, passed out
safely by Fort Caswell to the fleet. In June of the same year
he went with the same officers and fifteen men up tlie river
within seven miles of "Wilmington, hoping to destroy the Con-
federate ram, "Raleigh." I.andinii-. they stayed two days and
three nights, cutting telegraph wires and examining fortifica-
tions. They captured a number of prisoners including a
courier with valuable dispatches. The "Raleigh" they f<nind
was already destroyed. On the return trip down the river,
they narrowly escaped capture, but finally rejoined the fleet in
safety.
After the fall of New Bern, Federal .crimboats i)atroIled the
waters of Eastern North Carolina and Edenton. Washington,
22 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Williamston, Elizabeth City and Pljonouth were occupied by
troops. At various points small engagements took place. In
September, 1862, a small Confederate force entered Washing-
ton and a hot fight occurred before they were forced to retire.
Plymouth was retaken in December but was held only a short
time. About the middle of the month General J. G. Foster
who was in command at New Bern with ten thousand infantry,
six hundred and fifty cavalry and forty jDieces of artillery left
New Bern for the interior. A fleet of small gunboats went up
the river at the same time in support. At Southwest Creek
he was opposed by one Confederate regiment which was soon
forced to retire. About two miles from Kinston on the four-
teenth, a Confederate force of about two thousand was driven
back after a fight of two hours and Foster pressed on towards
Goldsboro. At White Hall, two days later, another skirmish
occurred, again resulting in a Confederate retreat. When
Foster neared Goldsboro, he sent several regiments to burn
the railroad bridge, and a sharply contested battle occurred,
in wliich the Federal forces were checked. Foster then re-
turned to New Bern.
With the opening of 1863 over thirty thousand Confederate
soldiers were in the state, the largest number in any one
quarter being ten thousand under General Whiting in the de-
fences about Wilmington. Other forces, mainly single regi-
ments or parts of regiments, were at Magnolia, Kinston,
Goldsboro, Weldon, and Hamilton. As spring advanced, most
of these troops were sent to Virginia. In order to gather sup-
plies inside the Federal lines, attacks upon New Bern and
Washington were planned. That upon New Bern occurred
early in March, two bodies of troops under General Pettigrew
and General Daniel co-operating. After a preliminary success
by Daniel the expedition under Pettigrew failed, chiefly be-
cause of inferior arms and ammunition, and the plan was
abandoned. Skirmishing at various points followed and to-
wards the end of March the attack on Washington was or-
dered with the hope of surprising the Federal forces. Heavy
rains delayed the movement and by the time the expedition
reached Washington, the hope of surprise was gone and
nothing could be accomplished.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROT.IXA 23
During the rest of the year there were no operations in the
state of importance. Most of eastern North Carolina kiy open
to the Union troops and by degrees they stripped the entire
region of everything of value that was movable. "Whole ship-
loads of booty were sent north. Edward Stanly said: "Had
the war in Xorth Carolina been conducted by soldiers who
were Christians and gentlemen, the state would long ago have
rebelled against rebellion. But instead of that, what was
done? Thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of prop-
erty were conveyed North. Libraries, pianos, carpets, mir-
rors, family portraits, everything in short, that could be
removed, was stolen by men abusing flagitious slaveholders
and preaching liberty, justice, and civilization. I was informed
that one regiment of abolitionists had conveyed Xorth more
than $40,000 worth of property. They literally robbed the cra-
dle and the grave. Family burying vaults were broken open for
robbery; and in one instance (the fact was published in a
Boston paper and admitted to me by an oflicer of Iiigh position
in the army), a vault was entered, a metallic coffin removed,
and the remains cast out that those of a dead soldier might
be put in the place."
The horror of Federal occupation was intensified by the
operations of the "Buffaloes," or native Union bushwhackers,
who perpetrated every type of violence and crime. The con-
dition of affairs finally became so bad that great feeling was
aroused in the state. To counteract this President Davis, late
in 1863, ordered General Lee to send a considerable force to
the state. Acting upon a plan of Donoral Rol)ert F. Hoke,
whom he called into consultation, an attack on New Bern was
undertaken. Hoke was only a brigadier and the expedition
was too large to be given to one of that rank, so General Lee
told Hoke that he was to be the actual leader but that ho would
have to put in nominal command a major-general. Having
chosen General Pickett as the one who could "best be spared
from Virginia," the force of over thirteen thousand men was
assembled at Kinston from which it moved toward New Bern
on January- 20, 1864. Pickett disregarded Hoke's plan and
upon the latter's remonstrating, ordered compliance with his
orders under threat of arrest and court-martial. Hoke was
24 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
obliged to submit and the expedition was a complete failure.
A small naval detachment in boats under Commander John
Taylor Wood, after a furious fight boarded and captured the
"Underwriter," a converted tugboat and the most powerful
of the vessels stationed at New Bern. Unable to take time to
get up steam they were compelled to burn her.
Conditions in the state still demanding Confederate action,
General Lee again called General Hoke into conference. Hoke
advised an attack upon Plymouth which had been strongly
fortified and which was held by General Wessels with about
three tiiousand men. At Edward's Ferry on Roanoke River,
Gilbert Elliott of Elizabeth City, a nineteen year old boy, was
building for the Confederate navy, after plans prepared by
John L. Porter, who had converted the "Merrimac," an iron-
clad gunboat to operate in the sounds. The boat which had
been be,gun early in 1863 was unfinished, but upon General
Hoke's urgent representation of his need of it, the work was
speeded up and on April 18, it started down the river under
the command of James W. Cooke, formerly an officer of the
United States navy, now a Confederate commander, with the
construction force still working upon it.
The construction of the "Albemarle" was in itself an
achievement. It was built in an open cornfield, above high
water, of unseasoned timber, by unskilled workmen. A black-
smith shop furnished the mechanical parts. It was 152 feet
long with an extreme beam of 45 feet. It drew about eight
feet. It was covered with two courses of iron plates two
inches thick. The prow was of heavy oak sheathed with iron
and was intended for use as a ram. The armament consisted
of two gims. The construction of the vessel had been reported
to the United States Navy Department by Lieutenant-Com-
mander Flusser, the naval commander at PIjTnouth, as early
as June, 1863, but the depth of the river would not permit the
ascent of his boats and nothing was done.
On April 18th, General Hoke invested the town on the land
side and attacked the forts but was repulsed. The ram was
expected by both sides and the Federal vessels "Southfield"
and "Miami" were chained together for the encoimter. As
the ram did not appear they separated and assisted in the re-
CONSTRUCTIOX OF THE AlJiEMARLE
The Albemaiu.e Afloat and Kf:\i)Y fok Action
26 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
pulse of the Confederate forces. When finally the "Albe-
marle" came, early the next morning, they were again chained
together and went to meet the ram. At once the "Albemarle"
struck the "Southfield" and sank her, the beak going so deep
as to threaten the safety of the attacking vessel. As the
"Southfield" went down, Flusser on the "Miami" then per-
sonally fired the first shot at the "Albemarle" and was killed
by fragments of shell rebounding from her armored sides.
The "Miami" then retreated under fire after which the "Al-
bemarle" turned its guns on the town and the land forces
storming the forts compelled the surrender of the place. Gen-
eral Hoke was on the field promoted to major-general.
The fall of Plymouth forced the Federal forces to evacuate
Washington. Before the troops left they sacked and burned
the town. So flagrant was the outrage that General Palmer
in a general order made the following statement : "It is well-
known that the army vandals did not even respect the char-
itable institutions but burst open the doors of the Masonic and
Odd Fellows Lodge, pillaging them both and hawked about
the streets the regalia and jewels and this, too, by United
States troops ! It is well-known that both public and private
stores were entered and plundered and that devastation and
destruction ruled the hour."
General Hoke next attacked New Bern and having taken
the outworks had demanded the surrender of the town when he
was ordered to bring his forces with all speed to Petersburg.
In the meantime the "Albemarle" threatened the Federal
control of the sounds and even menaced the blockade. Captain
Melancthon Smith was hurriedly sent South to hold the mouth
of the Roanoke. With him were sent four large double enders,
the "Sassacus," the "Mattabesett," the "Whitehead," and
the "Wyalusing," which with the "Commodore Hull" and
the "Ceres" already there, made a formidable squadron.
On May 5th, the "Albemarle" came out with a troop ship
and a captured vessel loaded with coal and provisions. About
ten miles from the mouth of the river, she met the Federal
squadron and although rammed and exposed to a heavy bom-
bardment was not destroyed, although considerably injured.
Two of the Federal vessels were put out of the fight and
Naval Engagement between Confederate Kam Albemarle and
Union Vessel Wyallsing
Sassacus and Albemarle
s
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o
o
o
Q
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03
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a
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 29
finally the squadron retired. The "Albemarle," unable to
get up steam on account of her smoke stack's having been
riddled with shot, with great difficulty returned to Plymouth.
Several attempts were made to destroy her by means of
torpedoes but all failed. So great a menace was she, however,
to the Union cause in the state, that the Navy Department
selected Gushing to undertake the task of destruction at almost
any cost. On the night of October I'Tth, he eanu^ uj) the river
with a considerable party in two comparatively noiseless
steam launches, passed flie numerous ("Dut'cdcratc jiickets on
land and water, and reached Plpntmth. The "Albemarle"
was surrounded by a boom of logs about thirty feet away from
her sides. A fire on the shore illumined the river and Gush-
ing 's boat was seen by those on shore who gave the ahinn.
Under a hot fire which was returned with the howitzer on the
launch, Gushing ran his boat at full speed against the boom.
The launch slid over the slippery logs and Gushing with his
own hands pushed a spar with a torpedo attached under the
vessel and exploded it. The ram sank and the launch, en-
tangled with the boom by the explosion, was ciii)tui-ed with its
crew. Gushing, however, refusing to surrender, dived and
swam under water out into the river. l<"^nally, almost ex-
hausted, he reached land across the river and, after wading
miles through the swamp, captured a skiff in which he suc-
ceeded in rejoining the Federal fleet.
As a result of the destruction of the "Albemarle," Ply-
mouth was recaptured by Federal forces on < )ct nlier ;!1 st. Tiie
vessel was raised and towed to Norfolk, l)ut was iiever again
employed in warfare.
Another Gonfederate ram, the "North Garoiina," a twin
of the "Raleigh" and built on the Gape Fear, came out of
New Inlet in May, 1864, and exchanged a few shots with the
Federal blockading fleet, but retiring, was never again used.
In December, 1864, several vessels left Plymouth to co-
operate with the Federal army in reducing Gonfederate bat-
teries at Rainbow Bluffs, about sixty miles up the river. Two
were sunk by torpedoes and, the military force never appear-
ing, the rest, after dragging the river for torpedoes, returned.
Fort Fisher had proved from the beginning of the war
30 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
such a tremendous asset to the Confederacy that as early as
1862 the Navy Department of the United States had sought
to interest the War Department in a joint attack upon it and
the other defenses of the Cape Fear. It was then decided that
no troops could be spared for the purpose, but in the fall of
1864 Grant approved the plan and Farragut was appointed to
the command of the naval force. On account of his health he
was compelled to decline and D. D. Porter was placed in com-
mand. As first planned, the attack was to be made on Oc-
tober 1st. It was then postponed until the middle of the
month, although 150 vessels were ready for the expedition.
Finally, in December, the details of a plan were announced.
The attack was to open with the explosion of a vessel under
the walls of the fort in the hope of blowing up the magazine
in the fort. The "Louisiana," an old vessel, was disguised as
a blockade-runner and loaded at Beaufort with two hundred
and fifty tons of powder. After the explosion a naval force of
seventy vessels and a land force of sixty-five hundred men
were to co-operate in the reduction of the fort. This wild
plan originated in the fertile brain of General B. F. Biitler
who accompanied the expedition and, although General
Weitzel had been assigned to command, insisted as senior
officer present, upon his right to control the operations of the
military forces.
Fort Fisher, when Colonel William Lamb took command
in 1862, was composed of several detached earth works and
one casemated battery. It could have been reduced by one
war vessel within a few hours. But work was begun at once
with five hundred negroes and within the following year it
was transformed into the largest earthwork in the Con-
federacy, built of heavy timbers covered with sand about
twenty-five feet deep and sodded with turf. It extended across
the peninsula between the river and the ocean for six hundred
and eighty-two yards as a contimious work with twenty heavy
guns, two mortars, and four light guns. The sea face was
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight yards long, formed of bat-
teries connected by a heavy curtain, ending in a mound bat-
tery sixty feet high. On this face were twenty-four heavy
guns. At the end of the peninsula was Battery Buchanan,
Nome i^.'kt''y?.^'^-__7^.
From Room---
Date
FOR USE IN
MAIN READING ROOM
WHEN SPECIAL DIVISION
IS CLOSED
V
^V«
BR
VLTAR OF THE UNITED STATES
R, Decemher 25, 1864
ER, jANfABT 13, 1865
Scenes from the Bombardment of Fort Fisher
30
HISTORY OP N0RT1
such a tremendous asset to the C
1862 the Navy Department of tl
to interest the War Department
the other defenses of the Cape F
no troops could be spared for
1864 Grant approved the plan
the command of the naval for
was compelled to decline and
mand. As first planned, th(
tober 1st. It was then pof
month, although 150 vessels
Finally, in December, th
The attack was to open vr
the walls of the fort in th
in the fort. The "Louisif
a blockade-runner and Ic
and fifty tons of powder,
seventy vessels and a 1
were to co-operate in
plan originated in the
who accompanied th
Weitzel had been as'
ofiicer present, upon ^
military forces.
Fort Fisher, wh'
in 1862, was compr
one casemated bat'
war vessel within
with five hundrec
was transformed
federacy, built »
twenty-five feet <
the peninsula h(
and eighty-two
guns, two moj
eighteen hund
teries connec'
tery sixty ff
gtins. At t^
otn
« Sll
^OlOVt
ip
ad
me
nee
r it
uon-
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mdred
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/ of bat-
and bat-
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Buchanan,
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FOET Fisher, the Gibkai.tar of the United States
^' iL :
Fort Fisher, December 25, 1864
Fort Fisher, January 13, 1865
Scenes from the Bombardment of Fort Fisher
32 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
with four heavy guns. While almost impregnable from the
sea, it was weak on the land side, reliance being placed on the
troops around Wilmington. The garrison at the time of the
first attack was composed of 1,431 men, 450 of whom were
junior reserves. Throughout its entire history, the fort was
manned almost exclusively by North Carolinians.
The powder ship was headed for the fort and exploded on
the night of December 23d. It excited curiosity in the garrison
at first and then amusement mingled with envy at the posses,
sion of such a store of ammunition as this sheer waste indi-
cated, the supply in the fort being very small. On the following
day the bombardment by the fleet began, fifty vessels mounting
over six hundred guns participating. It lasted five hours in
which time a storm of round shot and shells was poured upon
the fort, some ten thousand in all being fired. The fort, short
of powder, only fired six hundred and seventy-two shots in
reply and the attacking force thought that most of the guns
had been silenced. On the following day another terrific
attack on the land face began, two shots per second being fired
during a large part of the seven hours it lasted, the fort re-
plying with only six hundred shots. The fleet again fired more
than ten thousand. In the two days it discharged projectiles
weighing nearly two million pounds. In the meantime three
thousand troops under Generals Butler and Weitzel were
landed with the intention of storming the fort. However,
upon investigation of its condition, they decided not to attack
and returned to the fleet which sailed back to Beaufort.
General Bragg was in command of the troops around Wil-
mington and at once withdrew all the forces supporting the
fort to the north of the town, and, although it was soon well-
known that the fort was again to be attacked, did not send them
back. Wlien the attack was finally made, he, deliberately and
shamefully, withheld the aid that would in all probability
have saved the fort, and with a determination that contained
not a vestige of courage prepared to retreat hastily from
Wilmington.
By this time Charleston was closed to the outside world
and the reduction of Fisher was deemed a military necessity.
Another expedition, more powerful than the former one was
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 33
prepared. Fifty-three heavily aniioil vessels on January 13th
began a bombardment which lasted two days and nights.
Over twenty thousand projectiles were again poured upon the
fort, the guns of which replied at long intervals because of the
continued shortag'e of amnuinition. Most of them were put
out of commission by the fire of the fleet and a large number
of the troops were killed or wounded. The total number of
men in the fort was considerably less than two thousand.
General Whiting who had planned the defenses of Wilmington,
in fine contrast to Bragg, came down to share the fate of the
fort but left Colonel Lamb in command. He was mortally
wounded and died in prison.
In the meantime eighty-five hundred Federal troops under
General Terry had been landed and were advancing upon the
fort. Both the garrison and the attacking forces fought mag-
nificently, but the odds, thanks to Bragg's timidity, were too
heavy and the fort surrendered.
The day after the fall of the fort, the Cape Fear was
entered and Forts Caswell and Campbell on Oak Island were
taken. These with the barracks and storehouses on Smith's
Island were burned by the Confederates before evacuation.
Smithville was also occupied. The gunboats then started up
the river, making very slow progress on account of torpedoes,
of which the river was full. Land forces also moved up both
sides of the river only to be checked for sf'vcral weeks l)y tlie
Confederate troops under General Hoke's command at Fort
Anderson at Old Brunswick and at Sugar Loaf across the
river. General Schofield was now sent to take command of the
Federal forces and left Smithville on February ITtli. Marching
upon Wilmington and co-operating with the fleet, he forced the
evacuation of Fort Anderson, which had been bombarded for
two days, and on PVbruary 2'Jd. occupied Wilmington which
had been evacuated by the Confederates.
Sherman's army was then advancing towards North Caro-
lina and all the troops around Wilmington were ordered to
join Johnston's army to oppose the progress of the invaders.
Generals Hoke and Hill had successfully fought out the pre-
liminaries of a battle with Cox's Corps near Kinston when
the order reached them to make the junction and they were
Toi. m— J
34 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
forced to retire. Sherman 's army entered the state in March
and occupied Fayetteville a few days later. After the town
had been completely plundered and the adjoining country
ravaged, they moved on to join Schofield at Goldsboro. At
Averysboro General Hardee on March 15th confronted Sher-
man to give them time to reach the main army. This accom-
plished, the Confederate force was concentrated at Bentonville
to strike Shennan before the arrival of Schofield from Wil-
mington. On March 19th, Johnston struck heavily at Sher-
man's advancing forces and drove them back in confusion.
Sherman waited for reinforcements and effected a junction
with Schofield. Johnston resumed his slow and masterly re-
treat finally surrendering near Durham's Station on April
26th, when Lee's surrender had made the Confederate cause
clearly hopeless.
As Sherman approached Raleigh it was of course clearly
evident that the end of the war was at hand and pressure was
exerted upon Governor Vance to induce him to make terms
with Sherman. William A. Graham and David L. Swain
worked out a complete plan of action and advised the governor
to summon the legislature which should jmss resolutions ex-
pressing a desire for peace and inviting the other Southern
States to join the movement. The legislature should further
elect commissioners to treat with the United States and report
to a convention of the people which should be called at once.
In the meantime a commission should be sent to treat with
Sherman for a suspension of hostilities. The governor re-
fused at first to consider the plan, but when the capture of
Raleigh was imminent and General Johnston had informed
him of his intention to withdraw his forces, he yielded and
■sent Graham and Swain as a commission to meet Sherman and
arrange an interview with him.
After a series of mishaps and delays they reached General
Sherman who treated them with great courtesy and sent them
back with a message to Governor Vance, declining to give the
desired interview, but expressing a wish, based upon Presi-
dent Lincoln's instructions, that all state officers should con-
tinue to perform their duties. Upon their return, however,
they found that Vance had left Raleigh. He had determined
The Bennett House
Here occurred tlie surrender of the Confederate forces under Gen. .loxpli
E. Jnlinstoii to (Jen. Willinm T. Sherman
Gen. W. T. Sher.ma.n
Gen. JosEfii K. Johnston
36 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
to remain and surrender the capitol in person, but was, against
Ms will, forced by General Hoke to leave the city with him
when the town was evacuated. And so when on April 13th, the
Union forces entered Raleigh, Swain, and not Vance, surren-
dered the keys of the capitol to the officer appointed to re-
ceive them.
Vance went to Charlotte and had an interview with Presi-
dent Davis. He then sought permission from Sherman to
a'etum to Raleigh and call the legislature into session. Sher-
man had left Raleigh and Schofield, who was in command,
declined to pennit the return, and a little later advised his
going to his home. Vance did so and remained there until
May 14th, when he was arrested by General Kilpatrick and car-
ried to Old Capitol Prison in Washington where he stayed
for several months.
In December, 1864, General Stoneman was ordered on a
raid into Southwest Virginia to destroy the railway connec-
tions between Virginia and Tennessee, and thus cut off sup-
plies from Lee and also make this way of retreat for the
Confederates impossible. In the last days of March, 1865,
with a force of seven thousand men he came from Tennessee
into Watauga County. In Watauga the force divided. Stone-
man going to Wilkesboro and General Gillam crossing the Blue
Ridge and going through Happy Valley, burning and plunder-
ing as he went, finally rejoining Stoneman at Wilkesboro.
They left there on March 31st, and crossing Surry County
entered Virginia. Destroying the railroad above Wythe-
ville, they turned back into North Carolina and marching
rapidly through Stokes and Forsyth, reached Salem April
10th. Detachments were from there sent out to cut the North
Carolina and the Greensboro and Danville railroads. Some
of the track of each was torn up and several depots with a
vast amount of cotton and great quantities of supplies were
burned. At Salem no looting was permitted. On April 12th
Salisbury was occupied after a skirmish which continued in
the streets of the town. Here private property was respected
by the officers though there was some minor pillaging. But
here was situated one of the most hated of the Confederate
prisons and a vast amount of government supplies of all kinds
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
37
brought from Columbia, Charlotte, RiohuKiiul, Danville aiul
Raleigh, as well as an arsenal, a foumlrv, ami a considerable
store of ordnance. These with the ])ul)lic Imildings and the
railroad depots were burned. The totals of destruction for
the expedition are impressive: Four cotton fartorics. 7.ni)ii
bales of cotton, 10,000 stands of arms and accoutrements,
1,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. 1,000 rounds ar-
The Confederate 1'kisun at Samshikv
tillerj- annnunition, 7,<iiin i)ounds of powder, 35,000 l.ushcls
of corn, 50,000 bushels of wheat, lfi0,000 pounds of l)acon, 100,-
000 suits of clothes, 250,000 lilankets, 20,000 pounds of leather,
10,000 pounds of saltpetre, large quantities of sugar, salt and
rice, $100,000 worth of drugs and the machine shops at Salis-
bury. The total value of the )»roperty thus destroyed ran up
into the millions.
On April 13th, Stoneman moved towards Statesvillc and.
after destroying the government and railroad property tliere,
moved on, one detachment going to Taylorsville and T>('noir
38 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and thence to Temiessee and the other to Lincohiton. Evi-
dently inclined personally to mitigate the harshness of war, to
non-combatants at least, bis army was full of marauders who
looted and burned private property, and shot and maltreated
unoffending old men and young boys. Women were treated
with harshness and brutal rudeness, but the Federal araiy's
course through North Carolina, stained as it w^as, was not
marked by outraged virtue. Both Generals Stoneman and
Palmer were mercifully inclined. General Gillani, who was
sent to Morganton and Asheville, collected about nine hun-
dred prisoners, mostly old men and boys, who were treated
with disgusting brutality. Eiot, murder, and pillage marked
his track through Lenoir, Morganton, and Asheville. The
last was practically turned over to the troops and was thor-
oughlj' looted. In every way and very successfully the Fed-
eral troops sought to emulate the more widely known exploits
of Sherman's army in Georgia and the Carolinas.
On the heels of Stoneman came George W. Kirk, a Ten-
nessee desperado, at the head of two regiments, chiefly com-
posed of bushwhackers who found their occupation largely
gone.
In May at Waynesville was fired the last shot of the war
in the state. Between the battle of Hatteras on August 28,
1861, and this time there had been fought in the state eleven
engagements worthy of the name of a battle and seventy-
three skirmishes, most of these taking place in the eastern part
of the state. Now at last warfare was ended.
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL SENTBIENT IN WAR
Governor Ellis died in July, 1861, and was succeeded by
Henry T. Clark, speaker of the Senate. According to regu-
lar precedent, his right to the seat would expire with tlie elec-
tion in August, 1862, Init his successor could not under the
law be installed until January-, 1863. The convention there-
fore provided that the new governor should he installed in
September and continued Governor Clark in office until that
time. The campaign began at once. Most prominent among
the leaders of the conservative party was W. W. Iloldeii
who was generally thought to desire the office himself. He
was out of the question, however, and the conservatives sought
without success to induce William A. Graham to be a candi-
date. Tlie press, with tlie exception of the titandarcl. favorccl
a general nominating convention and no contest, l)ut lloldcn
was opposed, desiring a campaign, and carried his party with
him. When a contest was clearly inevitable, the secessionist
element nominated AVilliam Johnston of Mecklenburg through
the press. The conservatives were still casting about and
finally the name of Zebulon B. Vance was suggested by the
Fai/etteville Observfr, aftei- some agreement of tlie k'a(h'rs
and the party accepted him. He was at the time colonel of
the Twenty-Sixth Regiment.
In the press the campaign was one of extreme bitterness.
Apart from Vance's speeches in the army the candidates took
little part in it. Tliere was no real issue. It was really a
campaign fought on tlie personality of the leaders. This
was frankly the case so far as the fonser\'atives were con-
cerned. But the original secessionists or "confederate"
party, saw, or appeared to see, in the success of the conserva-
tives, a complete surrender to the North. They adopted as a
platform the resolutions of confi<lenc(' passod by llie ronvcn-
40 HISTORY DF NORTH CAROLINA
tion, and placed a summary of them upon their ticket which
was as follows :
An unremitting prosecution of the war; the war to the last extrem-
ity ; complete independence ; eternal separation from the North ; no
abridgement of Southern territory ; no alteration of Southern bound-
aries; no compromise with enemies, traitors, or tories.
Jeff. Davis, Our Army, And The South.
Even out of the Confederacy the campaign attracted interest
and in the North it was declared that the election of Vance
would he a Union victory. But the people could not be con-
vinced that Vance was untrue and gave him a majority of
thirty-three thousand, something hitherto unheard of in the
state. In his inaugural, "\^ance outlined his policy and pledged
himself to a vigorous and unrelenting prosecution of the war.
He won at once the confidence of his late opponents and there-
after there was little doubt of his position.
The campaigii had focussed attention on the question of
loyalty and there was much fear of widesjjread disloyalty, but
it is not likely that many people at this time desired a return to
the Union. That a small number actively desired such an even-
tuality and steadily plotted to secure it is undoubted. Nor is
there room to doubt that dissatisfaction with conditions and
with the Confederate Government was widespread and grow-
ing. Failure to protect the coast, the establishment of the
military prison at Salisbuiy with its numerous political pris-
oners, the general feeling that North Carolina and North Car-
olinians were discriminated against, the impressment of arms,
the rigorous collection of the tithe, and an even moi'e rigid en-
forcement of the conscription laws, — all these combined to
make the Confederate Government increasingly and, in time,
bitterly unpopular. Economic conditions also grew worse
rapidly, and disloyal act and utterance became less rare. A
large number of deserters were present in the state by 1862
and the number steadily increased as time passed. They were
most numerous in Randolph, Chatham, Catawba, Yadkin,
Iredell, Forsyth, Guilford, and Wilkes. In the last there was
in 1863 a regiment organized and under arms. Attempts to
arrest deserters in most cases failed and they were a menace
to unity for the rest of the war.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
41
Disloyalty in the East was largely eonfiiUHl to the coast
region which was left almost entirely unprotected. "When
Federal occupation came every inducomont was offered to
those who remained at home to cast their lot with the rnioii.
There was in the North a strong conviction that tln' iicDiilr of
North Carolina were still at heart loyal to tlie United States
(JOVEKNOR JuIlN WiLLlS Kl.I.IS
and that if the opportunity were offered tlicy would return
to their allegiance. Two attempts were made during the
course of the war to secure restoration. Both were in reality
foreign to the people, but one Avas professed to be entirely
local in its origins. The other was avowedly a military move-
ment by the President of the United States.
The first attempt was made by a small group of men, few
42 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
if any, natives of the state. A so-called constitutional con-
vention was held at Hatteras in November, 1861, which de-
clared the ordinance of secession null and void, elected one
Marble Nash Taylor g-overnor, and ordered a congressional
election. When this was held, one Charles H. Foster was
chosen. Both the convention and election were absurd frauds
and all efforts to secure any recog-nition by Congress of this
so-called Hatteras Government failed.
In May, 1862, President Lincoln appointed as military
governor of North Carolina with the rank of brigadier-gen-
eral, Edward Stanly, of California, a native of North Caro-
lina, who had been formerly one of the most prominent
whig leaders in the state, noted for a strong hatred of seces-
sion and an equally strong devotion to the Union. He had
been speaker of the House of Commons, attorney-general, and
for several terms a member of Congress. Stanly had left the
state when opposition to secession was strong throughout it
and he could not believe that sentiment had greatly changed.
He came at once to New Bern, now in the hands of Federal
troops, and undertook the thankless task of leading the people
back to the Union. Unable to make any headway, he found
his position hopeless. Almost immediately, too, he involved
himself in a bitter series of quarrels with a group of New
Englanders who had started a school for negroes and were
also busily engaged in sending slaves to the North. These dis-
agreements put him in the bad graces of the radical element
in Congress, led by Charles Sumner. By this time Stanly
was deeply disgusted with his task. He was still heart and
soul for the Union but he conceived a violent hatred of the
conduct of those who were fighting for it in eastern North
Carolina. He declared the Federal troops "guilty of the
most shameful pillaging and robbery that ever disgraced an
army in any civilized land." He had held an election for
Congress the fall after his appointment but the successful
candidate was not seated and it was clear by now that his mis-
sion was a failure. Accordingly, on January 15, 1863, he re-
signed with a letter of protest to the President against the
emancipation proclamation. He went to California, notify-
ing the President that he was ready to serve in North Caro-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 43
lina when needed, but he was never called on and never re-
turned to the state.
Until 1863 the voicing of peace sentiment had been indi-
vidual only. The Standard and the Kalcigh Ptui/rc^f!, both
formerly violent secession papers, but now equally intense in
their disloyal opposition to the Confederate government,
served as clearing houses for the exchange of disloyal senti-
ment. But in the spring of 1863 a Virginian was appointeil
to collect the tithe in the state. The outburst of indignation
which followed was of so threatening a nature that Governor
Vance secured the removal of the collector. In the mean-
time, however, with this ai>pointment as a pretext, the Sfait-
dard had called upon the people to meet and express tiieir
opinion on the state of the country. A week later Holden
editorially took strong ground for peace. As a result nearly
a hundred public meetings were held, distributed among about
forty covmties, at all of which resolutions prepared by Holden
were adopted. The whole movement had been carefully
planned by Holden, who was plotting to secure the withdrawal
of North Carolina from the Confederacy and its return to the
Union.
When the news of these hap|)eiungs readied the army,
there was a stonn of abuse from the North Carolina troops
and a demand for the suppression of seditious agitators. At
home public feeling was almost as strong. The efforts of
Vance, G-raham, and Hale, the chief conseiwative leaders, to
check Holden were fruitless since Holden confidently believed
that the masses were with him and that he would not be
harmed. Vance was particularly opposed to the meetings and
finally issued a proclamation of warning to the people to de-
sist, a proclamation that doubtless would have proved utterly
unavailing if the movement had not spent its force and if
General E. F. Hoke's l)rigade had not been ordered into the
state just at this time, supposedly to keep an eye on the situa-
tion. Then the meetings ceased and ITolden contented liim.-ielf
with keeping the Standard full of comnuniications intended to
keep the question of peace uppermost in the minds of the
people and to stimulate ho.stility to the Confederate govern
ment. As a result," a brigade of Georgia soldiers passing
44 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
through Raleigh sacked the Standard office and attempted to
mob Holden who, however, escaped. The next day the press
and other property of the State Journal, a strong war paper,
were destroyed by a mob composed of Holden 's sympathizers.
The fall election showed strong peace feeling in the state,
and five of the Congressional representatives were from the
Standard's candidates. During the winter the feeling grew
and talk of a convention was frequent. Holden now deter-
mined upon another series of peace meetings and urged Vance
to support the demand for a convention. The latter indig-
nantly refused and the friendly relations between the two
soon ended. Holden still hoped to control the governor and
the resolutions adopted at the peace meetings which followed,
all endorsed him, but Vance soon made it clear that he would
have no part in such a program. Just at this time he was
engaged in an acrimonious correspondence with President
Davis in which on the whole he fared badly.
Late in February, immediately after the suspension of the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the Standard sus-
pended publication. On March 3d Holden issued an extra to
announce himself a candidate for governor. In May he re-
sumed the publication of his paper and began to work actively
for election. His following seemed large and many of Vance's
supporters were downcast, little realizing the power of the
man. Holden was, it is true, a man of the people and strong
with the masses. He was an old and experienced political
leader who was noted for his fine touch upon the pulse of
popular sentiment. But he failed to realize how much he had
personally helped to create and mould the peace sentiment,
and, believing that it had originated mth the people, he
thought their minds could not be turned from it. He still
wrote powerfully and was read widely but a new power had
arisen in North Carolina politics — the oratory and personal-
ity of Vance. For Vance was himself a man of the people
and he had won the love and affection of the people by his ef-
forts to relieve suffering and to preserve civil liberty. Com-
mitted to the cause of the South, he had gained the support
of those who had opposed him in 1862, and he had not lost the
main body of the conservatives.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 45
The campaign was one of intense feeling in which the is-
sue in a sense came to be the withdrawal of the state from the
Confederacy. Excitement was increased by the discovery of
the existence of a secret and treasonable society, called the
Heroes of America, but known commonly, on account of its
badge, as the Red Strings. It actively supported Holden and
the combination of issue and method greatly weakened him.
The election resulted in the success of Vance by a largely in-
creased majority and the peace movement as an open move-
ment ended. Sentiment for peace continued and was intensi-
fied as the end drew near.
CHAPTER IV
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN WAR
North Carolina was but poorly prepared for the economic
strain which the necessities of modern warfare placed upon
its population. An agricultural people, there was but little
which equipped them for meeting the conditions which quickly
and inevitably arose. In the years preceding the war a few
political leaders had preached industrial preparedness and
independence but the practice had not followed upon the pre-
cept. In 1860, the manufacturing interests of the state were
of but slight importance. There were thirty-nine cotton fac-
tories, all of them small. Of the seven woollen mills, only
two, at Rock Island and Salem, were of any importance. Iron
was worked to a small extent, but the total capital invested
was only $200,000 and this was distributed among more than
thirty plants. Of every kind there were only 3,689 manu-
facturing establishments in the state, and out of a population
of 992,622, only 14,217 were employed in these factories. It
is true that home manufacture supplied many of the domes-
tic needs, but this was of small aid in solving the economic
problems which the war imposed. Thus almost completely
dependent upon the outside world for manufactured articles,
the work done in suppljdng and equipping troops was little
short of miraculous. But all energies were bent in that direc-
tion and as time passed the lack of all manufactured goods
became a serious question.
Nevertheless the people did not despair. Substitutes of
every sort were tried. Home industries were generally re-
vived, and spinning and weaving vied with knitting as occu-
pations for women. Rough homespun replaced the finer fa-
brics, most of which went into the making of comforts and
necessities for soldiers. The blacksmith, the carpenter and
46
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 47
the tanner assumed a new importance in society and devel-
oped amazing ingenuity. But almost from the beginning the
labor problem was acute in some places and as the years
passed it was so everywhere except on the largi' plantations
which of course were a rarity in North Carolina. Many able-
bodied negi'oes were impressed for work upon fortitications
or other public works and the loss of their labor was keenly
felt. When the conscription laws went into effect many of
the millers, weavers, blacksmiths, tanners, wagon-makers,
shoemakers, and caipenters were taken away from productive
activities and their places could not be filled. The state was
so stripped of able-bodied white men that practically all the
work was done by old men and boys, by women and children,
and by negro slaves. It was a desperately hard task to plant,
cultivate, and gather crops on the small farms where there
were no negroes, or at best one or two. AVhen it is remem-
bered that of the whole white population of 629,942, at least
456,652 were of non-slave-holding families, and that 52,282
more belonged to families owning only one or two slaves, a
clearer view of the situation in the state is obtained. Cloth-
ing became more difficult to get and the coarsest cloth was val-
uable. The attics were ransacked and old clothes of every
sort brought once more to light. Straw was braided at home
for hats. Old letters were opened again for blank sheets of
paper and the blank pages of books were used. There was
scarcely anything for which some sort of substitute was not
found and used. Shoes were scarce and wooden soles became
common. Many of the children went barefooted throughout
the war. Scarcity and a depreciated currency inflated prices
to an absurd degree and enough calico for a dress often
brought as much as .$500. Bacon ranged in price, between
September, 1862, and March, 1865, from 33 cents to $7.50;
corn, from $1 to $30; eggs, from 30 cents to $5; molasses,
from $3 to $25; wheat, from $3 to $50; flour per barrel, from
$18 to $500; potatoes, from $1 to $30, with other supplies on
a similar scale.
Food was really scarce in some sections as the war pro-
gressed and stari'ation was not far away from some families
all the time. Even in families of comparative wealth there
48 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was often scarcity. Corn bread, cowpeas, and sorghum be-
came valued and stock articles of diet. The black-eyed pea,
or cow-pea, was extensively cultivated and was a most nutri-
tious article of food. It is said that General Lee on one occa-
sion called it, "the Confederacy's best friend." Sweet pota-
toes, to which the soil of North Carolina was particularly
well adapted, were also planted largely and were particularly
valued on account of the absence of sugar. Wheat and flour
were scarce and tremendously expensive. There was of course
much corn raised, but the demand upon it for bread and for
feeding stock was great and while it formed the staple article
of diet it was never in any too great abundance. The Govern-
ment constantly urged upon the people to abandon cotton and
tobacco and plant grain crops and raise stock. The latter
industry suffered greatly during the war from the prevalence
of cholera and other diseases which swept away whole flocks,
herds, and droves. Meat became to the average family a com-
plete rarity. Tea and coffee disappeared and leaves of black-
berry, raspberry, or holly made a vain pretense of replacing
the one ; while for the other, rye, okra seed, corn, hominy, and
pieces of dried and roasted sweet potato made poor substi-
tutes. Sugar was so scarce that sorghum molasses, or "long
sweetening," was well-nigh universally used.
North Carolina was a whiskey-drinking community and
the scarcity of grain called attention to the amount that was
being employed in the distillation of liquor. Public sentiment
was aroused and after efforts to check the evil by means of
public opinion had failed, a law was passed prohibiting it.
None of this had any temperance significance but was purely
a matter of food conservation. But in spite of all efforts to
prevent it, much grain was employed in this way throughout
the war.
While scarcity prevailed in some quarters, in other parts
of the state the crops were sometimes allowed to rot in the
fields because it did not pay to gather them. This situation
of affairs was due to the impossibility of transporting the
food crops and stock produced in the state. At the beginning
of the war there were approximately nine hundred miles of
railroad in the state. Fifty miles more were built during
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 49
the war, connecting Greensboro with Danville. ,\,11 the roads
were poorly equipped when the war came and with a scarcity
of engines, cars, and rails, and no possibilitj' of securing new
supplies in quantity as the old wore out, and with a vastly
increased demand upon them, they quickly deteriorated and
by the end of the war almost every one had been forced prac-
tically to cease operations except on the smallest scale. This
was one of the heaviest liandif'ni>s to tlic Confederate anni(>s
and to those at home.
The state was even without an adequate source of supply
of salt. The convention elected a commissioner to manufac-
ture salt and sell it to the people at cost. John M. "Worth and
later D. G. Worth were commissioners. "Works were estab-
lished at Morehead City and were at once captured by the
enemy. They were then located near "Wilmington, and al-
though the work was interrupted by yellow fever and by en-
emy raids, it was carried on until the close of the war, and
salt was produced in large quantities. In 1864, 66,100 bushels
were made. Private works were also established at various
points. The state also had an interest in works at Saltville,
Virginia. Here there were large deposits of salt and Nicholas
AV. "\\"oodfin w'as placed in charge of the state's work there.
The following account shows the problems he had to meet :
Woodfiu in "\''irg:iiiia reported in November, lcS62,tliat he had ereeted
furuaees and kettles, had employed slaves from Warren County at $20
per month, and that his greatest diffieulty was to get food supplies.
To meet these needs he agreed to refill sacks of grain with salt. So
the grain supply wa,s met. To get his beef, he sent to the mountains
and drove down a herd of cattle. The hides were tanned by Rankin,
Gaines and Company of Asheville for half the leather. From Nash.
Johnston, "Wayne and Pitt he got bacon in exchange for salt; from
Randolph County he secured 4,'i()0 yards of osnaburg to make clothes
for the slaves and salt bags in exchange for salt; from Lenoir thirty-
seven thousand pounds of kettles. Tn November he wrote that one
hunilred thousand bushels would he needed to save the pork crop,
and that he expected to make tluit much during the winter. He urged
upon the pork makers to kill in installments— December. .Tainuiry.
February — so that he might keep them in salt. The Sunday problem
confronted liim, but he decided that it wa.s necessary to keep his fur-
naces and kettles going on Sunday. He estimated that it was costing
fifty cents a bushel. "\"arious States bought salt at this place, but North
T'arolina was the only State that owned and managed its salt concerns.
The gi-eat trouble wa,s distribution.
Vol. ni— 4
50 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In spite of these sources of supply, salt remained a scarce
commodity and sold in Wilmington as high as $19 a bushel,
reaching $70 in Ealeigh. When the rare indulgence in fresh
meat came in the interior there were many who learned the
taste of hickory ashes.
Speculation in food and other supplies was common, and
both Governor Clark and Governor Vance had to place em-
bargoes upon exportation. The convention made specula-
tion in the necessaries of life a misdemeanor, punishable by
a heavy fine, but the law was without effect and the practice
continued until the end of the war in spite of official threats
and hostile public opinion. A board was appointed to set
prices and a new schedule was published everj^ two months
for public information, but their prices were far below the
market and were usually ignored.
Many families had every male member in the army and
no other means of support but their pay. The pay of a pri-
vate, or for that matter, of an officer, in the Confederate
army, was not sufficient for the support of even one person,
and consequently widespread distress soon appeared. In and
around Ealeigh, everyone could get a living by working in the
factories and hospitals. But this only affected a small part
of the population. Early in his administration. Governor
Vance saw the condition which would arise, and took im-
mediate steps to prevent suffering so far as possible. He
asked Weldon N. Edwards to assemble the convention to con-
sider what plan should be adopted to relieve distress, but this
request was refused.
At the governor's recommendation, the legislature au-
thorized him to purchase and store provisions to sell to the
poor at cost and appropriated $500,000 for the purpose. A
large quantity was purchased in the fall of 1862, but only a
small part was needed, as the crops were unusually good. But
the value of the plan was seen in the later years of the war,
when the crops were smaller and food more scarce. More
money had been appropriated and the relief given was beyond
any calculation. In all over $6,000,000 was appropriated by the
state for relief work. This action of Vance served to explain
the devotion to him, akin to adoration, which was felt by so
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 51
many women and youngei" people, particularly those in the
humbler walks of life. Thev could not forij-et what the relief
work had meant to them. Of course this amount of relief did
not touch at all much of the suffering in the state. With con-
ditions as they were, especially in respect to transportation,
that was an impossibility. And, of course, as has been said,
in spite of the widespread distress, there were portions of
the state where the amount of suffering- was very slight. The
few records that remain of the tithe collection, show that in
many places the crops were good and food abundant. But
impressment and foraging by detachments of Confederate
troops, and the foraging and destruction by the enemy, in the
eastern and western portions of the state, led to the loss of a
great part.
A great cause of suffering was the lack of drugs. Such as
were used were mostly of home manufaetiire as the United
States, in defiance of humanitarian sentiment, made medicines
contraband of war. Great ingenuity was displayed in the dis-
coveiy and use of substitutes. North Carolina has always
been particularly rich in its supply of crude vegetable drugs,
and an immense industry began at once. A laboratory was
established at Lincolnton; and Wilkesboro, Asheville, and
Statesville became important collection centers. The "Ad-
Vance" brought in great quantities of drags from abroad
which were almost all sent to the front or used in the military
hospitals in the state. Sickness, as might be expected, was
yery frequent. Smallpox existed in many neighborhoods and
the lesser epidemics were everywhere. In 1862, Wilmington
was visited by a virulent type of yellow fever which in two
months caused 441 deaths. The total number of cases was
1,505. New Bern also had a sharp epidemic of yellow fever,
but it was during Federal occupation and no statistics are
available.
As was to be expected taxation was heavy. The first Con-
federate tax was assumed by the state which in turn levied a
tax to pay it. This was never wholly collected. The state
taxes were increased several times during the war. The tax
on real estate in 1861 was one-fifth of 1 per cent, and in 1863
it was two-fifths of 1 per cent, and in 1864 was 1 per cent.
52 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
The revenue consequently more than doubled in amount, but
in specie value fell one-third in 1862 and one-half in 1863.
The revenue acts show a decided extension. That of 1862 in-
cluded a graduated inheritance tax on all amounts exceed-
ing $100, and also an income tax. Of all the taxes, the Con-
federate tax in kind bore most heavily and was, consequently,
the most unpopular. To it North Carolina was the largest
contributor, furnishing with Georgia and Alabama two-thirds
of the whole amount of produce collected. The Confederate
tax system was intended to get what the Confederacy needed
and leave no room for evasion. As Professor Fleming thus
describes it:
P'irst there was a tax of eight per cent on all agricultural products
in hand on July 1, 1863, on salt, wine, and liquors, and one per cent on
all moneys and credits. Second, an occupation tax ranging from ^.'iO
to $200 "and from two and one-half per cent to twenty per cent of
their gross sales was levied on bankers, auctioneers, brokers, druggists,
butchers, fakirs, liquor dealers, merchants, pawnbrokers, lawyers,
physicians, photographers, brewers, and distillers; hotels paid from
$30 to $500, and theatres, $500. Third, there was an income tax of
one per cent on salaries from $1 ,000 to $1 ,500, and two per cent on all
over $1,500. Fourth, ten per cent on all trade in flour, bacon, corn,
oats, and dry goods during 1863. Fifth, a tax in kind, by which each
farmer, after reserving- fifty bushels of sweet and fifty bushels of
Irish potatoes, twenty bushels of peas or beans, one hundred bush-
els of corn or fifty bushels of wheat out of his crop of 1863, had
to deliver (at a depot within eight miles) out of the remainder of his
produce for that year, ten per cent of all wheat, corn, oats, rye, buck-
wheat, rice, sweet" and Irish potatoes, hay, fodder, sugar, molasses, cot-
ton, wool, tobacco, peas, beans and peanuts; ten per cent of all meat
killed between April 24, 1863, and :\Iarch 1, 1864.
To the tax in kind North Carolina had contributed, along
with many other things of which no record can be found, by-
June, 1864, 3,000,000 pounds of bacon, 75,000 tons of hay and
fodder, 770,000 bushels of wheat, besides other produce valued
at $150,000. For the other Confederate taxes, the state paid,
by 1864, $10,000,000.
The bonded indebtedness of the state at the time of seces-
sion was $11,119,500. Almost all of it had been contracted for
internal improvements. During the war new bonds to the
amount of $1,619,000 were issued for the same purpose. As
an offset to this debt the state held corporation stocks and
bonds to the amount of $9,297,664.
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
53
This debt was speedily increased by the convention and
the legislature, both of which authorized from tune to time
large issues of treasury notes and of bonds. In the war peri-
od, thus, a total of $20,400,000 in treasury notes was author-
ized, and of this $8,507,847.50 were issued, $3,2()1,511.25 being-
withdrawn later, leaving in circulation at the close of the war
$5,246,336.25. Bonds were issued to the amount of $13,121,-
500. After deducting the unsold bonds in England, those re-
deemed, and those in the sinking fund, the balance was $9,-
119,000. Unpaid interest and similar items made the total
war debt, including treasury notes and internal improvement
NuRTll CaK<JI.I.\A ('nil, WAlt illlNEY
bonds, $16,596,485.61. But corporation bonds amounting to
$6,800,000 were held as a partial offset to this. In addition
to the state debt individual counties owed a sum estimated in
1864 at $20,000,000. This debt had been contracted by the
county courts, chiefly to provide for the destitute families of
soldiers.
The banks of the state suspended specie payments in No-
vembet", 1860. Eesumption, as has been seen, was delayed
until the state debt should be paid. In May, 1861, the banks
agreed to lend the state 20 per cent of their capital stock.
This proportion, in most cases, Avas largely increased later.
Bank-note extension never went so far in North Carolina as
in the other Southern states, and consequently depreciation
54
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
was less. But Confederate currency fell in value to such an
extent that the legislature in 1863, attempting- to raise it
passed a resolution pledging that the state would resist an}'
attempt to repudiate it. Naturally, with such an immense
volume of currency, depreciation began soon in the state's
notes as well. This continued until the end of the war. The
following table gives an idea of the process of depreciation
which began in November, 1861 :
Home Made Articles
1862 1863 1864 1865
January $1.20 $3.00 $21.00 $50.00
April 1.50 5.00 20.00 100.00
July 1.50 9.00 21.00
October 2.00 14.00 26.00
By November, 1864, a state bond for $100 was worth $7.40,
and a Confederate bond of the same amount was worth $4.
At the beginning of the war the banks had more than $1,000,-
000 in specie, and at the close they still had about $800,000.
Life of course went on as it does when people become ac-
customed to war. With almost every house a house of mourn-
ing, gloom hung over the state as indeed it did over all the
South. Yet young people danced and were gay, there was
HISTOKY OF NORTH CAROLINA 55
marriage and giving in marriage, and birth in the midst of
death. All classes rallied to support of the cause. Mrs. Spen-
cer well describes the splendid way in which tlie people met
the demands of the time :
Few were tlie hearts in any part of the laud that did not thrill
at the thought that those who were fighting for us were in want of food.
From the humble i-ahiu on the hillsitle, where the old browu spiiuiiug-
wheel and the rude loom were the only breastworks against starvation,
up through all grades of life, there were none who did not feci a deep
and tender, almost heart-breaking solieitnde for our noble soldiers.
For them the last barrel of flour was divided, the last luxury in homes
that had once abounded wa-s cheerfully surrendered. Every avail-
able resource wa.s taxed, every expedient of domestic economy was
put in practice * « * x speak now of Central North Carolina,
where many families of the highest respectability and retinement lived
for months on corn-bread, sorghum, and peas ; where meat was seldom
on the table, tea and cotfce never ; where dried apples and peaches were
a luxuiy, where chikb'en went barefoot through the winter, and
ladies made their own shoes, and wove their own homespuns ; where
the carpets were cut up into blankets, and window-curtains and sheets
were torn up for ho.spital uses; where soldiers" socks were knit day
and night, while for home service clothes were twice turned and
patches were patched again ; and all this continually, and with an
energy and a cheerfulness that may well be called heroic.
And so the war went on. Women, giving themselves, with
all their enthusiasm to the cause of the South, held men in the
ranks to fight what they came to regard as in a peculiar sense
their battle; and overseeing the negroes at home, or doing-
field work themselves when, as in the majority of cases, there
were no negroes, kept the system going. It was a frightful
responsibility, but they lived up to it, splendidly supported by
the negroes who, wherever Federal troops did not penetrate,
displayed a loyalty and devotion which could scarcely be sur-
passed. Unprotected women were safe in their care and the
later South owes still a debt of gratitude whicli Reconstruc-
tion, even if the negro had been responsible — and he was not —
could in no wise cancel.
When 1865 came the state was financially prostrate and
the complete economic breakdown and ruin which wei'e in
sight were only averted by the close of hostilities.
CHAPTER V
PRESIDENTIAL RESTORATION
As has been seen Federal troops entered the state in March.
Johnston surrendered in April and Sherman for a time
was in command of the state. He was still strong-ly in
favor of the plan of making nse of the existing state govern-
ment in the work of reorganization, a plan in which he almost
certainly had had the support of President Lincoln. But he
was overruled by the Washington authorities, with what has
since been seen to be a lack of judgment, and a fine oppor-
tunity for rapid and complete restoration was lost.
In May, General John B. Schofield took military command
of North Carolina. In a comparatively short time relative quiet
came to the state. General Schofield was a man of highest
ability and furthermore possessed of a large amount of tact,
sympathy and common sense. Immediately he issued procla-
mations announcing the cessation of hostilities, the freedom
of the slaves, and a code for the freedmen. The oath of al-
legiance was made a prerequisite for a marriage license or
for engaging in any business or profession. The towns were
soon quiet, but the country was not. Nor were the inhabitants
altogether to blame ; for the Federal troops did not soon shake
off the habits formed during the war, and even after the
proclamation of the final cessation of hostilities, the plunder-
ing and wanton destruction of property continued, often ac-
companied by outrage and violence. This, however, was the
exception, and not the rule. The disbanded Confederate sol-
diers, particularly the cavalry, foraged to some extent as they
went home. But their opportunities were not so great and
sympathy among them, naturally, was greater.
To put an end to this condition of affairs. General Scho-
field began the organization of a police force for each county,
56
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
57
detailing General J. D. Cox for the work in the western part of
the state, General Terry for the central, and Generals Haw-
ley and Palmer for the eastern. They were instructed to have
bodies of troops visit all portions of the state and arrest
marauders. General Schofield also had the oath of allegiance
administered to certain magistrates of known T^nion sjnnpa-
Oenekal John B. Schofield
thies and left them in the exercise of their functions. Prompt
justice was meted out to offenders, in and out of the army,
whenever it was possible, and whenever the troops showed
disorganization they were mustered out. Every effort was
used to have the restrictions on trade removed, for the com-
mander felt that peace would be more (juickly restored when
destitution, resulting from the abnormal conditions, was re-
lieved, and the people were employed in their usual occupa-
58 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tions. He also opposed the rulings of the treasury department
in regard to trade.
The delay in making known the policy of the United States
government regarding re-organization of the civil govern-
ment of the state was considered very unfortunate by General
Seiiofield, since he was convinced that the people were well
disposed and were ready to make and accept any necessary
changes. For the re-organization, he desired the appointment
of a military governor who should declare in force the consti-
tution of the state as it existed prior to secession, and appoint
officers to serve until the work was completed. An enrolment
should then be made of all citizens qualified to vote by state
law, after administration of the amnesty oath. A convention
should be called and its action submitted to the people. He
was anxious to be selected as military governor for the state,
provided some such plan as this was adopted, but if negro
suffrage was to be included he preferred to have no part in it.
General Halleck recommended him for the position, but later
withdrew his endorsement on the ground that he could not
recommend anyone who had advised Sherman to make the
terms which had been proposed with Johnston. General Scho-
field's measures for pacification and conciliation, meanwhile,
were meeting with such success that when he applied for
leave, early in June, he said that the presence of troops in the
state seemed almost unnecessary. His conduct of affairs
met with the hearty approval of his superiors, and, in every
way, he deserved and received the cordial gratitude of the
people of the state.
General Schofield would have made an ideal provisional
governor but the President had other ideas. Early in May
he summoned to Washington a number of North Carolinians,
including William W. HokVn, David L. Swain, B. F. Moore,
William Eaton and a number of Holden's friends and sup-
porters. A conference was held by Moore, Swain, and Eaton
witli the President who showed them the proclamation wliicli
had already been prepared for inaugurating the proposed
scheme of restoration in North Carolina. Moore vehemently
opposed the plan as unconstitutional, urging the President to
allow the legislature to meet and call a convention and thus
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
59
presei'%'e the legal contiiiiuty of the state government. The
President was entirely good-natured but nnehangeable. The
next day another conference was held with the entire group
present. The President requested them to name the provi-
sional governor. Moore, Swain, ;niil Katon declined to take
President Andrew Johnson
any part in the proceedings and the others chose Holden who
was at once appointed.
The appointment was one which might have been expected
but it was a most unfortunate one. Holden had played fast
and loose with all parties, factions, and classes, and had in
consequence lost the confid(!nce of nearly every responsible
leader of opinion in the state. In addition, he had won the
bitter enmity of a very large and influential class. Not less
important in (Ictcnniniiig tlie chiiractcr of liis administra-
60 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
tion, he was consumed with ambition and was certain to try
to use his position for the punishment of his opponents and
for contributing to his own advancement. President Johnson
formally began his policy of reconstruction on May 29th by is-
suing a proclamation granting general amnesty and pardon to
those who had been engaged in rebellion against the authority
of the United States. This restored rights of property ex-
cept in slaves and except when legal proceedings for confis-
cation had been instituted. An oath was provided to be taken
by all accepting the benefits of the proclamation. Fourteen
classes of persons were excepted from the benefits of this
proclamation. These included the executive and diplomatic
officers of the Confederacy, those who left the service of the
United States to aid the Confederacy, the governors of the
states in insurrection, all military and naval officers in the
Confederate service whose rank was above that of colonel
and lieutenant, respectively, and all who voluntarily took part
in the war whose taxable property exceeded in value $20,000.
Any person belonging to an excepted class could make ap-
plication to the President for a special pardon, and a promise
of liberal executive clemency Avas extended. The secretary of
state was directed to establish rules for the administration
of the oath.
The same day the President issued another proclamation
appointing William W. Holden provisional governor of North
Carolina. This was the first of a series of similar proclama-
tions for all the Southern states. It was based upon the
war power of the President as commander-in-chief. It gave
the provisional governor so appointed power to prescribe the
necessary rules for calling and assembling a convention whose
delegates should be chosen by the portion of the population
that was loyal to the United States at that time when it should
be called. This convention was given authority to exercise
all powers necessary to restore the state to her constitutional
relations with the United States Government, and present such
a republican form of government as would entitle the state to
the guarantee of the United States against invasion, insur-
rection, and domestic violence. It was directed to prescribe
qualifications for electors and for holders of office. The proc-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 61
lamation itself prescribed as qualifications for electors and
delegates to the convention that they should have taken the
amnesty oath as provided in the President's proclamation,
and that they should be voters qualified by the state constitu-
tio7i in force previous to May 20, 1861. All persons in the
military and naval service were dii'ected to aid the provisional
governor and enjoined from hindering and discoura.ging the
loyal people from organizing a state government. The heads
of the various deijartments were ordered to put into opera-
tion the laws of the United States and the district judge was
ordered to hold the courts.
On June 12th, Governor Holden issued a proclamation in
which summarizing the President's proclamations, he outlined
his policy. He announced that he would soon call a convention
to provide for carrying out the work of restoration and that
in the meantime he would at once appoint provisional state
and county officers. He urged the loyal people in the state to
take an interest in public affairs, to discourage disloyalty, and
to elect to office only the friends of the United States. He
devoted some space to bitter denunciation of the Confederate
government, congratulating the people upon their deliver-
ance from it. He gave good and kindly advice to the negroes,
promising assistance from the Government, and closed with
a declaration of "charity for all with malice towards none."
At first the governor moved very slowly and carefully in
his work. He was criticised for his delay in calling the con-
vention, but this was scarcely just, since he was overwhelmed
with pardon matters, thousands of applications requiring his
endorsement. Here, indeed there was room for criticism,
since he recommended the pardon of many intense secession-
ists and advised suspension of pardon in the case of such
men as William A. Graham, John M. Morehead, Josiali Tur-
ner, John A. Gilmer and many othei's who had opijosod seces-
sion with all their power. Later on he kept from pardon cer-
tain candidates for the convention whom he wished excluded.
In some cases his efforts to prevent pardon were ineffectual.
Under instruction from the President the expenses of the
provisional government were paid by the war department.
This was fortunate since there was no money in the treasury
62
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and the mass of the people were destitute. Just before the
close of the war, the state owned a large quantity of cotton
and rosin and Governor Holden was notified by Secretary
Seward that this could be retained. Most of it, however, had
already been seized and the treasury department only allowed
the state to take the "ungathered debris." Holden appointed
(lOVERNOR WUjLIAM W. HoLDEN
Jonathan Worth state treasurer and he succeeded in saving
of this an amount that brought $150,000.
By the end of July the governor had appointed more than
three thousand magistrates, officers for the counties and
towns, judges and solicitors, and directors in the corporations
in which the state had an interest. In almost all cases he chose
former whigs, and for high position recommended only one
democrat, that being Robert P. Dick, whom the President
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 63
appointed district judge but who could not take tlie iron-clad
oath.
The state was full of travellers and newspaper men from
the North who sent home' highly inaccurate accounts of the
conditions which prevailed. According to these, hostility to
the United States was rampant, a new rebellion was being
planned, and, in the selection of officers. Union men were ig-
nored. Absurd as the reports were, they were credited in the
North and vrere in the main w-ritten with the end of misrep-
resentation in view. Governor Holden was thus attacked on
both sides and in this case without justice for in the matter of
appointments he certainly displayed no partiality for seces-
sionists. In fact, leaving out of consideration all questions
of motive or of his action in some individual cases, his work
was well done. He was far less proscriptive than his enemies
or even his friends had expected.
On August 8th, he ordered an election of delegates to a
convention of the people. Voting and membership were lim-
ited to those who had been pardoned. The campaign was
quiet as there were no issues. Slavery and secession were
alike dead and apparently only the question of the war debt
remained as a problem, and concerning this there was little
or no discussion. It was generally thought that the matter
should not be touched at the time, a view in which the Sfaiid-
arrl. Holden's paper, agreed. Personal differences arose of
course in the campaign and the exclusion of some unpardoneil
men, notably, William A. Graham, aroused such feeling that
many who were qualified to vote refused, claiming that the
candidates were dictated.
The convention met in Ealeigh on October 2d, and organ-
ized by unanimously electing Judge Edwin G. Reade president.
The body, composed mainly of foniicr wliigs, contained IVw
who had been secessionists, although almost all had subniiMcd
quietly to the will of the majority. Quite a number of the
members had been connected with the peace party during the
war. While not composed of men of first rate ability, or those
of wide experience, it nevertheless had a considerable number
who had seiwed in the legislature or in ju'evious conventions.
All were sincerely anxious to restore the state to its normal
64 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA'
relations with the Union. The more important leaders in the
body were B. F. Moore, Edward Conigland, M. E. Manly,
Thomas Settle, George Howard, William Eaton, and Dennis
D. Ferebee.
The president, Judge Reade, had been a member of Con-
gress, Confederate senator, Superior Court judge and was at
the time a provisional justice of the Supreme Court. In tak-
ing the chair he made an eloquent address, looking to speedy
reconciliation and union.
In conversation and in correspondence, President Johnson
had made it clear that he expected of the convention that it
should pass ordinances nullifying the ordinance of secession
and abolishing slavery and that the first legislature should
ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. The convention took up
first the secession question. All wanted the matter ended
finally since all recognized that the doctrine was dead, but a
division appeared as to the means. An influential though
small minorit}^ desired a simple repeal of the secession ordi-
nance, while the majority desired and insisted upon an
ordinance which would declare it null and void from the begin-
ning. A bitter debate arose out of the question but the
majority finally enforced its will. The ordinance abolishing
slavery caused no such discussion and was passed unani-
mously. Both were ordered submitted to the people for
ratification.
The two great objects of the convention having- been ac-
complished, attention was turned to the reorganization of the
state government. The election of state and county officials,
members of Congress and of the legislature were provided for,
all offices, whose incumbents had taken the oath of allegi-
ance to the Confederate States, were declared vacant, but all
laws and official acts since May 20, 1861, not inconsistent with
the state and federal constitutions were declared valid as were
the acts of the provisional governor and his agents, and all
contracts were declared binding, the legislature being in-
structed to prepare a scale of depreciation of the currency
during the whole period of the war. A large number of less
important ordinances were passed and the only matter un-
settled was that of the state debt.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 65
A committee was appointed to consider the question and it
finally recommended that no action be taken at that session.
A resolution to repudiate the debt incurred in aid of the war
was at once introduced and considerable debate followed.
Immediately there was shown to the members a letter to Gov-
ernor Holden from the state agent in Washington, Dr. R. J.
Powell, which quoted every member of the cabinet except
Secretary Stanton in statements to the effect that no action
be taken at the time. This seemed conclusive as to the opinion
of the national administration and the governor, and the
resolution was tabled and in .general this action seemed ac-
ceptable to the press and to the ])ul)lic.
But a surprise was in store for the state and the conven-
tion. For some reason Governor Holden changed his opinion.
This was probably due to his discovery that the opposition to
him had come to a focus in the selection of Jonathan "\\'orth
as a candidate for governor. Representing as Worth did the
property-owming class, it probably seemed necessary to
Holden to make a special appeal to the masses who owned no
bonds and would probably welcome reijudiation. At any rate,
on the day after he learned of the ijlan to run Worth, he tele-
graphed the President that the convention had involved itself
in a bitter discussion of the deljt and that the people were
believed to be opposed to paying it, and asking if it should
not be repudiated. This false statement of the case was effec-
tive. The President at once sent a very strong letter demand-
ing repudiation and the convention, under this influence,
adopted an ordinance repudiating the entire debt incurred in
aid of the war. The requirement of the President paved the
■way for the later repudiation of the special tax bonds and
was undoubtedly a wise demand at the time from the theo-
retical standpoint, but it caused terrible hardship. It forced
every bank in the state into liciuidation and most of them to
complete ruin, impoverished thousands of the people on whom
prosperity depended, swept away the larger part of the prop-
erty of the University, and seriously impaired the Literary-
Fund which supported the public school system The respon-
sibility for all this, in the minds of the people, rested upon
66 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Holden and his action was deeply resented. It assured bis
defeat in the approaching election.
The convention adjourned until May 24, 1866, and the
campaign began at once. Holden bad been requested by a
large minority of the members of the convention to be a can-
didate and accepted. The opposition to him, after casting
about for some time, had, as has been seen, settled upon
Woi"tb, a man of much practical ability and of high cTiaracter.
He was reluctant but finally agreed to run.
The campaign which followed was very actively conducted
and grew increasingly bitter as time passed. Neither can-
didate took any open part, but there were twenty-three as-
pirants for the seven seats in Congress and at least 500 for
the 170 seats in the legislature so there was no lack of speak-
ers. The press entered enthusiastically into the battle and the
lines began to be drawn here which were to endure for years.
Holden 's supporters, with the Standard as a mouthpiece,
sought at first to defeat Worth by ridicule, but when his
strength became a|)i)arent, with some success they attem])te(l
to identify him with the original secession element and to in-
timate that his candidacy amounted to disloyalty and even to
an actual defiance of the United States. In the state it was
generally known that Worth's Union record was far better
than Holden 's, but outside the state misunderstanding of the
conditions was usual, and even the President was for a time
deceived. The most important question in the state was that
of restoration to the Union, and the slogan: "William W.
Holden and Go Back to the Union, or Jonathan Worth and
Stay Out of the Union," was highly etfective, giving Holden
a strength he would not otherwise have had.
Worth's supporters, on the other hand, did not fail to
emphasize the political unreliability of Holden and to point
out his action in relation to the war debt as an example of it.
In time they succeeded in making Holden himself the issue,
and the day had passed when he, on his own merits, could com-
mand a majority of the white men of the state although he
now had the support of such men as B. F. Moore, R. S. Don-
nell, and Bedford Brown. Instrumental in this shift of issue
was the Sentinel newspaper edited by W. E. Pell.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
67
When the election came Worth received a majority of
almost six thousand. The two ordinances were ratified in a
light vote. Of the seven congressmen chosen, all had orig-
inally opposed secession and all but two had been whigs. But
Wn.LiAM E. Pkll
Founder of the Scntiiifl
two had been in the Confederate Congress and only two could
take the iron-clad oath required for admission.
The President was much disapiK>iiited in the result and, in
a letter requesting liolden to continue for a time as provi-
sional governor, frankly said so. Holdeii took this to mean
that Worth's election might not be recognized as valid aiid lie
eagerly sought to secure this action by the President.
The legislature met late in Noveinlicr. Tliomas Settle was.
elected speaker of the House and Samuel F. I 'hi Hips speaker
68 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
of the Senate. The governor's message emphasized the neces-
sity of immediate ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
and the question was taken up at once. Opposition to the
clause giving Congress the power of enforcement was evident
and four members of the Senate offered a formal protest
against ratification, but both houses voted it by large major-
ities. Later a declaration that the power of Congress to legis-
late on the subject of the freedmen was not enlarged was
passed.
To offset Holden's charges of disloyalty a series of reso-
lutions was then passed, declaring that the people of the state
accepted in good faith the President's terms and that they
were loyal to the government of the United States and were
ready to make any sacrifice, any concessions consistent with
honor and safety, for the restoration of harmony.
Most of the session was spent in filling offices declared
vacant by the convention. William A. Graham and John Pool
were elected to the Senate, Holden having been privately
offered the latter 's seat and having refused it. Two members
of the old Supreme Court were re-elected and Judge Reade
replaced Judge Manly. Most of Holden's appointees to tlie
Superior bench were elected as well as several of the solicitors.
Almost all the new officials were fonner whigs, most of the
democrats retiring into an obscurity that was to last for some
years.
When Congress met the senators and rejrresentatives
chosen presented themselves at Washington to be sworn in,
but were denied admission along with the members from the
other late Confederate States. Under the lead of Thaddeus
Stevens the contest with the President was joined concerning
the question of Reconstruction which was to end only with the
entire overthrow of the President's plan.
It was not deemed wise to take up general legislative mat-
ters while the status of the state was unsettled and so, after
filling all the vacancies and administering the oath of office to
Worth, the legislature adjourned until the following Feb-
ruary.
On December 23d, in spite of Holden's efforts. Secretary
Seward notified him and Worth that in the opinion of the
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70 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
President the time had come to end the provisional govern-
ment, and on December 28th, Grovernor Worth assumed
office.
Throughout the administration of the provisional gov-
ernor there was constant interference by the military author-
ities with civil functions. At first there had been no question
of distinction between civil and military powers. In a sense
the provisional governor was more a military than a civil
official. His appointment and authority were based upon the
war power of the President and his chief duty was to restore
civil government. North Carolina formed a military depart-
ment at first under General Schofield and later under General
Ruger. Still later it became a part of the Department of the
South under General Sickles.
As might have been expected conflict soon arose. The
first case was when General Ruger ignored an agreement of
General Schofield with Governor Holden and forbade the
organization of a county police. Later, trouble arose from
the presence of ill-disciplined negro troops at a number of
places in the state. From the summer of 1865 until Sep-
tember, 1866, they were a serious menace to peace and security,
not only from their evil influence upon the freedmen, but also
because of their repeated and flagrant crimes, all the perpe-
trators of which went unwhipped of justice.
It was, however, in relation to the administration of justice
by the civil courts that the chief conflicts arose. They first
appeared in eases involving freedmen, in which General Ruger
asserted the jurisdiction of the military authorities and de-
clined to recognize the civil power. They later appeared in
cases affecting white persons alone. The question was carried
to the President who declined to interfere, but an agreement
was finally reached by which the civil courts had sole juris-
of cases affecting white persons and were einpowered to bind
over for trial and even to lodge in jail persons of color ac-
cused of crime. In the final disposition of the latter, as in all
other cases involving freedmen, the military power was
supreme. But in a number of cases white persons were tried
by military commission and the writ of habeas corpus was
ignored.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 71
Nor were such cases the only ones in which military law
was applied. Newspaper editors were tried and punished for
the publication of sentiments distasteful to the conquerors.
Corporal punishment by the civil courts was abolished, civil
processes were checked or forbidden, and the collection of
revenue stopped. Nor did these things cease with the close of
the provisional government, but lasted throughout the period
of presidential restoration.
Several times interference occurred in the collection of
taxes. The convention of 1865 levied a tax on all mercantile
business for that year. In Wilmington, in January, ♦SGG,
General Cook, who was then in command, issued an order re-
straining the sheriff of New Hanover from collecting the tax
from fimis trading under a Federal license. This ruling, how-
ever, was revoked by General Ruger. In 1866, General J. C.
Robinson interfered in the collection of a poll tax in Cumber-
land and Columbus counties, ordering the sheriffs to refund
all collected above $1, as the state had only levied that
amount. He was probably ignorant of the fact that the law
had a provision for increasing the amount according to the
necessities of each county."
Such was the part played by the army in North Carolina
in civil affairs during the period of presidential restoration.
Enough has been shown of the workings of the state govern-
ment to make it clear that while by degrees much was left
to tlie state authorities, the government was practically mili-
tary in that the state government performed its functions
only through the acquiescence of the military connnandors.
These commanders, in general, showed themselves to lie con-
siderate and animated by a desire for peace and harmony.
But they were naturally inclined to disregard points of law
which were of importance to a civilian, and when their minds
were made up to any course it was practically useless to ad-
vance any arguments in opposition. While their interference
in civil affairs was deeply resented and sliarply, if uselessly,
opposed in the state, the officers generally were personally
popular in the various communities in which they were sta-
tioned.
Probably the most pressing problem which confronted the
72 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
people of the state, short of that of restoration to the Union,
was that of the freedmen. Even before hostilities closed, the
Federal military authorities were confronted with it and at
the close of the war the situation was acute. General Scho-
field issued a series of regulations for their government and
control which were fair but which had little effect.
To meet the diiSculty which was of course a general one,
the Freedmen 's Bureau was established under the war de-
partment in March, 1865. Charged with the duty of looking
after the interests of the vast hordes of negroes who were at
that time following the Federal armies or who had otherwise
become a charge upon the Government, it became one of the
most important factors in Reconstruction. Created for the
purpose of caring for the homeless, destitute, and suffering
of the negro race, regarded by many as the wards of the
nation, it became by judicious manipulation the most active
radical political agency in the South, and because of that
fact it has often failed to receive due credit for the good
which is actually accomplished.
At the head of it was General Oliver 0. Howard and the
assistant commissioners for North Carolina were in turn
Colonel Eliphalet A^Hiittlesey, General Thomas H. Ruger,
Genei'al John C. Robinson, Colonel James V. Bomford, and
General Nelson A. Miles. The assistant commissioner was
given supervision over abandoned land and over all matters
relating to refugees and freedmen. The wants of the needy
were to be supplied and the freedom of the negroes guar-
anteed. Other matters coming within his province wei'e the
family relations of the freedmen, the settlement of differences
and difficulties between the negroes and the whites, assistance
to the negroes in securing land, and the removal of prejudice
on the part of old masters. This last duty shows very clearly
the attitude of the bureau. Stress was also laid upon
instruction of the freedmen as to their new duties and respon-
sibilities. The assistant commissioner was subject to military
rules, but wide jurisdiction was given him in matters of detail.
The relief of the destitute was one of the most important
of the activities of the bureau and vast supplies of food,
clothing, and medicines were issued to the destitute of both
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 73
races. The food alone, issued in North Carolina, amonntod in
value to about $1,500,000. Plospitals were established which
handled during the period more than forty thousand patients.
Another activity of the bureau was the attempt to settle
freedmen upon abandoned lands. This was soon checked,
however, by the President's restoration to the owners of most
of the land, a thing which prevented much injustice as the
agents of the bureau had shown generally an utter disregard
for private property.
Far more important in its effects upon the state as a whole
than the relief of the destitute was the relationship which was
soon established between labor and the bureau. The witness-
ing of contracts for labor and their enfox'cement were under-
taken by the bureau with varying results. The proper prepa-
ration of contracts was a good thing and a protection to both
parties, but in the enforcement of the contracts by subordinate
officers the employers were usually treated badly. The trouble
here was the main trouble with the bureau ; its higher officials
were eciuipped and on the whole good men, while its subor-
dinates were narrow and stujnd, or designing and vicious per-
sons who were busily building up a political machine and, in
the furtherance of their nefarious schemes, engaged in arous-
ing the negroes against the white people.
To enable the bureau to carry on the enforcement of con-
tracts and otherwise to protect the freedmen, it was given a
large judicial power and it at once also came into conflict with
the courts. Allusion has already been made to the compro-
mise effected with the civil authorities. But thousands of
cases were settled by the bureau.
During the whole period the bureau was actively engaged
in promoting the education of the negroes by the support and
foundation of schools. By July, 1869, 431 schools were in
operation with 439 teachers and 20,227 pupils.
Summing up its work, it is clear that great relief was fur-
nished the destitute and hundreds and probably thousands
were kept from starvation. But it undoubtedly encouraged in
the freedman a dangerous dependence on the government and
thus disorganized labor on which the prosperity of both races
depended. In the matter of protection a substantial service
74 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was rendered by the bureau to the cause of justice to the
negroes, but at the same time there was a vast amount of
injustice done to white people. Aid of much value in assist-
ing the freedmen to find employment was given, but here
again, dependence and distrust of the native white people
were encouraged.
Finally, in its educational activities, the bureau was of
considerable assistance in encouraging negro education, but,
even in this regard, it held out false hopes to the negroes,
gave encouragement to false educational ideals which have
not yet been entirely replaced by sound ones, and through
fanaticism and lack of tact made many enemies for negro
education in general.
Gross fraud characterized the management of affairs in
North Carolina, a fact which shows the character of the
agents. Political activity on the part of agents was very usual
and it was of the kind that sought to array race against race.
Hostility on the part of the mass of the native whites was
to be expected and the feeling was a just one. The bureau
had really outlived its usefulness and it was a good thing for
both races when it ceased to exist. Certainly there was among
white people no regret at its demise and no respect for the
departed.
Everyone in the state recognized that action looking to a
settlement of the status of the negroes must be taken without
delay. It was demanded by considerations of the most vital
importance. The position of the free negroes in North Caro-
lina previous to the war was different from that in most of
the other Southern states. The same was true after general
emancipation had taken place. By a decision rendered by
Judge Gaston in 1838 the inhabitants of the state were de-
clared to form two classes, citizens and aliens. Slaves, from
their condition, belonged to the latter class, but free persons
of color formed part of the former class. By emancipation,
therefore, citizenship was immediately conferred upon some
three hundred thousand persons who had hitherto been
"aliens through the disability of slavery." Free negroes
hitherto had been, like other citizens, entitled to the privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus, to trial by jury, to own property.
HISTOKY OF NORTH CAROLINA 75
even in slaves, to prosecute and defend suits in courts of jus-
tice, and, as incident to this, to make alKidavits for a continu-
ance and to prove by their own oaths, even against wliite per-
sons, accounts for lalxir to the amount of $60. But the free
negroes had been accustomed to tlie exercise of their liberties
and were limited in number. Wlien the end of the war brought
general emancipation, the fear naturally arose that the freed-
men, newly endowed with citizenship, would be uiipi'ci)ared for
its rights without special limitations. The question tiius arose
as to what changes would have to be made to enable this new
class of citizens to enter upon their rights, and, at the same
time, their duties, without disturbance and injury to the liody
politic. To decide this question, the convention had authorizi'd
a commission to be appointed by the provisional governor, and
Governor Holden had appointed B. F. Moore, W. S. Mason,
and R. S. Donnell, who at once began their work.
They presented their report to the General Assembly in
January, 1866. It was an able and elaborate discussion of
the whole subject with a proposed scheme of legislation, based
on the recognized citizenship of the freedmen. They advised
the repeal of all laws which atfected specially the colored
race, and the re-enacting of such as were necessary. The
main bill which they recommended, and which was passed
with a few minor changes, defined as persons of color negroes
and their issue to the fourth generation, even when one par-
ent was white in each generation. They were declared en-
titled to the same rights and privileges and subject to the
same disabilities as free persons of color prior to general
emancipation. They were also declared entitled to the same
privileges as white persons in suits and proceedings at law
and in equity. The law of apprenticeship was altered so as
to apply to both races alike, with the one exception, that in
the case of the negroes, former owners had a preference over
all other persons. The marriage of former slaves was made
valid, and provision was made for registration. Marriage be-
tween white and colored persons was forbidden, and a penalty
provided for issuing license in such cases and for ])crforniing
the ceremony. All contracts, where one or more of the parties
were colored, for property of the value of $10 or more, wei-e
76 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
void, unless put in writing, signed by the parties, and wit-
nessed by a white person who could read and write. Persons
of color were declared competent witnesses in all cases at
law or in equity where the rights or property of persons of
color were involved, and also in pleas of the state where the
offense was alleged to have been committed against a person
of color. In other cases their testimony was admissible by
consent. This was not to go into effect until jurisdiction in
affairs relating to the freedmen should be left to the state
courts. All criminal laws were changed so as to apply alike
to both races, and the punishment was made the same except
in the case of an assault with intent to commit rape upon a
white woman. When the assault was committed by a person
of color it was a capital offense ; otherwise it was an aggra-
vated assault and punishable under the common law by fine
and imprisonment. A special court of wardens for the col-
ored poor was authorized for each county.
The report met with considerable opposition for there was
a general feeling against giving the negroes the right to tes-
tify but finally the bill passed. At the same time the com-
mission secured the passage of acts providing punishment for
a considerable number of offenses, common among the negroes
but operating on both races alike.
The system adopted was eminently just and was notable
among the so-called "Black Codes." It failed, however, to
win the approval of officials of the Freedmen 's Bureau who
would not surrender their jurisdiction over the freedmen.
For this reason the convention, when it reassembled, abolished
all discriminations.
The social and economic condition of the freedmen during
1865 and 1866 was one that might well excite pity. Their
first instinct upon emancipation had naturally been to move
about and put their freedom to a test. This test was fre-
quently made by a change of name, residence, employment,
and wife. Town life, with its excitement, furnished an almost
irresistible attraction, and only the presence of troops was
necessary to render it completely so. Freedom, in their
minds, meant freedom not only from slavery but from work,
with a continuation of their former freedom from responsi-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 77
bility. Eefusal to work resulted naturally iu want of the
necessaries of life, and sickness and destitution were general
in the towns. In the country matters were somewhat better.
There the demoralization of those that remained was not so
great and support was more easily obtained either by labor
or dishonesty. Crime increased gi-eatly as time went By. The
newspapers in almost every issue, had accounts of violence
and crime committed by freedmen, and, in most cases, these
went unpunished. The bureau agents, either from intention
or inability, accomplished little to remedy the condition of
affairs. In many instances it was impossible for the farmers
to keep the smaller live stock with any degree of security,
and even horses and cattle were frequently stolen. The large
number of wandering negroes increased the difficulty of bring-
ing the offenders to justice.
To add to the difficulty of settling the problem of the ne-
gro, outside influences were brought to bear. Petitions to the
President were circulated asking for equal political privi-
leges with the white people. Series of meetings were held
at various towns and later a convention met in Raleigh at
which appeared some of the negroes who were to become
prominent later, notably J. W. Hood, a carpet-bagger from
Connecticut, and James H. Harris and A. H. Galloway, na-
tives who had been educated in the North. These leaders
were looking to suffrage but the time was not regarded as
ripe and they contented themselves with a well-written request
to the constitutional convention for protection and education.
The question of negro suffrage was already under discus-
sion. Alfred M. Waddell, of Wilmington, in August, 1865,
in a speech to the negroes, advocated it for those qualified.
The Sentinel, a little later, while opposed, opened its columns
to a strong series of unsigned articles written by Victor C.
Barringer in advocacy of negro suffrage. The interesting
fact in connection with the discussion was the absence of
strong feeling. Of opposition there was a great deal, but so
conservative a man as D. L. Swain favored restricted suf-
frage for the lower house for the freedmen under certain cir-
cumstances. The only bitterness of opposition came from the
Standard, again edited by Holden, and the group of men who,
78 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
now favoring very severe restrictions upon the freednien,
were later, under the Readership of Holden, to organize in
North Carolina the republican party upon the foundation of
unrestricted negro suffrage.
Upon the inauguration of Governor Worth, Holden, as
has been said, resumed editorial control of the Standard which
soon became an opposition paper, not only as regarded state
politics, but in national matters as well. In the spring of
1866 abuse of the radicals had ceased and by the summer
Holden was definitely aligned with them in opposition to the
President's policy. In state affairs he was increasingly bit-
ter, asserting that traitors were in control of the government
and declaring open w^ar upon them.
About this time the convention met in adjourned session
and undertook to revise the constitution, in spite of the oppo-
sition of a considerable number of members who doubted its
authoritj' for such work. In June the work was completed
and the new constitution was submitted for ratification. It
was in form and arrangement largely the work of B. F. Moore.
It was a more compact instrument than the original and had
several changes of importance. The basis of representation
for the House of Commons was changed to white population,
the office of lieutenant-governor was established, and the quali-
fications for office-holding were somewhat altered. No one
could be governor or lieutenant-governor unless he had been
for twenty years a citizen of the United States and five years
a resident of the state, and possessed land in fee to the value
of $2,000. The freehold qualification of senators and members
of the House of Commons were changed and five years' resi-
dence was required. Suffrage and office-holding were limited
to white persons.
There was but little opposition to the constitution itself
and it would doubtless have been ratified but for the feeling
that the convention was lacking in authority to alter the fun-
damental law in a general way. A letter, written by Judge
Ruffin to Edward Conigland and published without signature,
which strongly emphasized this point turned the tide against
ratification and it was rejected by a majority of less than
two thousand.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 79
In June, Governor Worth, who had favored ratification,
announced himself a candidate for re-election. Holden knew
that he could not himself win, but he was determined on a
contest in order to maintain the lines of party cleavage. Al-
ready there were developing within the state the beginnings
of party division. The supporters of the President sent dele-
gates to the National Union convention in Philadelphia in
August, and in the Southern Unionist convention which met in
the same place two weeks later there was a considerable body
of men who claimed North Carolina as home although only
two were natives. One of these had left the state in 1842.
Four were of the type soon to be known as eai-pct-liaggers,
including Albion W. Tourgee and Byron Laflin who were to
win imperishable notoriety by their later leadership in evil.
The former was particularly active in the convention and was
vehement in his demand for negro suffrage.
With the meeting of this convention stimulus was found
for action at home by the opponents of the President's pol-
icy. Inspired by Northern men preliminary local meetings
were held and a state convention met in Raleigh in September
which endorsed the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, cen-
sured the Worth administration, declared that only the un-
mistakably loyal should hold office in North Carolina, and
nominated Alfred Dockery for governor. Holden addressed
the body in favor of the congressional plan but still opposed
negro suffrage. Here began, in fact but not in name, the
republican party in North Carolina.
Dockery declined the nomination while expressing sym-
pathy with the views of the convention, but Holden advised
the opposition to vote for him regardless of his wishes. In
a spiritless campaign in which the Fourteenth Amendment
was the only important issue Worth was elected by a large
majority'.
Like its predecessor, the legislature was coTuposod largely
of old whigs. It displaced John Pool as United States sen-
ator-elect, because of his public declaration that he had sought
and accepted office during the war only in order to injure the
Confederate cause, and elected Judge M. E. Manly in his
place. Holden now openly opposed the Fourteenth Amend-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 81
ment as pot sufficiently stringent against traitors and went to
Wasliington to urge further action by Congress.
Tlie committee, appointed to consider the amendment, re-
ported with only one dissenting vote against ratification, on
the ground that a large number of unrelated questions were
submitted together, without any opportunity of choice be-
tween them, and that it was submitted in an unconstitutional
manner since eleven Southern states were denied representa-
tion in Congress. The first section was opposed because it
was so vague in regard to the "privileges and immunities of
citizens of the United States" that the right of a state to
regulate its own internal affairs might be destroyed. The
objection to the second section was that it impaired the right
of the individual states to regulate the suffrage and that it
would be the pretext of constant intermeddling by the Federal
courts in state affairs. The principle of the new basis of
representation was attacked as was the penalty for restric-
tion of the suffrage as inconsistent with the theory of the
political system of the United States. The third section was
opposed as an unfair attempt to punish a particular class of
Southern men in whom the people had confidence. The fourth
section was declared unnecessary and the fifth section was de-
nounced as opening the way for unlimited congressional in-
terference. Finally, the committee asked what .guarantee the
state had, even if the amendment was ratified, that nothing
more would be required.
The report represented very fairly opinion in the state
and it was adopted with two dissenting votes in the Senate
and fifteen in the House. The resolution of rejection was
then adopted with one dissenting vote in the Senate and ten
in the House.
Immediately a number of the opposition went to Wash-
ington to join Holden and Pool who were in conference with
the radical leaders. At the request of these North Caro-
linians, Thaddeus Stevens introduced on December 13th, a
bill for the reconstruction of North Carolina which had been
prepared by them, and which, after reciting the facts of seces-
sion, war, and presidential restoration in a biased fashion, and
after calling attention to the duty of Congress to preserve
Vol. Ill— 6
&2 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
a republican form of government, provided that on May 20,
1867, a convention of loyal citizens of the "district formerly
comprising the State of North Carolina" should meet in
Raleigh to prepare a constitution which after ratification
should be submitted to Congress for approval. All who could
read or write or who owned $100 worth of real estate could
vote and no person who had formerly had the right to vote
could be disfranchised. An "iron-clad" oath which would
have excluded all persons who had been loyal to the Confeder-
ate cause was provided for office-holders. This bill was re-
ferred and died in committee. The proposed oath was later
offered by Stevens as a prerequisite for voting.
In the meantime the state administration was not idle.
A commission was appointed to go to Washington to investi-
gate the situation. At first hopeful they soon saw that. Con-
gress would win and with Governor Orr, of South Carolina,
Governor Parsons, of Alabama, Governor Marvin, of Florida,
Judge James of Arkansas, and some of the members of Con-
gress, they prepared a compromise in the form of an amend-
ment to replace the one already proposed. It added a sec-
tion declaring the Union perpetual, dropped the one imposing
disabilities, retained the connection of apportionment of rep-
resentation and suffrage, and limited the power of the states
to impose property and intelligence qualifications. A part
of the plan was an amendment to each state constitution, ex-
tending the franchise.
The plan excited no enthusiasm in North Carolina. It
probably would have passed but for the feeling that it was
impossible to do anj^thing but save self-respect. A bill calling
a constitutional convention was passed but lacked the required
majority. A resolution proposing a national constitutional
convention passed with opposition from the extreme radicals.
The debates were stormy, and w^hile the radicals were in a mi-
nority they could cause infinite trouble. They had traveled
rapidly an interesting but circuitous path. First the supporters
of the President, they had lauded him to the skies, praised his
policy, and denounced the radicals in Congress. They had
bitterly opposed, not only negro suffrage but every attempt
to recognize the citizenship of the negro, and to give him
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 83
ordinary civil rights, sticli as the right to sue iu the courts
or even to allow him to testify in his own behalf. Ousted from
control of state affairs, they had held the ear of the Presi-
dent for a time, but had finally come to oppose him and all
he stood for and to favor Congress and finally to accept the
Fo^^rteenth Amendment. They now took the last step. On
December 26, 1866, Holden wrote the Albany Evening Jour-
nal, taking strong ground for negro suffrage and saying, in
conclusion, "The rebel leaders, who are controlling these
States, are totally regardless of political duty, and totally
bent on mischief. You must govern them, or they will at last
again govern you." And on January 1, 1867, at a meeting of
the negroes in the African Church in Raleigh, he declared
himself in favor of unqualified negro suffrage, and introduced
a resolution requesting Congress to reorganize the state gov-
ernment on the basis of "loyal white and black suffrage."
For the future, or as long as he was in political life, he pro-
moted negro suffrage as violently as he had opposed it in the
past. He at once commenced the preparation of petitions to
Congress praying that negro suffrage might be established,
and circulated them among both black and white.
Beginning now, wdth the new year, there followed a cam-
paign based, as similar ones before, on the supposed alarm-
ing conditions in the state. The life and property of all
Union men were declared in extreme danger, unless Congress
should interfere at once in their behalf. Those conducting
the campaign hinted at severe measures, and Holden said
that he regretted that the property of about five hundred i)cr-
sons in each state had not been confiscated, and that eight or
ten of the leaders in each state had not been executed. Later
he said that confiscation was a possibility, and even a proba-
bility. Already many of his followers wore denuuiding it in
the hope that they would profit thereby.
The whole state was excited and uneasy. Doubt as to
the outcome of the struggle between the President and Con-
gress had almost entirely disappeared, and the only question
was how far Congress would go in the destruction of the in-
stitutions of the Southern state. In the West, A. IT. .lones
was leading in an effort to secure from Congress tlie division
84 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of the state, so that the Union men of that section could pro-
tect themselves from the "rebels" of the East. In this tur-
moil and excitement, the news came of the passage of the
reconstruction acts and the establishment of the military gov-
ernment.
CHAPTER VI
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
The experiment, if it be so called, of restoration on the
plan laid down by the President, lacked, from the standpoint
of the individual states concerned, but one thing to be suc-
cessful. Within these states the various departments of gov-
ernment, when free from outside interference, exercised their
normal functions apparently in the manner prescribed by law
and custom. But the relations of these states to the United
States were abnormal by reason of the refusal of Congress
to receive their representatives. Recognition of the existing
state governments by the legislative branch of the general
government was utterly lacking.
There were many things which, united, caused the exis-
tence of this condition of affairs. Congress, before the close
of hostilities, had clearly shown and expressed the opinion
that the matter of the reconstruction of the seceded states
was a problem the solution of which properly belonged to Con-
gress. The reason of this, beyond jealousy for the preroga-
tives of the legislative branch of the Government, encroached
upon by the executive branch during the war, was largely the
ditferenee which appeared between the view of the results of
the war held by the majority of the members and that held
by the President, particularly as related to the status of the
seceded states and the treatment of the freedmen. This dif-
ference increased after the death of President Lincoln and
the succession of President Johnson. A combination of sen-
timentalism and of solicitude for the future welfare of the
republican party caused the radical element of that party to
demand that the suffrage should be extended to the lately
emancipated slaves. This demand formed a basis of opposi-
tion to the President. At first the many differences of opin-
85
86 HISTORY OF NORTH CAKOLINA
ion in the party and a desire to avoid an open rupture with
the President made a policy of waiting advisable, if not ac-
tually necessary. In this period of delay a consolidation of
opinion took place which enabled the radicals to cope with
the President successfully when the occasion arose.
In pursuance of this policy of delay, a resolution was
passed providing for a joint committee of both houses on the
condition of the states lately in insurrection. The committee
was chosen, and to it were referred all matters relating to
the states in question. When, at the opening of Congress, the
delegations from the Southern states presented themselves,
as has been seen, no action was taken at first, and finally a
resolution, introduced by Thaddeus Stevens, was passed by
both houses, forbidding the admission of members from any
of the eleven Southern states until Congress should formally
have declared such a state entitled to representation. During
the period which elapsed before the Reconstruction commit-
tee reported finally, many individual bills were reported by it
and considered in Congress. Through this discussion the
policy of Congress was finally outlined and developed. In
the meantime, an investigation was being made by the com-
mittee of the condition of affairs in the South.
Prior to this, investigations into Southern conditions had
already been made. General Grant in November, 18f)5,
after visiting Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, submitted
to the President a most favorable report upon the conditions
existent and the feeling of the people. Slavery and the right
of secession he said were accepted in good faith as matters of
the past and he thought the people ready to do anything hon-
orable in order to return to self-government in the Union.
B. C. Truman and Carl Schurz also made tours of investiga-
tion but neither reached North Carolina. Truman's views
coincided with those of General Grant while Schurz, who
really came South to verify a set of preconceived and iron
clad ideas and to gather radical material, was able to his own
satisfaction to accomplish both objects.
The radicals were not content with these reports, none of
which, not even that of Schurz, contained the sort of informa-
tion they desired as an indictment of the South and the presi-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 87
deiitial policy. Sub-oomniittees of the Reeoiistructioii l'oui-
inittee were appointed to take evidence, witnesses being sum-
moned from every Southern state. Twelve witnesses were
examined for North Carolina. Onlj^ one of these was a native
though two others had lived in the state prior to the war.
Eight had been officers in the Union array and six of these
were bureau agents. The otlier was a Northern war corre-
spondent. Most of the testimony painted a dark picture of
conditions, agreeing as to the widespread hostility to the
freedmen, the United States (xovernment, and all Northern
men. The testimony of Maj. II. C. Lawrence, a republican
and an agent of the bureau, was in complete opposition to tlii.s
and he gave the people a hearty endorsement. Such was the
general character of the testimony. It had little or no effect
upon the committee or upon their conclusions, nor indeed v.as
it intended to have.
The committee made its report in June, 1866. The ma-
jority report declared that the seceded states at the close of
hostilities had been in a state of complete anarchy, without
governments or the power to form them except by permis-
sion of the victors. The plan of restoration adopted by the
President was approved as a temporary military expedient
for preserving order. The President's recommendation to
Congress that these states should be admitted to representa-
tion was declared to have been based on incomplete evidence.
When he made it, he had not withdrawn the militarj^ forces
or restored the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and
he still exercised over the people of these states military pow-
er and jurisdiction. Moreover, the I'eport alleged, in all the
seceded states, except perhaps Arkansas and Tennessee, the
elections for state officers and members of Congress "had re-
sulted almost universally in the defeat of candidates who had
been true to the Union, and in the election of notorious and
unpardoned rebels who could not take the prescribed oath and
made no secret of their hostility to the Government and peo-
ple of the United States."
From the evidence which it had secured, the committee
was convinced that devotion to the Confederacy and its lead-
ers was still existent, and republican government endangered
88 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
by a " spirit of oligarchy ' ' based on slavery. The final opinion
of the committee was that the states lately in rebellion had
become, through war, disorganized communities; that Con-
gress could not be expected to recognize as valid the election
of representatives from these communities, nor would it be
justified in admitting the respective communities to partici-
pation in government "without first providing such consti-
tutional or other guarantees as will tend to secure the civil
rights of all citizens of the republic; a just apportionment of
representation; protection against claims founded in rebel-
lion and crime; a temporary restoration of the right of suf-
frage to those who have not actively participated in the efforts
to destroy the Union and overthrow the government, and the
exclusion from positions of public trust of at least a portion
of those whose crimes have proved them to be enemies of
the Union and unworthy of public confidence. ' '
As has been seen, the Fourteenth Amendment was deci-
sively rejected by North Carolina. It met the same fate in
all the other Southern states except Tennessee and when Con-
gress met it was evident that with the refusal of ratification
as a pretext some more radical plan would be tried. By Feb-
ruary, 1867, it had become a determined fact that the state
governments, as organized by the President, should be super-
seded by others organized under military authority; that the
political leaders of the Southern states should be disqualified
from taking part in the reorganization of the governments ;
and that the right of suffrage should be extended to the negro
by national legislation, in utter defiance of the constitutional
right of the individual states in the matter. In pursuance of
this determination, the act of March 2, 1867, "to provide for
a more efficient government of the rebel States" was passed.
It was vetoed by the President, but was passed over the veto
on the same day. Declaring in the preamble that no legal
state governments or adequate protection for life or property
existed in the ten "rebel" states, the act provided that these
states should be divided into five military districts, each
under an officer of the army of not lower rank than brigadier-
general, and made subject to the military authority of the
United States. North Carolina and South Carolina formed
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 89
the second district. Tlie commander of each district was re-
quired to protect all persons in thoir rights and to suppress
insurrection, disorder, and violence. In the i)uni!^hment of
offenders, he was authorized to allow the civil tribunals to
take jurisdiction, or if he deemed it necessary, to organize
military commissions for the purpose. All interference with
such tribunals by the state authorities was declared void and
of no effect. It was further provided tliat the i)eople of any
of the said states should be entitled to representation when-
ever they should have framed and ratified a constitution in
conformity with the Constitution of the United States. This
constitution nuist be framed by a convention elected by the
male citizens of the state, regardless of race, color, or pre-
vious condition, with the exception of those disfranchised for
participation in rebellion or for felony. Those persons on
whom disabilities would be imposed by the proposed Four-
teenth Amendment were disqualified from holding a seat in
the convention and from voting for delegates. The constitu-
tion thus framed, and containing tlie provision that all per-
sons whom the act of Congress made electors should retain
the electoral franchise, must then be approved by Congress.
"Whenever representatives should be admitted, the portion
of the act establishing military governments would become
inoperative so far as concerned the state in question. Until
the completion of this reconstruction, the existing civil gov-
ernments were declared provisional and liable at any time
to modification or abolition.
On March 23d, a supplementary act was passed. The
original act left the Mhole matter of the initiation of recon-
struction very indefinite. The supplementary act provided
that the district commanders should cause a registration to
be made of all male citizens who could take a required oath
as to their qualifications as electors. The election of dele-
gates to a convention should then be held by the commanders.
For the sake of giving at least an appearance of following
the will of the people, the act provided that the question of
holding the convention should be submitted to them at the
same time. Unless a majority of the registered voters took
part in the election and a majority in favor of holding the
90 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
convention resulted, no convention should be held. Provision
was made for boards of election composed only of those who
could take the "iron-clad" oath. Finally it was provided that
a majority of those registered must take part in the voting
on the ratification of the constitution in order to make it
valid. This act was also vetoed by President Johnson and
promptly repassed by the required majorities.
In July, Congress met again. In the meantime Attorney-
General Stanbery had sent to the President an interpretation
of the act, which closely restricted the power of the military
commanders. At once another supplementary act was passed,
as an authoritative intei*pretation of the former acts. It gave
the commanders full power to make any removals from office
that they might see fit, and authorized the boards of registra-
tion to go behind the oath of an applicant for registration
whenever it seemed to them necessary. District commandei's,
the boards of registration, and all officers acting under either
were relieved from the necessity of acting in accordance with
the opinion of any civil officer of the United States. The
executive and judicial officers referred to in the imposition
of disabilities were declared to include the holders of all civil
offices created by law for the administration of justice or for
the administration of any general law of a state. An exten-
sion of time for registration was authorized, and also a re-
vision of the lists of registered voters before the election.
This act, as was now the customary thing, had to be passed
over the President's veto.
Such was the most important legislation enacted for the
restoration of the South. Questions of precedent and of con-
stitutional law were alike disregarded in their passage, and
justification found for all. A discussion of their constitu-
tionality, however, is not a part of this study. It is sufficient
to say that the laws were effective.
Within the state the debates in Congress caused the utmost
dismay. Acting under the authority of the council of state,
Governor Worth sought to find a way of testing the consti-
tutionality of the reconstruction acts. Judge Ruffin and Judge
BenJEunin R. Curtis of Massachusetts, however, advised
against the plan as useless and, deciding against the plan, the
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
91
governor and council finally urged the peoi)k' to register,
send as good men as possible to the convention, and decide
later if the resulting constitution should be ratified or re-
jected.
The first reconstruction act was at once declared in force
in North Carolina and (leneral Daniel E. Sickles was assigned
General Daniel E. Sickles
to command of the second district with lieadiiuarters in South
Carolina. He was not unknown in the state, for he had been
in command of the department of which North Carolina
formed a part, and had been rather popular than otherwise.
Consequently his assignment was received with as much sat-
isfaction as could be expected undi'r the circumstances. As a
matter of fact, opposition to the enforcement of the recon-
struction act was apparently dead. It had been violent until
92 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the passage of the act, and then there seemed to be a general
acquiescence if not agreement. But it was only resignation.
No one can believe that anything approaching a majority of
the white people of the state favored the destruction of the
existing state government. But power to resist was lacking,
and apathy succeeded protestation. The supplementary act
was really received with joy by the conservative element.
This feeling was caused by the effect it had upon the plans
of the radicals in the state. Immediately after the passage
of the first reconstruction act, the "loyal" members of the
legislature, which was then in session, acting under the influ-
ence of Holden, issued a call for a meeting of "loyal" citizens
to devise a plan for calling a convention of the people. The
primary meeting was held and a committee appointed to de-
vise and carry out a plan for organization. By comparison
with what this meant, military government seemed to the con-
servatives far preferable.
General Sickles immediately upon assuming command is-
sued an order declaring the civil government provisional and
continuing it with full authority. He asked the co-operation
and assistance of all and evidently desired as little change as
possible. General criminal jurisdiction for example remained
with the civil courts. He and Governor Worth were in con-
stant coiaference and his policy was greatly influenced thereby.
In April, General Sickles, largely guided by conditions in
South Carolina, issued his famous "General Order, No. 10,"
which prohibited impressment for debt unless accompanied
by fraud and which forbade the enforcement of judgments
and executions on causes of action arising after secession and
prior to the end of the war, and which stayed for a year those
arising prior to secession. A homestead exemption of $500
was provided and wages for labor were made a lien upon
crops. Corporal punishment was forbidden. The order ac-
complished some good and probably more evil and led in
time to an absurd state of alTairs which will be described
later. While his power of removal was but little employed.
General Sickles kept a very close supervision over the actions
of civil officers and by general orders greatly modified exist-
ing laws. For instance, the distillation of grain was forbid-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 93
den, license to sell liquor was restricted, and discrimination
between the races in public conveyances was prohibited. As
an inevitable result, interference with the state courts fol-
lowed, taking the form first of orders that negroes be allowed
to serve on the juries, which was quietly acquiesced in by the
judges, but extending later to serious interference with the
action of the courts. In several cases military oificers inter-
fered to free notorious criminals fi'om punishment and even
to alter court records. Finally, Judge Merrimou resigned.
Later on, during General Canby's administration, the same
methods still being followed, Judge Fowle resigned.
Nor wei-e state courts alone liable to military interference.
In June, 1867, the first session of the Circuit Court of the
United States to be held in the South since the close of the
war was opened at Raleigh, with Chief Justice Chase pre-
siding. In opening the court the chief justice said that while
military authority was still exercised, it was not in its power
to control the judicial authority, state or national. The mili-
tary commander held a different view. When the marshal
attempted to sell under execution some property in Wilming-
ton to satisfy a debt owed outside the state, the post com-
mander, acting under the authority of General Order No. 10,
stopped the sale and was sustained by General Sickles.
The matter was referred to the President who sustained the
court and suspended General Sickles 's order so far as it
applied to proceedings of the Federal courts. This left a
strange situation of affairs in which a foreign creditor could
obtain relief denied to creditors within the state. General
Sickles protested in an insubordinate letter and the at-
torney-general had taken steps for his criminal indictment
when on Aug-ust 26th, the President removed him and as-
signed General E. R. S. Ganby to succeed him.
The administration of General Sickles was as popular in
the state as such a military administration could have been.
He showed, it is true, complete contempt for constitutional
and legal restrictions, but he was strongly desirous of better-
ing economic conditions and was ready to take advice from
those in whom the majority of white people had confidence,
and he frequently and voluntarily bore witness in favor of
94 HISTORY OP NORTH CAEOLINA
the state. He believed in general amnesty, was in sjTupathy
with the disfranchised and thus won the enmity of the radical
leaders whom he had uniformly ignored.
General Canby's assumption of command brought at first
few changes in policy. Later his administration was char-
acterized by more frequent and grpater interference with civil
affairs. The courts were practically overthrown and crime
increased to such an alarming extent that in April, 1868, a
provost court with jurisdiction over almost half the state was
established in Raleigh. His removals from office also caused
criticism. The military force in the state during the whole
period was small, less than a thousand men being dis-
tributed among ten posts.
During the administration of General Sickles, the order
for a general registration was published with the provision
that it sliould begin in July. At once the work of organizing
the registration boards for the nearly two hundred districts
began. To the great disgust of the radicals, Governor Wortli
was asked to recommend suitable persons for the positions.
Only those who could take the iron-clad oath could serve and
as few native whites could take it, he had to iind the men from
former Union soldiers for the majority of the places. A few
negroes were recommended, but none from the Union League
which was already winning an unwholesome reputation. Gen-
eral Nelson A. Miles had already ordered bureau agents to
select one colored member, a native white, and an army officer
or bureau agent for each election district.
Everything was ready when General Sickles, thinking it
best to wait for Congress to decide who could vote, and, with
his usual regard for the welfare of the people, wishing the
crops to be laid by, postponed indefinitely the beginning of
registration. But on August 1st, the rules were published
and post commanders given full supervision of their districts.
A little later Sickles was removed, lint under Canl)y the work
was carried to a conclusion. Finally, on October 18th, he de-
clared registration completed, and issued the order for an
election to be held on November 19th and 20th. The usual
regulations for the conduct of an election were made. Sher-
iffs and other peace officers were ordered to be in attendance ;
^
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 95
soldiers were forbidden to approach tlie polls except as quali-
fied voters; ull saloons were ordered to be closed, and mem-
bers of the boards of registration, who were also candidates
for the convention, were forbidden to serve as judges of elec-
tion in their respective counties. The "iron-clad" oath was
required, which excluded most native whites from service as
election officials.
In the latter part of October, the decisions of the general
board of rules and regulations in regard to grounds of chal-
lenge were revised. The circular shows the interpretation of
General Canby as to disqualification for registration. The
decision of General Sickles that, in case entering the sel■^■ice
of the Confederacy or giving aid and comfort to its adher-
ents had been involuntary, no disqualification existed, had al-
ready been published. Under the interpretation of General
Canby the holding of only certain specified offices prior to
the war constituted a disqualification. Among them were the
following: sheriff, county clerk, member of the legislature,
justice of the peace, school commissioner, tax collector, con-
stable, postmaster, and marshal. But no disqualification was
caused by having held any of the following positions : deputy
sheriff, deputy marshal, assistant postmaster, clerk of the
state senate, keeper of a lighthouse, or notary public.
As to the question of what constituted aid to the Confed-
eracy, it was held, among other things, that investment in-
Confederate bonds, collecting supplies for the Confederacy,
making speeches in support of the war, and holding a mail
contract or any civil or military office were acts that carried
disqualification. But making charitable contributions or be-
ing a candidate for office did not constitute aid and comfort
in the disqualifying sense. Hiring out horses to the Confed-
eracy was disloyalty, but hiring them to Confederate soldiers
was not.
The result of the registration was as follows :
Whites 106,721
Blacks 72,932
Total 179,653
96 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Nineteen counties had negro majorities, and in several
others the white majority was less than a hundred. No defi-
nite idea can be formed of the number disqualified on account
of disabilities imposed by the reconstruction acts. The regis-
tration, of 1868, when the disabilities did not have the effect
of disfranchisement, showed a gain of 17,220. But many who
were qualified did not register in 1867 and did so in 1868.
Many accusations of fraud were made but there were no
open outbreaks of disorder. Many negroes not of age regis-
tered, and in many cases qualified white men were denied.
But on the whole the registration was as fair as it was ever
intended to be or as it could be under the system employed.
As regards the qualification of the new electorate for the
exercise of the franchise, the primary fact naturally was the
dense ignorance among the negroes. Many of them, more-
over, were vicious and idle, but probably not in so great a
proportion as during the years immediately following. Cer-
tainly they were not so vicious. From the nature of things,
also, they were able to bear a very small part of the burdens
of citizenship and paid a very small part of the taxes.
During this period bitterness increased and conditions
grew steadily worse. The workings of the reconstruction acts
made them increasingly unpopular. Canby's name became
associated in the minds of many with the conditions which
prevailed and is execrated to this day. He was personally
disliked also by those with whom he came in contact, not a
large number, however, since he did not enter North Caro-
lina until January, 1868.
On March 27, 1867, in response to a call issued by a com-
mittee appointed by the minority memljers of the legisla-
ture, a convention assembled in Ealeigh composed of dele-
gates, black as well as white, from fifty-six counties. In ori-
gin and membership it represented the opposition to the
"Worth administration in the state and that of President John-
son in the United States. Upon their assembling Robert P.
Dick proposed that they proceed to the organization of the
republican party in North Carolina. This was the declared
intention of many present and excited no surprise but met in-
stant and vehement opposition from Daniel R. Goodloe, the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 97
only native present clear of any adherence to the Confederacy,
an abolitionist and a republican since the founding- of the
party, and from B. S. Hedrick, both of whom deplored the
certain loss of support of many desirable citizens who would
not join the rei^ublican party. But such arguments were un-
availing and the name was adopted. The meeting- was chiefly
notable for the prominence accorded the colored delegates
and the manifest delight of the white delegates at their pres-
ence. So marked was this that it was clear that the "loyal"
white people were willing to unite with the negroes on terms
of absolute equality. Resolutions were adopted accepting re-
publican doctrine and calling a state convention of the party.
As was to be expected, the convention received its full
share of abuse. Its members were given titles that were
hardly relished by them, such as "Holdenites" and "Holden
miscegenationists." The claim of the newly-organized party
to a monopoly of loyalty seemed worse than absurd to the
conservatives, and the leaders of the party were all distrusted
b,v their opponents on account of their former records. Nor
was the name of the party more popular in North Carolina
than in the other Southern states. In this expressed dislike
of the republican party, the former whigs were leaders. The
democrats, who had formerly been most bitterly hostile to
the party, were not at all prominent in political affairs just
now. As has been seen, the state administration was in the
hands of former whigs who had opposed secession until the
call for troops, and some, like Jonathan Worth and Josiah
Turner, until the passage of the secession ordinance. Those
who had originally favored secession were in almost every
instance in political retirement. AVith inost of them this re-
tirement was voluntary. They were fully conscious of de-
feat and ready to accept the decision and final settlement of
the questions involved in the late struggle, and they did not
care at this time to take any active part in politics. Most of
them were convinced that things wore in general out of joint,
and their most acute sensation was one of regret at the fail-
ure of the Confederate cause. To arouse them from this con-
dition of mind, a change of conditions was necessary. This
was accomplished by the enforcement of the reconstruction
98 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
acts. In 1865 and later, the democratic party seemed dead
forever in North Carolina, but the organization of the repub-
lican party in the state under the leadership of W. W. Holden,
B, P. Dick, and Thomas Settle, three former democrats, and
the first-mentioned the father of the secession movement in
North Carolina, began its resuscitation.
There were immediate manifestations of feeling directed
against the leaders of the new party, particularly against
Holden who retaliated with threats of sweeping confiscation,
a policy to which he was now inclined. But there was no or-
ganized opposition as yet and no prospect of any important
opposition to the reconstruction acts.
The organization of the republican party was carried out
in every county. Prominent Northern republicans came South
to assist in this. Secret political societies were the chief
agency, the Heroes of America among the whites and the
Union League among the negroes. This latter body made
every attempt to divide the negro vote a complete failure. A
word as to its nature will explain this.
Organized in the North in 1862, it spread widely, and
when it became evident that the negroes in the South would
be enfranchised, the organization was immediately extended
among them, chiefly by bureau agents and other politically
ambitious Northern men who saw that something must be
done to control the ignorant negroes, to bind them to their
benefactors by something which would appeal to their pride
and to their emotions. The league was admirably adapted for
this. Through the effect of its ritual and methods uj^on the
ignorant and emotional negro and through the discipline of
its organization, it furnished an ideal instrument. It was
for this reason the chosen agency of the carpet-baggers to
carry out the political work begun by the bureau and it thus
became the second handmaid of radicalism in the reconstruc-
tion of the state. Introduced by carpet-baggers, it was, for
the entire period of its existence in North Carolina, controlled
by them, chiefly for their own aggrandizement, and for that
reason alone would have won the undying hatred of the native
white population. In its development, however, it gave addi-
tional and abundant evidence of its entire unworthiness, and
HISTORY OF NOKTH CAROLINA 99
its very name has remained a sjTnbol of all that was evil in
Reconstruction.
Beginning in 1866, by April, 1867, the state was organized
and almost every negro who could vote was a member. Those
who would not join were not only exposed to ostracism but
also in most cases to violence as well. Although there was
nothing in the rules or ritual of the league which was ob-
jectionable, the meetings, under the influence of evil and de-
signing leaders became the hot-beds of violence and crime.
Labor was disbanded by it, larceny, assault, riot, arson, mur-
der, and rape were the products of the society and it thus be-
came associated in the minds of the whole people with all
that was evil and the Ku Klux movement was the logical re-
sult. Politically speaking, the league was temporarily suc-
cessful. It organized the negroes and bound them to the
republican party, lifted the carpet-baggers into positions of
profit and apparently stifled opposition. Never was a political
plan carried out with- greater temporary success, for never
were the members of a political organization so unfitted
through ignorance for the privilege of suffrage, and there-
fore, unmoved by argument, they were as easily handled as
so many sheep. But it furnished a basis of opposition for
the white people and out of the leagTie to a large extent grew
the Solid South. During the existence of the republimn
regime, the members of the league were practically immune
from punishment by the courts. Finally counter organ-
ization followed, equally beyond the law but intended to
preserve public order. A retaliation so violent, and a retri-
bution so swift came that in a very short time after the ap-
pearance of the Ku Klux, the activities of the league became
beautifully less, and it vanished altogether by the end of 1870.
In the summer a cleavage among the republicans appeared.
The radical element wanted confiscation and the proscription
of political opponents. Holden was a representative of this
sentiment which was preached to the negroes. D. R. Goodloe,
now an editor, led the opposing faction. When the conven-
tion met in September, the question came up. It met with so
much favor, particularly among the negroes, that the matter
was left unsettled by the convention for congressional action.
o'lOO i-?.
fo all lulioni it ni;ii) (L'^oiifcrii :
ft
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U'v, i'lCuU'til.
c'lr. litrDiiliiiii »r(ift,ini.
L.
Union League Commission to Wyatt Outlaw, Signed by
William W. Holden
Outlaw was later hanged by the Ku Klux
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 101
The convention declined to pass any resolution favorable to
amnesty. This was partly due to bitterness and partly due
to the belief that their own chances of political preferment
would be greater if the old leaders were disqualified. As a
matter of fact, in respect both to confiscation and amnesty,
the convention was more radically prescriptive than those it
was supposed to represent.
The opposition,— the mass of the white people who as-
sumed the name conservative, — were at sea as to policy. Some
wanted to attempt a division of the negro vote, but that proved
unpopular and it was finally decided to make a stand against
negro suffrage and to deny the constitutionality of the recon-
struction acts. This decision was largely due to the advice of
William A. Graham. A call had been issued for a state con-
vention and it had assembled in September. Beyond denounc-
ing the republican convention, it did nothing. Most of the
conservatives were opposed to organization and too discour-
aged to accomplish anything. But another meeting was called
and Graham wrote a letter advising the conservatives to vote
against a convention and urging that no recogiiition be given
negro suffrage. No formal action was taken but the future
position of the party in respect to the negro was settled, and
it became in fact, if not always in name, a white man's party.
But in the campaign the conservatives were listless and dis-
pirited and without organization. The election was held on
November 19th and 20th. The results were :
Registered voters 179,653
Votes cast 125,967
For convention 93,006
Against convention 32,961
Not voting 53,686
On the call of General Canby the convention met in Ealeigh
on Jamiavy 14, 1868. The republicans had a majoi'ity of
94, the conservatives having elected 13 delegates. Of the 107
republicans, at least 18 were carpet-baggers and 15 were ne-
groes. Many of the carpet-baggers, or "squatters," as they
were called in North Carolina, had formerly been officers in
the Union army. The more prominent of them were General
102 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
Joseph C. Abbott, a native of New Hampshire and formerly
an editor and lawyer; Lieutenant Albion W. Tourgee, a
native of Ohio, a graduate of Rochester University, and a
former officer of the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Volunteers ;
General Byron Lafiin, a native of Massachusetts, fonnerly
colonel of the Thirty-Fourth New York Infantry, and Major
H. L. Grant, of the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, and a native
of Rhode Island. Of the other carpet-baggers, David Heaton
had been a special agent of the treasuiy department and had
settled in New Bern; S. S. Ashley was a native of Massa-
chusetts and a minister, little else being known of his past
history ; John R. French was a native of New Hampshire who
had been a newspaper editor and twice a member of the
Ohio House of Representatives. He had come to North Car-
olina as a direct tax commissioner.
Of the white native North Carolinians in the convention,
none had been previously of any prominence in the state, few
being known at all outside their own counties. W. B. Rodman
had been known as an able lawyer and as an earnest advocate
of secession. He, with Calvin J. Cowles and J. M. Turner,
was disfranchised under the reconstruction acts, but the fact
that they were radicals prevented any action being taken to
unseat them.
Several of the colored delegates were, comparatively
speaking, men of considerable ability. James H. Harris was
an orator of great power and had a fair education. With
J. W. Hood and A. H. Galloway, he shared the leadership of
the colored members.
None of the conservatives were men of political promi-
nence. The two who at once took the most prominent part in
the debates of the convention were Captain Plato Durham,
and Major John W. Graham, both Confederate soldiers and
men of education.
Temporarj' organization was effected the first day. The
next day permanent organization was completed by the elec-
tion of ofiSeers. Calvin J. Cowles, Holden's son-in-law, was
elected president although he was under disabilities and thus
not a registered voter and so ineligible to membership. Cowles
was a man of unimpeachable honesty but of only fair ability.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAHOLINA 103
who was entirely under the influence of Holden and the car-
pet-baggers. Two conservative delegates who were accused
of being under disabilities, although declared elected by Can-
by, were unseated without notice.
Naturally, the convention was the object of scorn and
derision on the part of the conservatives who dubbed it "the
Convention (so-called)." A heated quarrel occurred over the
practice of the conservative newspapers of placing the word
"negro" after the names of the colored delegates and several
reporters were excluded from the hall.
By comparison with previous public assemblies in North
Carolina this convention was extravagant, the per diem being
fixed at $8 with 20 cents mileage. As attendance was lax ad-
ditional ground of criticism was furnished. In mileage ac-
counts there were numerous flagrant instances of fraud as
well as in the purchase of supplies and yet by comparison
with a number of the Southern states. North Carolina in this
respect escaped lightly, the expenses of the convention, in-
cluding everything, being only a little more than $100,000.
Notwithstanding the fact that the main purpose of the con-
vention was to frame a constitution, no great interest was
manifested in the subject. Committees were appointed, the
carpet-baggers capturing the chairmanship of ten of the nine-
teen standing and of most of the special committees. This
gave them the opportunity to put many of their theories into
form. Individually or collectively, they controlled the conven-
tion. With this fact in mind, it is a cause for wonder that
more changes were not made in the fundamental law. The
explanation seems to lie in the rivalry of the three carpetbag
leaders, Abbott, Heaton and Tourgee, who in their efforts to
gain personal strength yielded in many things to the native
whites.
One of the first constitutional matters to come up was the
judicial article. The distinction between actions at law and
suits in equity was abolished in spite of solid conservative and
even some republican opposition. Provision was made for
the adoption of a code of civil procedure and practice and a
commission was appointed to prepare it. It consisted of
W. B. Rodman, V. C. Barringer, and A. W. Tourgee. Rod-
104 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
man and Barringer were well qualified for the position but
Tourgee although he had studied law in Ohio was "innocent
of law" and was admitted to the bar as a "twenty dollar
lawyer" by grace of an ordinance passed for his benefit.
Another change in the judicial article, even more criti-
cized was placing the election of judges in the hands of the
people and replacing the temi of good behavior by a term of
eight years. The Supreme Court was recognized by the con-
stitution and the justices were increased from three to five.
The number of Superior Court judges was increased to twelve,
a very necessary change as the courts were crowded and
emancipation had largely increased tlieir burdens.
The question of political disabilities natui'ally arose early.
Two phases of the matter were considered. A committee was
appointed to prepare a list of such persons laboring under
those imposed by the Fourteenth Amendment as should be
recommended by the convention for congressional relief. The
names of about six hundred, practically all republicans, were
presented and a violent debate followed in which it became ap-
parent that while some republicans favored general amnesty,
the majority wanted nothing of the sort. The list was of
course adopted.
The other phase was in relation to the qualifications for
voting and holding state office which should be inserted in the
new constitution. The majority favored unqualified manhood
suffrage with disbelief in a Supreme Being, or conviction of a
felony, as the only disqualifications for holding office. Three
minority views appeared. One desired disqualification for
suffrage and office-holding of all who had ever, by any means,
attempted to prevent the exercise of the right to vote, of those
disqualified by the Fourteenth Amendment, and of those who
could not take a somewhat rigid preliminary oath. The sec-
ond was that of the conservatives who denied that the right
to vote was inherent, and contended that since the negroes
were not prepared for it, it should not be extended to them,
A third wanted the disabilities of the Fourteenth Amendment
added to the majority report. The debate, by far the bitterest
in the convention, lasted for three weeks in which the most
radical views and desires on the subject were expressed. The
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 105
conservatives warned the convention that if disabilities for
voting- were imposed tliere would follow the necessity of per-
manent military occupation of the state by the United States.
The convention, as a threat, at once repealed the amnesty
act of 1866 but adopted the majority report.
The conservatives were bent upon putting the republicans
on record as concerned the division of the races, foreseeing
the future importance of that issue, and they, therefore, sought
to have inserted in the constitution provisions for separate
schools, separation of the races in the militia, and the prohibi-
tion of intermarriage and the apprenticing of white children
to colored masters. All were rejected by the majority, most of
whom secretly agreed but did not dare to come out openly
for political reasons. The constitution was iinally drafted
and adopted. The conservatives voted solidly against it, and
none of them signed it.
Other matters than the constitution engaged the attention
of the convention. Fourteen divorces were granted, the state
was redistricted for Congress, with much factional quarrel-
ing among those who had congressional aspirations, a com-
mittee was appointed to devise some plan to settle every citi-
zen upon a freehold, and a resolution was passed thanking
the House of Representatives for the impeachment of Presi-
dent Johnson. Ordinances relating to the payment of interest
on certain state bonds and railroad matters were passed and
the rumor was general that their jiassage was secured by a
group of lobbyists who would profit largely thereby. The
lobby was there undoubtedly, led by General Milton S. Little-
field, of New York, a man of great personal charm and at-
traction, already wealthy from a lumber steal in Pennsylva-
nia and destined to be better and more unfavorably known in
North Carolina within the next two years.
After providing for the submission of the constitution
to the people and the election of state officers, members of the
le.trislature, and members of Congress under the supervision
of the military authorities, the convention adjourned on
March 17th, in the midst of an uproar horrifying to the con-
ser\'ative element in the state. The Sentinel headed its ac-
count of the proceedings as follows:
106 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The Constitutional Convention (So-Called) .
The Disgraceful Closing Scenes ! Corn Field Dance and
Ethiopian Minstrelsy ! ! Ham Radicalism
in its Glory!!!
The new constitution varied widely from the former one.
In the Bill of Rights, the original of which had been adopted
in 1776, there was less change than in any other part of the
fundamental law. But quite a number of provisions were in-
serted. The chief of these were as follows: all men were
declared equal; the right of secession was denied, and the
paramount allegiance of all citizens to the United States was
affirmed ; the public debt of the state was declared valid, and
the war debt was repudiated; slavery was prohibited; the
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus was forbidden; the
people were declared entitled to the privilege of education;
the legislative, executive, and judicial departments of gov-
enmaent were declared forever separate and distinct ; the free-
dom of the press was guaranteed, as in the former Bill of
Rights, but individuals were held responsible for abuse of
this freedom ; the quartering of soldiers upon citizens in time
of peace was forbidden; it was provided that the courts should
always be open, and in criminal cases greater protection was
guaranteed defendants than in the original instrument, though
not more than was enjoyed under the law of the state and the
usage of the courts ; and finally it was declared that all rights
and powers not delegated by the constitution should be re-
tained by the people.
In the legislative department greater changes were made.
The name of the lower house of the General Assembly was
changed from the House of Commons to the House of Repre-
sentatives. The property qualifications for members of both
houses were abolished, and they were obliged to take an oath
of allegiance to the United States before taking their seats.
Senators were required to be at least thirty years of age.
The elective council of state was abolished and replaced by
one composed of the executive officers of the state.
In the executive department three new offices were created :
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 107
lieutenant-governor, superintendent of public works, and au-
ditor. The latter replaced the oflSce of comptroller which had
been created by act of the General Assembly. The election
of these officers, with that of the other state officers, which
had formerly been in the hands of the General Assembly, was
put into the hands of the people. The property qualification
for governor was abolished, and his term of office, together
with that of the other state officers, was increased from two to
four years. Only two years' previous residence in the state,
instead of five, was required for the governor. He was given
power to commute sentences in addition to the pardoning
power. All nominations of the governor had to be confirmed
by the Senate. Provision was made for a bureau of statistics,
agriculture, and immigration.
In the judicial department, the most complete change was
made. All distinctions between actions at law and suits in
equity and the fonns of such actions were abolished. Only
one form of action, the civil suit, could be brought in the
state. Feigned issues were abolished, and it was provided
that the fact at issue should be tried by order of court before
a jury. The county courts were abolished and a large part
of their powers and duties were given to the clerks of the
Superior courts. The number of the Supreme Court jus-
tices was increased from three to five, and that of the Supe-
rior Court judges from eight to twelve. Their election and
also that of the solicitors was taken from the General As-
sembly and given to the people. The term of office of judges
was changed from life or good behavior and made eight years.
The election of clerks, sheriffs, and coroners was taken from
the county courts and put in the hands of the people.
Regarding taxation, the constitution provided that the
proceeds of the capitation tax should be applied to education
and the support of the poor. Provision was made for the
payment of the interest on the public debt and for the cre-
ation, after 1880, of a sinking fund for the payment of the
principal. The General Assembly was prohibited from in-
curring any indebtedness until the bonds of the state should
be at par, except to supply a casual deficiency or to suppress
insurrection, unless there should be inserted in the same bill
108 HISTORY OP NORTH CAEOLINA
a provision foi" the levying of a special tax to pay the interest
annually. The General Assembly was also forbidden to lend
the credit of the state, except to railroads which were in the
process of construction at the time of the ratification of the
constitution or to those in which the state had a financial in-
terest, unless the question was submitted to the direct vote
of the people. It was also provided that every act levying a
tax should state its object and the proceeds could be applied
to no other purpose.
The constitution provided for universal suffrage. No one
could register without taking an oath to support the Consti-
tution of the United States, and every officer had to take an
oath of allegiance to the United States. All persons who de-
nied the being of Almighty Grod, who had been convicted of
treason, perjury, or any other infamous crime since becoming
citizens of the United States, or who had been convicted of
corruption or malpractice in office and had not been legally
restored to the rights of citizenship, were disqualified for hold-
ing office. Taking any part in a duel also -disqualified for
holding any office under the state.
County government was put in the hands of five commis-
sioners in each county elected by the i^eople to exercise a gen-
eral supervision and control of county affairs. It was also
provided that the people of each county should elect a treas-
urer and a register of deeds. The commissioners were di-
rected to divide the counties into townships, and the people of
each township were biennially to elect two justices of the
peace. No counties or other municipal corporations could
contract a debt without the consent of a majority of the voters,
and all the counties were forbidden to pay any debt contracted
to aid in rebellion.
The General Assembly was directed to provide a general
system of public schools, and the executive officers of the state
were formed into a board of education to succeed to all the
powers and duties of the literary board. The state Univer-
sity was declared to be forever inseparable from the public
school system, and the General Ass.embly was directed to es-
tablish, in connection with the University, departments of
agriculture, mechanics, mining, and normal instruction.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 109
Provision was made for a homestead exemption of $500,
and it was jDrovided tliat the real and personal property of a
married woman should remain her separate estate and prop-
erty, and in no way liable for the debts of her husband. These
provisions were not new to the state, both having been in-
corporated in the law in 1866.
Punishments for crime were provided as follows : death,
imprisonment, with or without hard lal)or, fines, removal from
office, and disqualification to hold any office under the state.
Four crimes were punishable by death : murder, arson, burg-
lary, and rape. Provision was made for a penitentiary, and
the General Assembly was directed to provide for the dare of
orphans, idiots, inebriates, deaf mutes, and the insane, and
authorized to provide houses of refuge and correction for the
punishment and instruction of certain classes of criminals,
whenever it might seem necessary.
These were the more important changes. There were
others of less interest and importance, but they are far too
numerous to mention. A comparison of the two constitutions
shows a very wide difference, and brings out very clearly the
part played by the Northern members of the convention.
Early in January the conservative executive committee
called a convention of the constitutional union party which
met February 6th. The controlling element were former
whigs ])ut a large number of democrats were present. Here
re-appeared in politics many who had been prominent before
and during the war. An organization was perfected and a
series of resolutions outlining party policy adopted. They
declared devotion to the United States Constitution, protested
against the reconstruction acts as a violation of it, and de-
clared negro suffrage to be the great political issue of the
state, registering their opposition to it while avowing their
purpose to protect the negro in the enjoyment of civil rights
and of such privileges as were not inconsistent with the wel-
fare of both races. After endorsing the President and ex-
pressing their distrust of the "organization controlling Con-
gress," they waived all former party feeling and prejudice
and invited the people of the state to co-operate with the
democratic party and elected delegates to the democratic na-
110 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tional convention. Enthusiastic speeches were made, the most
notable by Vance who urged activity and fearlessness of the
result of opposition to the radicals, saying "When free speech,
a free press and a free ballot are restored, the wrath and
indignation of an outraged people will damn them forever.
It will be better for them that a mill stone were hanged about
their necks and that they were drowned in the depths of the
sea." Later the committee nominated Vance for governor
and upon his declining chose Thomas S. Ashe, a former mem-
ber of the Confederate Congress who had been a senator-elect
when the war ended. He was of course under disabilities as
were most of the other nominees. Nearly all had been whigs.
The republicans met the same day and nominated Holden
for governor with a full ticket upon which were three carpet-
baggers. Both parties nominated Chief Justice Pearson, and
Associate Justice E. G. Eeade, and several nominations for
Superior Court judges coincided.
When the congressional nominations came three carpet-
baggers were chosen. One of them, J. T. Deweese, was de-
feated for the nomination by James H. Harris, the negro
member of the convention from Wake County, who then sold
the nomination to him for $1,000.
The campaign was conducted with great activity and en-
thusiasm. The Union League with Holden as president and
James H. Harris as vice president, and the Heroes of Amer-
ica, were both brought into service. The republicans made
their campaign largely on matters relating to the war which
would rouse antagonism and bitter feeling. The conserva-
tives made their fight on the question of ratifying the con-
stitution with resulting negro equality and the loss of pro-
tection for person and property. They received unexpected
allies in Daniel E. Goodloe and H. H. Helper, the fonner say-
ing that because Holden 's name was "a synonym for what-
ever is harsh, proseriptive, and hateful to nine-tenths of the
whole people of the State," he could not support him, while
Helper, attacking Holden, urged the election of Goodloe. The
republicans lost others they might normally have counted on
because of the radical changes in the constitution and their
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 111
A'iolent and proscriptive tendencies. Notable among these
Avas B. F. Moore.
The first recorded Ku Klux notice in the state appeared in
this campaign. It was :
"K. K. K.
Attention ! First Hour ! In the Mist !
At the Flash ! Come. Come. Come ! ! !
Retribution is impatient ! The grave yawns !
The sceptre bones rattle!
Let the doomed quake!"
The convention had provided for the submission of the
question of ratification of the constitution to the voters quali-
fied under the reconstruction acts. The state ofiicers were to
be chosen by the voters qualified under the new constitution,
which meant manhood suffrage. But the voting on ratifica-
tion of the constitution and the election of state and county
officers took place at the same time, and, by order of General
Canby, on the same ballot. By this piece of entirely unjus-
tifiable partisan politics, which was entirely characteristic of
reconstruction methods and morals, all who had been dis-
franchised by the reconstruction acts were prevented from
voting, and the validity of the acts of the legislature thus
elected is therefore open to question. A new registration had
been made, and the number registered was increased consid-
erably. The figures were:
Whites 117,428
Blacks 79,444
Total 196,872
The election was held on April 21st, 22d, and 23d, and re-
sulted in a complete republican victory. The vote on the rati-
fication of the constitution was:
For constitution 93,084
Against constitution 74,015
Not voting 29,773
The vote for governor was :
Holden 92,235
Ashe 73,594
112 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The conservatives elected only one member of Congress,
one judge, of those whom the republicans had not endorsed,
and one solicitor. Of the eighty-nine counties, the republi-
cans carried fifty-eight. It was conceded that the republicans
polled almost their full strength. Thus it is seen that ajarge
number of conservatives, qualified to vote, failed to do so.
This was, in part, the result of the general belief, that, if
the conservatives were successful. Congress would set aside
the election, or refuse to remove the disabilities of those
conservatives who were elected to office. And doubtless, such
would have been the case.
Fraud was common all over the state. By an amendatory
act of Congress, passed March 11, 1868, voting upon affidavit
instead of registration, was authorized, and ten days was set
as the period of required prior residence. This gave room for
illegal voting, and, consequently, many voted in different
counties on different days.
The constitution still needed the approval of Congress and
in addition a majority of the newly-elected officers wei"e under
disabilities. When Canby announced that all officers installed
prior to the formal restoration of the state would have to take
the "iron-clad oath" there was consternation among the "loy-
al" and Congress was urged to help. Finally an act was
passed approving the constitution and providing that repre-
sentatives should be admitted as soon as the Fourteenth
Amendment was ratified. But the admission was upon the
express condition that the constitution Should never be so
changed as to deprive of the right to vote any citizen or class
of citizens who were then entitled to suffrage. General Canby
construed this act to remove the necessity of taking the test
oath.
The same day the disabilities of nearly seven hundred per-
sons in the state, chiefly republicans, were removed, and this
made possible the organization of the state government. The
act of Congress authorized the governor-elect to summon the
legislature and Holden called it to meet July 1st. General
Canby instructed the chief-justice-elect to take the oaths of
office before a United States commissioner, and then to admin-
ister them to his associates and to the state officers. Chief Jus-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 113
tice Pearson notified Governor "Worth that he would adminis-
ter the oaths to the governor on July 1st. The same day,
Governor Worth was removed from office by a military order
from General Canby. The oaths were administered to Gov-
ernor Holden the next day, and Governor "Worth surrendered
the office with a dignified and telling protest which stung
Holden to the quick.
Holden delivered his inaugural on July 4th. It consisted
of a defense of the new constitution with a declaration that the
government must be administered by its friends. He de-
fended the carpet-baggers, declared his opposition to mixed
schools, promised a development of public education, and
guaranteed protection of the right to vote to the negroes,
threatening confiscation and the use of force if any attempt
was made to deprive them of it.
In the meantime, the legislature met and ratified the Four-
teenth Amendment and elected John Pool and Joseph C.
Abbott to the United States Senate. They, with all the mem-
bers of the lower house, were admitted by July 20th. North
Carolina was thus restored to her place in the Union and,
legally, Eeconstruction was at an end. But from a social and
economic standpoint, or from an internal political standpoint,
it now began.
CHAPTER VII
THE REPUBLICAN REGIME
The governor's inaugural address in its declaration of
ostracism of those who had opposed reconstruction, its threat
of force, and its enlogj' of the carpet-baggers was indeed pro-
phetic of the character of his administration. It was partisan,
sustained by force, and controlled largely by corrupt and
greedy aliens who skillfully played upon the gnawing and
patent ambition of the governor.
After filling the offices in his disposal, mainly magistrates
and other county positions, many of them with ignorant and
even with criminal negroes, he proceeded to the organization
of the militia which he regarded as essential to success. An
act authorizing this had already been passed by the legisla-
ture in response to his demand. He had called attention to
the fact that many people in the state did not acknowledge
the validity of the state government, and announced that he
proposed to overawe them. The bill was drawn by John Pool
and was passed with difficulty since many republicans and all
the conservatives were bitterly opposed to it. It provided for
a maximum of nine regiments and a battery of artillery to
be at the disposal of the governor. It was admirably adapted
for the establishment of a military despotism and was
intended for that, should the occasion arise. It was uncon-
stitutional viewed from the standpoint of either the state or
Federal Constitution and was in direct violation of a recent
act of Congress. But Holden and his allies were entirely
aware that their power could not endure longer than the
first fair election and they deliberately planned terrorism and
fraud. That the native North Carolinians were unaware of
the inevitable result of such a policy shows how far removed
they were from a normal mental grasp of existing conditions.
114
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 115
If the carpet-baggers knew, they cared little, expecting, when
the time of reckoning came to be living in comfortable retire-
ment upon their ill-gotten gains, somewhere north of Mason
and Dixon's line, and out of reach of a just retribution.
Arms were lacking for the militia and the adjutant-gen-
eral, A. W. Fisher, a carpet-bagger, went North and borrowed
secretlj: from the State of Vermont a thousand rifles. The
news of his mission, however, reached North Carolina and
did not add to the popularitj- of the republican administra-
tion. Nor, be it said, did the militia. A failure from the
beginning in any preservation of order, it served only to rouse
antagonism.
The legislature, which had an overwhelming republican
majority in each house, was, in the meantime, engaged in
legislation and in a process of education in the possibilities
of their position. In this latter activity they found in the
cai'pet-baggers and in the lobby, a set of very able teachers.
Of the members more than thirty were carpet-baggers and
more than twenty were negroes. Judged by their capacity
for evil, the latter were the more desirable legislators. Most
of them and a large number of the white members were il-
literate, and almost all were totally inexperienced. The con-
servatives, in a hopeless minority and unable to carry any-
thing, sought chiefly to oppose and to put the majority on
record. All of the conservatives under disabilities or under
suspicion were excluded, but no republicans were troubled.
Little constructive work Avas done. Most of the time was
spent in discussing matters of small moment. The per diem
was fixed at $7 with mileage at 20 cents and this failed to
satisfy many of the members whose sole conception of public
service bore a close relation to compensation therefor. They
accordingly looked elsewhere for larger dividends upon their
investment of time and effort and had little difficulty in find-
ing them. Already plans of large financial operations to be
conducted at state expense were being shaped by the group
of schemers headed by General Littlefield who was maintain-
ing a free bar, popularly called "the third house," in the
capitol for the use of members and their friends.
One of the most interesting and significant acts of the
116 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
legislature was the passage of a resolution affirming the
validity of the existing government. It was based upon
President Johnson's contemptuous reference to Governor
Holden as "the man who writes himself governor of North
Carolina" — which the republicans held to be an incitement
to insurrection; upon Governor Worth's letter of protest to
Governor Holden, when he surrendered his office as governor
to the latter ; upon the democratic national platform of 1868,
which declared the whole process of reconstruction uncon-
stitutional; upon FVank P. Blair's Brodhead letter; and upon
the North Carolina conservative platform of 1868, which was
of like tenor with the other documents mentioned. These were
declared calculated to produce civil war, and in order to re-
store confidence, the state government was declared valid in
every respect. The resolution was introduced by L. G. Estes
and shows the fear of the republicans that the administration
might be overturned. It also bears testimony to the deep-
seated determination of the conservatives not to recognize the
validity of the acts of the state government.
The debates showed the members to be, with a few excep-
tions, far below the average in ability. Prejudice and parti-
sanship were rampant on both sides and the majority treated
the minority with utter contempt, thereby setting a precedent
from which their party was to suffer for many years to come.
Disorderly scenes and abusive language grew commonplace,
and decent people drew all too soon a breath of relief when
the legislature finally adjourned.
The adjournment saw the beginning of the presidential
campaign. In this the conservatives entered with real hope,
thinking that the conservative forces of the North would
rebel against the radicalism rampant in Congress and elect
the democratic candidates, and that Reconstruction would be
overthrown. They felt too that in the state the chance of
success was good, and thus began work with real enthusiasm.
The most notable event in the campaign was the publica-
tion of an address to the conservative party written by Chief
Justice Pearson, urging them to support Grant in order to
prevent civil war. Denying any belief in the constitutionality
of the reconstruction acts, he pronounced them extra-consti-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 117
tutional and declared that a subjugated people had no right
to protest. He stated that two other members of the Supreme
Court agreed with him. The letter was received with anger
and contempt by the conservatives who declared with entire
truth that North Carolina had not been accustomed to poli-
tical activity on the part of its judges. The republicans,
however, enthusiastically, and with considerable truth, claimed
that all of the justices of the Supreme Court were active re-
publican partisans, and published fifty thousand copies of
Judge Pearson's letter as a campaig-n document.
Another campaign document of note was an address, writ-
ten by John Pool and Judge Reade, which was signed by
eighty-eight republican members of the legislature at the
time of adjournment. Directed against the conservative
part}', it was the most incendiary document ever published in
North Carolina. It was full of threats and was calculated
and intended to inflame the negroes and alarm the conserva-
tives. Its publication was a deliberate step in the policy of
terror which the republican party adopted.
Both parties held conventions, that of the republicans be-
ing notable for the bitterness of the speakers, the presence of
an immense throng of negroes, and the fact of the previous
announcement that Justices Reade, Dick, and Settle and Judge
Tourgee would take prominent parts in the demonstration.
So bitter was the comment that the justices absented them-
selves. Not so, Judge Tourgee who, although able, was en-
tirely shameless. Not content with acting as chief marshal
at the convention, he also served on the republican executive
committee and, with his eye on a nomination for Congress,
converted the bench into a stump for the period of the cam-
paign.
In the campaign once more appeared the Union League
and the Heroes of America, the latter making its final ap-
pearance. The press, of course, was active and the Standard,
owned actually by Littlefield but nominally by N. Paige, an-
other carpet-baggers and its editor, after a series of bitter ar-
ticles intended to incite the negroes to violence, imblished an
editorial entitled, "Work," containing such a villainous re-
118 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
flection upon the womanhood of the state, that only the prompt
and final departure from town of Paige prevented a lynching.
In spite of the activity of the conservative leaders, the
people were apathetic. They had not yet come to know what
radical misrule would mean and above all they wanted peace
and quiet. Governor Holden, however, was fearful of the
result of the election and appealed to General Meade to au-
thorize General Miles to station troops wherever he [the gov-
ernor] might think necessary, "to inspire a salutary teri'or."
General Meade properly refused and the governor then issued
a proclamation in which he stated falsely that the conserva-
tives were bringing great quantities of arms to the state for
use on election day. He then appealed to the Federal Gov-
ernment for arms and the halls of Congress were full of the
clamor of cai'efully manufactured recitals of "rebel out-
rages." The governor ordered the organization of the de-
tailed militia, but when this was brought to General Meade's
attention, the order was suspended. The regular militia was
sent to several counties as a threat, but accomplished nothing.
Indeed the state was so quiet that not even the presence of
the militia could cause disorder.
A few days before the election. General Miles issued an
order forbidding officers and men to fraternize with political
parties. By an accompanying declaration that the campaign
had been conducted with creditable quiet, he emphatically gave
the lie to the reports which the governor and his associates
had been so sedulously circulating. In company with many
of the officers and men of his command, he promptly, in vio-
lation of the state law, registered and voted.
The election was quiet and resulted in a sweeping repub-
lican victory. Grant carr;ydng the state by more than twelve
thousand, and five republicans securing seats in Congress.
Plato Durham was one of the conservatives elected, but Men-
ninger, the carpet-bag secretary of state, held up the returns
for three months and then mth the governor's knowledge and
approval gave A. H. Jones, the republican candidate, the cer-
tificate.
The plunderers had felt it wise to delay operations until
republican success in the nation was assured, but with the elec-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 119
tion out of the way, they eagerly awaited the meeting of the
legishiture. Although the credit of the state sadly needeel
rehabilitation, the legislature ignored the question entirely
and gave itself over largely to the schemes of the spoilers.
The policy of state aid to internal improvements had been
adopted long before the war and practically all the debt of
the state had been incurred in this way. In 18G6 and 1867, in
spite of financial depression, new bonds were issued. The
war had shown nothing more conclusively than the need of
greater and improved transportation facilities, and those who
advocated the policy of state aid therefore naturally expected
the new government to continue it. The plunderers, therefore,
had not tlie task of forcing the acceptance of a new idea or
policy; they had only to make use of an established system
and were thus able for a time to conceal the real character
of their operations and to use honest men as tools to accom-
plish their evil purpose.
On January 1, 1868, the total debt of the state, excluding
of course the repudiated war debt, was $13,7l!4,900 with ac-
crued interest of nearly $2,000,000. Over $1,000,000 more
was in doubt since, although not repudiated by the convention
of 1865, it had not been specifically recognized. The bonds
were selling at seventy.
The convention, which was attended by a quiet but influ-
ential lobby, began the work of plundering the state.. Bonds
of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad, to
the amount of $1,000,000 were endorsed. The Northwestern
Railroad was planned to extend from Lexington and Greens-
boro to Salem and thence to the northwestern boundary of the
state, and the state agreed to make a loan of $10,000 a mile
as fast as the grading of ten-mile blocks was completed. The
bonds of the Chatham Railroad, to the amount of $1,200,000,
were taken in exchange for an equal amount of state bonds,
and the road was given all the state's interest in the Cape
Fear and Deep River Navigation Company between Northing
Dam and Gulf Dam. The Western Railroad received $500,000
in state bonds in exchange for an equal amount of the bonds
of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford which had been
120 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
given to it by the state. Money controlled practically all this
legislation.
The new constitution forbade the legislature to contract
any new debt except to supply a casual deficit or to suppress
invasion or insurrection, unless in the same bill it should levy
a special tax to pay the interest. It was also forbidden to
give or lend the credit of the state to any person, association,
or corporation, except for the completion of such railroads as
were unfinished at the time of the adoption of the constitu-
tion, or in which the state had a direct pecuniary interest,
unless the subject was first submitted to a vote of the people
and ratified by them.
When the legislature met in July a ring was organized,
headed by Littlefield and George W. Swepson, the latter be-
ing the paymaster of the "Ring." Beginning at this session,
he allowed members of the legislature to cash their per
diem at the Raleigh National Bank, of which he was a director,
without charging them any discount. The "third house"
aided greatly in the work of the lobby, and Littlefield 's readi-
ness to make loans to needy statesmen with no expectation of
their being repaid, made him the idol of the carpet-baggers
and corrupt scalawags, while his radicalism commended him
to republicans who were not tainted with dishonesty. His
charm of manner and bonhomie made his company acceptable
to many conservatives who at first did not question his mo-
tives or character. In the legislature, Byron Laflin was the
chief member of the ring, and as chaii'man of the committee
on internal improvement, was able to render great service to
the cause. The ring not only put through its own schemes,
but in a short time undertook to market bond legislation at
the rate of 10 per cent of the bonds received. Only through its
aid could such legislation be secured and it was thus able to
make its own terms.
Swepson paid a group of seventeen legislators, most of
them carpet-baggers, which included Tourgee, Deweese, Laf-
lin, Foster, G. Z. French, Estes, and Abbott, approximately
$134,000 of which Deweese, Abbott, French, Estes, Foster,
and Andrew Jackson Jones, a native, got the lion's share. He
also paid Littlefield in cash more than $66,000, most of which
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 121
was used for the corruption fund. Very little was done at
the extra session for the reasons mentioned but the Chatham
Railroad was authorized to exchange its bonds for state bonds
to the amount of $2,000,000 and similar assistance in less
amount was rendered the Williamston and Tarboi'o Railroad.
The Western North Carolina was also divided into two sec-
tions, its stock increased, and the state's liability added to.
These things did not pass unnoticed. Consei'vative mem-
bers gave notice that the bonds were fraudulent, and hence
invalid, and that they would never be paid. The rumor spread
that the interest on the old bonds would not be paid. To cor-
rect the impression, the October interest was paid by selling
the dividend on the state's interest in the North Carolina
Railroad, which was paid in bonds of the road, to Swepson
and A. J. Jones at a price far below par or even market value.
Swepson knew ahead what was to be done and was able by
speculation in state bonds to clear a large sum. Of this he paid
Treasurer Jenkins $600.
The Williamston and Tarboro and Chatham roads received
their bonds and gave mortgages which were invalid for lack
of revenue stamps and for failure of registration with the
secretary of state. The Chatham mortgage included lands
undescribed which the road did not own. A large number of
the bonds were sold at a very low price and an inconsiderable
amount was spent upon the roads. So clearly were the bonds
invalid that they were excluded from the Stock Exchange.
Littlefield was made state proxy by Holden who regarded
the state's interest in the railroads onh^ as a political asset
of the republican party and used it as such. He was directly
responsible for the choice of Swepson as president of the
western division of the Western North Carolina and of Lit-
tlefield who presently succeeded him. He was also in a lesser
sense responsible for the choice of William Sloan for the
Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford and of A. J. Jones
for the Western Railroad, although he was aware that both
were notoriously dishonest and had already been exposed in
stealing from the state.
Wlien the legislature met in November for its regular
session, an act was passed providing for new issues to pro-
122 HISTOKY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tect the old and special taxes were levied to pay the interest.
For securing the passage of the act, SweiDson paid Littlefield,
acting for the "Eing" $240,000 in cash and a large number of
bonds. At once an injunction restraining the treasurer from
delivering the bonds to the Chatham Railroad was applied for
and the Supreme Court on appeal declared the act unconsti-
tutional because it had not been submitted to the people. The
same act provided for $4,000,000 in bonds for the western
division of the Western North Carolina, and a little later the
stock of the two divisions was increased and the state was
pledged to take three-fourths of the increase when 5 per cent
of the rest was paid in. The additional stock payments were
fraudulently made up and the bonds issued by Holden's order
to Swepson without requiring from him his certificate that
the stock was duly subscribed. The bonds were issued in
various ways and only a small part was spent upon the road.
A large part was expended in obtaining control of certain
roads in Florida where Littlefield and Swepson planned simi-
lar operations.
The Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad was
the next to profit, receiving $4,000,000 in state bonds, most
of which was squandered without benefit to the road.
Another act incorporated the University Railroad, appro-
priating $300,000 in construction bonds. The directors had
been appointed by the governor and a president elected, when
the attorney-general pronounced the act unconstitutional. The
matter was carried to the Supreme Court which unanimously
agreed that the act was invalid. The ^court differed as to the
extent of the decision, the chief justice holding that all the
railroad bonds were invalid. While they argued this ques-
tion they talked of the case very freely and the matter became
widely known. A rehearing was demanded and the court
handed down a decision confined to the case before it. Many
accusations were made against the Supreme Court at the
time, but there is no evidence to show improper conduct on
the part of any particular member of it. Swepson, on one
occasion, tapped his pocket and said that he had there an-
other decision which had been prepared by the court and that
it had cost him a large sum of money to prevent its being ren-
HISTORY OF XOKTH CAROLINA 123
clered, but his word carries little weight. The following tele-
gram, sent him two days before the case was first argued, casts
an unpleasant light upon the general situation of affairs :
"Ealeigh, N. C, June 24, 1869.
"George W. Swepson,
"Baltimore, Md.,
"The case will be tried, but the opinion of the Court re-
served until your return ; this all I can effect.
"W. W. HOLDEN."
A few days after the passage of the University Railroad
act, the charter of the Western Railroad was amended and
the state treasurer was directed to exchange $500,000 in bonds
for an equal amount of stock in the road, to issue an equal
amount in exchange for the bonds of the Wilmington, Char-
lotte and Rutherford Railroad, which had been paid to the
fonner road by the state, and, for the purpose of extending
the road to Wilkes County, to make an additional stock sub-
scription of $500,000, making a total authorized issue of
$1,500,000. To pay the interest, two special taxes were levied,
one of one-eightieth of 1 per cent and one of one-fortieth of
1 per cent. The act provided for the retention by the treas-
urer of 180 of the bonds as security for the payment by the
road, during the tirst two years, of $90,000 for inter-
est, both of which sums were to be repaid at the expiration
of that time. Under the provisions of this act, A. J. Jones,
the president of the road, received ],.320 bonds. Pifty-fivp of
these were sold by New York brokers for $24,255, and, from
that amount, 7% of 1 per cent of the face value of the bonds
was charged as commissions, so that the company only -re-
ceived $20,893.13. The rest of the bonds were deposited with
certain brokers in New York, by whom, under the instruc-
tions from Jones, part were li\-pothecated in an attenii)t to
raise money to buy bonds on margin to bull the mark<^t. A
pool was formed for this purpose by Swepson, Littlefield,
Sloan, Jones, and a number of bondholders, including T. P.
Branch, a Richmond broker, S. McD. Tate, T. W. Dewey, and
R. Y. McAden. Treasurer Jenkins and Governor Holden were
present in New York when it was formed and were frequently
124 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
consulted by the members. At the same time it was decided
by the railroad presidents that Henry Clews and Company
should succeed Soutter and Company as the financial agents
of the state. To this, Governor Holden consented and the
change was made. Soutter and Company had been paid $1,000
a year as compensation for their services.
The Western Railroad was next assisted with a total of
$1,.500,000. A. J. Jones received $1,320,000 and squandered
all of it, spending a long time in New York where he is known
to have lost a large part in gambling.
The interest on the debt due in Januarj^ and April, 1869,
had not been paid and the bondholders began to complain
loudly. Governor Holden was overwhelmed with correspond-
ence from the North, where practically all the bonds were
held, demanding pajanent, and it was clear that there was no
chance for the bonds to rise in price unless something was
done to satisfy the holders of those already sold. Swepson
and Jones now agreed to advance the money to pay the inter-
est on the special tax bonds, and Jenkins advertised that the
April and October interest would be paid, and Governor Hol-
den wrote an open letter to Clews and Company in which he
said that the state would pay all its debts, especially the spe-
cial tax bonds. The railroad stock owned by the board of
education was now sold at a very low rate, and the proceeds,
$150,000, along with the money received from the land scrip,
$125,000, were invested in special tax bonds.
Two million dollars were subscribed to the Oxford Branch
of the Ealeigh and Gaston, $2,700,000 to an extension of the
Williamston and Tarboro, but both acts were clearly uncon-
stitutional and no bonds were ever issued.
The Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad was aided to
the extent of $2,000,000. Sloan and Laflin opposed the bill
and were paid $20,000 apiece for silence. Deweese then se-
cured an injunction and Judge Watts was paid $5,000 to grant
it. A compromise which was the object of the suit was then
reached at a cost of $163,000 in bonds. The rest of the bonds
were finally returned to the state along with those received by
Fowle and Badger as a fee for legal services, which they had
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 125
returned to the company when tlioy saw that blackmail was
the object of the suit.
Two other acts chartered the Eastern and Western Rail-
road with an appropriation of $2,000,000 and the Edenton and
Suffolk with $850,000. Both wore unconstitutional and no
bonds were ever issued.
These acts ended the work of the ring in securing legisla-
tion. By this time the whole state knew what was being done
and the people were greatly roused. By the end of the sum-
mer of 1869, talk of repudiation was general and when the
legislature met in the autumn no further legislation was pos-
sible and the presidents of the various roads were directed to
return all unsold bonds to the treasurer and to account for
the rest. A little later all the acts in aid of x-ailroads were
repealed.
The following tables give the available information in a
condensed form:
Road Amount Issued Returned
authorized
Chatham '. .$3,200,000 $3,200,000 $1,650,000
Western N. C. (W. D.) 6,387,000 6,387,000 None
AVestern N. C. (E. D.) . . 613,000 613,000 None
Williamston & Tarboro 300,000 300,000 None
W. & T. (branch line) . . 2,700,000 None None
Universitv "'. 300,000 None None
Northwestern- 2,000,000 1,080,000 1,080,000
Western 1,500,000 1,320,000 None
Atlantic, Tennessee, &
Ohio 2,000,000 1,760,000 1,615,000
Wilmington, Charlotte, &
Rutherford 4,000,000 3,000,000 None
Oxford Branch 2,000,000 None None
Eastern & Western . . . 2,000,000 None None
Edenton & Suffolk .... 850,000 None None
Total $27,850,000 $17,660,000 $4,345,000
126
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Road Special tax
levied
Chatham 1/20 of 1%
Western North Carolina
(both divisions) 1/8 of 1%
W. & T 1/30 of 1%
W. & T. (branch line) . .1/16 of 1%
Univ 1/100 of 1%
Northwestern 1/20 of 1%
Western 3/80 of 1%
A. T. & 1/20 of 1%
W. C. &R 1/8 of 1%
Oxford 1/20 of 1%
E. &. W 1/20 of 1%
E. & S 1/40 of 1%
Total 2/3-f of 1% or
Table
Prices of State Bonds in
Hig'hest
Old New
January 66 73
February 64% 611/2
March ." 64 59%
April 631/2 567/8
May 6314 561^
June 6O34 567/8
July 591/2 53
August 581/2 56
September 56% 48
October 521/2 40%
November 48 381/2
December 431/2 331/8
1870
January 43 29
February 48 26i/o
March 47% 237/8
April 47 223/8
May Not listed
Tax on
Bonds left
$100 (
3utstanding
.05
$1,550,000
.125
7,000,000
.0333
300,000
.0625
None
.01
None
.05
None
.0375
1,320,000
.05
145,000
.125
3,000,000
.05
None
.05
None
.025
None
.6683 $13,315,000
1869
Lowest
Old
New
62
59%
62
581/2
6O34
561/2
6O1/4
53
57
541/2
58
50%
501/2
441/2
491/8
49
501/0
46
47
371/2
40
29
41%
281/4
40
241/8
401/2
23
45
221/2
46i/_>
21
Not listed
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 127
From the dishonest officials, little was ever recovered. Lit-
tlefield, after leaving the state, went to Florida, where, rest-
ing under the protection of the various governors of that state,
he defied requisition papers. All refused to surrender him
upon the demands of Governor Caldwell who never rested in
his efforts to capture him. Once Littlefield had to surrender
to the sheriff of Leon County on a charge of bribery to avoid
being sent to North Carolina, and, on another occasion. Gov-
ernor Caldwell sent a member of the legislature to abduct
him if necessarj', and he was almost captui'ed. The legisla-
ture offered a reward of $5,000 for him and tw^o attempts
were made by Floridians to win it. In both, Littlefield suc-
ceeded in escaping. With Swepson, he was indicted in Bun-
combe County in 1870, and requisitions were made upon the
governors of New York and New Jersey for them. Swepson
was arrested in Raleigh in 1871 upon a bench warrant issued
by Chief Justic Pearson upon the governor's affidavit, and
held to appear at Buncombe Court, but was never punished.
Ho and Littlefield, the latter being in London, at different
times made partial settlements with the Western North Caro-
lina Railroad represented by N. W. Woodfin, but the road
received only a small part of what was due it. Swepson 's
account with the state, skillfully handled by his lawyers, Mer-
rimon and Ransom, steadily grew less, until it seemed wise to
accept and make an immediate settlement.
AVilliam Sloan and John F. Fickrell were indicted in New
Hanover for a conspiracy to defraud the Wilmington, Char-
lotte and Rutherford Railroad, and the former was criminally
indicted for not accounting. He was found guilty in the latter
case, but the Supreme Court reversed the decision on a tech-
nicality, and he escaped. A. J. Jones was convicted of not ac-
counting and appealed to the Supreme Court, which, as in the
Sloan case, reversed the decision. He was also criminally in-
dicted in Moore County, convicted, and sentenced to ten years
in the penitentiary. He appealed in this case and died before
the case was heard.
A number of attempts were made to force the payment of
the interest upon the special tax bonds. L. P. Bayne and Com-
pany sued for a mandamus against Jenkins to compel him to
128 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
pay the interest which the legislature had forbidden, but the
Supreme Court on appeal dismissed the case. Later, another
case was brought in the Federal courts with the same result.
No attempt was made to pay interest and the matter rested
for several years. The holders of the bonds, issued before
the war, to aid in the construction of the North Carolina Eail-
road, by suit in the Federal court secured the sequestration
of the stock of the road held by the state, and thus obtained
payment and security for the principal. For the rest, the
state, having received little or no benefit from the railroads,
was left with the burden of the bonds dishonestly issued and
corruptly spent, a debt which was in addition invalid, with-
out reference to the methods employed to create it, because of
the fatal defect in the election of the body by which it was
contracted.
These operations did not of course pass without notice.
Various attempts at investigation were made, all rendered
fruitless at first by the partisanship of the legislature, the
majority in which saw in the attempt to punish thieves only
an attack upon honored and trusted leaders of the republican
party. In one case, that of the penitentiary, the fraud was
uncovered. It was found that the committee charged with
the location of the penitentiary had purchased from John M.
Heck and D. J. Pruyn, the latter a notoriously corrupt carpet-
bagger, a site on Deep River and eight thousand acres seven
miles away, neither of which they owned at the time the bar-
gain was made. The purchase price was $100,000. The lands
were then bought by Heck for less than $11,000 and he con-
tracted to sell to Pra\ni for $56,000. C. L. Harris, the superin-
tendent of public works, then paid that amount to Heck in
bonds and the balance of the purchase price to Pruyn in the
same way. The deeds were not warranted and more than
six thousand acres w^ere undescribed.
Somewhat in contrast to this was the act of the legisla-
ture in forbidding the sale, without its consent of the swamp
lands belonging to the board of education. This was due to
the revelation of the fact that they were about to be sold far
below their value for the benefit of a few interested parties,
headed by D. P. Bibles, a carpet-bagger supposed to be in
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 129
partnership with General Sickles. Later on a similar plot,
engineered by Bibles, was formed, but C. L. Harris was in-
formed that a fraud was about to be committed, shared in by
two members of the board of education, probably Ashley and
Menninger. He opposed the sale and relied upon the support
of the governor, who, however, championed the cause of the
ring, and in consequence a breach occurred between them
which was never healed. The sale was prevented at the time,
but was later consummated on terms very unfavorable to the
state.
One of the most important acts of the session was one
making it a felony to go masked, painted and disguised on
the highway with the intent of terrifying any citizen. This
was of course directed at the Ku Klux who were becoming
active. Its passage was secured by the governor's sending
the militia to Alamance with the statement that it was neces-
sary to have troops there to protect the lives of loyal citizens.
By the end of the session the legislature had become a
scandal, and public criticism was bitterly severe. The ma-
jority of the members were either ignorant or careless and a
large number were entirely corrupt. By the time of adjourn-
ment repudiation was in sight. Even such carpet-baggers as
Sweet and Sejnnour began to protest. The former had hi.s
eyes opened as to the motives and considerations behind the
legislation and the latter considered the question, chiefly from
the standpoint of policy and expediency. But it was too late
to save the legislature from i)olitical damiuition and there
was little hope that any good would come from it. It had
recklessly plunged the state so deep in debt that it was on the
verge of avowed bankruptcy, and in doing so, it had been
utterly contemptuous of constitutional restrictions. It had
shoAvn itself partisan, selfish, incompetent, and corrupt, .ludge
Alden told a New York banker that he could buy a majority
of the body. George W. Swepson and M. S. Littlefield had
bought for their joint use, among others, Abbott, Laflin, Estes,
Foster, Hyman, Sinclair, Stevens, J. II. Harris, and Rev.
Hugh Downing. These facts were not clearlv proved as yet,
but they were suspected, and the result was fatal to the ma-
jority. At the beginning of their term they had presented a
130 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
united front to the conservatives who were ignored in debate
or silenced by the call of the previous question. This condi-
tion of affairs was now soon changed. Friction among them-
selves increased until the majority was apparently about to
break up into hostile cliques. The deportment of the mem-
bers was never good and became worse as the session pro-
gressed. Abusive and profane language was common in
debate and there were occasional personal encounters.
Although there was no election in 1869, political interest
was strong and the conservatives gained ground in public sen-
timent. In the summer B. F. Moore published a powerful pro-
test against political activity on the part of the judges, writ-
ten by himself and signed by 108 of the leading lawyers of
the state. This action was not intended to have political sig-
nificance but only to serve as a warning. But it could not
fail of political effect and when the court met in June, the
chief justice declared that "the case appeared as if the bar
had been lying in wait to murder the judiciary," and directed
the service of a rule upon all the protesting lawyers who
practiced before the court to show cause why they should not
be silenced for contempt. By agreement the rule was served
only upon Moore and two others who while admitting disap-
proval of the conduct of the judges, pleaded a lack of intent
to bring the court into contempt, upon which the chief justice,
after administering a scolding to the lawyers, ordered the
rule discharged. The action of the court did not strengthen
it, many, even of the republicans feeling that it had erred
badly.
The republicans were beginning to lose the coherence which
had at first characterized the party. The conservatives saw
this and were quick to take advantage of it. No opportunity
was lost to widen any breach that was visible, nor was the
battle against the radicals lessened at all when the legisla-
ture adjourned. The most influential agency in this contest
was the Sentinel, edited by Josiah Turner with an enthusiasm
for polemics that seemed little short of diabolical to his oppo-
nents. He was a man of positive genius for political warfare,
sparing not and caring little where he struck. Quick-witted,
ingenious in putting an opponent on the defensive and keeping
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
131
him there, and at the same time ignoriug a counter attack,
gifted with a keen sense of humor, he saw the ridiculous side
of everything and employed it as a means to an end, realizing
clearly that in politics a dangerous enemy is often rendered
harmless by laughter and ridicule. He had a nickname for
nearly every carpetbagger and for a number of the native re-
publicans and spoilsmen. The "hands," "Pilgrim" Ashley,
JOSIAH TUKXER, Jb.
Editor of the Sentinel
"Windy Billy" Henderson "who stole Darr's mule" (or as
he later phrased it, "who was tried and acquitted of stealing
Darr's mule"), "Kildee" Lassiter, "Chicken" Stephens,
"Greasy Sam" Watts, "Blow Your Horn Bill" Smith, "the
Governor's Son Joseph," "Ipecac" Menninger, "Colonel
Heck who teaches the Sunday School," "Parson" Sinclair
"Sleepy" Downing, "Ku Klux" Ingram, "Grapevine" John
Ragland, and "Captain" Thomas Settle, are terms that are
familiar in North Carolina even today. No man in the state
132 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was so bitterly hated by the republicans and, as time went on,
so intensely feared. He saw everything. Through sources of
information never revealed, he learned of plans and policies
that were studiously concealed from the public by their orig-
inators. He never forgot or overlooked a vital point, never
lost his temper, and never forgave, but cunning as a serpent,
writing with a pen that seemed dipped in gall, he relentlessly
pursued what now became the chief aim of his existence, the
overthrow of the republican party in the state. No man was
ever better adapted to such work, for his genius was destruc-
tive always and he naturally belonged to the opposition. He
was the inspiration of the conservative party in its deepest
gloom, and to him more than to any other man belongs the
credit for the speedy overthrow of Reconstruction in North
Carolina.
The republicans were in no condition to stand attack, new
lines of cleavage appearing steadily. Several factions op-
posed Holden, some of them bitterly. Friction and ill-feeling
developed between the natives and the carpet-baggers. There
were marked beginnings of a conservative and radical divi-
sion in the party which was to end finally in the loss of the
former. By the summer of 1869 the party was on the de-
fensive. The state debt and the methods by which it had been
created excited feeling, and as it became more evident that
small benefit was accruing to the public, hostility took the
form of a demand for repudiation which was not at all con-
fined to the conservative party.
Nor was the legislative record alone responsible for this.
The administration was in a sense as unpopular as the legis-
lature. It was extravagant, equally inefficient, and was not
free from corruption. It was, as might have been expected,
partisan to a degree. The governor seems never to have
profited personally to the extent of a penny from the wide-
spread stealing, but he was hand in glove with the thieves,
many of whom, like Swepson, Sloan, Littlefield, and Jones,
were given their best opportunities by him. He also extended
to them all the protection in his power. In this sense he must
be held partially responsible for their acts. A strong and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 133
good man ooiild have hold hack the tliicvcs, Init with his e}'es
open he refused to do so.
The other state officers were incompetent or worse. Men-
ninger, the secretary of state, was utterh' corrupt. D. A.
Jenkins, the treasurer, although the receipt of $600 from
Swepson is a most suspicious fact, seems to have hecu honest
in relation to the funds in his hands, hut he did nothing to
check the wholesale rascality. Adams, the auditor, was a
nonentity. Harris, the superintendent of puhlic works, was
IDersonally honest, but was bitterly partisan. When he pro-
tested against fraud, the governor read him out of the party.
Ashley, the superintendent of pu])lic instruction, was ineffi-
cient and corrupt. On every side there was nepotism. For
example, the governor made his son, already speaker of the
House, through his influence, director in two railroads, his
brother director in one, one son-in-law attorney-general, and
another mayor of Baleigh. Josiah Turner, commenting on
this in the Sentinel, said: "But if any provide not for his own,
and especially for those of his own house, he had denied the
faith and is worse than an infidel."
In the judiciary morals on the whole were better and abil-
ity, if anything, worse. The Supreme Court was an exceed-
ingly able body with the grave fault that it was actively in
politics. The Superior bench was far worse off. Watts was
corrupt and incompetent. Jones was an habitual drunkard,
brazenly immoral, and hopelessly incompetent. Logan was
honest in money matters, incompetent, ignorant, and very
partisan. Tourgee was able but corrupt and otherwise devoid
of character. Buxton was honest, able, and iuclined to dab-
ble in politics. Cannon and Cloud were honest, ignorant, and
rather stupid country lawyers who belonged anywhere rather
than on the bench. Pool and Thomas were of good cliaracter
and average ability. Mitchell had been long on the bench and
was a good judge. Almost all were careless and inclined to
laxity in attendance, and the grand jury of Orange, at Tur-
ner's instigation, presented Tourgee in his own court for leav-
ing early. An interesting view of the legal knowledge of the
Superior bench is to be found in the fact that the Supreme
Chief Justice Richmond M. Pearson Edwin G. Reade
Thomas Settle
William B. Rodman Robert P. Dick
The Supreme Court in Reconstruction
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 135
Court reversed 70 decisions out of 114 cases heard at January-
term, 1870.
Local conditions varied. In the black counties they were
terrific; in many white counties in republican hands there
seems to have been honest and capable government. Not all
the conservative counties were well-govenied, but there was
in the republican counties generally a marked tendency to an
extravagance out of place considering the condition of the
people. Many of the more lucrative and important offices
were held by carpet-baggers and nearly all were corrapt.
Craven, Pitt, New Hanover, and Wake suffered particularly
from carpet-bag rule. In the Federal service things were lit-
tle if any better during this period and for many years to
come. Such were the political conditions of the republican
regime. Social and economic conditions contributed also to
republican weakness.
In the meantime a movement was in operation which power-
fully influenced the course of history in the state.
The Ku Klux movement, which appeared in almost every
Southern state during the decade following the war, grew
naturally out of the chaos in society which was caused by
the ordinary results of the war and, more especially, by Re-
construction. The old order with its security and stability
had disappeared and the people of the South were confronted
with problems which required immediate solution. Not the
least pressing and important of these was that of the relation
of the races, with its important bearing upon the labor ques-
tion. The first attempt towards a settlement of this furnished
one of the chief pretexts of the radicals in entering upon their
policy and the adoption of the congressional plan apparently
destroyed any possibility of the control of the lower race
except by force. The force of law, the power of the govern-
ment, were in the hands of aliens or their tools, and condi-
tions grew rapidly more unsettled until the statement of the
committee on reconstruction that the governments of the
Southern states "afford no adequate protection for life or
property, but countenance and encourage lawlessness and
crime," false when it was made in 1866, became entirely true.
Liberty with the negroes rapidly degenerated into license and,
136 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
banded together in secret leagues which to radical officers
served as a valid political cloak for all offenses, instigated to
violence by unprincipled adventurers who had been lifted into
political power by the negro vote, alienated from their former
friends by slander, they unconsciously set about the destruc-
tion of civilization in the South. Crime and violence of every
sort ran unchecked until a large part of the South became a
veritable hell through misrule which approximated to anar-
chy. Called into existence by this state of affairs, the Ku
Klux lifted the South from its slough of despond by the ap-
plication of illegal force Avhieh overthrew Reconstruction and
ultimately restored political power to the white race. In the
process, it furnished protection to the oppressed, but, degen-
erating from its high purpose and estate, as might have been
expected from its nature and organization, it was often violent
and sometimes oppressive, and in the end, fell into the control
of reckless spirits who used it for private vengeance rather
than public punishment. But when this evil day came, its
purpose was in a fair way of accomplishment. The women
of the South once more could leave their doors without the
accompaniment of a deadly terror. Property became fairly
safe again. Heart had been put into the despairing whites
and a revolution had been wrought through its operations,
or, to be more exact, the results of a revolution had been over-
thrown and a form of government, wickedly, illegally, and un-
constitutionally imposed upon the people, had come into the
hands of the class best fitted to administer government, and
the supremacy of the white race and of Anglo-Saxon institu-
tions was secure.
The inherent evils of the movement are plain, but it is an
old adage that desperate diseases require desperate remedies.
Certain it is that no open revolt could ever have accomplished
so much of good as did the secret operations of the so-called
Klan, and few today would deny that there was necessity for
some remedy for the conditions then existent. The justifica-
tion for the movement even then sometimes seems difficult,
but when all the elements are considered, the conclusion seems
inevitable that if there be such a thing as the sacred right of
revolution, then the Ku Klux movement as planned and car-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 137
ried out at first was justifiable. No free people ever labored
under more g-alling oppression or more grievous misrule, aud,
in the absence of any effective legal remedy, the principle of
sal us populi would seem to apply. At any rate, it is clear that
the movement was primarily designed for protection and its
influence upon politics was purely incidental. The evidence
is overwhelming in support of the theory that the chief pur-
pose of the Ku KIux was to oppose the Union League and
cheek its operations. The unfortunate thing is that such an
extreme and, under ordinary circumstances, indefensible pol-
icy should have been necessary. Like practically every other
evil of reconstruction, its effects survive and are too often
manifested in Southern life and thought. The responsibility
for it must ultimately rest upon those who planned and put
into effect for partisan purposes the congressional plan of
reconsti'uction.
In North Carolina the movement was carried on by three
separate but kindred societies whose methods were identical
— the White Brotherhood, the Constitutional Union Guard,
and the Invisible Empire. All were secret orders with ritu-
als, all were organized for protective purposes, and all in
time had political influence and significance. The White
Brotherhood appeared in the state sometime in 1867 or 1868,
and nothing is known of its origin ; the Constitutional Union
Guard was organized at the North, probably with a political
purpose and reached North Carolina in 1868; and the Invisible
Empire, the Ku Klux proper, organized in Tennessee in 1865
reached the state in 1867 or 1868. These orders were organ-
ized locally into camps, klans, and dens, respectively. In
North Carolina, they existed side by side, often with the same
officers and almost the same membership and it is now almost
impossible to distinguish them. At the head of the Invisible
Empire was William L. Saunders, who, thougli not a member,
directed its larger activities and through it those of the others
as well. Their nominal heads are not known. Their members
were widely scattered but no one knows or ever knew their
number. Forty thousand was a very usual estimate. Nor is the
geographical range of the orders any better known. It was
essentially a movement of the Piedmont region of the state
A Ku Klux Klan Costume
From an original photograph in the Hall of History at Raleigh
, BANNER USED BY THE KU-KLUX.
Prijmal n«i> m Jorth r<jn*na l!iwm.O»i/W«rjh,v\ii5cum,Ri(liOH)«iJ
A Ku Kluz Klan Bannek Used in North Carolina
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 139
and was never veiy successful in spreading in tlie eastern
counties where there was a large negro population. The only
counties with negro majorities in which the Ku Klux appeared
were Caswell, Lenoir, Jones, Franklin, and Wayne, and only
in Caswell were they active. The counties in which the orders
displayed any activity fall into two groups, a central and a
western one. In the former, were Alamance and Orange,
where Daniel E. Goodloe said the movement was hereditary
and closely akin to the Regulation, Caswell, Chatham, Cum-
berland, Duplin, Harnett, Lenoir, Jones, Moore, Person,
Franklin, Wayne, Guilford, Rockingham, and Stokes. In the
latter were Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Meck-
lenburg, Polk, McDowell, Rowan, and Rutherford. Orange
and Alamance formed the storm centre of the central group
and Cleveland and Rutherford of the western. So far as out-
ward manifestation is proof, the movement was of compara-
tively little importance elsewhere. But it is not to be doubted
that it was in a quiet way very important, both protectively
and politically, in many counties where it did not attract
any public attention. In the latter respect it was an organi-
zation which kept its members aroused. Its chief work in the
state and in the South, in addition to the protection it fur-
nished, was in restoring heart and courage to the white people
who at first seemed overwhelmed by the immensity of their
misfortunes. In this way it was the active agent which se-
cured political redemption. The western group of counties
was largely influenced by South Carolina and was practically
unconnected with the central group. In fact the chief activi-
ties in the West commenced only as the movement ceased
further eastward. In the West the organization was far less
complete and the discipline less effective. Its punitive meas-
ures were far less productive of public >)enefit and, in its
period of greatest activity, the movement had little to recom-
mend it.
The important activities of the Ku Klux began in 1869
although without resorting to violence it had not been inactive
before. In that year in Alamance, Orange, Caswell, Jones,
Lenoir, and Chatham counties severe punishment was inflicted
upon various evil-doers by the orders which constituted them-
140 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
selves censors of public morals and manners. In Alamance
where the order was popular with the people a large number
of persons, most of them negroes, were whipped for various
offenses. Politics so far as can be discovered did not enter
into any of these cases. In Orange which was probably the
best organized county in the state, a large number of per-
sons were whipped, and five, all negroes, were put to death
for offenses against women or for barn-burning. In Jones
the Union League had a large number of outrages to its score
and in retaliation, two carpet-baggers and a negro were shot
and killed. Proof was lacking but it is likely that the Ku
Klux were responsible. In Chatham whippings were frequent
but no one was killed. Both the League and the Ku Klux
were in constant operation. In Caswell the LeagTie was very
active and, under the leadership of John W. Stephens, a man
of bad reputation and notoriously evil political life, barn-
burning was seemingly the purpose of its existence. During
1869 a large number of negroes were whipped.
The Ku Klux operations which were not very widely ex-
tended and not nearly so lawless as those of the Union Leag-ue,
excited the anger, fear and hatred of the republican leaders.
The sending of militia to Alamance County, to be followed
later by Federal troops, had a corresponding influence upon
the conservatives. The governor planned to send troops to
Hillsboro, but his friends warned him not to do so. Late in
the same month, he warned the people of Orange, Chatham,
Lenoir, and Jones to abstain from lawlessness and threatened
to declare them in insurrection. About the same time, Chief
Justice Pearson wrote a letter to George Little, in which he
said the entire state was in as profound peace as it had ever
been. The governor's action did not at all aid the republican
party and was probably a cause of strength to the opposition.
The mass of the people were fully aware of the fact that, if
the governor had been more zealous in trying to prevent rad-
ical lawlessness, he would not have had as much occasion to
worry over Ku Klux outrages, many of which had been care-
fully invented for the press with a full realization of their
political value. At the same time, it seems beyond question
that Governor Holden believed that the condition of affairs
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
141
seriously menaced the safety and welfare of the state as well
as of his party. In so far he was justified.
In spite of the hysterical press notices which would indi-
cate the contrary, there was never a time when the Ku Klux
were disturbers of general public peace and order. In fact,
for a time, at least, after their appearance, there was improve-
ment in this respect. The courts were undisturbed and the
Caswell Holt of Alajiaxce County, Who Was Whuffed and Shot
BY THE Kv KUVX
This photograph wa.s taken in 1912, while he was in the employ of
the former countv chief of the Ku Klux
oflScers of the law went unhindered about their duties. Wrong-
doers and radical politicians, names then too often synony-
mous, trembled, a small class of timid whites became alarmed,
and panic, not soon allayed, spread among the negroes, but
the mass of the white people remained un listurbed and un-
afraid.
The legislature in 1869, it will be recalled, had made going
142 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
on the highway masked, painted, or disguised, a felony, and
Governor Holden had formally proclaimed his intention to
enforce the law. The legislature at the same session author-
ized him to employ a force of detectives to arrest fugitives
from justice. The governor construed the law liberally and
planned a secret campaign against the Ku Klux which failed
in spite of the activities of some twenty detectives. In Le-
noir and Greene, Judge Thomas ended the operations of the
secret orders. The center of disturbance was Judge Tour-
gee's district, and while he talked loudly and was not lacking
in personal courage, he accomplished nothing. Militia was
sent to various places with no success and finally the governor
threatened to declare several counties in a state of insurrec-
tion. Such was the situation in the state when the legisla-
ture met for its third and final session.
The third and last session of the "mongrel" legislature
differed greatly from its predecessors. The credit of the
state was gone, all resources were taxed to their limit, and
there remained nothing for the corrupt to exploit ; nothing to
steal. The haughty and prescriptive spirit displayed by the
majority had disappeared, and the hitherto despised minority
began to assume importance as the majority of a rapidly ap-
proaching tomorrow which would bring a reckoning. In con-
sequence, unity departed from the republicans, and, during
most of the session, the conservative minority drove before
them the badly-demoralized majority.
The governor's message was of little importance except
in respect to three things. He recommended the payment of
the interest on the debt, declaring that the state had received
the money from the bonds, but advised against any further
increase of the debt. He advised an appeal to Congress for
a general amnesty bill, not because he thought amnesty was
deserved, but because it would relieve friction. Most im-
portant of all, was a request to the legislature to increase
his power in the use of the militia. Governor Holden evi-
dently desired to appear to his political opponents equipped
with an olive branch and a sword.
Immediately after the session began, bills to carry out the
governor's suggestions were introduced. A resolution favor-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 143
ing general amnesty passed both houses by good majorities.
One introduced by SejTnour endorsing the validity of the
debt, opposing any increase, and condemning repudiation,
failed to pass. The debate indicated clearly that most of the
members did not expect the bonds to be paid.
The third recommendation of the governor resulted in a
bill "for the better protection of life and property," intro-
duced in December by Senator Shoffner, of Alamance, and
thereafter known by his name. The author of it, however,
was John Pool and rumor had it that Shoffner was paid a
considerable sum of money for consenting to father it. The
act empowered the governor, whenever, in his judgment, the
civil authorities in any county were unable to protect its citi-
zens, to declare the county in a state of insurrection and to
call into active service the militia of the state for its suppres-
sion. The judges and solicitors were given power to remove
to another count}- the trial of any person indicted in any
county for murder, conspiracy, or going masked, painted, or
disguised. All expenses incident to either action were to be
borne by the county concerned, the privilege being given to
the county to tax the costs upon any persons convicted. The
bill Avas vehemently opposed by the conservatives who de-
clared it unnecessary and denounced it as unconstitutional and
intended simply to give the governor unlimited military power
to use for political purposes. Republican sentiment was not
at all united on it. "W. T. Gunter, of Chatham, an intense
republican, led the fight on it in the House and even Deweese
wrote many letters from "Washington in opposition to its pass-
age. Seymour, who was its chief defender, acknowledged that
it was wrong in principle but declared that the times de-
manded it. In private conversation, he made no secret of the
fact that it was passed as the only hope of holding the state
republican. The chief defense of the republicans was that the
bill did not authorize the suspension of the writ of habeas
corpus.
At least three-fourths of the session was spent in discus-
sion of proposed investigations of the charges of fraud. The
thieves, the Standard, the carpet-baggers, and some partisans
fought every proposal, declaring them stabs at the republican
144 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
party and urging the republican members to act with repub-
licans and not with enemies and to disregard a "snarling
minority." Littlefield ran away from Raleigh but finally ap-
peared before the House in committee of the whole where,
under the protection of Sinclair, Seymour, French, Downing
and James H. Harris, he was not seriously embarrassed.
Swepson was summoned but with the aid of the governor es-
caped. Numerous minor investigations were made and finally
a commission to investigate the whole question of fraud was
authorized . Lieutenant-Governor Caldwell, a scrupulously
honest, if partisan, man appointed on it Thomas Bragg, Sam-
uel F. Phillips, and W. L. Scott, a group commanding general
confidence. Not much time was allowed them but the testi-
mony taken by them was damning. Littlefield saw the dan-
ger and gave an oyster supper to the republican members
with an unlimited supply of liquor. A large number got
drunk, nineteen senators agreed to secure the abolition of the
commission, and the law was repealed on the following day.
In the meantime something more than investigation had
been accomplished. As an interesting indication of senti-
ment, it is notable that the Senate passed a resolution for-
bidding the treasurer to pay any interest on the special tax
bonds until further action by the legislature. Finally, all
appropriations of bonds to railroads were repealed and the
companies were directed to return to the state all which were
unsold.
The radical element sought to prolong the life of the legis-
lature by taking advantage of an ambiguity in the constitution
which Tourgee said had been inserted for that very purpose,
but public opinion was too strong, and after providing for an
election in August the Legislature on March 28, 1870, ad-
journed sine die. During its term it had been in session 259
days and in per diem and mileage alone had cost the state
$349,705.30. Printing had cost more than $50,000 and inci-
dental expenses were probably more than $200,000. How
great was the cost to the state of their activities, viewed from
financial, economic, social, moral and political standpoints, is
of course beyond human surmise.
With the adjournment most of the carpet-baggers saw the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 145
handwriting on the wall, and the more brazen made no secret
of their belief that their day had come to an end. Byron
Laflin was asked as he started for the station the day of ad-
journment: "You are coming back, General?" and replied
with a leer, "Is there anything to come back forT' The rats
were deserting the sinking ship. Deweese about the same time
was forced out of Congress for selling a cadetship. His sole
and probably true defense was that he was really expelled
for underselling the market. In disgrace, under indictment
for misuse of his frank, which he had lent to send out state
republican campaign documents, he retired to Cleveland, Ohio,
where he had invested his rather tidy profits in a city block.
In the state almost every carpet-bagger in office was known
to be a defaulter and the hatred of them by the mass of re-
publicans was scarcely less intense than that felt by the con-
servatives. The state administration was, however, hope-
lessly committed to them, and since thoy held a large number
of Federal offices the party organization was more or less
dominated by them. •
Vol. Ill— 10
CHAPTER VIII
THE DOWNFALL
Republican opposition to the Ku Klux was to be expected
from the very nature of the case. The operations of the
orders were mainly directed against members of that party
and, even when they were not, the very existence of the se-
cret organizations of self-constituted regulators indicated a
condition of affairs which the party had no reason to be
proud of. In addition, from the very beginning, the organi-
zations were regarded by republican leaders, at least, as po-
litical in nature. Less important members of the party agreed
to this in public, but many of them in their hearts probably
had a guilty consciousness that the offenses for which they
feared the visitation of the dreaded night-riders were not at
all political; that, in fact, their republicanism was the least
of their sins. In some communities that had suffered greatly
at the hands of the negroes, the republicans were secretly
grateful to the klan, and, in the days of its degeneracy, a con-
siderable number of them joined it, in order that, under the
shelter of its disguise and its fellowship, they might violate
the laws of the land, particularly those in reference to the
manufacture and sale of whiskey. But this of course was not
loyal republicanism. Hatred of the Ku Klux speedily became
a cardinal doctrine of the party and it was regarded as good
party policy to magnify the violence of its acts as much as
possible, connecting it at the same time with the opposition
party, and thereby to attract as much attention as possible in
the North. Right faithfully most of the "loyal" carried out
this obligation, taking due care, however, not to get their
names connected with the ingeniously manufactured product
which appeared in the press under the heading, "Southern
Ku Klux Outrages."
146
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 147
Upon the activities of the Ku Klux in the state the gov-
ernor no^ prepared to base his plan for carrying the election
of 1870. In the summer would be chosen the attorney-general,
the members of Congress and a legislature which would se-
lect a United States senator. Upon its result depended the
future of the republican party and the governor's own per-
sonal ambitions. The conseivatives were deeply stirred and
very hopeful, for it was increasingly evident that the people
were weary of the republican regime and even the republican
leaders were skeptical of success. The governor at first sought
some new alignment of parties by which the native white re-
publicans and the old whigs might combine, with the carpet-
baggers and negroes excluded. But the plan would not work
as long as Holden was included in it. The party had heavy
burdens to carry. The extravagance, dishonesty, and incom-
petence of the administration, the shameless corruption of the
legislature, the partisanship of the judiciary, and the divi-
sions in the party, all contributed to make the cause well-nigh
hopeless from the beginning.
On the conservative side, the chief burden tliat had to be
carried was the Ku Klux. But this was not so heavy as might
be supposed. In spite of all the violence for which, justly
or unjustly, it received the credit, its service to the people
was recognized by the masses, who had never regarded it in
the same light as the political leaders had. In the next place,
the very denunciation of it by the republicans, combined with
their highly-colored accounts of its real and supposed out-
rages, tended to intimidate the negroes politically far more
than the Ku Klux had ever done, and thousands of negroes
who had never been molested by the Ku Klux determined to
have nothing to do with politics, in this campaign at least.
The truth is that many of the negroes, chiefly those in the
country, were beginning to discover the falsity of political
promises and had come to believe that politics as conducted
by the carpet-baggers and other whites had liftli' of good for
them. Disappointed in the past by their failure to receive
"forty acres and a mule," they were taking steps to acquire
those coveted possessions by hard work.
Early in March, 1870, Wyatt Otttlaw, a negro, was hanged
148 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
by the Ku Klux in Alamance, and on March 7th, the governor
proclaimed the county in a state of insurrection, but took no
steps to suppress the supposed uprising. In Orange, where
conditions were in some respects worse than elsewhere, and
in Chatham, leading conservatives induced men of influence
in their party to apply to Governor Holden for commissions
with a view to disbanding the orders. In both counties Ku
Klux activity ended here. The governor, in the meantime,
notified the President of what had been done, suggested legis-
lation by Congress which became the basis for the later Ku
Klux laws, and urged the senators from the state to secure
power to have the leaders tried by military tribunals and
shot.
In May, John W. Stephens, a state senator and one of the
governor's detectives, was killed by the Ku Klux who had
discovered that he was responsible for the barn-burning in
Caswell.
The governor, facing certain defeat unless new measures
to win the election were concerted, was desperate. His evil
genius, John Pool, now presented a plan. At a republican con-
ference in Baleigh on June 7th, participated in by some of the
most undesirable elements in the party, he suggested the or-
ganization of two regiments of regular troops as detailed
militia, and their use in arresting various persons in the
state. The writ of habeas corpus was to be ignored and it
was suggested that the accused be tried by a military commis-
sion. Eichard C. Badger, who was present, vehemently de-
nounced the plan as vicious, but the governor, in spite of his
timidity and misgivings, was entirely under Pool's influence,
and so the plan was adopted except that part involving trial
by military commissions. Back of it all was President Grant
who approved the plan and furnished the equipment for the
troops. Caswell County was at once proclaimed to be in in-
surrection and preparations for the organization of the troops
were hastened.
W. J. Clarke, a native, was placed in command of one
regiment. For the other, George W. Kirk, a noted Tennessee
bushwhacker and desperado was chosen. George B. Bergen,
of New Jersey, was made lieutenant-colonel. The following
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 149
circular, written by Holdeu, was then printed and distributed
in the western part of North Carolina and in Eastern Ten-
nessee,
Rally Union Men
In Defence of Your State !
Rally Soldiers op the Old
N. Carolina 2d and 3d Federal Troops!
Rally to the Standard ok Yol'r Old Commander!
Your old foiiimander has been L-oiiuuissioiied to raise at once a
regiment of State troops, to aid in enforcing the laws, and in putting
down disloyal midnight assassins.
The blood of your murdered countrymen, inhumanly butchered
for opinion's sake, cries from the ground for vengeance.
The horrible murdei-s and other atrocities committed by rebel
K. K. K. a)ul "southern chivalry," on grayhaired men and helpless
women, call in thunder tones on all loyal men to rally in defence
of their State. The uplifted iiand of justice must overtake these out-
laws.
N. C.vROLiNA 2d and 3d Federal Troops!
1,000 Recritits
are wanted immediately, to serve six months unless sooner discharged.
These troops will receive the same pay, clothing and rations as I 'nitcd
States regulai-s. Recruits will be received at Asheville, ^Marshall, and
Burnsville, North Carolina.
P'or further information address oi- call on me at Asheville, N. C.
Ge<jrge W. Kirk,
Colonel 2(1 Regiment State Troops.
Kirk, with Holden's consent, went secretly to Tennessee
and, in violation of law, raised a large part of his force there
from his own kind.
In the meantime the parties had held their conventions
and prepared for the campaign. For attorney-general the
conservatives nominated "William M. Shipp, a man of ability
and of good record. The republican convention was the scene
of a three-sided factional contest in which John Pool outwitted
both Holden and Abbott, defeating the latter with Holden's
aid for the presidency of the convention and then preventing
any endorsement of Holden's administration and the nomina-
tion of his son-in-law, L. P. r)l(Is, for attorney-general. For
this position Samuel F. Phillips, one of the most prominent
of the consen'atives in the state was nominated and in ac-
cepting he gave the republican party and its record in North
Carolina an unqualified endorsement and was henceforth not
only a republican but a radical.
150 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The plan of the governor to use military force, when made
public, excited the utmost horror and surprise in all decent
people. Prominent republicans flooded the governor with let-
ters of protest. Some extremists, most of them of like char-
acter with Kirk, heartily endorsed the plan. The Standard,
claiming to speaking for the governor, and probably doing so,
was full of threats, going so far as to say that if it was
thought necessary, certain leading conservatives, already
determined upon, would be put to death. One of these, it is
interesting to know, was William A. Graham.
In Washington, Pool and Abbott organized a campaign of
misrepresentation in order to build up a sentiment in the
North in favor of what was about to happen. The President
sent for Holden and assured him of his support, saying:
''Let those men resist you, Governor, and I will move with
all my power against them." The governor came away con-
fident and determined upon the creation of a military com-
mission to try those arrested. This may have been suggested
again by Pool; in all likelihood it was the suggestion of the
President.
In spite of all the later claims in respect to the purpose of
raising the miltaiy force, at the time, among the conspirators,
there was no pretence of its having any other object than to
wreak partisan revenge, excite a wholesale terror, and above
all, carry the election.
Kirk's regiment consisted of nine companies with a total
of 670 men, of whom 399 were under legal age, 64 over legal
age, and more than 200 from other states. Enlisted among
the whites, also in violation of law, were a large number
of negroes. It was an undisciplined disorderlj^ body, com-
posed chiefly of criminals and desperadoes, drawn from the
worst elements of the mountain population.
On July 6th, the force reached Alamance where a few days
later they were mustered into state service. A military com-
mission was then selected consisting of Kirk's field officers
and a group of partisans, holding Holden 's militia commis-
sion, all of them of worse than mediocre ability and entirely
subservient to Holden. The commission was ordered to meet
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 151
on July 25th and it was planned to execute its sentence just
before the August election but this plan was later changed.
The conservatives had viewed the threatening situation
with disgust and with more fear of an uprising of the people
that would lead to Federal interference than with terror of
Kirk. Leaders besought the people to be patient and win at
the ballot box. In fact the movement from a conservative
standpoint was most important. It aroused such hostility
that the most indifferent voter was affected and the republi-
cans, more than ever, were put on the defensive and their de-
feat assured.
On July 1st, Bergen arrested in Alamance J. S. Scott, a
merchant, James E. Boyd, a young lawyer and the conserva-
tive candidate for the House, and A. G. Moore, a farmer, in-
fonning them that this was done under instructions from
Governor Holden. Upon application Kirk refused to admit
them to bail. The next day a petition for a writ of habeas
corpus was presented to Chief Justice Pearson who granted
it. The writ was served upon Kirk at Yanceyville where,
under orders from Holden, he was carrying part of his force.
Declaring that such papers had played out, he refused to obey
the writ except under orders from the governor. Application
was then made for a writ of attachment against Kirk when
Badger, acting for the governor, suggested that he might
wish to be heard. The chief justice accordingly sent him a
copy of the writ and the next day the governor replied as-
suming responsi])ility for Kirk's action. He declared himself
authorized by law to take such a course, wiiich he professed
to believe necessary to suppress the insurrection in Alamance.
The chief justice after hearing argument of counsel on lines
laid down by himself, delivered an opinion in which he upheld
the governor's power to declare a county in insurrection but
denied the suspension of the privilege of the writ. Acknowl-
edging the right of the petitioners to a writ of attachment, he
refused to address it to any sheriff or to call out tlie posse
comifatus on the ground that it would precipitate civil war
in the state. He closed the opinion as follows:
The writ will be dn-eeted to the Marshal of the Supreme Court,
with instructions to exhibit it, and a copy of this opinion to His
152 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Excellency the Governor. If he orders the petitioner to be delivered
to the Marshal, well; if not, following the example of Chief Justice
Taney, in Merrimou's case. Annual Cyclopedia, for the year 1861,
page 555, I have discharged my duty; the power of the Judiciary is
exhausted and the responsibility must rest on the Executive.
Pearson.
The same procedure was followed in the case of the other
prisoners arrested and when a writ issued by Judge Mitchell
was served on Kirk, he tore it up.
In the meantime Kii'k's force had occupied the courthouses
at Yanceyville and Graham, from which bases they terrorized
the two counties, seeking evidently to provoke an uprising of
the people. In Caswell nineteen prominent citizens were ar-
rested and imprisoned. Many were treated with outrageous
barbarity and some remained in jail more than a month, to
find, when a hearing finally came, that there was not a scintilla
of evidence against them. Writs were secured for all of them
with the result already described. In Alamance eighty-two
persons in all were arrested and many of them tortured.
When Kirk carried James E. Boyd to Yanceyville, W. R.
Albright, of Alamance, went to Raleigh at Boyd's suggestion
and told Holden that Boyd would tell all he knew about the
Ku Klux. The result of the conference was that Kirk car-
ried Boyd to Raleigh where he had a number of interviews
with the governor. On the 17th, Holden wrote Kirk that
Boyd was going to confess; and on the 19th Boyd was re-
leased upon his own bond in the sum of $50,000, and accepting
a fee of $250 as counsel, agreed to work up evidence against
the Ku Klux and make a public' confession. He returned to
Alamance and published a card the next day denying that he
had made any revelation to the governor and stating that he
had no knowledge to reveal. He then devoted his energies, ac-
cording to his own account to securing evidence. On July
30th, the Standard contained a confession of membership in
the Ku Klux signed by Boyd and fifteen others whom he had
induced to join him. Tremendous excitement followed and
several hundred young men hastily left the state for the
Southwest, many of them never to return. Immediately upon
the publication of his card, Boyd withdrew from the canvass.
His public confession revealed practically nothing that was
HISTOKY OF NORTPI CAROLINA 153
of value to the administratiou. Its chief value was its effect
upon the public mind. He was twice judicially examined in
North Carolina and suffered badly at the hands of the lawyers
who cross-examined him. His testimony makes highly inter-
esting and enlightening reading. He was also examined by
the Senate "outrage" committee in 1871, and in the minority
report, signed by Senators Blair and Bayard, was harshly
condemned. Both Blair and Bayard later on the floor of the
Senate expi'essed their highly uncomplimentary opinion of
him, one, it is needless to say, common to many in North Caro-
lina at the time, and not wholly unknown to-day.
In the midst of the excitement caused by these events,
Bedford Brown went to Washington to urge the President to
interfere. Already the President had sent seven companies
of regulars to the state who were heartily welcomed by law-
abiding people who saw in them ultimate protection from the
governor's desperadoes. With great unanimity, the officers
condemned Kirk's methods and the governor's course. But
Grant was. as yet beyond reasonable influence and expressed
to Brown his determination to uphold the governor. The
Northern press, even the larger part of the republican news-
papers, were bitterly hostile to the governor, the Washington
Star expressing the prevailing sentiment in the following
editorial :
It is the fault of just such men as Iloldeii that North Carolina
is not soundly Republican today, if she is not. In no State of the
South was there so large a Union element during the war and in no
State was the work of reconstruction entered upon under more favor-
able auspices. As for Holden, he is simjjly a demagogue, trickster,
and political desperado. A blatant secessionist when secession was
uppermost, he is just the style of man now to pci-sccntc witli rabid
vindietiveness not only his secession neighbors, but all Republicans
who oppose his oppressive reign.
The election came in the midst of it all and was a conser-
vative victory. Shipp and five conservative candidates for
Congress were successful and the legislature was over-
whelmingly conserv-ative, the Senate with a two-thirds ma-
jority.
The day of the carpet-bagger and the scalawag was over
154 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and the first step in the overthrow of Eeconstniction was ac-
complished.
The next day Holden, who was writhing under the lash of
Josiali Turner's editorial attacks in the Sentinel, ordered his
arrest. Turner was taken from llillsboro, which being in
Orange was outside the zone of supposed insurrection, and
carried finally to Yanceyville, where he was confined with a
negro under sentence of death in a loathsome cell. Later he
was imprisoned in the room in the courthouse in which
Stephens had been murdered.
Upon their failure to obtain relief from the state courts,
the counsel for the prisoners determined to apply to Judge
Brooks of the Federal District Court. The petition was car-
ried to him by M. W. Ransom who persuaded him of the fact
of his having jurisdiction under the Fourteenth Amendment
and a law jDassed by Congress a short time before. He ac-
cordingly issued the writ.
The news of his action came like a thunderclap to the gov-
ernor and the other conspirators. Holden at once wired a
protest to the President, expressing his determination not to
yield. The following day Secretary Belknap sent in reply an
opinion of the attorney-general advising the governor to re-
spect the writ, and it was evident that the President had
deserted him. Holden conferred with Kirk, ordered him to
obey the chief justice's writs, and summoned Chief Justice
Pearson to Raleigh to hear the cases. When court opened
Kirk was present with the prisoners but the applications for
the writ were all -withdrawn. Bench warrants for a few of
the prisoners were issued but all were soon discharged. In
the meantime Judge Brooks held proceedings at chambers in
Salisbury and Kirk also appeared there with his prisoners,
all of whom upon motion were discharged over the protest of
the governor's counsel who objected rather vehemently in
spite of the fact that no evidence could be brought against
any of them.
An attempt to prevent the payment of Kirk's men by
means of an injunction against the treasurer and the pay-
master, failed and, mustered out, they fled to the mountains,
still committing acts of violence. Manv efforts were made to
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 155
secure the arrest of Kirk and Bergen but they were secretly
released by Judge Bond of the United States Circuit Court
and fled from the state. Both were later the recipients of
Federal appointments.
In November, Governor Hokleu issued u proclamation de-
claring the insurrection in Alamance and Caswell at an end
and with this action the Kirk-Holden war, as it has since been
known, came to a close.
The election results were scarcely known to the public be-
fore an insistent demand for the impeachment of the gov-
ernor began. Many also included the chief justice in their
demand. "When the legislature met, a flood of petitions for
the impeachment of both were presented. They were alai-med
and attempted to justify their action ; the governor in his
message, and the chief justice in a rather remarkable memo-
rial, addressed to the Senate, which was rejected without
being read.
The legislature was distinctly a body of young men. Sev-
enty were under thirty, and of the remainder, the majority
were under forty. Inexperienced, in the main, they were ably
led and manifested such a genuine spirit of reform that by
their action they assured the ascendancy of their party for
the next quarter of a century. In the body were only four
carpet-baggers, but twenty-two negroes found places.
Impeachment talk continued and it became apparent that
public sentiment behind it was sti'ong. Vance opposed it, ad-
vocating a compromise by which the republicans would con-
sent to a constitutional convention and advocate the removal
of his own disabilities. After the impeachment he said, "It
was the longest hunt after the poorest liide that I ever saw."
As time passed without action, the governor seems to have
concluded that the conservatives were afraid of the conse-
quences of impeachment, and the Standard, which still ri'])-
resented his opinions, said editorially:
We have heard enough on this subjeet. We want acts after today.
In the name of the people of North ("ai'olina, who elected the gov-
ernor and chief justice, we demand a trial at the t)ar of the Senate.
Innocent or "niiity, the matter lias reached that point from which
there is only one course to pursne and that is— give these men a trial —
clear themif innocent and convict them if guilty. If the Democratic
156 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
party will uot try these men, then we denounce the party as being
more corrupt and dishonest than has been cheu-ged against the Repub-
lican party.
In December the conservative caucus of the House de-
cided on impeachment and on December 9th, Frederick N.
Strudwick, of Orange, introduced a resolution impeaching the
governor. The cliief justice expected impeachment and had
engaged counsel but the influence of his old students, backed
by a feeling that it would be unwise to make too clean a sweep,
prevailed, and he thus escaped a fate he richly deserved.
The judiciary committee of the House reported the fol-
lowing resolution favorably which on December 14th was
adopted by a vote of sixty to forty-six :
That William W. Holden, Governor of the State of North Cai'o-
lina, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors in office.
The next day F. N. Strudwick, W. P. Welch and Thomas
Sparrow appeared before the bar of the Senate and im-
peached htm formally. A board of managers, headed by Spar-
row was chosen and William A. Graham, Thomas Bragg, and
A. S. Mei'rimon were employed as counsel. Eight articles of
impeachment, in substance as follows, were drawn up, adopted,
and presented to the Senate.
Article 1. Raising unlawful armed bodies of troops and cause-
lessly declaring the county of Alamance in a state of insurrection,
and afterwards unlawfully arresting eighty-two citizens of the county
and unlawfully detaining them, when there was no insurrection and
when the civil officers of the lav/ were in the full exercise of all their
functions.
Article 2. The same as to Caswell county with the arrest of
eighteen citizens.
Article 3. Unlawfully arresting, in the county of Orange, Josiah
Turner, Jr., and imprisoning liim.
Article 4. Unlawfully arresting and detaining in the county of
Caswell, John Kerr and three other citizens.
Article 5. Refusing to obey the writ of habeas corpus in the case
of Adolphus G. Moore.
Article 6. Refusing to obey the writ of habeas corpus in the
case of John Kerr and eighteen other citizens of Caswell county.
Article 7. Unlawfully recruiting a large body of troops from
the State of North Carolina and the State of Tennessee and placing
in command of them one Kirk and other desperate and lawless men
from the State of Tennessee ; unlawfully arresting and imprisoning
John Kerr and many others; hanging by the neck William Patton,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 157
Lucien H. Murray, and others; thrusting into a loathsome dungeon
Josiah Turner, Jr., and F. A. Wiley, and without lawful authority
making his warrant upon David A. Jenkins, Treasurer of the State, for
$70,000 or more, to pay the said unlawful troops.
Article 8. Ineiting and procuring tiie State Treasurer to disre-
gard the injunction to i-estrain him from iiaying tlie sum of $80,000
or more of the public treasury for the unlawful purpose of paying
his unlawful troops.
As soon as these were presented Lieutenant-Governor
Caldwell withdrew and assumed the office of governor from
which Holden automatically was removed until the conclu-
sion of the trial. The chief justice took the chair and organ-
ized the court of impeachment. Holden was summoned and
given thirty days to prepare an answer. The governor had as
counsel, W. N. H. Smith, Edward Conigland, and Richard C.
Badger, and on January 23d ho submitted through them his
answer to the articles of impeachment. To the first article,
was presented an elaborate answer containing a copy of Gov-
ernor Worth's protest at the time he retired from office, which
was claimed to be indicative of the state's attitude towards
the reconstructed government. Out of the protest, according
to the ans\ver, grew the later opposition to Holden 's admin-
istration. The growth of the Ku Klux, the passage of a law
against them, the governor's proclamation against them, and
those declaring Alamance and Caswell counties in insurrec-
tion were then recited. It \vas denied that the persons ar-
rested had been ill-treated, and constitutional authority was
claimed for all the governor's acts. To the second article, was
opposed the claim that all the persons were arrested upon
probable cause. To the third article, it was denied that the
arrest of Josiah Turner had been ordered elsewhere than in
Alamance or Caswell, but it was admitted that orders had
been given for his detention after arrest. The fourth article
was answered as the first and second. In answer to the fifth,
the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus was admitted,
but the governor claimed that it was his intention to hold the
prisoners only until they could with safety to the state be
surrendered to the civil authorities, and he claimed constitu-
tional and legal justification. The sixth article was answered
similarlv to the others. The answ^er to the seventh denied
158 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
that the troops had been raised in Tennessee, but claimed that
as within the governor's power. He denied that portion of
the article relating to his drawing the money from the treas-
ury. To the eighth article was submitted a denial and a de-
mand for proof.
The next day the replication of the managers was pre-
sented. It consisted of a general denial of the governor's
answer.
On January 30th, the managers asked leave to amend the
eighth article and, after some objection by counsel for the
governor, it was granted. But as this made a change necessary
in the answer to that article, time was granted for that pur-
pose. When the Senate re-convened, L. C. Edwards, of Gran-
ville, appeared and when he was called forward to be sworn,
his right to sit on the trial was challenged by the counsel for
the respondent. A long argument followed, but the chief
justice decided that Senator Edwards was entitled to be sworn
in as a member of the court. On the same day the final oath
was taken by the Senate, and on the next day, the trial began.
In no state up to this time had a governor been impeached,
and the case presented many points where a need of prece-
dents was felt. Both sides relied extensively upon the reports
of the impeachment trial of President Johnson, each interest-
ingly enough from the other's previous viewpoint.
The trial began on February 2d and lasted until March
22d. The managers introduced 57 witnesses and the de-
fense 113. The prosecution was able to prove beyond doubt
the main contentions upon which the impeachment was based.
The undisturbed exercise of jurisdiction by the courts in Ala-
mance and Caswell was proved by many, and the statements
of the articles as to the use of the troops, their illegal char-
acter, and the responsibility of the governor in their employ-
ment and payment were substantiated. The evidence also in-
dicated that the governor had ordered Turner's arrest, but
the defense had secured the removal of all the records of the
telegraph office just before the trial, and they could not be
used. Later evidence has proved that he ordered the arrest.
The defense sought to show the existence of secret associa-
tions in Alamance and Caswell, having a common purpose to
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 159
subvert the laws by threats, intimidation, acts of outrage, and
murder; that they had committed many outrages in those
counties, including six or seven murders ; and that they
exercised such an extensive control within those counties
that witnesses could not be induced to testify or grand juries
to present, in consequence of which the ordinary administra-
tion of the laws had become inadequate to protect life, lib-
erty, property, and the public peace. This, he claimed,
would be sufficient for the defense; that the secret
societies existing for the purpose of resisting the governmont
in the enforcement of the law were treasonable and that tlie
act of June 29, 1870, the Shoffner act, gave the governor dis-
cretionary power in declaring a county in a state of insurrec-
tion and that therefore it was only necessary to show that
the governor had acted in good faith to secure his acquittal.
This latter argument met with great opposition from the
board of managers who insisted that the act was unconstitu-
tional and that the governor, under the constitution could
never be irresponsible.
After argument of council the vote was taken. The re-
sult follows :
Guilty
Not Guilty
Article
Dem.
Rep.
Total
Dem.
Rep.
Total
1
30
30
6
13
19
2
32
32
4
13
17
3
36
1
37
12
12
4
33
33
3
13
16
5
36
4
40
9
9
6
36
5
41
8
8
7
36
36
13
13
8
36
36
13
13
The managers then asked for judgment and upon motion
of John "W. Graham, of Orange, the following resolution was
adopted by a strict party vote :
The State of North Carolina,
The Sexate of North Carolina,
March 22, 1871.
The State vs. William W. Eolden
Whereas, The house of representatives of the State of North
Carolina did, on the 26th clay of December, 1870, exhibit to the
160 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
senate articles of impeacliment against William W. Holden, governor
of North Carolina, and the said senate, after a full hearing and im-
partial trial, has, by the votes of two-thirds of the members present,
this day deteiTained that the said William W. Holden is guilty as
charged in the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th of said articles :
Now, therefore, it is adjudged by the senate of North Carolina
sitting as a court of ' impeachment, at their chamber in the city of
Raleigh, that the said William W. Holden be removed from the office
of governor and be discpialitied t« hold any office of honor, trust,
or profit under the state of North Carolina.
The rights of the people of North Carolina had been vin-
dicated and the second step in the overthrow of Reconstruc-
tion was accomplished.
CHAPTER IX
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS DURING
RECONSTRUCTION
The close of the war found the state well-nigh prostrate.
The people had been taxed to the limit during the war, the
productive male i>opulation had in the main been engaged in
the most unproductive of all occupations, the land had been
ravaged by invading armies, crops in large areas had been
destroyed by horses turned out to rest, vehicles had almost
disappeared, fences were gone, often stables and other farm
buildings, and even in some cases the dwellings, were de-
stroyed, and ruin and decky were on every hand.
There was a tremendous shrinkage of live-stock and for
a time after the close of the war there was a general seizure
of mules and horses by the military authorities. The state
was tilled with agents hunting for cotton owned by the Con-
federate Grovernment. But not only Confederate cotton was
taken but thieving treasury agents seized a vast amount
owned by individuals. What remained was taxed so heavily
that North Carolina, not a cotton state, paid $1,959,704.87. The
direct tax of 1861 was also collected to the amount of $394,-
847.63. In addition other property worth $200,000 was seized.
Every bank in the state through the repudiation of the
war debt was forced into liquidation, the highest amount re-
ceived by the stockholders being thirty-six cents on the dollar.
New banks of course came very slowly and during reconstruc-
tion there were only six in the state, all of them national, with
a combined capital of less than $1,000,000. Just as repudiation
wrecked the banks, it destroyed many private fortunes and
reduced thousands from comfort to extreme poverty. Busi-
ness was at a standstill for lack of money and people were
Vol. Ill— 11
161
162 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
entirely unable to meet their obligations. Thousands, prob-
ably, went into bankruptcy.
To make conditions worse, bad crops were general. Those
of 1865 were good, considering everything, but those of 1866
and 1867 were very small. The fact of loss and disturbance
among the male population by itself would explain poor farm-
ing. But more than this the changed status of the chief agri-
cultural laboring class and the further fact that probably a
majority of that class were making their freedom evident to
themselves by abstaining from work, aided and abetted by
the Freedmen's Bureau, complicated the situation. Until
Christmas, 1865, it was difficult to persuade the negroes to
work on account of the "forty acres and a mule" myth which
was carefully fostered by the bureau agents. That failing,
things looked up and just as conditions were hopeful the pass-
age of the reconstruction acts upset the negroes and condi-
tions rapidly grew chaotic. In spite of the wreck following
war, there had been high hope of better times to come and
prospects had really seemed bright, but the congressional pol-
icy put an end to hope. The desired and hoped for immigra-
tion from the North and West did not materialize. Immigra-
tion of a sort did come. There were honorable exceptions of
course, but for the most part such Northerners as did come
were closely akin and bore a strong resemblance to vultures
flocking to a feast. Under the guidance of these aliens, a situ-
ation developed which was not likely to attract desirable new-
comers then and which has served as a check upon their com-
ing in great numbers ever since.
The congressional policy of reconstruction, designed pri-
marily to work a political revolution, also brought about a
social and economic one. It is true that the war had done
this to some extent, but there were evidences of an approach-
ing adjustment in 1865 and 1866 which was prevented by the
establishment of the military government. The effect of the
whole system was to postpone for some time a settlement of
the relations of the two races upon any basis that was ac-
ceptable to the white people. The negroes were separated
from them in politics and in religion and a strong effort was
made for political reasons, and with some success, to persuade
HISTORY OF NOKTH CAROLINA 163
the negroes that they had no interest in the prosperity of the
white people. In consequence, labor conditions were unset-
tled during the whole period and combined with this, sufficient
in itself to cause economic distress, thei'e were bad seasons
for several years. Short crops and the burden of taxes,
which were largely paid by the land-holding class, made the
industry of agriculture languish and, since the key to the
whole economic situation of the state was to be found in
agriculture, the industrial development which has since been
so phenomenal having then scarcely begun, the situation could
not have been much worse.
Other elements contributed to the distress of the state.
Crime increased and public morals degenerated. Theft be-
came so common that it was a menace to i^rosperity. Live
stock was stolen until in some communities the raising of
sheep and hogs was abandoned. Farm products of all sorts
were taken to such an extent that the profits of a farm were
often thereby swept away. This was partly due to the natural
propensities of the negroes, intensified by their necessities,
but they were also encouraged in it by white thieves who dealt
largely in farm products purchased at night in small quanti-
ties with no questions asked. This evil assumed such propor-
tions that the legislature of 1871 passed a law forbidding the
purchase of such commodities after dark. That want was
common among the negroes is well known, but it is not a
matter of such common knowledge that among the white peo-
ple there were many who scarcely knew from day to day from
Avhence the next day's support would come and this in spite
of the fact that every effort was made to find work that could
be done. The war, which swept away so much property, in
many cases did not leave the capability of making a living.
That so many succeeded in acquiring that capacity argued
well for the stock and bore good promise of future perform-
ances in the economic and industrial upbuilding of the com-
monwealth. It is interesting to see how helpless emancipa-
tion left both classes who were freed by it. The one which
was really most benefited was the slower to realize it, but
when once it saw the truth, ceased to bewail the lost shackles
which had bound it to the institution of slaverv and made
16i HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
haste to lend its aid in the process of dignifying labor. It
was without doubt a bitter experience but that it was produc-
tive of good results is proved beyond all question by the facts
of today. The negroes, on the other hand, were stimulated
into an outburst of ecstasy at relief from the metaphorical
chains of bondage, and, regarding liberty as inseparable from
idleness, proceeded to put it to the test. It must be said for
most of them,' however, that, when undisturbed by political
agitators or outside influences, their behavior was good. They,
too, had a bitter lesson, but were prevented from learning it
thoroughly by the siren voices of the carpet-baggers who as-
sured them of the gratification of every desire when once they
obtained the franchise and lifted their alien friends to profit-
able office. It took many years of experience before the mass
of them discovered that their race had been employed as a
step to help white men into office and that their activity in
politics had won the displeasure of those who paid wages for
labor and to whom, instinctively and in spite of slander and
falsehood, they turned when in trouble. In the meantime, the
morals of the race had degenerated, the opportunity of politi-
cal instruction, and, of greater importance, political division,
had passed, and the white man's party would have none of
them.
From the presence of the negro in politics grew one of
the greatest evils for which Reconstruction was responsible,
namely, the inevitable blunting of the political moral sense of
the white people. North Carolina, unprogressive as it was,
had always a highly developed political sense and an equally
high standard of political morality. The greatest shock of
Eeconstruction was the revelation of the depths to which poli-
tics could sink. But during these two years of radical mis-
rule, when the ideals of the community were shattered, when
an ignorant, inferior, and lately enslaved race, controlled by
selfish and corrupt aliens, held the balance of power and, by
combination with a small minority of the native whites, ad-
ministered the government, then the practical necessities of
the case overcame scrupulous notions of political morality,
and a determination to rule by any methods possible possessed
the mass of the white people and held them during the three
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 165
following decades. That they were right is not to be donhted
in the face of the facts, but it must nevertheless continue to
be a cause of regret that such a thing was necessary to se-
cure good government.
How far political and social conditions atfected the eco-
nomic interests of the state cannot be iletermined. That
there was a close relation existing must ol" coui'sc lie
true. AVages were low, but probably would have lieen so under
any government the state might have had. They fluctuated
little during the period. Money was scarce and the usual
plan in the country was to rent land to "croppers" on shares
which varied in proportion to what the owner supplied. The
plan was uncertaLu in its results but prol)al)ly not so much
so as was the hiring of hands with regtdar wages, for, in the
latter case, there was little or no redi'ess for an employer
when his hands deserted him.
The years of the republican regime saw a steady decline
in the value of most of the agricultural products of the state.
The following table for the years from ISGfi to 1870 inclusive,
for corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, potatoes, tobac-
co, and hay are illuminating.
Table
1866 $45,551,450
1867 38,332,716
1868 37,339,097
1869 33,138,770
1870 .31,308,654
Wliile the assessment was certaiidy low as always in North
Carolina, the changes through most of the same period are a
valuable index to conditions.
Table
Other
Year Land Tf)wn lots Live stock Personalty
1867 ..$87,993,293 $9,654,973 Not available Not available
1868 . . 82.204,267 7,386,019 $20,052,456 Not available
1869 .. 69,990,991 9,566,353 18,377,591 $27,536,688
1870 .. 68,240,609 12,900,901 17,424,231 22,344,478
Upon this property taxes steadily increased.
166 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Table
State Special
tax taxes
Year Poll Income on $100 on $100
1866 $1.00 $1.00 to $3.00 .10
1867 50 .50 to 1.00 .10
1868 50 .50 to l.OO .10 .05
1869 1.05 2.50 .35 .59
1870 1.10 1.50 .20 .1666
The chief burden of this taxation fell upon the conserva-
tives not only because a majority of the white people belonged
to that party, but also because they possessed the greater part
of the wealth of the state. In addition, in many republican
counties, property was assessed so as to bring about that re-
sult. This continued long after the conservatives obtained
control of the state government.
As a result of these conditions much land, particularly
that of large holders, was forced upon the market. A great
deal was sold for taxes and still more to get rid of it. Prices
were pitifully small. In 1869 twenty-three tracts, totalling
7,872 acres were sold in Wake for $7,718. In 1871, 25,000 acres
in New Hanover and 133 Wilmington town lots brought $3,-
019.66.
It was not wonderful that as time passed there developed
a steady exodus from the state, not nearly so large, but still
comparable to that which had so alarmed forward-looking
men prior to 1835.
So deep was the economic depression consequent upon Re-
construction that conservative victory in 1870 did little to re-
move it. In fact if anyone in North Carolina had a lingering
belief in 1870 that conservative control of the state would
mean prompt economic regeneration, it was soon dispelled.
Undoubtedly there was more public confidence abroad in the
land f the decline in the value of property ceased, but the state
debt was still in existence ; government, in spite of conserva-
tive retrenchment and economy, was still expensive; and pov-
erty was still general; Labor conditions for a short while
promised to be even more chaotic, thanks to the campaign
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 167
which had been made ainoug the negroes to imbue them with
the belief that consei-\'ative success meant the restoration of
slavery, but this fear was soon dispelled and, after being
aroused again in 1872 and 1874, sank into a sleep from which
it has never been entirely awakened, although the argument
was employed with some effect by the republicans in 1875 and
in 1884. It was used in every campaign until the passage in
1900 of the constitutional amendment which limited the suf-
frage.
The prostration of the state was too serious to be cured
by a mere political change, important and necessarj' as that
change was in this case. Good government was a necessary
tonic, but years of care and struggle were inevitable before
full economic health could be restored. The constitution
which had greatly increased the cost of govermiient remained
unamended, the people fearing that a convention might mean
Federal interference and in any event would be an immedi-
ate expense. Many preferred to endure the evils caused by
it if only peace might prevail for a time.
The conservatives, once in power, began a policy of rigid
economy. Salaries were reduced, better terms made for sup-
plies furnished, and, during the first year, the expense of gov-
ernment was reduced by more than $100,000. Within the next
few years, other reductions were made and the expenses of
the state government were substantially reduced. In spite of
the rigid economy practiced by the conservatives, their expen-
ditures on state institutions steadily increased to the great
benefit of the state.
Property values rose slowly during the whole period, ac-
companied by a fall in the rate of taxation," as can be seen
from the tables.
As the state taxes fell the county taxes began to loom
large. The most extravagant and worst governed were the
"black" counties. In 1873 seventeen of these had a tax valu-
ation of $39,714,222 on which were levied county taxes of
$302,522.25.
In all the black counties there was not only extravagance
but dishonesty, graft of every kind being general, and the
public receiving little benefit. Nor were the black counties
168 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
alone in this ; it was true of most of the republican counties
in the East. Bladen paid in the period between 1868 and 1876
more than $100,000 in county taxes. Both the sheriff and
treasurer were defaulters and county orders were not worth
ten cents on the dollar.
Business was prostrate and the credit of individuals suf-
fered with that of the state because of the failure to make
some settlement of the debt. It was clear that before pros-
perity could return that this must be done.
Towards the close of the period labor became more set-
tled, but agricultural conditions were far from good. In
industry, the manufacture of cotton was only beginning and
had no appreciable effect upon the state as a whole. Tobacco
culture and manufacture was of growing importance but it
was the succeeding decades that was to see its tremendous ex-
pansion.
The closing years of the period saw more improvement
along all lines. Life became more settled. Political animosi-
ties and those growing out of the war began to die away.
The convention of 1875 accomplished a good deal in the way
of reform; and good and, to North Carolina almost as im-
portant, cheap government was well established. All of these
things tended to economic and social progress and improve-
ment.
The crime of Reconstruction is today generally recognized
by all who care to look facts squarely in the face. To a close
observer of Southern conditions, the heinousness of the of-
fense is increased by the knowledge that the South of the
present time is still laboring under the burdens thereby im-
posed. It has made many a Southerner fail to comprehend
the wonderful benefits which have really come to the South
from emancipation, and it has drawn the sections apart when,
with the barrier of slavery removed, they should have come
together. So far as North Carolina was concerned, the par-
tisan plan was one of greatest folly. But for Reconstruction,
the state would today, so far as one can estimate human
probabilities, be solidly republican. This was clearly evident
in 1865, when the attempted restoration of President John-
son put public affairs in the hands of former whigs who then
HISTORY OF XORTTT TAROLIXA 169
had no tliouglit of joining in politics their old opponents, the
democrats. So strong was the opposition to snch a thing that it
was eight years before there was an avowed democratic party
in the state, the whigs who formed and led the conservative
party ha^-ing so decided a detestation for the very name. It
was this element that the republican party rejected for the
solid negro vote. The latter was soon lost, for the negroes
in the mass, proving to be lacking in political capacity and
knowledge, were driven, intimidated, bonght, and sold, the
playthings of politicians, until finally their very so-called
right to vote became the sore spot of the body politic. Their
participation in politics gave the democratic party the prepon-
derance of the talent and character of the population and,
for many years, a safe majority of the white voters. Coming
into power as a result of the disgust of the people for the
infamy of the republican administration of the government,
the party remained in control of affairs because it proved
itself fit to rule, and because there was no hope of decent gov-
ernment outside of it. From time to time it would either
have been forced to a more progressive spirit, or would have
lost control had the people been vrilling to trust the opposi-
tion. The result was that politics was embittered and freedom
of political thought and action was restricted to such an ex-
tent that a condition of affairs existed that bore a striking
resemblance to that of the fifties, when slavery stifled freedom
of speech and thought, with the one difference that in the
later case, the very preservation of good government was at
stake.
CHAPTER X
THE END OP RECONSTRUCTION
Work as imperatively necessary as the impeachment con-
fronted the legislature of 1870. Reform of the government
in all departments, the checking of extravagance, the amend-
ment of a sadly defective constitution, and the punishment
of ofiScial ci'iminals other than the governor remained to be
done.
Accordingly, salaries were cut on all sides, those of the
adjutant-general and the superintendent of public works be-
ing reduced to $300 which virtually destroyed the offices. To
strike Ashley, the same thing was proposed for the superin-
tendent of public instruction, but wiser counsel prevailed and
the salary was reduced to $1,500. The per diem of members
of the le.gislature was cut to $5 and the fees of county officers
were greatly reduced.
The hated Shoffner act was repealed and accompanying
this was an act forbidding the existence of secret political so-
cieties. Other legislation of importance followed. Contempt
of court was defined and the power of the judges limited,
residence in the township was required as a prerequisite for
voting, judges were made strictly liable for refusal to grant
and have executed the writ of habeas corpus, burglary and
arson were made capital crimes, and the power of appoint-
ing state proxies and state directors for the institutions and
companies in which the state had an interest was taken from
the governor. Under the provisions of this last act the presi-
dent of the Senate and the speaker of the House appointed
full boards, and, the old boards declining to yield, suits were
brought to determine the constitutionality of the law. In
every case the Supreme Court decided in favor of the old
170
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 171
boards on the ground that the legishiture could not deprive
the governor of any constitutional power.
The impeachment of a number of officials was publicly
demanded, but the legislature rather wisely did not wish to
cheapen impeachment even if deserved. Judge "Watts prob-
ably escaped for this reason. Judge Jones, however, was cer-
tain of impeachment and only hastened it by making a brutal
and murderous assault while drunk upon a negi'o strumpet in
his room. He was indicted and before trial was impeached,
only thirteen members, all of them republicans, voting against
the resolution. The board of managers was headed by Sam-
uel F. Phillips, the republican leader of the House. Jones was
induced by party leaders to resign, but the governor refused
to allow him to escape without the consent of the House,
which, in order to avoid expense, withdrew the articles. The
governor then accepted the resignation.
Abbott's term in the Senate was about to expire and the
legislature was much interested in the choice of a successor.
Many were mentioned for the place, but Vance most promi-
nently. He was under disabilities but was confident of their
removal and demanded the election. M. W. Ransom was his
chief competitor and only Vance's great personal popularity
won him the caucus nomination, and that only by a majority
of tM'o after twenty-seven ballots, and after he had pledged
himself to resign if his disabilities were not removed. He
was accordingly elected but was denied his seat and his dis-
abilities were not removed. Abbott then laid claim to the
seat on the remarkable ground that as Vance was banned, he
as the recipient of the next highest vote was elected. The
most interesting fact in connection with his claim was that
he found two radical members of the Senate committee on
elections to agree with him. As time passed and Vance did
not resign, opposition to him came to the surface. Finally,
a resolution requesting his resignation was introduced and
debated at length in the conser\'ative caucus and there de-
feated. Press demands of the same sort were frequent, and
-finally, he wrote a public letter claiming that his pledge to
resign had been made to his friends alone. He was urged in
172 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Washington by democratic senators to retire but still refused
and thereby made many enemies.
Constitutional reform was a burning question, and a bill
finally passed both houses, by a simple majority vote, submit-
ting to the people the question of a convention which should
be restricted by being forbidden to alter the homestead and
personal property exemption clauses, to deprive colored per-
sons of their rights, to compensate former owners of slaves,
to recogTiize the war debt, to restore corporal punishment, to
abolish public schools, to require an educational or property
qualification for suffrage, to change the ratio between poll and
property taxes, to pass ordinances of a legislative nature ex-
cept concerning the public debt and to change in any way
the mechanics and laborers' lien and the clauses denying the
right of secession and declaring the paramount allegiance of
every citizen due to the United States. All changes had to
be ratified by the people. "Wlien the bill first came before the
Senate, Lieutenant-Governor Caldwell claimed that a two-
thirds vote was necessary because the constitution required
that majority to call a convention. Precedents in the state
were all on the other side when the question was to be re-
ferred to the people, and the Senate persisted. By the time
the House passed the bill, Caldwell had succeeded Hoklen and
in spite of a former recorded opinion on the other side, after
a conference of republican leaders was held, backed by four
of the five justices of the Supreme Court who laid aside es-
tablished precedents for a party purpose and gave an opinion
on the subject, he declined to call the election on the ground
that the act was not law. The conservatives were deeply
angered and at once repassed the bill, altering it so as to ig-
nore the governor and direct the sheriffs to hold the election.
A furious campaign followed. Most of the important re-
publican leaders in former years had taken the conservative
position, but they now declared the act invalid, defended the
existing constitution, and threatened a new reconstruction of
the state if the constitution was tampered with. President
Grant even sent Attorney-General Akerman down to give
warning of this. A number of republicans, however, includ-
ing Nathaniel Boyden, who had now succeeded Thomas Settle
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 173
on the Supreme Court, favored the call. There was really
every reason for a change and the conservatives continued to
appeal to reason with perfectly sound arguments on the need
of reform, and the necessity of economy, but the republicans
beat the bushes with threats of a new reconstruction and warn-
ings that the homestead would be lost, the colored people de-
prived of their new rights, and the state nuule bankrupt by the
expense. Federal officials threatened violators of the revenue
lav.-s and those suspected of membership in the Ku Klux.
Needless to say, the latter arguments were most effective, and
the convention was defeated by more than 9,000 majority.
When the legislature met in the fall of 1871 amendment
by legislative action was undertaken and a bill for that pur-
pose received the necessary three-fifths of each house. It pro-
vided for striking out the pro^asions relating to the state
debt, the township system, the state census, the code commis-
sion, the superintendent of public works, and for the reduction
of the number of Superior and Supreme Court judges, for a
biennial election of members of the legislature and biennial
sessions with compensation of $.300 for the entire term and
10 cents mileage, for placing county government in the hands
of the legislature, and for a prohibition of holding a plural-
ity of offices. The suggestions mentioned above were also in-
cluded.
Much of the time of the session was given to the matter of
the debt but no agreement could be reached, the views of the
members being widely at variance. Some wanted flat repudia-
tion and very few desired the payment of the whole debt.
Just before the close of the session, Vance, under great
pressure and very unwillingly, resigned and Ransom was
elected. Only then did the Senate committee report unfavor-
ably upon Abbott's claim to |hc seat. A little later Vance's
disabilities were removed.
In the meantime, the Ku Khix had once more come to the
front. After their operations had ceased in the central part
of the state, a period of activity began in several western
counties, but chiefly in Cleveland and Rutherford. The In-
visible Empire there had degenerated until it bore little re-
semblance to its original. It served to cover partisan political
174
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
activity, private vengeance, sheer lawlessness without further
motive, and, even in a number of eases, the activities of cer-
tain republicans in violation of the United States internal
revenue laws in relation to the distillation of whiskey. One
of these Avas for a time county chief of Rutherford. Three
raids in Rutherford in 1871 attracted public attention, though
^Matthkw W. Ransom
the most important — the whipping of Aaron Biggar staff — was
really part of a typical neighborhood feud. J. M. Justice, a
republican lawyer and a member of the Legislature was
whipped and ordered to abstain from politics, and the office
of the Rutherford Star, a republican paper, was wrecked.
In December, 1870, President Grant, in reply to a Senate
resolution, sent a message on the subject of the Ku Klux in
North Carolina, accompanying it with a mass of documents.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 175
A special committee was appointed and examined fifty-three
witnesses, thirty-three of whom were republicans and twenty
conservatives. A large part of the testimony was hearsay,
but from it, or rather with it, the majority succeeded in pro-
ducing a report which declared the existence of the Ku Klux
organization, composed of democrats, with a political purpose
which it carried out by violence, at the same time protecting
its members from punishment by secrecy and perjury, and
that, in consequence, the authorities of the state were unable
to secure to its citizens life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap-
piness. The minority framed a strong dissenting report in
which they denounced the investigation as a conspiracy to
restore republican rule in North Carolina — which in a sense
it was — after it had been repudiated by the people. They did
not deny the existence of the Ku Klux organizations but de-
clared them a natural result of Reconstruction.
On March 23, 1871, the President sent a message to Con-
gress on the subject of the Ku Klux and in response to his
recommendation an act to enforce the provisions of the Four-
teenth Amendment became law in April. This act, in which,
as Professor Burgess says, "Congress simply threw to the
winds the constitutional distribution of powers between the
states and the United States Grovernment in respect to civil
liberty, crime and punishment," ignoi'ed the fact that the
Fourteenth Amendment gave Congress power only against
state action, and provided for the arrest, trial, and punish-
ment of individuals by .the Federal courts, and made all per-
sons depriving another of rights under the Constitution liable
to the party injured in heavy damages. It prescribed penal-
ties for conspiring against the United States or for the hin-
drance of any of its laws. Penalties wore imposed for going
upon the highways in disguise with the intent to hinder any-
one in the exercise of rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The President was authorized to take such measures as he
might deem best to suppress the trouble, and was given power,
when the civil authority was powerless to pei'form its func-
tions, to proclaim any portion of a state or the entire state in
a condition of insurrection and to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus.
176 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Before the passage of this act, a joint committee was ap-
pointed and began a prolonged investigation designed to fur-
nish campaign material for the republican party. The results
of the investigation were reported to the next session of
Congress in thirteen volumes. Of it, William Garrott Brown
says, "From these volumes, he who lives long enough to
read it all, may learn much that is true, but not important;
much that is important, if true; and somewhat that is both
true and important." Nineteen witnesses were examined for
North Carolina, of whom nine were republicans, including
three carpet-baggers and two negroes. The most notable wit-
ness was William L. Saunders, head of the Invisible Empire,
who appeared before the committee and declined to answer
any question relating to the Ku Klux. He was bullied and
threatened, but stood steadfast and quietly defiant until the
end, when he was dismissed without any action being taken
against him, though his case was referred to the Senate for
action.
In North Carolina Judge Logan had become greatly ex-
cited and had asked the President for Federal soldiers. The
answer had naturally been that any such request must come
from the governor. After the Biggarstaff affair, at his re-
quest, the governor obtained Federal troops. When the Jus-
tice raid occurred he declined to hold court in Cleveland Coun-
ty, although the sheriff came for him with an escort and the
solicitor, W. P. Bynum, also a republican, assured him there
was no danger. A short time later, recovering from his fears
in most suspicious haste, he began to issue bench warrants
upon suspicion, and a large number of persons were arrested
and confined in jail and denied trial or bail. With the passage
of the Ku Klux act by Congress the United States deputy
marshals became active and over one hundred persons were
arrested by them, many without warrant, a number impris-
oned without hearing or bail, and the rest examined before
Nathan Scoggins, the United States commissioner, a recent re-
publican acquisition and a man of evil life and character. That
he was later removed from office for accepting bribes proves
this, for bribe-taking in itself by a Federal ofScial in North
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 177
Carolina in the '70s carried no stigma. It was regarded
merely as a customary and accepted prerequisite of office.
The officer most active in making anvsts was Josejjh G.
Hester, another person of ill-fame, who was later to become
notorious for his activities in Alabama. Like Scoggins, he
had been a Ku Khix. Every possible indignity was heaped
upon the prisoners who were almost starved in filthy prisons.
Twenty-two were kept in jail and seventy-one bound over to
court. Judge Bond of the United States Circuit Court re-
fused to try them in June liecause he wanted a packed jury.
This was secured through Samuel F. Phillips, now assistant
district attorney, and the prisoners were tried at Raleigh in
September. Forty persons were indicted for participation
in the Justice and Biggarstaff raids. The indictments of eight
were dropped, eleven were acquitted, twenty-seven were con-
victed, and the cases of the others contimied. The cases,
through the partisan activity of the governor. Judge Bond,
who presided, and Samuel F. Phillips, who prosecuted, as-
sumed a political character. The chief efforts of the prosecu-
tion were directed to securing the conviction of Randolph
Shotwell who, as an editor in Asheville and in Rutherfordton,
had been a source of much discomfort to the repuljlicans.
When it is remembered that criticism of the republican party
was announced by S. F. Phillips in the trial to be an attack
upon the United States Government, it can i-eadily be seen
that to secure Shotwell 's removal from political life was in
the eyes of the prosecution an act of the highest patriotism
and altoii-ether proper for "loyal" men. Shotwell was county
chief of the Ku Klux in Rutherford County, having assumed
the position at the request of a number of leading men in the
hope of cheeking the movement. He had never been on a raid
or ordered one and had sought to prevent the raid on Justice
and on the Star office, but had been utterly unable to control
the men, many of them entirely unknown to him, who were
bent upon carrying out their plan. Most of his witnesses
were out of the state and he knew that any others he might
summon would at once be made parties defendant in the same
case. Many of those who were tried upon the same indict-
ment were seen by him then for (he first time. Rohnnc: upon
Vol. ni— 12
178 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
his innocence, he stood his trial without much fear of convic-
tion. The false evidence against him had been carefully pre-
pared, and, upon it, he was convicted and sentenced to a fine
of $5,000 and six years' imprisonment in Albany. As soon
as sentence was passed upon him, he was tied with ropes in
the presence of the court and carried in that condition through
the streets of Raleigh, not because there was any fear of his
escape, but simply to humiliate him and for the effect it would
have upon the public. He was repeatedly offered pardon if
he would implicate any leading conservative, but he of course
refused and remained in prison for three years, at the end of
which time he was pardoned.
In the meantime, in preparation for the elections of 1872,
the operations of the deputy marshals, more lawless still by
far than those of the Ku Klux and more dangerous to the
spirit of free institutions, continued without cessation. Ar-
rest without warrant, imprisonment without a hearing and
with bail denied, were characteristic of their activities. D. S.
Ramsour, a student at "Wake Forest College, was arrested
while attending a meeting of his literary society and dragged
out forcibly, not because the time was particularly suitable,
but because the officers had waited, knowing that it would at-
tract attention and increase fear. Josiah Turner, who was an
attorney at law, advised several persons, arrested without
warrant and without cause, to indict the marshal. He was
at once arrested on charge of obstructing the officers of the
law in the discharge of their duties, and, through the efforts
of republican politicians, notably S. F. Phillips, his trial was
refused for several years. Dr. Brinton Smith, a Northern
clergyman who was at the head of a negro school in Raleigh,
was indicted for conspiracy under the Ku Klux Act because
he told one of his students who was under age that he was
not entitled to vote. The case was dismissed a year later
■without trial. Against many Ku Klux in the West were in-
dictments for violation of the internal revenue laws. These
were dismissed if a promise was made to give evidence against
the Ku Klux. W. F. Henderson, the assessor of internal rev-
enue, offered freedom to anyone who would give evidence
implicating J. M. Leach,, who in 1870, had defeated him for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 179
Congress. Hundreds of persons were imprisoned at one time
or another, many of whom were treated with great cruelty,
and all the safeguards of liberty disappeared. The Federal
courts became instniments of oppression and wrong and have
never since been popular in the state. The chief purpose of
it all was political, although the ofiBcers reaped a rich harvest
from fees and from the bribes whicli they did not refuse, pro-
vided always that they were large enough. In pursuance of
the plan, when the fears of the public had been sufficiently
aroused, there came the promise of immunity on condition
of support of the republican ticket at the next election. At
the spring term of the Federal court in Raleigh in 1872, over
fourteen hundred persons were indicted under the Ku Klux
Act, of whom only six w'ere tried. Between that time and
the election, the activity of the officers continued. As soon
as the campaign was over, the arrests stopped, and in Feb-
ruaiy, 1873, the United States marshal ordered the suspen-
sion of the processes. During 1873, all the prisoners in Al-
bany were pardoned. The Ku Klux organization had long
since disappeared never to reappear, but the republicans made
its existence an issue in many campaigns thereafter and skill-
fully attempted to intimidate by threats of renewed Federal
activity.
The campaign of 1872 was made interesting not only by
the desire of the consei"vatives to complete the redemption
of the state, but also by the fact that North Carolina was
the first state to hold a state election and was thus for once
of great importance in a national election. Throughout the
campaign the state was full of party leaders of both sides
from all over the Union, including two members of the cabi-
net.
The republicans nominated Governor Caldwell over
Thomas Settle who was the candidate of the Holden wing of
the party and who also had the backing of the President.
The republican convention and the campaign were notable for
the activity of Federal office-holders who were henceforth un-
til 1912, with two brief inten^als to control the destinies of the
part}-. The platform denounced the Ku Klux and the pro-
180 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
posed constitutional amendments and declared for general
amnesty.
The conservatives had a difficult time finding a candidate.
The leaders and the people alike wanted Vance who, however,
declined to run, doubtless aware of what sort of methods
would be used against him, and also because he wanted to
be elected to the United States Senate by the coming legis-
lature. Finally A. S. Merrimon was urged to take the nomi-
nation. Unwilling, he was told that it was a party necessity
and was promised that if defeated he should succeed Pool in
the Senate. He then accepted and was nominated.
A joint canvass was arranged but Caldwell was no match
for Merrimon on the stump, and after one speech he declined
to continue it. The conservative campaign went swimmingly
in spite of a lack of warmth at the democratic endorsement
of Greeley for President. But the republicans were furnished
almost unlimited funds and the officials of the departments of
justice and of the treasurj^, vastly increased in number for
the purpose, were very active. Probably there was never in
any other state such wholesale political activity and interfer-
ence by Federal officials, with the full approval of the admin-
istration, as marked this campaign in North Carolina. United
States commissioners issued blank warrants to deputy mar-
shals who used them for campaign purposes or for blackmail.
Just before election three thousand persons were under arrest
by the Federal authorities and most of them were promised
complete innnunity if they voted right. The expenses of the
Federal Court jumped from about $5,000 for tlie year to $250,-
000. Briljery and intimidation were relied on in the west where
illicit distilling and the Ku Klux gave pretexts. In the East,
reliance was placed on the heavy negro vote, and, in order to
strengthen this negroes were imported into the state in large
numbers just before the election from adjoining states. Nine
hundred were also sent from "Washington, a majority of whom
were in the Government employ.
These things all had their effect, and, while Merrimon 's
election seemed assured at first, after a week of doubt, due to
the holding back of returns in a number of republican coun-
ties, it was apparent that on the face of the returns Caldwell
HISTORY OF XOKTir CAKi^T.TNA 181
had a majority of about 1,900. The conservatives, however,
again earned the legishitnre.
With the loss of the state ticket, the eonservatives lost
heart and Grant carried the state in November by a majority
Augustus S. Merrimon
of almost twenty-five thousand, the conservatives electinij- Wxe
and the republicans three members of Congress.
Much interest was aroused in the sciiaturi.il election. Al-
though Merrimon had been promised the seat by the party
leaders, Vance was a candidate and by a persistent campaign
had succeeded in pledging a majority of the consen'ative
members before the legislature met. A iniinluT wIki f;iv()r(Mi
Merrimon therefore refused to regard tlie caucus nomination
as binding. The reymblicans, in the ineantinio made the of-
182 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
fer that if Pool were re-elected Federal amnesty for the Ku
Klux would be proclaimed and liberal appropriations would
be made for internal improvements in the state. Threats of
the arrest of members of the legislature were also made as
an inducement.
When the election came eighteen conservatives, in spite of
the caucus nomination, voted for Merrimon. A deadlock en-
sued and after six days Vance and Merrimon both withdrew
with the understanding that a third person should be chosen.
The conservative caucus met and again nominated Vance, and
on the next day the republicans, abandoning Pool, voted sol-
idly for Merrimon, who, still supported by the bolters, was
elected. The conservatives were very angry and the elated
republicans sought to promote discord by an effort to create
the impression that Merrimon had been bought and would act
with the republicans. Merrimon, who had been entirely un-
aware of the plan, by his course in the Senate, soon dispelled
any doubt as to his fealty to his own party.
The bill for the amendment of the constitution, passed by
the preceding session, came up and was divided into separate
bills, eight of which were adopted. Those passed provided
for striking out the clause requiring the legislature to levy a
tax to pay interest on the public debt, for omitting the census,
for abolishing the code commission and the office of superin-
tendent of public works, for placing the trustees of the Uni-
versity under the legislature, for extending the $300 exemp-
tion to all property, for making Federal and state officers
ineligible to the legislature, and for biennial sessions of the
legislature. They were then submitted to the people and
ratified at a special election in August. A bill was passed
extending amnesty to any person who had committed any
crime except rape, deliberate and wilful murder, arson, or
burglary, while a member of the Heroes of America, Loyal
Union League, Red Strings, Constitutional Union 'Guard,
White Brotherhood, Invisible Empire, Ku Klux Klan, North
Carolina State Troops, North Carolina Militia, Jay Hawkers,
or any other association, whether secret, political, or other-
wise, in obedience to the commands and decrees of such or-
ganization, provided the offense was committed prior to Sep-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
183
tember 1, 1S71. The first of a large number of attempts to
relieve Holden of the disability imposed by the judgment of
the court of impeachment was unsuccessful.
In 1874 the conservatives again carried the state with
large majorities, electing a two-thirds majority in both houses
of the legislature, the superintendent of public instruction.
The Senate of 1874
five of the eight judges chosen, seven members of Congress
and nine solicitors.
The legislature was chiefly notable for its passage of a
bill calling a constitutional convention. Few conservatives
had differed as to tlie need of one, but there was much doubt
as to its expediency and widespread fear of Federal interfer-
ence. There was also fear that the homestead provision might
in. some way be eliminated in spite of restrictions. Party
leaders in Washington, tlu-ough Ransom, advised against it.
But the state leaders in the main were determined to have
184 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
one called and after President Grant had assured a member
of the legislature that he would not interfere, the bill was
passed, largely through the work of William L. Saunders, edi-
tor of the Wilmington Journal, who divides with Josiah Turn-
er the honor of redeeming the State.
The convention was restricted as follows : The oath re-
quired for the members upon organization and the act itself
prohibited any interference with the homestead provision,
the laborers' and mechanics' lien, the rights of married women,
the ratio between poll and property taxes, any provision for
compensation for slaves, for paying the war debt, for restor-
ing imprisonment for debt, for educational or property quali-
fications for voting, and for vacating any office before its term
expired. It was also forbidden to pass any oi'dinanee of a
legislative nature except for submitting its work to the jieo-
ple for ratification.
With the passage of the convention bill the conservatives
began to see the end of the long struggle for supremacy and
for reform. So confident were they of complete victory that
they relaxed their vigilance with rather disastrous results.
The adjournment of the legislature was the signal for the
campaign to commence, and in it the republicans, quietly, but
none the less effectively, proved that the party in North Caro-
lina was neither dead nor sleeping.
The republicans immediately took a stand against the con-
vention. The final policy of the party was summed up in a
pledge made by a majority of its candidates to adjourn as
soon as the convention was organized. This was opposed by
two such notable men as Chief Justice Pearson and Judge
Rodman, the latter himself an independent candidate for the
convention.
The republicans devoted most of their time to condemna-
tion of the legislature for calling a convention and to paint-
ing lurid pictures of what the conservatives would do if they
secured a majority. The party, however, was divided upon
the question, and a number of prominent members were
frankly in favor of the convention.
Every effort was made to frighten the people into giving
a republican majority. The press gave daily assurance that,
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 185
if the conservatives controlled the convention, it would levy a
tax to pay for the slaves ; that townships would be abolished
and county courts restored; that Jefferson Davis would be
made president of the University with a salary of $10,000;
that the public schools would be abolished ; and even that there
was grave danger of seeession. The Raleigh Const it iit ion
summarized the chief arg-uments against the convention as
follows :
Convention means Revolution.
Convention means the Whipping Post and Pillory.
Convention means Imprisonment for Debt.
Convention means Wai*.
Convention means Apprentice laws, which is one of the
worst features of Slavery.
Convention means Ruin.
Convention means poll-tax qualification for voting.
The conservatives injected the negro question into the
campaign with considerable effect. The increasing claims of
the negroes had attracted imfavorable notice and in several
districts almost all of the Federal officers were negroes. In
the East there were also many negro county officers.
The conservatives were so certain of success that the rank
and file were apathetic. Tlie election was quiet and for many
days thereafter the result was in doubt, both sides, alternately
claiming a majority. In Robeson County there was a contest.
On the day of election William R. Cox, tlie conservative state
chairman had telegraphed "As you love the State hold Rob-
eson." There indeed was the pivotal point. The conserva-
tive candidates received certificates of election, but the re-
publican candidates sued for a mandamus. Judge Settle, be-
fore whom the case was argued, niled himself without juris-
diction and the question was left for the convention to settle
and its organization was therefore of vital importance to
each side.
The final returns showed that the election had been closer
than any other in the history of the state, the total vote of
conser\-ative candidates being 95,037, while that of the repub-
lican candidates was 95,191. The race issue was intensified
THE WESTERN DNION TELEGRAPH COMPANT.
t*pr1aud tk*r<i>a, wUrk
GEO. H. MDMFOUl). ^-.(■ y,
187
k'<L^^
W. R. Cox's Famous Telegram to Robeson County in 1875
IIISTUKV OF NOliTH CAROLINA 187
by the fact that the negroes voted solidly against the conven-
tion. As a result the conservative policy entered upon a new-
era which is best described in the following editorial notice :
This paper iu the future is iu favor of drawing the Ihie betweeu
the white and black regardless of the cousequeuees. Let the line be
drawn. Are j-ou in favor of the white man's government? This
will be the only question iu the future.
Let the watchword be hereafter — Stick to your color! It is
useless to attempt to rca.son with ignorant negi-oes. The election
elearh' demonstrates tiiat fact.
The convention met on September 5th. A conservative
member, William A. Graham, had died since election and
there were present fifty-eight cousei-\'atives, the same num-
ber of republicans, and three independents. When the dele-
gates were sworn in, objections were raised in the case of
those from Robeson. Judge Settle, who called the conven-
tion to order, then directed them to stand aside, whereupon
objection was at once made to six others, five of whom were
republicans, and all were made to stand aside. At the close
of the roll, however, all were sworn in.
The test of strength came with the election of a presiding
officer. The republicans nominated Oliver H. Dockery and
the conservatives shrewdly nominated Edward Ransom, for-
merly a republican, but at the time an independent with visible
leanings toward the conservative party. He declined but was
voted for. The other independents divided and there was a
deadlock. After thirteen ballots Ransom broke this by voting
for himself and was elected. A resolution to adjourn sine die
was then defeated by the narrow margin of two votes and
throughout the entire session the margin was so close that no
conservative dared leave the hall a moment without being
paired, for fear the republicans would carrj- out their plan.
The convention was in session thirty-one days and because
of the close division the conservatives were able to make only
a few changes, thirty in all out of a much larger number pro-
posed. Sixteen were adopted unanimously and only four by
a strict party vote. As this unanimity would indicate, tln'
changes were all important. In brief they follow :
In the Bill of Ri^rhts, a now clause authorized the legis-
188 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
lature to forbid the carrying of concealed weapons. Another
declared secret political societies dangerous to the liberties of
a free people, and that they should not be tolerated.
In the legislative department, some changes were made.
The time of meeting was changed from the third Monday in
November to the first Monday in January. The apportion-
ment of each house was stricken out. The terms of the mem-
bers were made to begin at the time of election and the per
diejn was fixed at $4 for a period not to exceed sixty days
and the mileage was fixed at 10 cents. In the event of an
extra session, compensation could continue for twenty days
only.
Very small changes were made in the executive depart-
ment, the direction to the legislature to establish a depart-
ment of agriculture and statistics being the most important.
Quite a number of important changes were made in the.
judicial department. The number of Supreme Court jus-
tices was reduced from five to three and of Superior Court
judges from twelve to nine. All were to be chosen by the
people on a general ticket for a term of eight years, but it was
left within the power of the legislature to return to election
by district and to increase the number of districts and judges.
The principle of rotation of the judges was adopted. The
legislature was given power to alter and distribute the judi-
cial power among the courts inferior to the Supreme Court,
and to provide for election of judges. In this way control of
the justices of the peace was gained by the legislature. It
was also provided that any judge might be removed from of-
fice by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature for
mental or physical incapacity.
Under the head of suffrage and eligibility to office, the
residence required for voting in any county was changed from
sixty to ninety days. All persons convicted of a felony or
infamous crime were debarred.
Other important changes were those giving the General
Assembly full power over county government, including jus-
tices of the peace, setting aside for the school fund the pro-
ceeds from all fines and forfeitures, giving authority to the
state government to farm out convicts, providing that a call
HISTORY OF NORTH CAKOIJXA 189
for a constitutional convention must be submitted to the peo-
ple, while amendment by the legislature was simplified l)y a
provision that it might be done without the coneurrence of
the succeeding- legislature. Marriage between a white per-
son and a negro to the third generation inclusive was pro-
hibited, and separate schools for the races were required. It
was also provided that none of the amendments adopted
should have the effect of vacating any office.
Probably the most important change, judged by results,
was that which gave the legislature control of county govern-
ment. It caused undoubtedly great injury to the principle of
local self-government but it also carried hope and light into
the darkness of the black counties.
Constitutional reform secured, the cduscrvatives turned
their attention to the state officers and with 1S7() came the final
redemption of the state after a campaign never equalled in
the state in its spirit and vivid interest. The democrats, as
the conservatives now frankly called themselves, nominated
Vance for governor and Thomas J. Jarvis for lieutenant-gov-
ernor. The republicans, encouraged by their gain, as shown
in the election of delegates to the convention, pi-epared for a
vigorous campaign. Once more the carpet-baggers were prom-
inent in party affairs. This is to be explained, not by their
having regained the love of their fellow republicans but by
the fact that the party machinery was in the hands of Federal
office-holders, where it was to continue for many years, and
carpet-baggers were particularly favored Iiy tiie Federal gov-
ernment. As proof of this the following facts are interesting.
Two of the internal revenue collectors, ten of the thirty-six
deputy collectors, seven of the forty-seven gangers, nine of
the one hundred storekeejjcrs, two of the four registers in
bankruptcy, thirteen of the. thirty United States commission-
ers, one marshal, the postmaster at "Wilmington, the post-
master at Goldsboro, and the pension agent at Raleigh were
carpet-baggers. The repnl)lican executive conmiittee in 1876
had a carpet-bagger for cluiirnian and eight of the members
were office-holders, most of theui in the Federal service,
and the other four had recently been so. The presence of the
negroes is partially to be explained by a marked race division
I'M HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
in the party caused in part by a growing recognition among
the white republicans of what negro rule meant, and in part
by a growing demand of the negroes for office for themselves
since they furnished the votes.
The (Convention unanimously nominated Thomas Settle,
who was Grant's candidate, Oliver H. Dockery, who had been
a prominent canciidate, having bowed to the inevitable and
withdrawn. W. A-. Smith was selected for lieutenant-gov-
ernor.
In the campaign the race issue was dominant, the demo-
crats finding it an effective reply to the "bloody shirt" wav-
ing of the republicans. That it was a real issue as well is
indicated by the large number of negroes nominated for office
in the East and the control of public aft'airs already exerted
by them there with consequent misgovernment and corrup-
tion.
Between Vance and Settle a joint debate was arranged,
and together they canvassed a large part of the state, speak-
ing in sixty-four counties before they separated to continue
the campaign alone. In this latter part each made twelve
speeches. It was Vance's first campaign since his enviable
record as war governor had been made, and the people poured
out in immense throngs to hear him.
Many of Vance 's friends feared that he would have a dif-
ficult time on the stump with Settle who was an opponent
worthy of him in character, ability, and charm of personality.
But this was not the case. Settle undoubtedly forced him to
put forward the best that was in him and often the reasoning-
element of Vance's friends were disappointed in his speeches,
but there could be no question of his success with the people.
As a popular orator and debater there had never been his
■equal before in North Carolina, and Aycoek, since, has alone
approached him. Settle was magnetic, eloquent and a power-
ful debater, but he was at a disadvantage throughout the
campaign on account of Vance's personal popularity, and be-
cause a majority of the white people of the state were in-
tensely aroused against the republican party. Occasionally
there were heated moments, neither losing any opportunity to
attempt to put his opponent on the defensive or to make him
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 191
lose his temper, but the debate in the main was en a high
plane and echoes of it can still be heard in the state. It
marked a return to the political methods of an older and bet-
ter day and it was a hopeful and healthy sign that such a
campaign could be conducted and, better still, that its spirit,
generally speaking, should have been" so adniirable. At the
end of it, the two competitors parted as warm friends, and
each had won new laurels. The debates were powerful and
instructive in spite of the constant references to each other's
record. Not only state issues were discussed but national
questions were debated at length.
The election was a complete victory for the dem,ocrats who
elected state and national tickets, every candidate for Con-
gress but one, and carried the legislature with a large ma-
jority. The cause of peace, order, and good government had
triumphed. Righteousness, by righteous methods, had at last
prevailed and Eeeonstruction in North Carolina was ended.
CHAPTER XI
EEBUILDING THE COMMONWEALTH
The redemption of the state brought relief and delight to
the majority of white people in North Carolina. At last they
felt decent, effective, responsible government was secure.
With the amendments proposed by the convention of 1875
safely ratified, succor could be given the sorely tried East,
and peace and prosperity would once more come to the state.
Along with this feeling came the determination to prevent at
any cost the possibility of a repetition of what the state had
endured in the recent past.
The legislature was composed as follows :
Senate House
Democrats 40 84
Republicans 10 36
Among the republicans were about a dozen negroes and one
carpet-bagger, not enough to exert any control even over the
action of their helpless minority, but sendng nevertheless as
a constant warning to the state of what might happen if the
democrats grew lax.
Vance was inaugurated amidst the most intense enthusi-
asm. His inaugural, which began "There is retribution in
history," was an address worthy of him, fine in form, con-
tent, and spirit, notable for its pledge to the negroes of free-
dom and opportunity, and in all respects progressive and
liberal.
The most important work before the legislature was felt
to be the carrying out of the party pledge to adopt some new
system of county government, and at once the question was
taken up and a new law passed. By its provisions, townships
were deprived of any corporate powers, the regular county of-
192
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 193
ficers were still to be chosen by the people, but the magistrates,
who were to be chosen by the legislature, were given the power
to select the county conunissioners. The powers of the lat-
ter were also limited by requiring the concurrence of the mag-
istrates to many of their more important acts. This assured
white government in black counties and this was of course
the primary and justifiable reason for its passage. But it
also assured democratic control of white counties which were
republican, and thus violated every principle of local self-
government. It became a sore spot in state politics and
after being an important issue for years, played no incon-
siderable part in the overthrow of the democratic party.
The next most pressing matter was that of the debt. The
holders of the state bonds, particularly those owning bonds
issued before the war, were very active during the session
of the legislature, urging that some definite action be taken.
North Carolinians felt sensitive on the subject and desired
some settlement, but there was a fixed resolve not to pay the
special tax bonds, and this made it diflScult to secure any
plan of settlement of the valid debt. A special committee,
chosen to report on the debt, recommended that no action be
taken at the time, but that a commission be formed to report
a plan to the next legislature. Accordingly provision was
made for the appointment of a commission consisting of the
governor, treasurer, and attomey-general to in\'estigate the
situation.
Most' of the important work of the legislature requires
no extensive notice. Eansom was re-elected to the Senate over
0. H. Dockery. A new and excellent election law was passed.
The speedy completion of the AA^estern North Carolina Rail-
road was felt to be a necessity and provision was made for
the use of convicts on the work. A state guard was author-
ized, a state board of health organized, a department of agri-
culture, immigration, and statistics established, the last
largely supported by the inspection tax on fertilizer sold in
the state. In education a new and improved school law was
passed and provision was made for normal schools for both
races. An insane asylum for negroes was established at
Goldsboro and provision made for the completion of the
Vol, ni— 13
194 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
Western Hospital at Morganton. Confederate pensions were
foreshadowed in an act providing for the payment of $50
to every Confederate soldier who had lost his eye-sight in
service.
Politically, the chief interest in 1877 lay in the attempts
to organize the so-called "Hayes Democracy" in the state
through the use of Federal patronage. Democrats of course
opposed it and were successful in preserving party solidarity.
Republican opinion was divided. They desired of course to
weaken the majority, but the giving away to democrats of
ofBces which republicans might fill was another matter. The
party was not in good circumstances. Factions still pre-
vailed and there was serious friction between the Federal of-
fice-holding group and the others aspiring to control, and
between carpet-baggers and natives, 0. H. Dockery being the
leader of the latter group. Throughout his long political ca-
reer in North Carolina, although he was a man of high char-
acter and excellent ability, he never was strong with his
party because he unifonnly, sometimes at great personal
sacrifice, opposed the machine.
The heaviest burden which the republicans had to carry
was the situation in the Western Judicial District in the Fed-
eral service. The beginning of political activity of the deputy
marshals and revenue officers in the state, notably in the west,
was coincident with Reconstruction and lasted without inter-
ruption for nearly two decades. No more infamous story dis-
graces the history of the state than that of their bribery,
corruption, violence, and intimidation. That they had a dif-
ficult task is not to be denied. The violation of the revenue
laws was constant and often upheld by public sentiment. The
sixth collection district of North Carolina embraced all the
state west of Salisbury, some thirty-four counties in all. Two-
thirds of these were mountainous with poor roads and little
opportunity for communication and trade with the outside
world. From the time of settlement the people of this region
had been in the habit of marketing the larger part of their
surplus grain and fruit in the form of distilled liquors, and
almost every house had its small still which was used, as a
rule, for only a few weeks each year. When at the close of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 195
the war, the enforcement of the United States internal reve-
nue laws began, it worked a great and genuine hardship. Out
of contact Avith tlie world, the people regarded the laws as a
purdshnient for participation in the war, and the fact that
most of the revenue agents were strangers from the North
served only to increase this feeling which was strengthened
further by the violence and harshness of the officials in the
enforcement of the law. Men of the type of Joseph G. Hester,
who was a special agent in 1877, violent, vicious, and utterly
false and corrupt, set the standards and gave the service its
tone.
Among the deputy marshals and revenue officers there
finally developed a system of hunting for people to arrest
and even manufacturing offenses, since fees and blackmail
were both profitable. Deputy marshals carried signed blank
warrants and used them at will. Often they were drunk and
frequently violent, not only to those accused or suspected of
crime, but even to men and women against whom there was
not a breath of suspicion. Finally the practice grew so bad
that Judge Dick was compelled to issue orders that deputy
marshals should not seek processes themselves, but only exe-
cute those which were put into their hands. He also ordered
that process should issue only upon the application of the
collector or of someone who had informed the collector of the
violation of the law.
In 1876 amnesty was declared for all offenses against the
revenue laws and blockading grew less and licensed distil-
leries increased until by 1881 there were fourteen Imii
dred in the state, some eight Imndrerl of wJiich wcr<' in
the Sixth District. The number of agents and other officials
increased steadily as did expenses. It was a w(>ll recognized
fact that fraud was common and that distillers and tobacco
manufacturers were often in collusion with vcvenno nfficijils.
These facts, combined with the uncoasini^- jxilitical activKy
of the officials caused the whole system to Kc bitterly ilis-
liked in the state. The wide-spread hostility found fi-e(ineiit
expression in planks of political platforms and I'csolutions of
the legislature. Of the latter, that of the legislature of 1881
is typical.
196 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
The present system of internal revenue laws is oppressive and in-
quisitorial, centralizing in its tendencies and inconsistent with the
genius of a free people, legalizing unequal, expensive, and iniquitous
taxation, and, as enforced in this state, is a fraud upon the sacred
rights of our people and subversive of honest government, prostituted
in many instances to a system of political patronage which is odious
and outrageous, corrupting public virtue and jeopardizing public
liberty, and sustained b.y intimidation and bribery on the part of rev-
enue officials to debaucli the elective franchise.
These things would serve of themselves to explain the
dislike of the system prevalent in the state. To them, how-
ever, was added another serious related question — that of
divided jurisdiction in criminal cases. This served to inten-
sify feeling in the state and attract the notice of many who
were uninterested in matters concerning the internal reve-
nue service. At the fall term of Guilford Superior Court in
1876, one Hoskins and two others were indicted for assault
and battery. When in March, 1877, they were arrested, they
carried the matter to the United States Circuit Court and se-
cured a removal on the ground that they were revenue officers
and that the acts charged were done under color of their
office. When tlie case was called in the state court, they plead
a lack of jurisdiction and Judge Cox upheld them. It was
a clear case of assault and battery disconnected with their
official duties and the state appealed, but the Supreme Court,
properly enough in view of the law, sustained the lower court.
Judge Rodman alone dissenting. Judge Reade wrote the
opinion, prefacing it with this sneering allusion to the argu-
ment of counsel. "There was much discussion before us upon
the trite subjects of 'State rights' and 'Federal powers,' which
used to divide politicians and statesmen, but we have no pur-
pose to ally the Court with either school." The same ques-
tion was presented in the Deaver case in Rutherford, where
the indictment was for a conspiracy to extort money, and the
result in the courts was the same.
There was no question about the law; United States offi-
cials were entitled to trial in United States courts for acts
which they claimed were committed under color of their office.
The fact to be remembered, however, in discussing public
opinion on the subject, is that there was no possibility of se-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 197
curing the punishment of a Federal official in a Federal court,
thanks to packed juries and to biased judges, notably Judge
Bond. Consequently the vicious gang of ruffians, who were also
Federal officials, were entirely irresponsible and violated the
criminal laws of the state with perfect impunity until they
were generally hated and dreaded. The cases already cited
of their conduct are not isolated nor of exceptional gravity.
As an example of others, one revenue officer shot down an
old and innocent man for whom he had no warrant, without
any excuse whate^■er, and went unwhipped of justice.
When the campaign of 1878 approached, the vigoroiis
scramble among the democrats for nomination showed how
conlident the party was of victory. Nor were they deceived.
In April the republican state committee met and discussed
three possible courses of action: first, allowing politics to
drift; second, a formal disbanding of the party; and third,
the reorganization of the party for an active campaign.
After voting down the first two, they adjourned without tak-
ing any action on the third. In July they rnet again and de-
clared it inexpedient to nominate a ticket since there was
no hope of success and it would be a waste of money Avhen
there was none in tbe treasury. On account of the apathy
in the party, they recommended a fonnal disbanding. The
underlying reason for this was not the certainty of defeat
but the sense of outrage due to the southern policy of Presi-
dent Hayes.
Chief Justice Pearson died in 1878 and Governor Vance
after offering the position to George Davis who declined
it, appointed W. N. H. Smith. The terms of all the members
of the court would expire in 1879 and, provision having been
made for reducing the number, only the chief justice and two
associates were to be chosen. Opposition to the new chief
justice developed almost immediately. Judge David Schenck
and Daniel G. Fowle both aspiring to the position. In the
dispute over the question of jurisdiction arising out of the
revenue cases, it was claimed and widely supposed that Judge
Smith upheld the Federal side. Judge Schenck had loudly
taken an advanced position on the other side and was now
offered as a candidate who would properly uphold the rights
198 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of the state. The contest became very bitter and little else
was discussed politically. Governor Vance was in an awk-
ward position. Naturally he desired Smith, as his appointee,
to succeed, but he was himself a candidate for the United
States Senate to succeed Merrimon and his supposed sym-
pathy in the judicial contest seemed to endanger his chances.
In the midst of the campaign Judge Schenck's Ku Klux
record w^as aired in a prolonged and bitter series of letters
between Paul B. Means, who was managing Schenck's cam-
paign, and Randolph Shotwell. This hurt his case. Then
Tourgee published anonymously in a Greensboro paper over
the signature "C." a series of brilliant and satirical letters,
which, if it had not already been done, put an end to the hopes
of both Fowle and Schenck. The latter withdrew in April
on the ground that he had become convinced that the rights of
the state would not be endangered by the election of Smith.
Fowle awaited the action of the convention which nominated
Smith for chief justice and Thomas S. Ashe and John H.
Diilard for associate justices.
AVith the judges finally nominated, the senatorial cam-
paign, which had been steadily under way, took the spot-light
and held it until after the election, growing steadily in in-
tensity until January 1, when Merrimon, having found that
Vance was certain to win, withdrew from the contest.
The campaign for members of CongTess and of the legis-
lature was imeA'entful. The National Greenback party was
organized in the state, the republicans encouraging it as much
as possible. Quite a number of democrats joined it, but it
played a small part in the election. In middle and western
North Carolina there was much democratic discontent with
the county government law, and a growing feeling that rail-
road influence was unduly strong in the party. Consequently
there were a large number of independent candidates, chiefly
for the legislature, the most notable being Josiah Turner,
who was elected in Orange. He immediately ran for Con-
gress with republican support but was defeated. When the
legislature met he was refused membership in the democratic
caucus and during the course of the session become so unruly
and boisterous, refusing to obey the speaker, John M. Mor-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 199
ing, whom he called "a gauder head," that he was finally
expelled. Thereafter he was identified with the republican
party until the coming of the populists to whom he was favor-
ably disposed.
The democrats carried the legislature and elected six mem-
bers of Congress. One more was, however, seated on a con-
test. In the Wilmington district A. M. Waddell, who had
been in Congress since 1871 was defeated by Daniel M.
Russell. Russell had printed as circulars many thousands of
copies of Waddell 's speech in 1865, advocating negro suffrage,
and sent them to democratic voters. Between eight thousand
and nine thousand failed to vote and so defeated Waddell.
The legislature was politically divided as follows :
Senate House
Democrats 34 79
Republicans 16 41
It was a hard-working, serious body and one of the best legis-
latures in the history of the state. It was in session sixty-
six working days and out of about 900 bills and resolutions
introduced, passed 450 — a number of wliich were important.
Early in the session the will of the people at the tliird
trial finally prevailed and Vance was elected to the Senate,
defeating Judge R. P. Buxton. On January 28th he presented
his resignation to take effect on February 5th.
The accession of Governor Jarvis marked a new ei-a—
one of construction. Vance had won distinction as war gov-
ernor, and doubtless would have increased his reputation in
his later administration had he served his term and had his
heart been there. But his whole ambition now was directed
elsewhere. He had thrown himself heart and soul into the
redemption of the state, but ho look'fd to the Senate, not to
the governor's chair, for his reward. Governor Jaivis liad
won his spurs before but his great reputation was still to be
made. With a passion for public sen'ice that carried him be-
yond the partisanship of the times, constructive in thought
and deed, progressive when reaction was imminent in state
affairs, and highly popular with politicians, he took the office
of governor and in spite of its small powers made it a center
200 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of influence. Not one of the governors of the state made
a more definite impress. He regarded himself as the head of
his partj% responsible for the entire conduct of government,
and as such he took an active part in politics. Bold and ener-
getic, he followed ideas to conclusions and never hesitated to
Governor Thomas J. Jarvis
assume responsibility. Upright, of spotless integrity, he
quickly won public confidence and showed the possibility of
leadership in the state. He was above all things a practical
man who looked at every question from the angle of common
sense and thus was able to accomplish much that he set out
to do. Always sanely progressive he was never a radical and
still less a reactionary. Not a gifted speaker, he had the rare
quality of never speaking without saying something worth
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 201
while. North Carolina has had but few more valuable citi-
zens and public servants.
The settlement of the debt was regarded as certain through
some comiDromise. Vance in his message discuss.ed the ques-
tion at length and said:
It is out of the question for us to attempt to pay it at its face
value. Indeed. I do not conceive that there is any moral obligation
on us to do so, nor do our creditors expect it of us. Quite one-half
of our property upon «hich our boiuls were based wiis wantonly de-
stroyed by consent of a large majority of those who held them, aiid no
court of conscience upon the earth would permit a creditor to destroy
one-half of his security and claim full payment out of the remainder.
But we can and should pay something.
The commission reported the plan and the legislature
turned its attention to the matter. The debt of the state at
the time may thus be classified:
1. Bonds issued before the war, known as "old
bonds" $ 8,371,400.00
Interest due on same 5,007,580.50
Total $13,378,980.50
2. Bonds issued since the war by authority of acts
before the war $ 1,774,000.00
Interest due on same 1,015,890.00
Total $ 2,789,890.00
3. Bonds issued since the war, by authority of
ordinances of Convention and acts of the
General Assembly passed since the war. .$ 2,012,045.00
Interest due on same 1,160,773.35
Total $ 3,172,818.35
4. Bonds issued under funding acts of March 10,
1866, and August 20, 1868:
Funding act of 1866 $2,231,000.00
Interest due on same . . . 1,310,262.00
Total $ 3,541,262.00
202 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Funding act of 1868 . . . .$1,657,600.00
Interest due on same .... 990,987.00
Total $ 2,648,587.00
Total $ 6,189,849.00
5. Bonds issued during- the war, by authority of
acts passed before the war, for internal im-
provement purposes, to which are added
$215,000 issued for Chatham Railroad under
ordinance of Convention of Jan. 30, 1862 $ 914,000.00
Interest due on same 674,690.00
Total $ 1,588,690.00
Total principal of debt, exclusive of special
tax bonds $16,960,045.00
Total amount of interest due 10,160,182.85
Total amount of principal and interest $27,120,227.85
Under the law as passed this debt was to be settled by
giving in exchange new thirty year 4 per cent bonds. But
a classification of the debt was made and on all the "old" debt
except that incurred for the North Carolina Railroad, a
total of $2,794,000, 40 per cent would be paid. On a second
group 25 per cent would be paid ami on a third 15 per cent.
The following table gives the figures :
Class Amount of debt Amount payable
Forty per cent $5,577,400 $2,230,960.00
Twenty-five per cent 3,261,045 815,261.25
Fifteen per cent 3,888,600 598,290.00
Total $12,727,045 $3,644,511.25
Under the terms of the law the following bonds were not
provided for :
North Carolina Railroad construction $ 2,794,000
Chatham Railroad 1,030,000
Williamston & Tarboro Railroad 150,000
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 203
Penitentiary 44,000
Chatham Railroad 215,000
Western N. C. Railroad special tax 7,960,000
Williamston & Tarboro special tax 300,000
W. C. & R. Railroad special tax 3,000,000
A. T. & 0. Railroad special tax 106,000
Total $15,5;)!),000
But of these the North Carolina Railroad construction bonds
secured by a lien on the state's stock in the road amounting
with unpaid interest to $3,394,000 were taken care of by an
act directing the governor to appoint three commissioners
to negotiate with the holders and redeem them, on such terms
as might he agreed upon, with new forty year bonds at not
higher than 6 per cent interest, to be secured by a lien on the
state's stock.
The bonds issued to the Williamston and Tarboro Rail-
road, amounting to $150,000, without any interest were to be
redeemed at the rate of 33 1-3 per cent when the company
had executed a mortgage upon the road.
The settlement of the debt was completed by the adoption
and submission of a constitutional amendment which was
ratified by the people at the next election, which forbade the
payment of the special tax bonds in the following terms :
Nor shall the General Assembly assume or pay, or authorize the
collection of any tax to pay. either directly or indirectly, expressed
or implied, any debt oi' bond incurred, or issued, by authority of the
convention of the year one thousand, eight iiundred and sixty-eifrht,
nor any debt or bond, incurred or issued by the Lejrislatnre of the year
one thousand, eiglit hundred and sixty-eight, either at its special" ses-
sion of the year one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-eight, or at
its regular sessions of the years one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-
eight, and one thousand, eiglit hundred and sixty-nineand oncthnusand,
eight hundred and seventy, except the bonds issued to fund the in-
terest on the old debt of tlie state, unless the proposing to pay the
same shall have first been submitted to the people ajid by theiu ratified
by the vote of a majority of all the qualified voters of the state, at a
regular election held for that purpose.
The various compromises proved very acceptable to the
holders, and by August 1st bonds amounting to about $4,000,-
204 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
000 had been retired. Steadily the amount increased and by
1889 when the last report by classes was made, the debt stood
thus :
Class Amount New bonds Left
surrendered outstanding
Forty per cent ...$ 5,081,900 $2,032,760.00 $395,500
Twenty-five
per cent 2,637,045 659,261.25 624,000
Fifteen per cent . . 3,332,100 499,815.00 556,500
Total $11,051,045 $3,191,836.25 $1,576,000
Since that time redemption has continued until the amount
unredeemed in 1903 was $2,000.
As commissioners to settle the North Carolina Railroad
bonds the governor appointed George Davis Montfort Mc-
Gehee, and Donald Bain. The compromise involved the issue
of new 6 per cent bonds to the amount of $2,756,000. Almost
at once bonds were issued to the amount of $2,720,000, leav-
ing $36,000 unredeemed. In 1916 the unredeemed bonds
amounted to $19,000.
A suit brought by August Belmont to force the collection
of the special taxes was dismissed by the Supreme Court of
the United States. Other suits brought later with the same
ultimate purpose met the same fate.
Early in 1880 W. J. Best and a group of associates pro-
posed to buy the Western North Carolina Eailroad which was
still unfinished. A special session of the legislature was
necessary for this and both the directors of the road and the
board of internal improvements advised the governor not to
call it. But finally Best and Company put up a certified check
to cover the expenses of the session and the governor called
it in March and submitted the proposition to it.
The road from Salisbury to Asheville, a distance of 148
miles, was about complete, but the branch from Asheville to
Paint Rock, a distance of forty-five miles, and the branch
from Asheville to Murphy, a distance of 135 miles, and thence
twenty miles to Ducktown was unfinished. Best and Com-
pany agreed to complete the Paint Rock branch by January,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 203
1881, and the Ducktowii branch by January, 1885. They
were to be allowed to issue mortgage bonds of the road up
to $15,000 per mile, deducting- $850,000, already issued wliicli
they assumed. The state was to receive $G00,0O0 and failure
to cany out the contract in full involved forfeiture to the
state.
The outstanding advantages of the transaction were the
relief of the people from $183,000 of annual taxation, and
from the responsibility for the debt of the road, and, most
important of all, the rapid completion of the road in which
was bound up the future of eleven counties of tremendous
natural wealth which had been to this time isolated. Nor was
it an unimportant thing for the state to get out of the busi-
ness of building railroads.
The purchasers of the road were unable to carry out the
first part of their contract on time and an extension was
made. Best was deserted by his associates at the beginning
but a group of railroad men headed by A. B. Andrews came
to his aid, and later his interest passed to the Richmond and
Danville Eailroad and the work was carried to a successful
conclusion.
The action of the go\'ernor and the legislature was much
criticised and the conviction grew stronger in many minds
that the railroads were in control of the state. Republicans,
as a matter of course, held this view, but it was not confined
to them. Democrats in large numbers shared it and the dis-
content resulting from the belief combined with a natural
reaction made democratic strength fall off somewhat.
In 1880 began the first exodus of the negroes. From the
close of the war it had been the habit of white people to ex-
press the wish that all negroes would leave the state, but
when a very small movement of the sort began, there was
widespread alarm and angry opposition. The state could not
dispense with negro labor, particularly when it was not be-
ing replaced by white labor. So the negro was at first advised
not to leave, and later, when the movement seemed some-
what more serious, almost commanded to stay. Frederick
Douglass made a speech in Raleigh in 1880 in which he said,
"A flea in a tar-barrel, without claws, is far better off than a
206 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Southern darkey up North without money. The exodus the
colored people want is the exodus from ignorance, vice, and
lack of thrift."
The departure of the negroes was not on any large scale,
and their numbers in the state grew steadily. The census of
1880 showed the negro to be in a majority in twenty-one
counties and the creation of Vance County two years later
added another black county.
Governor Jarvis was naturally anxious for another term,
but he was not without opposition. Daniel G. Fowle and
Alfred M. Scales were also in the race and a furious pre-
convention campaign took place chiefly between Fowle and
Jarvis in which great heat and feeling was developed. Jar-
vis won in the convention only to enter at once upon another
campaign.
For the republicans were in no mood to hold back as they
had done in 1878. A state convention was held in which R.
P. Buxton was nominated for governor and a platform
adopted condemning the sale of the Western North Carolina
Eailroad, viewing "with alarm" the progress of railroad
consolidation, and declaring the democratic party an oli-
garchy controlled by railroad corporations and influence. Not
less sharply did they condemn the convention of 1875 and
the constitutional amendments, declaring the latter invalid.
The county government law they characterized as "utterly
subversive of the rights of the citizens, the grossest political
robbery ever practiced in this or any country, the most
damnable fraud ever devised or sanctioned by any political
party." Declaring themselves as a party, "ever the friends
of education," they demanded better schools.
A joint canvass was arranged. Governor Jarvis devel-
oped unexpected strength on the stump and rather outclassed
his opponent who in August abandoned the joint debate. The
result of the election seems never to have been in much doubt
on either side. Jarvis received a majority of six thousand, the
democrats carried the legislature Avith large majorities in each
house, and won every seat in Congress except the one from
the black Second District which the republicans carried.
Governor Jarvis in his inaugural recommended a rail-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 207
road commission and witli emphasis demanded educational
improvement. Undei- his spur the legislature passed a new and
improved school law. A social question, new for North Caro-
lina, was raised when petitions were presented, signed by more
than one hundred thousand persons praying the passage of a
law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating
liquors. Behind the petitions was a movement of considerable
strength and the legislature happened to contain a large num-
ber of men favorable to the idea. These, combined with those
who thought the popular element so great as to make it good
politics, secured the passage of an act submitting the question
to a referendiun of the voters to be held October 1st.
The campaign on the prohibition question did not make a
great deal of noise. On June 1st a great anti-prohibition con-
vention was held which unsparingly condemned prohibition on
moral, political, social, economic, physical and financial
grounds. The resolutions make interesting reading in 1918.
The press had comparatively little to say, but long before the
election came it was clear that the proposed law would be
defeated. Only four coimties, Cherokee, Clay, Yancey, and
'Transylvania had majorities for it and the majority against
it was approximately 118,000.
The feeling aroused among democrats by the prohibition
campaign was taken advantage of by the republicans. Dr.
J. J. Mott, the state chaiiTnan, was determined, if such a
thing were possible, to break the color line in politics. Ne-
groes had been encouraged in 1881 to vote for prohibition
and thus establish a relation at the ballot-box with the demo-
crats which it was hoped would lead to future political affil-
iation between them. The negroes were already restive
because of the feeling that they were not receiving a fair
share of the offices, and in May, 1881, held a convention to
voice their demands for a fuller reco.gnition of their claims.
But Mott's plan of dividing their vote failed because the
democrats would have none of the negro, because the negroes
were equally determined not to join the democratic party,
and because whenever a campaign came the rank and file of
republicans employed all the old devices to consolidate the
negro vote.
208 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
With discontented and anti-prohibition democrats, Mott
was more successful. Talk began to be heard of "Liberal"
as opposed to "Bourbon" democrats. Those democrats who
had joined the greenback party in 1880 were mostly avail-
able now, and to them were soon joined a considerable group
of new seceders. Notable among these were Charles A.
Price, C. A. Cook, Tyre York and J. M. Leach. Mott had
high hopes of effectively dividing the democratic party and
wrote the assistant postmaster general in 1882 that numer-
ous small offices which were in the hands of "Bourbon" dem-
ocrats might with advantage be given to liberals if no re-
publicans wanted them. This "pone of bread" argument
worked in many individual cases but it did not go far politi-
cally. Not enough of the "Bourbons" came over.
In pursuance of the plan, an Anti-Prohibition-Liberal
convention was held in which appeared from the republican
party William A. Moore, J. J. Mott, James H. Harris, J. E.
'Hara, and I. J. Young. Nothing more was needed to class-
ify the gathering and to locate its ultimate political destina-
tion.
A democratic convention met in July and nominated
Thomas Ruffin for associate justice and R. T. Bennett for con-
gressman-at-large, the state not having been redistricted
since the new apportionment. The platform denounced Fed-
eral interference in elections, the internal revenue system and
all its workings, declared the prohibition question settled,
endorsed public education in a perfunctory way, declared
continued opposition to paying the special tax bonds, and
pledged continuance of the county government law or some-
thing similar.
The republicans nominated 0. H. Dockery for congress-
man-at-large and formed a coalition with the liberals who
endorsed the nomination. Both groups loudly condemned
prohibition and the county govenmient law.
The campaign which followed was interesting. Every
device was employed by the democrats to discourage the lib-
erals who were promptly dubbed "assistant republicans."
Much was made of the conditions in the Sixth Federal Reve-
nue District and many charges were made against Doctor
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 209
Mott, the republican chairman who had formerly been col-
lector, whom the democrats justly regarded as the author of
their troubles. A committee of the United States Senate,
with Vance as chairman, made an exhaustive investigation
which was not allowed by the other members to terminate,
until after the election, but it was unable to discover any-
thing greatly to Mott's discredit. Undoubtedly the revenue
service was an important part of the republican party ma-
chinery, there was disclosed considerable corruption on the
part of numerous subordinates, but Mott's personal reputa-
tion did not suffer from the investigation and it was clearly
shown that lender his administration the service had stead-
ily improved. The great trump card of the democrats was
the Reconstruction record of the republican party, particu-
larly in relation to public finance, and it overmatched the
opposition arguments. It was, in truth, an effective argu-
ment for as yet there was no answer and could bo none until
a new generation of leaders as well as of voters had grown
up. The conduct of the Federal officials was also still a sore
spot which the democrats managed to press hard. Many of
the republicans themselves were restive under the revenue
control of the party.
The contest between Bennett and Dockery excited great
interest and great hope among republicans but resulted in the
victory of the former by about 800 majority. Tilden had
carried the state in 1876 by 17,000 and Vance by 14,000;
Jarvis in 1880 had a majority of 6,000. In truth there was
reason for republican rejoicing. Nor was this all. In the
Seventh District, which was thought unalterably democratic,
R. F. Armfield, the sitting member, was defeated by Tyre
York, a liberal. The black district w^as won for the republi-
cans by J. E. O'Hara, a Halifax negTo. The legislature,
however, shov\-ed little change, and only one liberal was
a member.
The session was unimportant. Jarvis again urged a rail-
road commission but the time was not ripe although each
house passed a bill creating one which the other refused.
Ransom was re-elected to the Senate over William John-
ston who received the liberal and republican support.
Vol. ni— 14
210 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The alliance of the republicans and liberals thus made
endured through the next campaign, at the end of which most
of the liberal leaders had become republicans. In 1884 the
republican and liberal conventions met in Raleigh at the
same time and while there was pretended separation, to all
intents and purposes they were only two divisions of the
same body, acting together in all things and adopting a com-
mon platform.
The liberal convention was presided over by William
Johnston. The former democrats already mentioned were
in evidence reinforced by a number of republicans including
P. H. Winston and Thomas P. Devereux. The platform ad-
vocated a county government law which would restore the
election of all officials to the people. It condemned the in-
ternal revenue laws, endorsed the Blair Bill and a moderate
protective tariff, demanded the elimination of sectional strife
and closed with a declaration in favor of equal political rights
to all.
The republicans agreed to this and a joint conference
committee then chose the ticket. It was as follows : governor,
Tyre York, attorney-general, C. A. Cook, both liberals; lieu-
tenant-governor, W. T. Faircloth; secretary of state, G. W.
Stanton; treasurer, Washington Duke; auditor, F. M. Law-
son; superintendent of public instruction, Francis D. Wins-
ton; associate justice, D. L. Russell, all republicans. Mott's
scheme had again been successful and the republicans had
the best of the bargain. But there was much open bitterness
in the convention over the nomination of York and it con-
tinued and spread during the campaign. The democratic
party was suffering- more from division, but the republicans
were by no means united in spirit, although they had as al-
ways a wonderful knack of forgetting their quarrels by elec-
tion day. The comment of one prominent republican in this
campaign is interesting:
The republican party as now manageil in this state is a mere
political machine controlled by a few for the oppression of the many,
and so regulated as to register the will of a combination of bosses for
boss rule. * * * The administration at Washington — eveiy ad-
ministration since the war — has been criminally careless in regard
to the selection of these ffederal] officials. The administration of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 211
federal affairs in the state for the entire period of fifteen years has
been an outrage upon the po(ii)le and a reflection upon the general
government.
The democratic convention met late in June. An active
pre-convention campaign had been going on between A. M.
Scales, Octavius Coke, Thomas ITolt, and Charles M. Sted-
man, and Scales won on the first ballot over Coke, the names
of the others not being presented. Partly because of a de-
mand for rotation in office and partly in answer to the liberal
movement, Worth, Scarborough, and Kenan, who had held
respectively the offices of treasurer, superintendent of pub-
lic instruction, and attorney-general, were dropped and re-
placed by l^onald W. Bain, S. M. Finger, and T. F. David-
son. The platform as usual was profuse in its congratulations
to the people upon democratic rule and challenged the repub-
licans to a comparison. Federal interference at the ballot
box was denounced, the repeal of the internal revenue laws
and the protective tariff were demanded, federal aid to edu-
cation, if under state control, was advocated, an improved
system of public schools was promised, and the East was
guaranteed the maintenance of tlie county government law.
The campaign was interesting but not pleasant. Prob-
ably the character of the national campaign affected it, but,
whatever may have been the cause, it was full of personal-
ities and unpleasant incidents. York was of rather a rough
type who had been, like a great many of the western demo-
crats in strong' republican communities, inclined to be a reac-
tionary, and had been profanely l)itter against the negroes
and the republicans whose candidate he now was. He and
Scales conducted a joint compaign which was rather stormy,
abounding in charges and counter-charges, and in which the
lie was passed more than once. At Wilmington the demo-
cratic candidates were stoned by negroes who were having a
republican parade.
Republican dislike of York's candidacy continued and op-
erated unfavorably against him. Two prominent republi-
cans, S. Ti. Patterson and W. A. Smith, the "Blow-Your-
Horn-Billy" of reconstruction fame, left their party and
became democrats. The democrats, as they saw before them
212 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
victory in both state and nation, recovered unity and be-
came more aggressive tlian they had been since 1876. The
money for the Western North Carolina Railroad had been
paid and had been used for current expenses, so there was
no collection of state tax in 1884, a fact which added to the
popularity of the administration and the partJ^
By 1884 whites and negroes in North Carolina were living
in peace and without collision or confusion. This was due
to the genius and characteristics of the people. North Caro-
lina white people in general treated the negroes with fair-
ness and kindness and the negroes, racially, were when un-
disturbed, amiable and unaggressive. For political purposes
an attempt was now made to change all this. The republicans,
with a democratic presidential victory in sight, poured into
the ears of the negroes wild tales of what would happen to
them in the event of democratic victory. Three words sum
up the threatening prophecy. Confiscation, Disfranchisement ,
Slavery. Fortunately the attempt failed to do more than
make the negroes, for the last time, rather anxious about the
continuance of their freedom. That, however, does not ex-
cuse the method. It was simply an example of the opportun-
ist politics which had damned the party in reconstruction,
and which was later to damn it again, and lead finally, thanks
to the evil effects upon the negroes, to the fulfillment of
one of the republican prophecies — the disfranchisement of
the negro.
Cleveland carried the state by 17,000, Scales by 20,000.
The democratic majority in both houses of the legislature was
increased, and the republicans carried only the black district
with J. E. O'Hara.
The legislative session was not in any respect notable,
except for a manifestation of an- increasing interest in edu-
cational matters. Governor Jarvis's last message laid its
chief emphasis there as he plead in behalf of the future of the
commonwealth for greater opportunity for the youth of the
state. Scales in his inaugural continued the emphasis. Both
urged support of the schools and the proper maintenance of
the University Avhich had reached a point where unless state
aid, greater than $5,000 a year, was given it could go no
HISTOKY OF NORTH CAROLINA 213
further. Accordingly the legislature, over the bitter oppo-
sition of members of certain of the religious denominations
who claimed that the state had no right to tax them to sup-
port a state institution when they supported colleges of their
own, began the policy of real state support by appropriating
$15,000 for the annual maintenance fund. Later in the ses-
sion the first steps were taken in the organization of the
Agricultural and Mechanical College, by a law authorizing
and directing the board of agriculture to establish an indus-
trial school. On account of the lack of funds, however, noth-
ing was done until the following session. The senators and
representatives in Congress were requested to support some
plan of distribution of the surplus revenue among the states
fo]- public education, provided the control of the fund was
in the hands of the states. Scales in his inaugural, after
seeking to quiet the fears of the negroes, as to democratic
policy in respect to them, had advocated Federal aid for their
education.
The glaring defects of the system of assessment and tax-
ation were beginning to attract attention and the governor
was directed to ajjpoint a tax commission to investigate and
report to the next legislature. A bill for a railroad commis-
sion was introduced in the Senate but failed to pass and
the House was not sufficiently interested to consider the ques-
tion. The grip of the railroads was as yet unbroken. The
beginning of Confederate pensions came witli the provision
for the payment of $30 annually to indigent and disabled sol-
diers and the widows of soldiers. Vance was re-elected to
the Senate over Tyre York who was the republican nominee.
Of course if there had been any chance of election, neither he
nor William Johnston in 1883 would have been supported by
the republicans.
The democrats had practically no uiipnsition in tlic leg-
islature, so small was the minority in each house. On the
surface in 1884- and 1885 it seemed as though the difficulties
of the party were over and that it had a new lease of life and
power. Such, however, was not the case. Tlio discontented
elements were growing and when 1886 came it found the
party badly disorganized. It was a fact no longer to be de-
214 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
nied that the county government law was bitterly unpopular
with democrats, outside the East, as well as with republicans.
It became now a live question, the democratic party being-
committed still to its maintenance. Anti-railroad feeling was
growing and the failure to create a railroad commission in-
tensihed it. The begimiing of the farmers' movement in-
creased political tension. The truth of the matter is that
while the state as a whole was miprogressive, — as indeed it
had always been and as it was doomed to be with so great a
proportion of ignorance, — the democratic leaders in the main
were more so, and while as yet there was no progressive pro-
gram in opposition, discontent was prevalent largely because
of the failure of the leaders really to lead.
There was little of interest in democratic politics in this
campaign. A movement to replace Chief Justice Smith with
Merrimon, who was now an associate justice soon died and
the convention nominated the entire court as it was consti-
tuted, and adopted no platform.
The republican executive committee met and decided
against holding any convention but a large number of the
party were dissatisfied and a self-constituted committee,
headed by T. B. Keogh and J. C. L. Harris, proceeded to call
one. It met with 146 delegates representing fifty-four coun-
ties mostly in the west. The platform adopted condemned the
democratic policy of using convicts in competition with free
labor, declared the democratic party one of broken prom-
ises, opposed the existing road system, denounced the county
government law, endorsed the Blair Bill and the protective
tariff and demanded a free ballot and a fair count. The
convention then nominated W. P. Bynum for chief justice and
J. W. Albertson and E. P. Buxton for associate justices.
Judge Bynum declined the nomination and Judge Buxton
replaced him, V. S. Lusk, taking the latter 's place on the
ticket. A full ticket for the Superior Court was also se-
lected. The convention deposed Mott and the old executive
ticket and elected a new one headed by Keogh. The bolters
had clearly captured the organization and a bitter quarrel
vntla Mott, which really began before the convention, followed.
Mott was highly contemptuous of the movement and openly
HISTORY OF XOKTll CAROLINA 215
declared some of the iioiuiiiees for judge "no more lit for the
place than mouutebaiiks are for soothsayers."
The campaign was devoid of interest. There were many
independent democratic candidates, whom the regulars
damned as traitors who were jeopai'dizing democratic rule
and with it good government. There was considerable dis-
cussion of the Blair Bill and twenty-six of the newspapers
of the state strongly opposed it fearing Federal control of
education. All the North Cai'olina senators and representa-
tives, however, favored it and voted for it.
The election was closer than any for years. The demo-
cratic judicial ticket was easily elected and the republicans
won only two seats in Congress, although interestingly
enough, they lost the "black second" where F. M. Simmons
was elected. But in the legislature, while the democrats re-
tained control of the Senate, they lost the House which was
in the hands of republicans and independents. John R. Web-
ster, one of the latter, was chosen speaker over Lee S. Over-
man, the democratic caucus nominee. Webster was an
opponent of the county government law although he did not
favor unconditional repeal. Of course an immediate at-
tempt was made to secure the repeal of the law and a bill for
the purpose passed two readings in the House only to be ta-
bled on the third. Later another similar bill passed all three
readings and failed in the Senate.
Similarly a bill for a railroad commission passed the
Senate and was defeated in the House to the bitter chagrin of
its advocates.
The work of the le.gislature worthy of mention was the
establishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at
Raleigh, the passage of a constitutional amendment provid-
ing for two additional associate-justices of the Supreme
Court, the passage of resolutions asking for the passage of
the Blair Bill and the repeal of the internal revenue laws,
and the reduction of the state tax 5 cents on the $100. The
last was regarded as a great achievement. Most of the time
of this and all succeeding sessions of the legislature for years
was given to local and special legislation which has since
216 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
served as a terrible block to progress. It was a growing evil
which was a real menace to the state.
The campaign of 1888 was the last under the old regime.
Great changes were impending in leaders and issues. The
farmers' movement was beginning to be felt, a new group
of leaders in both parties were demanding a hearing for
their views and plans and recognition for themselves and it
was certain that they would not long be denied.
The republicans met in May and nominated 0. H. Dockery
for governor and Jeter C. Pritehard, of Madison, for lieu-
tenant-governor. The latter had served in the legislature
in 1885 and 1887 and had won for himself by his force of
character and ability a place of leadership in his party. D.
L. Russell, R. P. Buxton, and D. M. Furches were nominated
for associate justices. Russell declined and W. A. Guthrie
took his place. The platform contained the usual demand
for the rejieal of the county government law and the pas-
sage of a new election law.
The democrats met in June. There was a long contest
for the nomination for governor between D. G. Fowle,
Charles M. Stedman, and S. B. Alexander. Fowle was finally
nominated on the twenty-third ballot, and after Alexander
had been nominated for lieutenant-governor and declined,
Thomas M. Holt was chosen. J. J. Davis, James E. Shep-
herd, and A. C. Avery were nominated for associate justices.
The platform was the usual one differently phrased.
There was a prohibition ticket in the field, headed by W.
T. Walker, but it received only about 3,000 votes in the election.
The campaign had in it nothing of interest. Both parties
had ceased to advocate anything progressive and had lost all
vitality. The republicans wanted to get in and the democrats
wanted to stay in but apart from that neither was looking to
the future. Of the two the democrats were the more list-
less and apathetic and many people thought that Fowle would
be defeated. He was, however, successful with a majority of
14,000 while Cleveland carried the state with a majority of
15,000. The democrats elected the judicial ticket, carried the
legislature with safe majorities in each house, and elected
HISTORY UF .\ORTII CAKOLIXA 217
six members of Congress, the republicans thus gaining one
seat.
The legislature was like its immediate predecessors.
Ransom was re-elected to the Senate over 0. H. Dockery,
the election law Avas so largely amended as to change it ma-
terially, certain now provisions and requirements being added
which made it simpler for election officials to disfranchise
voters. The railroad commission was once more defeated,
this time by the Senate, and a new grievance thereby given
the people who had come at last to demand the law.
During the years following the close of Reconstruction
which have just been politically described, a wonderful de-
velopment was under way, one which was transforming the
state. The cotton mill and the tobacco factory, followed rap-
idly by other industrial plants of lesser importance, were
revolutionizing industrial life. Agriculture, it is true, re-
mained the central interest of the state, but it was largely un-
changed in tliis period with the one exception that trucking
was a developing factor of increasing importance which,
apart from its high profits, served as a most enlightening
influence in bringing in new methods and encouraging new
experiments. Manufacturing, though, was bringing in capi-
tal, and giving remunerative empknniicnt to a rapidly in-
creasing class, which from contact with new associates and
new ideas, coupled with the possession of ready money, was
gaining new standards of life and of living. In the same way,
it was building up thriving towns, which were to prove a tre-
mendous asset to the state, lajang the foundations of a new
and real prosperity, and transforming the life and thought
of the people. It had its evils of course, not the least of which
was a marked tendency, which manifested itself in some
classes of the people, to a crass materialism, but the benefits
far outweighed them. Along with industrial development
the steady increase of railway mileage brought opportunity,
economic and intellectual, nearer to many to whom it had
been hitherto denied. Industrialism and the railroads were
great educational factors in North Carolina.
Thus rapidly and still unconsciously the old commonwealth
was being rebuilt into a new structure which resembled but
,218 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
little the oue it replaced. No such thing is ever accom-
plished in human beings or human society without shock and
disturbance of some kind, usually both physical and mental,
and the new North Carolina was due something on the order
of growing pains. It could not escape. Also it would have
to find itseK.
The changes being wrought in the fabric of the conunon-
wealth had been made possible only by the peace and quiet
of the state under democratic rule. The conservative-demo-
cratic party of Reconstruction undoubtedly deserves much
credit for what it accomplished. It saved the state, gave
peace and good order, solved, temporarily, at least, — for
there was no permanency in the solution,— the negro ques-
tion as it existed at the close of Reconstruction, kept
expenses down and thus gave a desperate and largely poverty-
stricken people a breathing spell, and was along some lines
moderately progressive. Its chief defects were the timidity
of its leaders and its lack of social responsibility. The state
was crippled by an inequitable, dishonest, and inefficient sys-
tem of taxation and the party did not want, or feared, to
correct it. It slowly improved educational conditions, but it
had no passion for the education of all the people and did not
unwaveringly take its stand on the platform of universal
uplift through public education. There were exceptions
among the leaders, like Governor Jarvis, but he was, biologi-
cally speaking, a political sport in North Carolina. As a
consequence of these defects the day of the party was almost
done. Crystallization had set in and there was little hope
of its being able to carry the state forward under the exacting
requirements of modern civilization unless it should be trans-
formed and greatly socialized, and it was beyond the point
where that could be done by quiet and natural growth and
development. A re-birth was necessary and that could come
only in labor and travail.
On the other hand there was no hope in the republican
party which was as unsocialized and unprogressive as its
opponent, with the additional handicap of having ignorant
negroes compose more than half its voting membership. That
single fact determined the place and character of the party.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 219
It was manifest that before it could oiler progress to the
state it must be reconstructed and, like the democratic party,
born again.
Two things explain the political condition in the state,
namely, ignorance among the people and the presence of the
negro. Both had from the beginning cursed the community
and condemned it to poverty and inaction that was in effect
reaction.
IgTiorance and slavery, in the period before the war. hat!
debased free labor and forced upon the masses poverty and
ignorance; they had destroyed freedom of speech and of
thought; they had made possible the rule of politicians who
thought in terms of national politics and were ignorant of
and indifferent to the needs of the state, until national poli-
tics became the curse of the state; they made the state inert
and unprogressive to the point that thousands and hundreds
of thousands of its sons became exiles that their children
might not endure the bonds which shackled those who re-
mained.
In the period following the war, ignorance and the negro
accomplished no less of evil. Tlie negro was the basal fact
of Reconstruction, judged from cither the angle of its i>ur-
poses or results. Reconstruction past, the negro remained
as a menace which lowered political morals, caused political
stagnation, and, along with these, blocked the progress of
public education, and was a social evil of the greatest magni-
tude. It was not the fault of the negro and but for the curse
of ignorance he would not have been such an obstacle to
progress. But ignorance was present. In 1890 more than
23 per cent of the native white people of North Carolina over
ten years of age were unable even to read and write. Only New
Mexico in the United States was worse off. Of its total
population nearly 3G per cent were illitciMtc As WnltiT
Page phrases it :
One man in every foui- was wholly for<rotten. T>ut illiteraey was
not the worst of it; the worst of it was that the stationary social eon-
dition indicated by orenerations of illiteracy had lonpr been the cjeneral
condition. The forgotten man was eontent to he forgotten. He be-
came not only a dead weiRlit. but a definite opponent of social progress.
He faithfully heard the politicians on the stump praise him for
220 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
virtues he did not have. The politician told him he lived in the best
state in the Union, told him that the other politician had some hare-
brained plan to increase his taxes, told him as a consolation how
many of his kinsmen had been killed in the war, told him to distrust
anybody who wished to change anything. What was good enough for
his fathers was good enough for him. Thus the forgotten man became
a dupe, became thankful for being neglected.
Education, then, was the primary requirement of the state
for the future because from that alone would grow the other
things needed. A movement for it was inevitable for leaven-
ing influences of several sorts were at work which, combined,
would finally begin the first and most difficult part, the edu-
cation of the people to the need of education. The existing
parties having failed, because of political timidity and so-
cial indifference of political leaders, to grasp opportunity,
would in the end, in self-defense, — really in self-preservation,
— be forced to grasp it or give place to a new party having)
its foundations in the awakening of the people, animated
either by the simple natural desire to give their children a
better chance in life, or else looking forward to a new and
better day for North Carolina, when one in every eight peo-
ple born there would not find it "a good State to come from."
CHAPTER XII
THE RISE OF POPULISM
The late eighties saw in North Cai'olina, as iu many otlier
Southern and "Western states, a vast and steadily growing
unrest and discontent. Economic and social in its origins,
this feeling was translated into a political movement — a re-
volt at first but shortly to become an attempted revolution —
which imperiled the foundations of the social and govern-
mental structure in North Carolina. Beginning as an agri-
cultural movement, as it gained momentum it gathered to its
standard those who were for any reason dissatisfied with
existing conditions, a group of idealists — some of whom were
radical fanatics — who saw in the movement the beginning of
the millennium, and a considerable number of political adven-
turers of a demagogic sort who saw in it the opportunity for
advancement for themselves which had been hitherto denied
for reasons more or less obvious.
At this period of the state's history agriculture was still
entirely dominant. Conditions affecting that industry de-
termined the prosperity of the population or the reverse. In
the period following 1870 conditions were far from good but
there was steadily increasing prosperity. Beginning about
1886 or 1887 depression set in. Cotton prices in spite of fluc-
tuations from year to year had steadily fallen, the average
price from 1880 to 1887 being 9 cents. It was 11 cents in 1890,
9 in 1891 and about 61/2 in 1892. Grain was similarly affected
by the tremendous expansion of the grain fields of the north-
west and the enormous crops which were produced. Wheat,
which had averaged $1.07 from 1880 to 1887 was 86 cents in
1887 and still falling. Com, averaging 46 cents for the same
period, had dropped to 34 cents in 1888, to 28 in 1889. In
1890 it rose to 37 cents. Tobacco was beginning to show the
221
222 . HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
effect of consolidation of manufacturers by which the price
was controlled.
Conditions were indicated in another way. The mortgage
burden of the state was heavy. During the decade from 1880
to 1890 it amounted to $55,832,062 and in 1890 it was $21,-
471,428 and steadily increasing. Nearly 18 per cent of the
taxed acres were under mortgage and on the average every
taxed acre bore a mortgage burden of 53 cents. The aver-
age value of the farm acre was $8.12. The per capita mort-
gage debt was $13, but this was low, only South Carolina of
all the states having a lower rate.
A hopeful sign was the steady increase in the number of
farms and the decreasing size, tending to intensive agricul-
ture and a wider spread of opportunity.
Returning to the causes of discontent, labor as well as low
prices caused trouble. Of course there were no strikes but
the negroes in many quarters were unsettled and restless and
the exodus to Arkansas and Nebraska produced a serious
shortage of labor in some parts of the state.
The effects of the war and of Reconstruction were still
clearly visible in the state and the farmers largely living from
hand to mouth, were without an adequate reserve to carry
them over a lean year, much less to bear the burden of a suc-
cession of them. They thus felt keenly the effects of the pro-
gressive impoverishment of their class. To all this was added
the pressure of high railway rates, poor service and discrim-
ination. Attempts to secure a remedy for railroad oppres-
sion, which was, it is fair to say, highly magnified, for the
railroads themselves were not over-prosperous, were uni-
formly and successfully thwarted by the railroad interests
which, in one way or another dominated the legislature of
the state. It was no wonder that to many observers condi-
tions seemed hopelessly bad and that discontent was wide-
spread.
As is so often the case the action of government was
held entirely responsible for these conditions. The protective
tariff was at first the object of attack but in a short time
the monetary system of the country and the banking system
were regarded as the real basis of the evil, with trusts and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 223
railroads in close competition for the second position among
the causes of distress. With feeling of this sort dominant
political activity in time was a certainty. And in politics, no
less, the time and conditions were ripe for revolt.
During the period follo\ving the redemption of the state
in 1876, a steady process of crystallization had gone on in
politics. Redemption from governmental cormption, extrava-
gance and misrule had been accomplished through the efforts
and leadership of a body of men who were, in the main, young,
and considering everything, fairly progressive, and who were
able to unite the majority of white men in the state and hold
them in the democratic party because of the fear amounting
almost to certainty that the restoration of the republicans
meant the return of the evil government of Reconstniction.
The real basis of democratic organization became in a sense,
then, opposition to the negro in government and politics. For
this reason the republican party was chiefly distrusted and
every protestation by republican leaders of devotion to white
supremacj' was heavily discounted with the constant answer
that republican success, under the existing organization of
the party, meant, in spite of what a few leaders might desire,
the return of the negro and misgovernment. But as time
passed, the task of holrling the democratic majority together
became increasingly di^cult. The memory of Roconstniction
became more indistinct, particularly to younger members of
the party. Signs of revolt were not wanting even in the early
eighties, as witnessed by the liberal movement of 1882.
Many things contributed in preparing the way for revolu-
tion. As always there was a considerable element of disap-
pointed politicians — self-seekers — who looked to personal ad-
vantage and advancement. A large and growing number of
able, honest, and influential democrats were sick at heart over
election methods, particularly in the East but not confined to
that section. The disfranchisement of the negro by force,
intimidation, bribery, or fraud, begun to rescue the state from
ruin, had continued. Undoubtedly it saved the state, but like
all evils of its kind, it was progressive and it had grown until
in many quarters of the state fraud in elections was looked
upon by both parties, not only as something to be expected.
224 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
but as something entirely justifiable when committed for the
benefit of one's own party. It was a far cry from the politi-
cal purity of the ante-bellum period, and the legacy of the
apostles of "Northern Civilization," the carpet-baggers, bore
heavily upon forward-looking people. Thinking men began
to see the logical end of this — caught a vision of the proba-
ble political ideals of their children and grandchildren if such
a system were perpetuated, and, fearful, sought a way out.
And there was none in sight. Of hope there was likewise none
so long as unrestricted negro suffrage continued.
Nor were party conditions promising. In addition to the
inseparable alliance of the republican party with the negro
and the resulting social stigma, it was dominated and con-
trolled by Federal office-holders who quarreled and squab-
bled over the spoils of office and who in the main saw polities
from the angle of place. Many of them wanted the party to
remain in the minority that the number entitled to spoils
might not be increased. Some few leaders were of a differ-
ent stripe and in the rank and file of the party, particularly
in the West, were good men, but in the party as a party there
was, at the time, small hope for the future. In addition, it
was a fact unchangeable that unaided by democratic revolt it
could not win.
The democratic party of the late eighties could scarcely
be called progressive. The instinct of political leadership of
the older day spent itself now in preventing negro equality in
politics and had little energy for other tasks. It was chiefly
interested in keeping in power and maintained with truth that
only by its success could good government be maintained. But
it was uninterested in questions of social reform, it was in-
different to progress in public education, it sought at all costs
to avoid spending money and, failing utterly to disting-uish
between extravagance and proper investment for the future,
it capitalized the habit of poverty which had always charac-
terized the state. Its control was in the hands of elderly men
who, naturally conservative, looked pityingly and scornfully
upon progressive and ambitious youth and if unable to en-
force a somewhat reverential acceptance and support of their
ideas, methods, and rule, were able to combine very success-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 225
fully to stifle opposition. Their argument was chiefly the
negro and Reconstruction. One too young for service then
had small chance for promotion from them or even for an in-
terested hearing whatever might be his object and however
great might be the eloquence and logic of his argiiment, if it
differed from the accepted dogmas of the party faith. Their
faces were turned to the past and the only question was how
long they could maintain control and preserve the status quo.
The same situation existed in other Southern states, but
the white republicans were too few to be important. When
the revolt came in tliose states, it was merely a shifting of
supremacy within the party. In North Carolina it meant a
complete overturn of the jaarty in power.
As has been said the revolt found its beginnings in agri-
cultural conditions. The generation, then at maturity had an
inheritance hard to overcome in the defeat of its fathers in
war, a destroyed labor system, the constant threat of social
and political anarchy, and the grinding poverty which beset
it. Unrest was natural and found expression in the founding
of local farmers' associations of one sort and another. The
first of these was the Grange. The first Grange in North Car-
olina was organized early in 1873 ; by the middle of May there
were 20, and by October, 110. A year later there were 430,
and in January', 1875, the highwater mark was reached with
477, with a membership of more than 10,000. The following
year decline commenced. It was never very important in
the state, althougli a few co-operative stores and Granger
schools were established. It took no part in politics and its
chief importance lay in its accustoming the farmers to the
idea of agricultural organization and so preparing the way
for the Farmers' Alliance.
In Febraary, 1887, a farmers' convention met in Raleigh,
perfected a plan of organization, and elected Elias Carr presi-
dent. To its influence and activity was due, to a considerable
extent, the foundation of the Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
lege and the withdrawal of the landscrip fund from the Uni-
versity. It is probable that it was called chiefly for that pur-
pose. Its success indicated that the time was ripe for a more
complete organization which speedily followed.
Vol. m— 15
226 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The Farmers' Alliance was first organized in North Caro-
lina in October, 1887, and was at the time composed of 132
subordinate alliances situated in eight counties. The first
local sub-alliance had been organized in April. It spread rap-
idly and by the following summer had 1,018 local branches in
sixty-two counties of the state and a membership of more
than 42,000. It had not reached the mountains and was
strongest in- Wake, Chatham, Sampson, Robeson, Moore,
Union, and Cumberland. The membership increased to 72,-
000 in 1889 and the sub-alliances to more than 1,600. In 1891,
organized in every county of the state, there were 2,221 sub-
alliances with a membership of more than 100,000, after which
the decline began, almost coincident with the rise of Populism.
Syndenham B. Alexander of Mecklenburg was the first
state president. Elias Carr succeeded him in 1890, and in
1891 Marion Butler was elected. He served two years and
then was elected first vice president of the National Alliance,
becoming president in 1894. He was succeeded in the state
presidency by Dr. Cyrus Thompson. The most influential
person in the organization, however, was L. L. Polk, formerly
state commissioner of agriculture and editor of the Progres-
sive Farmer who became its first secretaiy, and first vice
president of the National Alliance.
In its inception in North Carolina there was no conscious
political purpose in the mass of the members, whatever
may have been the aims of the leaders, but it had certain
practical aims which made political activity inevitable, and
the foundation of a new party, in the event of failure to con-
trol the old ones, almost a certainty. These aims were all in
the direction of correcting outstanding abuses. Because of
railway discrimination and high rates, they adA'Ocated state
control of freight rates, and later demanded the public owner-
ship of railways and telegraph lines.-^ '-To enable them to hold
agricultural products, the sub-treasury scheme was devised by
Harry Skinner, a North Carolinian, by which the Federal
Government would undertake the warehousing of such prod-
ucts and the issuance of receipts therefor which would cir-
culate as currency. Along with this they demanded a larger
per capita circulation of legal tender notes. For very obvi-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
227
ous reasons tliey opposed the growth of trusts and demanded
that the Government undertake their destruction. These were
farmers' demands, and hiwyers, merchants and bankers were
at first excluded from the organization. Along with these
practical purposes, the Alliance was intended to furnish so-
V
^^
Cou L. L. Polk
cial light and recreation to the farming population. This was
a most important factor in the rapid spread of the organiza-
tion for the life of the average North Carolina farmer was
dreary enough and the Alliance brought the light and stimu-
lus of social intercourse to many depressed and weary women,
hard-driven and hopeless men, and joyless young people, de-
prived of the pleasures of youth. It is no wonder that for a
time the Alliance was almost a religion,
offering as it did
228 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
comfort and joy in the present and the promise of happiness
and salvation to come.
The first state meeting- of the Alliance passed resolutions
denouncing the Cotton Bagging Trust, demanding the repeal
of the tax on tobacco, the revision of the tariff in such a way
as to lighten the burden on necessities and increase it on
luxuries, the establishment of a state railroad commission,
the prohibition of the use of railway passes by public officials,
and revision of the laws which would reduce the cost of
minor litigation; and protesting against the state's giving
away the labor of convicts.
About the same time criticism of legislators and the politi-
cal parties became common. In discussing the reasons why
the farmers had suffei'ed so, the Progressive Farmer gave
the following explanation: "It is because the great mass of
the American people, blinded by party spirit and bowing to
the mandates of self-constituted partisan bosses, have sur-
rendered their manhood and are victims of designing corrupt
men."
Even before the union of the various state alliances into
a national organization the political influence of the North
Carolina Alliance was important. S. B. Alexander was a far-
mers' candidate for the democratic nomination for governor
in 1888 and received and declined the nomination for lieuten-
ant-govei"nor. In county affairs some influence was exerted
but the local groups of officers, the "court-house rings," as
Alliance men began to call them, were too firmly established
for anything short of a political revolution to overturn them.
With the members of the legislature it was different as there
was a firmly established precedent for frequent changes, and
so the legislature of 1889, elected in 1888, contained a larger
proportion of farmers than any other since the war. In the
House they were strong enough to force the election of Leazer,
an Alliance leader, to the speakership. In the Senate they were
not so powerful, however, and the Railroad Commission Bill,
which had passed the Senate in 1887, only to meet defeat in
the House, was now defeated in the Senate after fairly easy
passage through the House. Governor Scales had urged its
passage in his message and it could not be said to be entirely
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 229
a farmer's question altliougli it was the measure in which
they were chiefly interested. In this legishiture appeared
the beginning of the attacks upon the national banEs and also
of the demand for a more abundant currency, veiled, how-
ever, in the form of a demand for state banks of issue.
The Alliance men lacked leadership and as the old conser-
vative democratic leaders were experienced and not yet dis-
trusted, the session saw little attempted for the relief of the
agricultural interests. As a result dissatisfaction was in-
creased and the way prepared for independent party action.
The republican leaders saw this clearly and fostei-ed care-
fully the spirit of discontent.
Polk was rapidly extending his influence and in 1889 he
was chosen head of the National Farmers' Alliance and de-
voted all his energies to pressing its demands. S. B. Alex-
ander was still at the head of the state organization and asso-
ciated with him were men like Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Maj.
William A. Graham, Elias Carr, and Marion Butler, the last
mentioned being editor of the Caucasian, an influential coun-
try i^aper in Sampson County where he was very strong.
Most of the members of the Alliance were democrats and
they were able largely to control the party. In 1890 they
openly denied support to those who would not pledge them-
selves to support their demands. Upon candidates for Con-
gress they imposed the pledge to support the abolition of
national banks, the prohibition of dealing in fixture in agri-
cultural products, the free coinage of silver, the prohibition
of alien ownership of land, the abolition of special taxation,
and the issue of fractional paper currency. In state affairs
they still made their former demands, adding a declaration in
favor of better schools and for the higher education of women.
In the campaign the Alliance continued to champion in-
dependent thought and action by members in the interest of
reform. As yet there was little thought of a new party, the
aim being not to break either the democratic or republican
party but to reform and dominate them, taking their direc-
tion and control out of the hands of "bosses."
Their tactics were very effective as concerned the candi-
dates for Congress. Two candidates for the democratic nomi-
230 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
nation, one a sitting member and the other a former member,
were forced to withdraw in favor of farmers' candidates. An-
other sitting member found it necessary to sever his connec-
tion with a national bank to have any hope of success and
failed after all. Of the nine nominees, four were members of
the Alliance and only two were in open opposition to it. The
same methods were no less effective in dictating the nominees
for the legislature and determining the policy of the party.
When the democratic convention met, a majority of the dele-
gates were members of the Alliance and the platfonn in sub-
stance was simply a restatement of the demands of the or-
ganization. The democrats nominated A. S. Merrimon and
Walter Clark to succeed themselves as chief justice and asso-
ciate justice respectively. They were full of uneasiness at
Alliance activity but since the members were chiefly demo-
crats they felt fairly confident that the trouble would soon
blow over.
The campaign, for several reasons, was of considerable
interest for an off year, due to several causes. In republi-
can politics, the chief event was the meeting in Raleigh a few
days before the state convention of a negro conference which
discussed very freely and fully the treatment of the negro by
the republican party. Declaring the negroes in North Caro-
lina the true republican party since they cast nine-tenths of
the votes, they passed resolutions demanding better educa-
tional facilities, a new election law, the repeal of the existing
laws relating to county government, and a share of the of-
fices. When the republican convention met the feeling of the
colored element again manifested itself, but was quieted and
the convention closed in apparent harmony. Charles Price
was nominated for chief justice and W. T. Faircloth for as-
sociate justice. It was clear that the proposed Force Bill
had the approval of the delegates, but all mention of it was
omitted from the platform. Not all republicans felt this way,
however. H. G. Ewart, a member of Congress, in June made
a strong speech in the House against it, declaring elections in
the state to be generally fair, and adding in explanation of
Southern feeling towards the republican party: "The state
governments fell into the hands of the most disreputable gang
HISTORY OP^ NORTH CAROLINA 231
of thieves and plunderers that ever disgraced a nation, and
the very name of Reijublicanism became a stench in the nos-
trils of all honest men." But such sentiments were rare
among the Federal office-holders who as usual dominated the
convention.
During the course of the campaign, on account of the grow-
ing demands of the negroes and the issue of the Force Bill
a number of prominent republicans left the party. Notable
among these were Francis D. Winston, AVilliam A. Guthrie,
and Neill McKay.
One of the most interesting questions of the whole cam-
paign was one injected into democratic politics by the radical
members of the Alliance. Early in 1890 the Progressive
Farmer, after some preliminary criticism of Vance, openly
opposed his re-election to the Senate. Vance was so strongly
entrenched in the affections of his party that the matter was
treated lightly at first. But it soon appeared that the atti-
tude of the Alliance organ was in fact representative of a
considerable element of Alliance opinion, though of how great,
could not be ascertained. The reason for the opposition was
Vance's failure to press and support the sub-treasury bill
which at the request of Polk he had introduced into the Senate
and managed to have referred to a rather friendly committee,
telling Polk that he could not promise any personal support
for it. In June, Vance wrote Elias Carr, as president of the
Alliance, that he was unable to support it in the form in which
it had been presented, believing that it was unconstitutional.
He at the same time urged moderation on the members of the
Alliance, begging them not to make of it a new party and thus
lose what they were otherwise certain to gain. In spite of the
feeling against him, it was soon certain that he could not be
defeated. But he took no chances. He was very active in the
campaign and just before election he felt compelled to say that
if any decision of the Supreme Court was found which would
show the siib-treasury bill to be constitutional, he would vote
for it. Even the result of the election did not reassure him
and when on November 20th, Elias Carr wrote him to ask if
he would obey instructions from the legislature, he replied
232
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
that he accepted the doctrine of instructions and would obey
or resign.
The election resulted in a clean democratic victory, the
majorities being far larger than in 1888 and one more seat in
Congress being gained. The explanation of the gain is to be
found in the prominence of the Force Bill which the demo-
rJI$,K&^
Senator Zebulon B. Vance
crats used very skillfully, and the emphasis upon the negro
which while less apparent was very real.
The legislative session showed the farmers better organ-
ized and more aggressive. It developed that they had all the
democratic members and more than half of the republicans
pledged to their demands. They had also pledged eight of
the nine members of Congress chosen. As soon as the session
began the question of Vance's election dwarfed all other mat-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 233
ters as was always the case in North Carolina with senatorial
elections until the advent of the primary. Just before the
time of election, the democratic caucus adopted for presenta-
tion to the legislature a resolution of instruction to vote for
the sub-treasury scheme. "When Vance saw it, he declared
that he would not accept an election under such instructions.
There was much discussion in the party and a good deal of
anger, but in the end the resolution was changed so as to in-
struct him to vote to secure the objects of the financial reform
contemplated in the Ocala platform. Vance was willing to
agree to this and accepted the election to which he received a
unanimous caucus nomination, but he did not alter his oppo-
sition to the sub-treasurj^ scheme.
The legislature was marked by a more progressive spirit
than its predecessor. Ten thousand dollars was appropri-
ated for a geological survey and J. A. Holmes was made state
geologist. Twenty-five thousand dollars was appropriated
for an exhibit at the World's Fair. The school tax was in-
creased, a normal and industrial school for women, the pres-
ent Normal College, a new school for the deaf and dumb, an
agricultural and mechanical college for negroes, and a normal
school for negroes were established, and increased assistance
given the University and the Agricultural and Mechanical
College at Ealeigh.
In spite of bitter opposition from all the railroad interests,
a railroad commission was established amid mournful fore-
easts of the dire results to the prosperity of the state. A
committee was appointed to look into a proposition of the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad to pay $20,000 as an annual
tax and receive in return certain valuable privileges, includ-
ing the renewal of the expiring charter of the Petersburg road
which the Wilmington road was operating. The committee
reported favorably, Ijut the legislature was finn in its deter-
mination to secure in time at least the full right of taxation,
and so the charter was renewed for two years only and an
act passed forbidding the construction of a parallel line. With
the same purpose a bill was proposed designed to force the
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad to pay taxes. There was no
234 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
disposition to check construction and a large number of new
roads were chartered.
After the adjournment of the legislature there was a gen-
eral feeling in the state that any tendency of the Alliance
towards the formation of a third party had been checked. In
May the meeting at Cincinnati was held at which a new party
was organized but there was little apparent inclination on
the part of the Alliance in North Carolina to join in the move-
ment. There was a genei-al feeling that such action was use-
less since the Alliance now controlled absolutely the demo-
cratic party in the state. Alexander, Carr, Butler, and other
leaders were opposed, the Progressive Farmer was appar-
ently so, and Polk had nothing to say upon the subject. But
when the state meeting of the Alliance was held in August it
was apparent that the feeling of the delegates was far from
being unfavorable to the new party. At the bottom of this
was the failure of the democratic party in the country to ac-
cept the sub-treasury which the rank and file of the Alliance
were inclined to regard as the specific for all financial and
economic ills. Still no definite action was taken other than
to endorse with emphasis the sub-treasury plan. Butler, who
was elected president, was, as has been mentioned, opposed to
a third party. Yet it was very clear to many that unless the
democratic party went the whole way and swallowed the sub-
treasury and free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver, ac-
cepting at the same time the domination of the Alliance in
the choice of candidates, separation was certain. But neither
the Alliance nor the democratic party faced the facts in the
case.
In the meantime Polk, who was chosen in the fall president
of the national organization for the third time, probably as
the man most favorable to a new party, was using every effort
to prepare the way for the People's party. His influence in
the North Carolina Alliance was tremendous and his work
highly effective. The Progressive Farmer, which of course
reflected his views, began to advocate the entrance of the Al-
liance as a body into state politics. This, of course, would
mean a third party. In October, Butler announced it to be
the firm intention of the Alliance to stand bv the sub-treasurv
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 235
scheme even if it split the democratic party, and a little later
Polk declared his opposition to the re-nomination of Cleve-
land. Both maintained that there would be no third party,
unless it was brought about by the intolerance of democratic
leaders. There was of course plenty of intolerance among
politicians and newspaper editors, but, on the other hand,
any difference of opinion or honest criticism was construed
as intolerance and proscription by the Alliance and resented
as such. These were radical views. Such men as Elias Carr
and Alexander opposed extreme views and action. Thus by
the end of 1891 there was a real division of Alliance leaders
into radicals — rule or ruin men — bent on carrying their every
point and really hopeful that a third party would l)e formed, a
more conservative element who would only as a last resort join
in such a movement, and a group that could not be persuaded
to join a third party. The members of the last two groups lost
no occasion of pointing out that the Alliance could not hope
for more in a new party than it already possessed in the
democratic party; that it could not really get as much; and
that the formation of a new party would mean inevitably the
loss of the prestige and power of the Alliance and its becom-
ing a mere side-show of the republican party in North Caro-
lina. At the St. Louis conference in February, 1892, over
which Polk presided, the North Carolina delegation opposed
any third party action, but Polk identified himself with the
movement.
The republicans in the State watched the movement with
undisguised pleasure and very cleverly lost no opportunity
of encouraging the progress of Alliance discontent. They
could easily do this for the republican membership of
the organization was negligible and had been all along rather
unwelcome to the mass of Alliance men except when they de-
sired to make the point that the movement was not partisan.
Thus the republicans were able to see in the formation of a
third party, with or without fusion, a strong probability of
republican success. Therefore a considerable body of repub-
lican politicians devoted their energies to the promotion of
a new party and, when it finally came, joined it, seeking to
236 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
give it, so far as possible, into the control of republicans in
the interest of fusion.
During the legislature of 1891, Jeter C. Pritchard, the
foremost republican leader in the state, had declared that he
regarded the county government issue as settled and the re-
publican press in the main had agreed, but in the summer it
appeared that it was to be revived and that many republicans
were relying upon that and the third party to win in 1892.
Talk began of a reorganization of the party on a white basis.
Part of this was genuine since many republicans were heartily
sick of the negro and of political identification with him. But
in part it was intended only to offset the argument that the
democrats were certain to use — which in fact they had used
since the beginning of the movement. A protective tariff
league was organized during the year as a part of this move-
ment and an attempt made to interest the rapidly-growing
^•roup of manufacturers in the matter.
After the St. Louis meeting and the adoption of the plat-
form there, Polk became an open advocate of the populist
party as of course did the Progressive Farmer. It was said,
but with what truth is not known, that he confidently expected
to be nominated for President at Omaha. He had sufficient
following in the state to alarm the democrats who began with
real venom to denounce him, the populist party, and even the
Alliance, vehemently emphasizing the fact that the sole re-
sult would be republican success. It was later said that they
set out "to make Populism odious" in North Carolina. But
it was mistaken tactics, serving only to alienate many who
were friendly and strengihening the advocates of populism by
making them appear martyrs. The press was particularly
active and the Progressive Farmer in March was able to say :
"It is well known that two years ago the Alliance together
with its friends was the Democratic Party in North Carolina;
yet now there is not one democratic paper in the State which
champions the cause of the farmer. ' '
By April the St. Louis platform had been repudiated by
many Alliance leaders, including Elias Carr. Harry Skinner,
while not condemning the platform, was opposed to any sepa-
rate party organization. Marion Butler, president of the Al-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 237
liance, lingered, eudorsing the St. Louis platform, threaten-
ing the democratic party unless it accepted it, but confidently
expecting to win the state convention. In June the execu-
tive board of the Alliance expressed dissatisfaction with the
action of the Progressive Farmer and Polk at once announced
that it had ceased to be the official organ of the Alliance.
In the meantime, Butler issued a call for an Alliance con-
ference in Raleigh on the day of the meeting of the demo-
cratic convention. Undoubtedly this was intended to influ-
ence the convention. Trouble was brewing, for while extreme
Alliance men urged the friends of the St. Louis platform to
control the democratic primaries and convention, many demo-
crats in retaliation wanted to exclude from the primaries and
convention all who favored the St. Louis platform. Demo-
cratic leaders naturally demanded that none should be admit-
ted to the primaries who would not agree to abide by the
decision on nominees and platform of the party in state and
nation. This was not welcome since Alliance influence was
being exerted to defeat Governor Holt for nomination, ac-
companied with threats of independent action, and there was
bitter opposition to the nomination of Cleveland for Presi-
dent.
When the democratic convention met, the elements op-
posed to Holt were in control and he was defeated by Elias
Carr who had not been a candidate for the nomination. His
selection was a triumph for the Alliance, but for the conserva-
tive wing.
Of leading Alliance men, Harry Skinner was present,
and his name was presented for nomination for lieutenant-
governor. He declined, however, to have it considered, stat-
ing that with his financial views his nomination would be
unwise and that success must be won since the democratic
party in North Carolina was the ark of the covenant. The
platform was shaped by the same influences. It denounced
the protective tariff, the force bill, and demanded financial
reform, the relief of the agi'icultural classes, abolition of na-
tional banks, the issue of more greenbacks, the free coinage
of silver, a .gi-aduated income tax, and the prohibition of alien
land-holding and dealing in futures on agricultural products.
238 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The only state question receiving any attention was that of
education, better schools being demanded.
With such complete triumph all save the most radical ele-
ment of the Alliance seemed satisfied. But preliminary steps
were taken at the Alliance conference, on the same day which
was attended by delegates from seventy counties, to organize
the people's party in the state, and that was accomplished
later in the month. Polk's name was presented for the presi-
dential nomination at Omaha and S. Otho Wilson and Harry
Skinner were elected delegates to the Omaha convention.
Skinner at once repudiated this action as far as he was con-
cerned. Polk died in June and the greatest influence in the
Alliance and a very radical one was thus removed. Butler as
late as July was apparently favorable to the democratic state
ticket, and, while the question of a state convention of the
people's party to make nominations was discussed, such ac-
tion appeared unlikely. Up to this time there had b^en no
Alliance criticism of the state government, but division on
men developed and was followed rapidly by criticism of gov-
ernment which was increasingly vehement.
With the nomination of Cleveland, however, the radical
element had a chance. The rank and file of the democrats
were for him heart and soul but democratic politicians, led
by Vance, liked him if anything less than did the Alliance
radicals. Hoping to take advantage of this discontent which
was not concealed, believing the current republican report that
they would not nominate a state ticket, separate action was
decided upon in July and a convention was called to meet
August 15th. Alliance opposition to Cleveland was due to
dislike of his attitude towards silver and the wide-spread be-
lief that he was the friend of Wall Street, with all that such
a thing then signified to the agricultural classes. The feeling
was intensified by the attempt of the democrats to make his
name a shibboleth.
The first populist convention was an interesting body.
Marion Butler served both as temporary and permanent chair-
man although so recent a convert. In the convention were a
number of republicans who had never left the republican party
in reality but, more or less openly, were there primarily to
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 239
assist in the defeat of the democratic party and if possible to
engineer a fusion in the interest of the republican party. The
platform adopted called for economy in state government, en-
couragement to education, agriculture, and manufacturing, a
6 per cent interest law, secret ballot, purity of elections, and
the taxation of all railroads. It was in all respects an admir-
able document. Harry Skinner was then by ac<2lamation nom-
inated for governor. A sensation occurred when he took the
platform and accepted only upon the condition that if the
republicans nominated a state ticket and he saw division
among the whites endangering white supremacy, he was to
be free to say so frankly. His chief interest, he said, was in
financial reform and if the republicans had a ticket he would
vote for the democratic candidate. A tremendous demonstra-
tion of hostility followed and Skinner declined the nomina-
tion. He was, howevei', later nominated with Butler for elect-
or for the state-at-large. For governor. Dr. AV. P. Exum was
nominated over J. H. Mewborne.
In the republican party there was genuine division. Some
leaders like J. J. Mott and D. L. Eussell desired no republican
ticket in the field and the breaking of the race issue which
would result. Others saw and publicly predicted what would
happen if a ticket was nominated. In the West, however, there
was widespi'ead eagerness for a ticket and an aggressive cam-
paign with emphasis upon the tariff as a national issue and
county government as a state issue. This feeling coupled with
a natural desire for the maintenance of party solidarity pre-
vailed and on September 7th the republican convention met
in Raleigh. It adopted a platform denouncing the election
and county government laws, and nominated a state ticket
headed by D. M. Furches.
All the parties went into the campaign in earnest although
it is not likely that the republicans hoped to win. The popu-
lists were hopeful and intensely earnest. Public meetings in
large numbers were held at which great enthusiasm was
aroused, and twelve newspapers, of which the Progressive
Farmer and Butler's Caucasian were the most important, as-
.sisted in spreading the doctrines of the party. The demo-
crats very skillfully used the race issue and once more the
240 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Force Bill played a large part in campaign argument. Many
populists were so alarmed at the prospect of the return of
the negro to power that they refused to support the ticket, and
W. A. Guthrie, who had declined the nomination for associate
justice of the Supreme Court, issued a public letter to mem-
bers of the party urging them to beware of republican suc-
cess. So effective were these ai'guments that it became ap-
parent long before the end of the campaign that there was a
real identity of interest between what was left of the people's
party and the republicans.
General Weaver, the populist presidential candidate, vis-
ited the state in the course of the campaign but did little to
help the party cause, the democrats making effective use of
the bitter speeches against the South which he had made while
a member of the republican party. Exum, the candidate for
governor, attracted unpleasant attention by losing his tem-
per in a debate with Charles B. Aycock, one of the demo-
cratic candidates for elector for the state-at-large, and slash-
ing him with a knife. Aycock warded off the thrust with his
arm and possibly thus saved one of the most valuable lives
in the history of the state. He, with his colleague, R. B.
Glenn, covered the entire state and thus began the establish-
ment among the people of a reputation which steadily grew
brighter with the passage of time.
The discovery of the existence of a secret political society
among the populists, known as Gideon's Band, caused some
excitement in the state, particularly among those who remem-
bered the Ku Klux, and undoubtedly was effective in checking
the growth of the party. Little or nothing is known of it. It
was contrary to the state constitution and during the follow-
ing year S. Otho Wilson was indicted in Wake Superior Court
for membership. He entered a plea of nolo contendere and
no further action was taken.
While the elections resulted in a rather sweeping demo-
cratic victory, the party winning the state and electoral
tickets, eight out of nine members of Congress, and a majority
in both Houses of the Legislature, the populists gave a good
account of themselves for so young a party. In a number of
counties, notably in Chatham, Nash, and Sampson they
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 241
showed great strength. The best view of the election results
can be obtained from the following tables :
State Ticket
Carr, Democrat 135,519
Purches, Eepnblican 94,684
Exum, Popnlist 47,840
National Ticket
Cleveland 127,763
Harrison 94,445
Weaver 43,772
The General Assembly
Senate House Joint Ballot
Democrats 47 93 140
Eepublicans 16 16
Populists 3 11 14
In these results was food for democratic thought. The
vote for governor showed a shrinkage of republican votes
from 1888 of almost 40,000 and of democratic votes nearly
13,000. The democrats with a plurality of approximately
40,000 were still 7,000 short of a majority of the total vote.
The plurality of the electoral vote was about 33,000 in a much
lighter vote, with more than 10,000 votes lacking of a ma-
jority. It was therefore clear that the democratic party
could only hope for escape from defeat by inducing the mal-
contents to return, a thing which could only be made possible
by a very successful democratic national administration and a
period of agricultural prosperity'. The populist party, as it
existed, was definitely aligned with the republican party for
the defeat of the democrats and if fusion could be accom-
plished without loss of strength, victory would be won. Popu-
list feeling against the democrats, too, was intensified by the
election. A section of the election law which had never been
strictly regarded, requiring the full name to be recorded in
registering, was invoked in a large number of cases by demo-
242 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
cratic election officials in order to disfranchise populists and
republicans. Populists thus came to feel that they had been
robbed of victory everywhere, and thus to hate the election
law, all of which formed another bond with the republican
party.
The legislature of 1893 was in no sense notable. It was
a rather conservative body, thanks to the withdrawal of the
more radical element of the Alliance. Party feeling showed
itself strongly in the introduction of a bill to repeal the char-
ter of the Alliance. This was nominally done at the request of
members of the Alliance in order to jirotect certain funds
of the organization and to prevent their being employed for
the benefit of the populist party, but the real reason was par-
tisan dislike of the Alliance. The bill failed to pass, but an-
other bill amending the charter greatly limited the Alliance
and made its destruction an easy matter. Apart from the
manifest injustice and wrong of the law, it was the poorest
politics imaginable. It consolidated a mass of Alliance opin-
ion and feeling against the democratic party which lost the
support of a large conservative element, and convinced the
populists that the democratic party would stop at nothing in
order to win. In a sense it made certain the continuation and
growth of the populist party and insured democratic defeat
at the polls at the next election.
The only other work of the legislature worthy of mention
was the final securing from the Raleigh and Gaston and the
Wilmington and Weldon railroads of a surrender of their ex-
emption from taxation. This left exempt only the North Car-
olina Railroad which saw the handwriting on the wall and
surrendered its exemption the following year.
The year 1893 furnished still more reasons for party divi-
sion. The panic played directly into the hands of those who
desired the overthrow of the democratic party. The quarrel
of the President with the silver men over the repeal of the
silver purchase law had a strong reaction in the state and
the final passage of the repeal bill by a democratic Congress
seemed final and conclusive proof that the party was domi-
nated by "gold -bugs" and hence was not to be trusted. Vance
won anew the affections of the populists by voting against
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 243
the bill, but Ransom supported it and thus won an intensity
of hatred from the populists which made them ascribe to him
every evil quality to be found among members of the United
States Senate. This feeling played no small part in securing
fusion the following year.
By 1894, then, the potential strength of the populist party
was much greater and its leaders, and no less its rank and file,
were determined, at any cost, to secure democratic defeat.
CHAPTER XIII
FUSION AND ITS RESULTS
Although 1894 was an off-year, politically, it was highly
important. A state treasurer, chief justice and three as-
sociate justices, and a numher of judges and solicitors, be-
sides the members of Congress and of the legislature, were
to be elected. The legislature then chosen would elect two
United States senators. Ransom's term expired in 1895 and
Jarvis, who had succeeded Vance upon the latter 's death in
April, would hold his seat only until the legislature acted.
It was by now an understood thing that Butler and Pritchard
would replace them in the event that fusion could be arranged
and should result in victory.
The populist convention met in Raleigh on July 31st. W.
H. Worth was nominated for treasurer. A resolution was
adopted declaring for a non-partisan judiciary, after which
the convention nominated W. T. Faircloth, a republican, for
chief justice ; D. M. Furehes, another republican, and Walter
Clark and Henry G. Connor, both democrats, for associate jus-
tices.
The platform was devoted mainly to national matters, but
it declared for a four months' school tenn and a reformatory,
condemned the democratic party for extravagance and for
failure to collect back taxes from the railroads, to execute the
laws against trusts, and to prosecute the officers of banks
which had failed through their fault or negligence. Demo-
cratic election methods were also condemned and by implica-
tion new election laws were demanded.
A week after the convention 0. H. Dockery, V. S. Lusk,
J. H. Young, C. M. Bernard, and H. G. Ewart issued a state-
ment that a republican conference had been held in Raleigh
at the time of the populist convention and had recommended
244
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 245
co-operation with the populists on officers and had declared
for the non-partisan judges already nominated. Undoubtedly
at this meeting the details of fusion were agreed upon by the
republican and populist leaders.
In the meantime Judge Connor, who had shortly before
retired from the Superior bench, declined to accept the prof-
fered nomination, declaring the Supreme bench as then com-
X)Osed, non-partisan. Attempts to induce him to reconsider
failed, and it became necessary to look elsewhere for a can-
didate, and Judge W. A. Montgomery, a populist, was se-
lected.
Early in August the democratic convention met at Raleigh
and nominated Chief Justice Shepherd, and Associate Jus-
tices Clark, Burwell, and MacRae for re-election. The plat-
form was devoted entirely to national matters, with the ex-
ception of the standard endorsement of the party's record in
the state, and offered small hope of conciliation of the seceders
and consequent victory.
The republicans did not hold their convention till Septem-
ber. The most important matter before it was that of fusion
with the populists. This was carried and the populist nomi-
nations were made those of the republican party. The plat-
form favored a new election law, the repeal of the county
government law in the interest of local self-government, and
the passage of a law allowing the deduction from the value
of taxable property of all debts. Much of the platform was
devoted to national matters among which provisions it is in-
teresting to note that while a protective tariff was endorsed, a
declaration in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver
at the ratio of sixteen to one was included.
The republicans made a most favoral)le bargain. In the
division they received two members of the Supreme Court
whom by no possibility could they elect alone. In addition
there was the practical certainty of one senator and the con-
trol of the fusion legislature which would give them what
they most desired, that is, a change in the system of county
government and a new election law.
The campaign was one of much bitterness but the result
was never in doubt. The democrats were listless and apa-
246 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
thetic, conscious of their impending defeat and highly dis-
gusted with political conditions. They had begun to feel a
deep disappointment in the results of two years of democratic
rule in the nation, the distribution of the spoils had left more
than an ordinary amount of bitterness, and the panic of 1893
and the low price of cotton had caused a reaction most un-
favorable to the party. There was really, as one sees it today,
never any ground for a hope of success and, beyond the shock
of overthrow there was not much democratic surprise at the
result of the election which was a complete fusion victory, the
democrats getting only four solicitors and one member of
Congress besides Judge Clark, whom all parties nominated.
Of the other offices the republicans got the lion's share, two
members of the Supreme Court, three Superior Court judges,
three members of Congress, and five solicitors, while the popu-
lists had the state treasurer, an associate justice, three judges,
two solicitors, and three members of Congress. The legis-
lature was politically divided as follows :
Senate House Joint Ballot
Populists 24 36 60
; Republicans 18 38 56
Democrats 8 46 54
The legislature met in January, 1895, Z. V. Walser, a
republican, was chosen speaker of the House. The body had
before it a difficult task. The democrats were in a hopeless
minority, and while the fusionists had unlimited power, its
practical exercise was difficult because of the division of the
majority into two parties with differing principles, aims, and
aspirations. There was no real kinship between the repub-
licans and populists — few parties have ever differed more
widely in principles — and they were bound together solely by
common dislike of the democratic party and desire for vic-
tory. The rank and file of populists had a vague idea that
fusion would result in large benefits to the people; the lead-
ers knew that it would elevate them to office and power if it
did nothing else. But fusion involved in the end the surrender
of almost every principle of the party. The republicans were
in no such evil case. They were better off because they had
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 247
to surrender less to gain party advantage. Dependent upon
the populists for every vestige of power, fully conscious of
the slender tie which held them united, they, nevertheless,
were able by the exercise of great shrewdness, aided by
greater political experience, to get in the long run far the
best of the bargain, and that without any appreciable sacri-
fice of principle. So far as the mass of populists were con-
concerned, their direct net gain was nothing save the consid-
erable gratification they experienced in seeing the democrats
in a minority. Certain populist leaders, however, profited
extensively.
Beyond all this was the fact that whatever action the legis-
lature took, it would meet with the bitter and unqualified con-
demnation of the democratic oppositioii which was in no mood
to see anything good in fusion or its fruits. In the back-
ground loomed like a threatening dark cloud the certainty of
the reappearance of the negro in politics. The party in con-
trol, in the last analysis, owed their success to the solid negro
vote. They could not disregard that fact even if they wished
to do so. If the county government law was repealed, it meant
ultinuite negro control in a number of the counties of the East
and in many of the towns. Negro rule had meant but one
thing and that would spell ruin to the fusionists. On the other
hand unless they yielded to the political pressure of the ne-
groes, they were equally certain of destruction. The popu-
lists seem to have thought that after a short period of divided
power they would be able to dispense with the republicans
and so be rid of the onus of the negro for whom they had,
politically speaking, small love. It was hardly to be doubted
that a day of awakening would come when, disgusted with a
political alliance with the negro, with memories of Reconstruc-
tion revived, they would return to the fold of the democratic
party where in fact, in political faith, they really belonged.
The chief political iuterest of the legislature for the
fusionists lay in the choice of the two United States senators.
The republicans had wanted the long term, but the populists
were insistent upon it and finally won, after making a definite
agreement that two years later the republicans should have
the succession to the short term. Accordingly Marion Butler
248 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was chosen to succeed Eansom while Pritchard was elected to
fill out the unexpired term of Vance. The democrats sup-
ported for the former seat Lee S. Overman, and for the lat-
ter, Thomas W. Mason.
In legislation two matters were regarded by the fusionists
as of paramount impoi-tauce — the passage of a new election
law, and the change in the system of county government which
would put the control of county affairs in the hands of the
localities.
The new election law which was finally passed had been
described in pre-election promises as a sure guarantee of
fair elections. In many respects it was worse than the old
one which it replaced. It allowed colored ballots, the count-
ing of tickets placed in the wrong box, and did away with all
privacy of voting. Instead of adopting the Australian ballot
this law really went in the other direction. One provision of
the law perfectly reasonable and highly proper, at least for
ordinary times, was much criticized by the democrats with
utter unfairness, as regards the principle of the thing, but
with considerable justice in the particular case. By provid-
ing that each party should have a judge and registrar at
every precinct, appointed upon the nomination of the county
chairmen of the party, the fusionists really gave to themselves
complete control. The number of precincts was largely in-
creased and a more expensive system was provided for. One
very good feature was the requirement of a statement of cam-
paign expenses. Another was the one requiring that the bal-
lots be preserved. The provision of the old law providing
punishment for its violation was omitted when it was re-
pealed. Just after the election the fusionists had made charges
of extensive fraud. Prosecution was pi'omised but none came.
A committee was appointed by the legislature to investigate
the second district. The committee reported after investi-
gation in Edgecombe, and hearing testimony from other coun-
ties, that there was no evidence of any fraud, and declined to
visit other counties. Certainly if fraud was the democratic
rule, it was departed from widely in this election. It was
a favorite populist saying that the democrats had stolen 40,000
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 249
votes and were still defeated but there is no reason to think
that there was widespread fraud.
It will be remembered that after the constitution was
amended in 1876 so as to permit it, an act was passed by the
legislature, taking the election of county connnissioners out
of the hands of tlie people and placing :t in those of the jus-
tices of the peace of the county. The election of justices was
then once more given to the legislature. Tliis meant of
course that the right of local self-government disappeared. It
also meant that the government of every county in the state,
regardless of its political majority, was democratic, and negro
rule thus had become an impossibility. It worked a grievous
hardship upon the republican white counties ; it was a bad
thing for all the counties in one sense, but there was, in the
minds of the mass of white people, no room for doubt that it
was better for all the counties to endure the denial of home
rule rather than to expose the people of the East to the hor-
rible fate that would be theirs should the system be changed.
The county government ])ill, called "an act to restore to
the people of North Carolina local self-government," was
carefully designed to give home rule and to restore to the
East the conditions which had made Reconstruction a horrible
memory. As a part of the same policy, the charters of a num-
ber of the larger towns, notably "Wilmington, Raleigh, Green-
ville, Goldsboro, and Elizabeth City, were altered so as to
change their government considerably. Wilmington was put
into the hands of a police board, chosen by the legislature,
which proceeded to appoint a large number of negroes to
office. In this and the county government law, more than
anjnvhere else the fusionists planted the mine, the explosion
of which would destroy them and with them unrestricted ne-
gro suffrage.
By the new law the election of the county commissioners
was taken from the justices of the peace and given to the
people. All the governmental powers of the justices were at
the same time transferred to the commissioners. There were
doubts in the minds of the framers of the law which served
only to increase their .guilt and responsibility. As a mani-
festation of these, the power of passing finally upon the bonds
250 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of county officials was taken from the hands of the commis-
sioners and given to the judges of the Superior Court of the
district in which the county was situated. The judge was also
directed, upon the affidavit of five citizens that the affairs of
the county would be mismanaged unless a change was made
and upon petition of two hundred voters to make the change,
to appoint two additional members of the board of commis-
sioners of another party than the one having a majority.
The fusionists, like all parties coming into power were
hungry for office and keenly interested in displacing those
who were in. A law was passed providing for the addition of
nine new directors of the penitentiary and making all em-
ployes removable after April, 1895. The state librarian was
ousted. A bill was introduced to abolish the existing rail-
road commission, the underlying purpose being to establish a
new one with different incumbents. This failed to pass. Bills
intended to turn over to new officers the Board of Agricul-
ture and the A. and M. College, the North Carolina Railroad
and the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad failed only be-
cause they came up at the end when a quorum could not be
secured. Provision was made for three new magistrates in
every township in the state. As there was already a suffi-
ciency of magistrates the addition of 3,591, with an appro-
priation of $26,000 for furnishing them with the necessary
copies of the laws, was for one purpose only. More than 100
of the new magistrates were negroes. Two new criminal
courts for groups of counties were created and Charles A.
Cook and H. G. Ewart, both republicans, elected judges. The
former county courts were a charge upon their respective
counties but the expenses of these were to be borne by the
state. A code commission consisting of two republicans a'ld
a populist was decided upon but failed to pass its third read-
ing in the Senate. The public printing was let out, after ad-
vertising for bids, considerably above the lowest bid. To
themselves the members of the legislature, following a cus-
tom, common in North Carolina and elsewhere, gave a large
number of appointments as trustees, directors and the like.
The legislature failed to carr\^ out much that the populists,
at least, had expected of it. In spite of the agitation for better
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 251
schools, no change was made in the school law other than to
abolish the county superintendents, the count)- boards oi' edu-
cation, and raise the school tax rate 2 cents. The schools were
put in the hands of county commissioners. Elected on the
issue of retrenchment and reform and pledged to reduce sal-
aries and fees and to economize in every direction so as to
lower taxes, they did not lower salaries or fees, or in general
economize. Appropriations wei'e not in most cases decreased,
nor in fact should they have been, for in that direction at least
there was no extravagance. There is scarcely any doubt that
the University, which was unpopular because of the long and
bitter fight made upon it by certain of the denominational
colleges, and the belief of the farmers that they were not con-
cerned in its welfare, would have been forced to close its doors
l)ut for the influence and labor of Marion Butler who stead-
fastly opposed such action. The state guard appropriation
was also cut $20,000 and the soldiers' home $2,000. The total
amount of appropriations was increased $125,000. In some
small ways the legishiture was extravagant, as in having
more clerks and pages than were needed. But the total cost
of the legislature only exceeded that of its predecessor by a
little more than $6,000. Taxes were increased under the new
revenue law, going from 39 cents on the $100 to 43. The
6 per cent interest law was finally passed but no anti-trust
legislation was completed and the republicans, in spite of the
fact that their platform had declared for it, succeeded in de-
feating any endorsement of free coinage.
The legislature, luiturally, was composed largely of in-
experienced men. Some of the majority members had served
before and a few of the figures of Reconstruction reappeared.
"Gizzard" French, one of the most notorious of the evil brood
of carpet-baggers again insulted honest men by his presence in
the House. Another carpet-bag member of the convention and
legislature, H. L. Grant, was a member of the Senate. The
business of the legislature was directed by a small group of
leaders, dominated for the most part by the republicans. Oc-
casionally they broke from the rather strict restraint in which
they were held and sometimes the unexpected happened. One
of the things which did more to bring the legislature into
252 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
contempt than anything else was the passage by the House of
a resolution, introduced by a negro member, in honor of Fred
Douglass, who had just died, after adjournment in honor of
Lee's and Washington's birthdays had been refused. The at-
tempts at explanation of the fusionists helped the case but
little, and democratic resentment, already keen because of the
election of a negro as doorkeeper over a one-legged Confed-
erate soldier, was intensified. It had one interesting result
immediately. Earlier in the session the legislature had been
petitioned by the Ladies' Memorial Association to appropri-
ate the amount of money necessary to finish the Confederate
monument in Capitol Square. This had been refused, but it
was now suggested that it would be well to do something to
palliate the hideous offense of which they had been guilty and
to conciliate the opposition, and consequently an appropria-
tion of the necessary $10,000 was made.
One of the acts of the legislature, which escaped notice
until after adjournment, provided all conditional sales, as-
signments, mortgages, or deeds in trust which should be exe-
cuted to secure any debt, obligation, note, or bond which
would give preference to any creditor absolutely void as to
existing creditors. As a result time merchants refused credit
for fertilizer and provisions and the banks took a similar
stand. Thinking that the court would construe it to apply
only to pre-existing debts, a test case was brought and the
court so construed it. This decision gave some relief, but the
law was a serious menace to business. It was soon discovered
that the bill although enrolled had never passed either House.
Governor Carr then sought by suit in Wake Superior Court to
enjoin Octavius Coke, the secretary of state, from publication
of the bill as law. The case went to the Supreme Court which,
according to precedent, declined to go behind the signatures of
the presiding officers of the two Houses. Later on the two
enrolling clerks were indicted and convicted for the offense, a
proceeding which fusionists generally pronounced political
persecution.
Polities played no great part in the life of the state after
the adjournment of the legislature. Democrats were free
in their predictions that the populist party being dead because
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 25:3
of fusion, the coming- year would see the democratic party re-
stored to power through a complete victory. The populist
party was dead, but populism was much alive and still a vital
factor in political thought and action and as time passed it
became increasingly evident that success would come only to
the jjarty with whom the populists fused. Leaders of the two
old parties began to flirt with leading populists. In this the
advantage lay with the republicans because of their past and,
as in a sense it must be regarded, existing, alliance. Then
too since most of the populists were former democrats they
■were, with the zeal of converts, very bitter against their old
party. Nor was the democratic party yet transformed by
defeat and the retirement of its older men who were out of
all sjinpathy with new and progressive ideas. The repub-
licans, on the other hand, had at the time only one absorbing
interest which was to defeat the democrats once more and
secui'e as complete a victory for themselves as possible.
In the meantime an interesting situation had developed
with respect to the institutions of one sort or another which
the fusionists had attempted to conti-ol. The law establishing
a criminal court for the counties of Buncombe, Madison, Hay-
wood, and Henderson was ratified on February il.'Jd. On Feb-
ruary 27th, the legislature elected H. G. Ewart, a republican,
judge. On March 12th, Governor Carr refused him his com-
mission, claiming that it was the governor's place, not the
legislature's, to fill vacancies, and on the following day he
api^ointed Thomas A. Jones to the position. The matter
came to the Supreme Court and the court. Judge Faircloth
writing the opinion, held that since the legislature had re-
served the right of election there was no vacancy. Quite an-
other result attended the appeal in the case of the other crim-
inal court established for Craven, New Hanover, Mecklenburg,
Warren, Vance, Robeson, Edgecombe, and Halifax. The law
was passed on March 8th, ])nt was not ratified until March
12tl^ In the meantime, on March 9tli, the legislature elected
C. A. Cook, a republican, judge. On March 13th, the governor
appointed 0. P. Meares judge, claiming that as there was no
court provided for by law at the time of Cook's election, there
was a vacancy which he had the right to fill. On appeal the
254 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Supreme Court, Judge Furches rendering the opinion, up-
held the governor's contention.
In the case of the state library, the legislature repealed
that part of the law which gave the board of trustees the
power to elect a librarian and conferred it upon the legisla-
ture. E. D. Stanford was then elected. J. C. Birdsong, the
librarian, declined to yield and the Supreme Court, Judge
Furches rendering the opinion, sustained him on the ground
that a quorum was not present when the bill was passed.
After this decision the new penitentiary board which had
elected W. H. Kitchin to succeed Leazer and had been re-
sisted by the latter, yielded as did the other claimants for
directorships.
In the summer of 1895 the North Carolina Railroad was
leased to the newly created Southern Railway for ninety-nine
years. The thing was hastily done without reference to pub-
lic opinion and was bitterly unpopular. The lease was de-
clared illegal by many good lawyers and preparations were
made to test it in the courts, the Alliance, particularly, being
actively interested in this. Governor Carr, who had as a fixed
policy the placing of all railroad property upon the tax-books,
had been largely instrumental in bringing the lease about and
defended it to the end. The general feeling was that a bad
bargain had been made in view of the length of the lease, and
since the state road was absolutely necessary to the Southern,
that better terms could have been obtained. This was doubt-
less true. Another charge was that the Seaboard would have
made a better contract. The outstanding benefits of the lease
were the guarantee of a high interest rate on the stock and
the through rates and connections which it made possible.
The matter caused great excitement and was at once a poli-
tical question, both populists and republicans, as well as many
democrats, opposing the lease and demanding that it be
broken.
The outstanding difficulty of the republicans and popu-
lists in fusing again was of course the arrangement to be
made in regard to the distribution of offices. A suggestion of
fusion on the electoral ticket seemed absurd, particularly af-
ter the republican national convention of 1896 declared for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 255
the gold standard. The populist executive committee sug-
gested a non-partisan silver ticket but that met with no ap-
proval from democrats, republicans, or populists. The repub-
lican party in North Carolina was full of silver sentiment and
had repeatedly endorsed free coinage, but the declarations
and tendencies of the national party controlled the state party
with small dissent. Dr. J. J. Mott was the leader of the silver
forces in the party but his influence was negligible. Silver
sentiment was of course very strong in the democratic
party but it was a question if it could effect fusion. Prob-
ably to test out the question a silver convention was held
in Raleigh in September, 1895, which was attended by a con-
siderable number of democrats. Judge James C. MacRae
presided. Butler was in complete control and carried through
a resolution pledging that support would be given none but
silver men. Some of the democrats sought to make it less
rigid saying frankly that they did not propose to leave their
party, but the amendment was defeated. In February, 1896,
a conference was held in Washington, at Senator Butler's in-
vitation, at which were present Ed. Chambers Smith, R. B.
Peebles, from the democrats, Guthrie, Shuford, and Butler
from the populists and Mott from the silver republicans, the
last soon to be chairman of the executive committee of the
national silver party. A plan of democratic-populist fusion
was agreed upon, the democrats to have the governor and all
state offices then filled by them, AVorth to be re-elected treas-
urer, three seats in Congress to go to the democrats, three to
the populists and a union to be arranged on the three then
held by the republicans. All democratic and populist county
officials and members of the legislature were to be left un-
touched and the democrats were to have all the places held
by republicans. This would of course give them control of
the legislature. The plan met with a cool reception from
populists, as was to be expected, although many were rather
sore with the republicans and inclined toward an alliance with
the democrats. Part of this was due to silver feeling. That
it met if anything a cooler one from the democrats is surpris-
ing since they could not hope for better terms. Indeed many
democrats desired to accept and the advocates of fusion in
256 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the party increased steadily throughout the campaign. Re-
publicans were alarmed and worked incessantly to prevent the
consummation of the arrangement which could spell for them
only disastrous defeat and the loss of not only the lion's shai'e
of the state ticket upon which they bad confidently counted,
but also of the senatorship of which they had been certain.
In April Senator Butler sent out a circular to the popu-
lists in which he said the populists could support no man for
governor or senator who would vote for a gold man for Presi-
dent, and urged them to go slow on the question of fusion. He
and Pritchard had recently broken and this may have been
the Ijeginning of the fight on the latter. Few republicans were
willing to be bound by such terms. They desired, it is true, a
silver man for President, but if a gold man won the nomina-
tion there was no doubt in their minds as to their hearty sup-
port of him. Later in the month a great fusion conference was
held in Raleigh at which the populists demanded republican
support of free silver as a sine qua non of co-operation. The
republicans occupied the same position here that they did with
respect to the candidate for President ; they would endorse the
platform and support the ticket without question. Accord-
ingly they refused the offer and replied with terms of their
own. According to these the republicans were to nominate
and the populists endorse the governor, attorney-general, au-
ditor and one justice of the Supreme Court. The populists
were to nominate and the republicans endorse the lieutenant-
governor, secretary of state, treasurer, superintendent of
public instruction and one justice. There was to be co-opera-
tion in respect to members of Congress and of the legisla-
ture, the republicans having the senatorship. Each was to
nominate and run separately their own electors. The popu-
lists at once declined to consider this arrangement.
The republican convention met in Raleigh in May and after
a furious contest nominated D. L. Russell for governor by
three-sevenths of one vote over Oliver H. Dockery and James
E. Boyd. The nomination was only secured by seating twenty-
two contesting delegates from five counties which wei-e ap-
parently clearly for Dockery. Z. V. Walser was nominated
for attorney-general, Ruff Henderson for auditor and R. M.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 257
Douglas for justice of the Supreme Court. The other places
on the ticket were left open presumably for the populists to
fill when fusion should be aecomplished. The {)latforni was
devoted chiefly to national matters and declared against the
"retirement of greenbacks, the money of the people, the
money favored by Lincoln." The ]i(irtion relating to state af-
fairs was of course full of denunciation of the democratic
party, but the new county government and election laws,
passed by the fusion legislature, received hearty endorse-
ment and were declared to be of paramount importance. The .
section is worth quotation. "The vital and paramount issue
for North Carolina in this campaign is the preservation of
the great reforms enacted into law by the last General As-
sembly, to wit: local self-government and honest elections.
No differences as to questions of currency and questions of
tariff should deter us from standing together for the right
pi-eservative of all rights, the right to vote and have that vote
honestly counted." Non-political management of public
schools was demanded. The silver (juestion was skillfully
straddled.
Eussell had in the past characterized the negroes of the
South as largely savages, who "stole all the week and prayed
it off at church on Sunday," and who were "no more fit to
govern or have a share in governing than their brethren in
the swamps of Africa," but in this campaign he promis(>d
them a full share of the spoils, or, as he phrased it, "oats and
fodder." This was but a vain promise in view of the small
patronage at the governor's disposal. In his speech of ac-
ceptance he declared that he had been suckled at the In-east of
a negro woman and stood for the negroes. Plausible as he
made his various allusions to the colored mcmlicrs of the
party, his views were well known and the negi-o leaders did
not trust him. Finally early in July a convention of colored
republicans, representing sixty-five counties, assembled in
Raleigh and adopted resolutions calling upon every negro in
whose heart there was still a spark of self-respect and man-
hood to exert himself to the utmost to defend the honesty and
integrity of their race by doing all in theii- power to defeat
Vol. ni— 17
258 • HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Russell's election Loyalty to the national party was declared
and the candidacy of W. A. Guthrie for governor endorsed.
In June the democratic convention met with ninety-five of
the ninety-six counties represented. Three names had been
prominently mentioned for the head of the ticket, Julian S.
Carr, Judge Walter Clark, and Cyrus B. Watson. It was not
a position at all sought for since defeat was well-nigh cer-
tain and both Carr and Clark declined to allow the use of their
names. Both had already been endorsed by a number of coun-
ties. Watson did not desire the nomination but pressure was
brought to bear upon him and he finally consented to accept.
The platform was chiefly devoted to national affairs, contain-
ing a demand for free silver and denouncing the gold stand-
ard and the McKinley tariff as "twin monsters ^oing hand in
hand on their mission of destruction." On state questions it
was colorless and lacked vitality. A fair election law and
the impartial administration of the criminal laws were de-
manded and the party pledged itself to the continuance of the
' ' system of public education established by the democratic .
party. ' ' Because of bitter opposition to the lease of the North
Carolina Railroad and the consequent unpopularity of Gov-
ernor Carr, the convention abandoned precedent and failed
to endorse his administration.
The nomination of Bryan for President by the democrats
and his endorsement by the populists seemed to make the way
easier for democratic fusion with the populists. On July 3d,
the populist executive committee, composed of Marion Butler,
W. A. Guthrie, A. S. Peace, W. H. Kitchin, and Harry Skin-
ner, met in Raleigh and invited the silver party to join them
in convention in August. They also considered the question
of fusion with the democrats. Just before the meeting of the
populist convention on August 13th, Butler as chairman of
the executive committee submitted to the democratic commit-
tee a proposition for fusion. By its terms the democrats were
to have six and the popuHsts five electors. On the state ticket
the populists were to have the governor, treasurer, and super-
intendent of public instruction and the democrats were to
have the lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor, at-
torney-general and United States senator. Or if the demo-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 259
crats preferred, they could take the governor, attorney-gen-
eral, and superintendent of public instruction while the popu-
lists took the rest. Each party would nominate one associate
justice. As concerned the members of Congress the demo-
crats were to nominate in the second, fifth, eighth and ninth
districts while the populists would select the candidates for
the first, fourth, sixth, and seventh. The ninth was to be open
for contest. In the counties, "the two executive committees
were to use their good offices to secure a fair and honorable
division of county and legislative candidates between the two
parties in an equitable ratio similar to the above division of
state and congressional offices."
The democrats declined the proposition, claiming that it
was highly unreasonable and that by it the party had nothing
to win and everything to lose. They did, however, offer elec-
toral fusion. They felt strongly that the populist leaders,
particularly Butler, had sought to make the fusion proposi-
tion of such a sort as to force a democratic refusal upon which
they could go before the people with the contention that the
democrats were insincere and so check the impending popu-
list revolt against Butler and fusion with the republicans.
This may or may not have been true. The probability is that
the populist leaders, conscious of their strong position in the
campaign, sought to make the best bargain they could. In
any event, they did not fail to accuse the democrats of insin-
cerity, stating that since their platforms were much alike
there was no obstacles to fusion save the greed of democrats
for office.
"When the populist convention met, with every county save
Chowan represented, there was a strong contest between the
Butler element and the middle-of-the-road men who did not
want further fusion with the republicans. The latter won the
first round with the election of Skinner as permanent chair-
man. T\Tien the nominations came, W. A. Guthrie was nomi-
nated for governor over Cyrus Thompson. Oliver H. Dock-
ery, who had been defeated by Russell for the republican
nomination for governor, was nominated for lieutenant-gov-
ernor. He was at the time an ardent silver man. Butler pre-
sented the name of Zebulon V. Walser, the republican nomi-
260 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
nee, for attorney-general. The opposing faction was very
bitter at this attempt to force fusion and no nomination was
made for that office or for associate justice. Cyrus Thompson
was selected for secretary of state, W. H. Worth for treas-
urer, H. W. Ayer for auditor, and Charles H. Mebane for
superintendent of public instruction. In making the nomina-
tion, the middle-of-the-road faction won.
The platform endorsed the election and county govern-
ment laws, demanded that the legislature make all coins of
the United States, including the trade dollar, legal tender,
favored legislation prohibiting gold contracts of all kinds, de-
manded revision and improvement of the school laws, low
freight rates, an anti-pass law for public officials and con-
demned in unsparing terms the democratic party for the lease
of the North Carolina Railroad to the Southern Railway and
for failure to enforce the laws against trusts. The republi-
cans, through the state committee, at once endorsed the nomi-
nations for secretary of state, treasurer, and superintendent
of public instruction. Gubernatorial candidates still remained
in the field as did those for lieutenant-governor, the republican
committee later choosing C. A. Reynolds.
The populist leaders still dickered for electoral fusion with
the republicans and ignored the matter of agreement with the
democrats. The republicans expressed their willingness to
divide the electoral ticket, regarding it as a very good bar-
gain in view of their small chance of carrying the national
ticket. But it began to look as though the republicans would
succeed in breaking the Solid South with North Carolina.
Butler's position was one of considerable difficulty since in
August he was chosen chairman of the national committee of
the people's party. But in September, Bryan visited the
state and arrangements for fusion were begun. Soon after,
the democratic, populist and silver parties agreed upon a
plan. The democrats and populists were each to have five
electors and the silver party one. This did not, however,
stimulate the populists to fusion on the state ticket, and fi-
nally, in the middle of October, when it was fairly clear that
Russell was certain to win, the democratic committee invited
the populists to a conference in the interest of fusion, at the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 261
same time offering to endorse Guthrie for lieutenant-gov-
ernor, and later to elect him senator, Thompson for secretary
of state. Worth for treasurer, and Montgomery for associate
justice, and to concede four members of Congress, the two
parties to combine on the legislative tickets. The populist
reply was a cool refusal coupled with a suggestion that if the
democrats regarded Russell as a menace, they would do well
to support Guthrie.
The campaign drew on to a close with Guthrie using all
his influence to prevent the populists from supporting gold
men. Fusion with the republicans on county tickets was by
now general. There was a similar co-operation on members
of Congress where four were nominated by the republicans
and five by the populists, and on the legislative tickets where
the republicans were plajang with the populists, for while
offering fusion on apparently liberal terms, in a large number
of eases they dictated the nominations 'to the legislature by
exercising a sort of veto. But, still there was no agreement
as to the governor. According to the populists, the republi-
cans promised that Russell would be withdrawn and that he
refused. Pressure was then exerted to bring Guthrie down
and he not only would not come down but insisted upon pub-
licly condemning the sacrifice of principle by the populists
that was involved in supporting "gold-bug" republicans for
Congress and for the legislature where a United States sen-
ator was to be chosen. By this time populists had forgotten
such things in their eagerness to win and the full machinery
of the party, in control of H. W. Ayer, who had finally se-
cured the withdrawal of his republican opponent, was directed
against Guthrie. He issued a statement that in view of his
behavior no true populist could vote for him. As a matter
of fact populist leaders had found it impossible to control
Guthrie, where principle was involved, and were glad of an
excuse to cut loose from him.
When the election came Bryan carried the state by a ma-
jority of about 19,000 and Russell won with a plurality of
something more than 8,000, Guthrie receiving 30,000 votes.
Five populists, three republicans, and one democrat were
elected to Congress. The democratic exception was William
262 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
W. Kitchin who, accepting a forlorn hope in the Fifth District,
unhorsed Thomas Settle who had held the district for two
terms and seemed secure. Fusion was successful in seventy-
five counties. The legislature stood as follows:
Senate House Joint Ballot
Populists 25 39 64
Republicans 18 54 72
Democrats 7 26 33
Silver 1 i
The republicans had outplayed Butler and the populists.
Butler's ultimatum had been free silver, a populist governor
and a populist legislature, and none of these had been se-
cured. The republicans had won the lieutenant-governorship
which they had conceded to the populists.
The legislature met and organized. A. F. Hileman, a
populist, was chosen speaker of the House. There were many
reasons for the belief that the session would not be as har-
monious, as concerned the fusionists, as the preceding one,
for both elements were somewhat inclined to soreness and
hence party division was more acute. The republicans were
inclined to be somewhat highhanded in their treatment of
their allies, were on the whole contemptuous of them, and
.sought to ignore them when possible. The populists, for their
part were getting tired of being used by the republicans, they
wanted a larger share of the offices, and many were restive
under the rule of Butler which grew increasingly difficult to
bear as was evidenced by frequent bursts of temper on the
part of populists, accompanied frequently by bitter denunci-
ation of him and of his methods. A large proportion of the
populists in the state were politically ignorant, inexperienced,
and prejudiced, but they were conscientious and devoted to
principle. They were now beginning to see that the net re-
sult of fusion in the way of the economic and social better-
ment of the people was nothing at all. Intense in their essen-
tial democracy and bitter against the democratic party be-
cause they believed it controlled by bosses, they found that
the destinies of the populist party were in the hands of an
oligarchy, with a steady tendency towards autocracy and that
\
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 263
democracy in party control was further away than in the old
party. As a result of all these things there were factions in
the party and factional differences among the leaders. Lines
of cleavage with the republicans appeared and unity was lack-
ing.
Governor Russell was inaugurated on January 12th. He
was a man full of bitterness who had made an unenviable rec-
ord in the Confederate army and had carried the stigma all
his life. His abilities were far from mediocre but a fiery tem-
per and the intensity of his prejudices, particularly against
what he termed "the aristocracy" in North Carolina, fostered
in him a partisanship which was apt to control him in all
things. His inaugural address began with the identical words
of Vance in 1877, "There is retribution in history," but there
the similarity ceased. Vance's address had indeed been full
of rejoicing at the redemption of the state, but the spirit of
the thing was fine and it was forward-looking. In Russell's
opening paragraph was poured out the bitterness of his soul
as be described a condition of affairs which had never existed
in North Carolina, imagination painting for him the entire
picture. He then turned to a commonplace discussion of the
tasks which he saw before his party. There was no vision in
the speech, no conception of the opportunity of his party to
gain and hold the confidence of the white people of North
Carolina. His first suggestion was that drunken judges be
removed, this being directed at one of the democratic judges
who was periodically intoxicated. No one can dispute the
need of his removal but an isolated case scarcely furnished
material for the opening of an inaugural after twenty years
of exile. He commended the election law; properly enough,
demanded the suppression of mob rule and lynchings; ad-
vised retrenchment in expenditures, and the regulation of the
railroads ; and urged the invalidation of the lease of the North
Carolina Railroad, for which he condemned his predecessor
and made strong intimations of the existence of fraud. He
congratulated his party upon breaking the Solid South with
North Carolina and closed with the absurd imperialistic sug-
gestion that the United States should seize and occupy all the
264 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
remaining regions of the earth which were open for exploita-
tion.
The governor and his party were entirely confident of the
future. No doubt entered their minds of their ability to ab-
sorb the populists and permanently control the state. The
weakness of the tie which made fusion possible and the men-
ace to continued party supremacy which the strong and solid
negro vote constituted was not at the time considered. A pro-
phetic expression, based upon hope, certainly, but also upon
a very real knowledge of the people of the state was that of
Josephus Daniels in the News and Observer the morning after
the inauguration :
Those who believe that a party where eight-tenth.s of its mem-
bei-s are negroes can long remain in power in North Carolina do not
understand the genius, the temper, and patriotism of the people
of this commonwealth. Four years will mark the duration of its ten-
ure of power.
The question of primary interest before the legislature
was the senatorial election. By the time the session began
there was considerable doubt of the result due to the bitter
opposition of many populists to the re-election of Pritchard.
At the time of his election he had been a strong advocate of
free silver, but in 1896 he had apparently been converted to
the gold standard and had endorsed the St. Louis platform of
his party. Many populists thought this fact absolved them
from support of his candidacy, whatever might have been
the agreement between the leaders of the party. The more
conscientious demanded that the republicans replace him with
some silver republican for whom they could vote without sac-
rifice of principle. A considerable minority favored his elec-
tion in accordance with the agreement. Butler was personally
silent on the subject in public but there was little doubt as to
where he stood for his paper, the Caucasian, was bitterly op-
posed to Pritchard 's election and most outspoken in condem-
nation of populists who would vote for a gold-bug. In the
meantime the republican caucus nominated Pritchard who it
seems had written a letter in which he declared himself still
a silver man but acknowledged that he had become convinced
HISTORY OP XORTH CAROLINA 265
that international agreement was necessary before it was
practicable.
The democratic caucus aware that there was no possible
hope of electing anyone from their party and keenly anxious
not only to secure a silver senator but also to procure the de-
feat of the republicans and spoil the combination of their op-
ponents, made a formal offer to the populist caucus of a con-
ference with a view to united action in electing a silver man.
Guthrie was probably the man they had in mind. The offer
was entirely ignored.
The populists, in the meantime, were finding it a difficult
matter to maintain party discipline or in any way secure
unity of action. The leaders still confidently claimed that
Pritchard could not be elected but when the caucus met to
consider the senatorial matter, there was a bitter quarrel over
the time allowed the advocates of Pritchard 's election, and
finally this resolution was offered and adopted: "Resolved,
that it is the determination of this caucus never to endorse
Senator Pritchard for the" United States Senate." Immedi-
ately twentj'-three of the members withdrew from the caucus.
With this action there was a clear-cut division of the party,
Butler heading the majority faction which opposed Pritchard,
and Skinner, the minority which desired to carry out the party
pledge made two years before. Finally the caucus nominated
Cyrus Thompson, but the bolters did not return.
National attention was directed to the situation and pres-
sure was exerted in various ways. Both populists and demo-
crats made loud charges tliat Hanna had sent a "barrel" to
be used for bribes and there were varied charges that prom-
ises of Federal patronage had influenced the bolters. There
is no evidence of bribery but offers of Federal spoils were
doubtless freely made ; at least, it would have been an extra-
ordinary case if they had been lacking. The statement was
made later and not contradicted that within a year every
bolter who voted for Pritchard had been given a Federal of-
fice.
When the election came, Pritchard, with the aid of seven-
teen of the bolting populists was elected, the democrats voting
for R. A. Doughton, the late lieutenant-governor. Pritchard
266 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was easily the strongest man of his party and he had won
the respect and admiration of his political opponents. Even
so strongly partisan a newspaper as the News and Observer
which disagreed with him on every political question, con-
tained the day after his election a long editorial which spoke
admiringly of the man and congratulated his party upon his
election. Not so Butler. The populist caucus, after perma-
nently excluding the bolters, adopted a series of resolutions
said to have been written by Butler which, in addition to bit-
ter denunciation of Skinner, contained the following para-
graphs :
The election of Mr. Pritehard, the candidate of Hanna, Sherman
and Wall Street to represent the silver sentiment of North Carolina
in the United States Senate discovers a startling crisis in the history
of the People's Party. He could not have been elected by Republican
votes. He was elected by those who call themselves Populists, and at
a time when they could as easily have elected a Populist. Populists
who fail in a ci-itical hour to stand for Populist principles are not
the Populists in whose hands and under whose leadership the prin-
ciples of the party can be carried fo victory Before
nine o'clock this morning agents, including pie-counter Republicans
and bolting Populists, were approaching members of the People's
Party and every visiting Populist in Raleigh who favored the elec-
tion of the People's Party nominee for United States Senator by
seductive picas of persuasion and subtle sophistry and by direct prop-
ositions and overtures, coupled with considerations.
tP "ff ^ 'If w tf
As the livery of heaven is stolen to sei've the Devil in, so every
crime committed against the integi'ity of the People's Party and its
essential principles will lie attempted in the name of '"Cooperation."
Already the Populist supporters of Hanna 's man begin to call them-
selves "coojierative Populists," when in truth they are nothing but
Renublicans, while attempting to better serve the purposes of the Re-
publican Party by masqiierading as Populists. By their fruits ye
shall know them.
We have desired the continuance of cooperation upon honorable
grounds. Cooperation which tends to destroy our organi/at'on or
compromise its principles is suicidal. Such cooperation, therefore,
cannot be permitted or tolerated. The only wav by which the People's
Party can be able to maintain its existence, strengthen its lines, and
by its growth be in a position to command honorable cooperation is
by purginsr from its ranks all who place self above the welfare of the
people. This purging must be done. It cannot be begun too soon.
Nevertheless, soon after the election, the populist caucus
announced its readiness to carry out the agreement of cooper-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 267
atiou with the republicans. The latter did not reply, and on
January 27th, the populists issued an address denouncing
Skinner, the bolters, and the republican party, and condemn-
ing fusion. A resolution was also passed declaring that by
the action of the republicans the contract of co-operation was
at an end "and that, therefore, all connection and negotia-
tions from this caucus to them be closed." Immediately the
minority populists replied with a furious attack upon Butler.
Such were the political amenities of the day.
The senatorial election had absorbed the attention of all
and until it was over nothing was done. Then and then only
were regular legislative matters taken up. .
Both populists and republicans had laid chief emphasis
since 1895 upon the county government and election laws, as
entitling them to a fresh grant of power. Both were now
altered ; in the former by striking out the provision for the
appointment upon affidavit and petition of additional county
commissioners, in the latter by making provision for a county
board, consisting of the clerk, register of deeds, and chairman
of the county commissioners, which should appoint a registrar
and a judge of election from each party. This meant under
existing political conditions partisan control of elections and
was so intended. To insure the party regularity of the illiter-
ates an official party ballot with a device was provided for and
stickers were made illegal. With these changes the election
law became far worse than the one which it replaced which had
been so vehemently abused. There was little in the new one
to prevent wholesale fraud. During the course of the session
the republicans drafted an election law which was far worse
and which failed of passage.
The most important and beneficial act of the legislature
was the passage of the new school law which was excellent.
Another law set aside $50,000 to be used in assisting such
localities as voted special school taxes, elections on the ques-
tion being required. Under the new provisions and guided by
Charles H. Mebane, the educational revival of the state now
began.
A new* revenue law was passed which made the tax rate
46 cents and the poll tax $1.29. This was later carried to the
268 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Supreme Court and by it declared unconstitutional because the
equation was not preserved, and so the rate of 1895 was re-
stored.
In i3ursuance of the plan to obtain control of the state
institutions, the legislature chartered the three hospitals for
the insane under new names and with new boards. The old
boards resisted and the Supreme Court upon appeal decided
that a change of name, or even the abolition followed by im-
mediate re-establishment, of an institution, did not operate to
remove the officials. But control was finally obtained of the
railroads, the Board of Agriculture, the Agricultural and Me-
chanical College and the School for the Blind. Of the last-
mentioned, James Young, a negro was made director and
became the controlling member of the board. No single act
of Governor Russell provoked such keen indignation as this.
Probably the most absorbing question before the Legisla-
ture was that of the railroads. Laws were passed providing
for the redemption of unused mileage, modifying the fellow-
servant law, and increasing the power of the railroad com-
mission. An attempt was made to abolish the commission but
it was fruitless. Whether it was serious or intended only to
oust J. W. Wilson, the last remaining democrat, is unknown.
All efforts to secure the passage of an act prohibiting public
officials from using railroad passes failed. Such an act was
said to have been passed in 1895 and stolen before publication.
The chief railroad question was of course in relation to
the lease of the North Carolina Eailroad. Governor Carr, in
his message, had invited investigation and Russell had at-
tacked the transaction in his inaugural and demanded that it
be set aside. With govei-nor, republicans, populists, and many
democrats violently opposed, some definite action by the
legislature might have been expected, but there was none.
A commission was appointed to investigate the charges of
fraud and witnesses were examined but there was no result nor
any appearance of fraud. As"a matter of fact, there had been
none. The governor, for the state, had been convinced of the
wisdom of the lease and the directors on the part of the private
stockholders were in the main equally favorable. f)uring the
session Raleigh was thronged with a numerous and powerful
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 269
railroad lobby and great pressure was brought to bear upon
the members. The Southern Railway sought a confirmation
of the lease from the legislature but was unable to secure it.
The House passed a bill to annul the lease but the Senate
refused it, passing in its stead a bill reducing the term of the
lease from ninety-nine to thirty years. This was refused by
the House. It linally seemed likely that the governor would
be instructed to test the validity of the lease in the courts and
Judge Simonton of the United States Circuit Court issued an
injunction restraining the governor from interfering with the
lease. Later on, certain private parties were similarly en-
joined by Judge Parnell of the United States District Court.
The governor quite naturally and properly denied Judge
Simonton 's jurisdiction, but he was forced to yield and a year
later, apparently entirely satisfied with the situation, he con-
firmed the lease.
The process of altering town charters in the interest of
republican governments therein, begun in 1895, was continued
at this session. In his inaugural Governor Russell had inti-
mated that something must be done to protect property and
the minority against the majority. It developed that this pro-
tection in the case of New Bern and Wilmington was to be
secured by giving the governor the power to appoint an alder-
man for each ward in addition to those elected. Not only a
travesty upon the much vaunted local self-government, it was
also, in the minds of many citizens of those communities, a
remedy as bad if not worse than the disease. Under the opera-
tions of the new charters the two towns fell upon evil days.
The charter of Raleigh was amended but, contrary to expecta-
tion and intention, the town went democi-atic. Attempts to
change the charters of a number of other towns in the East
failed. Greenville, condemned to suffer sufficiently under the
change of 1895, by which it was put under negro control, was
on the point of worse punishment but was spared tlii'ough the
efforts of a populist senator.
The session was not lacking in quarrels. At times the order
of the houses was bad and once policemen liad to l)e stationed
in the lobbies to prevent trouble. All of this was of course
magnified by the opposition. One of the most interesting of
270 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the factional quarrels grew out of the refusal of the enrolling
clerk, one Swinson, to accept two new negro assistants who
were pressed upon him, on the ground that it had already in
the month of February cost $1,500 to do $6 worth of work at
the current rates of copying. Further he was determined not
to have any negroes in his office. Attempts to bring him
around failed and a law was passed abolishing his office and
placing its work under the direction of the lieutenant-governor
and the speaker, by which means the negroes were installed
in the places. Swinson declined to yield at first and the
lieutenant-governor and the speaker broke into his desk. He
then had them arrested but both were acquitted.
The Progressive Farmer made the following comment.
"Thus the people's money is being divided out to pay political
rewards. There is no help for it now. But the taxpayers of
North Carolina will speak in thunder tones at the polls when
there is another election. No party, no man, has ever been able
to run roughshod over the people of this State but a short
time. 'There is retribution in history.' "
The incompetence of the legislature is possibly more de-
serving of criticism and censure than the nature of its inten-
tions. A large number of its acts were unconstitutional, and
so declared by the court, a larger number, defective, and a
greater number still, badly drawn. Inexperience and poor
leadership were of course largely responsible for this.
During the greater part of the session the republicans and
bolting populists acted together, the republicans, of course,
being in entire control. But at times the democrats and
enough populists united to defeat certain proposed measures
which were notably vicious. It was in this way that further
tampering with town charters was largely averted. In time
many of the majority populists grew restive, saw clearly that
co-operation and fusion would soon mean the absorption of
the populist party by the republicans on their o-\vn terms, and
the reaction to the democratic party began. They felt truly
that they had been tricked and swindled, and both their own
leaders and the republicans together fell under suspicion and,
as suspicion became a certainty, under the ban of their harsh
condemnation. Even the Caucasian saw what was the re-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 271
publican intention. "When the AsheviUe Reporter, a repub-
lican paper said: "The time is drawing near for the final
amalgamation. The next election is an off year. Cooperation,
if we be discreet now, will be natural and easy and we can
absorb all the populists who are worth having by 1900," the
Caucasian replied :
Who is promising to gi'case our heads and heels so we can be swal-
lowed easily?
Just listen. Populists may use Republicans for the purpose of
furthering the people's interests, as was done in the last campaign.
And Republican bosses will lend themselves even for a good purpose
when they are treated with a little pie, if they can get it no other way.
Yes, Populists will use Republicans for that purpose, but by all the
gods of the people's hopes, that is all the use a Populist has for Repub-
licans. And as for the amalgamation business, we have to say in the
language of the famous sage aJid poet, "We will be .... if
Populists and niggers can ever amalgamate in this State and country."
Do you hear ?
On account of these and many other things the legislature
was not popular. Democrats and the democratic press natur-
ally condemned it. Such a paper as the North Carolina
Christian Advocate, not as a rule given to political discussion,
said of it, "Three distinct parties were represented. Two
of these, the Republican and the Populist, were so divided
that they really made four parties. The responsibility of
the legislation just enacted must rest upon the Republican and
Populist parties It [the legislature] was a mix-
ture of age and youth, ability and weakness, wisdom and
foolishness, honor and dishonor .... Legislation,
therefore, of a widely satisfactory nature could hardly be
expected under the circumstances."
Even more significant were the comments of the Progres-
sive Farmer and of the Caucasian, both of which were bitterly
critical. "When Russell was considering keeping the legisla-
ture in extra session just at the close of the regular session,
the Progressive Farmer's comment was short but sincere.
"There is talk of an extra session of the legislature. Please
don't Governor Russell. We can endure famine, pestilence,
drouth, war, but don't inflict any prolonged agony on the
State, such as an extra session. If they don't do anything,
let 'em go home."
272 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The following comment of the Caucasian indicates its
spirit :
The proposed amendments to the election law are not right. The
plan to place the appointment of poll holders in the hands of their
"Supervisors," who, in all prol)ability, will be a Populist bolter, a
gold-hug Republican and a g()ld-l)ug Democrat — three of a kind —
taking the whole maeliinery out of the hands of the three parties,
is an outrageous proceeding. The Payne election law, and the con-
struction of it by the Democratic election tyrants was bad enough, but
as compared to this new machine about to be thrust uiwn us, was a
mild aifair. By this new method the will of the people at the ballot-
box would simply be the wishes of the three "Supervisors." The peo-
ple of North Carolina are not ready for a yoke of tliat kind. The
party, the combination of parties, that attempts to lasso the people
of North Carolina in such a manner will tind it ha.s undertaken too
much.
The scheme to take the government of towns and cities out of
the hands of the citizens of said municipalities are second only to
"Supervisor" plans. The Governor of North Carolina should not
have the power to dictate the municipal officers of any town or city.
That power should be invested in the citizens of said towns and cities.
Neither should the Clerk of the Superior Court, or any other State
or county affairs, have such power. It is contrary to the principles of
a Republican form of government.
Popular relief was great when the session finally came to
an end, and for a time political activity ceased. In Aug-ust the
populist state committee met and issued a circular in the
nature of a swan-song which contained the following claim of
achievement :
We have secured to the citizen the right to cast one vote at all pub-
lic elections and to have that vote counted as cast. We have taken the
public schools out of the hands of politicians and restored them to the
people. We have given the right of local self-government to each
county in the State. We have removed the judiciary of the State to
a safe distance from the arena of partisan polities. For a more
effective and equitable control and reduction of the encroachment of
railroad corporations, we suggest that the railroad commissioners
should be elected in a direct vote of the people.
In the meantime the attention of the public was deflected
from legislative shortcomings to the character of the fusion
administration. This did not strengthen the fusion cause.
Scandals began. The penitentiary, which under the skilful
management of Leazer had finally become self-supporting,
came under the control of the governor who appointed as
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 273
superintendent a henchman of his, one John R. Smith. As
physician of the newly established department of criminal
insane, Dr. Kirby H. Smith, the superintendent's son, was ap-
pointed. As chaplain Rev. Thomas W. Babb was selected.
Almost immediately well-substantiated charges were made by
one of the directors that Babb was utterly unworthy, being an
habitual drunkard, with a record of dishonesty, falsehood,
and immorality. Only under pressure was he removed as
chaplain and made steward of the Caledonia penitentiary
farm. Later in the year Doctor Smith suddenly left Raleigh.
An attempt was made to smother investigation b^^t the matter
was aired and it appeared that he had been guilty of gross
immorality in his relations with his insane patients. Finally
in 1898 the governor Ijegan a new regime at the penitentiary,
which under Smith's administration he found to be losing a
great deal of money through extravagance and gross corrup-
tion. Instead of dismissing him, the governor forced an ex-
change between Smith and Mewborne, the commissioner of
agriculture, stating that in his new position Smith would have
little opportunity to do anj'lhing good or bad.
Under the new law in relation to the Agricultural and
Mechanical College there was a shake-up there which resulted
in the dismissal of a number of employes and teachers.
The Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad came com-
pletely under the control of the governor in 1897. He caused
Robert Hancock to be made president as a reward for faith-
ful personal political service. A complete overturn in the
road followed. In January, 1898, Hancock was accused of the
seduction of his wife's niece and other similar charges fol-
lowed. In February Russell secured his removal as director
by the board of internal improvements and at the governor's
insistent demand he was a few days later dismissed from the
presidency. His reply was an open letter to the governor
reminding him of a meeting at the Mansion at which both the
governor and the board of directors had agreed that the
charges were false. He accused Russell of forcing the re-
moval because his suggestion, made in the form of an ulti-
matum that Hancock should commit a violent assault upon
Josephus Daniels, the editor of the News and Observer, had
Vol. ni— 18
274 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
not been carried out. The matter ended here and Hancock
soon after was located in a federal office. To succeed him the
governor selected an incompetent person, but public pressure
prevented his appointment and he was given a minor position.
In August, 1897, the governor summoned J. W. Wilson and
S. Otho Wilson, two members of the railroad commission, to
answer charges of having an interest in a hotel at Bound Knob
which was entirely dependent for its success upon railroad
patronage and of receiving other favors from the Southern
Railroad. He removed them, appointing L. C. Caldwell and
John H. Pearson to replace them. The Wilsons would not
yield and carried the matter to the courts, which decided
against them.
The most significant political event of the year, viewed in
retrospect, was the meeting in Raleigh in November of a con-
vention of the Lincoln Republican League, composed of
negroes, to protest against the giving of ten offices to one hun-
dred and twenty thousand negroes and all the rest to thirty
thousand white republicans. They demanded that the ne-
groes in future vote for no man opposed to full recognition
for their race and that before nominations were made a pledge
should be exacted from every candidate that one-half of the
clerical force of the office be given to negroes.
It was very clear by this time that the negroes would not
be content with what they were receiving of the spoils of
politics, and the republicans were in a most difficult position.
They were well aware of course that the mass of populists
were already disgusted with the prominence of the negroes
and in no mood to stomach anything further in that direction.
Already, too, the situation was rapidly developing which was
to overthrow the fusion regime. For, from the standpoint of
the mass of white people in the state, the negro already had
far too much. A glance at the facts will illustrate the situ-
ation.
In the East the negroes were filling many offices. The posi-
tion of justice of the peace, as in Reconstruction, had to con-
tent most of them. Craven had twenty-seven ; Columbus, five ;
Hertford, six; Pasquotank, three; Perquimans, six; Jones,
three; Caswell, seven; Wayne, six; Nash, three; Edgecombe,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 275
thirty-one; Richmond, ten; Bertie, sixteen; Halifax, twenty-
nine; and Granville, seventeen. In all there were over three
hundred in the state. The school committees likewise suf-
fered. Craven had thirteen members; Hertford, ten; Mont-
gomery, four; Richmond, twenty-three; Columbus, seventeen;
Chowan, eight; Pasquotank, five; Perquimans, ten; Jones,
twelve; Hyde, eight; and Beaufort, Caswell, and Edgecombe,
one in every townshiiJ. In many of the counties were negro
members of the county boards of education, county commis-
sioners, deputy sheriffs, and constables. In New Hanover and
Craven the registers of deeds and their deputies were negroes.
There were about twenty-five negro postmasters in the East
and numerous revenue officials. The towns in the East were
even worse off. In Greenville where the negroes were in the
minority, under the charter of 1895, four of the six aldermen
were negroes and the town was dominated by them. Govern-
ment as a result was extravagant and corrupt. New Bern had
of negro officials five policemen, three aldermen, the city en-
gineer, and the city attorney. The condition of Wilmington
was pitiable. White people owned 97 per cent of the property
and paid that proportion of the taxes. The mayor, a white
man, owned no property and paid very small taxes. Negroes
were most of the time in a majority on the police force, four
negroes were on the board of aldermen, forty were magis-
trates, and they filled every position in the health department.
The collector of the port, also, was a negro. There was no
security left for person or property. Burglary, robbery, and
murder were offences of increasing frequency and negro
juries made conviction practically impossible. Along with vio-
lence and misgovemment went extravagance and corruption.
As a result of these conditions, business was stagnant, depres-
sion was general, and the community which should have been
prosperous was retrograding.
"?To one could contend that negro government was efficient
in any sense or that the presence of the negro tended to good
government. On the contrary it was in every sense evil.
Slovenly incapacity was bad enough, but tlie multiplication of
crimes of violence, particularly of those against white women,
was unbearable. The prominence of the negro bred in the
276 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
race a sense of importance which expressed itself in an as-
sertiveness Avhich Southern white people have ever found dif-
ficult to bear and which early took a violent form. In the
towns gangs of negroes frequently forced white people into
the streets. Affrays were common, and assaults numerous.
In the city courts, dominated as they were by negroes or those
dependent upon them, there was no redress. Self-restraint
was of course a quality well-nigh unknown to a large pro-
portion of the race and so encouraged by white schemers who
climbed to place and power upon their backs, and backed by
a remnant of the old carpet-baggers or their descendants, the
negroes set about making the same condition of affairs which
had largely contributed to make Reconstruction unbearable
and ultimately had led to its overthrow almost a generation
before, at the same time putting upon the republican party
a stigma wdiich it had never been able to remove. For the
presence of the negro in government in North Carolina no
principle was responsible; it was a matter of politics alone.
Republicans, at least native ones, had no illusions about the
negro nor any belief that his participation in politics was a
matter of principle. The sole reason for putting the negro
into office was the desire and necessity of holding and con-
trolling the solid vote of the race. And as always this meant
the debauching of the community.
Such was the situation in the state when the critical cam-
paign of 1898 was ushered in.
In the fusion era the republican party had lost a wonderful
opportunity for rehabilitation. It came into power when the
democratic party was completely discredited, and under the
most favorable conditions for absorbing the populists. Nor
need the republicans have been dependent upon populists alone
for increasing their white membership. There was a large
element which was dissatisfied with the democratic party,
which thought that the time had come for a two-party political
system in the state, and which, because composed chiefly of
young men, had no keen hatred of the republican party. The
new and growing industrial group was also well-disposed.
With the exercise of any wisdom, with good government, with
interest in social and economic reform, with a record of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 277
achievement, these elements might have been won and along
with them public confidence. Of course had they been won it
would have meant the transformation of tlie party and the
enforced retirement of many leaders. That possibly explains
the failure to grasjj an opportunity which was at the time
clearly visible, for the party was "bossed" by its leaders who
naturally were not looking to their own displacement. Thus
was postponed to the indefinite future the renascence of re-
publicanism in the state to the detriment of the party and the
hurt of the state which has sadly needed the stimulus of two
parties as well as the services of the many able, honest, and
enlightened republicans who have since had small opportunity
in public life.
The fate of the populist party was a pathetic one. Origi-
nating, as it did, in response to a real necessity and in protest
against genuine grievances, few parties have been inspired
with better motives. At times prejudiced, often mistaken and
misled by economic heresies, its members were nevertheless
animated by a genuinely progressive spirit. Their greatest
blunder was fusion and for that the rank and file was scarcely
responsible. It is an interesting but a natural thing that pro-
testing against the rule of "bosses" in the democratic party,
they should have delivered their political destinies into the
hands of a small group of leaders not all of whom were in-
spired by ideals. That they did so was of course due to their
inexperience and ignorance of politics. It was these leaders
who undertook to reform the republican party through fusion
with it and led the party into a scheme designed to benefit the
leaders and the republicans, but to do little to make effective
the ideals and principles of the party. Economy, so ardently
desired, was replaced by extravagance and efficiency by gov-
ernmental disorder and corruption. Even their demands for
a fair election law and for local self-government were trans-
lated into laws that, considering the ideals behind them, would
have been laughable if they had not becm so tragic. Rightly
led the populists in no longer time might probably have se-
cured a revolution in North Carolina politics, unattended by
the lost power, mal-administration, and other evils which
characterized fusion.
278 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
And yet the populists accomplished much of good. In a
positive way their educational liberality was their best char-
acteristic. They impressed this upon "the state, and the demo-
crats, returning to power, were forced to accept it and con-
tinue it. Their greatest achievements, however, were accom-
plished indirectly. Of these the most important was the
hberalizing of the democratic party which through defeat was
chastened and purified. When it returned to power it was
with new and progressive leadership and with a new sense of
responsibility to the people for social improvement. Once
more it set its face to the future. The other great indirect
result of populism was a new attitude towards the race ques-
tion. Fusion awakened the people to a new sense of the
danger of the negro in politics and bred a determination to
eliminate him for the future that a new peace and security
might come to the commonwealth. Thus in a new sense the
doctrine of White Supremacy was presented to the state.
CHAPTER XIV
WHITE SUPREMACY
The war with Spain produced in North Carolina the same
flare of enthusiasm as in the rest of tlie country. Everywhere
was the evident feeling that here were sealed with blood the
indissoluble ties which bound the state to the nation, not alone
in political union but beyond dispute in one of hearts as well.
The state had from Appomattox accepted the result of the
Civil War in utter good faith, but had not always felt itself
to be accepted by the North into full fellowship. Now with the
loss of its sons in battle under the flag of the United States it
claimed that fellowship. It was a significant change of atti-
tude, and, occurring elsewhere in the South, was in some re-
spects the best thing connected Avith the war.
The quota of the state in troops was two regiments of in-
fantry and one battery of artillery. In place of the latter was
substituted a battalion of three companies of negro infantry
which was later expanded into a full regiment. None of the
^regiments. saw service. "When Havana was occupied the
First Regiment was sent there for a short time, but the others
never left the United States.
Interested as the state was in the war, it really occupied
a secondary place, so intent were the people upon politics.
The mass of the white people were determined upon a political
change and it is not a matter of doubt that the war itself
and the good feeling induced thereby between the sections
made possible the political revolution which was presently
to occur.
The campaign of 1898 was really begun on November 30,
1897, when the democratic executive committee met in Raleigh
and issued an address to the people. It contained three ex-
ceedingly significant sentences. "We have fallen upon evil
279
280 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
days in North Carolina. * * * Too large a number of
its voters are ignorant for the masses to control. * * *
The democratic party promises the people on its return to
power to correct all these abuses. ' ' In December it drew up
the rules for the primaries, and the provision for exclusion
of all negroes from participation foreshadowed the character
of the coming campaign. Early in the year it was evident that
the negro in politics was to be the paramount issue. The em-
phasis which the democratic press laid upon cases of crime
committed by negroes was increased, condemnation of negro
office-holders was redoubled, both in amount and intensity,
and every effort was made to connect fusion in the minds of
the people with negro control and even domination.
Of course of negro domination except in certain of the east-
ern counties and towns having a black majority, there was of
course in one sense none at all. There never was a time in
North Carolina and never will be when a white population,
outnumbering the negroes two to one, could be dominated by
them. It nevertheless remained a fact that while the negroes
in a solid body voted the republican ticket and formed a clear
majority of that party they would in a sense control it, making
it irresponsible, easily swayed by the necessity of holding the
negro vote, and hence unfit to rule. It was also true that re-
publican control in the state meant negro control in the east
with all that is therein implied — sometimes violence, injustice,
dishonesty; always inefficiency, incompetence, and partisan-
ship, accompanied by a deadly blight upon all progress.
Herein lay the justification of the chosen issue.
The campaign was formally opened in May when both
populists and democrats held their conventions, the republi-
cans, as usual waiting until much later.
The populists met first, assembling on May 17th. The con-
vention contained three rather clearly defined elements. A
considerable number, seeing the trend of opinion and feeling
in the state, and themselves weary of conditions and anxious
to save something from the wreck of the party, desired fusion
with the democrats. They constituted a majority of the dele-
gates and were really headed by Marion Butler. A second
element wanted the party to make no overtures whatever but
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 281
to wait and force the other parties to take the initiative and
then make the best terms possible. The third wanted the con-
tinuation of the existing agreement with the republicans. It
was probable that a majority of the executive committee were
in sympathy with this element which was headed by Harry
Skinner. A resolution endorsing this view was presented
and caused a bitter fight. Skinner was its chief champion and
Butler its chief opponent, the latter winning when the resolu-
tion was decisively defeated.
Tlie platform adopted emlorsetl the election law of 1895 and
sharply condemned the republicans for the changes made in
1897, endorsed the county government law, again pledged the
party to continued support and improvement of the public
schools, endorsed the principle of a non-partisan judiciary,
demanded an investigation of the lease of the North Carolina
Eailroad, the reduction of railway rates, and the prohibition
of free passes, advocated the initiative and referendum, con-
denuied the practice of removing cases to federal courts, and
urged reform in taxation and the reduction of salaries.
A series of resolutions was then passed inviting "the
patriotic cooperation of any party or faction of a party" to
secure the election of nine free-silver and anti-monopoly con-
gressmen, six non-partisan judges and twelve fearless and
impartial solicitors, and an anti-monopoly legislature pledged
to opposition to gold notes and mortgages, to government
by injunction, to the North Carolina Railroad lease, and to
free passes and pledged to support of the election law of 1895,
local self-government, and the reduction of railway rates. A
conference committee, consisting of Cyrus Thompson, Hal W.
Ayer, James B. Lloyd, M. H. Caldwell, J. B. Schulken, Z.
T. Garrett, and E. A. Moye, was appointed to treat with any
party declaring its endorsement of these purposes.
The invitation was plainly addressed to the democrats and
a conference of democratic leaders was quietly held in Raleigh
to discuss the proposal. Much sentiment for acceptance was
found, the powerful influence of the News and Observer was
being exerted in that direction, and it looked as though that
would be the conclusion reached by the group present when
Charles B. Aycock, of Waj-ne, rose in opposition. He was
282 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
well known, having canvassed a large part of the state in
1892 as candidate for elector-at-large. He strongly opposed
acceptance of the offer, declaring that the party could not
afford to compromise for the sake of victory and urging inde-
pendent action as the best if not the only hope for the future.
He swept his audience into almost complete agreement and
this to a great extent determined the course of the party.
On May 25, two days before the meeting of the democratic
convention, the populist committee by letter made their pro-
posal. When the democratic convention met the question was
referred to the committee on resolutions. There it was dis-
cussed and was championed by Josephus Daniels of the
News and Observer but the majority favored refusal and the
report of the committee was unanimous. The reply, adopted
without dissent by the convention, was bx'ief :
Resolved 1. That the proposition for fusion submitted by the
Populist committee be, and the same is hereby, respectfully declined.
2. That the Democratic State Executive Committee be, and the
same is hereby, instructed to entertain no further proposition for
fusion.
The convention was highly confident and enthusiastic. The
platfonn, after a discussion of national matters, condemned
the fusion administration for corruption, extravagance, and
incompetence, denounced the two fusion legislatures for sad-
dling negro rule upon the eastern towns and for the choice of
negro school officials, and condemned the republicans and
populists for placing ignorant, irresponsible, and corrupt men
in office. Much of the rest of the platform bore a close resem-
blance to that of the populists. The democratic organization
was perfected and F. M. Simmons became chairman. His
capacity for detail and his tireless energy fitted him for the
position and much of the credit for the successful conduct of
the camx>aig-n was due to his skillful management.
With the democratic refusal to fuse with the populists
there was great popular interest in the probable action of the
latter. At first it seemed unlikely that they would fuse with
the republicans. But the party was deeply angered by the
refusal and the leaders, eager for republican fusion which
would hold them in power, were able to convince the rank and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 283
file that the action of the democrats was due simply to the fact
that the party was still dominated by "gold-bugs" and rail-
road lawj'ers. After that it was easier to arrange for "co-
operation" with the republicans, although thei'e was division
of opinion, the Progressive Fanner violently opposing it.
When the reijublican convention met, it adopted a plat-
form which, while largely devoted to national atfairs con-
tained the following planks on state affairs :
We hereby commend the administration of the State, because
(first) the finances have been wisely, economically and honestly ad-
ministered; (second) the laws liave been ably, fairly and impartially
administered, and the rights of life and property secured thereunder ;
(third) there are marked and gratifying signs of progress and de-
velopment in all the material conditions of the State exhibiting the
return of prosperity and the satisfaction of the people.
AVe believe that the men who broke the chains of Democracy in
1894, and who restored to the people the right of local self-government
and of honest elections, will stand together in the coming contest for
the preservation of these rights, which assure to our beloved State in
fact as well as in name a truly Republican form of government. The
joint administration of local and county affairs by the Republican
and Populist parties through their chosen representatives has met
the expectation of the men who elected them, and the financial con-
duct of the affairs of the different counties east and west, has been
honest and circumspect as well as economical, and deserves our highest
praise.
We favor the amendment to the State Constitution embodying the
provisions of our present election law, which will guarantee to every
citizen of the State the right to cast one free ballot and to have that
ballot counted as east.
We invest our State Executive Committee with plenary power to
deal with the nominations of candidates for the offices of Superior
Court Judge and Solicitors in the several Judicial Districts of the
State.
As time passed the two groups drew together and fusion
was finally accomplished. It had the immediate result of
driving back into the democratic party quite a large body
of populists who had come to distrust and dislike their allies.
Increasingly the campaign centered about the negro. Dem-
ocratic denunciation of the participation of the negroes in
polities grew so bitter and the color line was so sharply drawn
that finally little else was talked about politically. All the
offences charged against the fusion regime were made depend-
ent upon the participation of the negro in politics. During
284 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
August white government unions or leagues were organized
in various counties of the east and, as feeling grew, spread
westward, remaining, however, of prime imijortance only in
the east where the menace of the negro was most keenly felt.
The chief center of the race feeling was, of course, Wilming-
ton.
It will be remembered that under the law of 1895 the board
of police commissioners of the city were given all power. In
1897 the law was so changed as to give the governor power to
appoint the board of audit and finance and five of the alder-
men. Under this law S. P. Wright, a white republican, was
mayor, John E. Melton, another white republican, was chief of
police, but the magistrates, policemen, and other local offi-
cials were chiefly negroes who dominated the government.
The sheriff of the county was a mere figure-head who farmed
out his office to the notorious "Gizzard" French who, although
a member of the legislature, as deputy sheriff administered
it politically.
During the summer the conduct of the negroes in New
Bern and Greenville was particularly bad, but in Wilmington
conditions were indescribably bad. Murder, burglary, arson,
with the threat of rape, stared the people in the. face, and,
since there was no protection in the law, men as always sought
it outside the law. As Governor Aycock described it:
We liad a white man for governor in 1898, when negroes became
intolerably insolent; when ladies were insulted on the public streets;
when burglary in our chief city became an every night occurrence ;
when ' ' sleep lay down armed and the villainous centre-bits ground on
the wakeful ear in the hush of the moonless nights"; when more
guns and more pistols were sold in the State than had been in the
twenty preceding years.
Under their rule, lawlessness stalked the State like a pestilence^
death stalked abroad at noonday — the sound of the pistol was more
fre(|uent than the song of the mocking bird — the screams of women
fleeing from pursuing brutes closed the gates of our hearts with a
shock.
On August 18, the Daily Record, a negro paper, edited by
one Manly, printed an editorial which contained the para-
graph :
We suggest that the whites guard their women more closely, as
Mrs. Pelton says, thus giving no opportunity for the human fiend.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 285
be he white or black. You leave your goods out of doors and then
complain because they are taken away. Poor white men are careless
in the matter of protecting their women, especially on farms. They
are careless of their conduct toward them, and our experience among
poor white people in the country teaches us that tlie women of that
race are not any more particular in the matter of chuidestine meet-
ings with colored men than are the white men with colored women.
Meetings of this kind go on for some time, until the wonuui's infatua-
tion or the man's boldness bring attention to them, and the man is
lynched for rape. Every negro lynched is called a "big, burly, black
brute," when in fact, many of those who liave thus been dealt with
had white men for their fatliers, and were not only not "black" and
"burly," but were sufficiently attractive for white girls of culture and
refinement to fall in love with them, as is well known to all.
It won instant and fiery (leiinnciation from every quarter
of the state, and men wondered wliy the editor still remained
in AVihnington and why the paper still continued to appear. It
is likely that the fact of his apparent iuununity made the
demonstrations about the state seem less purposeful and de-
termined. As a matter of fact while there was great political
lethargy, the people of Wilmington, looking forward to
one goal — the redemption of the state — and, determined to do
nothing which might injure the chance of accomplishing this
great purpose, exercised great self-restraint and bided their
time, none the less detennined, however, to settle the account
forever at a later time.
By September the republicans and populists began to ac-
cuse the democrats of an intention to disfranchise the negroes
and the other ignorant voters by an amendment to the con-
stitution imposing an educational test. This was promptly
and loudly denied by the democrats and it is not likely that any
such policy had been agreed upon by party leaders. Certainly
it was not the purpose, however much the wish, of the mass
of the party. When the charge was made a document was
sent out from the democratic headquarters which contained a
discussion of the charge in whicli occurred this statement:
The constitution gives the right of suffrage to all male persons over
21 years of age, not dis<iua]ified by crime, and the Legislature cannot
adci or take away a letter from that. I'hat can only be done by tlie
people themselves, and the Democrats will never submit any proposi-
tion to the people to take from a man his right to vote. No Demo-
crat ha.s ever proposed such a thing. The charge is only intended to
mislead, to deceive and to make political rapital. It is entirely
s
IV
286 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
There is not a Democratic convention that would not spit upon the
man wlio might make such a proposition. There is not a Democratic
candidate for office who would not pledge himself most solemnly
against it.
Chaimian Simmons branded the story as the same old
republican campaign falsehood which had been employed since
1870 and James H. Pou, a former chairman, in a speech at
Salisbury in October pledged the democratic party against
such a policy. Such influential newspapers as the Neivs and
Observer and the Wilmington Messenger echoed the denial.
In September a staff correspondent of the Atlanta Consti-
tvtion sent from Raleigh a letter upon conditions in the state,
in which occurred this remarkable statement :
It is no secret that colored leaders, ambitious for their race, have
matured in their minds a plan by which they hope to obtain absolute
control of the legislative, judicial, and executive machinery, and then
to rapidly carry out a scheme of colonization by which this will be-
come a thoroughly negro sovereign State, with that population in
the majority and furnishing all officials in the public service, from
United States Senators and Governors down through judges, legis-
lators, and solicitors, to the last constable and janitor. If their plan
succeeds. North Carolina is to be the refuge of their people in America.
Their brethren from all the Southern States will be invited to come
here, ca.st their lot among their fellows, and together to work out their
destiny in whatsoever degree of prosperity and advancement they may
be able to achieve for themselves.
It was widely Copied in the state press and was received
generally as a genuine and startling revelation of a deep-laid
scheme. The speech of George H. Wliite, the negro congress-
man in the republican convention was remembered. "I am not
the only negro who holds office," said he. "There are others
There are plenty more being made to order to hold office. We
don't hold as many as we will. The democrats talk about the
color line and the negro holding office. I invite the issue."
One newspaper, after citing the case of Washington, after the
close of the Civil War, closed with these rather pertinent
remarks :
* * * Tlie city government soon became so corrupt and ex-
travagant that Congress was forced to repeal the act giving the people
the right of local self-government. What place is now to him what
Washington once was? Wliat one State in all this Union now holds
out the inducement to enter her citizenship and seek her political
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 287
honors? What State, aud what State alone, is represented in the
Congi-ess of the United States by a negro? What State, and what
State alone, has registration laws which make it easy for him to
register, whether he is a legal voter or not? What State, and what
State alone, requires nothing of him to entitle him to vote except
his bare oath that he is so entitled? The answer to these inquiries
is North Carolina.
By October a tremendous drive was on. Public feeling
was tense in many quarters and there was evident a wide-
spread determination among the democrats that the election
must be carried if necessary by fraud or by force, or both.
There was little opportunity of course for the former so com-
pletely were the polls controlled by the fusionists. In the
emplo\Tnent of the latter there were two alternatives. The
negroes must either be frightened away from the polls or pre-
vented from depositing their ballots. Of the two, intimidation
was easier, safer, more effective and in every way less object-
tionable and it was the plan resorted to in most instances.
Organizations of "Eed Shirts" appeared spontaneously, un-
connected with each other or with the party organization.
All through the southeastern portion of the state these "Red
Shirts" rode about, boisterous, spectacular, and in the main
harmless, visiting localities where the negro population was
large, all wearing the lurid imiform which was at the same
time a patent implication and a warning. Open violence was
rare. An occasional republican meeting was broken up ; in a
few instances speakers were warned not to appear, but their
power of intimidation was great. It was argued at the time
and afterwards that they were merely a spectacular adjunct
of the campaign but this is not true. They represented a fixed
determination to put an end to existing conditions, and while
they sought notoriety as the best means of accomplishing their
purpose, they were nevertheless in deadly earnest. That they
went no further was due solely to the fact that there was no
need. Nor were they the irresponsible elements of the com-
munity, the riff-raff, and the ruffians. Thoy were in the main
respectable and well-to-do farmers, bankers, school teachers,
and merchants, — in many cases the very best men in the com-
munity.
The threats and demonstrations produced at once the
288 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
counter threat by republicans of the use of federal troops, a
suggestion whieli vastly helped the democrats. Reality was
given the threat by a public allusion by Senator Pritchard to
the possibility of their employment which was promptly con-
strued by democrats into a threat and even a formal demand
for them. Not a few republicans placed a similar construction
upon the suggestion and employing it as a threat, assisted in
magnifying it and spreading it abroad.
The democratic press kept the feeling at high tension. As
a visiting writer of note put it :
The result was , that in all sections of North Cai'olina, from the
mountainous border of the West to the sand-dunes on the Atlantic
shore, the doctrine of antagonism to the negro was preached from
every stump and reiterated in the columns of every newspaper.
* * * The negro himself was jiilloried as the quintessence of all
that was brutal and dangerous. Especial prominence was given to
items, tlie purport of which is evidenced in the following headlines,
all of which are taken from a single issue of a Raleigh daily.
. ' ' Estimable Lady Grossly Assaulted by a Black Negro !
"An Impertinent Negro Puts in His Lip and Narrowly Escapes
Being Roughly Handled !
' ' Black Scoundrel Assaults a White Man !
"Negro Youths A.ssault and Rob a Venerable and Highly-Esteemed
Citizen on a Principal Street !
"Insolent Negi'oes Parade, Arm Themselves and March through
the Streets of Wilmington!"
A fact to be remembered in this connection is that while
doubtless the campaigii caused an increase of emphasis, the
condition of affairs, thus portrayed, actually existed.
Dui-ing October, to add to public excitement, there was a
small race riot in Eobeson County.
In the meantime conditions had grown worse in Wilming-
ton. The negroes were becoming more lawless and were heav-
ily armed, though the common rumor of the time that they
were bringing in great quantities of arms was without any
adequate foundation. The truth of the matter was that the
negroes were not planning or plotting anything. The mass of
them were quiet; the loud and dangerous minority, badly led,
and encouraged by scheming white politicians, were assert-
ing themselves in fancied security. The white population,
with few exceptions, practically lived under arms. Riot guns
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 289
by the laundred and pistols by the thousand were brought in
and a rapid fire g-un was placed in the armory of the Wilming-
ton Light Infantry.
Politically, hopelessness had been replaced by untiring ac-
tivity. A campaigii committee consisting of twenty of the
best business men of the town, headed by Frank Stedman, E.
G. Parmele, Walker Taylor, and George Rountree, was chosen
and a campaigTi fund raised for necessary expenses. In a
short while the white people were in a flame of excitement and
ready to go to any lengths to effect a change of conditions.
The chamber of commerce passed strong resolutions against
the continuance of negro riile, and among white men party
distinctions began to disappear.
In the meantime, as a protection against a possible up-
rising of the negroes, the town was quietly divided into mil-
itaiy departments and the white citizens organized under the
command of Colonel Roger Moore, one of the best men of the
community.
The tensity was so great that those in contact with the
community sensed impending trouble. On October 18, W. H.
Chadbourn, the republican postmaster, a Northern man, wrote
and sent to Senator Pritchard an open letter in which he said :
I had thought at first that it was the usual political cry and a
fight for office ; but I am convinced that the feeling is much deeper
than this, as it pervades the community, and there seems to be a
settled determination on the part of the property owners, business
men, and taxpayers to administer the city and county government.
As a matter of fact, there are in this county 36 colored magistrates
and a colored register of deeds and various other minor officials, be-
sides some presidential appointees, and the property owners, tax-
paj'ers, and business men serioiLsly object to this state of affairs, and
there now exists here the most intense feeling against any sort of
negro domination. There is a greater feeling of unrest and uncer-
tainty about the maintenance of order than I have ever seen, and
many, even the most conservative, feel that a race conflict is imminent,
than which nothing could be more disastrous, not only to this city
and county, but to our party in the State, and rather than have riot,
arson, anci bloodshed prevail here, F, Republican though T am, advise
giving up the local offices in this county, as there are no national
political principles involved in this conflict.
Later in the month. Governor Russell and the Senators
Butler and Pritchard were advertised to speak in Wilmington.
Vol. in— 19
290 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
A meeting of business men was called and a committee repre-
senting them met the speakers on the morning of their appoint-
ment and pointed out the grave danger of such conduct on
the part of the negroes as would precipitate a riot. In con-
sequence the appointment to speak was not kept.
On October 24th, a committee of prominent citizens wrote
Governor Russell, warning him that there was serious danger
of an outbreak and urging him to use his influence with the
local republicans to persuade them not to run any county
ticket in order to prevent trouble. The candidates of the dem-
ocrats had already been replaced by those selected by the busi-
ness men of the city. The governor publicly declined to inter-
fere, but after a visit from several prominent men who laid
the case before him, at his suggestion no ticket was run.
On October 26th, Governor Russell issued a proclamation
calling attention to the prevailing excitement and to instances
of disorder and warning the people against acts of violence.
Two days later there was a great white mass meeting held in
Goldsboro. William A. Guthrie presided and in attendance
wei'e many populists including a former state chairman and
•even a few republicans wlio had rallied to the democratic party
on the negro issue. A preamble in the fonn of statements
bearing upon conditions in the state, and a series of resolu-
tions were adopted. Among them these were characteristic :'
It is not claimed, even by his white leaders, that the negro is
capable of administering a government. On the contrary, the man
who is the present Republican Governor of the State has declared, in
the most emphatic language, that he is wholly unfitted for it.
Tliat counting the offices of register of deeds, deputy registers,
deputy sheriffs, constaliles, justices of the peace, school conuuitteemen,
town commissioners, policemen, postmasters, collectors, storekeepers,
gangers, and the like, there are now in office iu counties and towns of
eastern Nortli Carolina nearly 1,000 negroes, there being nearly <^00
negro magistrates alone.
That as a consequence of turning these local offices over to the
negroes, bad government has followed, homes have been invaded, and
the sanctity of woman endangered. Business has been paralyzed and
property rendered less valuable. The majesty of the law has been
disregarded and lawlessness encouraged. In many localities men no
longer rely upon the officers of the law for protection, for the.v are
known to be incompetent or corrupt. Conditions have become so in-
tolerable in these communities that they can be no longer tolerated
or endured.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 291
In view of these things, it is resolved :
That the Republican leadei's have a seeoiul time clearly demon-
strated their inability and tlieir untitness to govern North Carolina.
That the time lias come when those who iiavc followed these leaders
shoidd no longer do so, and that all men who love their State and
their homes should unite in one supreme effort to redeem the State,
and to place honest, capable white men in office in State, county, city,
and town.
That our appeal has been, is now. anti shall continue to be to the
l)allot box and to honest white men. We liave contemplated no vio-
lence, but we are determined to use all projier mean.s to free our-
selves of this negro domination, which is paralyzing our business, and
which hangs like a dark cloud over our homes.
That we declare it is not our purpose to do the negro any harm.
It is better for him, a.s well as for us, that the white man shall govern ;
that while we propose to protect and encourage him in all his rights
and duties of citizenship, we affirm that North Carolina shall not be
negi-oized. It is, of all the States of the Union, peculiarly the home
of the Anglo-Saxon, and the Anglo-Saxon shall govern it.
In the campaign the fusionists were driven as it were from
their feet and fonnd themselves in the East unable to do any-
thing but threaten and complain. Everywhere in the state
they were on the defensive from the be<>innin,i>-. The populists,
under the lead of Senator Butler, argued for a special form
of government for the eastern counties, a thing clearly made
possible by a decision of the Supreme Court in relation to the
charter of Wilmington as amended by the legislature of 1897.
Few listened to this. The issue was a general one. Populist
strength was apparently dwindling and their claim that they
were in a peculiar sense a white man's party lost weight
before the fact of their fusion witli the republicans and its
visible results.
So far as the negroes were concerned, a large part of tliem
had suddenly become convinced that political activity was
unwise and that voting possibly would l)e a grave mistake.
The campaign of intimidation had begun to turn the scale and
many negroes were unregistered and a greater inmiber prob-
ably did not vote. Nor was their action unnatural. The
press was full to the end of the campaign of threatening in-
timations, which grew worse before they reached the ignorant
masses of the race, and a large number of reckless and hys-
terical .speakers used the kind of argument which appears in a
292 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
speech which, according to a newspaper correspondent, was
made by Alfred M. Waddell,in a speech in Wilmington the night
before the election: "You are Anglo-Saxons. You are armed
and prepared, and you will do your duty. Be ready at a mo-
ment's notice. Go to the polls tomorrow, and- if you find the
negro out voting, tell him to leave the polls and if he refuses,
kill him, shoot him down in his tracks. We shall win toiiiorrow
if we have to do it with guns."
r=LE33VL3E33M::BE3I=l. THE3
1^
Tlicse d'^gcncratc sons of the white race who control the republican ma-
chine in tliis county, or those whose positions made them influential in putting
negro rule on the wiiites, will suffer the penalty of their responsibility for any
ih^turbance cini^cquent on the determination of the white men of this county to
carry the election at any cost
A Wilmington Campaign Warning, 1898
No such condition of affairs could pass unnoticed and the
campaign excited much interest outside the state and there
were a number of staff correspondents of newspapers and mag-
azines who furnished daily to the world their interpretation of
what was going on. Much of the press comment was of course
bitterly hostile and there was general deprecation of vio-
lence, but the majority of correspondents from outside found
themselves, regardless of former ideas, in sj7npathy with the
demand for white supremacy. The Washington Post was
notably sympathetic with the democrats and said that the
struggle was one between anarchy and organized society, in-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 293
volviiig the preservation of enlightened institutions and hon-
est govei-nment, of law, and of order.
The election was quiet and, generally speaking, there was
little fraud. With the election machinery in the hands of
fusionists there was but little chance of any. One box in a
negro precinct in Wilmington was "stuffed" after the close of
the polls in the presence of all the election officials so effective-
ly as greatly to embarrass the democrats by a majority as
large as the total registered vote, but such cases were rare.
All day long, accoi'ding to a correspondent of the OutlooJi,
the same precinct was surrounded openly by five hundred Red
Shirts, armed with Winchester rifles, who ignored the fact
that concealed in a wider cii'cle outside of them were fifteen
hundred negroes armed with old muskets, anny rifles, shot
guns, and pistols. Democrats elected a large majority of both
houses of the legislature and seven of the nine members of
Congress. Their majority was estimated to be nearly 20,000.
In the black district the negro, George H. White, was re-
elected.
The day after election, when the news of democratic suc-
cess had come, a mass meeting, attended by about 1,000 white
citizens, was held in Wilmington. A series of resolutions
amounting to a declaration of independence from negro rule
was unanimously adopted :
Believing that the Constitution of the United States contemplated
a government to be carried on by an enlightened people; believing
that its framers did not anticipate the enfranchisement of an ignorant
population of African origin, and believing that the men of the State
of North Carolina who joined in forming the Union did not con-
template for their descendants a sul).iection to an inferior i-ace;
We, the undersigned, citizens of the city of Wilmington and
county of New Hanover, do hereby declare that we will no longer be
ruled, and will never again be ruled, by men of African origin. This
condition we have in part endured because we felt that the conse-
quences of the war of secession were such as to deprive us of the fair
consideration of many of our countrymen.
We believe that, "after more than thirty years, this is no longer
the case.
The stand we now pledge ourselves to is forced upon us suddenly
by a crisis, and our eyes are open to' the fact that we must act now
or leave our descendants to a fate too gloomy to be borne.
While we recognize the authority of the United States, and will
yield to it if exerted, we would not for a moment believe that it is the
294 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
purpose of more than 60,000,000 of our own race to subject us perma-
nently to a fate to whic-h no Anglo-Saxon has ever been forced to
submit.
We, therefore, believing that we represent unequivocally the senti-
ment of the white people of this county and city, hereby for our-
selves, and representing them, proclaim :
1. That the time has passed for the intelligent citizens of this
community, owning 95 per cent, of the property and paying taxes iu
like proportion, to be ruled by negroes.
2. That we will not tolerate the action of unscrupulous white men
in alifiliating with the negroes so that by means of their votes they can
dominate the intelligent and thrifty element in the community, thus
causing business to stagnate and progi-ess to be out of the question.
3. That the negro has demonstrated, by antagonizing our interest
in every way, and especially liy his ballot, that he is incapable of
realizing that his interests are and should be identical with those of
the community.
4. That the progressive element in any conununity is the white
population, and that the giving of nearly all of the employment to
negro laborers has been against the best interests of this county and
city, and is a sufficient reason why the city of Wilmington, witli its
natural advantages, has not l)ecome a city of at least 50,000 in-
habitants.
5. That we propose in future to give to white men a large part of
the employment heretofore given to negroes, because' we realize that
white families can not thrive here unless there are more opportunities
for employment for the different members of said families.
6. That the white men expect to live in this community peaceabl.y,
to have and provide absolute lu-otection for their families, who shall
be safe fi-om insult from all persons whomsoever. We are pi'cpared
to treat the negroes with justice and consideration in all nmtters whicli
do not involve sacrifices of the interest of the intelligent and progres-
sive portion of the conununity. But we are equally prepared now and
immediately to enforce what we know to be our rights.
7. That we have been, in our desire for harmony and peace,
l)linded both to our liest interests and our rights. A climax was
reached when the negro paper of this city published an article so vile
and slanderous that it would in most communities have resulted in
tiie lynching of the editor. We deprecate lynching, and yet there is
no punishment provided by the laws adequate for this otfense. We
tiierefore owe it to the people of this conununity and of this city,
as a protection against such license in future, that the paper known
as the "Record" cease to be published, and that its editor be banished
from this community.
We demand that he leave this city within twenty-four hours after
the issuance of this pi-odamatiog ; second, that the printing j i-ess from
wliicli the "Record" has been issued be packed and shipped from the
city without delay ; that we be notified within twelve hours of the
accei)tance or rejection of this demand. If the demand is agreed to
within twelve honrs, we counsel forbearance on the part of all wliite
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 295
lueu. If the demaud is refused, or if no answer is given within the
time mentioned, then the editor, llanly, will be expelled by foree.
Still another resolution demanded the resignation of the
mayor and alderman, and a committee of twenty-five repre-
sentative men of the town was appointed to execute these
demands. They were James Ellis, Rev. J. W. Kramer, Frank
Maunder, F. P. Skipper, C. L. Spencer, Hugh MacRae, J. Allen
Taylor, E. S. Lathrop, F. H. Fechtig, W. H. Northrop, Sr.,
A. B. Skelding, F. A. Montgomery, B. F. King, Rev. J. W. S.
Harvey, Joseph R. Davis, Dr. W. C. Galloway, Joseph D.
Smith, John E. Crow, F. H. Stedman, Gabriel Holmes, Junius
Davis, Iredell Meares, P. L. Bridgers, W. F. Robertson and C.
W. Worth. They at once organized and summoned a group of
thirty or more of the more prominent negroes before whom
they laid the ultimatum and deiiianded tlieir influence in secur-
ing a peaceful execution of it. They were instructed to
deliver their reply to Alfred M. Waddell at his residence at
half past seven the follo^ving morning and it was arranged
that he would report the result to the committee at the armory
at 8 o'clock.
The negroes after conference secured from Manly a prom-
ise to leave and drew up a reply j)romising to use their influ-
ence, but, instead of delivering it as arranged, mailed it. At
8 o'clock on the morning of November 11th, Waddell reported
to the assembled body of anned men that nothing had been
heard from the negro committee. He then placed himself at
the head of the men who marched to the Record office and de-
stroyed the whole outfit. During the disturbance the building
was found to be on fire and it was completely destroyed, the
origin of the fire never being discovered.
After the wrecking of the newspaper office the crowd began
to disperse. In the meantime the negroes all over Wilmington
had heard of the affair and had begun to assemble in many
parts of the city, many of them anned. Finally in an outlying
quarter the negroes, after refusing to disperse, fired on a party
of armed white men who at once returned the fire. Fighting
began resulting in the death of a numl)er of negroes during
the forenoon. Occasional outbreaks occurred during the after-
296 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
noon and twelve negroes were stated to have been killed during
the day. Three white men were seriously wounded.
As soon as the fighting began the Wilmington Light In-
fantry and a battalion of naval reserves were ordered out and
at once began to disarm the negroes. Patrols of citizens, estab-
lished on every block, also guarded the city and disarmed all
passing negToes and furnished protection to those of them who
were afraid. The white women and children were placed in
the houses already selected for use in such a contingency and
the guard was maintained all night. Militia hurried in from
Fayetteville, Maxton, Kinston, Clinton, and other neighbor-
ing towTis while hundreds of offers of assistance from the
state and from South Carolina and Virginia poured in over
the wires. The situation among a large part of the negro
population was pathetic. They had been so filled with wild
stories of what would happen to them in the event of demo-
cratic victory, that they did not stop to notice that no negro
was harmed who was not associated with armed aggression,
but, seized by panic, thousands of them, including men, women
and children, fled out of the city during the following two days.
Many of them stayed away for days, afraid to return and suf-
fering in the meantime from cold, hunger, and exposure. It
was the same story that had often been the case before. The
ignorant negroes had been led by bad white men who had
deserted them when trouble came leaving them to bear the
brunt.
On the same day as the uprising, W. H. Chadbourn offered
to secure the resignation of the city officials in favor of tliose
selected by the business men. This was announced to the com-
mittee of twenty-five who then called upon the mayor and
chief of police and demanded their resignation. The former
objected to obedience during the disturbance ; the latter, more
philosophical, made the payment of his arrears of salary his
sole condition. A meeting of the board of aldermen was held
at which, one by one, the aldermen resigned and elected new
ones chosen by the committee in their stead. The mayor then
resigned and was replaced by Alfred M. Waddell who imme-
diately announced his intention of suppressing all disorder
and a little later personally cooperated in preventing a lynch-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 297
ing. During all this time a number of white and colored repub-
lican leaders were in jail for their o-wni protection.
The same night the expulsion of objectionable characters
began. G. Z. French was taken by a squad of militia to the
station where he narrowly escaped hanging, a noose having
already been placed about his neck and the rope drawn taut,
when intervention in his behalf saved him. R. H. Bunting,
the former trial justice, John E. Melton, the former chief of
police and several other white men were sent away as were
six negro leaders who were regarded as particularly danger-
ous. All of them, black and white, were warned never to re-
turn. There was of course much public excitement for several
days but no disorder and the town soon settled to quiet.
Democratic victory in the election was due to the abuses
in government, supplemented by a wonderful acti^'ity of the
press, excellent management of the campaign, and the enthu-
siasm of the individual voters. The party was once more
united and was also able to draw some strength from the pop-
ulists though possibly not as much as had been expected. In
the campaign the party had found a leader in the person of
Charles B. Aycock, of Goldsboro. Before the democratic con-
vention he and Locke Craig, of Asheville, in a great meeting in
Laurinburg had sounded the kej-note of the campaign and he
was active throughout its course, emerging as the outstanding
figure in the new democratic party.
For the campaign methods employed in many quarters of
the state, the better element had in the abstract little sympathy,
but they were in no apologetic mood as concerned the practice
in this particular case. To the majority the end had justified
the means. Good government had been once more secured as
in the seventies and in much the same way. It was felt to be
deplorable that necessity forced the emplo>Tnent of such meth-
ods, but it was also felt that the necessity was there which
justified even recourse to violence. The experiment of gov-
ernment by a party owing its elevation to power to a solid and
ignorant negro vote had been tried a second and last time in
North Carolina and had failed. The victors, many of them
terribly alarmed at the menace to the state involved in the nee-
298 • HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
essary method of victory, now determined to make a third trial
an impossibility.
In spite of race antagonism the feeling was fairly general
that after all the negro was not to blame. It was the old story
of Reconstruction — the ignorant and inferior race politically
deluded and exploited for the benefit of the white men who rose
to place and power by means of the indivisible negro vote. Un-
doubtedly many of the negroes behaved badly ; it was hardly
to be expecte<l that they would not since both encouragement
and example were furnished l)y evil white men. Tlie great
cause for wonder is that they did not behave worse and that a
larger proportion of the race was not guilty of misl)eliavior.
For after all, tlie mass of negroes in the state were quiet and
on the whole, well-behaved.
The course of action of the populists and republicans in
relation to the neg-ro would ))e more excusable if there had been
among either group any wide-spread devotion to the ideal of
manhood suffrage or to an abstract theory of the rights of
man. There was nothing of the sort. Friendly to negro suf-
frage solely because it was a political asset of the party, thej^
were, as a rule, in private as entirely contemptuous of the race
in politics as the democrats. It was this fact which made the
oft'ence against good government and political morals of which
they had been guilty the more heinous and in the minds of
many well-nigh unforgivable.
Whatever may have been the previous ideas of the demo-
crats, they now began to turn rapidly towards disfranchise-
ment as a remedy for the ills of the state. By the time the
legislature met it was regarded as a certainty that some form
of disfranchisement would be adopted to settle a problem
otherwise incapable of solution.
Henry Litchfield West, who was present in the state dur-
ing a part of the campaign and had watched tlie progress of
the affair in Wilmingion, saw this at the time and said :
No one who has witnessed the condition of affairs in the South
can believe tliat the Negro is, at tlie present time, capable of <rovern-
ing. All his efforts in this direction liave been lamentable, direful
failures. On the other hand, no one acquainted with the spirit and
temper of the Southern people believes that the Negro, whatever his
future capacity may be, will be allowed to govern the white race.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 299
These two assertions — that the Negi'o cannot govern, and that the
white man will not let him govern — are axioms. While the Negro
t'ontinues shiftless, ignorant, superstitious, and incompetent, there is
a justification for tlie I'efusal to give him absolute control over in-
vested capital, corameri-ial interests, and nuinicipal matters. At the
same time, the casting and the counting of Ids liallot arc his constitu-
tional rights; and so long as these are denied him, there is a confes-
sion that our vaunted scheme of universal suffrage is a failure and a
farce. They will be denied him, however, even at the muzzle of the
rifle: and as long as he threatens to exercise his rights, .iust so long
will the South remain solid.
The legislature was of the fdllowino- political complexion :
Senate House
Demoorats 40 94
Republicaus 7 23
Populists 3 3
Judge Henry G. Connor was chosen speaker of the House
over Lee S. Overman and Locke Craig. The legislature was
an unusually serious body, full of a sense of responsibility
and exceptionally hard-working. By tlie time it met dis-
franchisement had l)een virtually detennined upon and that
was felt to be the chief obligation to the state. The out-
standing difficulty was the necessity of devising some plan
which would disfranchise tlic negroes without at the same
time depriving white men of the right to vote.
On January 6th, Francis D. Winston intro(hiccil a icsohi-
tion for a constitutional amendment restricting suffrage, based
upon the Louisiana plan of an educational test and the "grand-
father clause." This was referred and the committee went at
once to work upon it. It was perfected during Januaiy, sub-
mitted to the democratic caucus for approval, after which it
came before the houses for consideration. An attempt was
made to amend" it so as to make the operation of the grand-
father clause without limit, but fortunately that failed. The
Senate passed it by a vote of forty-two to six and the House
eighty-one to twenty-seven. Only one jjopulist voted against
it, for several democrats in the House opposed it. Tlie repub-
licans voted solidlv against it.
300 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
As submitted the important clause was this :
Sec. 4. Everj- person presenting himself for registration shall
be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in the
English language ; and before he shall be entitled to vote he shall
have paid, on or before the first day of May, of the year in which
he proposes to vote, his poll tax for the previous year as prescribed
by Article V, Sec. 1. of the Constitution. But no male person who
was on January 1, 1867, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to
vote under the laws of any state in the United States wherein he
then resided, and no lineal descendant of any such person, shall be
denied the right to register and vote at any election in this state
by reason of his failure to possess the educational qualifications
herein prescribed : Provided, he shall have registered in accordance
with the terms of this section prior to December 1, 1908. The Gen-
eral Assembly shall provide for the registration of all persons
entitled to vote without the educational qualifications herein pre-
scribed, and shall, on or before November 1, 1908, provide for the
making of a. permanent record of such registration, and all persons
so registered shall forever thereafter have the right to vote in all
elections by the people in this state, unless disqualified under sec-
tion 2 of this article : Provided, such person shall have paid his
poll tax as above required.
In framing the amendment the committee was confronted
immediately by three difficulties. One of these — the determi-
nation not to disfranchise any white man who had the right
to vote — was overcome by the adoption of the grandfather
clause. A second — the fifteenth amendment — was more diffi-
cult, but the amendment as finally adopted seemed to the com-
mittee to avoid conflict with it. A third was the clause in
the act of June 25, 1868, readmitting North Carolina and five
other states to representation, which provided "that the con-
stitutions of the said States shall never be so amended or
changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the
United States of the right to vote in said States." This pre-
sented a pretty question, but the committee decided on sound
grounds that the clause was not operative since Congress had
no right to impose conditions or obligations upon certain of
the states which were not binding upon the others.
The principles guiding the committee as outlined by
George Eountree, the chairman, were: (1) Persons guilty of
crime are not of sufficient character to vote; (2) Persons with-
out home or some fixed habitation are not sufficiently inter-
ested to vote intelligently; (3) Those who are not thrifty
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 301
enough to pay taxes and bear part of the burden of the state
should not take part in its government; and (4) Persons in
order to vote must have suflScient intelligence for their voting
not to be a menace to the community. So far as the grand-
father clause was concerned, it was intended to be merely a
bridge from the existing unlimited adult-male suffrage to a
suffrage qualified by ability to read and write.
While the amendment was the great achievement of the
session and the legislature moved very cautiously to avoid
anything which might divide the white voters, much else was
accomplished. A law providing for separate accommoda-
tions for the races on trains and steamboats was passed in
spite of considerable opposition from the railroads. The ex-
isting election law was repealed as soon as the session began
and later a new one, greatly resembling the one in operation
before 1895, was passed. In order to protect the eastern
counties from negTO rule, the old system of electing county
commissioners by magistrates who were themselves elected
by the legislature was restored, applying, however, only to
"VVashington, Granville, Caswell, Bertie, Vance, Warren,
Craven, Edgecombe, Perquimans, Franklin, Montgomery,
Pasquotank, and New Hanover. A law was passed providing
for the domestication of foreign coi^porations before they
could engage in business in the state. A department of insur-
ance was established. The i)ublic school law was revised and
an appropriation of $100,000 for the use of the schools was
made. A proposition to divide the school fund between the
races on the basis of what each paid was debated for some
time. A meeting of ne,gi-oes held in Raleigh in January pre-
sented a memorial praying the legislature not to pass any
legislation unfavorable to the race and issued an address to
the colored people of the state advising quiet and the cultiva-
tion of good feeling. There was some sentiment l)ehind the
proposed law but it was generally thought that action of this
sort would be unwise and the bill was defeated, but there was
no unanimity about the principle of the proposal and its defeat
did not mean the establishment of a policy. The question was
simply postponed for future settlement. The county boards
302 HISTOEY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of education were abolished and county boards of directors
established in their place.
Almost as soon as the session began investigation of vari-
ous departments was undertaken and the penitentiary was
particularly the object of suspicion. The affairs of the insti-
tution turned out to be in bad conditions and it was soon de-
cided by the democrats to change the management, the point
being made, in support of their contention that politics was
not involved and that no financial responsibility could be as-
sumed unless there went with it control. Accordingly a law
was passed incorporating the state's prison, as distinguished
from the penitentiary, and in addition to the existing direct-
ors, twelve more chosen by the legislature were authorized.
An executive board of three was created and the office of
superintendent abolished. Another law authorized the issue
of bonds to pay the debts amounting to more than one hun-
dred thousand dollars.
Just before the meeting of the legislature, J. M. Mewborne,
the superintendent, had resigned and William H. Day, a demo-
crat had been appointed. As to S. Otho Wilson, partisanship
was rampant but the board demanded possession of the insti-
tution, Day refused to yield and the case went to the Supreme
Court.
One of the first acts of the legislature was a resolution
asking the governor to communicate his reasons for the sus-
pension of the two Wilsons from the railroad commission.
After the statement of the case was laid before them an inves-
tigation was decided upon. It was long and tedious, resulting
in the vindication of Major J. W. Wilson who was a demo-
crat. As to S. Otho Wilson, partisanship was rampant but the
partisans were divided. Some wanted to rebuke the governor
by vindicating him ; others clamored for his removal by ratifi-
cation of the governor's action. He had in the meantime re-
signed. Finally both were re-instated. The legislature then
abolished the railroad commission and created the corporation
commission with new and enlarged powei's, electing Franklin
McNeill, S. L. Rogers, and E. C. Bedding-field commissioners.
The criminal circuit courts established by laws of 1895
and 1897 were abolished and later the eastern and western
district criminal courts were established. The board of inter-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 303
iial impro\-ement was reorganized and the control of the
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad given to it.
A troublesome case before the legislature was that of W.
L. Norwood, a judge of the Superior Court who had resigned
under charges of habitual intemperance and after his suc-
cessor had been appointed had claimed the office. After in-
vestigation and considerable discussion as to whether he was
still a judge and whether or not he was impeachable, the
House passed a resolution of impeachment. He at once re-
signed and the case was dropped, although the House had
presented the case to the Senate.
The legislature of 1897 had created the office of chief
inspector of shell fish and the governor had appointed Theo-
philus White to the position. There was much dissatisfaction
and the legislature of 1899 abolished the office substituting
a board of seven commissioners. A later act forbade the
state treasurer to pay any compensation for services in con-
nection with the industry unless it was authorized by the
new act. In this law and in many others the democrats were
seeking chiefly to oust from office of any sort those who had
been appointed by the fusion legislature or the governor.
There was much fear among democratic members of the
legislature that some judicial interference with the amend-
ment would prevent its proper submission. Accordingly when
the legislature adjourned it was not as usually, sine die, but
to June 12, 1900. No secret was made of the fact that this
was done to prevent any tampering by the Suprejue Court
with the amendment.
In April the court handed down its decision in the peni-
tentiary case, delivered l)y Judge Montgomery, with Judge
Clark dissenting, in which it was held that while the legis-
lature has power to abolish an office created by legislative
authority, it cannot by a mere transfei- of duties oust the
incumbent of an office. This was of course in accord with
precedents in the state dating from the decision in Hoke v.
Henderson in 1833, affirmed shortly before in Wood v. Bel-
lamy in 1897.
Other office-holding cases followed lapidly. An interesting
one was Wilson v. Jordan, arising out of a contest for the
304 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
office of clerk of the western district criminal court, in which
the Supreme Court, Judge Furches delivering the opinion
with Judge Clark dissenting, held that all acts of the same
session of the legislature upon the same subject matter are
to be considered as one act and must, under the doctrine of
in pari materia, be construed together and further that they
should be considered to be in pari materia whether passed at
one session or not. From this reasoning together with the
precedent of Hoke v. Henderson, they declared the clerk of
the criminal court of Buncombe entitled to the office.
Another important decision arose from the refusal of
D. H. Abbott, one of the railroad commissioners to surrender
his office to E. C. Bedding-field, who had been elected a mem-
ber of the newly-created corporation commission. This was
decided in the autumn of 1899, Judge Furches writing the
opinion of the court and Judge Clark again dissenting. The
doctrine laid down in the penitentiary case was again asserted,
the two statutes of the legislature declared to be in pari ma-
teria, and Abbott declared entitled to the office.
The new board of internal improvement removed the
president and directors of the Atlantic and North Carolina
Railroad and appointed a new board which elected James A.
Bryan, president. D. W. Patrick, the old president, refused
to surrender the road and the governor and old board of inter-
nal improvements declined to recognize the new board. The
court, applying the precedent of the Wood and Day cases.
Judges Clark and Montgomery dissenting, sustained the de-
fendants in both cases.
The effect of these decisions, along with a number of simi-
lar ones, was to undo a considerable part of that work of the
legislature which had been directed towards getting republi-
cans out of office and democrats in their place. Feeling
against the court was bitter, particularly among- the mem-
bers of the legislature, and talk of the possibility of impeach-
ment of the judges began as early as December, 1899. In the
court itself it had come even earlier. In his dissenting opinion
in Wilson v. Jordan, Jvidge Clark said:
North Carolina is one of the States that has never given nts Execu-
tive even a modified veto upon legislative action, and there is nothing
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA :m
in its Constitution indicating: any intention to give tlie judiciary any
supervision or control over the law making power. On the contrary,
while the Courts can not pass, in any the most remote degree upon
the title to his seat of any member of the Legislature, that body can
sit in judgment upon any member of the Executive or Judiciary
branches of the State Government by impeachment, and remove him
from ofiSce.
Judge Furches evidently construed this as a threat and in
the opinion of the court administered this quiet but stern
rebulie.
From the intimations made by a member of this Court we are
induced to say: that we have discussed the legal iiuestions arising in
this case as they appeared to us ; we do invite criticism, we have no
right to object to fair criticism, and we do not do so. If such criticism
shall be indulged in, as is not just or legitimate, we believe that au
intelligent and learned profession will discriminate between that which
is legitimate and that which is not.
It has been suggested by a member of this Court, that the Legis-
lature has the power to impeach a judge — that it has recently done so,
and that there is no appeal from its judgment. Such a suggestion as
this, has never occurred in the history of this Court until now. This
suggestion added nothing to the strength of the argument advanced
for the defendant. Why it should have been made, we do not know.-
But remembering our position as members of this Court, we will not
express our sentiments a.s to such suggestion.s, and will only say that,
in our opinion, any member of any Court, who would allow himself
to be influenced by such suggestions is unfit to be a judge.
In the case of the school boards there were few contests,
Superintendent Mebane advising the boards of education not
to contest but to yield in the interest of the schools. It was a
liighly patriotic action and one characteristic of his official
conduct.
All during 1900 the amendment was discussed from every
angle. It met with opposition from the republican and popu-
list leaders who argued that it was a breach of faith in that
it was a violation of an agreement expressed in the law of
June 25, 1868, already referred to, which they claimed bound
the state in honor as well as in law. They also declared it in
conflict with the fifteenth amendment because it was directed
exclusively against the negroes and would operate only
against them. Finally, tliey argued that it was unwise and
wrong because it would disfranchise all illiterate white men.
The glaring inconsistency between the last two arguments
Vol. ni— 20
306 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
is to be explained by the fact that they were intended for
Northern and Southern consumption respectively.
In spite of the attitude of their parties, a number of promi-
nent republicans and populists were favorable. Thomas Set-
tle, from the time of the adoption of the amendment, endorsed
it heartily. Harry Skinner, at the time of the meeting of the
legislature, declared that the disfranchisement of the negro
was the most necessary and important work before it. Wil-
liam A. Guthrie enthusiastically championed it. There was
quite a tendency apparent on the part of the western republi-
cans to urge that the party should unite with the democrats
in support of it. Had they done so, it would have meant the
rebirth of the party in North Carolina.
In the spring of 1899 the Caucasian was favorable to the
amendment, but by autumn it declared its opposition on the
ground that there was grave danger of the disfranchisement
of white men as well as negroes through the probability, if
not certainty, that the Supremo Court of the United States
would uphold the educational qualification and declare the
grandfather clause unconstitutional. This soon became the
stock argument of the entire opposition. Nor was it con-
fined to the opposition, for many democrats felt this to be a
fatal weakness of the amendment because likely to defeat it
before the people, or, if ratified, to thwart the purpose of its
ratification. This was largely discussed in March. April, and
May, 1900, and the feeling on the subject was seen to be so
strong that it was decided to change the amendment at the
June session so as to make the entire section stand or fall
together.
Early in January, Senator Pritchard introduced into the
Senate a resolution declaring the grandfather clause a viola-
tion of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments and of the
fundamental principles of a republican form of government.
Both he and Senator Butler spoke on the resolution, which
precipitated a debate in which a number of senators took
part. The resolution was of course intended to create in the
North hostile sentiment against the amendment.
The campaign against the amendment, apart from the
discussion and this resolution, was begun when the populist
\
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 307
executive committee met on JaJiuary 9, 1900. They issued an
address ou the subject and endorsed heartily a letter of
Senator Butler's in which he denounced the democrats as
anarchists and Red Shirts, and advised fusion with the re-
publicans. The state org-anization was completely dominated
by him to the disgiist of many populists who were beginning
to feel that few of the aims of the party had been attained,
that fusion had been a capital error from which Butler had
derived most of the benetit, and that the party was more
''boss-ridden" than even the old democratic party had been.
Many of these, moreover, were favorable to the amendment.
The c^mpaig-n was well under way early. Discussion by
democrats of their candidate for governor had begun early
in 1899 and Cyrus B. Watson, who had been defeated in 1896,
M. H. Justice, who had been prominent in the legislature, T.
F. Davidson, who had served eight years as attorney-general,
and John S. Cunningham, a prominent farmer, had all been
mentioned as possibilities. But in the minds and on the
lips of the mass of democrats was the name of Charles B.
Aycock. Watson did not desire the nomination and Justice
and Cunningham soon withdrew. Davidson 's name was with-
drawn when the convention met. Long before any of these
things happened Aycock 's nomination was a certainty.
The convention met in Raleigh on April 11th. Every coun-
ty was represented and every delegation was full. There had
never before been a convention like it in the state. "No body
more truly representative of all that was best in the life of the
state ever assembled in North Carolina. Every profes-
sion, every industry was there represented by its strongest,
its most eminent leaders, all inspired by a sincere conviction
that they had been called together to perform a high civic
duty upon which depended the future happiness, peace and
prosperity of a great State. ' ' Aycock was unanimously nomi-
nated and made a speech of acceptance which not only sounded
the kej-note of the campaign, but lifted the contest from the
low ground of race antagonism and prejudice to a plane of
high statesmanship, seeking the welfare of the whole people.
Great interest had been felt in the question of the nomi-
nation for superintendent of public instruction. Mebane's
308 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
administration had been, considering everything, a striking
success and was full of promise. The office had been divested
of partisanship and there was every assurance that this would
continue. It was already on a higher plane than it had been
since the days of Wiley. Mebane favored the constitutional
amendment and thus out himself off from the fusionists. He
had many enthusiastic democratic supporters and the Char-
lotte Observer strongly advocated him, calling constant atten-
tion to the fact that he was the first superintendent since
Wiley to regard the office as other than a sinecure. The demo-
crats had a second great opportunity to divorce the schools
from politics and failed to take it. Mebane deserved the nomi-
nation, but partisan feeling was too strong and he was de-
feated by General Thomas F. Toon.
The rest of the ticket as nominated was for lieutenant-gov-
ernor, W. D. Turner; secretary of state, J. Bryan Grimes;
treasurer, B. R. Lacy; auditor, B. F. Dixon; attorney-general,
E. D. Gilmer. The platform made white supremacy the domi-
nating issue, but demanded a complete change of administra-
tion and sweeping reform.
The populist convention met a week later and nominated a
ticket headed by Cyrus Thompson and A. C. Shuford. The
county conventions of the party had been notably weak and
twenty-six of the counties were unrepresented. An interest-
ing stniggle between Skinner and Butler took place in the
convention. Skinner wanted the convention to instruct the
delegates to the national convention for Bryan and, as a proof
of the sincerity of the party, he proposed the nomination of
Dan Hugh McLean and Lee S. Overman for electors-at-large.
He declared himself opposed to negro suffrage and apparently
made no secret of his bitterness against Butler. The latter
was, however, once more in complete control and the conven-
tion did not endorse Bryan or nominate McLean and Over-
man. It condemned the legislature of 1899 for its expendi-
tures, for the laws it had passed, and for the adoption of the
amendTuent. It, however, took no definite stand on the amend-
ment, lea\ing it to the individual voter to decide upon it and
declaring it "not a party question," but proposed as a bet-
ter solution a federal amendment prohibiting negroes from
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA , 309
holding office. It also advocated a special system of county
government for the black counties.
The republican convention met on May 1st and was largely
controlled by federal office-holders who formed a consider-
able part of its membership. A ticket headed by Spencer B.
Adams and Claudius Dockery was named and a platform
adopted which denied that negro domination had existed,
condemned the amendment, declared the election of 1898 car-
ried by fraud and violence, and gave to fusion rule, even in
the black counties, a hearty endorsement. Not many negroes
were in the convention and throughout the campaign every
effort was made by both populists and republicans to keep
them in the background.
It was common rumor that populist and republican lead-
ers had arranged for continued fusion as early as April, and
the democrats at once charged that there was no intention
of running both tickets and tliat one would be withdrawn.
In July they spread the report that Adams was coming down.
In the meantime many republicans of the older sort, chiefly
from the West, like Judge Ewart, were bitterly opposed to
fusion and exceedingly hostile to Butler. But late in July
Thompson withdrew and a co-operative ticket was ar-
ranged with Adams for governor; H. F. Sewell, lieutenant-
governor ; Cyrus Thompson, secretary of state ; W. H. Worth,
treasurer; H. W. Ayer, auditor; N. C. English, superintendent
of public instruction ; and Z. V. Walser, attorney-general. All
but Adams and Walser were populists, but the legislature, it
was arranged, was to go to the republicans who were to re-
elect Butler to the Senate.
In June there was a conference in Greensboro, on the
question of how best to defeat the amendment, at which were
present among others, R. Z. Linney, W. P. B\Tium, Jr., A. E.
Holton, and Senator Pritchard. Among other things, it was
decided to employ writs of mandamus to force election regis-
trars to put the names of persons denied registration on the
books. But news of the plan got out and when the legislature
met on June 12th, it amended the election law so as to deny to-
judges the power to issue writs of injunction and mandamus
310 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
upon election questions until the facts had been ascertained
by a jury at a regular session of the Superior Court.
To remedy the weak point in the amendment, the follow-
ing clause Avas added:
See. 5. That this auieiidmeiit to the Constitutiou is presented and
adopted as one indivisible plan for the regulation of the suffrage, with
the intent and purpose to so connect the different parts and to make
them so dependent upon each other that the whole shall stand or fall
together.
The legislature then, on June 14th, adjourned to meet
again on July 24th.
In the meantime the campaign was well under way. The
democratic plans had been carefully worked out by the chair-
man, F. M. Simmons, but after the enthusiasm of the conven-
tion, the party had a bad attack of over-confidence. This was
partly overcome by sending out thousands of letters and a
vast amount of campaign literature. The other parties fol-
lowed suit and the voters were reached as never before bj-
this sort of appeal.
From that time there was not a dull moment in the cam-
paigTi. All the parties were active. For the republicans and
populists federal office-holders took a prominent part and
finally Chairman Simmons appealed to President McKinley,
calling attention to the fact that the republican convention
and, to a lesser extent, the populist convention also had been
dominated by them ; that the offices were used as a basis for
political activity; and that the republican chairman was
United States district attorney. The letter had, of course, no
effect upon the President, but it made good campaign litera-
ture and M'as doubtless intended for that.
The managers of the campaign against the amendment
were not wise. In addition to activity of officials, the state
was filled with threats of federal interference and of the fed-
eral arrest of election officials, while the activity of loud
and throntoning negroes intensified partisan and race feeling.
At the outset the democrats declined a joint canvass with
the populists on the question of the amendment. They did
this ostensibly because the populists had not opposed the
amendinent \u their platform but were advocating a sort of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 311
compromise measure. The democrats declared that it was a
straight issue and the republicans, of course, not the populists,
Avere in complete opposition. The real reason, however, was
probably to avoid ci'eating a situation which would intensify
party spirit among the populists upon whose strength the
democrats expected to draw heavily.
The democratic campaign was skillfully planned, cleverly
executed, and most successful. Public interest grew steadily
and Aycock's canvass became a sort of triumphal expedition.
Also it was the most effective part of the campaign. He de-
voted himself entirely to the race issue and education. In his
first campaign speech he asserted that the campaign was one
of a single issue — the negro question. "For years," said
he, "the Democratic party has Ijeen fighting this issue until
at last it has made up its mind that it must be settled, and
settled once for all. We are going to win this fight, and we
want to win it with practical unanimity. I've sort of got
used to the unanimous way of doing business, and I'm in favor
of it. ' ' Defending the amendment, he said :
This amendment was drawn with great skill. It was drawn after
long thought, and with full knowledge of the end to be attained. It
was drawn with the deliberate purpose of depriving the negro of the
right to vote, and of allowing every white man to retain that right.
And I tell yon now and here, did I believe that it would cause the
oppression of a single man, or deprive one white man, however ignor-
ant or humble, of his suffrage, I would not support it. On the con-
trary its passage will mean peace to the land, it will mean an end to
an era of crime and lawlessness, security to property and purity of
politics. There will be no more dead negroes on the streets of Wil-
mington, no more rule of the incompetent and corrupt.
In the beginning of the campaign he fotmd great suspicion
of the section of the amendment limiting the operation of
the grandfather clause to a short term of years and such
effective use was made of this by the opposition that many
democrats feared it would defeat the amendment and there
was some agitation to have the legislature at its June meet-
ing strike it out. Aycock was informed of the movement and
at once opposed it, asserting that the party was pledged to
submit the amendment as adopted. He declared that if a
change was made, he would feel .compelled to withdraw his
312 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
candidacy. His courage and his leadership thus prevented a
grave error.
During the campaign he made 110 speeches, travelled more
than a thousand miles by carriage and 5,000 miles by rail,
and addressed 100,000 people.
The chief agencies of the democrats in the various locali-
ties were the white supremacy clubs which attracted a large
membership. The Red Shirts were once more active, not
often given to violence, but still entirely determined. As in
1898 they were occasionally rough, on a number of occasions
they prevented republican speakers from appearing, and
once or twice they attempted strong measures. In some quar-
ters of the state, the costume was a badge of support of the
amendment.
The lines were drawn sharply in the campaign and it
became increasingly difficult for white men to face and answer
the charge that opposition to the amendment stamped them
as advocates of negro rule. The populists eai'ly began to
divide on the question and there were not lacking republicans
who openly championed the amendment as demanded by ne-
cessity and, in addition, as the salvation of their party.
Among these were Alexander Mclver, A. W. Shaffer, one of
the surviving carpet-baggers, T. M. Argo, and J. C. L. Harris.
In addition, many republicans, who for political reasons did
not care to parade their views, voted for the amendment.
On the other hand, some democrats opposed it as uncon-
stitutional. But they were few. The mass of the party sup-
ported it enthusiastically; some from race feeling, some from
partisan motives, some from the conclusion thoughtfully ar-
rived at that by it alone could good government be secured.
A large element of democrats, populists, and republicans
acted from still another motive. With vision and foresight,
they looked forward beyond the existing party straggle and
for the sake of the political ideals of their children— of the
state of the future — they were willing to go to almost any
length to carry the amendment and thus remove from politics
in the state the sore spot which was rapidly impairing the
rxilitical health, and with it the political morality, of all the
people. Many of these had no particular reverence for the fif-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 313
teenth amendment, believing as most people in the South did,
that by reason of the method of its adoption it had never been
in morals or in law a part of the Constitution and that hence
it was not binding upon their consciences. But with many
others this was not the case. They believed that the amend-
ment was probably in conflict with the Constitution and it re-
quired a powerful impulse to gain their support. Hope for
the ultimate restoration of the sort of political morality which
had prevailed in an earlier day and for an educated electorate
furnished that and justified their action to themselves.
On July 24th the legislature met and adjourned to July
30th, when it met again. This action was frankly stated to be
due to the necessity of watching the Supreme Court in order
to prevent judicial interference with the amendment.
The state election had been placed in Augnist by the legis-
lature in order to avoid if possible any confusion with the
national campaign and any federal interference. It was held
on August 2d and the amendment was carried with a majority
of 53,932. Sixty-six of the ninety-seven counties gave majori-
ties for it. Aycock carried seventy-four counties and received
a majority of 60,354. The total vote was about seventeen
thousand less than in 1896.
The enfranchisement of the negro in 1867 partook of the
nature of a revolution. It was now in a measure undone by a
counter-revolution, this time accomplished under the required
forms of law. The current of progress checked by the negro
vote was once more set in motion and the state was ready to
go forward to a new day.
After the election forty-five registrars were arrested on
various charges and bound over to the federal court. It
was in part a means of intimidation and was opposed by many
republicans including Senator Pritchard. Judge Furches was
also known to be opposed. When the legislature met the cases
were still pending and to the rage of the republicans, the ex-
pense of counsel for the accused was assumed by the legis-
lature.
The national campaign was of interest chiefly in connec-
tion wdth the primary for United States senator and the elec-
tion of members of Congress. Bryan's success was a cer-
314 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tainty. The senatorial contest was between F. M. Simmons
and Julian S. Carr and resulted in the selection of Simmons
by a tremendous majority. He carried eighty-one counties.
Seven Democratic congressmen out of nine were chosen and
the hated White was defeated. Bryan carried the state by a
slightly increased majority over 1896 in a much smaller vote
than that cast in the state election.
After the election of Simmons by the legislature, Senators
Butler and Pritchard attempted without success to induce
the Senate, for the first time in its history, to go behind the
legislature which had chosen him and decide upon the legality
of his election. Their failure was the first victory of the
amendment.
The suspicion and hostility among democrats towards the
republican members of the Supreme Court was increased by
something which happened on October 17th. Theophilus
White, the inspector of shell-fish, declined to accept the act of
the legislature abolishing his office and sued in the Superior
Court to settle his title and after winning there was sustained
by the Supreme Court. His salary remaining unpaid because
the auditor and treasurer denied having any authority to pay
it, in view of the act of the legislature, a controversy without
action to compel the auditor to issue his warrant and the treas-
urer to pay it was submitted to the Superior Court which
decided in his favor, and the case was carried to the Supreme
Court on appeal. In May, 1900, a decision declaring White
entitled to enforce payment was rendered. The decision was
written by Chief Justice Faircloth with Judges Furches and
Douglass concurring and Judges Clark and Montgomery dis-
senting.
No writ was issued at the time and the legislature at its
June session passed a resolution asking if White's claim had
been paid. During the recess of the court the clerk declined
to issue a writ and when the court again assembled applica-
tion for a writ was at once made and refused on the ground
that the case had gone off the docket and consequently there
was nothing to act upon. The clerk asked several times for a
ruling on whether he should issue the writ but the court
declined to give this. The thi'ee concurring judges, however.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 315
advised him personally to issue it. Judge Clai'k opposed it
and finding that it would be issued wrote out a protest contain-
ing- his dissenting opinion in the case which he demanded to
have published in the reports, a request which the court re-
fused on the ground that the case had been closed. Acting
under the advice of the judges, the clerk issued a peremptory
mandamus upon the auditor to issue his warrant for what-
ever amount was due, and upon the treasurer to pay the
warrant. The amount was found to be $831.15 which the
treasurer paid from the shell-fish funds in his hands. A short
time later the legislative committee which was charged with
the duty of examining the ti-easurer's books, declined to give
the treasurer credit for the payment and the whole matter
was thus referred as it were for decision to the General
Assembly.
On December 29, Chief Justice Faircloth died and quite
a movement developed to persuade Governor Russell to re-
si.gn so that Lieutenant Governor Reynolds, upon succeeding,
could appoint him chief justice. A more unsuitable appoint-
ment could scarcely have been suggested. Governor Russell
has at times in North Carolina probably been painted a darker
hue than he deserved to be, but no one could maintain that
he was temperamentally fitted for the supreme bench. He
was arrogant and vindictive to an abnormal degi-ee and at
times almost venomous in his dislikes. In his private rela-
tions he was loyal and friendly to a high degree. He was a
very good practitioner but he was not in a strict sense a
learned lawyer. More than all these things, public feeling
against him was so high that the court would have suffered.
Of course the whole proceeding, too, from the standpoint of
political morals would have been a questionable one. There
is no evidence that either the governor or lieutenant-
governor took the matter seriously and early in January
Russell appointed Judge Furches chief justice and C. A. Cook
associate justice.
And with this entirely creditable action the fusion admin-
istration passed into histor}-.
CHAPTER XV
THE RECENT YEARS
The ratification of the suffrage amendment and the inaugu-
ration of Charles B. Aycock mark, as shai-ply as ever is pos-
sible, the beginning of a new era in North Carolina. The
enfranchisement of the negro in 1867 was scarcely, in fact,
more a revolution than the disfranchisement of the mass of
the race by constitutional amendment. Not that every hope
aroused at the prospect of the removal of the negro from
politics was at once gratified. The negro was himself im-
mediately out of politics, but he did not, as will be seen,
cease to be a political question. That he has since been in
some degree an issue is the fault of both parties ; of the re-
publicans, for not frankly recognizing the question as settled ;
of the democrats, for bringing up the question at times when
there was no real danger to be apprehended. But it is a fact
that here began the disappearance of the issue, and with it a
lessening factor in political life, came a revival and growth of
interest in other things. The brake which for more than three
long and dreary decades had checked the wheels of progress
was at last lifted and the commonwealth, politically and so-
cially, moved forward. And a new generation began to grow
up which thought of other things. A new tolerance began
to develop and men were able once more freely to debate po-
litical questions without thought of the negro or fear for the
continued existence of white rule. And at the same time, to
make the period still more revolutionary, came the develop-
ment of public education which was to be the most important
fact of the years which followed the opening of the century.
Aycoek's campaign had shown that a new type of leadership
was in control in the state, and his superb inaugural served
to confirm the impression and to give promise to the people
316
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 317
of peace and progress. His very selection as a party candi-
date made it clear that the emancipation of the democratic
party had finally come ; it was a visible token that the party
no longer owed anything save service to the people. Never
was there a more suitable choice of a leader to open a new
era. As Dr. Alderman said of him, he was "perhaps, the most
conspicuous example of the Southern idealist, lifted beyond
partisanship and carrying into polities the heart of the re-
former and the training of a scholar." He had reached the
hearts and minds of the people, he gave them the progressive
leadership they had long lacked and earnestly desired, and for
the following four years he was the dominating figTire in the
life and thought of the state.
From a legislative standpoint the session of 1901 was un-
interesting. A new and improved election law was passed,
the school law materially changed, and four new judicial dis-
tricts created. There was a considerable increase in legisla-
tion limiting the sale of liquor in various localities, bearing
evidence to the growth of the prohibition movement. The
legislature was confronted with a deficit and the new system
of assessment and the new taxes adopted were bitterly un-
popular in a great part of the state. After adjournment con-
siderable pressure was exerted to induce the governor to call
a special session to correct faults in the law but he refused,
claiming that there was a pressing necessity of raising every
possible dollar and that he had no reason to believe that the
legislature would change the law, if indeed it was desirable to
do so.
The legislative session was notable, however, for one thing.
It closed with the impeachment and trial of Chief Justice
Furches and Judge R. M. Douglas. Reference has already
been made to the decision in the White case and its settle-
ment. Two days afterwards the News and Observer hinted
at impeachment but the press generally was silent until
after the election. To the majority of democratic la>nnen
who thought about it at all, already not too well inclined
towards the court, it seemed a clear case of the violation of
the constitutional provision which declared that the decision
of the Supreme Court in cases of claims against the state
:J1S HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
should be merely reeommendatoiy and that no process in the
nature of execution should issue thereon but that it should
be reported to the next session of the legislature for action.
There was, however, no popular demand for impeachment
but so far as can be judged from the press, widespread in-
difference or at most an inclination to delay judgment until
the legislature met. On the other hand politicians who were
hostile to the judges welcomed the opportunity to oust them
and it was certain that the demand would come from them
at least when once the session began.
Upon the assembling of the legislature there was much
discussion of the question among the members. At first it
seemed hardly likely that the movement for impeachment
would prevail. But in addition to the politician class alluded
to, there was a large group of able, sincere, and conscientious
men who felt that a vital principle was at stake and that
action should be taken. Their feeling was greatly strength-
ened by the demands made to the legislature by local attor-
neys, representing holders of North CaroUna bonds who had
not accepted the compromise of 1879, and who asked for a full
settlement. AVhat, argued this group of members, was to
prevent the Supreme Court from enforcing the payment of
such claims in the same way? Could not the repudiated
special tax bonds also be collected? Still another group, a
small one, however, while admitting the unconstitutionality
of the judges' act, contended that they should be censured,
but not impeached. The case was highly technical and the
laymen were in the hands of the lawyers.
On January 3d, Locke Craig, of Buncombe, introduced a
resolution of impeachment against the two judges. The reso-
lution was referred to the judiciary committee and a sub-
committee of investigation was appointed, which reported
after taking testimony that the judges were impeachable, but
declined to make a recommendation. Judge Connor, a mem-
ber of the sub-committee, wanted a resolution of censure
passed, believing that the judges had over-stepped their
powers and treated the legislature flippantly and contemptu-
ously, but he was opposed to impeachment. The judiciary com-
mittee voted twenty-four to ten for impeachment and made a
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 319
favorable report on the resolution to the House on February
8th. The republican minority presented a strong legal re-
port upholding the judges, and Judge Connor offered a reso-
lution of censure.
The debate was opened by Craig in a bitter and fiery
speech, and continued for several days. On February 18th,
after the Connor resolution had been defeated, eighty-five to
twelve, the impeachment resolution was adopted by a vote
of sixty-two to thirty -three, thirteen democrats voting in the
negative. In the action finally taken both the elements of
the opinion discussed were present. It was not as often al-
leged purely a political prosecution, for it cannot be said to
have been dictated by partisanship much further than is true
in the large majority of impeachment cases. But, on the other
hand, it would be a grave mistake to think that partisanship
did not play a part and an important part. Many of the
members, however, who voted for impeachment, had taken
their position regretfully and only under the compulsion of
principle and conscience. The case did indeed offer abundant
room for difference of opinion and outside the legislature as
well as- inside, men differed widely. The republicans, of
course, opposed the decision of the House and on February
21st filed a written protest against it.
A board of managers, consisting of William R. Allen,
Locke Craig, George Rountree, A. W. Graham, R. H. Hayes,
J. F. Spainhour, B. B. Nicholson, F. M. Shannonhouse, and
A. A. F. Seawell, was elected and on February 20th, a com-
mittee of the House, headed by Francis D. Winston, impeached
the judges at the bar of the Senate. On February 23d, five
articles of impeachment were adopted and presented to the
Senate by the managers in a body. As summarized by Judge
Long they follow :
The first article charged that the respondents unlawfully
and wilfully, and in violation of Art. T, Sec. 8, Art. IV and
Sec. 9, and of Art. XW, Sec. 3, of the constitution, and of the
laws, caused the mandamus writs to issue in the case of
White V. Auditor, when there was no appropriation for the
payment of "^Hiite's salaiy and account.
The second article charged respondents with intending to
320 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
bring the General Assembly into disrepute and wilfully and
unlawfully and defiantly and contemptuously violating the
provisions of chapter 21, Laws of 1899, and of the constitu-
tion respecting the issue of process in the nature of execution
to collect a claim against the state.
The third article charged that on the 14th day of June,
1900, twenty-three days after the decision and judgment, in
White V. Auditor, the legislature passed a resolution of
inquiry, and made inquiry by two of its members of the
treasurer, whether the claim of White had been paid, and that
the legislature intended thereby to forbid payment to White,
and that the respondents, knowingly, wilfully and wrongfully
directed the writ to issue in violation of the constitution and
of the acts of the General Assembly.
The fourth charged the respondents with directing the
writs to issue unlawfully and contrary to the course and prac-
tice of the courts, (1) because the claim was one against the
state, and should have been brought originally to the Supreme
Court, and not submitted in the first instance to the Judge
of the Superior Court; (2) that the writs were issued in wil-
ful disregard of statutory provisions relating to writs for
mandamus; (3) that the writs were issued contrary to the
course and procedure of the Supreme Court; (4) because the
writs were in disregard of chapter 19, Laws of 1899; (5) be-
cause one of the associate justices was denied the right to file
a protest and dissent respecting the issue of the writ at the
fall term, 1900, this being about five months after the case had
gone off the docket by final judgment.
The fifth article indefinitely charged that at various times,
and in numerous decisions (referring to the office-holding
cases), the respondents mlfully, unlawfully, persistently, in-
tentionally, contemptuously, and by a specious course of
reasoning, disregarded, nullified, destroyed and defeated, as
suited their purpose, the acts of the General Assembly in
violation of the constitution, and that in culmination and
consunmiation of this persistent, wilful and unlawful intent,
caused to be issued the writs of mandamus, and the claim of
White for .$831.15 to be paid.
On February 25th the Senate organized as a court of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 321
impeachment and summoned the judges, who replied through
F. I. Oshorne, T. J. Jarvis, C. M. Cooke, William P. Byumn,
Jr., F. H. Busbee, B. F. Long, and J. Lindsey Patterson as
counsel. The managers associated with themselves as coun-
sel C. B. Watson, T. F. Davidson, W. A. Guthrie, J. H. Pou
and C. M. Busbee.
On March 6th the answer of the judges w^as made. It
was a long and elaborate document and in itself constituted
an able defence. The respondents admitted of course the
fact of the decision and the issuance of the mandamus, but
denied that it was issued illegally or that they had shown
any disregard of their oaths or their official duty to obey the
constitution and laws of the state. They also denied any
usurpation of legislative authority or intention to bring the
General Assembly into disrepute or disgrace. They argued
that the claim of White was not against the state, and replied
to the charge of political partisanship by reciting the history
of the court in relation to the " office-holding cases."
The trial lasted seventeen days. Judge W. R. Allen, the
chairman of the board of managers, opened for the prosecu-
tion which then introduced eleven witnesses. The managers
sought to show a partisan spirit running through all the de-
cisions in the "office-holding cases," and, w^hile they denied
any necessity to prove a guilty intent, sought to prove
"an attempt to prevent the people from conf rolling the exer-
cise of their public offices" and "to weaken the power of the
General Assembly." They were successful in proving that
the judges had contradicted themselves in the decision of the
case and that they had taken a position at variance with
certain precedents of the court. They were, however, unable
to prove political partisanship or evil intent.
The case for the respondents was opened by Judge By-
num in a speech of groat power, after which sixteen witnesses
were introduced, including the two respondents who proved
to be powerful witnesses in their own behalf. A large group
of prominent lawyers, most of them democrats, had been
summoned as expert witnesses to testify as to the legality
of the judges' action, but were excluded by the court as incom-
petent. The defence, basing their action upon the case fa-
voi. in— 21
322 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
mous in North Carolina legal history, of Hoke v. Henderson,
sought to prove the constitutionality of their action and con-
tended that even if they had erred it was an error and not a
deliberate violation of law and that it was necessary to prove
a guilty intent to secure conviction.
After argument of counsel, closed for the respondents by
Osborne in a superb speech which was the most impressive
of the trial, and for the managers by Watson, the vote was
taken on the first article. It resulted in acquittal twenty-
seven to twenty-three, twelve democrats voting "Not Guilty."
The managers then declaring that the first article contained
the most serious charge, offered to withdraw the others, or
have a verdict of "Not Guilty" entered. It was finally de-
cided to have the vote taken on each, at the conclusion of
which the Senate as a court adjourned sine die. The votes
resulted :
Guilty Not Guilty
Article I 27 23
Article II 24 26
Article III ;..24 26
Article IV 25 25
Article V 16 34
A majority of people in the state, apparently, had already
decided just as the Senate did. There was much confusion of
thought in regard to the legal questions involved, but there
was nothing like a general belief that the judges had been
guilty, with intent, of any offence worthy of conviction. Both
Judge Furches and Judge Douglas had prior to their elevation
to the bench been men of pronounced political convictions and
had been active in politics, but on the bench, up to the White
case, at least, they had very successfully divested themselves
of any bias, and worthily upheld the high standard of the
Supreme Court of North Carolina. It was impossible to make
the mass of thoughtful men believe that the two judges who
in twenty-three of the thirty-nine "office holding cases," in-
volving judges, solicitors, railroad commissioners, and the
control of state institutions, had either written or concurred
in opinions which mled in democrats and excluded repub-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 323
licans and fusionists, were biased judges, or, as Judge Long
phrased it, that, corrupted, they "hauled seines for min-
nows." Many, however, who opposed impeachment, believed
the judges' position in the case wrong and their action a
dangerous precedent.
During the course of the trial there was, as during Hol-
den's trial, much loose talk and numerous threats of federal
interference. There was of course no talk of a new recon-
struction, but it was confidently urged that if the judges were
convicted, the amendment would be overthrown, the indicted
registrars severely punished, and the state visited by some
federal punishment, undescribed and mysterious, but full of
horror. These had no effect of course. Soon after the con-
clusion of the trial the cases of the registrars were all nol.
prosed by agreement, largely through the influence of Sen-
ator Pritchard.
Eeference has been made to the attempt to secure from
the legislature a settlement of certain of the state bonds
belonging to the second class under the compromise of 1879,
the owners of which had declined to accept the tenns of the
compromise. Each bond carried the pledge as collateral of
ten shares of railroad stock owned by the state. The claim-
ants were Messrs. Schafer Brothers who owned bonds to the
face value of about $250,000. Through their attorney, F. H.
Busbee, they filed a memorial asking payment, but the legis-
lature dechned to take any action and on October 7, 1901,
the State of South Dakota applied to the Supreme Court of
the United States for permission to file a bill against tha
State of North Carolina, Charles Salter, and Simon Roths-
childs, the two last representing the other bondholders, to
enforce the payment of ten bonds then owned by it. No de-
mand had been made upon the state for payment and it was
presently to appear that this was not an oversight.
It developed later that Senator Butler, who had been in
South Dakota in 1900 in the interest of Senator R. P. Petti-
grew, had suggested to the latter that he might be able to get
a donation for the state university. In March, 1901, probably
at the instance of Pettigrew, the legislature of South Dakota
passed a law providing for the acceptance of gifts of bonds
324 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and for suit if necessary to enforce payment. In January,
Senator Butler and Daniel L. Eussell had been employed as
counsel by Schafer Brothers and after failure to secure a
settlement from the legislature, Simon Schafer donated ten
of the bonds to South Dakota. In his letter appeared the fol-
lowing paragraphs :
The owners of these bonds are mostly, if not entirely, persons who
liberally give charity to the needy, the deserving and the unfortunate.
These bonds can be used to great advantage by state or foreign
governments; and the majority owners would prefer to use them in
this way rather than take the trifle which is offered by the debtor.
If your state should succeed in collecting these bonds, it would be
the inclination of the owners of a majority of tlie total issue now
outstanding to make additional donations to such governments as
may be able to collect from the repudiating state, rather than accept
the small pittance otfered in settlement.
The donors of these ten bonds would be pleased if the Legislature
of South Dakota should apply the proceeds of these bonds to the
State University, or to some of its asylums or other charities.
In October, 1900, ton bonds of the same class had beeoi
offered for redemption under the compromise of 1879 and
had been cancelled by the treasurer when Governor Russell
held up the transaction and notified his law partner, who was
employed as counsel for some of the holders of state bonds,
of the fact of their presentation. A few days later a demand
was made for the return of the bonds and the treasurer was
compelled to write a certificate on each that its cancellation
was void. Eight of these were in the" number given South
Dakota. These facts did not become known until later.
Governor Aycock at once employed counsel to assist the
attorney-general in defending the suit and it was argued
in April, 1903. A rehearing was asked for by the court and
was held in January, 1904.
In its complaint South Dakota asked for an accounting of
all the railroad stock owned by the state and its sale to satis-
fj^ not only the judgment prayed for, but also to pay the
other outstanding bonds.
Rotlischilds filed no answer but testified that his interests
were all in the hands of Schafer Brothers. Salter filed an
answer containing the plea that all the pledged stock should
be sold and applied to the pajinent of the bonds.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 325
The state in its answer denied the jurisdiction of the court
and also the title of the plaintiff. It claimed that the bonds
had not been issued in conformity with the statute and de-
nied that the mortgages were properly executed or that they
had the effect of conveyance or transfer of the stock pledged.
It further sought to show that the suit Avas not bona fide, but
was the result of a conspiracy of the bondholders.
In February the court handed down its decision in favor
of South Dakota, Mr. Justice Brewer writing the opinion with
Mr. Justice White writing a dissenting opinion which was
concurred in by Chief Justice Fuller and Justices McKenna
and Day. The court ordered the marshal to sell the pledged
stock at public auction to pay the amount of the judgment
which was $27,400. The state then asked for an extension of
time until the meeting of the legislature. This was granted
and when the legislature met the governor laid the matter
before it.
The democratic platform adopted in June, 1904, contained
the following plank: "The Democratic party approves the
settlement made in 1879, and will forever oppose any and all
attempts from any quarter to set aside the settlement then
made. It will abide the mandate of the courts, but it will not
consent to re-open a settlement that was alike creditable to
the State and fair to the holders of its securities." It was
nevertheless clear that the judgment had to be paid or the
stock sold and that unless some arrangement was made for the
settlement of the other bonds of the same kind the state
would be continually annoyed and harassed by similar suits.
Consequently the claim of South Dakota was paid and the
matter of the other bonds taken up. The holders made propo-
sitions ranging from $395,000 to $242,000, but finally agreed
to accept 25 cents on the dollar of the principal together with
interest on the bonds and coupons from 1879, amounting to
$982 on each bond, a total of $214,000, at which figure a final
settlement was made.
Many people in the state felt relief at the payment of
what was generally regarded among the informed as an
honest debt. But this was largely obscured and overwhelmed
by the more dominant feeling in the state which was one of
326 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
disgust and of anger at the method of procedure, the under-
lying purpose of the suit, and the participation in it, as coun-
sel, of the governor and a United States senator. Senator
Butler was not a iuii\('rsally beloved figure before but his part
in this business made him possibly the worst hated man in the
history of the state and made him henceforth an object of
suspicion to thousands who before had for him no particu-
larly hostile feeling. He has explained his acceptance of the
position as counsel plausibly and by no means unconvineingly,
but his explanation has not served to dispel the dark cloud of
popular disapproval, a fact which his political opponents
have not been slow to take advantage of.
From the time the suit began one great blunder was made
in general by the democratic politicians and the democratic
press. Persistently the bonds w^ere spoken of as "carpet-
bag bonds," and "special tax bonds," and generally they
were declared fraudulent. In consequence the valid bonds
in question became confused in the public mind with the re-
pudiated bonds, and when the Supreme Court upheld the
validity of the construction bonds, many people, in and out
of the state, believed that the validity of the carpet-bag
bonds had been sustained. In this way, those who thus erred,
some from ignorance and some deliberately, played into the
hands of the conspirators who desired to enforce the pay-
ment of the special tax bonds. As a matter of fact, it is a
question if it would not have been wdse to pay the bonds
without contesting the suit in order to make as sharp a dis-
tinction as possible between the two kinds of bonds. But of
course the circumstances attending the suit and the motives
behind it made it difficult to do this. But certainly the settle-
ment by the legislature in the end was wise and just and
placed the state in a better position than before for contest-
ing any claim based upon the special tax bonds.
This matter concluded, the purposes of the South Dakota
suit were soon made more apparent. In 1901 the North
American Trust Company of New York City had begun to
collect Southern bonds for collection on a 50 per cent com-
mission basis. In April, 1905, advertisements for North
Carolina special tax bonds, inserted by John G. Carlisle and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 327
Jelierson M. Levy on behalf of a bondholders' syndicate or
committee, began to appear in New York newspapers. A lit-
tle later the following advertisement appeared in several
papers, including the Evening Post :
THE COLLECTION OP STATE BONDS EEPUDLiTED IN WHOLE OR IN PAKT
The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, en-
titled "South-Dakota vs. North Carolina," wherein the former state
secured a judgment against the latter on ten bonds, par value, $10,000,
amounting with interest to $27,400 (which has just been paid) has
greatly enhanced the value of all other repudiated state bonds, because
it has established the law and the procedure by which they can be
enforced.
The undersigned committee, in 1901 pooled all of one issue of North
Cai-olina bonds and originated the plan by which the above successful
results were brought about, and obtained a settlement for the indi-
vidual boudliolders, at a little less than par, of their entire holdings
of these bonds.
This committee is now ready to proceed with the collection of all
other repudiated bonds of every class, of each state.
This committee has no connection with any other committee, and it
knows that it alone is now in a position to avail itself of the benefits
of the above mentioned decision.
Those who desire to enforce the eoUeetion of their bonds will de-
posit the same with the North American Trust Company, 195 Broad-
way, New York City, and receive receipts therefor and a contract
agreement under which the undersigned committee will undertake to
collect the same.
W. N. CoLEE & Co.,
R. P. Pettigrew,
D. L. Russell,
Marion Butler.
Depositaiy,
North American Trust Co.,
195 Broadway, New York City.
"Wheeler H. Peckham, Counsel.
Senator Butler in a speech made in Ealeigh in 1910 stated
that when ho found that carpet-bag bonds were being accepted
by the committee he had the advertisement stopped and de-
clined to have anything further to do with the matter. In
1906 he was approached by a representative of the Carlisle
syndicate which wished to employ him. The follomng are
extracts from his reply:
These bonds were issued by a Legislature largely controlled by
aliens and irrespon-sible native associates, mostly blacks. These bonds
328 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
sold for little on the market, and that little was largely, if not wholly,
stolen by the carpet-baggers and their associates.
* * * So my advice is to have nothing to do with the Carlisle
Committee. At any rate, I will have nothing to do with their efforts
to collect these bonds or any other fraudulent bonds issued by a carpet-
bag Legislature. My position is that I will not act as counsel, or
directly or indirectly have anything to do with any effort to collect
any bonds that are not honest, and for which the state did not get a
valuable consideration.
* * * If an attempt is made to collect these bonds, I not only
will not be employed, but I will oppose such an effort.
In 1905 the boiidliolders planned to induce Venezuela to
accept some of the bonds for suit but the plan for some rea-
son fell through. The following year the committee offered
a large number to Colombia with an expression of regret
at the treatment of that country by the United States. Hayne
Davis, a native North Carolinian, who was at the time coun-
sel in the Colombia legation, advised against acceptance and
the offer w^as refused.
In 1905 the legislature of New York, presumably at the re-
quest of the committee, passed a law providing for the ac-
ceptance of gifts of bonds, and directed the attorney -general
to bring suit on them when necessary to secure payment.
Bonds were then offered the state, but Governor Glenn wrote
Governor Higgins such a statement of the character of the
bonds that the offer was promptly refused. In the same year
a similar offer was made to Michigan Avhich in 1901 had
passed a law providing for acceptance. Governor Warner laid
the matter before Governor Glenn whose letter of reply and
explanation made acceptance impossible.
By this time South Dakota had attained a rather unpleas-
ant notoriety and the governor, in his message of 1907, urged
that the proceeds of the suit be returned to North Carolina.
In 1910 the State of Ehode Island demanded the payment
of bonds which had been given by the Carlisle syndicate the
year before. These were fifty-three bonds issued for the
Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford Railroad, thirty bonds
issued for the Western, twenty bonds issued for the Atlantic,
Tennessee, and Ohio, fifty issued for the Western North Caro-
lina, and thirty-two issued for the Williamston and Tarboro,
with a total of 11,367 coupons attached, the total face value
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 329
being $511,010. It then developed that in May, 1909, a law
had been quietly put through the legislature, making the ac-
ceptance of such gifts mandatory. When Governor Kitchin
stated the nature of the bonds to Governor Pothier, the lat-
ter gave the matter very careful consideration and finally
decided that it would be a blot upon the state to accept such
a gift. Public sentiment in the state endorsed this view and
the legislature, Avhich was in session at the time, repealed
the act over the protest of the bondholders, represented by
E. L. Andrews who stated that an effort would be made to in-
duce other states and some of the South American republics
to accept them. The Providence Bulletin and the Providence
Journal both opposed acceptance, the former saying:
When a state receives as a gift from men who are actuated by
alterior motives a claim against another state, there seems to be some-
thing peculiarly dishonorable about attempting to collect it by recourse
to the courts. ' Rhode Islanders of sensitive feelings will not thank
the committee which gave the state repudiated bonds and coupons of
the State of North Carolina to the full value of over half a million
dollars and they will find fault with the Legislature that passed a law
compelling the general treasurer to bring suit to collect such a "debt."
In 1910 Nevada was offered certain of the bonds and
Governor Dickerson refused to accept them. An application
for a mandamus to compel acceptance was made and went
on appeal to the Supreme Court of the state which upheld
the application, whereupon the legislature repealed the law
providing for acceptance.
In 1916 the syndicate offered the State of Missouri a large
number of the bonds. Governor Major, who was opposed to
acceptance, consulted Senator Simmons and upon receiving
information as to the bonds was able to persuade the other
members of the board, charged with the decision of such
questions, to refuse the offer.
Doubtless other states have been offered bonds, but if so,
the facts were not made public, and with the failures in
Nevada and Missouri the bondholders apparently lost hope
of inducing any state of the Union to share in the disgraceful
business. From time to time they have made demands upon
the governor to bring the matter to the legislature but of
course have gained nothing thereby.
330 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
Although there was nothing to be gained in this country,
there was still hope in a foreign country and in 1916 Cuba
filed a petition in the Supreme Court of the United States for
leave to sue the state for the payment of certain of the bonds
held by that country. The state at once employed counsel and
preparations had been made for contesting the petition when
Senator Overman, who had introduced in the Senate a resolu-
tion of inquiry into the matter, was notified by the Cuban min-
ister that President Menocal had revoked the decree giving
authority for the suit, and thus ended the matter.
The campaign of 1902 was in many ways the most inter-
esting conducted in the state since 1900. It preceded the
first election to be held under the provisions of the new
amendment and both parties exerted every effort to carry the
state. For victory the republicans relied on the natural re-
action, and upon the discontented democrats, whom they now
declared to be emancipated from the the negro question. By
1902 every negro postmaster in the state but one had been re-
moved and the soft pedal was put on hostile discussion of the
amendment. But tlie amendment was not accepted as a
finality and at intervals it was bitterly attacked as unconsti-
tutional and politically immoral. Talk of the setting aside of
the amendment by the Federal courts was frequent and there
were constant threats of the indictment of all registrars or
election officials who denied to any negro the right to vote.
Consequently the "Lily White" movement which began in
North Carolina in this campaign, although it seriously alarmed
the democrats, was really of comparatively little importance,
particularly after President Roosevelt made it known that,
contrary to the general belief, he opposed it.
That there was a considerable body of discontented demo-
crats was well known. A large element in the party was op-
posed to Bryan and all his works. A growing number, chiefly
manufacturers and other business men, were friendly to pro-
tection and the new imperialistic tendency of the republican
party. Others were unfriendly to those in control of the demo-
cratic party. Thoy had all been kept in line by the presence of
the negro in politics and the misgovernment which had always
attended the dominance of the race in the republican party.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 331
With the negro finally removed they thought they saw an op-
portunity to re-shape, even to re-create, the party, although
the majority were not quite ready to take the final plunge
which was involved in a change of name. In other words, tra-
ditional dislike of the republican party was still a powerful
factor in politics in the state. The republicans of course wel-
comed the possibility of an alliance which would restore them
to power.
The only state officers to be chosen were the chief justice,
two associate justices and the superintendent of public in-
struction. Judge Clark was a candidate for chief justice and
considerable scattered opposition to him developed in the
party, although it was soon apparent that his nomination was
certain. Henry A. Page delivered the first democratic attack
upon him without much apparent effect. In April, Maj. James
W. Wilson, the former railroad commissioner, published a
bitter attack, charging that he had been hand and glove with
the fusionists, that he had tried to persuade them to elect him
to the Senate in 1895, that he had been the confidential politi-
cal adviser of Butler and Eussell, even seeking to secure from
the latter the appointment as chief justice to succeed Fair-
cloth, and that he had only come back into the democratic
camp when he saw that fusion faced certain defeat. He also
declared him unfit for the office because he had interfered in
the preliminaries of eases upon which he would later sit. He
declared that letters proving his contention were still in ex-
istence. The Charlotte Observer and the Ealeigh Morninfj
Post aired the matter fully and much attention was aroused.
Demands for the letters grew loud and the immediate defence
offered by the friends of the judge was seen to be hopelessly
weak without them. Finally in May Judge Clark published
a reply which included certain letters to Eussell which he de-
fended. They showed that he had advised Eussell legally but
they did not bear upon the political charges at all.
When the democratic convention met. Judge Clark was
nominated for chief justice and Piatt D. Walker and H. G.
Connor for associate justices, the latter winning the nomi-
nation after a close race with Judge George Brown. Soon
afterwards Thomas N. Hill, of Halifax, a democratic lawyer
332 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of some reputation, announced his willingness to accept the
nomination for chief justice as an independent democrat, if it
was tendered by an assembly of democrats. A meeting of
independents was held in Greensboro at which he was nomi-
nated and local meetings in a number of cases endorsed the
nomination. The republican convention also endorsed him
making no nominations for associate justices. But when the
election came the names of Connor and Walker were placed
upon the ticket.
The republican convention for the first time in the history
of the party in North Carolina contained not a single negro
delegate. A number appeared but were in all eases replaced
by contesting white men. A resolution declaring the accept-
ance in good faith of the amendment was offered and defeated,
and the following rather ambiguous plank inserted in the plat-
form: "We declare that when the constitutional amendment
was adopted by the people of North Carolina two years ago,
it passed out of the realm of politics, and that if Governor
Aycock, Senator Simmons, and others keep faith with the
people in the pledges then made, there can be no such thing
as a race issue in the present campaign."
In the campaign, however, the democrats declined to omit
the race issue, declaring that until the republicans accepted
the amendment unreservedly, the negro could not cease to be
a political question. There was, of course, some justification
for this position. In addition, the effectiveness of the issue
had been proved in 1898 and 1900 and there were many in the
party, fortunately only a minority, who did not Avant to see
it disappear. Consequently, it was discussed considerably
throughout the campaign and with considerable effect, since
most people believed that if the republicans should win, the
amendment in some way would be overthrown and the right of
suffrage restored to the negro. And there is but little reason
to doubt that such would have been the case. For the rest, the
democrats drew comparisons between republicans and demo-
cratic rule and asked the people if they were willing to restore
the former. The "clean" administration to which the repub-
licans invited the attention of the people was declared to be
typified in the various scandals already described and in the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 333
defalcation from the state treasury of more than $16,000 by
Major Martin, a republican politician, who was a clerk in the
office. This had only been discovered after the democratic ad-
ministration had come in.
The republicans sought chiefly to secure the support of
the business classes and to carry the legislature which would
secure the re-election of Senator Pritchard. Senator Pritch-
ard was active in the campaign and conducted a joint can-
vass with Locke Craig which excited much interest. On the
whole, the contest was spirited but lacked entirely the intensity
which had characterized the campaign of 1900. The Red
Shirts did not reappear.
The election showed a decrease in the vote of approxi-
mately one-third. The republican vote was about 70,000. The
democrats were victorious at all points. Judge Clark received
more than 60,000 majority, there was easy control of both
houses of the legislature, and every congressional candidate
was elected.
By 1902 Aycock's educational policy had aroused much
mild opposition and some bitter antagonism in the state. His
utter sincerity in continuing to press it caused considerable
surprise as well, for there was a large element who had used
education merelj' as a political catch-word designed to at-
tract votes, and when they saw the party safely back in
power, they were content to forget its pledges. Particularly
was this the case as concerned the education of the negro.
Feeling on this point was very strong in the East and very
general. In the legislature of 1901, bills were introduced
providing for the submission to the people of a constitutional
amendment dividing the school taxes between the races on the
basis of what each paid. These w'ere strongly opposed by
Judge Connor, who was chairman of the committee on edu-
cation in the House. Governor Aycock finally made it clear
that he would regard the passage of any such bill as so clearly
a violation of the party pledge given through him to the people
that he would resign. The bills never came to a vote, but iir
1902 a number of democratic county conventions declared for
division and the question was thus again brought up. In his
message of 1903, Aycock attacked the proposition and by his
334 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
opposition secured its defeat as he did again in 1905 when the
discussion was finally ended.
Governor Aycook lost some friends by his course and was
the object of bitter criticism, but he never faltered and the
fight he made was one of the bravest acts of his career and
also one of his chief titles to fame. In the end he won the
respect and support of all. Not that he did not go out of
office with a diminished reputation ; almost every governor of
North Carolina does that, probably because the lack of power
in the office prevents any man from living up to the hopes
entertained of him. But he steadily regained power with
every class and was the most beloved and trusted man in the
state when death found him preaching the gospel of universal
education. Aycock never had just the same sort of hold upon
the people that Vance had. Vance was beloved for what he
had done in behalf of the people as war-governor, and his
magnetic power and contagious broad humor. Aycock was
also magnetic, not lacking in humor, it is true, but he was of
a far more serious type than Vance and he was far more un-
selfish. He was a bom politician in the sense that he in-
stinctively knew the people and could arouse their sympathies
and toiich their hearts. In his dealings with them he was
always utterly sincere, always preferring the open, despite
the fact that he was never cautious in his convictions. His is
the outstanding figure of his generation.
Just before the close of his term the governor had to settle
a veiy vexing question, — that of the Atlantic and North
Carolina Railroad. It was a valuable property, two-thirds
of which was owned by the state, and undoubtedly had
not been developed to its full capacity although it had
been improved under new management during Aycock 's
administration. In the -winter of 1903-1904 several prop-
ositions to lease the road were made, one of them by
V. E. McBee, who had been prominent in the affairs of the
Seaboard Air Line, and K. S. Finch. They proposed to pay
3 per cent on the stock. Governor Russell in 1901 had recom-
mended that the North Carolina and the Atlantic and North
Carolina roads be sold, and a number of different interests
were thought to be seeking control of the latter. It was a
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 335
time for careful consideration. aud the governor, who had the
decision of the matter, was giving much thought to it when
Finch, who had never been a stockholder in the road, suc-
ceeded in making a contract for a sale to him of forty-five
shares whenever a lease to him should be made. He then ap-
plied to Judge Purnell of the United States District Court for
the appointment of a receiver, alleging mismanagement of the
road. Judge Purnell, who was at the time out of the state, ap-
pointed McBee receiver without giving notice to the state or
to the other stockholders. In his petition Finch asked that
the road be leased. At the same time he and McBee with-
drew their bid for a lease. The state was in an uproar im-
mediately. Judge Purnell returned to the state and, aware
that he had exceeded his power, signed a new order. An ef-
fort was at once made to reach Judge Simonton of the Cir-
cuit Court and after some delay he ordered a hearing. The
governor then had the attorney-general and the officers of
the road secure a bench warrant from Cliief Justice Clark for
the arrest of Finch and McBee. Upon investigation the case
was seen to be clearly one of conspiracy, and on March 17th,
Judge vSimonton and Judge Purnell signied a decree dismissing
the receiver.
But the matter was not ended. On May 3d, John P. Cuy-
ler, of New York, a stockholder of the road to the extent of
thirty-seven shares, applied to Judge Purnell for the appoint-
ment of a receiver and on May 28th T. D. Meares was ap-
pointed and a few days later McBee was made co-receiver.
An appeal to the Circuit Court was made immediately after
Judge Purnell 's order.
The morning after, the News and Observer contained a
sharp and entirely deserved criticism of Judge Purnell 's con-
duct in the whole matter with particular reference to the
action of the preceding day. The judge at once had a rule
for contempt served upon Josephus Daniels, the editor, and,
refusing any extension of time or argument, fined him $2,000
and ordered him .iailed until the fine was paid, at the same
time denying an appeal from his decision. This action was of
course entirely without justification either in law or morals.
In the meantime the receivership case had been laid be-
336 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
fure Chief -Justice Fuller who at once issued an order allow-
ing the officers of the road to give bonds and retain posses-
sion until the case was heard on appeal. When this order
was presented to Purnell, he questioned the right of the chief
justice to issue it but of course ended by obeying it. The re-
ceivers then declined to recog-nize the demand of the superin-
tendent of the road to yield possession, upon which Governor
Aycock ordered them dispossessed by force, even if necessary
with the use of the militia, whereupon they surrendered.
Judge Simonton had died in April and Senator Pritchard
had been appointed by President Roosevelt to succeed him.
Application was at once made to him in the contempt case
for a writ of habeas corpus and on June 3d, he granted it.
Judge Purnell at the news of this hurriedly decided to allow
appeal. Judge Pritchard, however, took jurisdiction and
held an investigation on the writ of habeas corpus and dis-
missed the case, delivering an opinion which cut the ground
from under Purnell who, after having been made a tool of by
the conspirators, had yielded to bad temper, probably under
the spur of a guilty conscience.
The Cuyler suit was finally dismissed and the attorneys
claimed liberal allowances. These were refused and the state
was completely triumphant in the discomfiture of those who
had planned to loot the road. There had been much popular
opposition to a lease, but this experience converted many and
when in Septembei', 1904, the road was leased to the Howland
Tmj:)rovement Company for a long term of years, there was
little objection. A committee of investigation, appointed by
the governor at the time of the first suit, had reported honest
and economical management but had frankly advised against
furtlier control by the state, and this influenced many.
In 1907 there was another and more exciting contest in
relation to railroad conditions in the state. The legislature
of 1907 passed a law prescribing a lower passenger rate and
setting heavy penalties upon any railroad or employe violat-
ing it. The law was argued before the corporation commis-
sion in May and the railroads not obtaining relief applied to
Judge Pritchard who issued a restraining order against the
corporation commission and the attorney-general, enjoining
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 337
from putting the law into effect. He also appointed a com-
mission to inquire into the rates to ascertain if they were
confiscatory an(.l ordered the original rate nuiintained with
rebate coupons attached to the tickets for use in the event that
the new rate was upheld. The rate law went into effect with-
out action of the corporation commission or attorney-general
on August 8th, and agents in Asheville and Raleigh were ar-
rested for its violation. In the Asheville cases, Judge Pritch-
ard declared the penalty clause unconstitutional and released
the agents. In the Raleigh case, the agent was arrested, tried
before Judge Long, of the Superior Court, and sentenced, and
the Southern Railway was fined $30,000. He was released
by Judge Pritchard, and Governor Glenn replied to this by an
order for tlie execution of the law by the state authorities.
Another agent was arrested, tried, and convicted only to be
released by Judge Pritchard. Application was made to him
for the arrest of Judge Long and Governor Glenn announced
his intention of protecting the latter, if necessary by the use
of force. Judge Pritchard then declared, "This court is con-
fronted with open and avowed opposition by the powers of
the state," and laid the matter before President Roosevelt
who sent down Assistant Attorney-General Sanford to effect
a compromise. Governor Glenn demanded as a preliminary
condition that the roads obey the law and on August 27th,
the Southern Railway accepted the proposition. It was then
agreed as part of the compromise to expedite the injunction
suit and the habeas corpus cases, to have the "Wake County
case carried at once to the Supreme Court and then on writ
of error to the Supreme Court of the United States, and that
all other proceedings under the law be suspended until the
courts should act.
In October Governor Glenn held a conference with Gov-
ernor Comer of Alabama and Governor Smith of Georgia at
which it was agreed that the states must control traffic within
their borders. In November the governor held a conference
with a large number of citizens of the state on the same sub-
ject.
The state Supreme Court upheld Judge Long except as
to the $.30,000 fine imposed on the Southern Railway. The
Vol. Ill— 22
338 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
case then went to the United- States Supreme Court which in
the next year declared the law unconstitutional. But in the
meantime a compromise with the railroads had been arranged
and a special session of the legislature had been held to put
it into effect.
The special session was notable not only for the settlement
of the railroad question ; it also marked a climax in the pro-
hibition movement.
Mention has been made already of the growing sentiment
in the state for prohibition. By 1903 more than half the
state was "dry" territory through local laws. In the same
year the Watts law was passed which forbade the manufac-
ture and sale of liquor elsewhere than in incorporated towns.
It also provided for local option elections. This was a great
step forward and led to a more rapid progress of prohibition,
but it was rendered less effective by the incorporation of
towns purely for the purpose of traffic in liquor. So in 1905
the Ward bill was introduced which produced great excite-
ment and caused gloomy predictions as to the certain defeat
of the democratic party at the next election. This proposed
law provided that no liquor could be manufactured or sold in
towns of less than 1,000 population. Freedom of shipment
from "wet" towns in the state had already almost nullified
prohibition in some sections of the state and so in another
act it was provided that the place of delivery was under the
law to be regarded as the place of sale. There was so much
opposition that a meeting of the democratic executive com-
mittee was called to consider what course should be pursued.
Wisely, the committee declared liquor legislation not a party
matter and declined to take any action. Both bills were passed
and became laws.
Under these laws prohibition had a chance to prove its
possibilities. Everywhere the results were good and senti-
ment for prohibition grew fast. State-wide prohibition, how-
ever, was regarded as a thing to be achieved in the distant
future. But when the special session of 1908 was called, a
wave of interest and enthusiasm on the subject appeared and
rose steadily. When the legislature assembled it was flooded
with petitions and sentiment became so strong that a bill was
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 339
passed submitting the question of state prohibition to the
voters, for decision at a special election. A campaign fol-
lowed which was Axdthout political significance, leaders of
both parties taking part. Nor ditl it have any special interest
although bitterly contested. Prohibition was carried by a
majority of more than 44,000, only twenty counties voting
against it and the westex'n counties giving it heavy majorities.
The law was effective and highly beneficial from the begin-
ning. From time to time, in accordance with public senti-
ment it has been supplemented by other laws designed to
check the traffic across state lines, such as limiting the amount
that might be received within a given period.
In the years following 1900 there was such a vast increase
of local and special legislation that the legislative machinery
was clogged by it at every session. Many of those who served
in the legislature recognized the evil clearly, but the pres-
sure of the system was too gi'eat to be overcome. In his
message of 1911 Governor Kitchin recommended the amend-
ment of the constitution in several respects but chiefly in the
direction of limiting special legislation. At the same ses-
sion a bill for submitting the question of a constitutional con-
vention to the people was introduced, but received little con-
sideration. Two years later there was considerable interest
in the subject and quite extended discussion in the state press
before the legislature met. Wlien the session began there
were before the members numerous proposals for amendment
and a bill for a convention. The le,gislature admitted the
necessity for amendment, but decided against a convention
and created a commission on constitutional amendments com-
posed of five persons chosen by the Senate from its oAvn
members, eight chosen similarly by the House, and five others
appointed by the governor. The commission was charged
with the consideration of all proposals for amendment, and
the recommendation of such as it decided upon to a special
session of the legislature. The commission was appointed
and in July submitted fourteen amendments which were laid
before the special session held in September. Ten were
adopted which proposed (1) to substitute the phrase "War
Between the States" for the words "insurrection and rebel-
340 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
lion against the United States"; (2), to increase the com-
pensation of members of the General Assembly; (3), to re-
strict local, private, and special legislation; (4), to fix the day
of inauguration of the governor; (5), to prevent delays in.
trials by providing emergency judges; (6), to remove cer-
tain obsolete sections from the constitution; (7), to reform
the system of taxation; (8) to prohibit special charters of
corporations by the General Assembly; (9), to prohibit special
charters of towns, cities, and incorporated villages by the
General Assembly; and (10) to require a six months term in
the public schools.
While these amendments were pending the democratic
convention of 1914 met and refused to endorse the amend-
ments or to consider them in any way, and omitted all men-
tion of them from the platform. The republican convention
endorsed them but with no particular enthusiasm and the
party as a whole was opposed. An attempt to rouse enthu-
siasm and to carry on a campaign for ratification was made
by a small group who were favorable, but the action of the
democratic convention had been fatal and all the amend-
ments were defeated, the slaughter of the taxation clause
being particularly complete. The legislature of 1915, how-
ever, which met immediately afterwards, promptly re-submit-
ted the third, fifth, eighth, and ninth amendments which were
ratified in 1916. The discussion of the subject performed an
educational service of value. One result w^as seen in 1917
when the legislature, by overwhelming majorities in each
House, submitted the question of a convention to the vote of
the people.
The politics of the period since 1900 has been in the main
uninteresting. The democrats have been completely and se-
curely in power in branches of the state government and in a
large majority of the counties. Within the party there have
been exciting contests but the campaigns between the two
parties have been rather uninterested as well as uninterest-
ing. The republican party is strong enough in the state to
threaten uninterrupted tenure of power, and there is a grow-
ing independent element, so democratic control cannot be said
to be irresponsible in a party sense, but the threat of defeat
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 341
is not serious and there have in consequence been tendencies,
apparent at times, towards a disregard by a certain element
of political leaders of what the niasses desired and even de-
manded, and conservatism has been entirely in control. The
jDrimary, adopted in 1915, has had no fair trial, but is likely
sometime to become a powei-ful instrument in the hands of
the people.
In 1903 there was a long contest in the democratic caucus
of the legislature for the nomination for United States sen-
ator between J. S. Carr, Locke Craig, R. B. Glenn, Lee S.
Overman, and C. B. Watson, resulting finally in the choice of
Overman who was elected. Pritchard retired from the Sen-
ate A\ath the friendship and liking of the state, even so stal-
wart and partisan an opponent as the Netvs and Observer
paying him a tribute as a broad-minded public servant. His
later appointment to the bench was popular with democrats
as well as republicans and he has steadily gro'WTi in public
estimation. In 1912 there was another bitter senatorial con-
test between Senator Simmons and Governor Kitchin with
Chief .Justice Clark running far behind. Aycock had an-
nounced his candidacy just before his death. The result in
the primary was a majority for Simmons over both his oppo-
nents of more than twenty thousand. In 1914 Overman was
without opposition in his own party and in the first popular
election of senator defeated A. A. Whitener by thirty-four
thousand votes.
Three of the four gubernatorial contests in the democratic
party have been intense. In 1904 there was an excited pre-
convention campaign between R. B. Glenn, Charles M. Sted-
man, W. D. Turner, and T. F. Davidson, but with only the
first two really having a chance. Glenn was nominated on the
fifth ballot and in November carried the state by forty-nine
thousand, defeating Charles J. Harris, the republican candi-
date. In 1908 there was an intense contest between Locke
Craig, W. "W. Kitchin, and Ashley Home. The convention
which met in Charlotte was deadlocked for almost a week, but
Kitchin was finally nominated on the sixty-first ballot and in
the election defeated J. Elwood Cox by thirty-eight thousand
majority. Locke Craig was nominated without opposition in
342 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
1912 and ran against Thomas Settle on the republican ticket
and Iredell Meares on the progressive ticket, defeating both
with a majority of more than fifty-six thousand. Meares led
Settle by more than six thousand. In 1916 Thomas W. Bick-
ett, who had leaped to state-wide reputation by his nominat-
ing speech in behalf of Ashley Home in 1908, and had been
nominated for attorney-general when he was not a candidate
for the office, defeated Lieutenant-Governor E. B. Daught-
ridge in the primary by twenty-six thousand. The republicans
nominated Frank A. Linney, and a spirited campaign fol-
lowed in wliieh the two candidates carried on a joint canvass,
marked liy debate of a high order and fine spirit. Bickett
received a majority of forty-seven thousand.
Since 1901 there has been a marked tendency towards long
terms for members of Congress. But few republicans have
been elected. E. Spencer Blackburn was elected in the eighth
district in 1900 and 1904. John M. Morehead in the fifth, and
Charles H. Cowles in the eighth were elected in 1908 and
served each one term ; and James J. Britt was elected in the
tenth district in 1914. Of the democratic members in the
period, John H. Small has served since 1899 ; E. W. Pou and
Claude Kitchin since 1901; E. Y. Webb since 1903, H. L.
Godwin since 1909 ; and Charles M. Stedman and R. L. Dough-
ton since 1911. During the same time, W. W. Kitchin, who
had been elected in 1896, served until his resignation in 1908 ;
Charles R. Thomas from 1899 until his voluntary retirement
in 1911; and Robert IS^. Page from 1903 until his voluntary
retirement in 1917. As a consequence, when the democrats
came into power in the country in 1913, North Carolinians
were in a position of greater influence than ever before. Dur-
ing the period since 1913 Simmons has been chairman of the
finance committee and Overman chairman of the rules com-
mittee and acting chairman of the judiciary committee in the
Senate. In the House Claude Kitchin was first majority
leader and since then chairman of the ways and means com-
mittee. E. W. Pou is chairman of the rules committee,
and E. Y. Webb chairman of the judiciary committee, while
Hannibal Godwin and R. L. Dough'ton hold chairmanships of
lessor importance. These, with Josephus Daniels, the Secre-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 343
tary of the Xavy, and a nuniber of otluT important officials,
have put the state in a remarkably prominent position.
As yet the republican party has not grown in strength and
power as might have been expected with the negro vote elimi-
nated. Three tilings serve to explain this failure to gain
more. One is the fact that the party has. never openly ac-
cepted and pledged its support to the suffrage amendment,
although no one doubts that the great majority of the party
rejoice at the exclusion of the negro. In 1906 the party plat-
form demanded an extension of the grandfather clause to
1920, hut that was capable of a double interpretation and the
rank and file of the people in the state, remembering the
negro in politics, demand a more definite pledge. Another
cause is a widespread fear that republican success might
mean the re-opening of the question of the special tax bonds
and possibly their payment. This is highly unlikely but it
is nevertheless A\ddely believed with much political effect.
The third and most important reason is the leadership of the
party.
Since 1872 the control of the republican party has been
largely in the hands of Federal office-holders whose quarrels
over the spoils have alienated thousands of young men whose
political affiliations were still to be formed, not to mention
. many older men not hostilely inclined towards the political
doctrines of the party. Nor has the situation met with ap-
proval in the party. Judge Bynum, one of the foremost men
in the state in ability and character, after the state conven-
tion of 1904, thus expressed himself:
The time has come in the tide of Republican politicks in North
Carolina when one of two thinp:s must be clone : Either the Federal
office-holders must own, control and manage the affairs of the party
absolutely, as they seem to be doing at this convention, or they must
abdicate and allow the party to be managed and its policy shaped
by those whose policies and principles are governed by other con-
siderations than office-getting, greed, grab and graft. If the Federal
office-holders continue in control, then no self-respecting man can or
will be induced to take part in Republican politics in this state. If
they are forced to abdicate, as should be done, then there is a future
for the party. This may as well be said here and now. The party
seems to be drifting wnthout a leader or any one who has the courage
to speak above a whisper. Everything is subrogated to the chance
of being a delegate or getting an office. The thoughtful, prudent
344 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
people of North Carolina never will and never ought to consent to
the management of the affairs of this great state by such an irre-
sponsible cabal as now controls the affairs of the Republican party of
this state.
When criticised for this utterance, he replied:
"The rank and file of the Republican Party in this State constitute
a band of Spartan heroes — noble men who have pronounced political
principles and convictions in which they believe and on which they
act for their own and their country's good. But some of those who
would lead them are little more than political cutthroats and pirates.
It was said of Washington that he was first in war, fii-st in peace and
first in the hearts of his countrymen. It may, with equal truth, be
said of these men that they are always at war, never at peace and for-
ever in the pockets of their countrymen. "
The same idea was expressed by Mr. Taft in 1906, while Sec-
retary of War, who said in a speech in Greensboro :
"I do not wish to seem ungracious, but I must be candid. In my
judgment the Republican Party in North Carolina would be much
stronger as a voting party if all the Federal offices were filled by
Democrats. Of course I cannot deny that a wish to fill public office
is an honorable aspiration, whether by appointment or by election, but
when all hope of choice by the people is abandoned, and everything is
given over to influencing a distant appointing power to choose par-
ticular men to perform official functions in a comnumity politically
hostile to those men, the result is not good for the men or the com-
munity. * * * As long, however, as the Republican Party in the
Southern States shall represent little save a factional chase for
Federal offices in which business men and men of substance in the com-'
munity have no desire to enter and in the result of which they have
no interest, we may expect the present political conditions of the South
to continue."
The view of a more recent convert, Marion Butler, who since
the disappearance of the populist party has been a repub-
lican, is thus pithily expressed:
They wanted it to grow smaller, they wanted their States to stay
Democratic as to their State and local governments, and they wanted
to have a small coterie of men calling themselves the Republican Party
who would control and dish out the Federal patronage among them-
selves.
Their constant regret has been that the party was already so
large that there was not an office for each Republican. If this condi-
tion could have been reached then there would have been perfect
harmony for the first time in the Republican Party in certain localities
and States in the South, provided they had not quarrelled over the
question as to which one Avas entitled to the biggest office.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 345
These so-called leaders often made themselves oft'eusive to the best
white people so as to make it sure that no decent member of the other
party would join the republican party.
So fierce became the contest that in 1906 the following state-
ment was incorporated into the platform :
It is therefore now resolved, That the State Executive Committee
of the Republican Party be and is hereby instructed to assemble, and
each and everj' member thereof, in Greensboro, North Carolina, on the
first day of September, 1906, and on the first days of March and
Septeml3er in each and every year hereafter, and shall then and
there before adjournment consider applications for appointment to all
Federal offices in North Carolina, the terms of which shall expire in
the next six months, and to recommend to the appointing power in each
instance a suitable person for each position, except in such districts
as are represented by a Republican Congressman. That no application
shall be considered unless the applicant shall state in his application
that he will submit to the action and recommendation of the committee
without further contest.
In 1912 the party was split into two factions and President
Taft in his search for delegates withdrew ten nominations
for federal office from the Senate in order to force agree-
ment. A conference was held in Washington in March in
which the leaders agreed to support Taft. But the party had
no love for him remembering his Greensboro speech and
cherishing a bitter grudge against him for the appointment
of a democrat, Judge H. G. Connor, to the district judgeship,
an appointment, by the way, that has begun to destroy the
distrust and even hatred of the Federal courts generally, and
with just cause, prevalent in the state since Reconstruction.
So when the state convention met, the Roosevelt delegates
captured it and passed resolutions which bitterly condemned
Taft. The party then divided for the campaign.
These are the things which have militated against a more
equal division of parties in the state. The republican party
has still, however, a great opportunity and in the course of
time may grasp it.
The absence of the negro from politics has had many good
results in North Carolina. Not the least of these was thus
described by Ay cock :
I declared in my speech of acceptance that with the adoption of the
Constitutional Amendment, ' ' We will have peace in the land. " " There
346 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
will be rest," I said, "from political bitterness and race antagonism.
Industry will have a great outburst. We shall have intellectual free-
dom. Public questions will stand or fall iu the court of reason and
not of passion. We shall forget the asperities of those jears and shall
go forward into the twentieth century a united people, striving in
zeal and in generous rivalry for the material, intellectual and moral
upbuilding of the State. May an era of good feeling among us be the
outcome of this contest."
There are those among us who fear that these predictions have not
been fulfilled. These doubters are looking upon the surface of things.
They do not look at the great underlying truth. They declare that
bitterness is more rife than ever before; that the era of good feeling
has not come; that criticism is more severe than ever; that freedom of
speech is not permissible. They have mistaken appearance for fact.
There is bittei'ness between individuals. There is strife and enmity
between some people. There is. of course, a reckless criticism. Our
people had been so long restrained b.y the necessity of staying united
in order to face the danger of negro control of the state, that when
they first gained their freedom under the Constitutional Amendment
they naturally felt called upon to exhibit their freedom from restraint
by frequent and often undue criticism. * * * Speeches and pub-
lications which heretofore would have attracted universal approval or
universal condemnation, according to the side which they were on, have
met with a divided support and a divided criticism. Controversies
have grown large about small things. Personalities have frequently
taken the place of the discus,-)ion of great problems. All of these things
have been done in assertion of our new-born freedom. They are ever
the first fruits of liberty of speech. The.y mark the beginning of real
liberty, which will hereafter be restrained by judgment. They show
that the minds of our people are active ; that they ai-e alert even in
fault-finding. They can be destructionists, but this is the beginning
of the constructive power as well. If we pull down now. we shall
build hereafter. If we criticise now, we .shall in the future learn that
effective criticism is that only which is based on fact, and then only
to be indulged in for the correction of evil and for the purpose of
turning men toward better +hings. This bitterness and this strife has
not reached the great body of the people. They have gone about their
work undisturbed by fault-finding and the asperities of discussion.
They have found in industry the best outlet for their superabundance
of energy and they are bringing to pass a wonderful day in this state.
CHAPTER XVI
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
When the civil war broke out the school system had been
firmly established by Calvin H. Wiley. It compared favor-
ably with the systems of the other states and was infinitely
better than any other in the Southern states. Already the
influence of the schools was beginning to be felt in the state,
and one of the most hopeful things in connection with them
was the widespread public sentiment in their favor, which was
a fact clearly apparent. The state was committed at last
to public education, and the promise of the system was very
bright when war upset the calculations of every one who had
dared to plan for the future.
The war was, of course, a disaster which did irreparable
damage not only to the whole existing system of schools, but
also to the whole future of public education in North Caro-
lina. It stripped the schools of male teachers and started a
process of feminizing education. It led to the release of the
counties from the obligation to levy local taxes for school
support. It diverted public interest from education. It swept
away the major part of the literary fund, which at that time
amounted to nearly $2,000,000. And, finally, through its out-
come, it left as a legacy to the South the negro problem, which
was to prove one of the most persistent and embarrassing
obstacles to the re-awakening of public interest in universal
education.
Of course, all of these things did not happen at once. At-
tendance dropped in the first year of the war, and the amount
spent on schools was far less; but 65,000 children were in
school and more than $100,000 was expended. Wiley, with
all his strength, urged the maintenance of the fundamentals
of the system, and the press insisted that the schools must
347
348 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
be kept in operation, the Standard phrasing it, "In the name
of the good people, and especially the children of the state,
let none of the schools be abandoned," while the Charlotte
Democrat tersely said: "The children of the state must be
taught to read, war or no war." Governor Vance, in his
message of November, 1864, said:
The subject of our common schools is one which I beg you will
not forget amid the great concerns of war. * * « ]^ earnestly
recommend to your consideration the whole subject. * * * i
also suggest that regular teachers be exempted from state military
duty whilst engaged in teaching. * * * The common schools
should surely be kept going at any cost ; and if sufficient inducements
cannot be offered to disabled soldiers and educated women to take
hold of them, the necessary males should be exempted. * * •
Our great system of common schools is, after all, our only true and
solid foundation for public education and demands your constant and
fostering care.
Thanks to this sort of spirit and the courage and labors
of Wiley, the system did not die until the war was over.
Wiley's faith never faltered, and he redoubled his efforts,
ignoring the fact that his small salary, considering its pur-
chasing power, had practically vanished, firm in his conviction
that there would be greater need than ever after the war for
the educated man and for the continued education of the youth
of the state.
At the beginning of the war he was fearful that the school
fund would be used for military purposes, either directly or
by investment in doubtful securities. He carried the matter
to the governor, stating his fears, and the latter, along with
the council of state, entered into an agreement with him to
assist in keeping the fund intact. Accordingly when propo-
sitions were made in the legislature at its first session to take
it for war purposes, executive influence was added to the oppo-
sition in the legislature. A rather heated contest followed
which terminated favorably to the preservation of the literary
fund, and, except in 1863, when $128,000 was borrowed by the
state from it, the safety of its securities were not later in
doubt. Nor were the securities changed, for, in spite of the
pressure to invest in Confederate bonds, the fund remained
invested mainly in bank stock which seemed more secure.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 349
But the banks were ruined at the close of the war by the loss
of Confederate securities and the repudiation of the state war
debt, so the result was much the same. The other invest-
ments were more secure and had a par value of about $1,000,-
000, but the sum finally saved from the wreck amounted to
scarcely more than a third of this.
Wiley still gave all his thought to plans for the improve-
ment of the system and secured in December, 1864, the passage
of a law providing for graded schools. He was literally a man
of one idea, and even in the midst of a devastating war thought
only of what had ever been North Carolina's supreme need
— the education of all the people. It was only this single-
mindedness of his which saved the schools. Their continued
existence was little short of a miracle, when one considers the
condition of the state. Nothing better indicates the hold which
public education had secured upon the minds and hearts of
the people than this war record, which Wiley thus briefly
described in his last report :
To the lasting honor of North Carolina her public schools sur-
vived the terrible shock of cruel war and state which furnished the
greatest number and the bravest troops to the war did more than all
the others for the cause of popular education. The common schools
lived and discharged their useful mission through all the gloom and
trials of the conflict, and when the last gun was fired, and veteran
armies once hostile were meeting and embi-acing in peace upon our soil,
the doors were still open and they numbered their pupils by the
scores of thousands.
Dr. Joyner aptly adds :
He did not say, but he might have said with truth, that to the
eloquence, the zeal, the vigilance, the courage, the devotion, the
wisdom, the tact, the power, the energy and the influence of the
great superintendent of her public schools was mainly due the credit
of this honorable record.
When the end of the war came with economic and financial
prostration, under the pressure of the most absorbing polit-
ical problems and grave doubts of the future, public attention
was turned elsewhere. Provisional Governor Holden, when
he appointed provisional state officials, for some reason un-
known, unless because of Wiley's opposition to his candidacy
for governor in 1864, ignored him and did not appoint a sue-
350 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
cesser. When the conveution of 1865 was about to meet Wiley
submitted his report, which Holden declined to receive. Wiley
asked that it be transmitted to the convention and the gov-
ernor again refused to recognize him. Wiley protested with-
out avail. He and Worth were great friends, and the latter
sought to get the report before the convention.
On October 19 the convention, by ordinance, declared va-
cant all state offices in existence April 26, 1865, whose incum-
bents had taken the oath of allegiance to the Confederate
States. As it happened, Wiley had never taken the oath, and
he, therefore, claimed the office and submitted his report to
the legislature in 1866 which received and printed it. But
on March 9 a law was passed abolishing the offices of super-
intendent of common schools and treasurer of the literary
fund. The same law allowed the county courts to lay and
collect taxes for school support, but it was not likely that this
permission would continue the school system. Towards Wiley
there was manifested some bitterness of feeling, which un-
doubtedly to some extent influenced the legislature. But the
lack of sufficient funds to carry on the system in any adequate
way, the poverty of the people, and the uncertainty prevailing
as to the future would of themselves serve to explain the
action of the legislature. At the same session the House
passed a bill, which the Senate killed, appropriating $70,000
to assist the schools.
At the last meeting of the legislature before the passage
of the reconstruction acts a law was passed allowing towns
and cities to establish public schools. Another law, passed
at the same time, required the county courts to appoint county
superintendents and local trustees. These acts indicate that
in the minds of the legislators the suspension of the schools
was but a temporary matter, and that in time the system would
be restored.
One of the chief purposes of the northern settlers in North
Carolina, if their words can be taken as evidence, was to estab-
lish an effective system of common schools based upon the
New England plan. They ignored entirely the system which
had already been established and which was temporarily in-
active, and made their demand for the creation of schools for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 351
all one of the main defenses of the policy of Eeconstniction.
There is little doubt that much of this sentiment was real, but,
obscured by the gi'eed which characterized the activities of the
aliens, it did little for the cause of education in the state.
From the beginning, their plans were threatened by the hos-
tility which was aroused by the determination of many of
them to prevent the separation of the races, their ignorance
of the people of North Carolina and of the conditions existent
in the state, and the economic and financial prostration which
prevented the expenditure of the necessary funds to maintain
the system.
"VMien the convention of 1868 assembled there was much
interest in its probable action in relation to education. The
committee on education was composed of eleven republicans
and two conservatives. Seven of the former were carpet-
baggers and two were negroes. The section on education re-
ported by the committee made no provision for separate
schools for the two races, and twice the convention voted
down amendments offered to secure separation. The carpet-
baggers were planning mixed schools and the decision of the
question was, under the constitution, a matter for each county.
•The new constitution provided that the legislature should
provide by taxation or otherwise for a general and uniform
system of public schools, and it further provided that a four
months' school should be maintained in every district. The
legislature was given power to compel the attendance of all
children for a period of sixteen months. Three-fourths of
the poll tax was assigned to the school fund. The superin-
tendent of public instruction was made a constitutional officer
and was associated with the other state officers in a board of
education which replaced the literary board. The composi-
tion of this board put the control of the schools into political
hands and it has remained there ever since — not the least of
the evils inherited from the carpet-baggera
No action in connection with the schools Avas taken until
the regular session of the legislature in 1868, further than
the appointment of committees in each house. The Senate
committee consisted of seven republicans, one of them a negro.
352 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
and the House committee of ten republicans, one a negro, and
one conservative.
Governor Holden in his message urged the establishment
of a general and uniform system of schools with separation
of the races but with no difference in the schools. In Jan-
uary a bill providing for the establishment of a school system
was introduced into the Senate and sometime later into the
House. In the Senate it was the subject of much debate but
was amended very little except that a provision for separate
schools was adopted. Finally, in April it became law.
Under it, the income from the old literary fund, now the
public school fund, was to be apportioned among the counties
according to school population. The commissioners of each
county were to levy taxes for sites and for building or rent-
ing schoolhouses and township school committees were to
maintain a sufficient number of schools for at least four
months in the year. The duties of the school boards and of
the county examiners were defined and a course of study
outlined. It was provided that three-fourths of the money
received from the poll tax should be spent on the schools and
the further sum of one hundred thousand dollars was appro-
priated by the legislature for their assistance. Could this
law have been actually put into operation by an honest and
good-intentioned state government the story of public educa-
tion in North Carolina after the war would have been very
different. But the obstacles were almost insuperable. The
state and the people were almost bankrupt, the new status
of the negro and the general knowledge that the more radical
elements of the republican party were seeking to establish
mixed schools made the matter of the schools a serious prob-
lem, and for the next two years the state was administered
by a shamelessly corrupt government. It is easy to see today
that there was really no hope in the situation.
The new superintendent of public instruction, Rev. S. S.
Ashley, was a carpet-bagger from Massachusetts who was
probably himself of mixed blood. He was an earnest fanatic
of doubtful honesty who was bent, to the exclusion of other
matters, on the establishment of mixed schools. He had some
ability but was utterly unable to gain public confidence. He
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 353
devoted most of liis official attention to the preparation of
elaborate reports which were notable for their large plans
for the future and their small record of things already
accomplished.
In November, 1868, he reported the begiimings of organi-
zation; in August, 1869, he believed that something would be
begun in the following October and that by 1870 many schools
would be in operation. He calculated that the school fund
would be three hundred thousand dollars and that the Pea-
body Fund would help the cities and towns. But, as events
soon showed, no taxes were forthcoming for the year ending
September, 1869, nor did the legislative appropriation of one
hundred thousand dollars ever materialize. The poll tax
produced very little. For the year ending September, 1870,
more than one hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars was
collected for schools but only about thirty-nine thousand was
spent upon them. Still, according to Ashley's report, by the
same time about fourteen hundred schools were in operation
with close to fifty thousand pupils, nearly half of w^hom were
colored.
Assisting Ashley in the work of superintendence was J.
W. Hood, a negro carpet-bagger, who had been a member of
the convention of 1868. Without any warrant of law the
board of education had appointed him assistant superintend-
ent of public instruction for the colored schools, and with far
more energy and ability than was shown by Ashley, he en-
tered upon the work of organizing schools for the negroes.
These schools wei'e the beneficiaries of considerable assistance
from numerous societies and religious organizations in the
North and also from the Freedmen's Bureau. The latter
had begun the establishment of negro schools in 1865 and
when its existence was terminated in 1869 it was supporting
wholly or in part more than four hundred schools with more
than twenty thousand pupils. No figures can be obtained as
to the expenditure of the bureau but it could scarcely have
been less than two hundred thousand dollars. Both white
and colored schools received assistance from the Peabody
Fund.
In the attempt to work out the problem of establishing
Vol. rn— 28
354 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
a school system many difficulties appeared. Party strife
was rampant and the schools, as has been seen, had been
definitely put under political control by the constitution.
It thus lost many of the friends it should have made among
the class by whose support alone could success be won.
Teachers were untrained and incompetent, and, even of this
sort, very scarce. Books were difficult to obtain. School
officials were uninterested and careless in the majority of
cases and there was no public drive behind the schools to
make them go. Of course the lack of funds was the greatest
weakness. In 1869 the investments of the literary fund which
still survived, were sold, part of them with considerable sus-
picion of fraud, and invested in special tax bonds which were
soon worthless, so this source of income had practically dis-
appeared. In 1870 a special tax was levied to pay the special
appropriation by the state, but only a small amount was col-
lected. The final financial blow came in 1870 when the Su-
preme Court held unconstitutional that part of the law of 1869
which provided for local school taxes, because school expenses
were not necessary within the meaning of the constitution and
because the levy would prevent the preservation of the equa-
tion between poll and property taxes required by the consti-
tution. This decision put a heavy handicap on the schools
for some years to come.
Leaving the public schools for the time being, let us follow
the University through the years of Reconstruction.
During the entire period of the war, the University of
North Carolina never closed its doors. Year by year its stu-
dent body decreased until there remained only a mere handful,
all disabled by service or too young to go to the front. With
the students went the younger members of the faculty, but the
older professors, led by President Swain, continued at their
posts, determined that the exercises of the institution, begun
in 1795, should not be suspended.
At the close of the war the economic prostration of the
state and the financial condition of the institution itself both
militated against any rapid return to prosperity. Its debts,
not including arrears of salaries, amounted to more than
$100,000 while the bulk of its property was invested in bank
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 355
stock which became worthless with the repudiation of the state
debt. In 1866 the legislature helped somewhat by the appro-
priation of $7,000 and the next year by the transfer of the
land scrip granted the state by Congress under the Morrill
Act of 1862 for the support of an agricultural college. North
Carolina was entitled to 270,000 acres which were sold for 50
cents an acre, $10,000 down and the rest payable when Con-
gress should recognize the state.
The attendance was very small and it became evident that
failure was near. Two professors resigned in 1867 and Gov-
ernor Worth at a special meeting of the trustees urged that
some steps be taken to save the institution. President Swain,
it was clear, had outgrown his usefulness but was entirely
unaware of the fact. Kemp P. Battle in consultation with Dr.
Charles Phillips, determined to secure the remodeling of the
institution and they secured the resignations of all the faculty
including the president. These were presented at the meeting
of the trustees and all were asked to hold over until their
successors should be chosen which they promised would be
done in 1868.
In the meantime, the new constitution had been adopted,
and by its provisions the existing board of trustees, which
had been elected by the General Assembly, was replaced by
one chosen by the board of education, consisting of the state
officers, who were ex-officio trustees. In consequence of this
the outgoing board at their last meeting re-elected the presi-
dent and faculty and abandoned the new scheme of reorganiza-
tion.
The new system of control \\lu('h went into effect in July,
1868, was purely political and was designed to be so. The
governor was chairman of the board of trustees and also of
the executive committee, which consisted of the board of edu-
cation and three tmstees chosen by tlic trustees. This polit-
ical character was apparent when the new board of trustees
was finally elected. The constitution required tluit thoy should
be selected, one from each county, but tliis was not followed be-
cause of the desire of the board of education to place upon
the board of trustees certain prominent republicans, chiefly
carpet-baggers. Of the now boai-d, eighteen were alumni, Imt
356 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
only five members had previously served on the board. Al-
most every member was a partisan republican, and the ex-
ecutive committee was dominated by Governor Holden. It
was a matter of common knowledge, long before the meeting
of the board, that a clean sweep would be made of the old
faculty and that a "loyal," that is to say partisan repub-
lican, University would be established. The change was re-
ceived with deep anger and distress by the friends of the old
University, who were not slow to express their feelings and to
contrast the governor of 1868, bent upon making the Univer-
sity republican, with the editor of the Standard, who in
1856, led the hue and cry against Professor Hedrick whose
only crime had been a quiet desire to vote for Fremont.
The first meeting of the trustees was held in June. The
resignations of Swain and the faculty which had been pre-
sented to the old board were accepted and a new executive
committee of the trustees was given full power to put into
operation a "thorough and efficient organization of the Uni-
versity upon the proper and liberal basis contemplated by
the constitution, ' ' to elect a president, and resume exercises.
The one limitation placed upon them was that no one should
be elected to the faculty who had not "an established national
reputation as a scholar and educator." The presidency was
then offered to L. P. Olds, Holden 's son-in-law. He declined
and delay followed. Talk was common that the college was to
be opened for negroes as well as whites and the carpet-bag
members of the board favored it, but it was never voted or
even seriously considered by the native white trustees.
In January, 1869, Eev. Solomon Pool was elected president.
He had been an adjunct-professor but had left to enter the
internal revenue service. He was a man of some ability but
unknown even to the state and owed his election to the "influ-
ence of his brother, John Pool, and to his vehement and out-
spoken desire that the University should be organized on an
entirely partisan basis.
The selection of professors was made on a somewhat sim-
ilar plan. As professor of mathematics, they chose Alexan-
der Mclver, a graduate of the University and a member of the
faculty of Davidson College. He was able, active, and en-
HISTOKY OF NOKTH CAROLINA 357
tirelj- honest, but owed his election chiefly to the fact that he
had practically been forced from his position at Davidson on
account of polities. Fisk P. Brewer, a graduate of Yale and
a man of undoubted scholarship was elected professor of
Greek. He was at the time at the head of a negro school in
Kaleigh. He injured himself very much in public estimation
by boarding in a negro family for some time after his arrival
in Chapel Hill. David S. Patrick, a nephew of Judge Settle,
also a graduate of the University, was chosen professor of
Latin. He was without qualifications or reputation. James M.
Martling, of Missouri, a brother-in-law of Ashley, was elected
professor of belles-lettres. He also lacked reputation or any
other qualifications. George Dixon, an Englishman, was made
professor of agi-iculture. AVhat influence led to his appoint-
ment cannot be discovered.
The University was of course doonied under this organiza-
tion. It opened for students in March, 1869, and a small num-
ber appeared, all from republican families or from the village
of Chapel Hill. The attendance during the first year was
thirty-five, twenty-five of whom were in the preparatory de-
partment. The second year the number rose to fifty-three,
twenty of whom were preparatory pupils. By now it was evi-
dent that the institution would have to close since there was
no money. President Pool took up his work as a revenue
ofiBcer for which he was far better adapted, and the faculty
began to leave. To his government position Pool gave all his
time and, when urged by a close friend in Chapel Hill to resign
the presidency, replied, "I would not resign for $50,000."
In 1870 the end came and all the students having disap-
peared, the president and three professors still held on. Fi-
nally at a faculty meeting in 1871, Pool being absent, Mclver
introduced a resolution declaring that no member of the fac-
ulty wanted to stand in the way of a revival and it was clear
that they did not have the confidence of the public. Patrick
voted with him and Brewer opposed the resolution. Martling
was in Ealeigh working with Ashley on the Standard. Soon
afterwards Mclver succeeded Ashley as superintendent of
public instruction and began to advocate the complete reor-
ganization of the Universitv. Bv this time both Martling and
358 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Brewer were gone. The state educational conference in 1873
adopted resolutions demanding the reorganization of the in-
stitution free from political or sectarian control or inter-
ference.
During the session of the legislature in the spring of 1872,
after that body had shown itself favorably inclined towards
the public schools, the question of the University was brought
to the personal attention of the members. There was a strong
disposition to revive it upon a non-partisan basis, but the
chief difficulty was the attitude of Solomon Pool, who did not
wish to surrender the title of president. The trustees adopted
a resolution asking the assistance of the alumni and, in re-
sponse, fifty-five of them met in Raleigh and expressed their
entire willingness to aid if the institution was taken out of
politics. A quorum of the trustees conferred upon the mat-
ter and instructed Mclver to send to each member of the
board an account of what had been done and to request them to
resign. At first there was a very favorable response and
resignations came in rapidly. Then the Pool influence was
brought to bear upon the threatening situation. John Pool
wrote Mclver that he disapproved of the whole plan and sent
out a circular letter to the trustees, urging them in behalf of
the republican party not to resign and, if they had already
done so, to recall their letters. In consequence of these facts,
the plan for revival slumbered until the legislature of 1872-
1873 met and adopted the amendment to the constitution pro-
posed by the preceding legislature, by which the appointment
of trustees was iilaced in the hands of the le.gislature. This
was ratified by the people in 1873 and a new board of trustees
was chosen, which met in February, 1874, and organized with
William A. Graham as chairman and Kemp P. Battle as
secretary and treasurer. Governor Caldwell denied the va-
lidity of the constitutional amendment and refused to attend
and warned Mclver not to turn over the seal and records. A
friendly suit was decided in favor of the new trustees. The
legislature of 1875 agreed to pay the interest on the land
scrip fund which had been invested in special tax bonds and
the way was open for reorganization. The ti'ustees met in
the spring of 1875, and, having adopted a plan of reorganiza-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 359
tion, elected a faculty, three of whom had served in the former
one. Dr. Charles Phillips was elected chairman, and the doors
of the institution were opened in the autumn with much cere-
mony. The next year, Kemp P. Battle was chosen president
and the University beg-an slowly to climb back to health and
strength that it might enter with its full powers upon a career
of greater usefulness, free from any taint of politics, in the
service of all the people.
When the conservative legislature of 1870 met it cut
Ashley's salary, took away his clerks, and allowed nothing for
traveling expenses. Nothing more in relation to the schools
was done at this session and when the next session came Ash-
ley had resig-ned to seek a more congenial atmosphere in a
negro school in New Orleans, and Governor Caldwell had ap-
pointed Alexander Mclver to the position. Unquestionably
this helped the school system. Mclver was both honest and
earnest and deeply desirous of furthering the cause of public
education. At this session the law of 1869 was repealed and
a new and better one passed which made more liberal pro-
vision for support and also provided for some training of
teachers. Special poll and property taxes were provided for
and the counties were also authorized to levy special taxes.
Its chief defect was its failure to recognize the district as the
fundamental unit of the whole system.
Mclver was defeated for the republican nomination for
superintendent in 1872 by a bit of political jobbery and James
Raid, an old, retired minister of extremely radical tendencies,
was nominated and elected oyer Nereus Mendenhall, an ex-
cellent man who ran on the conservative ticket. Before he
took office Reid died and Governor Caldwell, ignoring Mc-
lver, appointed Kemp P. Battle. Mclver refused to yield
and was sustained by the Supreme Court in his contention
that no vacancy had occurred, and thus held over until the
next election.
During these years the outlook began to brighten. The
school fund was much larger, more teachers were examined,
and a number of teachers' institutes were held through a
special appropriation for the purpose and the aid of the Pea-
body Fund. And yet but little had been accomplished. Wliile
iilll
Typical Rural Higu .'scuool of Todav
A Typical Country School Prior to the Educational Revival
"iiK Type ok School Which Has Largely Replaced It
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 361
the principle of support of schools by public taxation had been
adopted, the necessary machinery had not been created.
Local taxation was a failure, the school funds were con-
stantly raided by unscrupulous officials and used for other
pui-poses, and the people were indifferent, no public senti-
ment being created behind the schools. Nor was indifference
the worst obstacle. The fear of mixed schools was wide-
spread and, seriously complicating the whole situation, was
destined to continue as long as the constitution was silent on
the subject. The agitation over the civil rights bill greatly
increased this feeling. Mclver, when asked what would be
the effect upon the schools of the passage of the bill, said
frankly that if the people were compelled to choose between
mixed schools and no schools they would prefer the latter.
As a result of the agitation the building of schoolhouses
stopped, teachers sought new occupations, and a bill for the
establishment of city school systems was dropped. And yet
for the year ending with June, 1873, more than $400,000 was
spent on the schools and more than 100,000 children were en-
rolled, 70,000 of them white. The session, however, was only
about ten weeks in length.
In the summer of 1873 an educational conference was held
in Raleigh which was attended by men of both political par-
ties and of all the leading religious denominations. The ques-
tion was discussed fully, addresses were made by prominent
leaders, and strong resolutions were adopted including the
following :
That the general educational interests of this State are deplorable
and alarming in a high degi'ee, and are such as to require the noblest
and most self-sacrificing efforts of every true son of North Carolina
to relieve her from such serious embarrassment.
That this convention respectfully but earnestly request and urge
ever;\- friend of the State, the people, and particularly the clergy,
all public speakers and the press, to be zealous and constant in mak-
ing efforts to arouse the whole jieople to a realizing sense of the
paramount importance of educatio)i, and especially of common
schools, to the rising and coming generations, and of the overruling
necessity for universal, aelive and coi'dial co-operation of all. to
avoid the blight and the disgrace of ignorance.
A permanent organization was formed, and a second con-
vention the following year planned an educational campaign
362 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
and resolved to put pressure on the legislature. The suc-
ceeding year saw nearly 200,000 children enrolled and an ex-
penditure of almost half a million dollars, but all efforts to
increase the length of the term failed.
Mclver had proved himself efficient and should have been
retained as superintendent. Here the conservatives had a
fine opportunity to take the office permanently out of politics.
As it was he was not even nominated by the republicans, who
selected as their candidate Thomas R. Purnell. The demo-
crats nominated Stephen D. Pool. Neither was in any way
qualified for the position. Pool was elected and within eight-
een months had used money from the Peabody Fund to pur-
chase a residence for himself. His infuriated party, which
had made official corruption the chief count in its indictment
of the republican party, forced him to resign and Governor
Brogden appointed John Pool to fill the position although he
too was merely a discredited politician without a trace of
qualification for the position.
In 1875 the constitutional convention inserted a provision
specifically requiring separate schools and the way was thus
cleared for improvement of the system. The sweeping demo-
cratic victory in 1876, which completed the redemption of the
state, should have brought this improvement. It had un-
doubtedly some beneficial effects upon the schools but it is
unquestionable that following it came, if not a slowing down,
at least a failure of any new impetus which in effect was a
reaction. This was part of a general reaction against the
extravagance of Eeconstruction but it was more due to popu-
lar indifference to the subject and the widespread economic
depression. A growing number argued that education was
not the function of the state and that it was impossible to
hope for universal education even if it were desirable. The
injustice of taxation of those able to educate their own chil-
dren to educate the children of those who had no property
and paid no taxes was frequently urged and there was a wide-
spi-ead feeling that it was too much to ask that the negroes
be educated at white expense. Thoughtful men did not em-
ploy these arguments. They were agreed that education was
necessary and that in a free public school system lay the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 363
remedy for the blighting curse of illiteracy and ignorance
which lay upon the state. But the mass of men are unthought-
ful, the ratio increasing in proportion to the amount of illit-
eracy, and in North Carolina the need of thoughtful men was
acute. It was true that the schools still advanced, with in-
creasing attendance, with growing popular interest in them,
and with improved methods. The governors, one by one,
urged the question of public education upon the attention of
the legislature, but there was lacking the driving force that
could carry the gospel where alone it could effect its saving
purpose — into the homes and hearts of North Carolinians —
and make it a real force, not merely to the thoughtful group,
but to all classes, which would make men think, and, think-
ing, forget the narrowing and confining bonds set by poverty,
and the demands of a new and crass industrialism, and, look-
ing alone to the future of their children and the common-
wealth, with intention usher in a new period of state history.
Possibly the time was not ripe ; certainly the leader was not
there.
The legislature of 1877, urged by Governor Brogden and
Governor Yaneo, passed a law giving authority to the town-
ships to levy taxes for the support of graded schools, pro-
vided the tax was approved by a majority of the qualified
voters at a regular called election. The legislature also pro-
vided a normal school for each race and paved the way for
city school systems. Under the authority of the former law
the first summer school in the United States was opened at
the university in the summer and continued with growing at-
tendance and increasing usefulness until 1881, when the legis-
lature, yielding to sectional demands, established four others,
and so divided the available funds that none were strong.
The colored normal school at Fayetteville ran for eight
months of the year and was successful from the beginning.
In 1881 four others were established.
Public opinion condemned the obvious defects of the
state's educational system and such demand as there was for
improvement found expression in Governor Jarvis, ever the
sincere and earnest friend of education, who urged the rais-
ing and expending of more money. The school tax was raised
:i64 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
but not sufficiently to support the schools for four months.
In 1883 he renewed his plea to the legislature and through-
out his term he constantly called the attention of the people
to the subject.
In 1881 the office of county superintendent was establislied,
a distinct advance, although the incumbents were given so
small a financial return that no man could give more than
a small part of his time to the duties of the office, and so it
failed in most instances to attract strong men. Yet much
good was done in the way of centralizing school administra-
tion. The same law made provision for county institutes and
many were held. County certification of teachers also began.
The establishment of city graded schools was commenced
by Greensboro in 1875, followed by Raleigh in 1877, Salisburj^
in 1880; Goldsboro in 1881; Durham, Charlotte, and Wilming-
ton in 1882 ; and Winston in 1885. By 1891 sixteen towns were
maintaining local systems.
In the midst of this period of real though slow growth,
the decisions of the Supreme Court presented a serious ob-
stacle to progress. An act of 1885 authorized the county
commissioners to exceed the constitutional limit of taxation
for the benefit of schools. But the court held the act invalid
as not coming within the provisions of the constitution which
authorized a special tax for a special purpose with the ap-
proval of the legislature. Two other decisions of the court
held unconstitutional a special tax on property of white
owners only, levied to pay for white schools and the division
of the poll taxes between the two races according to its
source.
{^In 1889 the legislature abolished the absurdly numerous
normal schools which had through division of funds and
energy lost all significance, and in their place appointed
Charles D. Mclver and Edwin A. Alderman as state institute
conductors to canvass the state, hold educational meetings,
conduct institutes, and awaken public interest. The two years
which followed were probably in the long run the most fruitful
ones in North Carolina educational history. These two su-
perbly gifted men constituted themselves educational evan-
gelists and conducted a state-wide revival which made con-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 365
verts by the thousand. Everywhere they preached the gospel
of universal education by the state and aroused an interest
and enthusiasm hitherto confined to politics alone and usually
to national politics. To their work has been given the full
credit for the unequivocal position on the matter of education
assumed by the Farmers ' Alliance, which was just now assum-
ing a dominating position in state politics. This is scarcely
accurate since the Alliance all over the South demanded edu-
cational reform, but their work furnished beyond doubt a
real stimulation of the demand which was soon to rise for an
improvement in public education. The more obvious results
of the campaign were the establishment of the Normal and
Industrial College for white Avomen, of which Mclver became
president and Alderman a professor, and the establishment of
the Agricultural and Mechanical (later the Agricultural and
Technical) College for Negroes. The fundamental result was
the preparation of the soil and the sowing of the seed from
which Charles B. Aycock was to reap so rich a harvest.^)
The fusion victory in 1894 caused no change of impor-
tance in the school system, but when in 1897 the entire state
government passed into the hands of the fusionists, changes
began. The new superintendent was Charles H. Mebane, an
earnest and enthusiastic teacher under whom the office became
a new educational agency. He was a live wire. He ignored
precedents and refused to recognize difficulties. He tii'elessly
sought to attract public attention to the cause of public edu-
cation and succeeded in employing the newspapers very effec-
tively in behalf of the schools. Politics entered not at all
into his calculations when educational matters were at stake,
and in a period of intense partisanship he very effectively
divorced the schools from politics.
f^he legislature of 1897 passed a new and very advanced
school law. It was premature, however, and hence ineffective.
It sought to make local taxation the basis of public school
support, and ordered an election on the question to be held
in every district. In those which should fail to vote the tax
the question was to be resubmitted every two years until it
was passed. Every district was to receive from the state
Charles D. Melver
Edward K. Graham
C. B. Aycock
Recent Educational Le.\ders
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 367
for three years a sum equal to the amount collected from the
special tax, not to exceed $500. But only eleven districts
voted the tax. Sixty-six more raised a fund by subscription
which was duplicated by the state.
: The democrats, upon carrying the state in 1898, decided
upon disfranchisement of the negro and, to avoid ultimate
disfranchisement of a large number of white men, were forced
to accept a new policy of public education and to pledge edu-
cational opportunity to every one. The legislature of 1899
repealed the fusion school law but appropriated $100,000 to
be apportioned among the counties on the basis of school
population. The amendment was submitted and when 1900
came and Aycock was nominated for governor the dominant
party committed itself in a new and real way to the aggressive
and permanent policy of universal education. Aycock, upon
his inauguration, pledged himself to the four years of service
which were to give him the title of the "Educational Gov-
ernor" of North Carolina and to make him one of the best
loved as well as one of the greatest men in the history of the
state. Said he, in his inaugural :
On a hundred platforms, to half the voters of the State, in the
late campaign, I pledged the State, its strength, its heart, its wealth,
to universal education. I promised the illiterate poor man bound to
a life of toil and struggle and poverty, that life should be brighter
for his boy and girl than it had been for him and the partner of his
sorrows and joys. I pledged the wealth of the State to the education
of his children. Men of wealth, representatives of great corporations,
applauded eagerly my declaration. I then realized that the strong
desire which dominated me for the uplifting of the whole people
moved not only my heart, biit was likewise the hope and aspiration
of those upon whom Fortune had smiled. * * * y^^ are prosper-
ing as never before — our wealth increases, our industries multiply, our
commerce extends, and among the owners of this wealth, this multiply-
ing industry, this extending commerce, I have found no man who
is unwilling to make the State stronger and Itotter by liberal aid to
the cause of education. Gentlemen of the Legislature, you will not
have aught to fear when you make ample provision for the education
of the whole people. » * * For my part T declare to you that it
shall be my constant aim and efiPort, during the four years that I shall
endeavor to serve the people of this State, to redeem this most solemn
of all our pledges.
368 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
His administration, in accordance with this promise, was
one long determined campaign for education which was highly-
organized and most effective.
Apart from the awakened interest of the people there was
but a small foundation to build upon. The situation has been
well described by Dr. Edgar W. Knight :
Onl.y thirty districts iu the State, all urban, considered education
of sufBcient importance to levy a local tax for the sujjport of schools.
The average salary paid to county superintendents annually was less
than one dollar a day, to public school teachers, $91.25 for the term.
This meant, of course, that the office of county superintendent was
either a "political job," usually given to some struggling young at-
torney for local party service, or a public charity used to help sup-
port the growing famil.y of some needy but deserving preacher; and,
further, that there were no professional teachers iu the public schools.
Practically no interest was manifested in the building or equipment
of schoolhouses. The children of more than 950 public school dis-
tricts were altogether without schoolhouses, while those in 1,132
districts sat on rough pine boards in log houses chinked with clay.
Perhaps under all these circumstances it was well enough that the
schools were kept open only seventy-three days in the year, and that
less than one-third of the children of school age attended them.
* * * To complicate a situation already sufficiently difficult, the
race issue injected its poison into the very vitals of the problem.
/ General Thomas F. Toon, who had been elected superin-
tendent in 1900, died a year after taking office and was suc-
ceeded by James Y. Joyner, then a professor in the Normal
and Industrial College, who entered upon his duties with keen
interest, high ability, and a vast enthusiasm. He has held
the office ever since and to him is due much of the credit for
the state's educational progress in that time. When the leg-
islature of 1901 met, the special appropriation was doubled,
and in 1909 it was again raised.
The progress in a decade is shown in the following sum-
mary of the department.
The annual expenditures for elementary rural schools was in-
creased from $1,018,157.34 to $2,126,695.-50, more than doubled.
The average term of the rural white schools was increased from
76 to 93 days, nearly one school month.
The value of rural schoolhouses and grounds was increased from
$1,146,000 to $3,094,416, nearly trebled.
Three thousand four hundred and fiftv-six new schoolhouses were
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 369
built after 1902, more than one a day for every day in every year.
Expenditu.-es for salaries of white rural school teachers were in-
creased from ^621,927.97 to *1,12(),().')9.S:], nearly doubled.
The average monthly salary of wliite rural teachers was increased
from $25.39 to •$34.47, and the average annual salary from $98.77 to
$159.79, an increase of more than 60 per cent in the annual salary.
The enrollment in the white schools was increased from 293,868
to 360,121, an increase of 22 per cent. The total white school popu-
lation of the state had increased less than 11 per cent.
The average daily attendance in the white schools was increased
from 166,500 to 235,872. an increase of more than 41 per cent.
The number of rural white school teachers was increased from
5,570 to 7,047. an increase of 1,477.
The expenditures for salaries of county superintendents were in-
creased from $23,596.85 to $78,071.75 ; the average annual salary of
the county superintendent was increased from $243.27 to $796.65.
The number of special local tax districts was increased from 18 to
1,167. In 1910 about $300,000 was raised by local taxation for the
rural schools. Nearly $900,000 was raised by local taxation for the
rural and city schools.
After 1905 the number of rural schools having more than one
teacher was increased from 851 to 1,355.
The number of rural libi-aries was increased from 472 to 2,772.
In addition, 914 supplementary libraries were establislied. These
libraries contain 265,752 volumes of well-selected books, costing
$96,870.
• After 1907, when the rural high school law was passed, 202 rural
public hitrii schools were established in 93 counties, in which wei'e
enrolled in 1911 nearly 7,000 countiy boys and girls.
/Since 1910 the advance has continued. In 1916 the rural
school fund was $4,573,931 and the urban fund $2,698,956. The
rural school property was valued at $6,135,060; the urban at
$5,354,821. More than 22 per cent of the entire fund was
raised by local taxation. There were 8,088 schoolhouses with
a rapidly increasing avprage value. Over two-thirds have
been built or rebuilt since 1901. Compulsory attendance be-
gan in 1914. One of the most notable and important devel-
opments is to be seen in the rise of the public high schools.
In 1916 there were 212, exclusive of the city high schools, in
ninety-six of the 100 counties with an enrollment of 10,379.
Farm life schools are increasing and promise much assistance
in settling the rural problems of the state.
The following table gives a comparison of certain signifi-
cant facts in relation to school growth :
Vol. Ill— 21
370 HISTOEY OP NOETH CAROLINA
1870 1901 1916
Schools 1,800 7,31<': 8,088
Teachers 1,590 8,663 14,550
Pupils 41,912 428,560 649,246
Expenditure $42,856 $1,248,157 $6,561,646
Value Property 1,146,000 11,489,881
Local Tax Districts 18 1,834
Length of Term in Days 86 124
For the training of teachers the state has a number of
agencies. The Normal College and the East Carolina Train-
ing School are the largest normal schools for white teachers.
The CuUowhee Normal School receives state aid and the Ap-
palachian Training School was established by the state in
1903 to serve the counties of Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga,
Mitchell, Yancey, Caldwell and Wilkes. The University and
several colleges of the state through departments of educa-
tion and through summer schools have also greatly assisted in
this task. For negroes there are three normal schools besides
the Agricultural and Technical College at Greensboro. There
is also a normal school for Croatan Indians.
1 In the period following its reopening, the new University
had many difficulties to meet and a long hard road was before
it. The most outstanding one was lack of funds. Founded by
and under the complete control of the state, the state, never-
theless, had done little for it beyond giving it the escheats,
the military land warrants in Tennessee, and the land scrip
fund. In 1881 the first annual appropriation for mainte-
nance — $5,000 — was made, which in the face of bitter denomi-
national opposition was increased to $20,000 in 1885. In
1887 the land scrip fund was lost, but the annual appropria-
tion by the state was increased at intervals, reaching $25,000
in 1897, $45,000 in 1905, $70,000 in 1907, $115,000 in 1915,
and $165,000 in 1917. Occasional appropriations for repairs
and improvements were made and in 1905 the legislature gave
the money for a chemical laboratory which was the first build-
ing erected by the state. Since that time money for a number
of buildings and other permanent improvements has been
appropriated, and the legislature of 1917 made an annual ap-
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 371
propriation of $100,000 for permanent improvements. Stu-
dents came slowly but the nineties saw a great increase which
has continued.
Opposition to the University was present in the legislature
which chartered it, one member entering a protest against
the creation of an aristocracy of education, and opposition has
appeared from time to time ever since. Some feeling was
manifested in the years following the reopening by certain
people who professed to see in it an institution supported by
the state for the sons of rich men, a charge utterly without
foundation. But the chief enemies have been those who op-
posed it as being in competition with the denominational col-
leges. The fight on the University has been long and bitter,
amounting at times in fact if not in form to a demand that
the University be closed for the benefit of the denominational
colleges. At no time has the University opposed the denomina-
tional colleges, maintaining with much truth that there was
more educational work to be done in the state than the Uni-
versity and all the colleges were doing, and that the growth
of the former was a distinct benefit to every other institution
of learning within the borders of North Carolina. In spite
of the fight against it, in spite of its meagre support, smaller
than that of almost any state university, it has risen to the
front rank of the southern universities, and has steadily ren-
dered, as means were given it, greater service to the state in
every line of activity and endeavor. Its presidents since the
reopening have been Kemp P. Battle, 1876-1891; George T.
Winston, 1891-1896; Edwin A. Alderman, 1896-1900; Francis
P. Venable, 1900-1914 ; Edward K. Graham, 1914-1918.
In the period since Reconstruction the state has broad-
ened the scope of its activities in higher education. The Col-
lege of Agriculture and ]\Iechanie Arts was established at
Ealeigh and has grown steadily, widening its influence and
making a place in state service. Genei-ous appropriations
from the state and federal governments have enabled it to
grow with great rapidity. Its presidents have been Alexan-
der Q. Holladay, 1887-1900; George T. Winston, 1889-1908;
D. H. Hill, 1908-1916; Walhice C. Riddick, 1916—. In 191G
o
a:
w
O
o
a
O
a
w
o
P
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 373
there were sixty-one members of the faculty and more than
700 students. The buildings had increased to twelve.
In 1891 the Legislature established the Normal and In-
dustrial School, which soon after became the Normal and
Industrial College, for the training of the girls of the state.
Under the guidance of Charles D. Mclver, in reality its
founder, who was filled with a passion for universal educa-
tion, its value and importance was immediately apparent.
It too has grown rapidly and its influence upon public educa-
tion has been incalculable. Not less has been its influence
upon the women of the state personally. Dr. Mclver died
in 1906 and was succeeded as president by Julius I. Foust.
In the denominational colleges there is the same story of
growth. Three denominational colleges, "Wake Forest, David-
son, and Trinity, were in existence in 18(50 and two, Guilford
and Elon, have come into existence since the Civil war.
Wake Forest, owned and controlled by the Baptist Church,
came out of the war with only a small enrohnent. Its endow-
ment wliicli had lieen .$-40,000 in IHfiO had Ijccii reduced to less
than $11,000 in 1865. Dr. W. M. Wingate, the president, was a
minister of great power and eloquence who had the full con-
fidence of his church. He was succeeded in 1878 by Rev.
Thomas H. Fritchard, \\ho, however, soon returned to the
pulpit. For a time there was no president, the conduct of
the college being under Dr. W. B. Boyall as chairman of the
faculty. In 1884 Dr. Charles E. Taylor became president.
He had just successfully raised an endowment of $100,000
and during his administration there was a great development.
When he came to the presidency there were seven professors,
150 students, and three Imildings. Wlien he retired in 1905
there were seventeen professors, more than 300 students and
seven buildings, and an endowment of more than $.'500,000.
His constructive ability had largely remade the institution.
He was succeeded by Dr. W. L. Poteat, under whose adminis-
tration the progress of the college has been uninterrupted.
There were in 1916 a faculty of twenty-three, and a student
body of more than 500. The buildings had increased to eight
and the endowinent was more than $500,000.
Davidson College, the property of the Presbyterian
374 HISTOEY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Church, like the other colleges in the state, was desperately
hurt by the war. Fewer students had been lost because they
were younger, but the endowment of $260,000 of 1860 had
been reduced to one-fourth of that amount. The presidents
have been Eev. L. Kirkpatrick, 1861-1866; Rev. G. W. Mc-
Phail, 1866-1871; John R. Blake, chairman of the faculty,
1871-1877; Rev. A. D. Hepburn, 1877-1885; Rev. Luther Mc-
Kinnon, 1885-1888; Rev. John B. Shearer, 1888-1901; Henry
Louis Smith, 190].-1912 ; William J. Martin, 1912—. The re-
coveiy of the college began about 1871, and commencing dur-
ing Dr. Shearer's administration, there was a notable ad-
vance. In 1916 there were nineteen in the faculty and nearly
two hundred students. The endowinent and equipment to-
gether amounted to nearly $700,000.
Trinity College, the pi'operty of the North Carolina Con-
ference of the Methodist Church, was growing rapidly at the
opening of the civil war. But war largely decreased the at-
tendance, President Craven resigned in 1863, being succeeded
by W. T. Gannaway, and exercises were finally suspended in
April, 1865. In the same year Dr. Craven was re-elected and
the doors of the institution were opened in 1866 to a mere
handful of students. The college lived only through Craven,
who gave himself unstintedly to its preservation and up-
building. Under his administration it grew slowly and its
student body increased. He died in 1882 and W. H. Pegram
became chairman of the faculty until 1883 when Rev. M. Ij.
Wood was chosen. Upon his resignation in 1884, John F.
Heitman became chairman of the faculty, serving for three
years. In 1887 John F. Crowell, a forward looking and pro-
gressive man was called to the presidency. His administra-
tion lasted until 1894 in which time he showed himself to be
courageous in speech and action, a keen student of public
affairs, especially in the state, an excellent administrator
and an educator of high ideals. He saw clearly that the col-
lege was in too remote a place for great success and urged
its removal. He carried his point and after some discussion
it was finally decided to move it to Raleigh. Just at this
time Washington Duke offered to give the college $85,000
if it was brought to Durham, and Julian S. Carr donated the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 375
site. These offers were accepted and in 1892 the move was
accomplished. It was a fortunate thing since it led through
greater contact to greater opportunity for growth and service.
Upon President Crowell's resignation in 1894 as president,
Eev. John C. Kilgo was elected and served until 1910. When
he took charge the college had a faculty of nine men, 153 stu-
dents and a plant worth $135,000. He won for the college the
closer friendship and interest of the Dukes, father and sons,
who together bore the financial burden of the college for
twenty-five years. Their gifts were generous. Before his
death Washington Duke gave the college nearly $500,000 and
the two sons together have given more than a million and a
quarter.
During Dr. Kilgo 's administration there was a steady
growth in students and faculty. He resigned in 1910 and
was succeeded by Dr. AVilliam P. Few, the present head of
the college. In 1916 there were thirty members of the faculty,
nearly six hundred students and nine buildings. The endow-
ment was almost a million and a half dollars.
In 1888 the school at New Garden belonging to the Society
of Friends was chartered as Guilford College. It has estab-
lished in the years which have intervened a reputation for
good sound training and high ideals. In 1916 it had a faculty
of fourteen, 127 students, and eight buildings and a plant and
endowment of about $500,000. Its presidents have been :
Lewis L. Hobbs, 1888-1915; Thomas Newlin, 1915-1917; Ray-
mond Binford, 1918—.
Elon College was founded by the Christian Church in 1889
and opened in 1890. Its presidents have been Rev. W. S.
Long, Rev. W. W. Staley, E. L. Moffitt, and W. A. Harper. In
1916 it had a faculty of eighteen, four hundred students, and
seven buildings.
In addition to the institutions described there are numer-
ous junior colleges in the state owned by religious denomina-
tions as well as a great number of church and private schools
which have played no small part in the life of the state and
the education of its people.
CHAPTER XVII
AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY
The Returns of Industry
1880
1890
1900
1910
1915
Factories . .
...$20,095,000
.$40,375,000
$94,920,000
$216,656,000
$289,412,000
Farms . . . .
. . . 51,730,000
.50,071,000
89,ai0,000
180,766,208
278,000,000
Forests . . . .
. . . 4,455,000
12,675,000
24,771,000
42,436,000
35,000,000
Mines
576,000
8:i7,000
1,4.59,000
1,358,617
3,58:1,000
In the table which heads this chapter is shown the outline
of agricultural and industrial development in North Carolina
during the period since 1880. Viewing these figures one sees
simply the story of progress with little else included. There
has been of course tremendous progress but the story is not
complete in statistics alone.
Of primary importance still in the state is the cultivation
of the soil. To understand properly the situation it is well to
review briefly the geographical character of the state.
"North Carolina, with its infinite variety of climate, soil,
natural resources and acquired advantages, has an area of
52,426 square miles, of which water covers 3,686 miles. It lies
between 34 degrees and 361/2 degrees north latitude, and be-
tween 751/0 degrees and 84i^ degrees longitude west from
Greenwich. Its greatest length is from northeast to south-
west, a stretch so long that a circle drawn with it as the ra-
dius and the northwest corner of the State as the pivot would
take in Buffalo, N. Y. ; the whole State of Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana and a large part of Illinois in its sweep. Its reach
north and south is from the southern end of Virginia to al)out
the middle of South Carolina; from east to west it extends
from the Atlantic Ocean at the farthest southeastern point of
the country to a point considerably west of the eastern exten-
sion of Tennessee. Its topographic variety, from sea level on
the east to an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet on some of the
376
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 377
mountain tops at the west, gives it a climatic variety not pos-
sessed by many States, ranging from semi-tropical on the
islands off the coast to the temperature of Northern Canada
on the tops of its high mountains.
"North Carolina has three distinct divisions — Mountain,
Piedmont and Coastal Plain. The first stretches along the
western border, touching on Tennessee from Virginia to
Georgia, taking in a number of counties, in some of which the
Appalachian mountains reach their greatest altitude in the
peaks of the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains.
The Mountain district is about 100 miles wide and has an area
of about 6,000 square miles. The Piedmont plateau, joining
the Mountain section on the east, covers about one-third the
area of the State. It is divided into the Upper and Lower
Piedmont, the former having an elevation of from 1,000 to
2,000 feet below that of the adjoining Mountain region. In
the Lower Piedmont the elevation gradually declines until the
level of the Coastal Plain is approximated. The surface is
generally rolling. The eastern division is the Coastal Plain,
which reaches from the edge of the Lower Piedmont to the
Atlantic Ocean. It is for the most part a level country,
though slightly rolling toward its western limits."
The soils are as varied as the climate, running from the
sand of the coast and the rocky covering of the mountain
tops through clays, loams, and alluvia to the rich black muck
of the East. The products, too, are as varied as soil and
climate, ranging from north temperate to semi-tropical. The
total acreage is 31,193,600, of which in 1910, 22,380,000, or 71
per cent of the whole, were uncultivated. More than two
million acres, however, have been brought under cultivation
since the Civil war. Since 1860 the number of farms has rap-
idly increased with a natural decrease in size. The following
tables are illustrative :
Farms
Per Cent of
Censufl Tear Population Number Increase
1910 2,206,287 253,72.5 12.9
1900 1,89.3,810 224,637 25.9
1890 1,617,949 178,3.59 13.2
1880 1,399,750 1.57,609 68.4
1870 1,071,361 93,.565 24.4
1860 992,622 75,203 32.0
378
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
Farm Property
i Per Cent
Census Tear Total Value Increase •
1910 $537,716,210 130.0
1900 233,834,693 7.9
1890 216,707,500 31.9
1880 164,286,737 96.9
1870 1 83,429,729 — 53.7
1860 180,305,812 101.4
Implements and Machinery
Per Cent
Value
Value
$456,624,607
194,655,920
183,977,010
135,793,602
62,568,866
143,301,065
Land and Buildings
Per Cent
Increase •
134.6
5.8
35.5
117.0
— 56.3
111.1
Census Tear
1910 .$18,441,619
1900 9,072,600
1890 7,183,210
1880 6,078,476
1870t 3,265,689
1860 5,873,942
* A mLnus sign ( — ) denotes decrease.
t Computed gold values, being 80 per cent of
Increase •
103.3
26.3
18.2
86.1
44.4
49.4
Domestic Animals, Poultry,
Per Cent
Value Increase "
108.1
17.8
14.0
27.4
- 43.5
75.7
$62,649,984
30,106,173
25,547,280
22,414,659
17,595,174
31,130,805
the currency values reported.
Average Value per Farji *
Average
Acres Per
Census Tear Farm
1910 88.4
1900 101.3
1890 127.0
1880 141.9
1870t 212.0
1860 316.0
* Averages are based on
t Computed gold values.
All Farm
Property
$2,119
1,041
1,215
1,042
892
2,398
Land and
Buildings
$1,800
867
1,031
862
669
1,906
Implements
and
Macblnery
$73
40
40
39
35
78
Domestio
Animals,
Poultry and
Bees
$247
134
143
142
188
414
Average
Valufi of
Land and
Buildings
Per Acre
$20.35
8.56
8.12
6.07
3.15
6.03
"all farms" in state.
being 80 per cent of the currency values reported.
Tenure 1910
Number of all farms 253,725
Farms operated b'y owners and managers, .. .146,438
Farms consisting of owned land only 121,382
Farms consisting of owned land and hired
land 23,938
Farms operated by managers 1,118
Farms operated by tenants 107,287
Share tenants 80,215 l
Share-cash tenants (2) 2,033 f
Cash tenants 20,708 j
Tenure not specified (3) 4,331 ("
Per cent of farms operated by owners and
managers . .57.7
Tenants 42.3
Share and share-cash 32.4
Cash and non-specified 9.9
(1) Not reported separately.
(2) Share-cash tenants were doubtless largely included with
1900, 1890, and 1880.
1900
1890
1880
224,637
178,359
157,609
131,629
117,469
104,887
115,118
(')
(')
15,454
(')
n
1,057
(>)
W
93,(:(08
60,890
52,722
73,092 50,318 44,078
19,916 10,572 8,644
58.6
65.9
66.5
41.4
34.1
33.5
32.5
28.2
28.0
8.9
5.9
5.5
share tenants in
(3) Prior to 1910 non-specified tenants were included with cash tenants.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 379
It will be noted that while the number of faiin operators
increased 61 per cent in the period from 1880 to 1910, the
number of tenants increased 1031^ per cent.
In 1S90 more than 95 per cent of the owned farms were
free from mortgage, in 1900 more than 84 per cent and more
than 81 per cent in 1910. The number of mortgages and the
amount of the mortgage debt increased largely in the same
period but the average debt has decreased more than 20 per
cent. The value of the land has also risen so that while in
1890 the mortgage indebtedness was more than 45 per cent of
the value of the mortgaged fanns, it had dropped by 1910 to a
little more than 23 per cent.
Of the North Carolina farmers in 1910, 188,069, or about
three-fourths, were white; 64,456 were negroes; and about
eleven hundred, Indians and Chinese.
In spite of natural advantages it is only in the period since
1865 that North Carolina farmers in any considerable number
have begun to improve their methods along the lines of scien-
tific agriculture and among a large proportion agricultural
methods and ideas are still archaic. The demonstration and
extension work is of course making great changes in the recent
years. In 1915 the Agricultural aiid Mechanical College dis-
tributed for this work $190,515, more than was spent for the
purpose in any other state except Indiana, New York, Iowa,
and Texas.
The relative position of the staple agricultural products in
1909 and 1915 shows several interesting changes.
1909
If
115
Cotton
Wheat
Corn
Potatoes
Com
Sweet Potatoes
Cotton
Hay and Forage
Tobacco
Potatoes
Tobacco
Peanuts
Peanuts
Oats
Wheat
Oats
Hay and Forage
Peas
Sweet Potatoes
Peas
The fluctuations in acreage over a considerable period are
also best seen in tabulated form.
Acres Harvested
Crop Hay and
Year Corn Wheat Peanuts Forage Tobacco Cotton
1909 2,459,457 501,912 195,134 .■?75,795 221,890 1,274,404
1899 2,720,206 746,984 95,856 229,998 203,023 1,007,020
1889 2,360,627 666,509 17,767 190,754 97,077 1,147,136
1879 2,305,419 646,829 (>) 101,758 57,208 893,153
(1) Not reported.
380 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
It will be seen that cotton acreage increased in the first
decade, decreased slightly in the second, and gained in the
last. Com and wheat acreage increased for the first two dec-
ades and decreased in the last. Hay and forage, tobacco, and
peanuts increased steadily. In the six year period from 1909
to 1915 increase in production was more rapid in many of
the crops, ranging from 5 per cent for cotton and sweet po-
tatoes to 88 per cent for corn, 161 per cent for wheat, and 667
per cent for buckwheat.
Prior to 1866 North Carolina was not regarded, strictly
speaking, as one of the cotton states. Forty-one counties cul-
tivated it but only twenty-two to any extent. The crop of
1860 was 145,514 bales and the state stood ninth in rank. In
the period after the war cotton assumed a new position among
the crops of the state and by 1880 forty-two new cotton coun-
ties had appeared. Their cotton acreage was 301,447 and they
produced 129,398 bales. Among these counties were Wake,
Mecklenburg, and Johnston, ranking first, third, and fifth in
the state in production. Today cotton is grown principally
in the eastern half of the state although it appears in sixty-
eight counties. Over one-half of the total acreage is in four-
teen counties, eight in the east central group and six near the
centre of the southern boundary. They are in order, Robeson,
Mecklenburg, Johnston, Wake, Edgecombe, Union, Anson,
Halifax, Wayne, Cleveland, Pitt, Scotland, Wilson, and Nash.
Between 1850 and 1910 the crop increased 2,300 per cent. The
production now is around three-quarters of a million bales and
tends to increase. Of all the cotton states, among which North
Carolina ranks eighth, it has the largest per aci'e yield.
Corn is planted all over the state and the value of the crop,
$31,286,000 in 1910 had reached $49,318,000 in 1915. In 1850
North Carolina produced thirty-four bushels per capita. In
1914 this had been reduced to twenty-four bushels, making a
tremendous shortage for the state. Only two counties, Hyde
and Clay, raised their own supply. Nor was this an accidental
shortage for a census year. It was true of every year pre-
ceding the outbreak of the war in Europe. In 1914 the per
capita production of corn, wheat, oats, peas and beans, po-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 381
tatoes, beef, pork, and mutton was less than in 1860 and there
were actually fewer cattle, hogs and sheep.
Nine counties contain nearly ono-half of the acreage of the
tobacco crop, which lias steadily increased in amount and
value. North Carolina is now outranked in production only
by Kentucky. In 1860 the crop was nearly 33,000,000
pounds; in" 1870 it had fallen to 11,000,000, rising to
27,000,000 in 1880; 36,000,000 in 1890; 127,500,000 in
1900; and to 156,000,000 in 1905. In 1910 th.- crop was
138,813,163 pounds valued at $13,847,559, and that of
1917 was over 200,000,000 pounds. Between 1850 and 1910
the crop increased more than 1,300 per cent. Owing to the im-
portance of the crop thirteen towns have been built up in the
period since the civil war chiefly on their impoi'tance as mar-
kets, although several, notably Winston-Salem, Durham, and
Eeidsville have engaged largely in manufacture as well. The
sales of the year 1916-1917 at Wilson totaled more than
27,000,000 pounds, nearly 18,000,000 at Winston-Salem, more
than 17,000,000 at Rocky Mount, and more than 16,000,000 at
Kinston and Greenville.
Peanuts have rapidly come into importance. Not planted
as a commercial crop in 1879, more than 200,000 acres are de-
voted to them now\ In 1909 the crop brought in more than
$5,000,000 and has since largely increased. It is practically
confined to twenty-one counties near the coast.
Wheat cultivation, prior to the outbreak of the war in
Europe was falling off in almost every county of the state and
there was a heavy shortage every year. The value of the crop
in 1910 was nearly $4,500,000. Hay and forage, while in-
creasing, were far below the needs of the state.
Sweet potatoes carry the distinction of being the one crop in
which the state has ever taken first rank in the Union, having
held that place from the census of 1870 to 1917, in whicli
year both South Carolina and Alabama passed it. The value
of the crop of 1910 was more than $4,000,000.
Largely because of the trucking industry, the total value of
vegetables and berries has steadily inci-eased. The trucking
industry has been of tremendous value and importance, par-
ticularly in the East. It is a development of tlie last thirty-
Washington Duke's First Tubacco Factory
One of the Present Duke Tobacco Factories at Durhaj
AM
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 383
five years and was really the fii'st upward movement in agri-
culture after the war.
Fruit-growing on a large scale is also a new thing and
the apple orchai-ds of the west and the peach orchards of the
Sandhills region show the possibilities in the state. The mar-
ket value of orchard fruit, grapes, and nuts was more than
three and a half million in 1910.
The wealth created by agriculture in North Carolina is
twice as much each year as that of all the other industries
combined. The crop-producing power of the state in 1910
was $24.84 per acre. The agricultural produce of 1915 Avas
worth $94,000,000 more than the aggregate resources of all
the banks in the state. Taking the tax value of all property in
1914 as a basis we reach the striking fact that agriculture cre-
ates every three and one-half years as much wealth as all that
the state has been able to accumulate during its entire history.
But the per capita production is small, only about $169 and
wealth is poorly retained. The per capita farm wealth in
1910 was only $322 and only four states in the Union took a
lower rank. In per acre crop producing power the state far
outranks Iowa, which leads the United States with a per cap-
ita wealth in farm properties of $3,386, and Oklahoma which
leads the South with $830. It is evident that the difperence is
not due to agriculture so much as to methods of agriculture.
The difference lies in the crop system of the states men-
tioned. The situation in North Carolina is due to the almost
exclusive use of cotton and tobacco as a basis of credit to
farmers and absence of sufficient working capital, the want
of foresight on the part of a large body of the more ignorant
and thoughtless class of negro tenants, the prevalence of the
renting system, the indifference or approval of supply mer-
chants who want a profit, familiarity Avith cotton and tobacco,
and a system of short term rentals. In other words North
Carolina is largely committed to the one-crop system and cot-
ton and tobacco have too long ruled agriculture. A vast
amount of ready money comes in from them but it is spent
almost at once in paying for the western beef and pork, butter
and cheese, grain and forage, moal and flour which have been
advanced.
384 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In 1909 sixty-eight cotton-growing counties bought $97,-
000,000 worth of bread, meat, and hay alone. The same story
in less degree was and is true of the tobacco counties. These
things tell the story of the past half century. The future is
secure provided the one-crop system is abandoned and diversi-
fied farming replaces it, with the chief emphasis upon the food
crops. There were scattered manifestations of a possible ten-
dency in that direction prior to 1914, and the influence of the
world war and the imperative necessity of food production, it
is to be hoped, will educate the farming class away fi'om the
slavery in which they have too long lived. It will be a fortu-
nate day for the people of the state when King Cotton and
King Tobacco are dethroned and lose their power which from
the beginning has meant only slavery with the evils which the
word implies.
The story of the industrial development of North Carolina
is quite remarkable. Here, as in agriculture, cotton and to-
bacco are enthroned but, in shai*p contrast, their sway is en-
tirely beneficent and has meant in almost all respects progress
and prosperity. As yet they are without rivals in the indus-
trial field.
North Carolina was always well adapted naturally and
through the instincts of its people to industrial endeavor. But
slavery stifled industrial development and while in 1860 there
were 3,689 manufacturing establishments, there was only a
total capital of a little more than nine and a half million
dollars. The total number of employes was 14,217, of whom
2,111 were women, and the combined wages amounted to
something over two and a half million dollars. The total value
of products was $16,678,698. Nearly all these establishments
^ were small affairs in the nature of hand trades and neighbor-
hood industries and there were but few factories in the entire
state, the figures given including turpentine, plants, grist
mills, shoemakers' shops and the like.
Bladen, thanks to turpentine plants of which it had nearly
500, led the state in number. Alamance led in capital invested
with $728,750. New Hanover, also because of turpentine, led
in value of products with a total of $1,377,717 as also in num-
ber of employes, 695 in all. Turpentine, %vith 1,526 plants
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 385
with a combined capital of $2,053,226, producing a product
valued at $5,311,420, led iu number of establishments, capital
invested, and value of product. Of establishments which can
properly be called factories, there were in the first place
ninety-seven tobacco manufacturing establishments with com-
bined capital of $646,730, employing 1,361 hands, earning
$164,460 in annual wages and making a product valued at
$1,117,099. Rockingham, with twenty-five factories, Gran-
ville with sixteen, and Caswell with eleven led with consid-
erably more than half the capital, hands, wages, and value of
the product. Alamance, Stokes, and Person came next. Next
in importance were thirty-nine cotton mills with a capital of
$1,272,750, which consumed 5,500,000 pounds of cotton, had
41,884 spindles and 761 looms, employed 1,764 hands, of whom
1,315 were women, with total wages of $189,744 and making
a product valued at $1,046,047.
The state stood second in the South and eighth in the Union
on value of product. Cumberland with seven mills, and Ala-
mance and Randolph with five each, led among the counties,
having more than half the total capital and employes, paying
more than half the wages, and making nearly half the total
value of product.
The other factories worthy of mention were 335 lumber
mills, all but 5 saw-mills, 7 small woolen mills, 6 small paper
mills and 25 small iron works.
In 1863 the federal troops burned the cotton mills at
Rocky Mount and in 1865 Sherman's troops destroyed the
five mills in Cumberland while Stoneman's raid accounted for
a mill in Caldwell. The close of the war found most of the
rest with worn-out and obsolete machineiy and generally in
bad condition. This was of course true of all other indus-
tries. Consequently it may be said that the industrial devel-
opment of the state begins with 1865. Several' cotton mills,
notably the Holt mill in Alamance began work almost at once,
but cotton mill development, requiring as it did much capital
and trained labor, was very slow for more than a decade.
The leading place of the state in naval stores was lost just
at this time and that industry has since been of decreasing im-
portance. The way was open, however, for tobacco manufac-
Vol. in— 25
386 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
turing whicli required much less capital, a much smaller body
of trained labor, and which had the best raw material in the
world at the very door of the factory. Naturally, no other
industry grew so rapidly.
For two decades after the war Virginia had an easy pre-
eminence but North Carolina moved up steadily. The jDause
of the Union army near Durham for Johnston's surrender
familiarized a vast number of Northern soldiers with the to-
bacco of that section and began the new tobacco industry in
the state. Two plants soon assumed importance. W. T.
Blackwell commenced the manufacture of his famous "Bull
Durham ' ' brand which profited most by the advertisement in
the name of Durham. Washington Duke, an Orange County
farmer, returned from the Confederate army and at once saw
the great opportunity. He began the manufacture of smoking
tobacco on his farm in a log cabin, 16 by 18 feet in size. In
1873 he built a three-story factory in Durham with a floor
space of 40 to 70 feet and employing fifteen hands. In 1875 he
had to add to this and the rapid expansion of his business
began with "Duke's Mixture" as the chief reliance. A few
years later the manufacture of cigarettes was commenced, ac-
companied by one of the earliest of the great advertising cam-
paigns. The cigarette factory soon became the largest in the
world, as the Blackwell factory was for smoking tobacco.
The name of Durham and the success of the two Durham
brands led to the establishment of other factories, including
some for the manufacture of plug tobacco, and Durham may
be said to have been built up around the tobacco industry thus
started. At other points factories were being built. Winston
became an important manufacturing center early and con-
tinues so, the most important plant there being the great
Reynolds' establishment, which is one of the largest of its
kind in the world. The period of rapid increase came after
1880. Fifty factories were built in 1884 alone. In 1885 North
Carolina was manufacturing 8 per cent of the total tobacco
output of the United States and 5 per cent of the cigarettes. In
1890 the percentage had risen to 9 and 23 respectively. By 1905
the state 's percentage of the total was 18 but of the cigarette
production had fallen to 3. The total value of the output
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 387
tlirough the period inei-eased steadily, reacliiiig $7,000,000 in
1895, $13,000,000 in 1899, $28,000,000 in 1904, $36,000,000 iu
1909 and nearly $58,000,000 in 1914, in whicli year the state
led the United States in the manufacture of chewing and
smoking tobacco. In 1917 Winston, which led the cities of the
state in manufacturing, having a tenth of all the manufactur-
ing capital in the state, passed St. Louis as a tobacco manu-
facturing centre and took the first place in the country in the
industry. The federal tax has multiplied ten times since 1890,
the capital employed twenty times and the output forty times.
A fourth of all the chewing and smoking tobacco consumed, a
seventh of all the tobacco products made in the United States
are manufactured there.
In the same period the number of establishments de-
creased. From the close of the war until 1890 was a period
of expansion. In 18-70 there were 111 factories which in-
creased to 126 by 1880. Competition was severe and in 1890
the number had fallen to 107. In 1896 there were 242, Forsyth
leading with sixty-three followed by Surry with thirty-four
and Rockingham with twenty-one. Consolidation with the
crushing of competition then began and in 1899 there were
only ninety-six, which had decreased to fifty-five in 1904 and
thirty-six in 1914. The capital invested which was only
$7,000,000 in 1899 reached $36,000,000 in 1904, dropping to
$23,000,000 in 1909. The number of employes has increased
steadily.
In 1870 there were thirty-three cotton mills in the state
with a combined capital of $1,030,900, operating nearly 40,000
spindles and 600 looms and consuming 8,500 bales of cotton.
The industry grew slowly during the following decade and
did not begin to come into its o\vn until the eighties. The
number of mills had decreased by 1875 to thirty-one, but the
spindles had increased to 54,000. In 1880 there were forty-
nine mills with 92,000 spindles and 1,800 looms. Capital had
more than doubled, being nearly $3,000,000 and the consump-
tion of cotton had reached almost 24,000 bales. In spite of
much discouragement from outside the state, expansion now
began. Cotton and tobacco had brought ready money into
the state, some of which was invested in new mills or in the
K. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem
Erwin Cotton Mills, Durham
Characteristic Industrial Plants
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 389
enlargement of old ones. Little outside capital came in dur-
ing this period, but the profits of the mills were reinvested,
and while some mills failed the majority succeeded. Most of
the mills were small. By 1890 there were ninety-one mills
with 337,800 spindles, 7,3*00 looms, $10,775,100 capital, con-
suming 107,100 bales of cotton. The labor situation which
had been bad was now largely settled by the movement to the
mills from the farms in consequence of the economic and finan-
cial depression of the nineties. The mills were prosperous
and in 1895 the number had reached 184 with 989,093 spin-
dles, 24,624 looms and a cotton consumption of 374,220 bales.
The number dropped to 177 in 1899 but the spindles and looms
increased substantially.
The next decade saw a still greater increase. In 1909 there
were 281 mills with nearly 3,000,000 spindles. The value of
the product was $29,395,9*48 in 1899, and $77,832,077 in 1909.
In 1916 there were 306 mills, with a capital of more than $100,-
000,000 operating 3,988,098 spindles and consuming 1,067,288
bales of cotton. The value of the product $85,815,100. In
that year North Carolina was leading the United States in
number of mills and in the amount of cotton consumed. It
was behind Massachusetts alone in the value of the product
and behind Massachusetts and South Carolina in the number
of spindles.
The mills are located in considerably more than half the
counties in every section of the state though they are centered
in the central section. Gaston leads in number of mills and
spindles, having more than half a million of the latter, fol-
lowed by Cabarrus, with more than a quarter of a million,
Mecklenburg, Guilford, Durham, Rockingham, Alamance,
Rutherford, Richmond, and Stanly. Although many of the
earlier mills began operations with poor and often with sec-
ond-hand machinery, the mills of today are splendidly
equipped, many of them with the latest types of machines.
The limits of space forbid a longer discussion of the de-
velopment of the textile industry. The subject cannot be left,
however, without the statement that the influence of the cotton
mill has been one potent for good in the state, materially and
socially. There are problems connected with it, notably that
Washington Duke
1). A. 'I'liMiiikiiis
Edwin M. Holt
Industrial Leaders
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 391
of child labor, which will have to be settled, but the same prob-
lems confront the state from other angles than the cotton
mill. Child labor, the general impression to the contraiy not-
^\•ithstanding, is a matter far more intimately connected with
the farm than with the factory.
Next in importance to cotton and tobacco manufacturing
are the lumber and woodworking industries. North Carolina
has a larger variety of commercial timber trees than any
other state. Yellow pine, cypress, gum, and juniper in the
East, walnut, cherry, holly, locust, chestnut, maple, hemlock,
spruce, beech, ash, dogwood, white pine, poplar, hickory and
the oaks in the Piedmont and Mountain sections are the most
important. The superb forests invited exploitation in the
period immediately following the Civil war and at first this
was largely confined to the pine forests. As the supply waned,
cypress and juniper assumed importance and the hardwood
forests of the Piedmont and Mountain sections attracted
attention. So sawmills multiplied and a most profitable in-
dustry was developed, accompanied by the most shameful and
improvident waste and lack of all thought for the future. The
reckless deforestation of the mountains and uplands have re-
sulted several times in most disastrous floods. In spite of
the years of this sort of thing, North Carolina still has a tre-
mendous forest area of great value. In 1914 there were 2,952
sawmills and lumber plants in operation.
In 1879 the working of the hard woods commenced on a
small scale, chiefly the manufacture of shuttle blocks and the
like. In 1889 the development of the furniture industry be-
gan, centering at High Point, which today ranks next to
Grand Eapids only, in the United States, in the production
of furniture. It still holds a safe pre-eminence in the state
although other towns now have important factories. There
were in 1914 109 furniture factories and 167 other wood-
working plants. These, combined with the lumber industries,
employed nearly 50,000 people and turned out a product val-
ued at more than $57,000,000.
Between 1880 and 1890 cotton seed oil mills were started
and were immediately successful. The product was valued at
half a million dollars in 1889, more than two and a half million
392 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
in 1889, nearly four million in 1904, and more than fifteen mil-
lion in 1914.
The manufacture of fertilizer began in North Carolina
in the eighties. By 1899 there were eighteen factories, which
increased to twenty-seven in 1904, to thirty-four in 1909, and
to forty-one in 1914. The value of the product in the latter
year was more than ten and a quarter million dollars.
The industries thus far discussed, in value of products,
comprise 83 per cent of the total in the state. There are nu-
merous other smaller industries but the state, while making
a splendid beginning, has still, comparatively speaking, only
a small number. It is still largely dependent on the outside
world. Greater diversity will doubtless come and the tre-
mendous development of water power now beginning will
assist mightily in the process. In 1912, not taking into con-
sideration small sites of less than a thousand horsepowers,
there was estimated to be in the state a potential minimum of
578,000 horsepowers. The installed capacity at the same
time was 110,203, the third largest in the South. Eighteen
corporations owned 27 per cent of the potential horsepower,
while 45 per cent of the water-power developed and under
construction was controlled by the Southern Power Company.
In 1915 two companies controlled more than 75 per cent of
the developed power and more than 66 per cent of the total
power.
The development of the mineral wealth of the state has
been on the whole slow and relatively unimportant. Two
hundred and ten, or more than two-thirTls of the varieties of
minerals in the world, are found within its borders but not in
great quantity. Building stone, clay products, mica, and gold
are the four leading mineral industries, producing almost six-
sevenths of the total. North Carolina leads the United States
in the production of kaolin, found in Jackson, Macon, Swain,
and Mitchell, and of mica, in the production of which Mitchell
leads, followed by Yancey. The gold produced is about nine-
tenths of all east of the Mississippi but it amounted in 1916
only to $126,000.
One more industry must be mentioned. The vast extent
of water in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina furnish
a natural resource of the highest importance in both salt and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 393
fresh water fish. The industry has long been important. But
the state has never adequately protected its marine wealth,
which has been recklessly exploited and squandered. The
industry in the upper sounds as a consequence has been to a
great extent destroyed. The whole matter has been the play-
thing of politics and selfish interests and the question has
never been approached as one of state-wide concern, interest,
or importance. The annual value of the products is close to
$2,000,000.
Tremendously important as an adjunct of agriculture and
industry has been the bank development in the state since
1865. In 1860 there were sixteen banks with a total capital
of $9,408,470 and deposits of $1,831,598. All of these banks
were destroyed by the war and the repudiation of the war debt,
but in the autumn of 1865 two national banks were established.
Ten years later there were thirty banks with combined capital
of $4,000,000 and deposits of $250,000. In 1889 there were
sixty-nine with the total capital increased loss than $500,000,
but with more than $8,000,000 on deposit. The later growth is
shown in the table.
Year Number Capital Deposits
1899 117 $.5,711,910 $16,757,853
1907 129 12,318,276 58,931,155
1915 476 20,190,483 88,404,895
The hopeful things at the close of the last census period in
North Carolina industrial development were that among the
thirteen Southern states, it led in the average number of wage
earners, in primary horsepower employed in manufacturing,
in annual wages paid, a total of $46,038,000, in value added
by manufacture, in number of cotton mills, in value of prod-
ucts, in variety of cotton goods produced, in furniture fac-
tories, in the manufacture of tobacco, and in the use of raw
material from its own doors.
It cannot be doubted that in one sense the industrial de-
velopment of the state has just begun. But certain it is, how-
ever, that no future development and growth can so quicken
and revolutionize the people of the state as that already ac-
complished has done, nor, be it said, render so high a service
as that contributed to the remaking of the prostrate state
which emerged from the civil war.
CHAPTER XVIII
EAILEOAD DEVELOPMENT SINCE 1860
In 1860 there were less than nine hundred miles of railroad
in North Carolina. Of the roads the most important were
the North Carolina, opened in 1856, running 224 miles from
Goldsboro to Charlotte ; the Wilmington and Weldon, opened
in 1840, running between the points named, with a branch six-
teen miles long, opened in 1849, between Eocky Mount and
Tarboro; the Ealeigh and Gaston, opened in 1844, running
ninety-seven miles from Raleigh to Weldon, and the Atlantic
and North Carolina, opened in 1858, connecting Goldsboro
with Morehead City, ninety-five miles away. The other roads
were the Wilmington and Charlotte, partly constructed; the
Wilmington, Columbia and Augiista, which had sixty miles in
the state; the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio, running from
Charlotte to Statesville, forty-five miles away; the Western,
opened in 1860, from Fayetteville to Egypt, a distance of
forty-three miles ; the Seaboard and Roanoke, connecting Wel-
don and Portsmouth, Virginia, opened about 1850, which ran
for twenty -two miles in the state; the Petersburg road, con-
necting Petersburg with Garysburg, about ten miles of which
was in North Carolina; and the Charlotte and South Carolina,
opened in 1852, which connected Charlotte with the South
Carolina Railroad at the state line eleven miles distant. All
these roads were poorly equipped and, under the strain of war.
all suffered severely, even before the advent of federal troops
brought intentional injury which was well-nigh destruction.
During the war little building of railroads was possible.
Some grading was attempted on the Wilmington and Char-
lotte, and the Piedmont road was built in 1862, connecting
Danville, Virginia, with Greensboro. This was a military
road built at the urgent request of the Confederate govern-
;W4
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 395
meut to affoi'd a new liuo of commiuiication between the
armies in Virginia and the South.
At the close of the war the Department of Military Rail-
roads of the United States seized the Raleigh and Gaston,
the Wilmington and "Weldon, the Atlantic and North Cai'o-
lina and a part of the North Carolina, and during the period
of military occupation an extensive work of repair and im-
provement was kept up on all of them, greatly to their benefit,
at a total cost of more than two and a half million dollars.
In spite of the poverty of the people, plans were made for
a large extension of railways, the war having sharply em-
phasized their importance to the whole community. The
legislature of 1866 passed acts in aid of the Western North
Carolina, which had been chartered in 1855 and which had
reached a point eleven miles east of Morgantown in 1860.
The frauds and scandals of reconstruction connected with
railroads failed to destroy public belief in the necessity of
railway extension. It did make state aid unpopular, but every
legislature saw the chartering of a number of private com-
panies. In 1869 the Western North Carolina had reached Old
Fort, but the construction of the road across the mountains
was an immense task and little more was accomplished for
some time.
In the decade which followed the construction of many
short lines and sections was accomplished and the way paved
for later consolidation and extension. The Atlanta and Char-
lotte Air Line, with forty-three miles of road in the state, was
completed in 1873. The Northwestern, opened from Greens-
boro to Winston and Salem in the same year, continued to
extend towards Wilkesboro, 100 miles away, which it did not,
however, finally reach until 1890. The Chatham road, which
had received rather an evil name in Reconstruction, became
the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line in 1871, and was completed
from Raleigh to Gibson, 107 miles away. In 1886 the Pitts-
boro branch to Moncure was opened. The Suffolk and Caro-
lina, from Suffolk, Virginia, to Montrose, a distance of thirty-
four miles, and the Jamesvillo and Washington, twenty-two
miles long, were opened in tlie same period.
By 1879 there were l,.j00 miles of road in the state, but
396 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
much of it was scattered and unconnected ; only forty-nine of
the ninety-four counties had railroad connections. Obvious
necessities were the completion of the Western North Caro-
lina, which was finally about to reach Asheville, but which had
to be extended to the Tennessee line at two points; the con-
nection of Goldsboro and Wilson with Greenville and Wash-
ing-ton; and of Edenton and Elizabeth City with Norfolk.
Other desirable points for connection were Edenton and Suf-
folk, Scotland Neck and Halifax, and New Bern and Onslow
County.
The sale of the Western North Carolina by the stat6
assured its completion, and its later acquisition by the Rich-
mond and Danville meant better connections and through
traffic. The opening of the western part of the state was also
furthered by the completion of the Asheville and Spartanburg,
which reached Hendersonville in 1879 and Asheville in 1886.
Other western roads constructed in the decade following 1880
were the Chester and Lenoir, connecting Lenoir with Lincoln-
ton and Chai'lotte, which had been begun before the war and
finally reached Lenoir in 1884; the East Tennessee and West-
ern North Carolina, completed in 1882, between Johnson City
and Cranberry; the Statesville and Western, opened in 1887,
from Statesville to Taylorsville, a distance of twenty miles;
the Marietta and North Georgia, later absorbed by the Louis-
ville and Nashville, which ran thii'teen miles through Chero-
kee County towards Knoxville, and the Charleston, Cincin-
nati and Chicago, which connected Marion mth the South
Carolina line. This became the Ohio Eiver and Charleston
in 1894. These roads transformed the western part of the
state and brought a prosperity never before known.
In the central part of the state construction was more
rapid. The most important single road was the Cape Fear
and Yadkin Valley, which succeeded the Western in 1879. An
extension of four miles from Egypt to Gulf was finished in
1879 and extended by Greensboro to the Virginia line in 1884.
In the same year the road was extended from Fayetteville
to Maxton and on to the South Carolina line towards Ben-
nettsville, a distance of forty-six miles. In 1886 another
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 397
branch was carried from the Greensboro line to Belew's Creek
and on to Bamseur, and the next year a second one to Pilot
Mountain, and on in 18S8 to Mount Airy. The Madison branch
was built in the same year, and the extension of eighty-two
miles from Fayetteville to Wilmington in 1890.
In the period the Wilmington and Weldon built four
branches : the Scotland Neck branch, from Halifax to Kinston,
a distance of eighty-five miles, in 1885; the Fayetteville
branch, running seventy-four miles from Wilson to Florence
in 1886; the Clinton branch, from Warsaw to Clinton, a
distance of thirteen miles in 1887 ; and the Nashville branch,
running nineteen miles from Bocky Mount to Spring Hope in
1888. The Cheraw and Salisbury was built in 1880, but only
reached Wadesboro. The Albemarle and Ealeigh, running
fifty-six miles, from Tarboro to Pl^nnouth, was opened and
later acquired the Williamston and Tarboro. The Oxford and
Clarksville, from Durham to Bullock's, was finished in 1888,
and the Durham and Northern, from Durham to Henderson,
was opened the next year. The High Point, Bandleman and
Asheboro was opened the same year. The Boanoke and South-
ern, from Winston and Salem to the Virginia line towards
Martinsville, was built in 1887.
Minor roads and extensions of the same period were the
Oxford and Henderson, and the University, both built in 1881 ;
the Danville, Mocksville and Southwostorn, from Cascade
Junction, Virginia, to Leaksville, built in 1882; the Maxton,
Alma and Bowland, in 1887; the Atlantic and Danville, con-
necting Danville and Norfolk, a small part of which was in
North Carolina; the Boanoke and Tar Biver, from the
Virginia line to Lewiston; and the Georgia, Carolina and
Northern, from Monroe to the South Carolina line, all built
in 1887; the Carthage road to Cameron, built in 1888; and
the Midland North Carolina, from Goldsboro to Smithfield.
In the East, the Norfolk and Southern, connecting Norfolk
with Elizabeth City and Edenton, was completed in 1881 ; the
Wilmington, Chadbourn and Conway, and the Wilmington,
Onslow and East Carolina, the latter between Wilmington and
Jacksonville, were in operation in 1887; and the Chowan and
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 399
Southern, later the Norfolk and Caroliua, from Pinner's Point
to Tarboro, was completed in 1889.
By 1888 there were 2,550 miles of road in the state, owned
by fifty-one companies, and several times as much more
planned with a considerable part under way.
In 1890 the Durham and Lynchburg and the Aberdeen and
Asheboro, the latter connecting Aberdeen and Candor, were
completed, and the following year the Yadkin road from
Salisbury to Norwood, the North Carolina Midland, from
Winston to Mocksville, and the Egypt, from Colon to Egypt,
were added.
When in 1891 the railroad commission made its first re-
port there were sixty-seven railroads in the state with a mile-
age of 3,433, penetrating every county except Alleghany,
Ashe, Clay, Davie, Graham, Hyde, Pamlico, Transylvania,
Tyrrell, Watauga, Yadkin and Yancey. They had been as-
sessed for taxation in 1890 at $12,321,704 and in 1891 they
were assessed at $18,423,298. Several roads were still exempt
from taxation under the terms of their original charters, nota-
bly the Raleigh and Gaston and the Wilmington and Weldon.
The period which follows, while one of continued construc-
tion, was notably one of consolidation. That process had com-
menced in 1871, when the North Carolina Railroad was leased
to the Richmond and Danville for thirty years at 6 per cent in-
terest on $4,000,000, which was, on the whole, a good bargain
for the state. The Richmond and Danville also operated the
Piedmont road and thus was begun the first great railroad
system in the state. About 1880 it began to extend and by
1891 had either acquired or leased the Atlanta and Charlotte,
the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio, the Ashoville and Spartan-
burg, the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta, the Danville,
Mocksville and South Western, the High Point, Randleman
and Asheboro, the Milton and Sntherlin, the North Carolina
Midland, the Northwestern North Carolina, the Oxford and
Clarksville, the Oxford and Henderson, the Danville and
Western, the Statesville and Western, the University, the
Western North Carolina and the Yadkin, which with the ones
already controlled gave it a mileage of 1,091 in the state. In
1894 the Southern Railway was organized to take over the
400 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
Richmond and Danville, which had gone into the hands of a
receiver during the year. The North Carolina Railroad was
necessary to its existence and to make sure of its control the
Southern applied for a new lease, that to the Richmond and
Danville being due to expire in 1901. As will be recalled, the
new lease was made for ninety -nine years. Between 1895 and
1900 the portion of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley from
Sanford to Mount Airy with all its western branches was ac-
quired when the road was sold. In 1916 its total mileage in
the state was 2,092.
The second great system in the state was the Atlantic Coast
Line. In the eighties the Richmond and Petersburg and the
Petersburg roads united as the Atlantic Coast Line of Vir-
ginia. This system operated by agreement the Wilmingion
and Weldon and the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta,
which the latter had leased in 1885 ; the Cheraw and Salisbury ;
and the Albemarle and Raleigh. The total mileage in 1891
was 537. In 1892 the Norfolk and Carolina was added, and
by 1900 the Wilmington, New Bern and Norfolk, formerly the
Wilmington and Onslow, now completed to New Bern, and
the eastern portion of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley from
Sanford to Wilmington had been acquired. In addition, the
Washington branch from Parmele to Washing-ton had been
built. In the years since that time the road from Pender
to Kinston has been completed and several smaller sections
acquired. In 1916 the system, which in 1899 was consolidated
into one road, owned 1,033 miles in the state.
The third great system was the Seaboard Air Line, also
formed in the eighties, with the Raleigh and Gaston and Sea-
board and Roanoke as its chief constituents. The former al-
ready owned the controlling interest in the Raleigh and Au-
gusta, the Durham and Northern, the Carolina Central, and
the Georgia, Carolina and Northern; the latter had a large in-
terest in the Raleigh and Gaston, the Raleigh and Au.gusta,
the Georgia, Carolina and Northern, the Roanoke and Tar
River, the Pittsboro and the Carthage roads. All these were
grouped together and operated as one. Their total mileage
in North Carolina was 600, which had increased to 616 by
1916. In 1900 a consolidation into one road was effected.
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 401
In 1892 the Norfolk and Western Railway of Virginia
leased the LjTichburg and Durham and the Roanoke and
Southern, a total of eighty-seven miles, which it still operates
and controls as a part of its system.
In 1906 the fourth great system was formed. The Norfolk
and Southern, the Virginia and Carolina Coast, formerly the
Suffolk and Carolina; the Raleigh and Pamlico Sound, and
the Atlantic and North Carolina, the last of which had been
leased from the state in 1903 by the Howland Improvement
Company, were consolidated into the Norfolk Southern Rail-
road. In 1914 a further consolidation took place with the
Raleigh and Southport, running from Raleigh to Fayette-
ville; the Durham and Charlotte, connecting Sanford and
Troy, and the Aberdeen and Asheboro, which in 1912 had
merged into the Raleigh, Charlotte and Southern Railway.
In 1916 the system owned and operated 941 miles of road in
the state.
Since 1900 the most important new road is the Charleston,
Clinchfield and Ohio, which now runs across the state from
the South Carolina line by way of Rutherfordton and Marion
through Mitchell County to Virginia, a distance of 117 miles.
During this period forty-five small roads, with a mileage
ranging from three to ninety-five, have been built. Their com-
bined mileage is 983. They have helped the state immensely
and will doubtless in time be absorbed by the larger roads or
the great systems.
In 1916 there were fifty-four railroad companies in the
state with a total mileage of 4,958. Every county of the state,
with the exception of Alleghany, Dare and Hyde, is now
touched by at least one road. Their value as assessed for
taxation was $125,836,003.
The creation of the railroad commission in 1891 was of
great benefit to the people of the state and to the railroads
as well. The latter had held quite the contrary opinion and
had resisted its creation with all their influence. But the fact
of the existence of the commission and its forcing the roads
to better service tended to remove from the minds of the
people a great deal of the prevalent ill-feeling against the
roads. Railroad property was assessed much more equitably
40:2 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and much liigher. In two years after the creation of the com-
mission the assessment was nearly double what it had been
before. The table indicates the rise of assessed valuation,
chiefly explained, of course, after the first year or two by the
growth of the roads.
1890 $12,321,704 1902 $42,627,261
1891 18,423,298 1906 57,247,650
1892 19,726,760 1908 85,580,803
1893 24,228,954 1916 125,836,003
The Ealeigh and Gaston, the Wihningion and Weldon, and
the North Carolina, it will be remembered, claimed exemption
from taxation. By the early nineties there was much popular
feeling against them on this account and a growing conviction
that all the roads should be subject to the taxing power of
the state. The legislature and the state authorities began a
determined effort to force or persuade them to submission
and finally by indirect means won their point. The Raleigh
and Gaston claimed exemption for the Seaboard and Roanoke
and the state treasurer brought suit for the taxes. In a result-
ing compromise the road agreed to surrender its immunity.
In 1893 the Wilmington and "Weldon was forced to take the
same action in order to secure the re-charter of the Peters-
burg Railroad, which was vital to the operations of the At-
lantic Coast Line. Wlien the North Carolina was leased to
the Southern the abandonment of exemption was part of the
agreement.
From time to time there have been bitter quarrels about
rates for both passengers and freight. Of the former the
most notable was that of 1907, elsewhere described. So far
as freight rates are concerned, discrimination against North
Carolina towns has aroused more discussion than anything
else, and the question has never been fully settled. The rail-
roads have been, of course, a most vital factor in the develop-
ment of the state. They have had to contend with much popu-
lar criticism and unpopularity, in part deserved, without a
doubt, but in part scarcely based on sufficient grounds. The
railroads were active in politics during the first three decades
following the close of the war, and their participation was not.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 403
on the whole, beneficial to the state. Nor was it in the long
run a good thing for the roads. It excited hostility and sus-
picion which were slow in dying. When political activity on
the part of the roads lessened, the habit of "baiting" rail-
roads had been formed by manj- politicians, while many pri-
vate citizens were unable to rid themselves of instinctive
dislike and distrust of the roads. And for this the roads were
to blame. For many years, too, there was no policy of con-
sideration for the people and the demand, open or implied,
for special privileges fostered public hostility. But in recent
years, particularly A\ithin the last decade, there has been a
growth of a very healthy and friendly public sentiment to-
wards the roads, due partly to a better knowledge of their
difficulties, partly to a recognition of the interdependence of
the roads and people, and partly to the changed attitude of
the railway managers, who have come to realize their position
as public servants.
The growth and development of the four systems has
meant much to the territoiy served by them. Through traffic
better and cheaper service, and the stimulation of agricul-
tural and industrial development along their lines have every-
where resulted. Their managements have all faithfully sought
to accomplish this, moved, of course, by self-interest, but also
by a sincere and patriotic ambition to plaj^ a large part in
the making of the new South.
CHAPTER XIX
SOCIAL TENDENCIES
A view of social conditions in North Carolina requires, of
course, knowledge of the population, its elements and its dis-
tribution. The following table shows at a glance the more
important facts.
I860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910
Total population. 991,464 1,071,361 1,399,750 1,617,949 1,893,810 2,206,287
White 629,942 687,470 867,242 1,055,382 1,263,603 1,500,511
Negro 361,522 392,891 532,508 561,018 624,469 697,843
Urban 115,759 186,790 318,474
White 60,049 110,576 202,438
Negro 55,695 76,169 115,975
Ruraf 1,502,190 1,707,020 1,887,813
White 995,333 1,153,027 1,298,073
Negro 505,323 548,300 581,868
Foreign born
White 3,298 3,029 3,742 3,662 4,394 5,942
It will be noted that the white population is increasing
faster than the colored and that the number of foreigners in
the state is negligible. The distribution of the negroes is
interesting. No county has a larger percentage than seventy-
five, but two, Warren and Halifax, have between 621/2 and
75 per cent. Twelve, Anson, Bertie, Caswell, Chowan,
Craven, Edgecombe, Hertford, Northampton, Pasquotank,
Perquimans, Scotland and Vance have more than 50 per cent,
twenty-five have more than 37% per cent, seventeen more
than 25 per cent, sixteen more and twenty-five less than 12^^
per cent.
Probably the most notable change taking place is the
growth of urban population. This is the more significant
when it is remembered that there is no large city in the state
but that this population is diffused among many small places.
In 1910 North Carolina had only two places, Charlotte and
404
406 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Wilmington, with a population of 25,000, only five more, Ashe-
ville, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh and Winston above 10,000,
and only thirty-three more with a population above 2,500.
The movement to the towns has meant leaving the farms but
it has not meant the congestion of any community. The drain
of other states upon North Carolina which was so great in
the ante-bellmn period continues. In 1910, 237,229 white
North Carolinians were residing in other states and only
75,073 natives of other states had come to take their places.
The balance was against North Carolina in all the states
except Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Throughout its history North Carolina has been an indi-
vidualistic and, for a large part of the time, an unsocialized
community, lacking in community consciousness and a sense
of community responsibility. The state was marked by a
sort of hereditary characteristic, derived from the facts of
its origins and early development. Lying in an eddy between
the currents which brought outside influence and stimulus
to its neighbors immediately to the north and south, settled
largely by people of small means and limited education, it
remained, so far as the mass of the people were concerned, a
sort of backwater. It was conservative because it was ignor-
ant and poor and it remained poor because it was ignorant.
From being conservative it became static and, retrograding
in comparison with the other states, it began finally to look
as though it was actually a decadent community. A vast
throng of its more progressive citizens sought elsewhere the
opportunities denied them at home. Some, usually those of
means, turned to the Southwest where the rapid extension of
cotton culture brought a vast and swift increase of wealth.
Others, in the main the non-slaveholding poorer elements,
went to the Northwest where, out of competition with slavery,
free labor had a chance and where educational advantages
were open even to the children of the poor.
Beginning, however, in the years immediately following
1835, progressive movements appeared which seemed to prom-
ise a social revolution. The development of systems of trans-
portation and public schools, the removal of suffrage limita-
tions, tln' iiiovonicnt for ad valorem taxation of slave property,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 407
all gave promise for the future. But all these things were
checked by the war and to a greater extent by Reconstruction,
which imposed a new set of problems, the influence of one at
least of which — the negro — was deadening and destined to
check progress in the state in an alarming fashion for several
decades.
In 1865 Huxley, in speaking of emancipation, said :
The question is settled, but even those who are most thoroughly
convinced that the doom is just must see good gi-ounds for repudiating
half the arguments that have been employed by the winning side,
and for doubting whether its ultimate results will embody the hopes
of the victors, though they may more than realize the fears of the
vanquished. It may be quite true that some negroes are better than
some white men ; but no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes
that the average negi-o is the equal, still less the superior of the aver-
age white man.
But whatever the position of stable equilibrium into which the
laws of social gra\'itation may bring the negro, all responsibility for
the result will henceforth be between nature and him. _ The white man
may wash his hands of it and the Caucasian conscience be void of
repVoach for evei-more. And this, if we look to the bottom of the
matter, is the real justification for the abolition policy.
True as was the first part of his analysis, the latter part
shows a strange ignorance both of the necessities of the case
and of Southern feeling. It was an impossibility for the Cau-
casion to "wash his hands" of the negro, and to the credit
of the people of North Carolina it must be added that in the
main they have not desired to do so, though politics, or rather
a certain stripe of politicians, have often made them appear
in that light. But the very sense of responsibility made the
presence of the negro, so long as he was a political factor, one
of the most retarding forces in the life of the state.
Slowly the two races, after the failure of the attempt at
forced equality made by the conquerors during Reconstruc-
tion, worked out a fairly satisfactory modus vivendi. The
fusion regime interrupted this but disfranchisement began
a new day in the relations of the races. White men, with the
negro out of politics, began to see clearly that North Carolina
could make no rapid progress if the negroes remained what
Charles Francis Adams aptly termed a "terrible inert mass
of domesticated barbarism."
408 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The case was clear. If crime was to be lessened the negro
must be trained in obedience to law. If public and private
morals were to be elevated, the morals of the negro must be
cared for. Before public health could be improved the negro
must be taught sanitation and hygiene and prevented from
endangering the welfare of the whole community. And so
he must learn honesty, industry, thrift, and all the other quali-
ties which go into the making of good citizens. In other
words he must be educated.
Leaders of thought saw this, but naturally the masses are
not always able to see the fundamental necessity to the white
people of the uplift of the inferior race. A certain type of
politician desired still to use the negro as a political argu-
ment. Most of this probably was unintentional; they had
simply formed the habit and could not realize the changed
conditions. For the others, John Charles McNeill wittily
sang:
I cannot see, if you were dead,
Mr. Nigger,
How orators could earn their bread,
Mr. Nigger.
For they could never hold the crowd.
Save they abused you long and loud
As being a dark and threatening cloud,
Mr. Nigger.
and told the whole story.
In 1901 as has been seen, a demand arose for the division
of the school fund on the basis of what each race paid. This
had two underlying motives. One was a feeling that the pri-
mary obligation of the state was to the white children ; the
other was a conscious purpose to restrict the opportunities
for the negro to become educated and qualify as a voter.
Aycock's splendid courage in his fight in behalf of justice
checked the movement but the question arose again in 1902
and again Aycock threw himself into the fight. Never falter-
ing, he opposed it as unjust to the negroes and injurious to the
whites. As he said :
The amendment proposed is nnjnst, unwise, and nnconstitntional
It would wrong both races, would bring our State into condemnation
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 409
of a just opinion elsewliere. and woukl mark us as a people who have
turned backward. • * • Let us not seek to be the first State in
the Union to make the weak man helpless. This would be a leader-
ship that would bring us no honor but mueh shame. * * * Let
us be done with this question, for while we discuss it the white chil-
dren of the State are growing up in ignorance.
Aycock's opposition was effective and today no such prop-
osition is ever considered.
The race problem is of course not settled in North Caro-
lina, but the whole matter is on a new basis. There are un-
doubtedly many individual cases of injustice and oppression
but steadily they grow fewer. The purpose of the white men
to rule is none the less fixed, but more than ever he is deter-
mined to rule in righteousness. As Aycock phrased it :
If we fail to administer equal and exact justice to the negro whom
we deprive of suffrage, we shall in the fulness of time lose power
ourselves, for we must know that the God who is love, trusts no peo-
ple with authority for the pui-pose of enabling them to do injustice
to the weak. We do well to rejoice in our strength and to take delight
in our power, but we will do better still when we come fully to know
that our right to rule has been transmitted to us by our fathers
through centuries of toil and sacrifice, suffering and death, and
their work through all these centuries has been a striving to execute
judgment in righteousness. That must likewise be our aim, that our
labor.
In this connection it is well to repeat his solution of the
negro problem:
I am inclined to give you our solution of this problem. It is,
first, as far as possible under the Fifteenth Amendment to disfran-
chise him; after that let him alone, quit writing about him; quit
talking about him, quit making him "the white man's burden," let
him "tote his own skillet;" quit coddling him, let him learn that no
man, no race, ever got anything worth the having that he did not him-
self earn ; that character is the outcome of .sacrifice and worth is the
result of toil ; that whatever his future may be, the present has in
it for him nothing that is not the product of industry, thrift, obedi-
ence to law, and uprightness; that he cannot, by resolution of council
or league, accomplish anything; that he can do much by work; that
violence may gratify his passions but it cannot accomplish his ambi-
tions; that he may eat rarely of the cooking of equality, but he will
always find whenhe does that "there is death in the pot." Let the
negro learn once for all that there is unending separation of the
races, that the two peoples may develop side by side to the fullest
but that they cannot intermingle; let the white man determine that
410 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
no man shall by act or thought or speech cross this line, and the
race problem will be at an end. * * *
But I would not have the white people forget their duty to the
negro. We must seek the truth and pursue it. We owe an obligation
to ' ' the man in black ; " we brought him here ; he served us well ; he
is patient and teachable. We owe him gratitude; above all we owe
him justice. We cannot foi-get his fidelity and we ought not to mag-
nify his |aults ; we cannot change his color, neither can we ignore his
service. No individual ever "rose on stepping stones of dead" others
"to higher things," and no people can. We must rise by ourselves,
we must execute judgment in righteousness; we must educate not
only ourselves but see to it that the negro has an opportunity for
education.
In North Carolina today the most hopeful sigii is the in-
creased interest in education, the growth and development of
a real public sense of responsibility for it. It is, in a sense,
only a begininng-, but it is genuine. The people begin to feel
the truth of Aycock's phrasing of a great truth: "The
strength of every community is dependent upon the average
of the intelligence of that community, and this intelligence is
dependent upon the education of the entire mass and not of
the few." But there remains a vast amount of work to be
done and of difficulty to be overcome.
In 1910 there were 291,497 illiterates in the state, 18.5 per
cent of the total population over ten years of age. The per-
centage was 31.9 among negroes ; 12.3 among native whites,
and 8.3 among foreign-born whites. Eural population showed
a percentage of illiteracy of 19.6 compared with 12.5 for urban.
Of the white males of voting age 49,619, or 14.1 per cent were
illiterate, only Louisiana of all the states of the Union making
a worse showing. Yet bad as this is there is in it ground for
hope. In 1880 of the total population over ten years of age
there were 463,975 illiterates, or 48.3 per cent; in 1890, 409,703
or 35.7 per cent; and in 1900, 386,251 or 28.7 per cent. Of the
white population 31.5 per cent in 1880, 23.01 per cent in 1890,
and 19.5 per cent in 1900 were illiterate. Of the negroes 77.4
per cent in 1880, 60.11 per cent in 1890, and 47.6 per cent in
1900 were illiterate. During the decade from 1900 to 1910
North Carolina reduced its white illiteracy more than did any
other state except New Mexico. It really was a remarkable
aeliievement when all things are considered and is full of
HISTOEY OF NORTH CAROLINA 411
promise for the future. Without doubt the coming census will
show eveu a greater gain. On the other hand, it must be noted
that the decrease in illiteracy in North Carolina as well
as in the South as a whole has been due to the decreases in
negro illiteracy, white female illiteracy, and urban illiteracy.
It is a startling fact that since 1850 in North Carolina illit-
eracy among adult white males has increased from 13.6 per
cent to 14.1 per cent. The same fact is true in even larger
measure in South Carolina, and will probably upon investiga-
tion be found to be true in the other southern states. These
increases in white male illiteracy are mainly in the rural re-
gions. The actual number of illiterates of course has de-
creased.
There is really no longer any valid reason, if indeed there
was ever one, why public education should not remove illit-
eracy and in other ways promote progress. Poverty, the over-
worked excuse of all the years, is ceasing to exist for the great
mass of the people and continues chiefly because of ignorance.
It is true that the per capita wealth of the state as expressed
upon the tax books is small. In 1912 it was $794 with only
Mississippi of all the states having a lower amount. The esti-
mated actual wealth of the state in 1912 was $1,800,000,000
and yet in 1914 only $807,000,000 was on the tax books. It is
sometimes said that assessments in the state average 60 per
cent of the true value of the property, but this is far from be-
ing the case. The habit of dodging taxes has prevailed in
North Carolina from her earliest days and is probably at its
worst today. Concealment of property, open and flagrant
under-valuation and assessment, and every sort of wilful eva-
sion of the tax laws are commonplaces in probably every
county of the state. Nor are they confined to individuals.
Counties and townships vie with each other in lowering the
basis of assessment of land until in a comparison of census
values with tax values, it appears that while Dare County
assesses its farm lands at 188 per cent of their census value,
New Hanover at 146 per cent, Graham at 139 per cent, and
Durham and Swain at 109 per cent, Ashe assesses at only 18
per cent, Yancey at 16 per cent and Alleghany at 13 per cent.
412 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
It can not longer be said that land bears any universal relation
to assessment in North Carolina.
Nor is this the whole story. In 1914 in thirty-three coun-
ties including Cleveland, Cumberland, and Sampson, no in-
come tax was paid and in many others the returns were utterly
and patently absurd. The facts were known and no action
was taken.
The whole system is wrong. As it was recently phrased :
Our uniform ad valorem tax system today falls more heavily
on the taxpayer whose mind is honest and whose conscience is tender
than upon the dishonest tax-dodger. It bears heavily upon tangible
properties like land, and lightly upon stocks, bonds, notes, mortgages,
and other invisible properties. It is impossible to reach personal
property and get solvent credits on the tax books wherever the uni-
form ad valorem rule prevails. This system allows gross irregulari-
ties. It works in favor of the cunning and against the honest tax-
payer, in order to evade the law, fraud, trickery, and even perjury
are commonly resorted to. As a result, it punishes good citizens,
rebukes industry and thrift, and hinders industrial development.
Today the taxation situation is the gravest question before
the people of the state. Upon the solution of the problem
depends every forward movement — education, public health,
social uplift, and relief work of all kinds. The continuance
of the existing system means the progressive impairment of
the public morals of the whole people and every day that it
remains unchanged adds to the stain upon the State and its
people.
The habit of poverty still is shown in the attitude of the
people towards the cost of government, but fortunately this
is slowly changing. In 1912 the per capita revenue was less
than that of any State in the Union. In the same year the
per capita cost of the state government was $1.46, but in 1915
it had risen to $1.76 and is still rising as more liberally the
state invests for the future. In the former years with South
Carolina the state stood at the bottom of the list of states
in this respect, but in the latter it had left South Carolina
slightly behind. The items of expenditure make an interesting
showing.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 413
Object 1912 1915
Charities, Hospitals and Corrections 49 .39
Public Education 565 .71
Interest and Outlay 47 .25
Protection 09 .10
Public Health 02 .05
Highways and Recreation 005 .01
State Government 09 .14
Miscellaneous 03
Conservation and Development .11
Total $1.46 $1.76
The general social influence of the industrial development
of the state, has been described. Apart from better economic
opportunity, the most significant effect is to be seen in the
gi-owth of numerous small, brisk, thriving towiis which, with
increasing modern improvements and with rapidly improving
schools, sei-ve as beacon lights to the rural communities which
surround them. That is one of the best features of North
Carolina industrial life. The large city undoubtedly has its
advantages, but a large number of smaller centres is, socially
speaking, far more uplifting.
Bright as the prospect is and hopeful as much of the agri-
cultural situation is, there is one menacing feature of the
rural life of the state. One million, one hundred and eighty
thousand people in North Carolina are landless and homeless.
Professor E. C. Branson thus strikingly describes the situa-
tion :
In North Carolina 52 per cent of all our dwellings, in town ami
country regions, are oecupipd by renters. Eleven Inindred and
eighty thousand of our peofile of both races are landless and homeless.
Twenty-eight states make a better showing than North Carolina
in the ownership of homes and farms, and 17 a jioorer showing.
These 17 states are all in the densely j)opiilated industrial areas of
the North and Ea-st, and in the cotton belt states south of us, where
farm tenancy is excessive.
It is well to keep clearly in mind the fact that even in the South,
farm tenancy is a white man's problem mainly. Contrary to the
popular notion, it is not a negro problem mainly. The white farm
tenants of Virginia outnund)er the negro farm tenants by nearly
414 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
17,000, in Xorth Carolina liy 19,000, and in the South at large by
nearly 156,000.
And the situation is peculiarly distressing where white and black
farm tenants work side by side in nearlj' eciual numbers, as in Halifax,
Hemy, Nansemond, Northampton, and Westmoreland counties, Vir-
ginia, and in 18 counties of North Carolina — mainly in our cotton
and tobacco areas.
The tenants in our farm regions, are sojourners, strangers, and
pilgrims on the earth. They have no stake in the land. They are
tethered to no locality by the ties of ownership. They are forever
seeking new fields and pastures green. They have little or no chance
to develop an abiding interest in schools and churches, in good roads,
in greater attention to public sanitation, in local law and order, in
community organizations and enterprises for progress and prosperity,
welfare and well-being. Upon an average a little more than half
of our farm tenants in the South move every year. In some neigh-
borhoods the ratios of change are larger, in others smaller. Their
children change .schools and teachers so often that they soon drop out
altogether.
As a result wherever we find excessive tenanej' we find undue
illiteracy. Farm tenancy and illiteracy are twin-born social menaces.
They are twins at birth and boon companions throughout life. And
neither can be cured without curing the other. Tenancj' breeds illit-
eracy, and illiteracy breeds tenancy among the native born whites of
the South. As long as we have tenancy we shall have illiteracy. The
increase of illiteracy among white men and women in our country
regions since 1850 is due to steadily increasing tenancy among white
farmers in fifty counties of the state. Other causes — like sparsity
of population and raucous individualism — produce illiteracy, as in
ovir moaintain counties and in the Lower Cape Fear Region, bxit the
constant accompaniment of farm tenancy is illiteracy.
Where slave population was densest — the cotton and to-
bacco counties — are now the regions where fai-m tenancy,
absentee-landlordism, and the crop lien are tirmly-established
institutions. In the many-crop, livestock-raising: counties,
farm owners in the main cultivate their own faims and there
is no such situation. But in the others, as Professor Branson
points out, it is not the negro who suffers. In Warren County
negroes own 52 per cent of all owned farms; in Halifax
County, 49 per cent ; in Vance and Richmond, 36 per cent ; in
Robeson, 35 per cent, and in Northampton, 30 per cent. All
over the State the negro is steadily acquiring land and the
number of negro fann owners has increased each year. In
1900 17,520 negroes owned 961,341 acres valued at $8,773,780.
In 1910 21,443 negroes owned 1,197,496 acres valued at $22,-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 415
810,089. There are some nineteen thousand more white than
colored farm tenants in the State and the negroes own
nearly one-third of the farms they cultivate, an increase of
twenty-two per cent in the last census period. The h,ome-mak-
ing instinct is a strong factor in negro uplift and in general it
is true that the negro who owns a fair-sized farm is not only
quite a good farmer, well above the average, but a good and
responsible citizen as w^ell.
The most ti'ansforming factor in the recent development
of the state is state-wide prohibition. Before the rise of the
dispensaries and of local option, conditions had become almost
unbearable and prohibition came, not because anything like a
majority of the people liked the remedy, but because the dis-
ease was becoming of a sort that made any remedy endurable.
The dispensary gave the saloon its death blow and local option
furnished examples of the beneficent workings of entire sup-
pression of the liquor traffic and converted many who had
been hitherto opposed to state-wide prohibition or to any
kind of prohibition. Prohibition has many natural enemies
in Xorth Carolina. The people have always been highly indi-
vidualistic and have been averse to the sort of interference
with personal liberty that legislation of this sort means.
There was also a widespread Scotch-Irish fondness for
whiskey. But under the stress of desperate need the people
passed the law and the question is a settled one. It has
worked well and there is scarcely a community in the state
that would favor a return to the old conditions. Of course, it
has not stopped drinking; under the most favorable circum-
stances that could not be accomplished within this generation.
But it has vastly reduced it and has practically eliminated
public drunkenness, formerly a widespread evil. It has in-
creased private industry and thrift and helped public morals
immensely. Crime has decreased tremendously and the entire
community is bettered in every way.
In spite of the general lessening of crime, the state has a
pre-eminence not to be desired in respect to homicide. Tn
1913 it led the twenty-six states which compose the registra-
tion area in both urban and rural homicides, the figures for
the year being 274 and 173, respectively. Seventy-nine per
416 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
cent of the total were committed by negroes. It is a fact that
human life is still far too cheap and the decided uncertainty
of punishment has doubtless been a chief contributing cause.
Latterly, .resort to lynch law has been infrequent.
Within recent years a new movement in the state has
gained momentum and has already accomplished a great deal.
Certain progressive elements have begun to work in concert
for social uplift and betterment. There is sustained and genu-
ine interest in the unfortunate. Under the control of the
state a school for the feeble-minded, a refuge for fallen
women, an institution for cripples, a juvenile reformatory
and a tuberculosis sanitarium have been established. More
generous support has been given the hospitals for the insane
and the schools for the deaf and dumb and the blind. Prison
reform, in spite of crying need and open scandal, has still to
come.
Along the same lines has been the advancement in the
public health service. A law has at last been passed provid-
ing for the keeping of vital statistics. Sanitary campaigns
and surveys have educated the people in the prevention of
disease. Eleven of the counties now have health officers who
give all their time to the duties of the position. Only a few
years ago North Carolina had the largest death rate in the
Union from typhoid fever. In many counties it is today
almost unknown, thanks to health campaigns, the work of
health officers and the activity of the state board of health.
Smallpox no longer rages as it has done even since the open-
ing of the century. The hookworm is a disappearing pest.
The medical examination of school children, now becoming
common, is another manifestation of growing interest in the
subject.
All of these things reflect confidence in the future. A
striking example of this was the action of the legislature of
1917 in providing for the issue of $3,000,000 in bonds as a
permanent investment of the state in the physical develop-
ment of its great institutions of learning and its institutions
for the care of the unfortunate. This is practical democracy
of a type and on a scale befitting the dignity of the state.
In the realm of the intellect changes are taking place out-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 417
side school walls. Rural free delivery, the achievement of
Senator Marion Butler, has increased newspaper and maga-
zine reading. The mass of the people, more in contact with
the world outside and with currents of thought, are better
informed and more alive than ever before. North Carolina
is not yet a reading community, but there are at last some
reasons to hope that it may in time become one. Tlicre has
been a considerable increase in the number of public libraries,
school libraries have gi'own in size and number, and the state
supports a commission for library promotion. There is a
wide and growing interest in state history, one of the
best visible tokens of which is the creation and support of the
State Historical Commission, which is splendidly equipped
and installed in a home worthy of it. The activities of the
cormnission, carried on by the secretary, are of the highest
value, and a wealth of historical material is being accumulated
and placed at the service of investigators. The work of the
commission is regarded by exports as equaling the best done
by any of the states. Similar work in the collection and
preservation of historical material, but on a smaller scale, is
being done by the libraries of the University and of Trinity
College. At the University an unique collection of economic
and sociological data is being made.
Women are rapidly coming to play a more important part
in public affairs. Illiteracy among women has been decreased
much more rapidly than among men, and the high schools
show a much larger enrollment of girls than of boys. One
hundred and thirty thousand white women and girls, — about
24 per cent, — in 1910 were earning a living outside of home
and home occupations and the number has since been vastly
increased. So far there has not been a very active agitation
for suffrage, but the movement is growing and in no very
long period the change will be made. The movement has
behind it no special platform of reform in behalf of women,
since the laws of the state are exceedingly favorable to them,
and it really seems so far, to a great extent, merely a reflex
of the movement elsewhere, the indications being strong that
the vast majority of the women of the state are indifferent.
If suffrage is conferred while that remains the case, it will be
Vol. m— 27
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 41!)
a positive evil, since the state is already cursed with a large
element of indifferent and ignorant male voters. It', on the
other hand, interest is widely aroused, it is witliin the range
of possibility that instead of making little or no diff'erence,
as has been the case in the suffrage states, it will prove of
tremendous value to North Carolina.
Socially the state is moving foi-ward, slowly and pain-
fully in some respects, rapidly in others. Its conservatism
of ignorance is a retrograding characteristic, and the people,
always fundamentally more progressive than political leaders
have thought them, and in too many cases wanted them to be,
are increasingly ready to respond to liberal and progressive
leadership. The time may not be far distant when they will
demand and force that sort of leadership.
As one contrasts the state as it is with what, with its nat-
ural advantages, it should be, there is abundant I'oom for
pessimism of darkest hue. But when one contrasts the North
Carolina of 1918 with the commonwealth emerging in 1876
from the horror of Reconstruction, or even with the North
Carolina of 1900, there remains small excuse for anything but
the most roseate optimism. The state has indeed come far
since either date. It is a better place to live in. Its standards
of life, thought and conduct, public and private, are higher.
It is in the midst of an intellectual awakening. It abounds in
opportunity. Its people have preserved in large measure their
old simplicity and sound and unconscious democratic ideal
which, vitalized by social responsibility, they are beginning
to apply to the larger activities of government. There is
increasing freedom of thought and respect for the right of
dit¥erenee of opinion. AVhile North Carolina has never suf- '
fered to the sajue extent as the other SouUici'n states from
what Chancellor Hill callcil the "deadly paralysis of intellect
due to the enforced unanimity of thought within the lines of
one party," there has been too nuich of it, and it is good to
see it steadily lessening. There are still many things to be
done before North Carolina is abrejist nf the greatest eom-
monwealths. Init it would be flying in the fjice of history to
fail to believe that in spite of the tremendous obstacles and
420 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
heavy tasks before them, the i^eople of the okl commonwealth,
now beginning to look forward, will continue to move forward
toward the realization of democratic ideals in the new epoch
which lies directly ahead.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
It is an impossibility to list in this bibliography all the
sources of information employed in preparing this book. For
the period from 1860 to 1876 the footnotes of my Reconstruc-
tion in North Carolina will furnish detailed references and the
titles given below will indicate the sources mainly relied upon
for the later period. ^lany miscellaneous newspapers, and
magazines have been consulted in addition to those listed and
a large number of articles relating directly or indirectly to
the state have been read.
1. SeCOXDAHY AVoiiKS
Ammen, D., The Atlantic Coast. (188').)
Battle, K. P., History of the University of North Carulina
(2 vols. 1908-1911.)
Battle, K. P., Legislation of the Convention of J861. (1900.)
Brooks. E. C, The Story of Cotton. (1911.)
Clark, W., ed., North Carolina Bryimenlal History (7) vols.
1901.)
Cox, S. S., Three Decades of Federal Leyislafion. (1885.)
Dodge, T. A., Bird's Eye Vieiv of the Civil War. (1897.)
Dunning, "W. A., Essays on Civil War and Reconstruction.
(1897.)
Dunning, W. A., Reconstruction, Political and Economic.
(1907.)
Fleming, W. L., ed., Lester and Wilson's 'I'hr K u h'lu.r Khni.
(1905.)
Garner, J. "\V., ed., Studies in SoutJirm Uistnry mid Palifies.
(1914.)
Hamilton, J. G. de Roulhac, Reconstruction in North Carolina.
(1914.)
Herbert, H. A., Why the Solid South? (1890.)
421
422 HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA
Hill, D. H., North CaroHna (Confederate Military History,
Vol. IV, 1899.)
Hillyard, M. B., TJie New South. (1887.)
Murphy, E. G., The Basis of Ascendancy. (1910.)
, Problems of the Present South. (1904.)
Page, Walter, The Rebuilding of Old Commomcealths. (1902.)
Pierce, P. S., The Freedmen's Bureau. (1904.)
Rhodes, J. F., History of the United States from the Compro-
mise of 1850 (7 yols. 1893;1906.)
Schwab, J. C, The Confederate States of America, 1861-1865.
(190L)
Soley, J. R., The Blockade. (1885.)
Spencer, C. P., The Last Ninety Days of the War in North
Carolina. (18G6.)
Sprunt, James, Chronicles of the Cape Fear River, 1660-1916.
(1916.)
Thompson, Holland, From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill. (1906.)
Wagstaff, H. M., State Rights and Political Parties in North
Carolina. (1906.)
Wilkinson, John, The Narrative of a Blockade Runner. (1877.)
The South in the Building of the Nation (13 vols. 1909.)
2. Manusckipt Collections of Sources
Executiye Correspondence : The letter books of the governors
and the letters not therein included now in the collections
of the North Carolina Historical Connnission.
The Graham Papers. (In tlie collections of the North Caro-
lina Historical Commission.)
The Hale Papers. (In the collections of the North Carolina
Historical Commission.)
The Rufiin Papers. (Now in process of publication by the
North Carolina Historical Commission, edited by J. G. de
Ronlhae Hamilton.)
The Shotwell Papers. (In the possession of the author.)
The Vance Papers. (In the collections of the North Carolina
Historical Commission.)
The Journal of the Council of State. (In the collections of
the Xorlli Carolina Historical Commission.)
HISTORY OF NORTH CAUOLIXA 423
The Record of the Provisional Governor. (In tlu' colleetions
of the North Carolina Jlistorieal Commission.)
3. PiuxTEu Collections or Sources
Battle, W. H., eil., The Habeas Corpus Cases. (1870.)
Fleming, W. L., ed.. Documentary History of Reconstruction
(2 vols., 1906-1907.)
Hamilton, J. Gr. de Roulhae, ed., Tlie Corrcspdudrncc of Jona-
than Worth (2 vols. 1909.)
]\rcPherson, Edward, ed., History of the RehcUian. (1865.)
— Political History of the United States dur'nin tin- Period of
Reconstruction. { 1870.)
—Handbook of Politics for 1872, 1874, 1876, 1878.
i. Public Documents
A. State.
Laws of North Carolina. (1860-1917.)
Legislative Journals. (1860-1917.)
Legislative Documents. (1860-1917.)
Journal of the Convention. (1861-62, 1865-66, 1868, 1875.)
Ordinances of the Convention. (1861-62, 1865-66, 1868, 1875.)
North Carolina Reports. (1860-1917.)
Impeachment Trial of William W. Holdcn (3 vols., 1871.)
Impeachment Trial of David M. Furches and Robert M.
Douglas. (1901.)
Report of the Railroad Commission. (1891-1898.)
Report of the Corporation Commissinn. ( 1S99-1917.)
B. Federal.
The Congressional Globe. ( 1 860-1873. )
The Congressional Record. (1873-1917.)
House Executive Documents. (1860-1917.)
House Miscellaneous Documents. (1860-1917.)
House Reports. (1860-1917.)
Senate Executive Documents. (1860-1917.)
Senate Miscellaneous Documents. (1860-1917.)
Senate Reports. (1860-1917.)
United States Reports. (1S60-1917.)
Census Reports. (1860. 1870, 1880, 1890, I'.MH), 191(i.)
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.
424 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the
War of the Rebellion.
5. Contemporary Periodicals
The (Charlotte) Democrat.
The Charlotte Observer.
The (Elizabeth City) North Carolinian.
The Fayetteville Observer.
The (Greensboro) Industrial News.
The Greensboro A^etvs.
The (Greensboro) Patriot.
The (New Bern) Progress.
The (Raleigh) Confederate.
The (Raleigh) Conservative.
The (Raleigh) Constitution.
The (Raleigh) Era.
The (Raleigh) Morning Post.
The (Raleigh) News.
The (Raleigh) News and Observer.
The (Raleigh) North Carolina Standard.
The (Raleigh) Observer.
The (Raleigh) Progress.
The (Raleigh) Progressive Parmer.
The Raleigh Register.
The (Raleigh) State Chronicle.
The (Raleigh) State Journal.
The (Raleigh) Sentinel.
The (Raleigh) Tribune.
The (Tarboro) Southerner. •
The (Salisbury) Watchman.
The (Salisbury) Western Carolinian.
The (Wilmin.gton) Herald.
The (Wilming-ton) Journal.
The (Wilmington) Messenger.
The (Wilmington) Star.
The New York Herald.
The Netv York Sun.
The (New York) Times.
The (New York) Tribune.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 425
Harper's Weekly.
The Nation.
The Outlook.
Public Opinion.
The American (After 1875 Appleton's) Annual Cyclopaedia
(1860-1902.)
The New International Year Book. (1907-1917.)
6. BlOGKAPHY AND REMINISCENCES
Ashe, S. A., ctl., The Biographical History of North Carolina
(8 vols., 1905-1917.) "
Connor, R. D. W., and Poe, Clarence, Life and Speeches of
Charles B. Ay cock. (1912.)
Dowd, C, Life of Zehulon B. Vance. (1897.)
Ellis, John W., Diary. (1875.)
Memoirs of William W. Holden. (1911.)
Howard, 0. 0., Autohiofiraphy (2 vols., 1907.)
McCnlloch, Hugh, Men and Measures of Half-A-Century.
(1888.)
Schofidd, Jno. ]\r.. Forty-six Years in the Army. (1897.)
Sherman, William T., Memoirs. (1904.)
Welles, E., ed., The Diary of Gideon Welles (3 vols., 1911.)
7. Miscellaneous
Andrews, S., The South Since the War. (1865.)
Democratic Handbook. (Issued for each campaign after
1882.)
Marion Butler's Ralciyli Speech (delivered November, 1910.)
North Carolina and Its Resources. (1896.)
North Carolina Club Yearbook. (1915-1916, and 1916-1917.)
Populist Handbook. (Issued for each campaign during the
life of the party.)
Republican Handbook. (Issued for most of the campaigns
since 1884.)
Testimony in Ihr Case of South Dakota r. North Carolina.
(1902.)
Thirty Years of Southern Upbuilding. (1912.)
The University of North Carolina Neivs Letter. (1915-1!)17.)
The North Carolina Manual. (1913, 1915, 1917.)
INDEX
Abbott. Joseph C. 112.
Acreage, total, 377.-
Act of March 2, 1SG7, 88.
Administratiou, defects of, 114, 132.
Administration of General Sickles, 93,
94.
"Ad- Vance," 9; eleven successful trips
made. 9: lost. 9; (ilhistratioiil 10.
Agricultural and ilochanieal College,
213, 315. 268. 365. 379.
Agricultural products, value of, 165.
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts Col-
lege. 371.
Agriculture, 217, 221, 376; scientific,
379.
•■Albemarle," Construction of (illustra-
tion), 25; alloat and ready for action
(illustration I, 25; menaccil bloclvaile.
26; engagement with '"Wyalusing"
(illustration), 27; with "Sassacus"
(illustration). 27; torpedoing of (il-
lustration), 28.
Albertson, .1. \V.. 214.
Aldermari, Edwin A., 317, 364. 371.
Alexander. Syndenham B., 226.
Amendments to Constitution proposed,
339: ratified, 340.
Andrews, A. B. (portrait), 398.
Appalachian Training School, 370.
Area of tlie state, 376.
Arsenal at Favetteville, 2, 8.
Ashley, S. S., '353.
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad.
273, 304, 334. 394.
Atlantic Coast Line. 400.
Atlantic. Tennessee and Oliio Railroad.
124, 394.
Average value per farm, 378.
Avcock. Cliarles B., 240, 381, 307. 310.
"345, 365, 408; (portrait) frontis-
piece; educational policy. 333; moat
beloved and trusted man in state,
334; (portrait) 366.
Bank development. 393.
Bank-note extension. 53.
Banks, forced into liipiidation through
repudiation of war debt, 65, 161.
Barn-burning, 140.
Battle, Kemp P., 359. 371.
Benjamin. .Tudah P., 4.
Bennett House I il'u-tration). 35.
Bermuda, 10.
Bil)liography, 421.
liiikett. Tlionuis \V.. 342.
BU of Hifjlits. lOfl.
Hinford. Raymond, 375.
HIackliinii. K. S]iencer, 342.
■■lihuk Codes." 76.
IHackwell. W. T., 386.
Blair Bill. 315.
Blake. John R., 374.
Blockade, bringing supplies through, 9;
weak at lirst, 14; menaced bv tlie
■•AUiemarle." 26.
iilockach- proclanuition of April 19,
ISOl, 12.
IMockade pro;liimntion of April 27. 3.
lUnckade runners. 11; names of, 15; de-
scriptions of, 16; military supplies
secured by, 17.
Board of Agriculture, 268.
Bimded indebtedness in 1860. 52.
Bonding railroads, 119-128.
Bonds, value of. 54: railroad. 125;
state. 126: appnipriations to rail-
roads repealed. 144.
Rovd, James E., 153.
Branson, E. C, 413.
Bridgers, R. R. (portrait), 398.
Britt. James J., 342.
Brvan William J., 258.
"B'ulTaloes." 33.
'Bull Durham." 386.
Butler, B. I'.. 30.
Butler, Marion, 247. 251, 324.
liu.xton, R. P., 314.
Caldwell, Gov. 137. 157, 179.
Call for troops refused by Gov. Ellis, 3.
Campaiirn of 1872, 179.
Campaign of 1878, 197.
Campaign warning, Wilmington, 1898
(facsimile). 293.
Campus of the I'nivcrsity of Xorth Car-
olina, Cluipel Hill, in 1907. (illustra-
tion). 372.
Canby. E. R. S.. 93.
Ca])e Fear. 17.
Cape Fear and Deep River Navigation
Company. 119.
427
428
INDEX
Capture of the "Lillian" (illustration),
10.
Carpet-bag bonds, 336.
Carpet-bag methods, 119-130.
Carpet-baggers, 103, 120, 189; nick-
name for. 131; important offices held
by, 135; end of, 144.
Carr, Elias, 237.
Carr. .lulian S., 314, 341. 374.
Casualties, Civil war, 12.
Census reports, 404.
Charleston, closed, 32.
Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad,
394.
Charlotte, state convention, 3.
Chatham Railroad, 119, 131, 122.
Circuit courts, criminal, abolished, 302.
City graded schools. 364.
Civil war. preparations, 3: manufacture
of military ecjuipment, 8; industries
of, 8: North Carolina troops better
equipped, 11; value of military sup-
plies, 11; officers, 12; casualties, 12;
casualties among officers, 12 ; mili-
tary supplies secured by blockade
runners, 17; first armed conflicts
witliin North Carolina, 17; cotton
prices. 17: naval engagements, 19;
military operations, 20; horror of
Federal occupation, 23; last shot fired
at Waynesville, 38; political senti-
ment, 39; peace movement. 44; eco-
nomic conditions. 46; labor problem
during, 47; conscription laws, 47;
relief work, 50: lack of drugs, 51;
taxation during. 51; debt, 53; money
(illustration), 53: specie payments
suspended. 53; spirit, 55; negro prob-
lem after, 77: debt repudiated, 106.
Clark. Henry T., 39.
Climatic variety of the state, 377.
Coastal Plain section, 377.
Collection of tithe. 43.
College of Agriculture and Jlcchanic
Arts, 371.
Colleges, denominational, 373.
Colored normal school, Fayetteville,
363.
Commercial timber, 391.
Commonwealth, rebuilding, 192.
Confederacy, North Carolina's loyalty
to, 40; attempted disloyalty to, 41.
Confederate bonds. 54. 348.
Confederate currencv, depreciation of,
54,
Confederate monument. 253.
Confederate pensions, 194, 213.
' Confederate Prison at Salisbury (illus-
tration). 37.
Confederate States, provisional consti-
tution ratified. 5.
Confederate troops, number from North
Carolina, 7.
Congress forbids admission of members
of Southern states, 86.
Congressional policy of reconstruction,
162.
Congressional reconstruction, 85.
Connor. Henry G., 244. 299, 345.
Conscription laws, Civil war, 47.
Constitution, provisional, of Confeder-
ate States, ratified, 5, 111; conven-
tion to revise, 78; amendments pro-
posed, 339; ratified, 340,
Constitutional amendment, 203.
Constitutional amendment restricting
suffrage, 399.
Constitutional amendments proposed,
339 ; ratified, 340.
Constitutional Convention, 183.
Constitutional Convention, Hatteras,
43.
Constitutional Convention (so-called),
106.
Constitutional reform, 172.
Constitutional Union Guard, 137.
Construction of the "Albemarle" (illus-
tration), 35.
Convention adjourned. 6.
Convention (so-called), 103.
Convention to revise the constitution,
78.
Corn, 379, 380.
Cotton. 379; war prices, 17: beginning
of manufacture, 168: prices, 331.
Cotton factories in I860, 46.
Cotton mills, 217, 385, 387.
Cotton seed oil mills, 391.
Cotton states. Nortli Carolina eighth,
380.
Country school prior to the educational
revival (illustration), 360.
County government, 108, 193, 267.
County government bill, 249.
County superintendent of schools, of-
fice establi-shed. 364.
County taxes, 167.
Cowles, Calvin J., 102.
Cowles. Charles H., 343.
Cox, .J, Elwood, 341.
Cox (W. R.), famous telegram to Robe-
son county in 1875. 186.
Cox's Brigade, fired last volley of Army
of Northern Virginia, 13.
Cox's Corps, 33.
Craig. Locke, 318. 341.
Craige ordinance, 5.
Crime. 415; punishments for, 109; un-
checked, 136.
Crime of Reconstruction, 168.
Criminal circuit courts, abolished, 303.
Croatan Indians, 370,
Crowell, .John F„ 374.
CuUowhee Normal School, 370,
Gushing, William B., 21 ; (portrait) 28.
Cuvler suit, 336.
INDEX
429
Daniels, Josepbus. 264, 383, 335, 342.
Daughtriilge. E. B., 342.
Davis, .Jefferson. 6, 185.
Davidson College. 373.
Davidson. T. F.. 341.
•I^iyliyht," 14.
Debt of tbc State in ]Si'>S. 119.
Declaration of Paris, 14.
Defects of Administration, 114, 133.
Democratic refusal to fuse witb popu-
lists in 1898, 282.
Denominational colleges, 373.
Desei ters, 40.
Destruction of propertv. 5fi.
Dick. R. P. (portinitl." 134.
Disfrancliisement of nei;ro. 31)0.
Disloyalty, what constituted. 95.
Dockerv. "Alfred, 79; (portrait) 80.
Dockery, O. H.. 187, 193. 194, 308, 216;
(portrait) 80.
Domestic animals, value of. 37S.
'•X)on." 11.
Doughton. R. L.. 342.
Douglas. R. M.. 317.
Duelling prohibited. 108.
Duke Tobacco Factory at Durham (il-
lustration). 382: first tobacco fac-
tory (illustration). 382.
Duke] Washington. 374, 380; (portrait)
390.
'T)vike's Jlixture." 386.
Durham. Plato, 103, 118.
East Carolina Training School. 370.
Economic conditions in Civil war. 46;
during Reconstruction. 101.
Economic condition of freedmen. 76.
Economic depression. 166.
Economics of the Civil war. S.
Education, 230. 347: progress in. 410.
Education of the negro, 333.
Educational develoi)ment. 347.
Educational leaders, recent (portraits),
366.
Educational policy. Aycock'a. 333.
Edwards, Weldon K., 3: (portrait) 4.
Election law. 348, 267, 317.
Election of Lincoln. 1.
Elliott. Gilbert. 24.
Ellis. .John W.. 39: refuses call for
troops. 3: (portrait) 41.
Elon College, 375.
Fmincipation, 407: efTects of, 163.
End of Reconstruction. 170.
Edwin Cotton Mills. Durham (illustra-
tion), 388.
Factories, value of, 376.
'Tannic." 15.
Farm property, value of, 378.
Farmers" Alliance. 226. 365.
Farmers' movement, 214.
Farms, number of. 377; value of. 378;
value of implements, 378; of ma-
chinery, 378; of di>mestic animals,
378: average value per farm, 378.
Fayetteville occupied. 34.
Feileral occupation, horror of, 23.
Fertilizer, nnuuifacturc of. 392.
Few. William P.. 375.
Fifteenth Amendment, carried, 313.
First armed conllicts within North Car-
oliiui. 17.
First reconstruction act. 91.
Fish, 393.
Force Bill, 333.
Forests, value of. 376.
Fort Campbell. 14.
Fort Casw.'il. 2, 14.
Fort Fislicr. 14. 29; tlic (Jibraltar of
tlu' I'nited States (illustration), 31;
.•^ci'iies from the Bombardment of, 31.
Fort .lolinston, 3.
Fort Macon. 2.
Fort Sumter, fall of, 3.
"Forty acres and a mule." 147.
Fourteenth .\mendment. 113. 175; de-
cisively rejected by Xorth Carolina,
ss. " '
Foust. .Tulius I., 373.
Fowle. D. G.. 316.
Fraud, 113: commission authorized to
investigate, 144.
Frauds, 131.
Freedmen. 72; social ami eciinomic con-
dition of. 76.
i'recdmen's Bureau, 72, 353; work of,
73.
Freedom of the press. 106.
Free negroes, 74.
Fruit-growing, 383.
Fnrches. .ludge, 315; impeachment of,
317.
Furniture industry. 391.
Fusion and its results, 344.
fJannaway, W. T., 374.
"OencrarOrdcr. Xo. 10." 93.
GeoLrraphical character of the state,
376.
fJcological survey, 233.
Gideon's Band, 240.
(;h-nn. K. H.. 240. 341.
Godwin. Hannil)al. 342
(;i>ldslii>ro. state conference, 3.
Governor, impeachment of, 155.
Governor. Xorth Carolina first state to
impeach, 158.
Graded schools. 349; city, 364.
Graham. Eclwanl K., 371: (portrait)
366.
Graham. William A.. 4. 34. 39, 61. 68.
101. 150. 187, 358.
Grandfather clause, 306, 343.
Crangc. the. 325.
Grimes, Bryan (portrait), 13.
laiilford College. 375.
4;jo
INDEX
Habeas corpus, suspension of writ, 106.
"Hansa," 11.
Harper, W. A., 375.
Harris James H., 102.
Hatteras (iovernment. 42.
Hatteras, important supply point for
Federal vessels, 18.
Hatteras Inlet, 17.
Hay and forage, 379.
"Hayes Democracy.'' 194.
Heitman, John F., 374.
Hepburn, A. D., 374.
Heroes of America. 45, 98. 117.
High Point, sicond in furniture indus-
try, 391.
High School, typical rural, of today
(illustration), 360.
Hill. Daniel H., 371; (portrait) 13.
Historical Commission (illustration),
418.
Hobbs, Lewis L.. 375.
Hoke, Robert F.. 23; (portrait) 13.
Holden, William W.. 3, 9. 39, 100; de-
feated as governor. 45; appointed
provisional governor. 60; policy of,
61; (portrait) 62; impeachment of,
156: answer to articles of impeach-
ment, 157.
Holdenites, 97.
Holladay. Alexander Q., 371.
Holmes." T.H. (portrait), 13.
Holt. Caswell (portrait I. 141.
Holt. Kdwin M. (portrait). 390.
Home (iuard. 8.
Home-made articles (illustration), 54.
Homes])un. 46.
Homestead exemption, 109.
Home. Ashley, 341, 342.
House of Commons, name changed to
House of Representatives, 106.
House of Representatives, 106.
Illiteracy, 410; in 1890, 219.
Illustrations: The Blockade-runner Ad-
Vance, 10; Capture of the Lillian,
10; Construction of the Albeniailc,
25; The Albemarle Adoat and Ready
for Action, 25; Xaval Engagement
Between Rebel Ram Albemarle and
Union Vessel Wyalusing. 27: Sassa-
cus and Albemarle. 27; Lieut. Wil-
liam Barker Cushing. 28; Torpedoing
of the Albemarle, 38: Fort Fisher,
the Gibraltar of the United States,
31; Fort Fisher, December 25. 1864,
31; Fort Fisher. Januarv 13. 1865,
31; Bennett House. 35: The Confed-
erate Prison at Salishurv. 37: Civil
War Hloney, 53: Home-made Articles.
54; Ku Klnx Klan Costume and Ban-
ner. 38; tlie Senate of 1874 183;
Typical Rural High School of Today.
360; Tviiical Country Schoid Prior
to tlie Ivlucational ' Revival. 360;
Type of School which has Largely
Replaced it, 360; Campus of the
L'uiversity of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, in 1907, 372; Washington Duke's
First Tobacco F'actory, 382; One
of the Present Duke Tobacco Fac-
tories at Durham, 382; R. J. Reyn-
olds Tobacco Company, Winston-
Salem, 388; Erwin Cotton Mills, Dur-
luini, 388; a Modern State Building
at Raleigh, 418.
Impeac lunent of Chief .Justice Furches.
317.
Imiicacliment of Governor Holden, 155,
156.
Impeachment of Judge R. M. Douglas.
317.
Impeachment trial, 158.
Imiieacliment vote, 159.
Implements, value of, 378.
Industrial development, 384.
Industrial leaders (portraits), 390.
Industrial life, 217.
Industrial plants, characteristic (illus-
trations), 388.
Industries. 376; of the Civil war. 8;
textile, 389; furniture, 391; outlook
of, 393.
Insane asylum for negroes, 193.
Invisible Empire, 137.
Jarvis. Tliomas J.. 189, 199. 244; (por-
trait) 200.
.Tews allowed to hold oHice, 6.
•lim Crow law, 301.
Johnson, Andrew (portrait), 59; policy
of reconstruction, 60.
Johnston, .Joseph E. surrender near
Durham's Station. 34; (portrait), 35.
•Johnston, William. 39.
.Joyner, .James Y., 368.
.Judicial department, clianges in, 107.
Judiciary, 188; after Civil war, 133.
Kilgo, John C, 375.
Kirk, George W.. 148.
Kirk movement, 149,
Kirk's regiment. 150.
Kirkpatrick, L., 374.
Kitchin, Claude, 342.
Kitcliin, W. H., 258.
Kitchin. W. W.. 339. 341.
Kniglit. Edgar W., 368.
Ku Klux Act, 179.
Ku Klux Klan banner (illustration),
138.
Ku Klux Klan costume (illustration),
138.
Ku Klux movement. 99, 135, 173; first
recorded notice. Ill; felon v to go
ma-ked. 139; benefits of. 13(3: inher-
ent evils of, 136; cliief purpose of,
137: number of members. 137; never
disturbers of general public peace and
INDEX
431
order. 141 : republican oppositkui to.
146; service to the people reeojjnized.
147; confession, 152.
Labor conditions. 166.
Labor jiroblem during Civil war, 47.
Labor question, 135.
Latlin. Byron. 79, 102, 120.
Land, value of, 165.
Lejiislation during Reconstruction, 105.
Legislation for the restoration of the
South, 90.
Legislature of 1860-61. 1 ; joint com-
mittee. 2; called into extra session, 3.
Legislature of 1S70. 170.
Library Commission (illustration), 418.
Lieutenant-governor, oflice established,
78, 107.
•'Lillian." Capture of (illustration), 10.
"Lily White'' movement. ;i:i0.
I^incoln. election of, 1.
Lincoln Republican League, 274.
Linney, Frank A., .342.
Live stock, value of, 165.
Ling. W. S., 375.
Lusk, V. S., 214.
Machinery, value of, 378.
.^Llnly. M. E., 79.
.Manufacture of cotton, beginning of,
168.
Manufacturing, 217.
ilanufaccuring interests in 1860, 46.
384.
Maps: Percent of negroes in total pop-
ulation of Xorth Carolina, 1910, 405.
'■^largaret and -Jessie." 15.
Martin, .Tames G., 7, 8.
^fartin. William -L, 374.
JIcTver, Alexander. 356.
Mclver. Charles D., 364, 373; (por-
trait) 366.
McKinley, William, 310.
]\IcKinnon. Luther, 374.
McPhail. G. W.. 374.
Meares, Iredell. 342.
Mebane. Charles H.. 365.
Mendenhall, Xereus, 359.
Mcrrimon, Augustus S., 180: (portrait)
181.
Afilitary districts organized. 88.
^rilitarv efpiipment, manufacture of in
Civil war. 8.
Military operations in Xorth Carolina.
7-38."
Military supplies, value of. 11: secured
by blockade runners, 17.
^filitia, 8. 114. 148: reorganization. 2.
Mills, cotton seed oil, 391.
^'ineral wealth. 392.
urines, value of. 376.
Mixed schools, 361.
ifodern State Building at Raleigh (il-
lustration). 418.
.Mollitt, K. L., 375.
•■.Muniircl" legislature, 142.
-Moore, liartholomew F., 9, 78, 111. 130;
(portrait) 60.
Morehead, John AL, 61, 342.
.Mott, J. .L, 208, 255.
.Mtnintain section, 377.
Nassau, 16.
National FarnuTs' Alliance, 229.
National (ireenback party, 198.
Naval engagements, 19.
Naval operations in Nmtli Carolina.
7-38.
Negroes, education of, 73; schools, 73;
free, 74; problem after the war, 77;
suffrage. 77: relation of the races,
135; effects of emancipation, 103; in
polities. 164; insane asylum for. 193;
exodus of. 205; treated with fairness,
212: in politics, 274. 280: intimida-
tion of. 287; disorders, Wilmington,
295: disfranchisement of. 300: ques-
tion, 311; as a political question,
316; education, 333; absence from
politics. 345; problem. 347; scliools,
supported by Freedmen's Bureau.
353; normal schools for, 370: dis-
tribution of, 404; per cent in total
popiilation. 405; farm owners. 414.
New ISern. IS; attack on. 20. 23.
New constitution, 106.
Newlin. Thomas. 375.
"News and Observer," 264.
Nickname for carpet-bagger. 131.
Norfolk Southern Railroad. 401.
Normal and Industrial College, 365, 373.
Normal College. 370.
Nornuil school (colored), Fayetteville,
363.
Normal schools, 193, 364; for negroes,
370.
"North Carolina." 29.
North Carolina, restored to the Tnion,
113; first state to impeach governor,
158; geographical character, 376;
area, 376: topograpliical variety,
376; climatic variety. 377: soils,
377; total acreage. 377; number of
farms. 377: eightli cotton state. 380;
second in tobacco production. 381.
North Carolina Railroad. 121, 203. 242,
254, 208. 394.
North Carolina troops better e<iuippcd.
11.
North Carolina University (illustra-
tion!, 372.
Northwestern Railroad. 119.
OfTieers, Civil war, 12.
Opiosition to T'niversity. 371.
(^Ird'uanic abolishing slavery. 64.
Ordinance dissolving union between
North Carrdina and T'nited States. 5.
432
INDEX
Outlaw, Wyatt, 100, 147.
Overman, Lee S., 330, 341, 343.
Overthrow of Reconstruction, 132.
racification, Scliofield's measures for,
58.
rage, Henry A., 331.
Page, Rol>ert N., 343.
Panic of 1893, 343.
Peabody l\ind, 359.
Peace Conference, 3.
Peace, desire for, 34.
Peace movement, 44.
Peanuts, 379, 381.
Pearson, R. M., 116, 197; (portrait)
134.
Pegraln, W. H., 374.
Pell, William E. (portrait), 67.
Pender, W. D. (portrait). 13.
Penitentiary, 128, 373. 302.
Pensions, Confederate, 213.
Personal property, value of, 165.
Petersburg Railroad, 394.
Philli|is, Samuel K.. 177.
Piedmont section, 377.
Plymoutli. attack on, 34.
Political events during reconstruction,
99.
Political institutions, 31()-346.
Political sentiment in Civil war, 39.
I'olitics, during secession movement. 1;
seditious, 6; negro in, 104, 374, 2S0;
of todav, 316-340 ; since 1900, 340.
Polk, L. L., 336; (jjortrait) 337.
Pool, .Tolin, 68, 113, 148, 363.
Pool, Solomon, 356.
Pool, Stephen D,, 362.
Population, 404; in 1860. 47.
Populism, rise of, 331.
Populist party, convention, 344; fate
of. 377; democratic refusal to fuse
with in 1898, '383.
Poteat, W. L., 373.
Portraits: Charles B. Ayeock. frontis-
piece; Weldon N. Edwards, 4; Maj.
Gen. Robert Ransom, 13; Lieut, flen.
T. H. Holmes, 13; Maj. Gen. W. D.
Pender. 13; Slaj. Gen. R. F. Hoke,
13; Gov. Zebulon B. \'ance, 13; Maj.
Gen. \V. H. Whiting, 13; Maj. Gen.
S. D. Ramseur, 13; Lieut. Gen. Daniel
H. Hill, 13; Maj. Gen. Bryan
Grimes, 13; W. T. Sherman, 35; .lo-
seph E. .Tohnston, 35; Gov. .John Wil-
lis Ellis, 41; Gen. .John B. Schofield,
,'i7; President Andrew .Johnson, 59;
(!ov. William W. Holden, 63; Wil-
liam E. I'ell, 67; Gov. .Jonathan
Worth. 69: Bartholomew F. Moore.
69; Alfred and 0. H. Dockery, 80;
Gen. Daniel I'". Sickles, 91; .Josiah
Turner, .Tr., 131; R. M. Pearson, 134;
E. G. Reade, 134; Thomas Settle.
134; W. B. RoduKin, 134; R. P. Dick.
134; Caswell Holt, 141; Matthew W.
Ransom, 174; Augustus S. Merrimon,
181; Gov. Thomas J. Jarvis, 30U; Col.
L. L. Polk, 237; Gov. Zebulon B.
Vance, 333; Charles D. Mclver, 366;
Edward K. Graham, 366; C. B. Ay-
cock, 366; Washington Duke, 390;
D. A. Tompkins, 390; Edwin M. Holt,
390; A, B. Andrews, 398; R. K.
Bridgers, 398.
Pou, E. W., 343.
I'resent-day school building (illustra-
tion), 360.
Presidential restoration, 56.
Pritchard, Senator J. C, 348, 365, 341.
Pritchard, Thomas H., 373.
Problem of reconstruction, solution of,
85.
"Progressive Farmer," 336, 330, 270.
283.
Prohibition, 207, 338, 415: state-wide,
338.
Prohibition ticket in 1888, 216.
Property, destruction of, 56; decline in
value! 166.
Proposed amendments to Constitution,
339; ratified, 340.
I'ldvisional Governor, W. \V. Holden
aiipointed, 00.
Punishments for crime, 109.
Public debt, declared valid, 106.
Public schools, 108.
Qualificaticms for suii'rage, 96, 104.
Race antagonism, 398.
Race feeling, 284.
Race riot, Robeson county, 288.
Races, relation of, 135.
Railroad bonds, 119-128.
Railroad builders (portraits), 398.
Railroad commission. 401.
I\ailr(iads, 135, 368: in 1860, 48; legis-
lation, 119-138; dishonest manipula
tion of, 121; dishonest manipulators
indicted, 137; appropriations of bonds
repealed, 144; building, 305; feeling
against. 214; increase of mileage,
317; conditions in 1907, 330; develop-
ment. 394; value of, 403.
"Raleigh." 39.
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad. 233, 242,
394.
Raleigh, secession convention, 3; f^nion
forces enter, 36 ; charter amended,
369.
Ramseur, S. D. (portrait). 13.
Ransom, Edward, 187, 193.
Ransom. Matthew W. (portrait). 174.
Ransom. Robert (portrait), 13.
Reade. Edwin G., 63: (portrait) 134.
Rebuilding the commonwealth, 192.
Reconstruction Act, first, 91.
Reconstruction, President .Johnson's
policy of. 60; congressional. 85: solu-
INDEX
433
tion of problem, 85; political events
during. 99; legislation during, 105;
overthrow, 132: social and economic
conditions during, 161 ; congressional
policy of, 162: crime of, 108; end of,
170. "
"Record," 295.
Reddick. Wallace C, 371.
"Red Shirts,"' 287, 312.
'•Red Strings," 45.
Registration after Civil war. 95.
Eeid, James, 359.
"R. E. Lee," 15.
Relief work. Civil war, 50; lack of
drugs, 51.
Republican opposition to Kii Klux. 146.
Republican party, organization of in
North Carolina, 96.
Republican regime, 114.
Repudiation of war debt, 161.
Restoration of the South, legislation
for, 90.
Restricted suffrage. 299.
Revenue officers, 194.
Reynolds, R. J., 386.
Reynolds Tobacco Companv. Winston-
Salem (illustration), 388.
Roanoke expedition, 19.
Robeson county, race riot, 288.
Rodman. W. B". (portrait), 134.
Roosevelt. Theodore, 330.
Royall W. B.. 373.
Rural free delivery, 417.
Russell. D. L., 256^ 263.
Rutherford raids, 174,
Salisbury, Confederate prison at (illus-
tration), 37.
Salt, 49.
"Sassacus" (illustration), 27.
Saunders. William L.. 137. 176, 184.
Sawmills. 391.
Scales. A. M., 211.
Schofield. .lohn B., 56; (portrait) 57.
Schofield's measures for pacification,
58.
School building, present-day (illustra-
tion). 360.
School for the Blind, 268.
School fund, division of, 408.
School law, 251; 1895, 267.
School, rural, prior to the educational
revival (illustration), 360.
School tax, 23.',. 251, 353, 354.
Schools, 108. 368; negroes, 73; war dis-
aster to, 347; system. 347; graded.
349; negro, supported by Freedmen's
Bureau. 353; mixed, 361; first sum-
mer school in the United States. 363;
office of county superintendent estab-
lished. 364; city graded. 364; normal.
364; growth of, 370; normal, for ne-
groes, 370.
Scientific agriculture. 379.
Seaboard Ah Line, 254, 400.
Vol. in— 28
.Seaboard and Hoanoke Railroad, 394.
Secession, sentiment for or against, 1
politics, 1; question submitted to the
people, 2; compromise attempt, 2
convention defeated, 2; state in no
mood for, 2; secession <lelinitely set
tied, 3; convention delegates. 3; dele
gates to tile convention, 3; convcn
tion assembled at Kaleigh, 3; con
vention adjourned, 6: right denied
106.
S<ditious politics, 6.
Senate of 1874 (illustration), 183.
"Sentinel." 60, 130.
.S'ttle. Thomas, 179, 190, 342; (por-
trait) 134.
Shearer .lohn B., 374.
Sherman. W. T. (portrait). 35.
Sherman's army advancing toward
Xortk Carolina. 33; enters the state,
34; approaches Raleigh, 34.
Sliotrner act, 170.
Shotwell. Randolph, 177.
Sickles. Daniel K. (portrait), 91; ad-
ministration of, 93, 94.
Simmons. F. M.. 314, 341. 342,
".Siren." 15.
Skinner Harry, 239.
Slavery, ordinance abolishing, 64: pro-
hibited, 106; effects of emancipation,
163.
Slaves, taxation, 6.
Small. John H., 342.
Smith. Ifenry L., 374.
Smith, W. N'. n.. 107.
Social condition of Frcedmen, 76.
Social conditions during Reconstruction,
161.
Social tendencies, 404.
Soils, 377.
Soldier, clothing of, 8.
Solution of problem of reconstruction.
85.
Southern Railway. 254. 269. 399.
Southport. 14.
Spanish-American war. 279.
Special tax Ixmds. 320.
Specie payments suspended, 53.
Stalcy. W. W., 375.
"Standard." 78.
Stanly. Edward. 42.
State" bonds. 126. 193. 201. 323: value
of. 54; collection repudiated. 327.
State conference, (loldsboro. 3.
State convention, fliarlotte. 3.
State debt. 05, 193, 201; repudiation of,
65.
State government, reorganization of,
64.
State Ilistorical Commission. 417.
State library. 254; (illustration) 418.
State penitentiary. 128.
State's prison. 302.
State tax. 215.
State-wide prohibition, 338.
434
INDEX
Stcdman, Charles M., 341, 342.
Stevens, Tliaddeus, 81.
Suffrage, 188. 343; negro, 77; i|ualifi-
cations for, 96, 104; universal, 108;
constitutional amendment restrict-
ing, 399.
Summer school, first in the United
.States, 363.
Superior court, 133, 188.
Supreme Court, 133, 188; (illustra-
tions) 134, 418.'
Swain, David L., 34. 354.
Swamp lands, sale forbidden by act of
legislature. 128.
Sweet potatoes, 381.
Taft. William H., 34.5.
'•Tallahassee," 9.
Tarboro Railroad, 131.
Taxation. 107; during the Civil war,
51; defects of system, 313.
Taxation of slaves, 6.
Taxes, 166, 411: county, 167; in-
creased, 251; school. 233, 353, 354.
Taylor, Charles E., 373.
Taylor, Marble N., 43.
Telegi-am to Robeson County in 1875.
186.
Textile industry, 389.
"Third house," ' 120.
Tlionias. Charles R., 343.
Timber, 391.
Tithe, collection of, 43.
Tobacco. 221, 379; North Carolina
ranks second in production, 381.
Tobacco culture, growing importance of,
108.
Tobacco factory, 217.
Tobacco manufacturing establishments,
385.
Tompkins. D. A. (portrait), 390.
Toon. Thomas F., -368.
To])ugTapliical variety of the state, 376.
Tourgee. Albion W.,'79, 103.
Town charters, altering of, 369.
Trinity College. 374.
Troops, Confederate, number from
North Carolina, 7.
Troops of North Carolina better
equipped. 11.
Trucking industry, 381.
Turner, Josiah, .Ir., 130; (portrait) 131;
arrest, 154.
Turner, W. D., 341.
Turpentine. 384.
Typical Country School Prior to the
Educational Review (illustration),
360.
Typical Rural High School of Today
"(illustration). 300.
Union League, 98, 110, 117.
Union League Cnrnmission (facsimile),
100.
Union forces enter Raleigh, 36.
Union, North Carolina restored to, 113.
Llniversal suffrage, 108.
University of North Carolina, 108, 354;
maintenance of, 212; opposition to,
371; (illustration) 372.
I'niversity Railroad, 123.
Value of agricultural products, 165.
Vance, Zebulon B.. 36, 39, 171. 189, 199,
313, 348; (portraits) 13. 232; elec-
tion declared LTnion victory, 40.
\'enable. Francis P.. 371.
Volunteers, thirty thou.^and called. 3.
Waddell, A. M., 199.
Wake Forest College, 373.
War debt, 53: repudiated, 106. 161.
War ta.xes, 52.
War-time spirit. 55.
Wasliington Duke's lirst tobacco fac-
tory (illustration), 383.
Watson, C. B., 341.
Waynesville. last shot of the war fired
at, 38.
Webb, E. Y., 342.
Western Hospital, 194.
Western North Carolina Railroad. 121.
122, 193. 204, 212.
Western Railroad. 119. 121, 123. 134,
394.
Wheat, 379, 381.
White Brotherhood. 137.
■\Miite, Jolin, 9.
Wliite supremacy, 279.
Whitener, A. A., 341.
Whiting, W. H. C. (portrait), 13.
Wiley, 347.
Williamston and Tarboro Railroad, 203.
Williamston Railroad, 121.
Wilmington, 14; blockaded. 15: negro
disorders, 295.
Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad.
394.
Wilmington and tt'eldon Railroad, 233,
342, 394.
Wilmington campaign warning, 1898
(facsimile), 292.
Wilmington. Charlotte and Rutherford
Railroad, 119, 121, 122, 123.
Wilmington. Columbia and Augusta
Railroad, 394.
Wilmington declaration of independ-
ence, 293.
'Wilmington .Tournal," 184.
Wingate, W. M.', 373.
Winston. George T., 371.
Wood, M. L., 374.
World's Fair, exhibit at, 233.
Worth. .Tonathan, 65; (portrait) 69.
Yi''low fever in 1862, 51.
