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THE HISTORY
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gHISTORY OF THE
•OUTHERN STATES
DESIGNED /« RECORD M/
SOUXH'S FART m /^ MAKING
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THE SOUTH in the
Building of the Nation
*HISTORY OF THE
IfpSOUTHERN STATES
DESIGNED to RECORD the
SOUTH'S PART in the MAKING
of the AMERICAN NATION;
to PORTRAY the CHARACTER
and GENIUS, to CHRONICLE
the ACHIEVEMENTS and PROG
RESS and to ILLUSTRATE the
LIFE and TRADITIONS of the
SOUTHERN PEOPLE
COMPLETE IN TWELVE VOLUMES
'/^SOUTHERN HISTORICAL
PUBLICATION SOCIETY
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
COPYRIGHT, IQOQ
BY
THE SOUTHERN HISTORICAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
I— History of the States
JULIAN ALVIN CARROLL CHANDLER, Ph.D., LL.D.
Professor of History, Richmond College
II— The Political History
FRANKLIN LAFAYETTE RILEY, A.M., Ph.D.
Professor of History, University of Mississippi
/// — The Economic History
JAMES CURTIS BALLAGH, Ph.D., LL.D.
Associate Professor of American History
Johns Hopkins University
IV — The Literary and Intellectual Life
JOHN BELL HENNEMAN, M.A., Ph.D.
Professor of English Literature, University of the South
V — Fiction
EDWIN MIMS, M.A., Ph.D.
Professor of English, University of North Carolina
VI — Oratory
THOMAS E. WATSON
Author of Life of Thomas Jefferson, etc
VII— The Social Life
SAMUEL CHILES MITCHELL, Ph.D., LL.D., D.D.
President of the University of South Carolina
VIII— Biography
WALTER LYNWOOD FLEMING, A.M., Ph.D.
Professor of History, Louisiana State University
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
CHAPTER I.— SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789.
Pag*.
Early Visits by Foreigners to the Coast of South Carolina 1
Settlement at Port Royal by the French 2
Occupation of South Carolina by English Settlers 6
The Plan of Government Proposed by Shaf tesbury and Locke .... 9
Trouble with Indians and Spaniards 10
Relation Between Settlements in Southern and Northern Carolina 13
Charles Town in the Colonial Days ; Her People and Her Trade ... 15
Settlements in the Middle and Upper Country 18
Religious Conditions in the Colony 20
Industries and Productions ; Rice and Indigo 22
Labor Conditions in the Colony, Slavery 23
Classes and Chief Occupations 24
Transition from Colony to State 26
South Carolina's Part in the Revolution 31
The Work of South Carolina's Statesmen During the Revolutionary
Period (1763-1789) 35
CHAPTER II.— SOUTH CAROLINA A STATE IN THE FEDERAL
UNION, 1789-1860.
Sooth Carolina's Part in the Adoption of the Federal Constitution 39
Distribution of Population 41
Slavery, 1790 to 1860 45
Manufactures 49
Constitutional and Political Development 52
Internal Improvements 55
Banking 59
Education 60
The Work of South Carolina's Ante-Bellum Statesmen, at Home
and Abroad 61
Federal and Interstate Relations 64
CHAPTER III.— SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE CONFEDERACY,
1860-1865.
The Secession Movement 75
The Sentiment of the People 78
South Carolina's Part in Forming the Confederate Government. .. 80
The War in South Carolina 81
The State's Contribution in Men and Property 86
Life in War-Time 88
The Negro Slaves 90
m
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.— SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909.
Reconstruction in South Carolina ." ~T)i2
New Social Conditions 102
New Industries 105
New Political Conditions (Constitutions) Ill
Educational Advance 116
GEORGIA.
CHAPTER I.— THE COLONY OF GEORGIA, 1732-1776.
Georgia a Part of Carolina 122
Georgia a Distinct Proprietary — Oglethorpe's Settlement 123
Other Settlements 125
Trouble with Spaniards 127
John Wesley 131
Internal Affairs 131
Georgia a Royal Province 134
Governor Wright — Steps to Independence 138
CHAPTER II.— GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION, 1776-1861.
Condition In 1776 146
First Constitution 147
Georgia In Revolutionary War 147
Conditions at Close of War 150
Georgia's Part in Forming the United States Constitution 151
State Constitution Amended 152
State Sovereignty — Eleventh Amendment 153
Yazoo Land Sale 153
Growth of State 155
War of 1812 157
State Politics 158
Indian Affairs — The Creeks 159
The Cherokee Controversy 162
Settlement of Indian Lands and Movement of Population 165
Railroads 160
Slavery Question 167
Secession 169
CHAPTER III.— GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY, 1861-1865.
Secession Accomplished 171
Joined Confederacy 175
Georgia Troops 178
Civil Officers of Confederacy 180
War Conditions in Georgia — Campaigns in the State 180
Sherman's Campaign in Georgia 203
Georgia at Close of War 217
CHAPTER IV.— GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION, 1865-1909.
Federal Army In Control 218
Provisional Government Convention 219
State Government Organized — Not Recognized by Congress 220
Military Rule — Second Convention 228
State Government Again Reorganized 224
Trouble With Congress — Georgia Finally Readmitted into the
Union 225
Education 226
New Constitution 227
Legislative Investigations 228
Political Contests 229
Growth and Progress 230
General Gordon's Administration 231
Governor Northen's Administration 232
Governor Atkinson's Administration 235
Governor Candler's Administration 237
Governor Terrell's Administration 239
Governor Smith's Administration 239
Conclusion 240
iv
CONTENTS.
ALABAMA.
CHAPTER I.— COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA, 1540-
1819.
Page.
The Alabama-Tombighee Basin and Its People 243
Alabama a Geographical Unit 243
The Indians 245
The Spanish Explorers 246
French Colonization 251
British West Florida 255
Spanish West Florida 260
The Territorial Governments 263
CHAPTER II.— ALABAMA FROM 1819 TO 1865.
Alabama Admitted to the Union 271
Growth and Development 273
The Indian Lands 276
Nullification 278
State Banking 278
Political Conditions 280
Mexican War and Its Relation to the Slavery Question 281
Industrial and Economic Questions 284
Slavery Controversy 286
Secession 288
Alabama's Part in the Confederacy 290
CHAPTER III.— RECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA.
Conditions in Alabama After the War 293
Destruction of Property 293
Confiscation Laws 294
Economic and Social Conditions 295
No State Organization 297
The Attempt at Restoration by President Johnson, 1865-1867 297
Constitutional Convention, 1861 299
Reconstruction by Congress, 1867-1868 301
Constitutional Convention, 1867 302
Carpet-Bag and Negro Rule, 1868-1874 303
The Overthrow of Reconstruction and the Readjustment 307
CHAPTER IV. — THE NEW ALABAMA, 1880-1909.
Conditions of Alabama in 1880 312
Politics 314
Spanish-American War 322
The Negro in Politics 322
New Constitution 323
Governor Comer's Administration 326
Material Progress 327
Educational Progress 329
Prohibition 330,
MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER I. — COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES.
The Land of the Aborigines 332
Geography 333
Indians 335
The First Explorers 338
The French on the Mississippi 340
French Management of Mississippi Settlements a Failure 343
France Loses Mississippi Country 346
British West Florida 347
West Florida Under Spain 353
Boundary Question 355
Mississippi Territory 359
Government Under Sargent 360
CONTENTS.
ft*
Governor Clalborne -. 362
Influence of Louisiana Purchase 363
Spanish Possessions and Aaron Burr 364
War of 1812 365
Industrial Progress 367
Religious and Social Conditions 368
State Formed 1817 369
CHAPTER II.— MISSISSIPPI A STATE IN THE UNION, 1817-1861.
The Constitutional Convention of 1817 and Organization of
State Government 370
Pioneer Statehood, 1817-1832 376
Administration of Governor Holmes 376
Administration of Governor Polndexter 377
Administration of Governor Leake 381
Governors Brandon and Holmes 381
The Democratic Movement and the Constitutional Convention
of 1832 383
The Growth of the State, 1832-1861 387
Economic, Social and Educational Conditions, 1850-1861.
Economic Conditions.
Social Conditions ....
Educational Condition ................. .......... ............ 397
State Politics and Party Leaders, 1817-1861 398
CHAPTER III.— MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY, 1861-1865.
Secession of Mississippi 408
Preparations for the Conflict 411
Beginning of Hostilities in the State 412
Campaigns Against Vlcksburg 413
Closing incidents of the War In the State 419
Mississippi Troops In Other States 422
Government During the War Period 423
CHAPTER IV.— MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION, 1865-1909.
Reorganization of State Government, 1865-1868 425
Military Government, 1868-1870 433
Reconstruction and Revolution, 1870-1876 436
Restoration of Home Rule, 1876-1890 442
The Constitutional Convention of 1890.
Bra
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Phe Constitutional Convention of 1890 445
economic, Social and Educational Conditions, 1865-1908 |45i_-->
Jtate Politics and Party Leaders, 1865-1908 TSe
TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER I.— COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE.
Early Explorations of Tennessee 462
Early Settlements 463
Washington District : Revolutionary War 467
The State of Franklin . . 473
The Territory of Tennessee 477
A State In the Union 478
CHAPTER II.— TENNESSEE AS A STATE, 1796-1861.
Steps to Statehood 480
Constitutional Convention of 1796 480
John Sevier, First Governor of Tennessee 481
The Constitution of 1796 483
Early Religious Bodies 485
Governors Roane, Sevier and Blount 485
Tennessee in the War of 1812 486
Settlement of West Tennessee ; Financial Distress 488
Governmental Reforms Under William Carroll 489
Tennessee's Part in National Affairs 491
The Constitution of 1834 493
vt
CONTENTS.
Party Politics, 1834-39 494
Internal Improvements 495
Party Politics, 1839-44 499
Slavery and Secession 500
CHAPTER III.— TENNESSEE AS A PART OP THE CONFEDERACY,
1861-1865.
Tennessee's Attitude Toward Secession 503
The Ordinance of Secession 007
Tennessee a Member of the Confederacy 509
Tennessee's Participation in the War 6lO
Civil Government , 517
Restoration to the Union 618
CHAPTER IV.— TENNESSEE SINCE THE WAR, 1865-1909.
Introduction 623
Reconstruction 024
The Brownlow Administration, 1865-1869 026
Brownlow's Militia 529
Ku Klux Klan 580
Struggle for Control of State 533
The Constitution of 1870 539
The State Debt 641
Education 644
General Growth and Resources « 546
Conclusion ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,,,,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.,,-„ 648
THE
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
CHAPTER I.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789.
Early Visits by Foreigners to the Coast of
South Carolina.
EAELY as 1520, thirteen years after
the passing of Christopher Columbus, two
Spanish ships entered a wide bay on or
near the coast of the present state of
South Carolina. A point of land near the
bay was given the name St. Helena by the Spanish
sailors. A river in the vicinity they called " Jor-
dan.'* They found, moreover, that a portion of the
country on one side of the bay was called by the
natives, Chicora. A large number of these natives,
yielding to the persuasions of the Spaniards, went on
board the two ships. When the decks were crowded
with them the sailors suddenly drew up the anchors,
spread their sails and headed the ships out into the
open sea. Not long afterwards, one of the vessels
went down and all on board perished. The other
vessel sailed to the island of Hispaniola (now known
as Haiti) in the West Indies. There the captive
Indians, as many of them as survived the hardships
of the voyage, were sold as slaves. The responsibil*
ity for this cruel treatment of some of the redmen
of America rests upon a Spaniard named Vasquez
2 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
de Ayllon, who had fitted out the two ships and sent
them to capture Indians. A few years later De Ayl-
lon himself sailed with three vessels to the river
which had received the name Jordan. He expected
to conquer all the country near the river, and to rule
over it in the name of the Spanish sovereign. This
expectation was not realized. According to the
stories handed down to us in the old Spanish records,
the natives of the country, filled with hatred on ac-
count of the treachery shown by the previous com-
pany of explorers, slew so many of De Ayllon 's men
that his expedition ended in failure.
In the year 1524 Giovanni Verrazano, a native of
Florence, Italy, was sent across the Atlantic by
Francis I., of France. Verrazano reached the
American coast at a point near the mouth of the
Cape Fear Eiver, North Carolina. He coasted
thence southward "fifty leagues" in search of a
harbor. This voyage, of course, brought him to the
region now known as South Carolina. "The whole
shore," runs Verrazano 's description of the country,
"is covered with fine sand about fifteen feet thick,
rising in the form of little hills about fifteen paces
broad. Ascending farther, we found several arms
of the sea, which make in through inlets, washing
the shores on both sides as the coast runs." He
speaks, also, of "immense forests of trees, more or
less dense, too various in color and too delightful
and charming in appearance to be described. They
are adorned with palms, laurels, cypresses and other
varieties unknown to Europe, that send forth the
sweetest fragrance to a great distance."
Settlement at Port Royal by the French.
Because of the discoveries made by Verrazano,
France laid claim to a large part of the continent of
North America. From King Charles IX., of France,
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 3
therefore. Admiral Coligny, a leader of the Huguenot
party, obtained permission to establish in America
a colony of French Protestants. Two of the King's
ships, filled with veterans and with French gentle-
men, set sail in February, 1562, under command of
an old Huguenot sea-captain, Jean Kibault. After
crossing the Atlantic, Eibault landed on the shore
of a river which he named the May River, because
he discovered it on the first day of the month of May.
This stream is now known as St. John's River, in
Florida. From the mouth of the St. John's, Ribault
sailed northward along the Atlantic coast. After a
voyage of several days his two vessels entered the
mouth of a wide bay on the coast of the present state
of South Carolina, and there he cast anchor in a
depth of sixty feet of water. On account of its size
and the beauty of the scenery around its shores, the
sailors named this bay Port Royal, or royal harbor,
and by this name it is called to this day.
When Ribault and his men landed on the banks
of the harbor they found a region filled with stately
cedars, magnolias and wide-spreading oaks. The
air, moreover, was sweet with the fragrance of the
rose and the jasmine. As the men walked through
the forest, wild turkeys in large numbers flew above
their heads ; partridges and stags were seen on every
hand, and the sailors imagined that they heard the
cries of bears and leopards and other beasts of prey.
When they cast a net into the waters of the bay they
found so many fish that two draughts of the net
furnished a day's food for the crews of both vessels.
Ribault next steered his ships up the stream that
flows into Port Royal and took his men ashore,
probably upon an island now known as Lemon
Island, in Broad River, a few miles from the present
town of Beaufort. Upon that island he set up a
stone pillar, engraved with the arms of the King of
4 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
France, thus claiming the entire country in the name
of the French sovereign. Bibault and his followers
then laid the foundations of a fort on Parris Island,
and gave it the Latin name Arx Carolana, that is,
Fort Charles, after King Charles (Carolus) IX., of
France.
Having thus, with due ceremonial, taken posses-
sion of the country, Eibault determined to leave a
garrison in the fort while he himself returned to
France to seek additional settlers. He therefore
made a stirring appeal to his men and, as a result,
twenty-six of them volunteered to remain at Port
Royal until his return. Eibault left them a supply
of tools, guns and provisions, and on the morning of
July 11, 1562, having fired a salute to the flag of
France which was waving over Fort Charles, he set
forth on the voyage across the Atlantic.
The soil around Fort Charles was fertile, but the
men of the garrison, having been trained as soldiers,
did not think it necessary to plant corn. First of all,
they completed the fort which Eibault had begun.
Its dimensions, according to the old records which
we have, were ninety- six feet in length by seventy-
eight feet in width, with flanks in proportion. After
their cannon had been set in position a party of men
from the garrison sailed in a pinnace up the Broad
Eiver to seek the friendship of the Indians. Upon
the invitation of some of the red chieftains, the
Huguenots went ashore and watched the strange
ceremonies conducted by some of the Indian priests
and warriors, the peculiar rites connected with a
religious festival.
The supply of food left by Eibault was soon con-
sumed. Some of the Frenchmen sailed, however, to
the river now called the Savannah, and the Indians
of that region filled the pinnace with a supply of
millet and beans. Fire then broke out in a small
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 5
house within the fort, and their provisions stored
therein were destroyed. The Indians generously
helped to rebuild the house and also gave the soldiers
another supply of food. Liberal presents were made
to the redmen, and the latter pointed to the fields
of growing corn as indicating the certainty of a
future supply of bread.
The men of the garrison soon became filled with
the spirit of unrest. When the Indians gave them
some pearls and some silver ore, accompanied by the
statement that the silver could be found among the
mountains to the northward, the soldiers were eager
to set out in search of the white metal. The com-
mander, Captain Albert, who, from the first, had
been rigid and harsh in enforcing discipline, grew
more stern and severe. Then the garrison broke out
in open mutiny, murdered Captain Albert and ap-
pointed Nicholas Barr6 as commander.
The Huguenots were now anxious to return home,
and as the return of Eibault was delayed, they de-
termined to build a small boat and sail back to
France. Eesin from the pine and moss from the
oak were used in calking the little vessel. Grass
and the inner bark of trees were twisted together
to make ropes. Bedclothes and old shirts were used
in making sails. The cannon and other warlike im-
plements were placed on board the boat, but, strange
to say, only a small supply of food was taken. The
sails were raised and, with a favorable breeze, the
vessel was soon one-third of the way across the At-
lantic. Then the wind dropped and for many days
the boat drifted with the tide. The supply of food
and water failed and the men began to eat their
shoes and leathern jackets. Some of them died of
hunger. A storm burst upon them and wrought so
much harm to the vessel that they gave up hope of
making further progress in the voyage. As a last
6 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
resort, to prolong the life of the majority of the
crew, one of their number, chosen by lot, was slain
and eaten. Shortly after this an English vessel
came that way, picked up those who were still alive
and carried them back to England.
Two years afterward another company of Hu-
guenot colonists under the command of Laudonniere
came to the St. John's River in Florida and there
built another Fort Charles. Then, in 1565, Eibault
brought a third group of settlers to the fort on the St.
John 's. A Spanish fleet immediately followed across
the Atlantic in pursuit of Eibault. When the Span-
iards arrived at St. John's Eiver they fell upon the
Huguenot settlers, killed all of them because of their
hatred towards Protestants, and then built the town
of St. Augustine on the Florida coast as an indica-
tion of their claim to all of the territory adjacent to
the South Atlantic Ocean. Thus failed the Huguenot
plan to establish a settlement on the South Carolina
coast. The name Carolana, or Carolina, however,
was bestowed by them upon a part of the country
near Port Eoyal. This name remained in that
region as a memorial of the French King for a hun-
dred years, until English settlers came to lay there
the foundation of a great American state.
Occupation of South Carolina by English Settlers.
In the years 1663 and 1665 King Charles II., of
England, gave to eight of his friends the territory
now embraced in the states of South Carolina, North
Carolina, Georgia and the northern part of Florida.
These Englishmen, called the Lords Proprietors of
Carolina, were the following: Anthony Ashley
Cooper, Lord Ashley, the Earl of Clarendon, Sir
John Colleton, the Duke of Albemarle, the Earl of
Craven, Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley
and John, Lord Berkeley. The vast region thus
SOUTH CABOLINA, 1562-1789. 7
transferred by charter was named "Carolina" in
honor of the King's father, King Charles L, of
England.
In pursuance of the authority given by King
Charles II., the Proprietors sent out from London
in the year 1669, the good ship Carolina, and two
other small vessels, filled with emigrants. In March,
1670, these settlers went ashore at Port Eoyal. The
proximity of the Spaniards in Florida led them,
however, to abandon Port Koyal as the site for a
colony. The prow of the Carolina was turned north-
ward and the vessel soon cast anchor in the Ashley
River. In April, 1670, the emigrants began to build
a fortification and dwelling houses at Albemarle
Point on the western bank of the Ashley, about three
miles from the mouth of the stream. The settle-
ment was called Charles Town in honor of the King
of England. Col. William Sayle, former governor
of the island of Bermuda, was made governor of the
new colony. The forests were filled with wild game
and the river furnished an abundance of fish and
oysters ; corn and venison were bought from the In-
dians, and thus, for a short time, the people secured
food. When the Indians were no longer able to
offer a supply of corn, the Carolina sailed to the
colony of Virginia to buy both wheat and corn.
Meanwhile the fortifications were thrown up as high
as a man's breast. When, therefore, a Spanish ship
came up from Florida with hostile purpose, the Eng-
lish defenses seemed to be so strong that the Span-
iards returned without making an attack.
In 1671 Governor Sayle died and was succeeded
in office by Joseph West. At that time about 400
settlers were living at Charles Town. They had
already begun to send shiploads of pine, oak and
ash logs to Barbadoes in exchange for supplies of
guns, hoes, axes and cloth. Another company of
8 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
settlers came from England; some Dutch farmers
sailed from the Hudson Eiver to join the colonists
at Charles Town; moreover, a great many English
people came from Barbadoes to make their homes
on the Ashley. Among the latter was Sir John
Yeamans, who brought into the colony from Barba-
does a number of negro laborers, the first slaves to
enter the province. Yeamans was a man of great
energy, and soon became rich through his traffic in
cedar logs and the skins of wild animals. During
a period of two years Yeamans was governor and
then Joseph West was appointed for a second term.
In 1672 the streets of a new town were laid out on
the point of land between the Ashley and Cooper
rivers, and in 1680 the settlement called Charles
Town was formally removed by Governor West
from Albemarle Point to its present location. At
that time there were about 1,200 people in the prov-
ince. In the same year (1680) a shipload of Hu-
guenots was added to the inhabitants of Charles
Town. A year later (1681) a body of about 500 Eng-
lish settlers came to the shores of the Edisto
Eiver. Other colonists from England, Ireland and
Barbadoes established themselves in such numbers
in Charles Town that by the close of the year 1682
about 2,500 people were living in the province.
Some Scots came to Port Eoyal in 1683, but soon
afterwards their settlement was destroyed by the
Spaniards. The year 1687 brought a company of
Huguenots who built homes at Orange and Goose
Creek on the Cooper Eiver; still another body set-
tled on the southern bank of the Santee Eiver. So
extensive were the settlements along the coast, not
only in Charles Town but also in the regions north
and south of that place, that in 1691-1693, during
the governorship of Philip Ludwell, men began to
give to the province the name South Carolina.
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SOUTH CAEOLINA, 1562-1789. 9
The Plan of Government Proposed by Shaftesbury and Locke.
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, was a very
active member of the body of men known as the
Lords Proprietors of Carolina. He was afterwards
given the title of Earl of Shaftesbury, and by that
name he is usually known. Shaftesbury secured the
aid of the great English philosopher, John Locke, in
preparing a plan of government for the province of
Carolina. Working together they wrote out an
elaborate scheme called the "Fundamental Constitu-
tions" which was formally adopted by the Lords
Proprietors in July, 1669.
According to this system of rule, one of the Pro-
prietors was chosen governor of the province with
the title of palatine. At his death the oldest of the
remaining Proprietors was to be his successor. Two
orders of hereditary nobility were created, called
landgraves and cassiques. Large grants of land
were to accompany the bestowal of one of these
titles. The territory of the entire province was di-
vided into counties; each county was subdivided
into eight seigniories for the eight Proprietors, and
into eight baronies for the provincial nobility. Four
precincts were reserved for the settlers. Shaftes-
bury and Locke made provision for a parliament,
or legislature, consisting of the Proprietors or their
deputies, the landgraves and cassiques, and one citi-
zen from each precinct of the province. A system
of courts was involved in the plan, and the chief
executive authority was lodged in a grand council,
composed of men who represented the Proprietors
and the nobles. It was provided in the Fundamental
Constitutions that no one should hold an estate nor
dwell within the province who did not acknowledge
the existence of God. It was ordered, further, that
"No person, whatsoever, shall disturb, molest or
10 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
persecute another for his speculative opinions in
religion, or his way of worship. ' '
This elaborate plan of government was never car-
ried out in all of its details. Most of the Proprietors
were selfish men and wished to extort money from
the colonists ; some of the governors whom they ap-
pointed sought in every way to oppress the people.
The latter knew how to uphold their rights, and they
made difficult the pathway of these unjust officials.
Through a legislature chosen by the settlers and
known as the Commons House of Assembly, the
Proprietors were forced to make to the people one
concession after another. From time to time the
Fundamental Constitutions were thus modified and
changed. When Thomas Smith, who was made
landgrave in 1691, was appointed to the governor-
ship (1693-1694), the Commons House of Assembly
was given the right to originate all legislation. In
1697, during the second administration of Gov.
Joseph Blake, the Huguenots of the province were
given the privilege of citizenship. The number of
voters among the colonists was thus so largely in-
creased that in the following year (1698) the Funda-
mental Constitutions were virtually laid aside. By
this time there were about 6,000 colonists living in
Charles Town and along the adjacent coast, and
thenceforth they ruled themselves through their own
chosen representatives.
Trouble with Indians and Spaniards.
About twenty-eight large families, or clans, of
Indians lived in the territory of South Carolina.
Two groups of these families held the upper part of
the country ; these were the Cherokees on the Broad
and Saluda rivers, and the Catawbas on the
Wateree. The Creeks dwelt in the region beyond
the Savannah River. From some of these red peo-
SOUTH CAKOLINA, 1562-1789. n
pie the English settlers bought lands and received
written deeds containing the marks or signs made
by the Indian chieftains.
Near the Ashley dwelt the Kiawahs, who mani-
fested a spirit of friendliness toward the colonists.
The Kussoes of the Combahee Eiver were, in the
beginning, ready to furnish food to the settlers.
Later they became hostile, and an armed force of
white men marched into their country and compelled
them to agree to remain peaceful. In like manner
the Westoes also were forced to make a treaty of
peace. Some of these Indians helped the white
settlers to conduct their first important military
campaign against the Spaniards. This was in the
year 1702. Prior to that time the Spaniards had
sent two expeditions from Florida to assail the
Carolina settlements. In 1702, therefore, Gov.
James Moore led a body of 600 white soldiers, with
an equal number of friendly Indians, against the
Spanish town of St. Augustine. The Spaniards
were aided by the Appalachian Indians of Florida.
Governor Moore seized the town of St. Augustine,
but he was not able to capture the strong fort known
as the Castle. Two warships sent from Spain came
near the harbor of St. Augustine, and Moore was
thus forced to give up his plan of conquest.
In the year 1706 five warships manned by French
and Spanish sailors came up the coast from Florida
for the purpose of capturing Charles Town. Sir
Nathaniel Johnson, who was at that time governor
of South Carolina, was ready to meet the enemy.
He had already built a number of forts called bas-
tions, and upon these as many as eighty-three heavy
guns were mounted. Moreover, Col. William Ehett,
a bold seaman, went out with six small sailing ves-
sels to attack the foreigners. When the latter saw
the heavy cannon in the fort and also the guns
12 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
mounted on the decks of Rhett's vessels, they sailed
back again toward Florida. Rhett followed swiftly
in pursuit, however, and captured one of the French
warships. Thus failed the first attempt made by
a fleet of war vessels to capture the beautiful city
by the sea.
A fierce struggle with the Yemassees broke out in
1715. These Indians lived in the region near Port
Eoyal and the lower Savannah River. Persuaded
by the Spaniards, who furnished the redmen with
guns and knives and hatchets, the Yemassees at-
tacked the homes of the settlers on the Pocotaligo
River and killed every person whom they could find.
They rushed up the coast towards Charles Town,
burning houses and murdering men, women and
children. The Governor, Charles Craven, with a
force of 250 men, met the savages at the Combahee
River and routed a large body of them. He then
captured the chief town of the Yemassees on the
Pocotaligo.
The Yemassees had secured a promise of help
from all of the other savage tribes of South Carolina.
From the northern part of the colony, therefore, a
body of 400 Indians marched towards Charles Town,
pillaging and murdering as they advanced. Cap-
tain Chicken led a force of riflemen to meet the In-
dians, and after a severe struggle the latter were
repulsed.
Near the close of the year 1715 the Yemassees
called together a large force of savage warriors and
again assailed the settlements in South Carolina.
Governor Craven was able to lead only about 1,200
armed settlers into the field. With these he marched
southward across the Edisto, and near that stream,
in a desperate battle, defeated the redmen, who fled
across the Savannah River to find refuge among
their friends, the Spaniards of Florida. About 400
SOUTH CAEOLINA, 1562-1789. 13
white settlers lost their lives in this great struggle,
but the colony was saved, and thenceforth the In-
dians who dwelt near the coast gave no further seri-
ous trouble. The Spaniards soon afterwards turned
their attention to the new colony of Georgia. At a
later time, not long before the Revolution, the Caro-
linians again manifested their courage and endur-
ance in a serious struggle with the Cherokee Indians
of the upper country.
Relation Between Settlements in Southern and Northern
Carolina.
As early as 1653 some settlers from Virginia built
homes on the Chowan Eiver. The Lords Propri-
etors afterwards named this region Albemarle
county in honor of the oldest member of their com-
pany, and appointed William Drummond first gov-
ernor of the settlement. The region about Cape
Fear was called Clarendon county, and a number of
English people was sent there as colonists in 1664.
In the following year Sir John Yeamans was given
a commission as governor, with the boundaries of his
jurisdiction established in a southward direction as
far as the land of Florida. In the autumn of 1665
Yeamans brought a number of settlers from Barba-
does to the southern bank of the Cape Fear Eiver.
Yeamans himself was soon afterwards, as we have
seen, made governor of the settlement at Charles
Town on the Ashley River. The colony at Cape
Fear was gradually abandoned, and by the year
1690 all the settlers had departed to other localities.
From that time there were only two governments
in Carolina, namely, that at Albemarle and that on
the Ashley River, and the names North Carolina
and South Carolina began to come into use, although
the two provinces were not by law thus set apart
until 1729.
14 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
The settlers in the two provinces had a strong
sentiment of friendship towards one another. In
1711 the Tuscaroras, a cruel tribe of Indians dwell-
ing in North Carolina, fell upon the settlers there
and murdered more than 200 of them. The people
of South Carolina at once offered aid, and Col. John
Barnwell marched northward with a body of South
Carolina riflemen. He drove the Tuscaroras into
one of their own towns on the Neuse River and
forced them to make a treaty of peace. Soon after-
wards (1713) the Indians again attacked the North
Carolina settlers, but Governor Craven, of South
Carolina, sent a military force under James Moore,
the son of a former governor. Moore marched as
far northward as the Tar River, and there adminis-
tered to the Tuscaroras a defeat so severe that the
remnant of the tribe left the Carolinas and joined
the Iroquois Indians known as the Five Nations, in
New York.
On the other hand, when the South Carolina peo-
ple were in the midst of the struggle with the
Yemassees in the autumn of 1715, some riflemen
from North Carolina and Virginia went to give as-
sistance to their fellow colonists.
In 1719 the people of South Carolina resolved to
cast off the authority claimed by the Lords Propri-
etors. On December 21 in that year a convention of
the people met in Charles Town and elected one of
their own number, James Moore, to the governor-
ship of South Carolina. The government was at
once organized in the name of the King of England.
This course was sanctioned by the English King and
Parliament, and Sir Francis Nicholson was sent
over to rule the province in the King's name (1721-
1729). During the chief part of Nicholson's gov-
ernorship, however, Arthur Middleton, as president
of the council, managed the affairs of the province.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 15
In 1729 the English government paid the Propri-
etors for their claim to the soil of South Carolina,
and about the same time also bought the proprietary
claim to North Carolina. Until this time the two
colonies were considered, under the forms of law,
to constitute only one province, owned by the Pro-
prietors. After this period, however, until the Revo-
lution, they were administered as two separate royal
provinces, having their governors appointed by the
King of England.
Charles Town in the Colonial Days; Her People and Her Trade.
Throughout the colonial period Charles Town con-
stituted the heart and the life of the province of
South Carolina. As early as the year 1700 there
were about 6,000 white colonists in the province, and
most of these were living in Charles Town. The
dwelling houses in the town, made of both wood and
brick, were then located between the bay and the
present Meeting Street. The only public buildings
were the churches. A line of stout boards or pali-
sades was constructed around the town, and six
small forts were erected with cannon placed in posi-
tion to command the approach from the ocean. A
roadway called the Broad Path ran from the town
up the centre of the narrow neck of land between
the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and Gov. John Arch-
dale declared this highway to be so beautiful and
so full of delight all the year with fragrant trees
and flowers that he believed "that no prince in
Europe with all his art could make so pleasant a
sight."
From the first, many of the people of Charles
Town were actively engaged in sending the products
of their forests and of their soil across the seas.
Cedar logs were sent to Barbadoes; pitch and tar
were shipped to England ; oak boards, pine shingles
16 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CABOLDTA.
and fcar were sent to the West Indies, and the skins
of wild animals formed an important part of the
export trade. The swamps and forests of the prov-
ince contained deer in large numbers, and along the
rivers and creeks were found the beaver and the
otter and other fur-bearing animals. The Indians
shot the deer and caught the smaller animals in
traps, and sold their skins to the colonists. Many of
the early settlers at Charles Town became rich
through this traffic in furs, since they were sold
again in England at a large profit. As early as
November, 1680, there were sixteen trading vessels
at anchor at one time in Charles Town Harbor, but
the number of such vessels was soon largely in-
creased. From about the year 1693, when Thomas
Smith was governor, rice became the chief article
that was sent out of South Carolina. Cattle and
hogs became so numerous that they ran wild in the
woods. The luxuriant grass of the forests kept
these animals in such good condition that they were
killed by the colonists and the cured meat was sent
away in trading vessels to be sold in the West In-
dies. During a brief period much attention was
given to the growing of mulberry trees and the man-
ufacture of silk from the cocoons spun by silk-
worms. Sir Nathaniel Johnson, who was governor
of South Carolina from 1702 to 1708, called his
plantation Silk Hope. For a long time he made
large sums of money each year from the sale of his
silk. By the year 1730 the people of the province
were sending across the ocean large quantities of
raw silk, lumber, shingles and cowhides. At that
period they were also selling every year about 52,000
barrels of pitch, tar and turpentine, and 250,000
deer skins.
About the year 1737 Col. George Lucas, an Eng-
lish army officer, established a home on Wappoo
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 17
Creek, west of the Ashley Eiver, about six miles
from Charles Town. [When he left his family at
Wappoo and returned to the West Indies his daugh-
ter, Elizabeth Lucas, took charge of his lands in
South Carolina. She gave her personal attention
to the crops of rice and corn and the exportation of
lumber. Colonel Lucas sent from the West Indies
some Indigo seed, and this was planted by his
daughter on the plantation at Wappoo. The first
plants were withered by frost and the second crop
was cut down by a worm, but the third planting fur-
nished a good crop of seed, and most of this was
generously given to neighboring land owners. Large
fields were planted with indigo seed, and in the year
1747 more than 100,000 pounds of blue dye were sent
across the sea to England. From that time onward,
for many years, indigo became the most valuable
product of the province. Just before the Eevolution
the annual crop of indigo amounted to more than
1,100,000 pounds.
When the Revolutionary struggle began, South
Carolina's trade in rice and indigo was worth about
$5,000,000 each year. Besides these two articles of
traffic large quantities of lumber, tar, deer skins
and cattle were still sent out. A large fleet of ves-
sels was necessary to carry this vast amount of
merchandise across the ocean or along the coast to
the ports of the other American colonies. South
Carolina had at that time five shipyards and some
of her own vessels were engaged in the coastwise
and the foreign traffic.
About 15,000 people were dwelling in Charles
Town when the Eevolution began. She was the
largest and wealthiest city in the Southern colonies.
Beaufort and Georgetown were seaports, also, and
from their harbors many vessels went out with their
freight of rich merchandise, but Charles Town sur-
Vol. 2—2.
18 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
passed every other port on the Atlantic seaboard.
The old records tell us that just before the Revolu-
tion one could stand on a wharf at the edge of the
bay and count as many as 350 sail vessels, great and
small, coming in or going out, or lying at anchor in
the harbor of Charles Town. This city was then
sending out the largest volume of trade that went
out from any one of the seaports of America.
Settlements in the Middle and Upper Country.
As late as 1733 all of the settlements in the prov-
ince of South Carolina were limited to the region
near the seacoast. In that year all that portion of
the territory of South Carolina that lay west of the
Savannah River was organized as the separate
province of Georgia. Robert Johnson, then royal
governor of South Carolina, wished to open up for
settlement the lands that lay in the interior of the
province at a considerable distance from the sea-
coast, and he therefore marked off the entire prov-
ince into twelve townships and offered a tract of
fifty acres of land to each new settler who entered
the colony. The first people to accept this offer was
a company of Scots. They had dwelt for so long a
period in the north of Ireland that they were called
Scotch-Irish. Under the leadership of one of their
number, John Witherspoon, these colonists went up
the Black River in small boats and established their
homes in the pine forest in Williamsburg town-
ship, near the present town of Kingstree. They
cut down the trees and planted crops, and through
industry and frugality became a prosperous com-
munity.
A little later than the time of the settlement of
Williamsburg, some Welsh families built homes in
"Welsh Neck," a region located in a bend of the
upper Pee Dee River. Later still, some Scotch
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 19
Highlanders established themselves in the present
Darlington county.
The region now known as Orangeburg county was
occupied soon after 1730 by some Scotch-Irish fam-
ilies. Two years later about 200 German and
French colonists came to the same part of South
Carolina. A company of German and French-Swiss
settlers, led by John Peter Purry, established a
town called Purrysburg on the Savannah Eiver,
about forty miles from the mouth of that stream.
From Orangeburg the German settlers moved up
the banks of the Congaree Eiver and established
themselves among the hills of the Fork country,
between the Broad and Saluda rivers, where,
through honesty and patient toil, they soon became
prosperous. About the middle of the Eighteenth
century a great multitude of settlers began to pour
into the Upper Country of South Carolina. Nearly
all of these were Scots from the north of Ireland,
that is, Scotch-Irish, who came first to Pennsylvania
and then passed southward through Virginia into
the Carolinas. About 1750, or soon afterward, a
company of these emigrants cut down the trees and
built log homes in the district known as the Wax-
haws, in the present Lancaster county, from which
point they were distributed throughout the adjacent
region. In 1756 a Scot from Ireland, Patrick Cal-
houn, father of South Carolina's great statesman,
John C. Calhoun, led a small group of his country-
men to the banks of Long Cane Creek, in the present
Abbeville county, and soon afterward some Ger-
mans and some Huguenots entered the same region.
One of the early settlers on Tyger Eiver in the
present Spartanburg county was Anthony Hamp-
ton, from whom sprang all the great soldiers in
South Carolina bearing the name of Hampton.
Just before the Eevolution the Scots from the
20 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
north of Ireland began to sail into Charles Town
harbor. They moved thence into the upland coun-
try to join their brethren, some of whom were still
moving southward from Pennsylvania and Virginia.
These sturdy sons of old Scotia took possession of
nearly all of the upper part of the province; they
had great intelligence and worked with strenuous
energy; they fought the Indians with success, and
cut down the forests and built homes in the fertile
territory that lies near the headwaters of the Broad
and Saluda and on both banks of the Catawba.
Religious Conditions in the Colony.
The royal charter bestowed by King Charles II.
upon the Lords Proprietors of Carolina gave them
authority to build churches and chapels, and to ap-
point ministers of the Gospel to officiate in them.
With reference to dissenters from the Established
Church, the Proprietors were given the power to
grant freedom in matters of religion, with such re-
strictions as to them might seem fit. When, there-
fore, the Proprietors adopted the Fundamental Con-
stitutions prepared by Shaftesbury and Locke, as
we have already seen, they made the provision that
no person should disturb or persecute another "for
his speculative opinions in religion or his way of
worship."
The first settlers at Charles Town were members
of the Established (Episcopal) Church. When the
streets were laid off at the point of land between the
Cooper and Ashley, places were reserved for a town
house and a church. The ground set apart for the
latter is now occupied by St. Michael's Church. The
first house of worship built there was of black
cypress wood resting upon a brick foundation. It
was known as the English, or Episcopal, Church.
The first Huguenot congregation in Charles Town
ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 21
was organized in 1686 under the pastoral care of
Elias Prioleau, of France. The first house of wor-
ship, built about 1687, was located on the site of the
present Huguenot church. The religious worship
in this church was conducted for many years in the
French language and the Huguenot ministers
preached in the same tongue. Soon after 1690 the
Independent Church and the Baptist Church were
established in Charles Town.
In May, 1704, a party that favored Episcopacy
gained control of the Commons House of Assembly
and, by a majority of a single vote, passed a meas-
ure to establish the Church of England as the
Church of the province of South Carolina. It was
provided in this measure that every member of the
legislative body itself must worship according to
the forms prescribed by the Church of England.
The effect of this was, of course, to exclude Dis-
senters from membership in the body of lawmakers.
Such opposition arose toward this policy that, in
1706, the Assembly repealed the law that forbade
the election of Dissenters as lawmakers. It was
provided, however, that the Episcopal Church and
its clergymen should be supported by a tax levied
upon all the people. The province was divided into
ten parishes and it was determined that a church
should be built in every parish. The London So-
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts sent out a number of ministers to South
Carolina.
The Germans and German-Swiss who came later
to the province were Lutherans in religion. The
Scots and Scotch-Irish were Presbyterians, and
these, with the Baptists and Methodists, formed a
strong body of Dissenters who built their own
churches and schools in every part of the province.
22 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Industries and Productions; Bice and Indigo.
The fertile soil of South Carolina furnished the
early settlers with abundant supplies of food, to
which were added fish and oysters from the waters
near the coast, and venison, wild turkeys and other
game from the forests. The colonists began at once,
as we have already seen, to send across the sea some
of the products of their land to exchange for other
articles. An old official report prepared in the year
1708 tells us that the colonists were then exporting
"rice, pitch, tar, buck and doeskins in the hair and
Indian dressed ; also some few furs, as beaver, otter,
wildcat, raccoon; a little silk, whiteoak staves, and
sometimes other sorts." Pine and cypress trees for
shipmasts were also sold, with hoops and shingles,
pork, " green wax, candles made of myrtle berries,
tallow and tallow candles, butter, English and In-
dian peas, and sometimes a small quantity of tanned
leather." The report continues as follows: "We
have also commerce with Boston, Rhode Island,
Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, to which
places we export Indian slaves, light deerskins
dressed, some tanned leather, pitch, tar and a small
quantity of rice. From thence we receive beer,
cider, flour, dry codfish and mackerel, and from Vir-
ginia some European commodities."
The only manufactures mentioned in these early
records are "a few stuffs of silk and cotton, and a
sort of cloth of cotton and wool" made by some of
the planters for their own use. At a later time
sugar was exported; also oil, salt fish, snake root
and various kinds of bark from the woods. Several
of the colonists made journeys, from time to time,
into the mountain regions of the Carolinas to seek
for mines of gold and of silver, but no such mines
were ever opened. Just before the Revolution there
were five shipyards in South Carolina, and a number
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 23
of the trading vessels that sailed from the Carolina
seaports were made in the province.
When the Upper Country was settled, the colon-
ists in that region began to send long trains of
wagons to Charles Town laden with corn, wheat,
deerskins, and cattle for beef. The most profitable
industry in the Upper Country was the raising of
cattle, from which many of the colonists became
rich. The usual yield of corn to an acre was from
eighteen to thirty bushels, with six bushels of Indian
peas that had been planted among the corn. Or-
chards of peaches, apples and other fruits abounded.
Some South Carolina planters had a thousand head
of cattle ; 200 was the usual number to a plantation.
Swine were numerous.
The principal industries of the province, however,
were the buying and selling of animal skins and the
cultivation of rice and indigo. In 1708 50,000 skins
were exported; in 1712, 73,790. Afterwards the
number of skins exported was much larger. The
trade in rice ran up to 140,000 barrels a year, and
the annual trade in indigo to more than 1,000,000
pounds. From all of these sources great wealth
came to the people of the province.
Labor Conditions in the Colony; Slavery.
The first negro slaves were brought into the prov-
ince from Barbadoes by the Englishman, Sir John
Yeamans, in the year 1672. They were put to work
cutting cedar logs. Afterwards some of the Indians
captured in war were held in service in the houses
of the planters ; some of the captured Indians were
sold as slaves among the northern colonies and in
the West Indies. Some white servants, also, were
brought over from England. In the year 1708 there
were 4,100 negro slaves, 1,400 Indian slaves and 120
white servants. Most of the negro men were em-
24 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
ployed in the cultivation of rice and later in raising
indigo. The malaria of the marsh lands did not
affect the health of the Africans, and it was the
opinion of the white settlers that it would not be
possible to grow crops of rice without negro labor.
The South Carolinians attempted several times to
prevent the introduction of the negroes in such
large numbers, but the ships of New England and
of England continued to unload them in the prov-
ince, and the number of slaves rapidly increased.
By the year 1775 there were about 75,000 white
people in South Carolina and 100,000 negroes, most
of the latter living on the plantations near the sea-
coast. Their work was not arduous and their phy-
sical and moral welfare was given careful considera-
tion by their masters, most of whom were kind, just
and humane.
Classes and Chief Occupations.
Many of the colonists were planters, who built
handsome houses on the Ashley, Santee, Edisto and
other rivers, and along the shore of the bay at Port
Royal. They gave attention to their crops and some
of them became rich through the production of silk,
rice and indigo. Trade, however, soon became the
chief interest of the people, and many of the leading
men of the province were merchants. Among these
were Isaac Mazyck, Gabriel Manigault and Henry
Laurens, all of whom were Huguenots. Benjamin
Smith, Miles Brewton and Andrew Butledge also
became rich through the business of trading across
the seas. These, and others like them, built hand-
some houses in Charles Town, usually facing the
waters of the bay. Most of these dwellings were
made of brick and were two stories in height ; they
were filled with beautiful bedsteads, sideboards,
chairs and tables, made of mahogany and cherry, and
brought from London, and large quantities of silver-
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 25
ware were displayed on the sideboards. Handsome
coaches and carriages were also brought across the
sea and driven behind swift horses along the Broad
Path and other streets of Charles Town. Many of
the planters of South Carolina also built beautiful
houses in Charles Town and spent the months of the
summer season in the city by the sea. Around the
houses were gardens filled with the flowers that were
brought from the old homes in England and France.
Handsome and costly clothing made of fine linen,
broadcloth and velvet was worn by the merchants
and planters who dwelt in Charles Town. Their
wives and daughters arrayed themselves in dresses
made of silk or satin, covered with beautiful figures
wrought in gold thread. There were dinner parties,
theatre parties, balls and concerts.
A public library was founded as early as 1698 ; in
1748 some young men organized the Charles Town
Library Society, which is still in existence; the St.
Cecilia Society, a musical association, was estab-
lished in 1762, and a weekly newspaper called The
South Carolina Gazette began its work in 1732.
There were many schools for youth, and a large
number of private tutors was employed, but many
of the young men of Charles Town went to England
to pursue their studies there in the public schools
and universities. At the beginning of the struggle
with the mother country a number of skilled physi-
cians and as many as thirty-five lawyers were doing
excellent work in Charles Town, and most of the
ministers in charge of the churches in Charles Town
had received their education in England or at Har-
vard and Yale. These facts, thus briefly stated,
show that Charles Town was the home of a people
who manifested great energy and foresight in home
and foreign trade, and who possessed a high degree
of intellectual and social culture. Their leaders
26 THE HISTOBY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
were men of learning, of charming manners and of
worthy personal character, and were controlled by
unselfish and patriotic motives.
The people of the Middle and Upper Country had
to pass through many hardships. Their houses were
made of logs, their dishes were usually of wood or
pewter, and they had few slaves or servants. They
built their own churches and school houses, and their
ministers and leaders were men trained at the uni-
versities of Edinburgh or Glasgow, or at Princeton
College. These people of the Upper Country knew
how to depend upon themselves. They could ride
fast and shoot with deadly aim, and when the Eevo-
lutionary War came on they did more than any
other people of equal numbers to win the cause of
American freedom.
Transition from Colony to State.
On March 28, 1735, Charles Pinckney, who after-
wards became chief justice of the province, proposed
the following resolution to the South Carolina legis-
lature: "That, the Commons House of Assembly in
this Province * have the same rights and
privileges in regard to introducing and passing laws
for imposing taxes on the people of the province as
the House of Commons of Great Britain have in
introducing and passing laws on the people of Eng-
land." In adopting Pinckney 's resolution, the rep-
resentatives of the people of South Carolina claimed
for themselves, at this early date, that right of self-
government for which all of the American colonies
contended during the American Revolution.
During the administration of Thomas Boone as
royal governor of the province (1761-1764), Christo-
pher Gadsden, a successful planter and merchant,
was chosen by the people of Charles Town to repre-
sent them in the provincial legislature. Governor
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 27
Boone asserted that the election which resulted in
the choice of Gadsden had not been properly con-
ducted, and he therefore commanded the lawmakers
to adopt some new regulations about the manage-
ment of such elections. When the lawmakers re-
fused to obey his order the governor told them that
he would not allow them to meet together. The lat-
ter replied that they, on their part, would not hold
any further communication of any sort with the gov-
ernor, and at the same time they cut off his annual
salary. Governor Boone then gave up the struggle
and returned to England.
In this first contest between the King's repre-
sentative and the provincial legislature Christopher
Gadsden was the leader of the people of South Caro-
lina. In 1765, when the news was brought to Charles
Town that the British Parliament had passed the
Stamp Act, imposing a tax upon all legal and busi-
ness documents and upon books and newspapers in
the colonies, Gadsden again persuaded the South
Carolinians to offer opposition. The legislature
came together and made a formal declaration to the
effect that no taxes could be rightly laid upon the
people of South Carolina by any body of men ex-
cept their own representatives. At the same time
the legislature sent three delegates to the Stamp Act
Congress, held in New York City in October, 1765.
When this Congress proposed to send a petition to
the British Parliament asking that body to repeal
the Stamp Act, Gadsden urged the Congress not to
ask favor from the British lawmakers. "We do not
hold our rights from them," he said; "we should
stand upon the broad, common ground of those natu-
ral rights that we all feel and know as men and as
descendants of Englishmen. "
When a British ship brought stamps and stamped
paper to Charles Town, the people would not permit
28 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
the master of the vessel to bring these articles into
the city. A number of effigies, each bearing the
label, "The Stamp Seller," were hanged upon the
gallows and then burned. After the repeal of the
Stamp Act (1766), the South Carolina people
erected a marble statue of William Pitt in one of
the public squares of Charles Town. Moreover, a
party of patriots, organized in Charles Town by
William Johnson and Christopher Gadsden, and
known as the "Liberty Tree" Party from the fact
that the members held frequent meetings under a
large oak tree, pledged themselves to fight against
any further effort of the British King and Parlia-
ment to force money from the colonists.
In 1773 the ship London entered the harbor of
Charles Town with a cargo of tea. The people of
the colony were told that they could buy the tea at
a reduced price if they would pay a tax upon it of
three pence a pound. The people were not willing,
however, to pay a tax of any kind to Great Britain,
and the tea was stored in cellars and left there un-
sold. Another ship came with an additional cargo
of tea, but some of the merchants of Charles Town,
to whom the tea had been consigned, threw the tea-
chests into the waters of the harbor.
On July 6, 1774, a general meeting of the people
of South Carolina was held at Charles Town, and
five delegates were sent to represent the province in
the first Continental Congress at Philadelphia.
These delegates were Henry Middleton, John Eut-
ledge, Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch and
Edward Butledge. On Jan. 11, 1775, a body of rep-
resentatives from every district of South Carolina
met at Charles Town and organized themselves as
the Provincial Congress. This body appointed a
secret committee to take any action that might be
necessary for the safety of the people.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 39
On Sunday, June 4, 1775, the Provincial Congress
met again and signed an agreement binding the
members to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in be-
half of freedom. The militia was organized and the
sum of $1,000,000 was voted to furnish the soldiers
with weapons. A Council of Safety, with Henry
Laurens as chairman, was appointed to manage all
the affairs of the province. This council, invested
with power to command all soldiers and to expend
all public moneys, was now the real ruler of the
people. Two members of the Council, William
Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton, entertained
sentiments concerning freedom far in advance of
their associates. They were ready, from the time
of their appointment as members of the Council, to
drive all of the King's officers out of the province,
and thus bring the royal government to an end. Five
thousand pounds of powder, captured from a British
vessel, were sent to General "Washington chiefly
through the agency of these two patriots, and this
powder was used by Washington's soldiers in driv-
ing the British army out of Boston.
On the night of Sept. 14, 1775, acting under orders
from the Council of Safety, South Carolina soldiers
crossed the harbor of Charles Town and seized Fort
Johnson. The British flag was hauled down and the
banner of South Carolina was unfurled above the
fort. This banner was a blue flag with a crescent
in the corner and the word "Liberty" in the centre.
Lord William Campbell, last of the royal governors,
at once took his departure from Charles Town and
went on board a British warship. On Nov. 12, 1775,
hostile shots were exchanged between two British
war vessels on the one side, and the guns of Fort
Johnson and the guns of the Defense, a small Caro-
lina war vessel, on the other side. The British ves-
sels received so many balls in their sails and rigging
30 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
that they did not venture to move up near the city.
Thus began the military struggle between South
Carolina and the mother country.
On Feb. 1, 1776, the Provincial Congress of South
Carolina met at Charles Town. The representatives
of the royal government had been already driven
out of the province, and the Congress, therefore,
entered upon the work of forming a new, independ-
ent government. A committee was appointed to
prepare a plan of organization, which was presented
and, after due consideration, adopted by the Con-
gress March 26, 1776. Thereupon, the president and
secretary of the Congress signed the formal docu-
ment which declared that South Carolina was no
longer a province subject to the King of England,
but that she was now, by her own act, a free and
independent state. At four o'clock the same day
(March 26) the members of the Congress assembled
again, and declared that they were the General As-
sembly, or legislature, of the new state of South
Carolina. Thirteen members of their own body
were appointed to sit together as a separate legis-
lative council or upper house of legislation. John
Eutledge was then elected as chief executive, with
the title of president of South Carolina, and Henry
Laurens was chosen vice-president. The title of
governor was not brought into use until the year
1779. The new state government thus organized
was established in the name of the people of South
Carolina. She was the first American province
among the thirteen to throw off the authority of
the King of England and to establish in its place a
new, independent government of her own.
The first chief justice of the new commonwealth
chosen by the General Assembly was William Henry
Drayton. In his first charge to the grand jury at
Charles Town Drayton declared that the people of
SOUTH CAEOLINA, 1562-1789. 31
South Carolina were merely asserting their natural
and inherited rights. The people of England, he
said, drove out a bad king in 1688 and set up a new
sovereign. The same thing was done by the people
of South Carolina in 1719, when they cast off the au-
thority of the Lords Proprietors and asked King
George I. to become their ruler. When King George
III. began to rule with a heavy hand, the people of
the province cast him off and were now resolved to
rule themselves through their own representatives.
The Almighty created America to be independent
of England, declared Drayton. God himself was
reaching forth His hand to deliver the colonies from
their enemies, and to give them freedom. "Let us
offer ourselves to be used as instruments of God in
this work," he said; by such patriotic conduct the
South Carolinians would become * ' a great, a free, a
pious and a happy people."
South Carolina's Part in the Revolution.
When Washington drove the British forces out of
Boston, early in the year 1776, the British govern-
ment determined to attempt the conquest of the
Southern states. For this purpose a large body of
soldiers under General Clinton, and a fleet of war
vessels commanded by Admiral Parker, were sent
southward along the Atlantic coast. Early in June,
1776, Parker's ships, with Clinton's soldiers on
board, arrived at the mouth of Charles Town harbor.
They expected to make an easy capture of the city
and the state.
By this time, however, South Carolina had organ-
ized and equipped five regiments of riflemen and a
regiment of artillery. Col. William Moultrie, with
one regiment of infantry and a force of artillerists,
occupied a fort on Sullivan's Island, afterwards
called Fort Moultrie, on the north side of Charles
32 THE HISTORY OP SOUTH CAEOLINA.
Town harbor. The walls of this stronghold were
made of palmetto logs supported by bags of sand.
Moultrie mounted twenty-five cannon to command
the approach from the water and awaited the ad-
vance of Parker's fleet. At the same time a force of
about 700 riflemen from the middle and upper coun-
try of South Carolina, under the command of Col.
William Thomson, took position at the upper end of
Sullivan's Island to resist the advance of the British
land forces.
On June 28 Clinton landed his British soldiers on
Long Island, now called the Isle of Palms, and at-
tempted to cross the narrow channel that lay be-
tween him and Thomson's small army. Clinton had
a number of boats to aid his men in crossing the
strait. Thomson had two small cannon to help him
in the battle. The aim of his riflemen was so deadly
that every British soldier who came within range
was shot down; the grapeshot from the two guns
kept Clinton's boats from passing the channel, and
thus the large British force was held at bay and
Clinton's attempt to seize Sullivan's Island resulted
in failure.
Meanwhile, on the same day, Parker's eleven war-
ships sailed into the harbor and at close range
opened fire on Moultrie 's fortification. The roar
from the 270 British guns was terrific, but Parker's
cannon balls buried themselves in the sand or in
the soft, spongy palmetto logs, and wrought little
damage. Moultrie 's gunners, on the other hand, by
careful aiming and slow firing, sent every shot
straight to the mark. After ten hours of fighting
Moultrie 's fort remained without serious injury, and
the British gave up the fight. One of Parker's ships
was destroyed, and some of the others were injured
to such an extent that they found it difficult to sail
as far as New York. Moultrie and Thomson thus
WILLIAM MOULTRIE.
SOUTH CABOLINA, 1562-1789. 33
won a double victory. The successful defense of
Charles Town against the British land and naval
forces was the first serious and complete defeat suf-
fered by the royal forces in the American Revolu-
tion. The entire British plan of conquering the
South at that time ended in failure, and the south-
ern colonies remained free from attack for two
years.
In 1778 the British again formed a plan for the
conquest of the South. With this end in view a
British fleet entered the Savannah River and cap-
tured Savannah. A strong British force then began
to overrun Georgia and South Carolina. In Octo-
ber, 1779, the provincial troops from these two
states, aided by French land and naval forces, at-
tempted to recapture Savannah from the British,
but the effort failed. In May, 1780, a large British
force captured Charles Town. Augusta on the Sa-
vannah, Ninety-Six near the Saluda, and Camden on
the Wateree, were then occupied by the King's
troops, under the leadership of Cornwallis. It was
the purpose of this British commander to march
northward through the upper regions of the Caro-
linas into Virginia, and thus conquer the whole coun-
try south of the Potomac Eiver.
The cruel work of Tarleton, commander of the
British cavalry, aroused the people of the upper
part of South Carolina. These backwoodsmen
mounted their horses, and under the leadership of
Thomas Sumter rode out to attack the British. The
flint-lock rifles of Sumter 's men were more than a
match for the weapons of the royal troops, and with-
in a period of three months after the fall of Charles
Town the British were driven back from the north-
ern part of the state to their post at Camden.
In August, 1780, the army of General Gates, sent
from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Caro-
34 tTHE HISTORY OF SOUTH CABOLINA.
Una to resist Cornwallis, was defeated at Camden
by the British forces. Sumter's men, also, were
surprised and scattered, and Cornwallis again took
possession of upper South Carolina. His progress
was checked, however, by Francis Marion, leader of
a body of horsemen from the region near the Pee
Dee Eiver, in the southeastern part of South Caro-
lina. This daring patriot would dart suddenly
from the swamp or the forest, attack and over-
whelm some detached British troopers, and again
seek refuge in his hiding-place. Sumter raised an-
other force of horsemen and fell upon Cornwallis'
men in the upper country. Andrew Pickens, Wil-
liam Harden, the Hamptons, and other leaders also
took the field with strong bodies of riflemen. The
British were thus assailed on every side. When
Cornwallis advanced northward to Charlotte, the
North Carolinians under Davie, Davidson and other
leaders, made a continuous fight against the royal
troops. A second British column led by Major
Ferguson was defeated and captured at King's
Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780, by the mountain riflemen of
South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. This
heavy blow forced Cornwallis to retreat southward
again.
Then Nathaniel Greene and Daniel Morgan came
from the northward to help the people of the Caro-
linas. Morgan and Pickens defeated Tarleton's
British force at Cowpens in January, 1781. This
American victory reduced by one-third the number
of soldiers in the army of Cornwallis. The latter
followed Greene to Guilford Court House, North
Carolina, and in a battle at that place drove the
American troops from the field, but was himself
forced to retreat at once to the seacoast to secure
aid from his warships. When Cornwallis turned
northward into Virginia, weakened by the long
GEN. FRANCIS MARION.
SOUTH CAROLINA 1562-1789. 35
struggle in the Carolinas, he left a British force at
Camden under the command of Lord Bawdon. The
American forces under Greene, Sumter, Marion,
Pickens, Henry Lee, and others, attacked Bawdon
and forced him to withdraw to Charles Town.
Cornwallis soon fell an easy prey to Washington
and the French at Yorktown. Thus the plan of con-
quering the South again resulted in failure, and the
British government gave up the fight against the
colonies. A very important share in the work of
overwhelming the army of Cornwallis and of thus
securing the independence of our country must be
accredited to the bold riflemen who fought under the
leadership of Sumter, Marion and Pickens in South
Carolina.
One hundred and thirty-seven battles, great and
small, were fought in South Carolina during the
Bevolution. Of these, 103 were engaged in on the
American side by South Carolina alone. In twenty
others South Carolina took part in company with
troops from other states, thus making 123 battles
in which the people of this commonwealth fought
for their freedom. Besides these engagements, sol-
diers from South Carolina took part in engagements
in Georgia and North Carolina. "Left mainly to
her own resources," writes Bancroft with reference
to South Carolina, "it was through the depths of
wretchedness that her sons were to bring her back
to her place in the republic, after suffering more
and daring more and achieving more than the men
of any other state."
The Work of South Carolina's Statesmen During the Revo-
lutionary Period (1763-1789).
During the period of the Bevolution many of the
statesmen of South Carolina were known and ac-
cepted as leaders in all of the other American col-
36 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
onies. Christopher Gadsden, as we have seen, was
far in advance of the other delegates, with refer-
ence to American independence, at the Stamp Act
Congress, held in New York, October, 1765. In a
stirring address Gadsden said: "There ought to be
no New England men, no New Yorkers, known on
the continent, but all of us Americans." The presi-
dent of the Stamp Act Congress was John Butledge,
another South Carolinian.
The representatives of South Carolina in the first
Continental Congress were men of conspicuous influ-
ence; namely, Henry Middleton, John Eutledge,
Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch and Edward
Eutledge. On Oct. 22, 1774, Henry Middleton was
elected president of the Congress. On July 4, 1776,
four of South Carolina's sons voted for the adop-
tion of the Declaration of Independence. These four
were Edward Eutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr.,
Thomas Lynch, Jr., and Arthur Middleton. The
fifth delegate, Thomas Lynch, was sick at the time
and unable to cast his vote.
In the autumn of 1777 Henry Laurens, of South
Carolina, was chosen president of the Continental
Congress, succeeding John Hancock, of Massachu-
setts. During his occupancy of this position Laur-
ens asked the Congress to vote upon three famous
measures. The first was the adoption of the Articles
of Confederation, the second was the treaty be-
tween France and the United States, and the third
was connected with the offer made by the British
government in 1778 to make peace with the Ameri-
cans. Laurens wrote the answer of the Congress to
this proposal. Great Britain, he declared, must
acknowledge the independence of the thirteen states
and withdraw her soldiers before the Congress
would have dealings with the British Parliament.
The people of the American states, said Laurens,
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1562-1789. 37
were resolved to fight to the last in order to secure
their freedom. In 1779 Laurens was appointed min-
ister plenipotentiary from the United States to Hol-
land. On his way across the Atlantic he was cap-
tured by the British and shut up in the Tower of
London. At the close of the war he was given back
to the Americans in exchange for Lord Cornwallis,
after the latter was made a prisoner at Yorktown.
Laurens then went from London to Paris and, as
one of the American commissioners, signed the pre-
liminaries to the treaty of peace in 1782, which
ended the war between Great Britain and the United
States.
Col. John Laurens, son of Henry Laurens, became
an aide on the staff of General Washington in the
early part of the Revolution. He was in the midst
of the severest fighting at Germantown and Mon-
mouth, and was made a prisoner when Charles Town
fell in May, 1780. Soon afterwards, however, he was
exchanged and returned to his post at Washington's
side. In December, 1780, Laurens was appointed by
the Continental Congress as special minister to the
court of the King of France. Through the exercise
of great tact and by the charm of his personal bear-
ing, Laurens persuaded King Louis XVI., of France,
to send money and a fleet to aid the Americans in
their struggle for freedom. Laurens afterwards
bore a distinguished part in the siege of Yorktown
and the capture of the army of Cornwallis.
In 1787 four delegates from South Carolina took
their seats in the Federal convention that met at
Philadelphia. These were Charles Pinckney,
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Eutledge and
Pierce Butler, all of whom played an important part
in the work of the convention. At an early stage
in the proceedings Charles Pinckney, then under
thirty years of age, presented a plan of government
119924
38 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
to the convention very much like the plan that was
finally adopted. John Butledge, pronounced by
George Washington, president of the convention, to
be the finest orator among all the delegates, was the
principal member of an important committee.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, afterwards a member
of the celebrated mission to France and twice candi-
date of the Federalist party for the presidency of
the United States, took a leading part in the debates
of the convention. He may be rightly called one of
the leading spirits of the great body of statesmen
that framed our Federal constitution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Bancroft: History of the United States (Eds. 1852
and 1883); Bernheim, G. D. : German Settlements in the Carolinas; Carroll,
B. R. : Historical Collections (2 vols.); Draper, Lyman F.: King's Moun-
tain and Its Heroes; Drayton, John: View of South Carolina, Memoirs of
the Revolution; Gibbes, Robert: Documentary History of South Carolina
(3 vols.); Gordon, W.: History of the American Revolution (4 vols.);
Gregg, Alexander: History of the Old Cheraws; Garden: Anecdotes of the
Revolutionary War; Hewatt, Alexander: Rise and Progress of the Colonies
of South Carolina and Georgia; James, W. D.: Francis Marion; Logan,
John H.: History of Upper South Carolina; Laudrum: Colonial and Rev-
olutionary History of Upper South Carolina; Lee, Henry: Memoirs of the
War of 1776; McCrady, Edward: History of South Carolina Under the
Proprietary Government, 1670-1719, History of South Carolina Under the
Royal Government, 1719-76, History of South Carolina in the Revolution,
1775-1780, History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 (4
vols.); Moultrie, Win.: Memoirs of the American Revolution; O'Neal:
Bench and Bar of South Carolina (2 vols.); Pinckney, C. C.: Thomas
Pinckney; Rivers, Wm. J. : A Chapter on the Colonial History of the Caro-
linas, Historical Sketch of South Carolina; Ravenel, Mrs. H. H.: Eliza
Pinckney; Ramsay, David: History of South Carolina, 1670-1808, His-
tory of the Revolution in South Carolina; Salley, A. S., Jr.: History of
Orangeburg County; Simms, William Gilmore: History of South Carolina;
Tarleton: History of the Campaigns of 1780-81; Winsor: Narrative and
Critical History; The War in the Southern Department; White, Henry
Alexander: The Making of South Carolina. Consult also South Carolina
Historical and Genealogical Magazine; Collections of Historical Society of
South Carolina (4 vols.); Colonial Records of North Carolina (vols. I., II.
and III.; Biographies of Gen. Nathaniel Greene by Caldwell, Greene,
Johnson, Simms: Laurens Manuscripts, South Carolina Historical
Society.
HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE,
Professor of Greek in the Columbia Theological Seminary, Columbia, S.C.;
author of The Making of South Carolina.
SOUTH CAROLINA OFFICERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY.
A STATE IN THE FEDEEAL UNION. 39
CHAPTER II.
SOUTH CAEOLINA A STATE IN THE FED-
EBAL UNION, 1789-1860.
South Carolina's Fart in the Adoption of the Federal
Constitution.
The condition of South Carolina in the years fol-
lowing the Kevolution was distressing. The ravages
of the British had been terrible. On many planta-
tions every slave had been stolen, every building
burned, by the British, and frequently the utmost
exertions of the master were necessary to prevent
his remaining servants from starving. Credit, left
by the war in the most precarious condition, was
struck absolutely dead by the state legislature's
stay and tender laws, and as a consequence trade
sunk to the same stagnation as agriculture. It was
hard for any but the dishonest debtor to prosper.
The reaction of sentiment in favor of a strong gov-
ernment and business-like administration soon be-
gan to assert itself among the more conservative
representatives of the old planter and merchant
classes; and here were laid the foundations of the
talented Federalist party in South Carolina, which
did not lose its control of the state until the pros-
perity of Federalist rule and the Democratic revolu-
tion of 1800 had placed the country in entirely new
conditions.
It has happened often that a constitution not de-
fensible on abstract principles of justice has, in a
particular crisis, done much to atone for its general
inequity. Such was the case in South Carolina in
1788. A. small minority in the extreme low country,
controlled by the wealthy merchant and planter
40 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
classes, held, by majorities in both houses of the
legislature, absolute control of the politics of the
state. It was this minority, Federalist in all its
sympathies and interests, that entered heartily into
the scheme for a new national constitution, and in
1788 forced it upon an overwhelming majority of
their individualistic, anti-Federal, Democratic fel-
low-citizens of the back country.
South Carolina was represented in the Federal
convention of 1787 by four very talented men : John
Eutledge, the Revolutionary president and governor,
chief justice of South Carolina and of the United
States ; Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, general in the
Eevolution and the War of 1812, minister to France
and Federalist vice-presidential candidate in 1800,
and presidential candidate in 1804 and 1808 ; Charles
Pinckney (second cousin of C. C. Pinckney), minis-
ter to Spain and four times governor of South Caro-
lina; and Pierce Butler.
Charles Pinckney later became a devoted Jeffer-
sonian Democrat; but at this time he showed no
symptoms of such a change. The position and in-
fluence of the entire South Carolina delegation may
be summed up as in favor of a strong government,
a strong, one-man executive, and the guardianship
of the interests of the slave-owners of the lower
south. Whatsoever the glory or the shame, the profit
or the loss, South Carolina stood as the most per-
sistent and influential champion of this last. In a
word, her delegates were typical wealthy, aristo-
cratic southern Federalists.
John Butledge was said to be the most eloquent
man upon the floor; and the opinions of both C. C.
Pinckney and Pierce Butler carried weight. But
notwithstanding his youth, Charles Pinckney, aged
twenty-nine, the youngest member of this conven-
tion, is now recognized to have exercised one of the
A STATE IN THE FEDEEAL UNION. 41
strongest influences of any person in the formation
of the constitution. This was fully established by
Prof. J. Franklin Jameson in 1903 in a brilliant piece
of constructive criticism.
On May 29, 1787, immediately after Gov. Edmund
Randolph, backed by the immense prestige of Wash-
ington, Madison and the entire Virginia delegation,
had presented the Virginia plan, Charles Pinckney
presented his outline for a constitution.
The "Pinckney plan," written out in 1818 by
Charles Pinckney and long generally accepted, was
many years ago proved to be nothing better than
an old man's confused recollections. In the reaction
which followed, Pinckney lost much of the credit
which is now proved to be justly his due. But Pinck-
ney's strongest influence was exerted through the
"committee on detail," which worked his ideas ex-
tensively into their report, which was adopted by the
convention.
The united labors of the friends of the constitution
in South Carolina overcame the opposition of the
party of alarmed private interests and jealous state
rights, led by Bawlins Lowndes. Of the 149 in favor
of the constitution, eleven were from the up-country ;
of the seventy-three against, seventeen were from
the low-country.
Distribution of Population.
The population of South Carolina has grown
from 1670 to 1900 as follows : 1670, 150 ; 1701, 7,000 ,
1724, 32,000; 1734, 30,000; 1763, 105,000; 1765, 123r
000; 1790, 249,073; 1800, 345,591; 1810, 415,115; 1820,
502,741; 1830, 581,185; 1840, 594,398; 1850, 668,507;
1860, 703,708; 1870, 705,606; 1880, 995,577; 1890,
1,151,149; 1900, 1,340,316; the figures before 1790
being estimated.
Until after the War of Secession the population
42 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
was almost entirely rural. County seats to-day con-
taining from 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, consisted
in 1820 merely, as with Sumter, of a rude courthouse
and jail and twelve or thirteen residences, two
churches and two or three stores ; or, as with Green-
ville, of 500 people ; or with Spartanburg, of 800 peo-
ple ; or with Newberry, of twenty or thirty dwellings.
The oldest inland town in the state, Camden, a centre
of back country trade, held 2,000 people; Columbia
claimed 4,000; Charleston 24,780. As late as 1854
the name of the now flourishing city of Rock Hill did
not appear upon the map.
A study of the distribution of population between
the sections of low country and up country reveals
much that is interesting in the social, political and
industrial history of the state. To perceive their
meaning we must divide the figures into black and
white. It is necessary also to define the terms up
and low country. In 1790 the low country was con-
sidered to consist of the old districts of Georgetown,
Charles Town and Beaufort, and the up country of
Cheraw, Camden, Ninety-Six and Orangeburg. On
the map of to-day the old line of division may be fol-
lowed along the northwestern edge of Marion (cut-
ting straight on across Florence), Williamsburg,
Berkeley, Dorchester, Colleton and Hampton.
Wealth, culture and the control of politics resided in
the lower section; poverty, ignorance, native intelli-
gence and energy, right well interspersed with mod-
erate prosperity and education, in the upper. As time
went on topographical and economic conditions, sup-
plemented by the influence natural to wealth and cul-
ture, assimilated the tier of counties immediately to
the northwest to the ideals and civilization of the low
country; so that we may say, that since about 1815
the line, almost coinciding with the geological divi-
sion, between the up and low country, has been the
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 43
northwestern edge of Marlboro, Darlington, Lee,
Sumter, Bichland, Calhoun, Orangeburg and Barn-
well. I shall refer to the original and enlarged low
country as the old and new low country, and, muto
mutandis, to the old and new up country. The spread
of cotton culture and industrial development have
constantly tended to distribute the elements of the
population more evenly, as it is shown by the follow-
ing table of the new up and low country :
Population of South Carolina by sections and races, 1790-1900.*
1790 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900
UP COUNTRY:!
White 87,074 156,227166,291168,722228,338 334,996
Negro 17,048 80,637128,307173,251264,495 338,748
Total up
country 104,122 236,914 294,598 341,973 492,833 673,744
Low COUNTRY:
White 53,104 81,163 92,793122,578162,767 222,811
Negro 91,847 184,664207,007239,069339,837 443,573
Total, low
country 144,951 265,827 299,800 361,647 502,604 666,384
Total State:
White and
negro 249,073 502,741 594,398703,620995,437 1,340,128
Chinese, Japanese and taxed Indians... 88 140 188
Total State 249,073 502,741 594,398703,708995,577 1,340,316
Many facts of the first importance lie back of these
figures and have made them what they are. The
movement of the negro population up the country
*Probably about 3,000 whites and 1,000 negroes in 1790 ought to be transferred
from low country to up country, on account of Orangeburg, as then reported in the
census, including Lexington and part of Aiken, which is counted as up country. A
transfer of the same kind, in which white first predominates and finally negro, be-
ginning with about 3,000 in 1790, and reaching about 14,000 in 1870, should strictly
be made for each census before 1880, because part of Aiken, counted as up country,
was, until that county's creating in 1871, included in counties counted_as low country
fThe following counties are counted as up country: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson,
Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Ker-
shaw. Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, Newberry, Oconee, Pendleton, Pickens,
Saluda, Spartanburg, Union, York. The following are counted as low country:
Bamberg, Darlington, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Hampton, Horry, Marion,
Marlboro, Orangeburg, Richland, Sumter, Williamsburg. At no one time were all
the above-named counties in existence.
44 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
marks the progress of cotton culture. This industry
entirely transformed the state above the line of the
old low country. It found the old up country inhab-
ited by a rather aggressive, typical white American
population, known to the old low country as " a man-
ufacturing people ; " it left the entire state, save the
extreme upper edge of the Piedmont escarpment,
transformed in industry, politics and civilization,
and under the domination of an oligarchy which, by
their ability and boldness, turned the destinies of the
state and nation in a degree altogether dispropor-
tionate to their numerical strength.
If space allowed the insertion of the complete table
on which the condensed one given is based, it would
exhibit one of the most pathetic features in South
Carolina history, the retreat of the free white farmer
before the oncoming planter with his bands of
slaves. Chester, for instance, in 1860, had lost 47
per cent, of its white population of 1820, while it
had gained in negroes 141 per cent.; and in 1900
even had not again risen to as large an absolute
white population as it had had eighty years before.
Newberry, sinking from 10,177 whites in 1820, to
7,000 in 1860, had barely in 1900 risen, with 10,351
whites, to the figures of 1820. With Fairfield the
white and negro populations have run as follows : In
1820, 9,378 whites and 7,796 negroes ; in 1840, 7,587
whites and 12,578 negroes ; in 1860, 6,373 whites and
15,738 negroes; in 1900, 7,050 whites and 22,375
negroes.
The causes of the rapid increase of negro slaves
and decrease of free white men were two: the en-
croach of the large slave-worked cotton plantation,
and the lure of cheap fertile western lands. South
Carolina has always been a prolific nest for peopling
the great West, and particularly the Southwest.
Complaints of the migration of thousands to Missis-
A STATE IN" THE FEDERAL UNION". 45
sippi and Alabama were loud in 1820. The stream
never ceased. In 1860, of the white persons in the
United States born in South Carolina, 276,868 (59
per cent.) were living in the state and 193,389 (41
per cent.) in other states. It is a fair presumption
that the vast stream of South Carolinians that flowed
to Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, etc.,
greatly promoted the spread of South Carolina ideas
of nullification of secession.
Slavery, 1790 to 1860.
The rapid increase of slaves from 1790 to 1820 is
evidence of large importations. The state had re-
opened the traffic with Africa in 1804; and in the
next three years and a little over, 39,075 slaves were
imported. The masters were, for some decades, a
small proportion of the white population. In the old
low country in 1790 the census list of heads of fam-
ilies shows almost every family to have been pos-
sessed of slaves, the largest number in one hand be-
ing about 500. In the up country in 1790 slaves were
rare, sometimes over a hundred families being passed
without a slave, though with the introduction of cot-
ton culture, which followed the invention of the gin
in 1793, almost the whole state was gradually
sprinkled with a planter class holding many slaves
and surrounded by numerous small owners in town
and country. In 1860 there were 26,701 slaveholders
in the state, representing doubtless about 130,000 peo-
ple, or 45 per cent, of the white population. In 1850
only 9,629 owners held ten or more slaves, out of a
white population of 274,563, and the proportion of
large owners was much greater than in other states.
Slaves had no standing in court, and no person of
color could testify in cases affecting a white person.
Special laws of greater severity than those for whites
governed the negro population, slave and free. For
46 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
instance, an attempt to rape a white woman was a
capital crime in a negro. Slaves were also protected
by certain special laws. The South Carolina slave
code was by no means inhumane, though it would be
absurd to deny that cruel masters did many brutal
things that went unpunished, just as cruel masters
still do in New York, Chicago and London.
Slaves and free negroes were tried by a court con-
sisting of a magistrate and two freeholders, or two
magistrates and three freeholders, who were practi-
cally governed by no rules, except that power over
life and limb was limited to specified serious crimes,
and from whom there was no appeal. The interests
of the master and the sense of class responsibility
secured substantial justice to the negro. The state
compensated the master for an executed slave.
In the earlier days, for peculiarly heinous crimes,
as murdering the master, slaves were burned alive
(North as well as South) ; but this was very rare in-
deed after the early years of the Nineteenth cen-
tury. I have met a case in 1820 and have heard of
one on dim recollection in about 1835.
On the other hand, in 1854, two young white men,
one of wealthy family, were hanged for the murder
of a runaway slave on whom they set their dogs,
every exertion of their attorneys proving unavailing.
The liberal sentiments inspired by the Eevolu-
tion led to numerous manumissions, and there ap-
peared a number of pronounced abolitionists. Henry
Laurens reluctantly found the emancipation of his
$100,000 worth of slaves too much opposed by his
environment; but the emancipation sentiment never
died in his family. One branch of the GrimkS family
went North and became extreme abolitionists. Many
lesser folk left the state, even far toward the mid-
century, on account of their detestation of slavery,
5,000 Quakers, it is stated, going in a short time.
A STATE IN THE FEDEBAL UNION. 47
Before the spread of cotton culture the up country
had little interest in slavery. Timothy Ford, stating
in 1794 the reasons the low country planter could not
consent to proportional representation for the up
country, says that we cannot submit slavery to the
control of these free labor strangers. "Our very
existence as a people depends upon the perpetual
observance of certain fundamental institutions, and
we cannot submit to any people on earth the power
of abrogating or altering them. * * * We must
cease to be altogether the instant we cease to be just
what we are." So early had slavery become the
master of the masters.
Before 1800 manumission was unrestricted, and
frequently heartless masters forced freedom upon
decrepit slaves to avoid supporting them in their de-
clining years. This led to the law of 1800, intended
to protect both the slave and the public, by requiring
the approval of a magistrate and five freeholders,
who should determine whether the slave was self-
supporting and would be a safe freeman. The sharp
check given to the increase of free negroes is proof
of the extent of the evil at which the law had been
aimed. The increase from 1790 to 1800 was 77 per
cent. ; from 1800 to 1810 only 43 per cent. But 43
per cent, is itself very large, and the fact that in the
next decade it rose to 50 per cent, shows that the
principle of emancipation was widely entertained. It
is also true that racial antagonism had almost en-
tirely disappeared and that the slaves were treated
with extraordinary leniency.
This period of liberalism was unhappily ended by
three events: that "firebell in the night," the Mis-
souri debates in 1819 and 1820 ; the abolitionist move-
ment taking shape in the early twenties ; and the hor-
rible Vezey plot in 1822.
48 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA.
Denmark Vezey, a freed negro of considerable in-
telligence, had organized a conspiracy extending its
connections as far north as Santee Eiver, officered
by a corps of lieutenants, and embracing, it was es-
timated, 5,000 slaves. He told the negroes, alluding
to the Missouri debate, that Congress had freed them
and that their masters now held them illegally in
servitude. Seizing the vast wealth around them,
murder, arson, rape, and escape to San Domingo,
constituted the motives by which Vezey fired the
imagination of his followers. As St. Michael's clock
tolled midnight on June 16, the massacre was to be-
gin. A faithful slave revealed the plot; the arrest
of apparently every leader followed. Their trials
were conducted with fairness and deliberation, each
negro having a lawyer appointed in his defence.
Thirty-five negroes were hanged; death was com-
muted to a lighter punishment in the case of twelve
others ; twenty- two were transported ; fifty- two were
acquitted.
As Vezey was a "free man of color," the alarm
of the community was much aroused against this
class, and a movement was begun for their expul-
sion. In alarm, as the preamble states, at the great
increase of f reedmen, a law had been passed, Dec. 20,
1820, forbidding emancipation except with the per-
mission of the legislature, and forbidding any free
negro to enter the state, unless he had previously
lived in it within the past two years. In 1823 even
these were forbidden to return.
In 1835, in reaction against the abolition move-
ment, it was enacted that a free negro who returned
after having been once expelled should be sold as a
slave, and severe penalties were denounced against
his white accomplices. All persons were forbidden
to bring into South Carolina any slave who had been
north of Washington city or to other free countries,
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 49
and the sheriff was ordered to imprison during the
stay of vessels in a South Carolina port any free
negro sailor, passenger or employee. This last clause
embroiled South Carolina, in 1844, in a hot dispute
with Massachusetts, whose commissioner, Judge
Hoar, was compelled by the citizens of Charleston
to leave the state, even before the law, which the
legislature had promptly passed making a mission
such as his a crime, could be enforced.
In 1841 persons were forbidden to emancipate their
slaves by will or deed or to send them to a free state
or foreign country, or even to provide for their vir-
tual freedom under ownership. Anger and fear
had completely destroyed the spirit existing before
1820.
Space forbids more than a passing reference to
that interesting and pathetic class, the ' ' F. M. C. ' ' —
free man of color. Of these there were in South
Carolina in 1790, 1,801; in 1820, 6,826; in 1840, 8,276;
in 1860, 9,914. In 1860, of the large number in
Charleston, 360 were assessed for taxation, their
property being placed at $724,570 — doubtless little
more than half its market value — and 130 of them
owned 390 slaves.
Manufactures.
As already indicated, the immense profits of rais-
ing cotton with slave labor spread that industry over
the state almost to the destruction and exclusion of
everything else. In 1814, 3,267,141 yards of cloth
were woven in the state, on 14,938 looms, all but 126,-
463 yards in the free labor up country. These goods
were valued at $1,678,223. In 1840 the value of the
state's manufactures of cloth reached only $362,450.
In 1860 the same items reached $792,950, still less
than half the figures for 1820.
The total value of manufactured products in South
Vol. 2— A
50 OHE HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Carolina in 1810 is given as $2,216,212; in 1820 as
$168,666*; in 1840, $5,638,823; in 1860, $8,619,195.
The variety of manufactures was always great,
though all but the textile industries were small : e. g.,
there was in 1840 a mill in Greenville producing an-
nually $20,000 worth of paper. The manufacture of
cotton cloth, however, has always been so much the
most important as to demand special notice.
Governor Glenn reports in 1748 or 1749 that a little
cloth was being woven in Williamsburg. As early as
1768 cotton cloth was manufactured and offered for
sale in the Darlington section. In 1777 one planter
had thirty negroes producing 120 yards of mixed
woolen and cotton cloth a week, spun and woven un-
der the instruction of a white man and woman. In
1790 the first "Arkwright mill in America" was
operating in South Carolina.
The first considerable attempt at production of
cloth for commerce was made in 1808 by the * ' South
Carolina Homespun Company" of Charleston, under
the presidency of Dr. J. L. E. W. Shecut. The orig-
inal capital of $30,000 was afterwards supplemented.
In 1812 plans which appear to have materialized
were on foot for a mill in Greenville county, to be
run by water and make 250 yards of cloth a day.
David R. Williams (governor, 1814-16) took advan-
tage of the high prices caused by the commercial re-
strictions during the period of the War of 1812 and
started a yarn and coarse cloth mill near Society
Hill, operated by his own slaves. It was still in ope-
ration in 1847.
Soon after these promising beginnings, however,
Calhoun, Cheves and other leaders threw their influ-
ence against manufacturing, and its development
*I am tempted to think that household manufactures must have been omitted in
1820 and included in other years. They are included in the figures I quote for 1814.
and evidently in those for 1810. In fact almost the entire cloth manufacture in
South Carolina was then in the household. Doubtless the larger part of the Euro-
pean manufacture was then done by Silas Marners at homa.
A STATE IN THE FEDEKAL .UNION. 51
was left largely to a number of New England settlers
who came, about 1816, to upper South Carolina and,
as Kohn so justly says, "laid the foundation for"
more than two million spindles that now "hum in the
Piedmont belt." These Yankee Hills and Weavers
started their enterprises about 1818, so nearly con-
temporaneously that priority is still in dispute.
After this the regular commercial manufacture, by
natives and New Englanders, never ceased. At one
time and another throughout the period several fac-
tories successfully worked slaves, under white over-
seers.
In 1847 William Gregg, one of the notable figures
in Southern industrial history, began operations at
Graniteville on the largest and best considered plans
up to that time attempted in the state. Gregg, a
Virginian, came to South Carolina on foot. He was
a skilled jeweler and watchmaker. Moving, with a
growing trade, from Columbia to Charleston, he be-
gan in about 1840 a vigorous campaign for the ex-
tensive building of mills. Governor Hammond
(governor 1842-4) estimated that in 1850 50,000 out
of the 275,000 white population were not able to pro-
cure a decent living. ' l Most of them, ' ' he says, l ' now
follow agricultural pursuits in feeble yet injurious
competition with slave labor." Gregg states that he
saw hundreds of white women in Charleston in
wretched poverty for lack of occupation, and that
thousands of South Carolinians never passed a
month, from birth to death, without being "stinted
for meat, ' * and he scoffed at the idea of needing more
negroes from Africa to supply labor. Gregg pro-
posed to abolish such conditions. His writings and
acts show him not only a captain of industry, but a
statesman.
In 1850 Gregg's factory, Graniteville, in Aiken
county, had a main building of granite 350 feet long
52 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
and was surrounded by a village of 1,000 inhabitants,
provided with "ornamental cottages" with gardens,
a school, a library, and a savings bank. No liquor
selling was allowed. The products of the mill took
the premium at an exposition in Philadelphia.
In 1847 there were ten cotton mills in operation in
South Carolina, and "an extensive establishment" in
erection. In 1860 there were seventeen, with a cap-
ital of $801,825.
Constitutional and Political Development.
The constitution under which South Carolina con-
tinued until 1865 was adopted by convention in 1790,
and, by the practice then all but universal, put in
force without popular vote. The government was
one of great centralization, and the legislature was
well nigh supreme. Constitutional limitations upon
its authority were scanty ; for years it elected every
official, from governor and presidential electors
down. In addition to being elected by the legislature,
the governor was also without veto power; so that
though many governors exercised much influence, it
was by reason of their personal strength. In gen-
eral, the governorship was a much less important of-
fice than now. For governor and legislators a mod-
erately high property qualification was required,
ten slaves being included for representatives, thus
effectually securing a certain species of property
and civilization.
Eepresentation was apportioned without system,
and the one-fifth of the white people residing in the
old low country had a majority in each house. The
struggle for representation by white population, lost
in the convention of 1790, was renewed out of doors,
with Wade Hampton, Robert G. Harper, John Ker-
shaw, and, possibly most valuable of all, Joseph Als-
ton of Georgetown, as leaders. The fight was not
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION". 53
won till 1808, and then by compromise. From that
time till after the war representation was appor-
tioned in the lower house according to wealth and
white population equally, each district having one
representative for each one sixty-second part of the
wealth or white population of the state. The sena-
tors were redistributed with more equity than be-
fore. This left the Senate in control of the low
country and the House in control of the up country,
so that the wealthy planter could not force injurious
measures upon the up country farmer, nor the num-
erous and impecunious up countryman endanger the
vested interest of the wealthy coast region. This was
not without its value, when, on one occasion in the
era of subsidizing railroads, a representative from
Charleston rebuked one from Spartanburg for pro-
posing to spend the state's money to build a line
through his county, whose taxes actually had to be
supplemented by the state treasury in order to pay
the expense of administering the courts. This ar-
rangement later became Calhoun's ideal of a gov-
ernment by interests, to which he wished to assim-
ilate the northern and southern representation in the
two houses of Congress, leaving the control of one
in the hands of each section.
One of the earliest results of the reform of repre-
sentation was that for the first time the legislature
began to elect governors from above the old low
country line. The sectional division was also recog-
nized in allowing the governor to reside where he
pleased, except during legislative sessions, in requir-
ing the supreme court to meet both in Charleston
and Columbia, in providing one treasurer for the
up country and one for the low country, and in re-
quiring the secretary of state and several other offi-
cials to keep offices both in Charleston and Columbia.
In 1810 every white man was made a voter; but
54 [THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
land owners continued to enjoy the privilege of vot-
ing for representatives in any one county in which
they held property, and for county officers in all.
This amendment to the constitution was framed by
John S. Eichardson.
Vermont, in 1786, is the only state that antedated
South Carolina in manhood suffrage.
Before many decades a number of the county
(called "district" from 1798 to 1868) and other offi-
cials were made elective by the people. Twice at
least, about 1838 and 1847-56, there arose restiveness
against the absorption of authority by the legisla-
ture at the expense of the people. In 1838 it was an
attempt to have the governor, and in 1847-56 to
have the presidential electors, chosen by the people ;
but in both cases Calhoun used his influence to crush
the movement, for the reason that it would reveal
the weakness of divided parties and lessen the state's
influence in Congress.
South Carolina before 1860 never merged herself
in any party, though, except in 1832 and 1836, she
always voted with the Democrats, beginning with
1800. But she never sent a delegation to any na-
tional party convention until that in Charleston in
1860, and then not without hesitation. "William C.
Preston and Waddy Thompson, restive at Calhoun 's
dictatorship, attempted in the later thirties, to or-
ganize a Whig party ; but the movement was almost
negligible and was fiercely crushed. In 1844 the
Whigs cast only about 6,000 out of about 58,000
votes. Nevertheless a small number with broad con-
struction views continued to vote Whig to the last.
An interesting phase of constitutional history oc-
curred in connection with the development of the
power of courts to decide unconstitutional acts of the
legislature. A decision of this kind in South Caro-
lina in 1792 was the sixth or seventh in the United
A STATE IN THE FEDEEAL UNION. 55
States. In 1798 Gov. Charles Pinckney protested vig-
orously, and sought to have this new power abolished.
Internal Improvements.
The transportation problem in South Carolina was
to get the cotton crop to market. The system of poor
roads maintained by local authorities proved utterly
inadequate and lead to an ambitious scheme of pub-
lic works at state expense. This was supplemented
by private canals and toll roads. The introduction
of railways marked another era.
The earliest and most notable of the canal enter-
prises was the Santee Canal. This was one of the
first canals of its length in the United States. It was
one expression of the energetic efforts to develop
transportation which led to the internal improve-
ment policy of Grallatin and Clay, the Erie Canal,
and, eventually, the vast railway system of to-day.
The Santee Canal Company was chartered in
1786 and begun construction in 1793. The canal
was open in July, 1800. The stock was divided
into 720 shares, at $1,000 each, assessed as need
arose. Most of this was consumed in the construc-
tion, which cost $650,667.* The engineer was Col.
John Christian Senf, a Hessian, who was captured
with Burgoyne, embraced the American cause and
was sent to South Carolina.! He was a skilful en-
gineer, but a very jealous man, and deliberately chose
an expensive and difficult route rather than the one
dictated by the topography and water courses that
had previously been suggested by Mouzon. The
canal is now in ruins, though some of the locks, built
of brick and originally capped with marble, are
standing. As though it were yet a reality, it still ap-
pears on the map, where it can be seen much more
plainly than upon its crumbled banks. The canal
* This figure is from Porcher. Phillips says about 1750,000.
tThis statement, contrary to the traditional statement, is derived from a high
class contemporary MS. recently discovered by the writer.
56 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
left Santee River about seven miles east of Eutaw
Springs and ran, as though in la belle France itself,
through old St. Stephens and St. John's Berkeley
among the homesteads of Mazycks, Porchers, Du
Boses, Eavenals, Gourdins, Gaillards, Bonneaus,
Pontoux and Mottes, south-southeast to the northern
branch of Cooper Eiver, just east of Monk's Corner.
The rapids on the Congaree Broad, Saluda and Wa-
teree rivers were circumvented by canals, and thus
more than half the counties of the state were en-
abled to send their produce to Charleston by inland
water transportation. Soon freight began to arrive
in the narrow, shallow boats from within thirty-five
miles of the Blue Eidge.
The canal was twenty-two miles long, twenty feet
wide at the bottom and thirty-five at the surface of
the water, which stood four feet deep. The highest
level was thirty-four feet above Santee Eiver and
sixty-nine feet above the Cooper. The locks were
60 by 10 feet, and admitted boats of twenty-two tons
burden. All the rough work was done by slave labor.
The skilled hired white mechanics died off pitifully
among the swamps and canal traverses. For a
mile and a half, in fact, it was a wooden trough
carried above the ground.
The canal was a disastrous venture for its stock-
holders, as its annual profits at the highest, were
hardly 3 per cent. A toll of $21 per boat was
charged each way. The greatest amount of business
appears to have been in about 1830, when the tolls
reached $20,000. The value of the canal to Charles-
ton is indicated by the fact that for the year ending
Sept. 30, 1827, it brought all but 59,000 of the 200,000
320-pound bales of cotton that entered the city.
Three years of drought, 1817-19, so severe as to
deprive the upper levels of the canal, in its badly
chosen situation, of water, led the legislature to
A STATE IN THE FEDEKAL UNION". §7
build turnpikes from the coast to the up country.
Steam engines were used to pump water into the
canal. But its doom was sealed by a more formid-
able enemy than turnpikes and droughts. In 1842 a
branch of the railroad from Charleston to Hamburg,
opposite Augusta, was completed to Columbia. In
1848 another branch reached Camden. The canal, in
rapid decline since 1848, was abandoned in 1858.
The passion for "internal improvements*' took
possession of South Carolina in 1817. In 1818 the
legislature appropriated one million dollars to be
expended during four years for road and canal
building and river clearing. In the ten years 1816-25
the state government expended for these ends $1,-
712,662, and for several years after about $100,000
annually; but the fever subsided for a time after
1828, to be renewed later in favor of railroads. The
old " State road" from Charleston through Holly
Hill and St. Matthews to Columbia and an extension
through Newberry and Greenville to Saluda Gap on
the North Carolina line were built during this period.
But the turnpike and toll system was a failure, as the
people did not consider the advantages worth the
cost in tolls. The turnpikes were allowed to fall into
absolute neglect.
The turnpikes, says Phillips, to whose account I
am chiefly indebted, had been during this period
the main reliance of Charleston in the plucky fight
she waged for a century to draw export trade to her
port. The invention of railroads caused the abandon-
ment of the unsatisfactory and languishing system.
The Charleston of 1825-40 was one of the most alert
and progressive business communities in America.
She was the mainspring in half of the larger rail-
road enterprises in ante-bellum South Carolina, and
one of the heaviest financial burdens upon her city
government to-day is paying the interest on the sub-
58 THE HISTOBY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
sidles she advanced in these enterprises. The old
city looked to the upland cotton belt and continually
beyond as far as the Mississippi Eiver for the sub-
stance of a vast commerce to pass over her railways
and through her harbor to the outside world. It is
a story full of high endeavor and heroic effort; but
ports further to the west and north, favored by ac-
cessibility to the fields and mines, have passed her
in the race. In 1774, even with the great stagnation
in trade produced by non-importation, etc., South
Carolina's exports and imports equalled $3,624,035;
in 1821, $10,207,624; in 1856 for Charleston, $19,228,-
803; in 1890, $14,353,395 ; in 1908, $5,886,962.
The first railroad in South Carolina was chartered
in 1827, construction was begun in 1831, and the road
was finished in 1833. This road, 136 miles long, was
the Charleston & Hamburg, with termini at Charles-
ton and Hamburg. By 1853 thirteen different roads,
aggregating 1,044 miles in length (not including
side tracks) , had been chartered, and all of them had
been completed by 1860. Of the total mileage, how-
ever, seventy-seven miles were in North Carolina and
twelve miles in Georgia. There were thus 955 miles
of railway, not including sidings, in South Carolina
in 1861; on June 30, 1907, there were 3,208.
The ante-bellum railroads were extremely frail.
In 1840 they were commonly built with ties from
three to five feet apart, traversed by a longitudinal
beam along which, for rail, was nailed an iron strap
one inch thick and two and a half inches wide, or
smaller, which sometimes turned up at the end and
skewered the coach or any unhappy passenger in
the path. In South Carolina the gauge at first was
five feet.
When the Charleston and Hamburg Eailroad com-
pleted its 136 miles of track in 1833, it was the long-
est railroad in the world. Much executive ability
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 59
was displayed in mastering the new problems in
its construction and operation.
December, 1859, the state government owned
$2,652,300 of railroad stock, besides having guaran-
teed four and a quarter million dollars' worth of
bonds, much of which it had to pay.
Banking.
South Carolina's banking history is very honor-
able. Before 1860 persons from neighboring states
going to a distance would provide themselves with
South Carolina bank notes, as these were as good
as gold everywhere, even circulating, says Williams,
in England and Europe. Every South Carolina
bank was specie paying. Previous to the war of se-
cession there was not a bank failure. There were a
few banks of very large capital, which extended their
operations to distant sections of the state. It was a
day of a few great emporiums ; the bank and cotton
market at every respectable village are very modern.
The oldest was the Bank of South Carolina, char-
tered in 1792, with $1,000,000 capital.
In 1812 the legislature chartered the State Bank,
in which the state was the sole stockholder. It en-
joyed one of the most notable careers in American
banking history, earning high dividends with a cash
capital rising finally to about $1,200,000, and a cir-
culation of about $1,500,000. It was closed by the
"carpet baggers" in 1870. Says Horace White:
"Its history is exceptional in the fact that for nearly
sixty consecutive years it was conducted with pru-
dence, honesty and pecuniary profit without the spur
of private interest. It must have been in the charge
of good bankers all the time."
The capital, surplus and circulation of the twenty
banks in South Carolina in 1861 equalled $21,041,522,
or $28.48 per capita, being almost twice as much in
60 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
absolute quantity and more than three times as much
per capita as in September, 1903. The deposits,
however, were small as compared with to-day, being
$3,334,037 ; the loans and discounts were $22,230,759,
and the specie $1,628,336.
Education.
The outburst of energy and enthusiasm upon the
establishment of a stable government in 1789 showed
itself also in education. The College of Charleston,
only a high school until about 1825, was chartered
in 1785, with an endowment of $60,000 subscribed by
its friends. By 1800 sixteen or more high schools
were chartered, in some instances with fair endow-
ments. In 1801 the legislature founded the South
Carolina College, in order to place higher education
near her people and to diminish the sectional an-
tagonism, then so fierce, by enabling young men of
both sections of the state to learn each other. The
classical "Willington" of Dr. Moses Waddell,
founded in 1804, was one of the notable preparatory
schools in the country. There John C. Calhoun rose
at dawn to study under the forest trees, as was the
custom, and thence went well prepared into the
junior class at Yale.
In 1811 a "free school" system open to all was
organized, and $37,000 was voted by the state for
operation. Eventually the plan was adopted of the
state's paying the tuition of poor children at any
private or local school. Not being very desirous of
education and resenting being distinguished as char-
ity patrons, the poor, to a great extent, kept their
children at home. The wealthy resorted largely to
private tutors. For the twenty-seven years, 1812-38,
the state appropriation averaged $35,000. After
1852 the state annually appropriated $74,000. The
total expenditure for schools and colleges in the
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 61
state in 1860 was $690,412, mainly from tuition fees.
Endowments equalled $1,910,788. The expenditures
per capita of white population in South Carolina
equalled $2.36; in Massachusetts, $1.82; the adult
white illiteracy in South Carolina, 5.07 per cent. ; in
Massachusetts, 3.79 per cent. In 1860 there existed
in South Carolina eleven colleges for men, five col-
leges for young women and a number of high-grade
preparatory schools. Barhamville, for women, dated
back to about 1830. Of the sixteen colleges, two
were under the control of the state, three of private
parties, ten of religious denominations and one of
the city of Charleston. Three were schools of the-
ology and one a school of medicine.
In standards of scholarship, the ante-bellum col-
leges were much more nearly abreast of their north-
ern contemporaries than is now the case. Indeed,
in the classics the standards have not yet recovered
the position lost as the consequence of the events of
1861-76. The same may be unhappily said regard-
ing student standards of personal honor. A sincere
friend of democracy must admit that this is due, in
part, to the introduction into college halls of thou-
sands who would have never dreamed of such oppor-
tunity in the olden time. It is one of the unpleasant
incidents of democracy in the making which serves
to show how badly democracy had been needed.
The Work of South Carolina's Ante-Bellum Statesmen, at
Home and Abroad.
South Carolina statesmen distinguished them-
selves in diplomacy in the early years of the consti-
tution. Later their attention was mainly absorbed
by domestic politics.
In 1795 Thomas Pinckney, minister to England,
1792-4, and to Spain, 1794-6, negotiated with the lat-
ter the most brilliant treaty the country had gained
62 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
since the signing of the peace. In 1797 Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney, his brother, taught France to
respect our country by his defiance of the demands
of the corrupt Directory in his answer, "No; no;
not a sixpence I" popularized into "Millions for
defense, but not one cent for tribute." Waddy
Thompson served with distinction as minister to
Mexico from 1842 to 1844. Calhoun, as secretary of
state in 1844-5, conducted the delicate negotiations
with Mexico and England with a skill that promoted
the advantageous outcome of both disputes, though
he bitterly opposed forcing war upon Mexico. Charles
Pinckney, though bold to the point of indiscretion in
Spain, 1801-5, was proved by events to have been
wiser than his government, which would have saved
us unmeasured humiliation and loss if it had sus-
tained his positive policy. Henry Middleton was
minister to Eussia from 1820 to 1830, and-F. W.
Pickens from 1858 to 1860.
The influence of South Carolina statesmen in na-
tional councils from about 1832 to 1860 was doubt-
less greater in proportion to their constituency than
that of the representatives of any other state. This
disproportionate influence of so small a state is ac-
counted for by a number of reasons. Several of her
representatives happened to be men of unusual
talent ; her people sacrificed everything in state pol-
itics to presenting a united front in Washington;
her system and ideals were such as to bring the
ablest men into public life, and the South Carolinians
had supreme faith in themselves and their state and
a reckless courage. They were in deadly earnest;
for they verily believed that to lose in their fight for
state sovereignty, the only shield of slavery, would
be to reduce their homes to a howling wilderness of
African savagery. Therefore they dared and fought
as men fighting for their lives and the honor of their
CHARLES COTESVVORTH PINCKiXEY.
A STATE IN THE FEDEEAL UNION. 63
wives and daughters. Thus, being ready at all times
to go to any extreme, they were able for several de-
cades to force submission upon the North, not wil-
ling to risk the huge stakes of secession and war in
the contest. It was a bold game in which success
meant the misfortune of their own state, most South
Carolinians of to-day would doubtless admit, and in
which failure meant ruin to the ante-bellum Southern
system ; but it was a game played by the ruling class
with skill and daring.
The task of South Carolina statesmen after the
abolitionist and protectionist movements took shape
was thus concerned with domestic politics. This de-
manded the control of Congress. Accordingly, we
find that from the 21st to the 36th Congress (1829-
1861), nine of the sixteen were presided over by
Southern men, generally of the most decided type.
In the Senate, of twenty-six presidents pro tempore
elected during the period, only six were Northern,
and of these two were from Maryland. Of the nine
presidents, four were Southern, and of the other
five three were effective tools in the hands of the
Southern party. Though foreign affairs were sec-
ondary, Southern men held from 1830 to 1860 29y2
per cent, of the appointments to the five leading
European courts.
Until about 1830 Virginia had been the representa-
tive Southern state. After issues became more
desperate and parties more violent, Virginia was
found too moderate for the lower, cotton-raising
South, and leadership passed gradually to South
Carolina tinder the powerful influence of Calhoun,
seconded by Hayne, McDuffie and other brilliant
lieutenants.
Intellectually, Calhoun was decidedly in advance
of his following. He comprehended the situation
more fully, saw further into the future, and exercised
64 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
a more statesmanlike union of boldness and self-
restraint than he was able at all times to impose
upon them.
But it was not until the crisis of 1848, incident to
disposing of the territory acquired from Mexico, that
Calhoun succeeded in his long labor of forming a
united Southern party, in disregard of all old party
lines. At his death in 1850 he left to his successor,
Jefferson Davis, a firmly united Southern party,
well indoctrinated with the principles and prepared
to go any length in carrying out the theories of their
departed master.
Calhoun died a broken-hearted man. His life is
the tragedy of a mighty mind and noble character,
constrained by the circumstances of his residence
and his time into the service of a cause against which
civilization and the forces of history set with resist-
less power. He sincerely believed that the abolition
of slavery would mean to Africanize his native land,
and that state sovereignty was the sole bulwark
against this hideous ruin. So believing, he would
have been a craven and a traitor to have done other-
wise than as he did. He never sought disunion, but
was driven to advocate it only in case it should be
impossible, by any other means, to save the South.
His recommending that there be two Presidents, a
Southern to veto measures endangering the South,
and a Northern to veto measures against the North,
is alone, as Van Hoist points out, proof of his love
for the Union; for nothing but deep affection could
so blind such an intellect to the impracticability of
such a scheme.
Federal and Interstate Relations.
"With the exception of the dispute with Massachu-
setts culminating in 1844, already alluded to, and of
negotiations looking towards cooperation for seces-
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 65
6ion, to be described later, the political relations of
South Carolina with other states were of little inter-
est. Boundary disputes with Georgia and North
Carolina dragged through many years, and the ques-
tion as to whether Andrew Jackson was born to the
east or the west of that portion of the North Caro-
lino-South Carolina line near Charlotte, running
north and south, still excites debate. The sudden
northward elevation of the western half of South
Carolina's northern line is accounted for by the fact
that in colonial times the surveyors, after running
northwest from the coast, started due west too far
south. At a later date their error was compensated
by running the western half of the line an equivalent
distance north. The saddle-like hump near Char-
lotte was occasioned by running around the old
Catawba Indian reservation, a square whose north-
ern corner is seen pointing to the northward near
the 81st degree of longitude.
The Federal relations of South Carolina from
1798 to 1860 are of the utmost importance. Hamil-
ton's funding measures assumed a greater Eevolu-
tionary debt for South Carolina than for any other
state — $3,999,651 — Massachusetts being a close sec-
ond and Virginia, the third, falling more than a mil-
lion below this figure. South Carolina was at this
time, due to the preponderance of power enjoyed by
the low country, staunchly Federalist. A Charleston
pamphleteer in 1794 says that the dissatisfaction of
the up-country with the South Carolina constitution
is as unreasonable as it would be for one state to
propose to withdraw from the Union, because it
thought the national constitution deprived it of too
much of its power. But the keynote of the doctrine
which South Carolina never surrendered, deeper
than this temporary nationalism, is struck by this
same writer when he bases the extraordinary privi-
Vol. 2—5.
66 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
leges of the low country against which the up country
was protesting upon the principle that the majority
.have no right to infringe the social compact.
There was an abundance of national patriotism
in South Carolina until it became apparent that the
new protectionist policy was working her injury.
Calhoun voted for the tariff of 1816 and favored the
liberal exercise of implied powers. But before long-
he entirely changed. We may place his conversion
to strict construction doctrines at about 1819. Cal-
houn did not, however, originate the strict construc-
tion party in South Carolina. Judge William Smith^
of York county, while in the United States Senate
in 1817 opposed the bonus bill Calhoun originated in
the house. Defeated at the end of his first term in
1823, Smith returned to South Carolina and, with
the aid of President Thomas Cooper, of the South
Carolina College, educated the state in the school of
strict construction, thus earning the title of "the
father of nullification." In 1825 he succeeded in
formally committing the legislature to his views and
was endorsed by a second election to the United
States Senate. But the movement he had organized
outstripped him ; in 1830 he was defeated because he
opposed nullification. The leadership had passed to
Calhoun, who in his "South Carolina Exposition,"
written in 1828 for a legislative committee as their
report, had expounded nullification of the 1798 Ken-
tucky kind.
The hardship with which the tariff upon manufac-
tures bore upon the Southern planter is indicated
by the exports. In 1835 the exports from New York,
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania equalled $54,127,-
000; those from Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama and Louisiana, $70,176,000. South Caro-
lina was exceeded only by Louisiana, the highest, and
New York, the next highest.
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 67
The tariff of 1828 prepared South Carolina for
action ; that of 1832 precipitated the crisis. Calhoun
advised that a convention should be called and the
tariff nullified. The advice of the leader who was
now implicitly trusted was immediately followed by
governor and legislature. After an election of un-
precedented excitement and bitterness, the conven-
tion met, Nov. 19-24, 1832. The "Unionist" vote for
the legislature in 1832 was about 17,000; the nulli-
fiers, 23,000 ; but as the former carried few districts
their representatives were a small minority. The
same was true of the convention, elected a few weeks
later. "Of the 162 delegates actually in attend-
ance," says Houston, "136 were nullifiers." Th(
Unionist strength lay mainly in the extreme north-
western section of the state. In the village of Spar
tanburg a small party burned Calhoun in effigy
But the most influential Unionist leaders, Willian
Dray ton, James Pettigru, B. F. Perry, J. B. 0 'Neal (
Daniel E. Huger and J. S. Eichardson, were all,!
except Perry, from the middle and lower country,'
and so generally failed of obtaining seats. The bulk
of the political leadership was with the milliners,
represented by Calhoun, James Hamilton, E. Y.
Hayne, S. D. Miller, William Harper, George Mc-
Duffie, F. H. Elmore, William C. Preston, E. W.
Barnwell and Eobert J. Turnbull.
It must not be supposed that the "Unionists," or
anti-nullifiers, were any more in favor of a pro-
tective tariff than their opponents. Their antagon-
ism arose entirely over the method of resistance.
The theory of nullification is that the constitution
is merely an elaborate treaty between sovereign
nations, the states, and that there can be no com-
mon superior to judge and compel these sovereigns.
The United States government is simply the agent
of the associated sovereigns, and though competent to
68 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
decide all suits of law and equity, cannot, in the
nature of the relations existing, judge its creators
and masters in their sovereign capacity. The con-
stitutionality of a tariff designedly for protection
(an object not mentioned by the constitution in the
enumerated powers), would be a point in a case of
law between individuals, and thus subject, so far
as that case went, to the jurisdiction of the court.
It was an entirely different matter, however, for
a sovereign nation (or state) to declare a certain
act of the agent, Congress, acting under the treaty
of union, the constitution, to be beyond the powers
granted by that sovereign, and so null and void
within her bounds. Accordingly, by the ordinance
of nullification, all officers were forbidden, after Feb.
1, 1833, to enforce, and all citizens to obey, within
South Carolina, the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832.
Jurors were required to take an oath practically to
decide in favor of the state in its interpretation
of the constitution, and so was every civil and mili-
tary official. This " iron-clad" or "test" oath, by
which 23,000 citizens sought to compel 17,000 to
swear away their own convictions, further embit-
tered the already bitter struggle. Both sides armed
for civil war, and whatever the constitutionality of
nullification, its impracticability as an instrument
of constitutional government was demonstrated on
its first trial.
The so-called "compromise tariff," under the
leadership of Clay, is familiar history. The duties
above 20 per cent, were gradually reduced during
the next ten years to that level. An informal meet-
ing of prominent citizens, while the debate was in
progress, with great common sense, but absolutely
no warrant under any theory of the constitution,
declared the ordinance of nullification suspended.
The convention reassembled, March 11, 1833, and
A STATE IN THE FEDEKAL UNION. 69
on the 15th rescinded the ordinance. On the 18th
the "force bill" was nullified, and the convention
adjourned.
In one sense the tariff of 1833 was a compromise ;
but in another it was a capitulation of the United
States government. The essential issue was not
a high or a low schedule of duties, but whether the
general government could interpret its constitution
and enforce its own laws. Congress, by passing a
bad and unjust tariff, in the interest of special
classes in certain localities, had deprived itself of
moral strength, and so could not do justice without
the appearance of cringing.
Hugh S. Legare writes that the acceptance of they
compromise by South Carolina was largely due t(
the strong Unionist party at home, from whoi
trouble might as surely have been expected in
extremity as from the military power of the :
tional government.
An instructive side light on the nullification move-
ment is the case of McCready against Hunt. Mc-
Cready (the father of the historian McCrady) was
elected a militia officer in Charleston. He applied
to Colonel Hunt for his commission. Colonel Hunt
required the "test" oath, in addition to the pre-
vious oath prescribed by the state constitution. The
case reached the highest court of the state, the Court
of Appeals, which, by a vote of two to one, sustained
McCready and declared the oath unconstitutional.
The legislature punished this attempt of a creature
to nullify an act of the sovereign by abolishing the
court with such a severity of resentment that from
this date, 1835, it did not reestablish a separate
supreme court until 1859, but depended upon the
circuit judges sitting en bane. But it was a matter
of principle, not of personality. The three appeal
judges were given seats in the chancery or law
70 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
courts by the same act that destroyed their former
offices. The public men of South Carolina in the
olden days were sometimes violent, but they were
highminded.
The antagonisms engendered in 1832-3 long
rankled in the politics of the state. J. H. Ham-
mond, governor from 1842 to 1844, writes Calhoun
in 1840: "The Union and nullification parties bear
relations to each other that have not existed be-
tween any two parties in our country since the
Eevolution. They have stood opposed in arms, and
prepared to shed each others blood, the one for, the
other against, their native state, in a struggle for
all she held dear, nay, for her very existence. The
Union men carried the matter to the very last and
blackest die of treason. They invited a foreign
enemy to our shore and received arms and com-
missions at their hands. These things can never
be forgotten. The mass of these two parties can
never exist together except as the conquered and
the conquerors." But nevertheless in the contest
that was the subject of the letter, J. P. Richardson
defeated Hammond for governor, the legislature
thus in 1840 for the first time since 1832 giving a
high office to a member of the Unionist party.
Dissatisfaction grew after the tariff of 1842 and
the progress of abolitionism. There was talk of
nullification in 1842. But even Hammond admitted
that this dangerous weapon would lead to "unjust
and unconstitutional rebellion everywhere." Cal-
houn was deeply moved, but did not see fit to repeat
the program of 1832. A more extreme and more
logical remedy was growing in favor — secession. As
early as July 31, 1844, at a dinner at Bluffton, R. B.
Rhett launched a movement for independent seces-
sion of South Carolina. But separate state action
never commanded a majority, and the "Bluffton
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 71
movement, ' ' says Prof. J. F. Jameson, was ' ' headed
off by a subsequent meeting at Charleston, August
19." Calhoun wrote (October 7) that public senti-
ment, after being considerably excited had settled
down against it; but that if Clay should be elected
or Polk fail to fulfill expectations, the feelings of
South Carolina "will burst forth into action."
Calhoun foresaw that the Mexican war would
raise questions whose solution would endanger the
very existence of the Union, and consequently advo-
cated stopping with the peaceful acquisition ' of
Texas. Not until after the Wilmot Proviso (1846)
was he able to rally around him a united Southern
party. He announced to his followers the policy of im-
mediate secession if the slaveholder was not allowed
an equal chance in occupying with his laborers the
Mexican cession. The compromise measures of 1850
barely succeeded in postponing the crisis for ten
years. But the events of 1846-50 had brought the
leaders to look on secession no longer as a dreadful
alternative to which South Carolina feared she
would be driven, but as the means by which she
should, as soon as practicable, be freed from a union
no longer of affection. The only question remaining
was of acting separately or in concert with other
Southern states. In 1850 the South Carolina legis-
lature passed a law providing for a general election
of delegates to a convention of the Southern states
to arrest Northern aggression or concert united se-
cession and for a state convention to effect the se-
cession of the state. Measures for military defense
were enacted. In May, 1851, a convention in Charles-
ton of the South Carolina Southern Bights Associa-
tion favored separate state action if others would
not cooperate. Twenty-seven of thirty newspapers*
favored secession; the governor sought to arrange
*Another statement says thirty out of thirty-two.
72 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA.
for joint action with Mississippi. Secession within
a few months was confidently expected; but in the
test election in October, 1851, the party of immediate,
separate action was decisively defeated. The same
result had occurred the previous year in Mississippi ;
Georgia condemned the movement and Virginia
strongly dissented.
But excitment was not allowed to sleep. Soon fol-
lowed the fateful drama of Kansas, in the debates
upon which the bitterness of feeling was faithfully
symbolized in the beating given by Representative
Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, to Senator
Sumner, of Massachusetts. Brooks resigned and
was practically unanimously reflected.
The dilemma forced by Lincoln upon Douglas gave
the cue for the dilemma which, in the convention
of 1860, the men of the lower South forced upon the
Democratic party. They required that the platform
should commit the party to the use of the power
of the Federal government to secure to the slave-
holder the rights which the Dred Scott decision had
declared him to possess, namely, of taking his slaves
into every territory as freely and safely as the non-
slaveholder did his horse. The convention feared
to lose its Northern support and declined to go so
far. The delegates from South Carolina, among
others, revolted. Eepublican success followed, on
a platform promising to forbid what the lower South
made its condition for remaining in the Union.
The legislature of South Carolina, after choosing
presidential electors instructed to vote for Breckin-
ridge and Lane, remained in session, awaiting the
result throughout the country. On learning of the
election of Lincoln, they ordered an election for a
convention to meet December 17. Probably in no
political action have a people ever been more nearly
unanimous than the people of South Carolina in
A STATE IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 73
electing secession delegates to this convention. The
wealthy planter considered that his property was
endangered ; the poor man believed that the success
of the Republican party looked towards the destruc-
tion of the independence and racial purity of the
white population, and both felt with the intensest
conviction that the North was guilty of a long series
of violations of the Federal compact for her own
sectional advantage, and that she intended to use
her growing power to subvert the constitution as
far as her interests might dictate, with absolute dis-
regard of the rights and interests of the South there-
in solemnly guaranteed.
The convention met on Dec. 17, 1860, in the First
Baptist church in Columbia, the state house being
uncompleted. An epidemic of smallpox drove them
to Charleston, where the sessions were continued in
St. Andrew's Hall. This convention and that of
1832 were the two ablest assemblies that have ever
represented South Carolina. Recognizing the grav-
ity of the crisis, the electors had chosen the best
that the state afforded in experience, wisdom and
patriotism. The membership included five ex-gover-
nors, a number of judges and chancellors, presidents
of banks and railroads, and distinguished educators
and ministers. Observers, says Rhodes, were struck
with the large number of gray-haired men; and we
may feel assured that, whatever the ultimate ver-
dict of history may be as to the wisdom of the con-
vention's action, there will be no question as to its
sincere conviction of the righteousness and constitu-
tional justification of its course.
On the 20th the brief ordinance declaring the
union between South Carolina and the other states
dissolved was reported by the aged Chancellor Ing-
lis. Immediately there burst forth and continued
for days the greatest demonstration of enthusiasm
74 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
that South Carolina has ever known. At the sound
of the chiming bells, James L. Petigru enquired,
"Where's the fire?" When informed that there
was no fire, but that South Carolina was now an
independent nation, he replied, "I tell you there is
a fire! They have this day set a blazing torch to
the temple of constitutional liberty, and, please God,
we shall have no more peace forever." Benjamin
F. Perry in Greenville and a few others entertained
similar views, but they were few, very few.
At 6 :30 in the evening in Institute Hall, the very
hall from which in the spring the South Carolina
delegates had seceded from the Democratic conven-
tion, a vast audience witnessed the signing of the
ordinance with impressive ceremony.
On December 24 the convention adopted an ad-
dress to the people of the slaveholding states and
a declaration of the causes of South Carolina's se-
cession. These were stated to be, that thirteen Nor-
thern states had, in violation of the constitution,
sought by "personal liberty laws" to deprive the
South of the benefits of the fugitive slave law, a vital
item in the measures which, in 1850, had led South
Carolina to consent to remain in the Union; that
the anti-slavery agitation rendered property in
slaves insecure contrary to the entire spirit of the
constitution; that a party with purposes hostile to
slavery had elected their president; and that the
South was oppressed by the protective tariff policy
of the North.f
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Elliot's Debates; Houston: Nullification; Ingle:
Southern Side Lights (Appendix); Kohn: South Carolina Cotton Mills;
Mill: Statistics of South Carolina; Meri weather: History of Higher Educa-
*This anecdote is on the authority of the late Prof. Joseph Daniel Pope, who
was the person addressed by Petigru.
•fThis fast item was carriea by R. B. Rhett, against some opposition; for since 1846
the tariff had been on a revenue basis. Both Senators and all the Representatives
of South Carolina voted for the tariff of 1857; the Confederate Congress reenacted
the act, and South Carolina made no protest. Rhett urged, with other reasons, that
this clause would tend to secure the sympathy of England, France, and Germany.
Rhett had been one of the fiercest anti-tariff men since the nullification period.
IN THE CONFEDERACY, 1860-1865. 75
tion in South Carolina; Phillips: Transportation in the Eastern Cotton
Belt; Rhodes: United States Since 1860; Schaper: Sectionalism and Repre-
sentation in South Carolina; Von Hoist: Constitutional History of the
United States; Watson : Handbook of South Carolina; Williams : History of
Banking in South Carolina, 1712-1900 (Pamphlet); News and Courier
(Centennial number, April 20, 1904); United States Censuses; South
Carolina (published by State Board of Agriculture, 1883); American
Historical Association Reports (1899, Vol. II., Calhoun's Private Corre-
spondence).
DAVID DUNCAN WALLACE,
Professor of History and Economics, Wofford College.
CHAPTER HE.
SOUTH CAEOLINA IN THE CONFEDEEACY,
1860-1865.
The Secession Movement.
Although South Carolina was the first of the states
to carry the principle of secession to the point of
war, she was not the first to suggest a resort to dis-
union as a means of self-defense. As long ago as
1796 a governor of Connecticut proposed that the
Northern states should protect themselves by with-
drawing from the Union, if Jefferson were elected
President. When Lincoln was elected President,
South Carolina, to protect herself, actually withdrew.
So unstable at that time was the notion of an in-
dissoluble union that, upon the very eve of war,
some of the leading men of New York urged that
the port should declare itself a "free" city. The
chief difference seems to be that South Carolina was
prepared, though reluctantly and as a desperate re-
sort, to put to the test of war the principle of state
sovereignty, which had been publicly accepted and
76 THE HISTOBY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
defended by enlightened thinkers in every state since
the formation of the Union.
The idea of secession, so far as it relates to South
Carolina, may be traced to the first agitation against
protective tariffs, especially the tariff of 1828, which
soon became known as the Nullification movement.
That tariff committed the country to the policy of
encouraging domestic manufactures at the sacrifice
of the far greater interests of agriculture. It threat-
ened to destroy the export trade, of which the pro-
ducts of agriculture comprised about eight-ninths.
The South contributed about three-fourths of all
the agricultural exports. Of the entire export
trade, amounting to $55,700,193, the South contri-
buted $34,072,655, in cotton, tobacco, and rice. South
Carolina's share of this large export trade was, in
1829, $8,175,586, or nearly one-fourth. The export
of Southern cotton alone amounted to $26,575,311.
In the circumstances, the South could see only a
distant and doubtful benefit, through developed
manufactures, as an offset to the injury or destruc-
tion of its extensive and remunerative foreign trade.
As we have seen, the tariff of 1828 was the special
grievance of South Carolina. John C. Calhoun and
Eobert Y. Hayne contended that, under the accepted
principle of state sovereignty, South Carolina had
the right to nullify this or any other Federal statute.
These leaders did not propose secession, but took
the ground that a state could declare a law of the
.United States void and still remain in the Union.
Calhoun, who was then Vice-President, was devoted
to the idea of a Union, but felt that the Union could
be made powerful and permanent only by preserv-
ing the original ideal of sovereign states. The logi-
cal inference from such a principle was, of course,
secession ; and the insistence upon it made secession
possible at any time, as a measure of self-defense
ROBERT Y. HAYNE.
IN THE CONFEDERACY, 1860-1865. 77
in any controversy between the state and the Fed-
eral government. Hayne's brilliant speech in the
Senate in 1830, against the Foot Resolution, was, in
effect, the first warning of such a rupture, and the
final echo of that speech came thirty years later in
the Ordinance of Secession.
The North and East rightly feared that Hayne's
speech was in the nature of a manifesto from the
South. Such it doubtless was; yet even in South
Carolina the doctrine of state sovereignty was not
considered as even remotely involving secession.
It required a still heavier pressure upon the state
of unequal tariff laws and the imminent menace of
still heavier burdens and sacrifices to force the
people to consider a resort to withdrawal from the
Union and possible war.
The practical and immediate purpose of South
Carolina in the Nullification movement was to force
concessions, and the Ordinance of Nullification,
passed Nov. 24, 1832, was suspended when Congress
was considering concessions. The compromise pro-
posed by Clay, which provided a reduction of tariff
duties by a sliding scale until there should be a duty
of only 20 per cent, on all articles, embodied the
minimum concessions demanded by this state.
Nullification had won a half victory. It had suc-
ceeded in having repealed the laws it opposed, but
the principle of nullification was not recognized. Dis-
union had been postponed, but the grave peril had
not passed.
The old controversy over state sovereignty soon
shifted to the question of slavery, and it was upon
this practical question that South Carolina was fin-
ally to resort to secession as a test of the old theory
of state rights. "For twenty-five years," says the
"Declaration of the Immediate Cause" of the se-
cession of South Carolina, "this agitation [against
78 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
slavery] has been steadily increasing, nntil it has
now secured to its aid the power of the Common
government." The event referred to was the elec-
tion of Abraham Lincoln as President. South Caro-
lina, like her Southern sisters, had hazarded every-
thing on the issue of the campaign of 1860, and the
election of Lincoln meant secession. The shock and
the feeling of despair produced in this state by the
triumph of a party known to be so hostile to the
interests of the South is graphically presented by
a famous passage in the "Declaration" :
"A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the
states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high
office of President of the United States whose opinions and purposes are
hostile to slavery. He is to be intrusted with the administration of the
Common Government, because he has declared that that 'Government
cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,' and that the public
mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate
extinction."
While South Carolina thus admitted that the im-
mediate cause of secession was the threat of the abo-
lition of slavery, she grounded the justice of her
course upon the reserved right of a sovereign state.
The Sentiment of the People.
The sentiment of the people toward the Union was
doubtless the same as that of the people of Georgia,
as described by Eobert Toombs. "Our people," he
said, "are still attached to the Union from habit,
national tradition, and aversion to change." But
they were practically a unit as to the right of se-
cession. They neither desired nor expected war;
yet it has been said :
"Fifty thousand South Carolinians voted for se-
cession. Seventy-five thousand stood for it on the
field of battle."*
•Report of the Historian of the Confederate Record* to the General Assembly of
South Carolina, by John P. Thomas.
IN THE CONFEDEEACY, 1860-1865. 79
Mrs. Mary Boykin Chestnut, in A Diary from
Dixie, describes the situation strongly and char-
acteristically. Under date of June 12, 1861,
she writes: "Mr. Petigru [James L. Petigru, who
was a Union man] alone in South Carolina has nqty
seceded."
The state's response to Lincoln's election and its
menace to her interests was prompt and imperative.
A convention summoned by the legislature, met in
Columbia Dec. 17, 1860, but immediately removed
to Charleston, where, on December 20, it passed the
Ordinance of Secession. The men that drafted that
momentous document realized the heavy responsi-
bility that bore upon them and upon their state ; and,
waiving all vain protestations and preambles and
statements of causes, issued a straightforward dec-
laration, that "the union now subsisting between
South Carolina and other states, under the name
of 'The United States of America,' is hereby dis-
solved. ' '
Argument, the reasoned statement of her griev-
ance, and the appeal to the judgment of her sister
states and mankind were reserved; and the con-
vention completed its work by drafting and sending
forth two notable documents. These were the "Dec-
laration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and
Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the
Federal Union," and "The Address of the People
of South Carolina, Assembled in Convention, to the
People of the Slaveholding States of the United
States." It is noteworthy that "The Address"
closes with this appeal to the other Southern states :
"We ask you to join us in forming a Confederacy
of Slaveholding States."
And thus, calmly and with dignity, South
Carolina turned to face new horizons and a new
destiny.
80 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
South Carolina's Part in Forming the Confederate Govern-
ment.
South Carolina, by virtue of her leadership in the
secession movement was clearly entitled to the lead-
ership in the formation of the Confederacy of slave-
holding states that she had suggested in "The Ad-
dress.'* But from the time that disunion began to
seem probable, that is, at least as early as the
Southern convention at Nashville, Tennessee, in
1850, she waived her own claims and pressed that
honor upon Virginia. Langdon Cheves, who spoke
for South Carolina in that convention, said: "If
our great parent state lead us, there will be no
bloodshed ; and can it be doubted that she will f Vir-
ginia is the mother of the Southern states."
Modesty and unselfishness, indeed, marked the
organization of the Confederate government. After
declaring her own independence, and formally in-
viting \her sisters to join her, South Carolina ap-
pointed commissioners to the several Southern states
and elected deputies to meet those of all other states
that might secede, for the purpose of forming a pro-
visional government. It was upon the invitation of
Alabama that the delegates of the various states
assembled in Montgomery, Feb. 4, 1861. Howell
Cobb, of Georgia, was chosen president on motion of
Eobert Barnwell Ehett, of South Carolina, one of
the most energetic and able leaders in the secession
movement.
The marked ability and experience in public af-
fairs of the leading men in South Carolina was, how-
ever, fully recognized by the Convention of Depu-
ties. C. G. Memminger was given the chairman-
ship of the committee to report a plan for a pro-
visional organization, and he and Ehett took a con-
spicuous and notable part in the formation of the
new government. Mr. Ehett was selected as chair-
IN THE CONFEDEEACY, 1860-1865. 81
man of the committee to draft a constitution for a
permanent government, and lie had a large and
honorable share in the task. He was afterward
chairman of the committee on foreign affairs in
the Confederate Congress.
When President Davis formed his cabinet, C. G.
Memminger was made secretary of the treasury,
and held that important post until July, 1864, when
he was succeeded by another South Carolinian,
George A. Trenholm.
While South Carolina yielded place to Virginia
in leadership, and never attempted to take a fore-
most part in the Confederate government, she was
second to none in the ability and patriotic service
of the men she sent to the cabinet as to the field.
In both sessions of the Confederate Congress
South Carolina was represented in the Senate by
Eobert W. Barnwell and James L. Orr.
The War in South Carolina.
Actual hostilities naturally began in South Caro-
lina, where Fort Sumter, seized and held by a small
Federal force under Major Eobert Anderson, was
the object of solicitude by the state and national
governments. Had Anderson remained in Fort
Moultrie, Sullivan's Island, where he was stationed
up to the evening of Dec. 26, 1860, war might pos-
sibly have been averted; but his removal to Fort
Sumter, which menaced Charleston and dominated
the harbor, could be understood only as a show of
force and a prelude to hostilities. Preparations for
war began in deadly earnest from the moment it
was seen that the Union garrison had assumed a
threatening position.
The South Carolina troops, however, did not be-
gin operations to get possession of this absolutely
essential post until Jan. 9, 1861. Governor Pickens
VoL 2-«.
82 [THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
dispatched his aide-de-camp, Col. Johnston Petti-
grew, accompanied by Major Ellison Capers, to
Major Anderson on the morning of December 27,
and demanded that the garrison return immediately
to Fort Moultrie. This the Federal officer refused
to do, although saying that his sympathies were
"entirely with the South." The same afternoon
he raised the United States flag over Sumter and
prepared the fort for action.
In the meanwhile the Federal government had for-
warded reinforcements and supplies to Major An-
derson, in the Star of the West, which entered
Charleston harbor January 9. Her course lay under
the guns of a battery on Morris Island commanded
by Major P. F. Stevens, superintendent of the South
Carolina Military Academy, and a warning shot was
fired across her bows. As she did not heed this,
the battery fired directly upon her, and she put about
and steamed out of range.
South Carolina thus began the war for state rights
single-handed against the whole power of the Union.
But by Feb. 1, 1861, she had been joined by Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and
Texas soon followed.
A remarkable lull followed the firing upon the
Star of the West. For three months, while the Con-
federacy was being organized and South Carolina
was marshalling her troops, Major Anderson was
permitted to hold Fort Sumter. Finally, on April
12-13, General Beauregard bombarded the fort for
thirty-three hours, when the Federals capitulated.
Fort Sumter was at once occupied by the Confed-
erate troops, and, although subjected to the most
terrific bombardments recorded in history up to that
time, was never retaken. During the long siege
and series of assaults, Fort Sumter was under the
command successively of Colonel Ehett, Major El-
Itt THE CONFEDERACY, 1860-1865. 83
liott, and Captains Mitchel and Huguenin. The
chief work of repairing the fort for continued de-
fense after it had been leveled to the water's edge
was performed by Capt. (afterward Major) John
Johnson, engineer-in-charge. The fortress was
evacuated only after the entire coast of the state
had been abandoned.
The defense of Charleston is memorable, also, for
the greater development of torpedoes in harbor de-
fense, their first use in this way having been by the
Confederates in the Potomac Kiver, July 7, 1861;
and for the practical creation of the torpedo boat,
now used in every navy of the world.
The military movements in South Carolina, out-
side of the defense of Fort Sumter, were not on a
large scale or of great significance, except the siege
of "Battery" or Fort Wagner, and Sherman's
march through the state. In November, 1861, the
Federals began operations against the sea-coast. A
Union fleet of seventeen vessels, carrying 12,000
troops under Gen. W. T. Sherman, occupied with
little opposition the region about Port Eoyal and
Beaufort. Beaufort, then one of the wealthiest and
most cultured cities of its size in the world, was
given over to pillage. The entire seaboard, with its
extensive plantations and handsome houses, was rav-
aged and the lands and property confiscated. It
was, indeed, apparent from the first that the chief
object of the Federals was looting and devastation.
Numerous small expeditions were sent inland to
destroy the railway between Savannah and Charles-
ton. Two of these were defeated at Pocotaligo, an-
other at Coosawhatchie, and a Union gunboat, the
Isaac Smith, was captured in a brilliant attack by
infantry and siege batteries, under the command of
Col. Joseph A. Yates. A more serious affair was
the battle of Secessionville, on James Island, June
84 THE HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
16, 1862. Here the Federals, about 6,000 strong,
attacked 750 men under Gen. Johnson Hagood at
Fort Lamar, and were defeated, with a loss of 683,
the Confederate loss being 204. This defeat led to
the evacuation of James Island by the Union troops.
The long and desperate defense of Fort Wagner
ranks next to that of Fort Sumter in point of hero-
ism and endurance. For fifty-eight days, from July
10 to Sept. 6, 1863, a Confederate force of 1,600 men,
under Col. L. M. Keitt, resisted the assaults of an
army of 11,500 under General Gillmore, aided by
eight monitors and five gunboats. The total loss by
the defenders was only 672 killed and wounded.
Like Fort Sumter, Wagner was not captured. It
was quietly abandoned when further resistance was
useless from a military point of view and would
have been a fruitless sacrifice of life.
After the operations along the seaboard, and the
long but hopeless defense of the Confederates, South
Carolina lay invitingly open to bands of raiders and
to the pillage of Sherman's army, which was then
moving up from Savannah. This vast raid was
ushered in by another attempt, ordered by General
Sherman, to cut the railway to Charleston which
resulted in the small but brilliant action at Honey
Hill, Nov. 30, 1864. Here 1,700 Confederates, under
the general command of Major-General Gustavus W.
Smith, but ordered directly by Col. Charles J. Col-
cock, defeated a force of 5,000 Federals under Gen.
John P. Hatch. This decisive victory delayed the
disturbance of Charleston and gave to General Har-
dee, commanding at Savannah, an open road for
retreat.
General Sherman began his great raid through
the centre of the state Feb. 1, 1865. The spirit in
which he entered the "Cradle of Secession*' may
be justly inferred from his order for "Potter's
IN THE CONFEDEKACY, 1860-1865. 85
Baid," probably the most ruthless looting and pil-
laging expedition during the war. "I don't feel
disposed," he said, "to be over-generous, and should
not hesitate to burn Charleston, Savannah and Wil-
mington, or either of them, if the garrisons are
needed. ' ' This order was issued after he had burned
Columbia, which accounts for the omission of the
South Carolina capital.
Charleston, cut off by the advance of General
Sherman with 70,000 troops toward Columbia, was
evacuated Feb. 17-18, 1865. General Hardee had
only 13,500 effectives, of whom 3,000 were, state
militia. The Federal march could not be resisted.
Hardee 's delay in withdrawing from Charleston
made any concentration of Confederate troops in
front of Sherman impossible, though it is certain
it would have been in vain, as, at the utmost, not
more than 20,000 men, poorly armed and provisioned,
and many of them raw levies, composed in large
part of mere boys, could have been assembled.
Gen. Wade Hampton, who had recently been put
in command in South Carolina, evacuated Columbia
on the same day, February 17, that Hardee began
his withdrawal from Charleston, and General Sher-
man immediately entered the defenseless capital.
That General Sherman burned Columbia, though
long denied by that officer and by Northern his-
torians, is now fully established. Federal courts
have judicially admitted that the city was destroyed
by Union troops, and there were many trustworthy
eye-witnesses to that wanton act. It may be suffi-
cient to quote but one. The Rev. A. Toomer Porter
in a sermon in 1891, said that he was in Columbia at
the time, and adds: "General Sherman's troops
burnt the town; I saw that done by them."
The fact is frequently overlooked that Sherman
finally, confessed that he burned the city. In his
86 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Memoirs he says : ' ' The army, having totally ruined
Columbia, moved on toward Winnsboro. ' '
The march of the Federals toward the North was
practically unopposed, because of the withdrawal
of General Hardee's small army for the purpose of
concentrating as large a force as possible in front
of Sherman in North Carolina. The pillaging and
destroying host, therefore, passed out of the state
and reached Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 11,
1865.
The State's Contribution in Men and Property.
Unfortunately, so many of the Confederate records
were destroyed by Federal raiders or were lost in
the universal confusion at the end of the war that
it is impossible to ascertain with exactness the num-
ber of troops and the amount of supplies and money
given by South Carolina to the support of the Con-
federacy. Enough is well known, however, to show
that she contributed more than her due share. Sup-
plies of provisions and money, spent chiefly, of
course, in the equipment of her own forces, were
provided without stint and without regret for the
terrible sacrifices it involved. The defense of her
coast, particularly the long resistance to the Fed-
erals at Forts Sumter and Wagner and along the
entire seaboard, subjected her probably to a greater
cost in money and provisions than that borne by any
other Southern state. This stripping of the com-
monwealth of all her property, either to keep her
troops in the field, or by bands and armies of raiders,
left her more destitute, perhaps, than any equal por-
tion of the Confederacy.
As to her contribution in troops, it has been care-
fully estimated that she sent at least 75,000 men to
the field, although the total number of her troops
that fought under regular organization and as home
defenders must have reached about 85,000. This
IN THE CONFEDERACY, 1860-1865. 87
is marvelous when it is recalled that in 1860 the white
population of the state was only 291,388. In 1900,
when the white population amounted to 557,900, the
number of white males of twenty-one years and over
was 127,000, or a little more than one in four, in-
cluding of course many who were incapacitated by
age or sickness. Yet South Carolina sent to the
firing line one man or boy for a little more than
every three persons in her borders. As the white
people decreased 1,596 between 1860 and 1870, there
could not have been much reinforcement from the
natural growth of population.
South Carolina also contributed to the Confederate
army some of its most efficient and brilliant com-
manders. The name of Gen. Wade Hampton is most
conspicuous. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston credited him
with saving the day at First Manassas. In the same
battle the state lost a dashing and skillful leader in
Gen. Barnard E. Bee, who in that fight gave to Gen-
eral Jackson his sobriquet of "Stonewall." Among
the general officers that greatly distinguished them-
selves, most of them upon fields in other states, may
also be mentioned, Generals E. H. Anderson, M. C.
Butler, Stephen D. Lee, Benjamin Huger, Joseph
B. Kershaw, Stephen Elliott, M. W. Gary, M. L.
Bonham, Ellison Capers, James Conner, Maxcy
Gregg, Micah Jenkins, Johnson Hagood, John S.
Preston, S. B. Eipley, John Bratton, J. D. Kennedy,
A. M. Manigault, Samuel McGowan, W. H. Wallace,
James Trapier. General Hampton's brilliant serv-
ices as a leader of cavalry, finally as chief of Lee's
mounted troops, were such as to entitle him to rank
among the first great cavalry leaders of the Con-
federacy and of the world. Of officers of lesser rank
the state furnished a large number, of whom many
won distinction.
Other distinguished leaders, natives of South
88 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
Carolina, but serving from other states, were : Gen-
erals James Longstreet, D. H. Hill, E. Mclver Law,
and P. M. B. Young.
Life in War-Time.
The people of South Carolina felt the first and
most terrible afflictions of the war. Their rich sea-
board was devastated, the slaves of the planters
were driven or taken off , and homes and all personal
property destroyed or looted. Entire communities
and towns, like the various sea-islands and Beaufort,
were given over to ruthless pillage and destruction.
The policy of useless devastation initiated by Gen-
erals Hunter and Sherman was continued as the in-
vaders advanced through the state. Colonel Shaw,
who was killed at Fort Wagner at the head of a
negro regiment from Massachusetts, describes in a
letter the method of one of these destroyers :
"After the town was pretty thoroughly disembow-
eled, he [Colonel Montgomery 1 said to me, 'I shall
burn this town. ' ' And he did.
This destruction of homes and property forced
thousands of women and children to "refugee," as
it was called. These dispersed over the upper part
of the state or found precarious shelter outside of
its borders.
Terrible as was the suffering of the refugees, they
fared better than most of the defenseless women who
had to remain at home to be insulted by a ruffian
soldiery and see their property stolen or destroyed.
A single typical incident must suffice to convey some
idea of the conduct of Federal raiders. The worst
of these was General Potter, and the incident oc-
curred near Manning during his infamous raid. The
account is taken from Our Women in the War:
"A negro servant told them that Mr. B. had buried a quantity of gold
and silver down in the cemetery on the edge of the town. This was
IN THE CONFEDEKACY, 1860-1865. 89
true, for Mr. B. was such an old man, so venerable, universally beloved
and respected, that no one thought the Yankees would be cruel enough
to molest him, and many persons in the town had entrusted their valua-
bles to his keeping. After receiving this information from the servant,
the soldiers at once seized the old man and dragged him down to the
cemetery, commanding him to unearth his treasure. He refused, and
they tried many plans to force him into yielding. Among other ways
of punishment they tried a novel one, for with a hoopskirt they had
picked up somewhere they hung him until life was almost extinct. This
is the only case on record, I think, where that much-abused article has
ever been put to such use. Thinking him sufficiently subdued after
this, they took him down, but still the brave old man remained true to
his trust, and they at last had to release him."
Columbia suffered worse than any other city of
the state. It was looted and burned, as an act of
brute revenge, for its destruction was useless as a
measure of war.
The havoc wrought in Charleston is described as
follows by J. N. Cardozo in his Reminiscences of
Charleston:
"The destructive course of the shell thrown into the city was most
evident, while the fire has left melancholy traces of its destructive
course on both the eastern and western portions, crossing its entire
width, and leaving long intervals of desolate waste in the destruction of
churches, theatre, and public hall. The area consumed is about one-
sixth of the city, nearly one mile in superficial extent."
A Northern writer, Sidney Andrews, says that
$5,000,000 would not restore the ruin in Charleston.
As to the devastation practised in other parts of the
state he says :
"It would seem that it is not clearly understood how thoroughly
Sherman's army destroyed everything in its line of march — destroyed
it without questioning who suffered by the action. * * The valu, nd
the bases of values were nearly all destroyed. Money lost "bout eve y-
thing it had saved. Thousands of men who were honest in purpose
have lost everything but honor. The cotton with which they mernt
to pay their debts has been burned, and they are without other means."
Even the end of hostilities did not stop the pillag-
ing. Federal officers plundered farms and houses and
seized cotton and other property for themselves.
No adequate estimate could be made of the losses
suffered by South Carolina. In slave-property alone
90 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
the loss must have amounted to many millions. The
value of the 4,000,000 slaves in the South in 1860
has been calculated as $3,000,000,000. This is prob-
ably excessive, but with some allowance, the 412,320
slaves in this state in 1860 must have represented
something like $200,000,000. The loss in looted prop-
erty and in confiscated lands and destroyed build-
ings may be set down as fully as much, or, including
the long dram of war supplies and abandoned farms
and businesses, South Carolina's loss could not have
been less than $500,000,000. So stricken were the
people and so stripped was the land that the state
has not yet recovered from the immeasurable catas-
trophe.
The Negro Slaves.
One feature of the life of the people during the
war might be understood, as essential to the appre-
ciation of relations between the slaves and their
owners. The fidelity of the slave was, indeed, one
of the most remarkable experiences of the war.
Many of them followed their young masters into a
war that was being waged largely for their emancipa-
tion. Arthur F. Ford, in his Life in the Confederate
Army gives a characteristic account of the devotion
of the negro as camp servant :
"During the early period of the war a great many of the private sol-
diers in the Confederate army had their own negro servants in the field
with them, who waited on their masters, cleaned their horses, cooked
their meals, and so on. Attached to our company there were probably
twenty-five such servants. This system continued during the first
year or two of the war, on the Carolina coast, but later on, as the service
got harder and rations became scarcer, these negro servants were grad-
ually sent back home, and the men did their own work, cooking, and so
on. As a rule, these negroes liked the life exceedingly. The work ex-
acted of them was necessarily very light. They were never under fire,
unless they chose to go there of their own accord, which some of them
did, keeping close to their masters. And they spent much of their time
foraging around the neighboring country. Although often on the picket
lines, night as well as day, with their masters, I never heard of an instance
where one of these army servants deserted to the enemy."
IN THE CONFEDEKACY, 1860-1865. 91
An even stronger tribute must be paid to the
negroes that remained at home, refusing to desert
to the armies of liberation. Although there were
about 120,000 more negroes than white people in
the state, the women and children were unmolested.
Often, indeed, the slaves risked or lost their lives
in protecting the property and persons of their own-
ers. It is to be doubted if any other war produced
such noble examples of the loyalty of a people in such
an ordeal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — There are very few works, authoritative or other-
wise, dealing fully with this period in South Carolina. The references
to it are to be found, chiefly, scattered through a number of memoirs and
reminiscences, together with quite a large number of pamphlets. All,
at least most, of these have been consulted in the preparation for the
foregoing article, and the most useful and accessible are included in the
list below.
Alexander, E. P.: Memoirs of a Confederate (New York); Andrews,
Sidney: The South Since the War (Boston); Avary, Myrta Lockett:
Dixie After the War (New York); Capers, Ellison: Confederate Military
History (Vol. V., South Carolina, especially the first 16 chapters, At-
lanta); Cardozo, J. N.: Reminiscences of Cluirleston (Charleston); Chap-
man, John A.: School History of South Carolina (Newberry); Chestnut,
Mary Boykin: A Diary From Dixie (edited by Isabella D. Martin and
Myrta Lockett Avary (New York); Cheves, Langdon: Speech in the
Southern Convention at Nashville, Tennessee, 1850 (published by the
Southern Rights Association) ; Curry, J. L. M. : Civil History of the Con-
federate States (Richmond) and The Southern States of the American
Union Considered (New York); Dargan, John J.: School History of South
Carolina (Columbia); DeFontaine, F. G.: ("Personne") Marginalia: or
Gleanings from an Army Note-Book (Columbia); Emilio, Luis F.: History
of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers Infantry, 1863-65
(Boston); Ford, Arthur P.: Life in the Confederate Army (New York);
Gilchrist, Robert C.: Confederate Defense of Morris Island, Charleston
Harbor, by Troops of South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina (re-
printed in Charleston Y ear-Book, 1884); Hart, Albert Bushnell: Source-
book of American History (New York); Johnson, John: The Defense of
Charleston Harbor, Including Fort Sumter and the Adjacent Islands
(Charleston); Kenneway, John H.: On Sherman's Track or The South
After the War (London); Merriam, George S.: The Negro and the Nation
(New York); Ravenel, Mrs. St. Julien: Charleston: The Place and the
People (New York); Reynolds, John S.: Reconstruction in South Carolina
(Columbia); Simms, William Gilmore: Sack and Destruction of the City of
Columbia, South Carolina (Columbia); Stevens, Hazard: The Life of
Isaac Ingalls Stevens (2 vols., Boston); Thomas, John P.: Report of the
92 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Historian of the Confederate Records to the General Assembly of South
Carolina, 1899 (Columbia); Wells, Edward L.: Hampton and His Cavalry
in '64 (Richmond) and Hampton and Reconstruction (Columbia); White,
Henry Alexander: The Making of South Carolina (New York); Wilson,
Woodrow: Division and Reunion (Epochs of American History, New York
and London); Our Women in the War (Charleston); South Carolina
Women in the Confederacy (2 vols., Columbia); Year-books, City of
Charleston (reprints of important papers, etc., Charleston).
WILLIAM E. GONZALES,
Editor of The State, Columbia, S. C.
CHAPTEB IV.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909.
Reconstruction in South Carolina.
There is no new South Carolina. Her boundary
lines and her physical features remain unchanged.
Her population within the dates named has not been
affected by either emigration or immigration. With-
in the past forty-three years marvelous changes
have occurred in the social, industrial, political and
educational condition of the state, and South Caro-
linians have directed, and are directing, all these
mighty movements. The same old stock works the
same old soil under greatly changed and rapidly
changing conditions.
The year 1865 was a dark year — the very darkest
— in the annals of the Palmetto state. In February
Sherman's army marched northward from Savan-
nah, burning the towns of Barnwell, Orangeburg,
Columbia, Winnsboro, Camden and Bennettsville ;
applying the torch to many public buildings (includ-
ing churches) and private residences; tearing up the
railroads, burning the cross-ties and twisting the
rails; living on the country and utterly destroying
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 93
such supplies as the Northern troops did not con-
sume— even the pig in the pen, the chickens in the
yard, and the milch cow in the lot — in order that
nothing might be left that could be used to support
the soldiers of the Southern armies. Woodrow Wil-
son says: "Sherman traversed South Carolina in
the opening months of 1865, ruthlessly destroying
and burning as he went. * * * His terrible
march through Georgia and the Carolinas was al-
most unprecedented in modern warfare for its piti-
less and detailed rigor and thoroughness of destruc-
tion and devastation. It illustrated the same delib-
erate and business-like purpose of destroying ut-
terly the power of the South that had shown itself
in the refusal of the Federal government to ex-
change prisoners with the Confederacy." None
save those who saw and suffered realize the condi-
tion of the people living in the track of Sherman's
army in the spring of 1865.
In April the Southern armies surrendered. South
Carolina, with a voting population in 1860 of 40,000,
had furnished over 65,000 soldiers, including boys
in their teens and gray-haired men in their sixties,
to the armies of the Confederacy. The survivors,
"heroes in gray, with hearts of gold," came strag-
gling home, many of them afoot, and went to work
cheerfully to make a living for their families and
to restore the waste places — to build anew the com-
monwealth they loved so well — as loyal to their
paroles as they had been to the cause of Southern
independence.
These Southern soldiers and their sons and grand-
sons have been and are the leaders and the workers
in all those movements through which, to use the
words of Professor N. S. Shaler, of Harvard, "the
economic condition has steadily and swiftly bettered,
until at the present time (1904) the district which
94 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
thirty-five years ago was the most impoverished
ever occupied by an English people is perhaps the
most prosperous of its fields."
Grant's magnanimous treatment of Lee and his
faithful followers at Appomattox had moved the
Southern heart to its lowest depths. The men of the
South had fought well, had been overpowered, and
were willing to shake hands and live in peace. Lin-
coln's kindness of heart and his zeal for the Union
led many to hope that peaceful relations between
the sections would soon be restored. "We must let
'em up easy" was his own quaint way of expressing,
but a few days before his untimely death, his feel-
ings towards the South and his views of the restora-
tion of the seceded states.
"Wade Hampton, a wise and skilful leader of his
troops in war and of his people in peace, had hardly
laid away his Confederate uniform before we hear
his voice in Columbia, where the secession convention
had met, pleading with his people to accept the situa-
tion resulting from the surrender, favoring fair
treatment, including the education of the late slaves,
and the gradual granting of the suffrage to the negro.
But, unfortunately for South Carolina, for the
whole South and for our entire country, other views
than those of Lincoln and Hampton were to prevail,
other plans were to be pursued, and the "hell of
reconstruction" had to be endured for twelve long
years. This period, save in the one respect of the
loss of human life, was infinitely more disastrous
to the social, industrial and political conditions of
South Carolina than the four years lying between
the seizure of Fort Sumter and the surrender at
Appomattox.
At the close of the war A. G. Magrath was gov-
ernor. There was but the semblance of civil au-
thority. The governor directed that all district and
•v?
SOUTH CAKOLINA, 1865-1909. 95
municipal officers should exercise their functions
for the maintenance of peace and order. He was so
soon sent, as a prisoner, to Fort Pulaski, Savannah,
that even the appearance of any power, save that of
the army of the United States, was altogether want-
ing. There was no organized state government, no
central civil authority, no militia, to which the peo-
ple might look for the protection of life and prop-
erty. The government of the United States, acting
by its military officers, was in actual possession of
the territory, and in actual control of the entire
population of South Carolina. There was no trial
by jury. The question of guilt or innocence was
decided by the post commander, or the provost-
marshal, or the provost court, or the military com-
mission, according to the grade of the offense. There
was harshness of administration, there was arbi-
trary use of power, there were instances of injustice,
but all this recognized, it may now be conceded that
the presence of the troops conduced to the mainte-
nance of peace.
The garrisons were at first of white troops en-
tirely. Soon came the negro soldiers, the use oT'
which, essentially cruel, was likewise reckless in the
extreme. These negro soldiers were commonly ar-
rogant, frequently impertinent, sometimes insulting.
They were even lawless, brutish, and in not a few
instances, murderers.
To recall those days is like thinking of a horrible
dream. When the novelist of to-day tells of the
brutal conduct of those black troops, the young
reader asks, in amazement, "Can such things be
true?** When the actor shows, on the stage, the oc-
currences of that dark and troublous period, audi-
ences are so moved that municipal authorities deem
it wise to prohibit the exhibition. Yet no man then
living disputes the truth of the novel or the drama.
96 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
President Andrew Johnson, a native of North
Carolina, who had, when a young man, worked as a
tailor in an up-country town of South Carolina, un-
dertook the task of "reconstructing" the state, and
seemed disposed to carry out the policy of President
Lincoln. Public meetings were held in different sec-
tions. In these, resolutions were unanimously
adopted expressing the earnest desire of the people
for the reestablishment of civil government. Com-
mittees from these meetings went to Washington,
laid before the President the condition of affairs,
and asked him to appoint a "provisional governor."
To this office B. F. Perry was appointed. This was
a wise selection. Perry was a native of one of the
mountain counties, had been all his life a "Union"
man and an opponent of both nullification and se-
cession. When South Carolina seceded, however,
he went "with his state" and used his great influ-
ence with his followers to persuade them to enter
the Confederate army. He accepted the appoint-
ment and immediately went to work upon the basis
agreed upon by the President and other prominent
Northern men for the reconstruction of the state.
Increased confidence in the future was immediately
felt all over the state. Governor Perry issued an
ably written proclamation which was received with
enthusiasm by all, and a hope of rescue from what
seemed absolute ruin was fondly cherished. Civil
government was restored ; a convention of the people
was called, and on Oct. 18, 1865, a governor and
members of the legislature were elected.
James L. Orr was elected governor, receiving
9,928 votes. Wade Hampton received 9,185 votes,
though he had positively refused to run, and had
urged his friends all over the state not to vote for
him. William D. Porter, of Charleston, was elected
lieutenant-governor, receiving 15,072 votes.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 97
The legislature, often locally spoken of as "the
last white man's legislature," — the last for whose
members white men only were allowed to vote, was
a truly representative body, and contained many
of the ablest and most eminent men of the state,
men who had been leaders of their own people in
peace and in war ; men who, a decade later, led their
people out of reconstruction darkness into the un-
precedented prosperity of the last thirty years.
From the people's dream there was a rude awak-
ening. Some years had to pass before South Caro-
lina could be called a state. The legislature, at the
session of 1865, passed an act known as the "Black
Code." It discriminated between whites and blacks
as citizens ; provided separate courts for the trial of
all civil and criminal causes, and did not give the
negroes the ballot nor the full right of citizenship
equally with the whites. Whether this action of the
legislature was used as a pretext, or whether Con-
gress and the Northern people would have acted as
they did anyway, a great change soon came over the
political sky. The United States senators-elect,
Benjamin F. Perry (long term) and John L. Man-
ning (short term), and the members of Congress,
John D. Kennedy, William Aiken, Samuel McGowan
and James Farrow, elected Nov. 22, 1865, were not
allowed to take their seats. (It is interesting to
note, however, that in the proclamation from Wash-
ington, dated Dec. 18, 1865, South Carolina was in-
cluded in the necessary number of states which had
ratified the Thirteenth amendment and thus made it
a part of the Federal constitution) .
A generation later Dr. Dunning, of Columbia Uni-
versity, in his Reconstruction — Political and Eco-
VoL a-7.
98 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
nomic, in discussing the so-called "Black Code"
uses these words:
"To a distrustful Northern mind such legislation could very easily
take the form of a systematic attempt to relegate the f reedman to a sub-
jection only less complete than that from which the war had set them
free. The radicals sounded a shrill note of alarm.* * * In Congress,
Wilson, Sumner, and other extremists took up the cry, and with super-
fluous ingenuity distorted the spirit and purpose of both the law and the
lawmakers of the South. The ' black codes' were represented to be the
expression of a deliberate purpose by the Southerners to nullify the
results of the war and to reestablish slavery, and this impression gained
wide prevalence in the North.
"Yet, as a matter of fact, this legislation, far from embodying any
spirit of defiance toward the North, or any purpose to evade the condi-
tions which the victors had imposed, was, in the main, a conscientious
and straightforward attempt to bring some sort of order out of the social
and economic chaos which a full acceptance of the results of the war and
emancipation involved. In its general principle it corresponded very
closely to the actual facts of the situation."
Military government was reestablished. Gener-
als Sickles and Canby were, in the order named, the
military governors. The latter, under authority of
acts of Congress, ordered an election for delegates
to a constitutional convention, to meet Jan. 14, 1868.
This election was held Nov. 19-20, 1867, and resulted
as follows: for the convention, 130 whites and
68,876 blacks; against the convention, 2,801. One
hundred and twenty-four delegates were elected, and
each was furnished a copy of General Canby 's order
which was "evidence of his having been elected a
delegate to the aforesaid convention." Forty-eight
delegates were white, seventy- six colored. The
whites, classed as Republicans, were about equally
divided as natives and newcomers — in the vernacu-
lar of the times "scallawags" and "carpetbaggers."
The previous residences of twenty-three whites were
given as South Carolina, nineteen other states, two
England, one each Ireland, Prussia, Denmark, and
one unknown. Fifty-nine negroes had previously
resided in South Carolina; nine in eight different
states, one in Dutch Guiana, and the previous resi-
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 99
dence of six was "unknown." The convention was
in session two months, and framed a constitution,
modeled after that of one of the great Northern
states, that met the requirements of the "war
amendments" of the Constitution of the United
States; and that, with few amendments, was the
constitution of the state for twenty-seven years —
nineteen years after the whites resumed control of
the state government.
For about three years (1865-68) the state was un-
der a dual government — civil and military. The
military, while dominant, permitted the civil govern-
ment to have a form of life. Governor Orr was a
man of ability. He, like Governor Perry, was a
native of the "up-country," a graduate of the Uni-
versity of Virginia, lawyer and editor, thirteen
years a member of the state legislature, ten years a
member of Congress, elected Speaker of the House
in 1857. While a firm believer in the right of seces-
sion, he opposed separate state action, and his influ-
ence in the Southern Eights convention, held in
Charleston in 1851, probably prevented that body
from passing the secession ordinance framed for its
adoption. When South Carolina, nine years later,
did secede, he raised a regiment of riflemen for the
Confederate service which he commanded until
1862, when he was elected a member of the Confed-
erate Congress. His position as governor was
anomalous, regularly elected by the people, but per-
mitted by the United States government to hold the
place only as provisional governor until the state
could be reconstructed after the "Congressional
plan."
Under this plan the state had three governors —
Robert K. Scott, an Ohio carpetbagger, who served
two terms; Franklin J. Moses, Jr., "scallawag,"
licentiate and debauche", "the robber governor," the
100 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
prince of thieves, and Daniel H. Chamberlain, a
cultivated New Englander. James S. Pike, of
Maine, a strong anti- slavery man before the war and
a consistent Republican, visited South Carolina in
1873, and his remarkable book, The Prostrate State,
was perhaps the first intimation to the northern
mind of the doings of reconstruction leaders. After
him came Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, whose master-
ful pen pictures showed what crimes were being
committed in the name of free government. Since
these pioneers, historians and novelists have found
South Carolina, between 1868 and 1876, a rich field
for exploration. Let us look at a few of their
" finds. " In 1860 the state's taxable property, ex-
clusive of the slaves, was $316,000,000, and the an-
nual taxes $392,000. In 1871 the taxable property
was $184,000,000, and the taxes $2,000,000. A pub-
lic debt of less than $7,000,000 in 1868 had become,
by the end of 1871, nearly $29,000,000 actual and
contingent.
The state house was refurnished on this scale:
$5 clocks were replaced by others costing $600; $4
looking-glasses by $600 mirrors ; $2 window curtains
by curtains costing from $600 to $1,500; $4 benches
by $200 sofas; $1 chairs by $60 chairs; $4 tables by
$80 tables ; $10 desks by $175 desks ; forty-cent spit-
toons by $14 cuspidors. Chandeliers were bought that
cost $1,500 to $2,500 each. Each legislator was pro-
vided with Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, a $25
calendar inkstand, $10 gold pen. Railroad passes and
free use of the Western Union Telegraph were per-
quisites. As "committee rooms" forty bedrooms
were furnished each session, and the legislators going
home carried with them the furniture. At restau-
rant and bar, open day and night in the state house,
legislators refreshed themselves and friends at state
expense with delicacies, wines, liquors and cigars,
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. ioi
stuffing their pockets with the last. F. J. Moses, Jr.,
Speaker of the House, lost $1,000 on a horse race,
and on the next day the House voted him $1,000 as
a "gratuity."
"Bills made by officials and legislators and paid
by the state reveal a queer medley ! Costly liquors,
wines, cigars, baskets of champagne, hams, oysters,
rice, flour, lard, coffee, tea, sugar, suspenders, linen-
bosom shirts, cravats, collars, gloves (masculine and
feminine, by the box), perfumes, bustles, corsets,
palpitators, embroidered flannel, ginghams, silks,
velvets, stockings, chignons, chemises, gowns, gar-
ters, fans, gold watches and chains, diamond finger-
rings and ear-rings, Russia leather workboxes, hats,
bonnets; in short, every article of furniture and
house furnishing from a full parlor set to a baby's
swinging cradle, not omitting a $100 metallic
coffin." — Avary.
There lies on the writer's desk a photograph
group of sixty- three members of the "recon-
structed" legislature of South Carolina — fifty ne-
groes, or mulattoes, and thirteen white men.
Twenty- two could read and write, forty-one "made
their mark" in place of signing their names, forty-
four paid no taxes, nineteen were taxpayers to an
aggregate of $146.10.
The reader wonders why South Carolinians sub-
mitted. The reason is respect for and fear of the gov-
ernment at Washington. Why President Grant and
those associated with him in authority gave moral
and physical support so long — the two terms of
Grant's presidency — to such men and such measures
is a marvel alike to those who read of and those who
remember the dark days of Reconstruction.
The election to the bench of Whipper (negro) and
Moses (renegade white) roused the entire state.
Governor Chamberlain, their political associate, re-
102 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
fused to sign their commissions. The Democrats
nominated Wade Hampton for governor and a full
state ticket. Then came the memorable "Red shirt
campaign" of 1876. "Hampton or Military Rule"
was the deep-seated determination of the entire
white population. Hampton won by a small ma-
jority. The Republicans refused to submit. Then
came the "dual government," with its awful sus-
penses, for about five months. President Hayes,
very soon after his inauguration, withdrew the Fed-
eral troops from the state house. Chamberlain's
so-called government immediately collapsed, and
Carolinians once more ruled Carolina.
New Social Conditions.
"De bottom rail's on de top, now, and we's gwine
to keep it dar," was a favorite expression of negro
leaders during the time of their political supremacy.
The first statement is an accurate description.
Never in the history of any people had such a social
earthquake occurred. The opening of the year
found the negroes in slavery not only contented, but
happy, loyal to their masters, taking no thought for
the morrow. Within a few months they were free,
and, so far as man's laws and garrisons of conquer-
ors could make them, citizens of the country, supe-
riors of their late masters, many of whom were dis-
franchised. Negroes were then taught by designing
leaders that they were as good as white men, en-
titled to sit in the white man's parlor, to take to
wife the white man's daughter. Thus the wind was
sown. To this day our country has been reaping the
whirlwind. The negro rapist, the black brute, fear
of whom hangs like a dark cloud all over the south
land — who is in latter days found and lynched — in
states beyond the limits of the late Confederacy, is
a direct product of the teachings and practices of the
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 103
days of reconstruction. The crime against woman-
hood, and the awful vengeance that swiftly follows —
in short, rape and lynching — make one of our new
social conditions.
Another is the growth of towns and cities at ex-
pense of the farms and the country homes. The
reasons usually assigned for such removals are pro-
tection of wives and daughters, better school facili-
ties for the children, improved church privileges
and more social intercourse. The general results
are of doubtful benefit. Country schools and
churches are weakened, and the soil is not so well
cultivated by the tenant, white or black, as it was
when the soil-owner lived on his farm.
The growth of the mill village is another phase
of this question. About one-fifth of the entire white
population of the state is now found in these mill
villages. Nearly all these villagers went from the
farms of the state. These people live in good houses
which are well furnished, dress well, live well, not to
say extravagantly, work sixty hours a week, seem
to enjoy life, and, as a rule, save very little of their
earnings. There is always some moving to and fro,
families going from one mill to another, or from the
mill back to the farm, or vice versa. It is the pay
envelope regularly, the "cash consideration" that
carries the family, especially the family with large
numbers of girl children, from the cotton farm to
the cotton factory. Too often such moves take the
head of the family off the list of workers and en-
roll him as a gentleman of leisure. One curious
feature of this mill life is that the people soon form
a sort of caste ; they will not send their children to
any school but the school in the mill village, and even
when city churches of their own denomination are
in easy reach, they insist upon a separate building
— a mill church for mill people.
104 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA'.
Social conditions are, as yet, but little affected by
labor organizations. The railroad men, machinists,
carpenters, telegraph operators, and others have
their organizations, which are well managed and
which produce little or no friction. So far as the
writer is informed, there are no "unions" of farm
or factory laborers. Farmers' unions are being or-
ganized throughout the state and now claim an ag-
gregate membership of 35,000.
South Carolina's position is unique as to mar-
riage and divorce laws. No marriage license and no
record of marriage is required, and the constitution
declares: "Divorces from the bonds of matrimony
shall not be allowed in this state." It is a common
saying in South Carolina that it is easy to get mar-
ried and impossible to secure a divorce. The state
constitution fixes the age of consent at fourteen, and
gives married women the same rights of property
and of business contract as men and unmarried
women. The abolition of the saloon, or "bar-room"
as here commonly called, and state control of the
liquor business brought on a new social condition.
The state dispensary, which on account of its being
mixed up with bitter partisan politics never received
a fair test, was, on account of what seems a well-
founded suspicion of mismanagement, recently abol-
ished, and the liquor business is now entirely under
the control of each county, which may, by popular
vote, choose for itself between prohibition and the
county-dispensary sale of liquor. Nearly half the
counties are "dry." Drunkenness and its attendant
crimes have largely decreased, and prohibition is
steadily gaining ground.
Very few of the people now living in the state
were born beyond its limits. The social life of the
state has been very little affected by immigration.
Efforts to induce Europeans to make their homes in
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 105
South Carolina have been made under the auspices
of a department of the state government, but with
very little success. The probable need of more labor
in the mills and on the soil, and the relief from the
threatened dangers of a large negro majority by
bringing in more white people, seem to make little
impression on the deep-rooted and widespread op-
position to European immigration.
The state has probably lost less in recent years by
emigration than at any time in its history. In
colonial days many Carolinians moved across the
Savannah River and settled in Georgia. The extent
of this emigration is not generally recognized.
"From 1820 to 1860 South Carolina was a bee-hive
from which swarms were continually going forth to
populate the newer cotton-growing states of the
Southwest. ' ' These Carolinians, like all Americans,
generally moved directly westward, and they and
their descendants are found to-day in Georgia, Ala-
bama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In 1860
two-fifths of the people born in South Carolina, and
in 1870 one-third, were living in other states, mainly
in those just named.
New Industries.
In considering new industries within the period
under review, phosphate mining and the manufac-
ture of fertilizers are the first to claim our atten-
tion. The commercial value of the phosphate was
established in 1868, and the mining began the year
following. The annual yield steadily increased until
1883, when it reached a total of 355,333 tons, valued
at $2,190,000. Since then this industry has declined,
owing to the discovery of new mines in Tennessee
and Florida and their operation at a lower cost of
production.
Twenty-six years ago there were twenty-five fer-
106 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
tilizer factories, chiefly small ones, in the state. This
business has grown immensely, and Charleston is
the seat of this industry in America.
The cotton-seed industry is another that has de-
veloped within this generation. Men now living
remember when cotton- seed were considered worth-
less except for planting purposes ; when the farmers
would as soon think of hauling home from the saw-
mill the sawdust from his logs as carrying away
from the gin the seed of his cotton. Less than thirty
years ago seed sold for ten and twelve cents a
bushel, and were used almost entirely for manure.
There was not an oil mill in the state. In 1882 there
were three mills whose combined capacity was 20,000
tons of seed a year. Now there are 106 mills, using
about 40 per cent, of the half million tons of cotton-
seed annually grown in the state, and whose prod-
ucts of crude oil, meal and cakes, hulls and linters
are worth $5,000,000. It is difficult even for a native
to realize the remarkable development of the cotton-
seed industry.
While these two may claim leading places as new
industries, others are found in various sections of
the state, some of them the only ones of their kind
in the South, such as loom and harness works, knit-
ting mills, bleacheries, shuttle and bobbin factory,
sawmills, table damask factories, woolen blanket
mill, tanneries, lime plants, telephone factory, car-
riage and wagon shops, clay ware plants, flour and
grist mills, glass factory, canning and preserving
establishments, veneer factory, boat ore factory and
pickle factory. The small industries are just begin-
ning to receive attention and developments at a
rapid rate may be expected with confidence.
The "power** used in any community is a sure
indication of its manufacturing interests and their
growth. Within the last decade of the Nineteenth
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 107
century South Carolina's use of steam power showed
the remarkable increase of 178 per cent., and an in-
crease of 95 per cent, is the record of the first five
years of the current century. The figures for elec-
tric power used are, in the year 1890, eight horse-
power, ten years later 6,061 horse-power, five years
afterwards 32,162 horse-power. Power companies
are developing the shoals on all the streams of the
hill country and transmitting electricity to all points
that need it, and are in reach in some instances
seventy miles away. The increasing use of water
power is shown by the following figures at intervals
of ten years, beginning in 1870: 10,000, 14,000,
16,000, 28,000, and (in five years) 31,000.
The cotton mill industry is not new in South Caro-
lina. Its history there reads like a romance. As
early as 1816 some New Englanders came to the
foothills of the Blue Ridge and laid the foundations
of the great factory interests of that section. To tell
of their early efforts to make "cotton thread," and
to speak of the retarding influences that delayed
the growth of the enterprises for half a century and
more, would carry us far afield and beyond the lim-
its of this paper.
South Carolina leads the Southern states in cotton
manufacturing, and is surpassed by but one state
in the Union — Massachusetts. The Cotton Mitts of
South Carolina, by August Kohn, of Columbia, is a
masterful work, and is most cordially commended
to all readers who may be interested in the subject.
In 1870 there were twelve cotton mills in South
Carolina, with 35,000 spindles, consuming 5 per
cent, of the crop of the state. Thirty-three years
later the mills numbered 136 with 2,500,000 spindles,
and consumed 600,000 bales of cotton — 64 per cent,
of the entire crop of the state.
The latest statistics available (1907) give these
108 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
items of the textile industry of the state: number
of establishments, 179; of corporations, 159; capital
invested, $104,000,000; number of spindles, 3,600,-
000 ; 90,000 looms ; 750,000 bales of cotton consumed
annually; value of annual product, $75,000,000;
55,000 employees.
Mill village population, 120,000; 8,000 children
under sixteen employed in the mills, and 36,000
others residing in the villages.
The success of these mills has been marvelous.
They are managed by home talent. The operatives
are natives and are all white people. Negroes have
been tried as mill "hands" and found dismal fail-
ures. They cannot be depended upon for regular,
constant work is the verdict of successful mill man-
agers who have made the experiment.
Agriculture has always been, is now, and will con-
tinue to be the leading industry of our people. The
average size of farms is ninety acres, one-sixth
what it was sixty years ago. The state's acreage
in all crops is 4,750,000. The farmers expend $29
per acre for fertilizers, the average for the United
States being $9. The number of farms operated in
the state is a little over 155,000, of which 60,000 are
operated by owners, 57,000 by cash tenants, and
38,000 by share tenants.
This system of working the land for a share of
the crop grown on the land was inaugurated very
soon after the surrender of the Southern armies.
Lincoln, in his emancipation proclamation, had ad-
vised the negroes to work for their late owners for
reasonable compensation. The garrison command-
ers, in their endeavors to readjust affairs, to pre-
vent the negroes from leaving the plantations, used
their influence to have labor contracts made, and
nearly all such contracts were on the basis of a divi-
sion of the crop, the laborer receiving one-third of
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 109
the crop for his services in its cultivation. There
was some opposition to such an arrangement on the
part of the landowners, and a few disdained to "go
into partnership with a nigger" to have their pa-
ternal acres cultivated. The custom, however, be-
came general and is largely followed to this day.
Many of the most successful farmers declare that this
plan of farming — the crop being planted, worked,
gathered andmarketed under the landlord's direction,
and the laborer receiving a share of the crop, not
"money wages," as compensation for his labor — is
the method most beneficial and most satisfactory to
both parties. The political economist will note that in
the cotton fields of this state, this form of profit-shar-
ing has been in successful operation for over forty
years, and is steadily growing in popular favor.
Eecently the Economic Association of Manchester,
England, sent an agent through the South to ex-
amine into the condition of cotton-growing and the
development of other crops. He was an unbiased
observer, and this extract from his report may be
considered a fair verdict:
" I find that the best farmers, the most systematic and by far the
most thrifty and economical administration of the farm are unquestion-
ably to be found in South Carolina. Here the cultivation of the soil is
regarded as a life-time pursuit, and in the majority of instances I have
found the farmer, whether landlord or tenant, a close student of the
branches of science which enable him to know the wants of the soil, and
the proper means of supplying these wants. The Clemson Agricultural
College has been a real blessing to the farmers of South Carolina. Under
its tutorage young men have discovered that the cultivation of the soil
is the noblest and by far the most prolific occupation they can enjoy."
The secretary of agriculture of the United States,
Mr. James Wilson, after traversing South Carolina
from the Atlantic to the Blue Kidge, remarked : * ' No
section of the world offers such inducements for
diversified farming," and he predicted a future for
the section such as has not been witnessed before in
this country;
110 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
The state claims to lead the world in the following
respects: as a grower of cabbages (there is a farm
of 1,000 acres near Charleston, whose owner — in
1891 a poor man working for small wages — now
spends $110,000 a year in the cultivation of his cab-
bage crop) ; as a shipper of cabbage plants (one
party, on one of the islands near Charleston, ships
a hundred carloads — 100,000,000 — of cabbage plants
a year) ; as a pecan grower (one man owning three
groves, one of 600 acres, and two smaller of 10,000
trees each, with an annual production of ten tons) ;
in the quality of its sea-island cotton, and in the
yield, per acre, of upland cotton, four bales ; of corn,
as demonstrated in world contests; of rice and of
oats.
South Carolina in recent years has won the place
of leader among the states of the Union in the yield
per acre of corn, oats, rice and cotton; in the pro-
duction of tea, possessing the only commercial tea-
gardens in America, and claims leadership in the
cheapness of the cost of living and in climatic con-
ditions, which are equalled only by those of southern
France.
The Palmetto state, of whose part in the Revolu-
tion Bancroft wrote: "Left mainly to her own re-
sources, it was through the depths of wretchedness
that her sons were to bring her back to her place in
the republic after suffering more, daring more and
achieving more than the men of any other state'*;
the state that led in secession, and whose sons, after
four years of service on the battlefield, stood " with-
out a regret for the past, without fear for the future,
facing the world and fate" — this little state con-
tends that after ten times four years of industrial
development, taking up new industries and trying
new methods in those that were old, she leads the
Southern states in textile manufacturing; in pro-
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. Ill
duction of corn, oats, rice and cotton per acre; in
value and yield of hay, per ton ; in water power, de-
veloped and undeveloped; in cheapness of cost of
living ; in production of gold and tin ; in production
of kaolin; in climatic conditions; in variety of op-
portunities for the home- seeker ; in rapidity of in-
dustrial development; in the manufacture of fertil-
izers ; in harbor facilities, depth of water on bar and
accessibility considered; in rapidity of development
of trucking industry; in extent of cheese manufac-
turing; in size of bleachery; in the strength of her
granite; in the manufacture of paper pulp, and in
the welfare work in her cotton manufacturing
districts.
And, best of all, her people are throwing their
hearts into and mixing their brains with their work
as never before, and feel they are just beginning to
develop their wondrous resources.
New Political Conditions (Constitutions).
Under this topic three conventions claim consider-
ation : first, that of 1865, called by B. F. Perry, pro-
visional governor, by direction of President Johnson,
and composed of delegates chosen by people "loyal
to the United States," who had taken the oath of
amnesty, "to restore the state to its constitutional
relations to the Federal government"; second, that
of 1868, called by General Canby, U. S. A., which
met in Charleston, January 14, that year, "to frame
a constitution and civil government"; and third, the
convention of 1895, called by the General Assembly
of the state.
The average citizen or reader of history cares
little for details of constitution-making and constitu-
tions. Those who are concerned usually prefer to
study original documents and get their information
at first hand. The constitution of 1865 seems not to
112 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
have received the attentive study of its make-up and
proceedings that their importance demanded. In
these we see the attitude of the leaders of the state
toward the new conditions consequent upon the col-
lapse of the Confederacy. The meaning may be
made clear by a reference to the Tilden-Hayes con-
troversy of 1877: "Benjamin H. Hill consulted with
a number of ex-Confederates, all members of the
House, with the result that forty- two of them sol-
emnly pledged themselves to each other upon their
sacred honor to oppose all attempts to frustrate the
counting of the votes for President, ' as they did not
propose to permit a second civil war if their votes
could prevent it.' " The stand of these "Rebel-
Brigadiers" and speaker Randall's firmness en-
sured a peaceable solution of the perplexing prob-
lems of that period. Had such natural leaders been
allowed to lead their people in South Carolina and
her sister states in the spring of 1865, there would
have been no "horrors and suffering" of Recon-
struction times, and the chapters that tell of those
times, the darkest on the records of American his-
tory, would never have been written.
The writer of this sketch heartily recommends
two books : Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1865-
67, by John S. Reynolds, librarian of the state su-
preme court, and Dixie After the War, by Mrs.
Myrta Lockett Avary, the brilliant Virginia author.
The one book gives the results of careful research
by a trained lawyer in a style acquired by long years
of service in the highest state court ; the other pre-
sents in graphic pen pictures a panorama true to
life of Southern people and their surroundings.
The convention of 1865 met September 13, in Co-
lumbia, in the Plain Street Baptist Church, the
same building in which the secession convention had
held its first sessions, and went to work to frame a
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 113
constitution and to enact such ordinances as were
necessary to put the state government in operation
till the meeting of the legislature. The constitution
contained provisions intended to meet new condi-
tions induced not only by the failure of secession
and the destruction of slavery, but by changes in
the social and political relations of the different
communities making up the new body politic.
Slavery was prohibited forever and voting qualifica-
tions were fixed; the election of governor and lieu-
tenant-governor was transferred from the legisla-
ture to the people, and the "Parish System," where-
by six low country districts (i. e., counties) had
twenty-two out of forty-five state senators and fifty-
five representatives out of a total of 124, was abol-
ished by a vote of eleven to one.
This white-man-made constitution contained but
one reference to the negro race, that directing the
General Assembly to provide for a system of infe-
rior courts, known as the District (i. e., county)
courts, to have jurisdiction of all civil cases in which
one or both parties were negroes, and of all criminal
cases where the accused were persons of color.
The convention appointed a commission of two of
its ablest members to prepare and submit to the
legislature a "code for the regulation of labor and
the protection and government of the colored popu-
lation of the state." Neither the Thirteenth, Four-
teenth nor Fifteenth amendment of the Constitution
of the United States, it will be remembered, had yet
become a part of the fundamental law of the land.
The plan of Thad Stevens prevailed over that of
Abraham Lincoln, and confusion became worse con-
founded.
Eeference has already been made to the congress-
directed, military-ordered and negro- chosen conven-
tion of 1868. The policy, temper and ideas of this
VoL2— 8
114 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
body may be judged by some of its proceedings as
follows : A Charleston newspaper was violently de-
nounced and its reporters were excluded from the
hall, this on motion of D. H. Chamberlain. A negro
member (Nash, of Eichland county) offered a reso-
lution to tax uncultivated lands higher than those
under cultivation. Congress was requested to lend
$1,000,000 to buy lands to be resold on long time to
persons in South Carolina. An attempt was made
to reform the vocabulary of South Carolina by ex-
punging therefrom the words ''negro," "nigger"
and "Yankee," making the opprobrious use of any
of those terms a misdemeanor, punishable by fine
and imprisonment. The district commander, Gen-
eral Canby, commonly called "the satrap" by the
Carolinians of that time, in accordance with a reso-
lution adopted by the convention, issued an order of
a further stay, for three months, of all executions
and all sales of property for any debt whatever.
By ordinance, contracts made for the purchase of
slaves were declared void, and the courts were pro-
hibited from issuing processes for their collection.
General Canby was requested to issue an order to
enforce this ordinance, but he forbore to act in the
premises. On motion of D. H. Chamberlain, after-
wards governor, and sometimes called "the best,"
"the brainiest," and the "most honest" of all the
reconstruction governors, General Canby was re-
quested to abolish the district courts, dismiss their
judges and declare vacant all offices incident to such
courts, but on this request General Canby took no
action. Congress was requested to donate to the
state, for distribution among the freedman, the land
which had been sold for non-payment of the direct
tax, the value of such lands being estimated at
$700,000. A commission was appointed to frame
and submit to the legislature a scheme of "financial
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 115
relief* for the people of the state. The cost of the
session of the convention, which adjourned March
18, after working fifty-three days, was about
$110,000.
The new constitution, as the reader may readily
suppose, contained many provisions radically dif-
ferent from those of the constitution of 1865. The
paramount allegiance of the citizen was declared to
be to the constitution and government of the United
States, and all oaths of officials acknowledged that
allegiance. Imprisonment for debt was abolished,
and a homestead exemption of $1,000 in lands and
$500 in personality was allowed to the head of every
family. Representation was apportioned according
to population only. The names of judicial subdivi-
sions were changed from " districts" to counties.
Presidential electors were required to be elected by
the people. It was required that "all the public
schools, colleges and universities of this state, sup-
ported in whole or in part by the public funds, shall
be free and open to all children of this state, without
regard to race or color." Courts were permitted to
grant divorces. This constitution, strange as it may
appear, was allowed to remain the fundamental law
of the state for nearly twenty years after the
"restoration of home rule" — after the whites re-
sumed control of the government. There were some
amendments, and some provisions were ignored,
and others evaded.
The convention of 1895 was a representative body.
The calling of this convention was one of the prin-
cipal events following the success of that political
and social revolution known as the "Farmers'
Movement of 1890," of which B. B. Tillman was the
leader. This convention was primarily for the pur-
pose of readjusting the franchise in such a manner
as to eliminate the ignorant vote through legal
116 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
means, by requiring an educational and a property
qualification, which had the desired effect.
Perhaps the most remarkable new political condi-
tion in South Carolina is the method of nominating
all officers, state and federal, from coroner to United
States senator, by a direct primary election known
as the "Democratic primary," but designed to be a
white-man's primary. In these primaries the white
voters express their choice of measures and officials,
and the general or regular elections are little more
than formal approval of what has been decided upon
weeks beforehand by a majority of the white men of
the state, over twenty-one years of age, whether
"registered" (that is, legal) voters or not.
Thus the state, once the most aristocratic in the
Union, leaving the least power in the hands of the
voter, has now become the most democratic, giving
the most power to its citizens (white) to be used at
the ballot box. The last three governors furnish a
striking illustration of how this "primary election"
works. The present governor is the son of a Ger-
man immigrant ; the last governor was a member of
one of the old families prominent in affairs from
colonial days, and his immediate predecessor was an
Irish boy in -the Orphan Home at Charleston, who
learned the printers' trade, went from the printing
office to the governor's mansion, and at the expira-
tion of his term went back to the editor's desk and
the printing press, saying, with pardonable pride,
that had he not been a printer he would never have
been governor.
Educational Advance.
Along no other line of progress has South Caro-
lina advanced more rapidly in the past thirty-three
years than along the line of her educational inter-
ests. Perhaps the most marked change in the opin-
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 117
ions and practices of her people is that concerning
the education of the children in free public schools —
" schools good enough for the richest and cheap
enough for the poorest."
The story of the schools and of the training of the
youth in colonial days, both proprietary and royal,
in the time of her statehood before entering the
Union (1776-1789), while she was one of the sister-
hood of states (1790-1860), and during her brief ex-
istence as a state of the Confederacy (1861-1865) is
one of thrilling interest and rich in lessons of sug-
gestions.
The limits of this paper and the dates assigned
both forbid our taking up that story. The ante-
bellum system of schools, if system it may be called,
supported by the state, bore but little fruit, despite
frequent recommendations by governors, reports of
commissions and legislative appropriations of pub-
lic funds. Some reasons for this little fruit may
have been that the white population living on planta-
tions and farms was widely scattered ; that the bet-
ter class would not patronize the schools, which were
regarded as pauper institutions, close akin to the
almshouse or district (county) poor house; and that
many private schools sprung up on every hand and
the people did not feel the need of the free schools.
In 1868 a new constitution was adopted. Old
forms of government, the courts and long cherished
institutions were changed. A new system of state
instruction for rich and poor alike supplanted the
old system of private institutions for tuition-paying
pupils. Here was the real beginning of the public
school system, which to-day occupies a most promi-
nent place in the mind of the people and in legisla-
tion. Provisions were made for three sources of
revenue : first, an annual appropriation by the legis-
lature ; second, poll-tax, and third, a voluntary local
118 THE HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
tax. The system was good enough in theory, but in
practice proved a failure, owing to the ignorance
and dishonesty of many of the officials charged with
its management. The first state superintendent of
education was elected in 1868. He was J. K. Jillson,
a carpet-bagger, who served eight years and who
repeatedly made public and official complaints of
the diversion of school funds to other purposes, and
in his last report for 1876 called attention to an ag-
gregate deficiency of almost $300,000. It is but
simple justice to the memory of this official, and to
the truth of history, to say that no suggestion of sus-
picion was ever breathed against his personal or
official integrity, and that a thorough investigation
of the records of his office by his successors showed
no indication of any mismanagement.
The Eepublican legislature of 1874-76 proposed
an amendment to the constitution fixing an annual
free public school tax of two mills on the dollar's
worth of property as assessed for taxation. This
amendment, earnestly advocated by Governor
Hampton in his public addresses during the mem-
orable campaign of 1876, was approved by the people
by a vote of twenty-five to one in the election that
year. Yet when, a few weeks later, the proposed
amendment came for ratification before the legis-
lature chosen at the same election, all Governor
Hampton's great personal and official influence was
necessary to prevent its rejection, so strong even
then was the prejudice against free schools — a prej-
udice brought over from ante-bellum times, and at
that time intensified by the fact that these schools
were of Reconstruction origin and came from a
regime then and now "a stench in the nostril of
decent people."
It may be worthy of note here that when the con-
stitutional convention of 1895 took up the school
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 119
question this fixed tax was increased 50 per cent.,
from two mills to three, with little or no opposition.
A few figures will show the growth of the public
schools :
1869-70 1906-07
School population 168,819— 511,896
Enrollment 28,409— 314,399
Average attendance 23,441— 222,189
Teachers 528— 6,228
Number of days 80— 96
Number of schools 630— 4,995
Salaries paid teachers $57,321— $1,415,725
Total expenditures $77,949— $1,853,572
In the eighties and nineties educational thought
and action turned towards * ' graded schools, ' ' as they
were and still are called. The name is somewhat
misleading. The underlying idea was not the grad-
ing of the pupils, but more money for and longer
terms of the schools. Many cities, towns, and even
villages in thickly settled communities voted a local
supplementary school tax upon themselves, only
property-holders voting, in most cases being com-
pelled to secure from the legislature, by special act,
permission to hold such elections. In many instances
the opposition was active, and occasionally the
graded school proposition was defeated. But these
schools steadily grew in favor; new and modern
school buildings were erected, and to-day the town
without its well-equipped school, or system of
schools, is the exception.
The student of civics is interested in tracing the
resemblance of these school meetings to the town-
ship meetings of New England. For the improve-
ment of the teachers, ''Teachers' Meetings" in the
cities, and normal institutes (of late years known
as summer schools) in the county, district (several
counties combined), and state were organized. The
Winthrop Normal and Industrial College at Eock
Hill provides instruction in the science of teaching
120 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
for young ladies, while young men secure such in-
struction at the State University in Columbia.
Within the last two years the state department of
education has worked out a plan for high schools
which, endorsed by the state teachers* association,
has been favorably considered by the General As-
sembly. The State University has added to its
courses a department of secondary instruction, and
its professor in charge of this department is actively
engaged in traveling over the state, urging and as-
sisting in the establishment of high schools.
Domestic science is being introduced into the
schools, even in some of the most conservative. A
new feature — farm demonstration work — under the
auspices of the United States Department of Agri-
culture, is now being added to well-known schools,
one at the old home of General Sumter, another at
the old home of ex-Governor Hammond.
The colleges of South Carolina are commonly
classified as denominational and state institutions.
The leading denominations, within a period of
twenty years immediately preceding the great
struggle of the sixties, had organized colleges under
their respective control. All these — Erskine (As-
sociate Eeformed Presbyterian, 1839) at Due West;
Furman University (Baptist, 1850) at Greenville;
Wofford (Methodist, 1851) at Spar tan sburg, and
Newberry (Lutheran, 1858) at Newberry — have con-
tinued in successful operation during the period of
this study, broadening their curricula, erecting new
buildings, enlarging their faculties, increasing their
attendance of students, and annually enriching the
spiritual, moral, intellectual, professional, indus-
trial, commercial and domestic life of the common-
wealth. No denominational college has died in
South Carolina. In no state of our Union have
church colleges exerted a greater influence.
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865-1909. 121
Nor have the churches been unmindful of the
claims of their daughters. The Due West Female
College, The Greenville Female College, Chicora
College, Converse College, Lauder College (formerly
Williamston), Columbia College, Presbyterian Col-
lege for Women, The Limestone College and Lees-
ville College (coeducational) are all doing good work
and growing in public favor. The older state insti-
tutions, The South Carolina College (now Uni-
versity) at Columbia, founded in 1801, and the
South Carolina Military Academy (popularly
known as the Citadel) at Charleston, founded in
1842, are still in successful operation.
Clemson College, at the old farm home of John C.
Calhoun (agricultural, mechanical and textile), and
Winthrop at Eock Hill (normal and industrial), fur-
nish opportunities for that industrial training of the
young men and young women which is demanded
by this industrial age. These twin institutions,
monuments, more enduring than brass, of the work
of Benjamin Kyan Tillman, though enlarged more
than once, are unable to accommodate the hundreds
of boys and girls, mainly children of the industrial
classes, who clamor for admission. Their doors
were thrown open for students fifteen years ago,
Clemson in 1893, Winthrop in 1884.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Andrews, Elisha Benjamin: History of the last Quar-
ter Century in the United States; Avary, Mrs. Myrta Lockett: Dixie after
the War; an Exposition of Social Conditions existing in the South during
the Twelve Years Succeeding the Fall of Richmond; Dunning, William
Archibald: Reconstruction, Political and Economic, 1865-1877; Kohn,
August: Cotton Mills of South Carolina: a series of observations and facts;
Pike, James S. : Prostrate State — SouthCarolina under Negro Government;
Reynolds, John Schreiner: Reconstruction in SouthCarolina, 1865-1877;
Rhodes, James Ford: History of United States from the Compromise of
1850; Watson, E. J.: Handbook of South Carolina; Wilson, Woodrow:
Division and Reunion, 1827-1889.
WILLIAM SHANNON MORRISON,
Professor of History and Political Economy, Clemson College.
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
CHAPTER I.
THE COLONY OF GEOEGIA, 1732-1776.
Georgia a Part of Carolina.
'HE land which, in 1732, was granted to
the "Trustees for establishing the Col-
ony of Georgia in America" was origi-
nally granted to the Lords Proprietors of
Carolina; but as no act of settlement be-
yond the right shore of the Savannah River was ex-
ercised by the proprietors, Sir Eobert Montgomery
obtained from them, in 1717, the right to the use of
the territory between the Savannah and the Altama-
ha rivers for a settlement to be called the Margra-
vate of Azilia. It was expected that the Montgomery
colony would at once take steps to improve the land
so secured, and that the prosperity of the new un-
dertaking would be assured. Such was the predic-
tion of those who were directly interested in the
project, but their efforts were not properly guided,
and it remained for a man of greater ability and of
more decided energy to carry to a successful issue
the scheme proposed by Sir Eobert Montgomery.
James Oglethorpe was the man who was to be the
leader in this great work, and the circumstances
which led to his taking charge of it may be said to
be providential.
122
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 123
Georgia a Distinct Proprietary — Oglethorpe's Settlement.
The story of the investigation by a committee of
Parliament, headed by General Oglethorpe, of the
methods pursued in the matter of the imprisonment
of unfortunate Englishmen, has been so often told
that it need not be here fully rehearsed. The result
of the investigation brought about the needed re-
form in the prison system, but the most far-reaching
and fruitful result was the founding of the Colony
of Georgia. Oglethorpe, who had been the chief
instrument in bringing about the great change, was
chosen as the leader of the band to prepare the way
for departure to the new country which they were
to develop and change into a great state among a
sisterhood of states forming the grand Union which
is one of the world's powers. For an accurate and
true account of the reasons for establishing the col-
ony, succinctly stated, no better can be found than
that given by Gov. Eobert Johnson, of South Caro-
lina, in the preamble to a proclamation issued by
him Jan. 13, 1733, calling on his people to assist their
new neighbors in Georgia. In it occurs this state-
ment: "I have lately received a power from the
Trustees for establishing a colony in that part of
Carolina between the rivers Altamaha and Savan-
nah, now granted by his Majesty's charter to the
said Trustees, by the name of the Province of
Georgia, authorizing me to take and receive all such
voluntary contributions as any of his Majesty's good
subjects of this province shall voluntarily contribute
towards so good and charitable a work as the reliev-
ing of poor and insolvent debtors, and settling, es-
tablishing and assisting poor Protestants of what
nation soever as shall be willing to settle in the said
Colony." It may be well for our readers to have be-
fore them also the words of the charter granted by
George II.* giving the reasons as follows: "Many
124 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA\
of our poor subjects are, through misfortune and
want of employment, reduced to great necessity, in-
somuch as by their labor they are not able to provide
a maintenance for themselves and their families;
and, if they had means to defray their charges of pas-
sage and the expenses incident to new settlements,
they would be glad to settle in any of our provinces
in America, where, by cultivating the lands at pres-
ent waste and desolate, they might not only gain a
comfortable subsistence for themselves and fam-
ilies, but also strengthen our colonies and increase
trade, navigation and wealth of these, our realms."
James Oglethorpe, the philanthropist and Chris-
tian gentleman, was also by choice a soldier, leaving
college to take up arms in defense of a cause which
he considered right. His character was right in
every respect, and in undertaking the establishment
of a colony under such circumstances he was liter-
ally carrying out the noble sentiment expressed in
the motto adopted for the seal of the Province : Non
sibi, sed alliis. Whether he foresaw the success of
his scheme, or not, cannot be determined, but cer-
tainly true was the statement made by a newspaper
not long before his death : * * General Oglethorpe can
say more than can be said by the subject of any
prince in Europe, or perhaps that ever reigned; he
founded the Province of Georgia in America, he has
lived to see it flourish and become of consequence to
the commerce of Great Britain; he has seen it in a
state of rebellion, and he now beholds it independent
of the mother country, and of great political im-
portance in one quarter of the globe.*'
The first company of the colonists, comprising 130
individuals, or thirty-five families, came over in the
latter part of the year 1732, in the ship Anne, which
set sail on November 17. Oglethorpe was one of the
party. They reached Charleston, S. C., Jan. 13,
GEN. JAMES OGLETHORPE.
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 125
1733, and were there cordially welcomed by Gov-
ernor Johnson, who assisted them in getting to the
place where the first settlement was to be made —
Savannah. Leaving the others at Beaufort, on the
way, the General, guided by some of his Carolina
friends, proceeded on his way in order to select a
spot for the permanent location of his followers.
He found what he sought, and a better selection than
the site of the present prosperous and flourishing
city of Savannah could not have been made. Indeed,
no one would now wish for a change. On the spot
he found a village inhabited by Indians, of whom
Tomochichi was the chief, and who soon discerned
the true character of Oglethorpe. The two men at
once became friends and the Indians and English-
men remained friendly as long as the General lived
in Georgia. A treaty was afterwards made which
was strictly observed, and the Colony of Georgia
had scarcely any troubles with the aborigines. The
plan of the city of Savannah has been greatly ad-
mired, and it would seem that it had been carefully
prepared before the colonists ever set foot upon the
soil. Oglethorpe, having chosen the spot, went back
for his followers, reaching Yamacraw Bluff Feb. 1
(old style), 1733 (Feb. 12, new style), and, after
landing, they united in a prayer of thanksgiving and
praise to God, lodging that night in tents. The work
of building houses for the people began the next day,
and the settlement was called Savannah. In the
work of making homes for themselves the colonists
were greatly assisted by their neighbors of Carolina,
who even then exhibited that social spirit for which
they have ever since been noted.
Other Settlements.
Before the end of the first year of the colony's
history the population was increased by the arrival
126 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
of a vessel with forty Israelites who, while not under
the care of the Trustees or coming with their con-
sent, proved to be thrifty and industrious people
and were allowed to remain. Following these came
a band of religious exiles, called Salzburgers, who
were warmly welcomed and who made their settle-
ment at a place they named Ebenezer, up the Savan-
nah River, about twenty-five miles from Ogle-
thorpe's town.
In a little more than a year the following places,
in addition to Savannah, were settled: Highgate,
Hampstead, Abercorn and Fort Argyle. In the
meantime other ships, with emigrants, arrived at
Savannah, one of them, commanded by Captain
Yoakley, bringing supplies of tools, clothing and
provisions, winning the prize of a gold cup offered
by the Trustees to the first vessel to enter the river
and unload a cargo at the public dock. She was
followed by one bringing the large addition of 150
souls to the population of the colony.
At the time the charter was obtained it was
thought that the production of silk would be the
chief industry of the people, and it was stipulated
that each settler should plant a certain number of
mulberry trees. Indeed, so important was this
matter considered that the seal of the colony was of
a design planned in conformity with that purpose.
It represented on one side a group of silk-worms at
work surrounded by the motto Non sibi, sed alliis.
This industry, however, was not a success, and the
principal exports were skins, rice, tar and pitch.
Having led the colonists to their new home, set
them to work and put them in the way of supporting
themselves, Oglethorpe, after spending fifteen
months with them, returned to England, taking with
him that faithful friend Tomochichi, his wife and
his nephew and a number of chiefs, who were pre-
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 127
sented to the King and were pleasantly entertained
by those who appreciated their kindness to the col-
onists. These Indians remained in England four
months, but Oglethorpe did not return to Georgia
until 1735. A colony of Swiss and Moravian emi-
grants, sent out by him in January, 1735, settled
near Fort Argyle, and a party of Scotch Highland-
ers who desired to come over left their native land
in January, 1736, and founded the town of New In-
verness on the Altamaha Eiver.
When Oglethorpe made his second visit to
Georgia, in 1736, he brought two ships loaded with
supplies needed by the people, and he was accom-
panied by 225 emigrants who formed an important
addition to the population. Among them were 125
Germans and twenty-five Moravians. The latter
joined the settlement on the Ogeechee Eiver called
Fort Argyle. He also brought with him the noted
brothers John and Charles Wesley, who did not re-
main a great while in this country, but their expe-
riences while here were both interesting and exciting.
In February, 1736, a settlement was made near
the mouth of the Altamaha Eiver, on the island
called St. Simon's, and the name Frederica was
given to it. This place was really the home of Ogle-
thorpe from that time until his final return to Eng-
land. Before this, in 1735, in accordance with his
directions, a military post was fixed at a point high
up on the Savannah Eiver and called Augusta. This
was the starting-point of the prosperous city of
Augusta.
Trouble with Spaniards.
During all this time the Spaniards, who claimed
the land granted by Parliament to the Trustees of
Georgia, were apparently inactive and seemed to be
satisfied with the condition of affairs, but with the
128 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
growth of the colony they became troublesome and
seemed determined to put a stop to her progress.
The Spanish government warned England that the
building of fortifications and the quartering of
troops in Georgia would not be submitted to by them.
When the message was received the Duke of Argyle,
a member of the King's Council, asserted: "This
should be answered, but not in the usual way; the
reply should be a fleet of battleships on the coast of
Spain. " So much trouble was stirred up by the
Spaniards that war was declared by England in
October, 1739.
At all times Oglethorpe kept in mind the import-
ance of securing and retaining the goodwill and
friendship of the Indians. The wisdom of this pol-
icy was manifested in the long period of hostility
between the colonists and the Spaniards in Florida.
With this purpose in view, the General decided to
attend an impressive and large gathering of war-
riors at Coweta Town, leaving Savannah in July,
1739, and traveling 300 miles. At that meeting the
Indians became firmly convinced of his sincerity, and
learned to appreciate his friendly intentions, and
willingly entered into treaties of peace and goodwill
with him.
Hostilities between the Georgians and Spaniards
began with the landing of a party of the latter on
Amelia Island on Georgia soil and the killing of two
unarmed men. With a considerable force Ogle-
thorpe pursued the enemy until they sought refuge
in the city of St. Augustine. He then collected a
force of friendly Indians to co-operate with his
troops, and captured two forts on the St. John's
Eiver, cutting off the Spaniards from their Indian
allies. He then planned an attack on St. Augustine,
and, with that end in view, left Frederica in May,
1740, with a force of 900 of his own men and 1,100
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 129
Indians. His first capture was Fort St. Diego, nine
miles from the point of siege, and next he caused the
Spaniards to abandon Fort Moosa, only two miles
from St. Augustine. The attack was made both by
land and sea, but it was found that the ships could
not get near enough to the town to assist the land
forces. The siege lasted until July, and several in-
cidents of a disadvantageous character occurred, and
the disappointed Oglethorpe abandoned the attack and
returned to Frederica. His loss was only fifty men,
while that of the enemy was 450, besides four forts.
The next move in the war was made by the Span-
iards, who were slow to act. They collected at St.
Augustine a fleet of fifty-six vessels with 7,000
troops from Havana, and when Oglethorpe received
information of their preparation to attack him he
gathered together all his available force, with all the
arms and ammunition in the province, and called
to his aid his regiment of Highlanders and his In-
dian allies. During the month of June two minor
attacks by the Spaniards on Amelia Island were
repulsed. On the 28th thirty-six of their ships, with
troops numbering 5,000, approached St. Simon 's
Island, but made no offensive demonstration until
the 5th of the next month, when they raised the red
flag and landed their forces on the south end, where
they stationed a battery of eighteen guns. Ogle-
thorpe evacuated Fort St. Simon, spiked the guns,
destroyed the powder and retired to Frederica,
where he strengthened his position for the coming
attack, his little band amounting to no more than
650 men. Learning from a scout on the 7th that a
division of the Spanish invaders was only two miles
from Frederica, Oglethorpe surprised them in the
thick woods and killed and captured nearly all of
them. He went forward a few miles, and in ambush
awaited the approach of the main body of the enemy,
Vol
130 THE HISTORY OF GEOKGIA.
whose coming was not long delayed. Not suspect-
ing danger, the Spaniards halted near the ambush,
stacked their arms and failed to set a proper watch.
The first intimation of danger was given by a horse
which became frightened at the sight of a soldier
in the bushes. The command to attack was given by
Oglethorpe, and the enemy, taken by surprise, was
completely routed with the loss of 259 men. The site
of this encounter received the name of Bloody
Marsh, the name it still bears. Oglethorpe next
planned a night attack upon the Spaniards, thinking
to surprise them, but a Frenchman who, unknown to
the General, had joined himself to the volunteers,
fired his gun and rushed into the enemy's camp. He
was pursued by the Indians, who could not overtake
him. This caused Oglethorpe to retreat. Knowing
that the deserter would divulge the weakness of his
force, he conceived a plan to bring his treason to
naught.
This is his account of the affair: "The next day
I prevailed with a prisoner and gave him a sum of
money to carry a letter privately and deliver it to
that Frenchman who had deserted. This letter was
written in French as if from a friend of his, telling
him he had received the money that he should strive
to make the Spaniards believe the English were
weak. That he should undertake to pilot up their
boats and galleys and then bring them under the
woods where he knew the hidden batteries were,
that if he could bring that about he should have
double the reward he had already received. That
the French deserters should have all that had been
promised to them. The Spanish prisoner got into
their camp and was immediately carried before
their General, Don Manuel de Montiano. He was
asked how he escaped and whether he had any let-
ters, but denying his having any was strictly
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 131
searched and the letter found; and he, upon being
pardoned, confessed that he had received money to
deliver it to the Frenchman, for the letter was not
directed. The Frenchman denied his knowing any-
thing of the contents of the letter or having received
any money or correspondence with me, notwith-
standing which a Council of War was held and they
deemed the Frenchman to be a double spy, but Gen-
eral Montiano would not suffer him to be executed,
having been employed by him; however, they em-
barked all their troops and halted under Jekyl ; they
also confined all the French on board and embarked
with such precipitation that they left behind them
cannon, etc., and those dead of their wounds un-
buried."
John Wesley.
During the short stay of John Wesley in Georgia,
his mind was filled with the importance of the work
of religious instruction of the Indians and the set-
tlers, and he decided that George Whitefield was
just the man for that work. Accordingly, he wrote
so strong an appeal to him that Whitefield came over
in the next ship. A portion of the letter reads thus :
"What if thou art the man, Mr. Whitefield? Do
you ask me what you shall have? Food to eat and
raiment to put on ; a house to lay your head in such
as your Lord had not, and a crown of glory that
fadeth not away." Whitefield 's chief work in
Georgia was the founding of the orphan asylum,
which he named Bethesda, or house of mercy. It
opened with forty inmates, and the number ran up to
150. This noble charity still exists, and its good
work cannot be overestimated.
Internal Affairs.
A change in the government of the colony was
made two years before Oglethorpe's departure, by
132 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
its division into two counties, each governed by a
president and four assistants. These counties were
Savannah and Frederica, the former including the
territory extending southward to Darien, and the
latter including Darieu and all the territory to the
southern limit of the colony. William Stephens was
made president of the county of Savannah, but no
appointment was made for Frederica, as Ogle-
thorpe's home was on St. Simon 's Island and his au-
thority as governor extended over the whole colony.
In 1743, on Oglethorpe's return to England, the plan
was modified, and the Trustees made Mr. Stephens
president of Georgia. He governed the colony six
years, but his administration was not marked by
any special act of progress, and the degree of pros-
perity was inappreciable. Moreover, the colonists
became dissatisfied on account of certain regulations
of the Trustees which did not exist in the other col-
onies. Among these were the prohibition of the use
of negro slaves and the sale of rum. In June, 1735,
and in December, 1738, petitions were sent to the
Trustees asking that the use of negro slaves be per-
mitted. Such men as the Eev. George Whitefield
and the Rev. Mr. Bolzius, pastor of the Salzburgers,
urged the repeal of the restriction in regard to
slavery. Finally, yielding to the pressure, the
Trustees repealed the regulation against the sale of
distilled liquor and allowed the use of slaves under
certain conditions.
Another cause of dissatisfaction among the col-
onists was the restriction which prevented a settler
from either mortgaging or selling his lands. This
restriction was not removed until May 25, 1750.
Trouble arose in 1749 through fear that the In-
dians might become hostile. This state of affairs
was brought on by a woman. This woman was an
Indian, and could speak English. When the col-
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 133
onists landed at Savannah Oglethorpe used her as
an interpreter. Her first husband was named Mus-
grove, and the second Matthews. She afterwards
married the Rev. Thomas Bosomworth, a priest of
the Church of England, who induced her to make a
demand on the colony for £5,000 as compensation
for her services and for damages to the property
of her first husband. She claimed to be an Indian
princess and empress of the Creek Indians. She
laid claim to the islands of Ossabaw, Sapelo and St.
Catherine's, as well as certain lands just across the
river from Savannah, but President Stephens op-
posed all of her claims and would not agree to any-
thing that she urged. She excited the Indians and
marched a large number of them to Savannah, es-
corted by her husband in his priest's garb, the In-
dian chiefs and warriors appearing in their feathers
and war paint. Notwithstanding the fears of his
people, Mr. Stephens assembled the soldiers and
declared that the Indians must give up their arms
before entering the town. This they did, and the
Bosomworths were arrested and locked up. The
president addressed the Indians and convinced them
that the woman was no princess and that the land
claimed by her belonged to the Creek Nation. This
brought about peace and quiet. The Bosomworths
went to England and tried to persuade the King and
the Trustees to comply with their demands, and in-
voked the aid of the courts. They gave trouble many
years and were finally given about £2,000 and a title
to St. Catherine's Island, where both of them died
and where they are buried.
A change for the better occurred in the year 1750,
as at that time the Honorable James Habersham
described the condition of the province in these
words: "My present thoughts are that the colony
never had a better appearance of thriving than now.
134 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
There have been more vessels loaded here within
these ten months than have been since the colony
was settled." At that time the population had
grown to 1,500. In that year the Trustees resolved
that a Provincial Assembly should be established
which should be composed of delegates elected by the
people, who would then look after the interests of
the inhabitants and to suggest to the Trustees those
measures which might be considered to be for the
good of the colony. It was to meet once a year in
Savannah, and each session was not to continue be-
yond one month. The first session was held Jan. 15,
1751, and was composed of sixteen delegates elected
the year before. It lasted twenty-two days, and
Francis Harris was elected speaker. That year
William Stephens, who had become infirm and aged,
resigned the office of president, and on April 8 the
Trustees appointed Henry Parker as his successor.
James Habersham was made secretary of the col-
ony. The assembly recommended the organization
of the militia, and President Parker proceeded to
carry out their wishes. The first muster was held
in June, 1751, in Savannah, when 220 men appeared
under the command of Capt. Noble Jones.
The next year, 1752, a body of people, Congrega-
tionalists in religion, under a grant of land situated
on the Midway Eiver, moved into Georgia from
Dorchester, S. C., and made a valuable addition to
the population. From this body have descended
some of Georgia's most illustrious citizens.
Georgia a Royal Province.
The end of the period of twenty-one years named
in the charter granted to the Trustees was now ap-
proaching, and that corporation did not desire a
renewal. They accordingly expressed to the Lords
of the Council their wish to surrender the trust.
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 135
Their wish was granted, and the last meeting of
the Trustees was held June 23, 1752, and the
colony of Georgia was placed in charge of the
Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
At that time only six of the original body were
living.
By command of the King the regulations of the
Trustees were kept in force and all officers in charge
were retained until a new form of government
should be adopted. No change was made for more
than two years, and Mr. Parker died in office as
president. Patrick Graham, of Augusta, was chosen
as his successor. The King approved the recom-
mendation of the Lords of the Council that Georgia
should be made a royal province, and appointed
Capt. John Reynolds of the Eoyal Navy as the first
governor. In place of the old seal which had been
defaced when the charter was surrendered, a great
seal for the province was designed. The obverse
shows a female figure representing the province,
kneeling before the King in token of submission, and
presenting him with a skein of silk under which is
the motto, "Hinc laudem sperate Coloni." The
motto engraved around the edge is "Sigillum
Provinciae Nostrw Georgia in America.1' The re-
verse bears the coat-of-arms of the King.
The official title of the governor was "Captain-
General and Governor-in-Chief of his Majesty's
Province of Georgia, and Vice-Admiral of the
same." He landed on Georgia soil Oct. 29, 1754,
and received a most hearty welcome from the people.
The legislature was composed of the upper house of
Assembly in which sat twelve members, appointed
by the King, and they were also the Governor's
council, and the commons house of Assembly, rep-
resentatives elected by the people from the several
districts of the province. No bill could become a
136 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
law until it passed both houses and was signed by
the governor.
Under the new regime the first legislature met
Jan. 7, 1755, when only twelve acts were passed and
became laws.
The province of Georgia was not in the prosperous
condition that Governor Reynolds was led to believe
existed at the time of his appointment, and he did
not do anything during his administration to make
it a success. He laid off the town of Hardwicke on
the Ogeechee Eiver, which never developed into im-
portance. He did give up much of his time to the
improvement of the defenses of the province. He
endeavored to make a treaty with the Indians at
Augusta, but failed to awaken any interest on their
part, and was called back to Savannah by the ar-
rival of two vessels with 400 Acadians on board.
Under the Georgia laws no Catholics were permitted
to land, and Governor Reynolds did not know how to
act in this case. They were allowed to remain and
were protected during that winter, but nearly all
of them went away as soon as they were able to do
so. The governor did not remain on good terms
with his council or the legislature. Complaint was
made to the Lords Commissioners of the Board of
Trade and Plantations, and on Aug. 3, 1756, they
summoned him to appear before them. They ap-
pointed Henry Ellis lieutenant-governor of the prov-
ince, to take charge during the absence of Reynolds,
and he landed at Savannah on Feb. 16, 1757. Rey-
nolds departed the same day.
In taking control Lieutenant-Governor Ellis per-
ceived that he had undertaken a most important
work, and that many necessary changes in the meth-
ods then employed would require his special atten-
tion. He immediately set to work to place the prov-
ince in a good condition to guard it against invasion.
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 137
It was his wish that the seat of government should
be changed, and that Hardwicke should be the cap-
ital. He entered into an agreement of peace and
friendship with the Creeks, which was a matter of
great importance because of the war then in prog-
ress between England and France.
The legislature met in June, four months after
his arrival, at which time he delivered his inaugural
address in which he said: "I can, with unfeigned
sincerity, declare that I enter upon this station with
the most disinterested views, without prejudice to
any man or body of men, or retrospect to past trans-
actions or disputes, but animated with warmest zeal
for whatever concerns your happiness or the public
utility, sincerely inclined to concur with you in every
just and necessary measure, and fully resolved that
if, unfortunately, my wishes and endeavors prove
fruitless, to be the first to solicit my recall.'*
The next year, 1758, was marked by the first move
towards the founding of a town which, for a time,
was almost as important in the matter of trade as
was Savannah, and which seemed destined to sur-
pass her in the amount of business carried on there.
It was on June 20 that a grant of 300 acres of land
was made to five trustees for the purpose of laying
out a town to be called Sunbury. It was situated in
the district known as Midway, in which the settlers
from Dorchester, S. C., had located. Its prosperity
was not long-lived.
It was in this year that the province was divided
into parishes. There were eight of them: Christ
Church, which included Savannah; St. Matthew's,
in which was Ebenezer; St. Paul's, of which Au-
gusta was the chief town; St. George's, with Halifax
as the most important place ; St. Philip's, which was
the great Ogeechee district; St. John's, peopled by
the Dorchester settlers; St. Andrew's, with Darien
138 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
as its principal point of interest ; and the Frederica
district, which was the parish of St. James. Four
new parishes were created in 1765, known as St.
Patrick's, St. David's, St. Thomas's and St. Mary's.
The administration of Governor Keynolds offi-
cially ended by his removal from office in 1758, when
Henry Ellis became actual governor and adminis-
tered the affairs of Georgia until 1760, when he was
relieved by the arrival of Lieutenant- Governor
James Wright, who was appointed to that office on
the application of Governor Ellis in 1759 for leave
of absence. The growth of the province under Gov-
ernor Ellis, in commerce as well as in population,
was remarkable. The trust committed to him was
executed with much care, and he showed his ability
for governing to a marked degree. His dealings
with the Creek Indians made them the friends of
Georgia, and in consequence the troubles which
arose in other provinces in America between the
whites and the Indians were averted.
Governor Wright — Steps to Independence.
Governor Wright, as already stated, reached
Georgia on Oct. 11, 1760, and, though his office then
was lieutenant-governor, he was really the governor
until his official appointment as such with the title
of "Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in-
Chief of the Province of Georgia," by virtue of a
commission bearing date March 20, 1761. The com-
mission, however, was not received by him until
nearly ten months after its date. Like his prede-
cessor, his first object of care was that of looking
after the defenses of the province, and he sent a
message to the Assembly, calling the attention of
that body to the necessity for prompt action in that
matter. He decided that it would be unwise to re-
move the seat of government from Savannah to
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 139
Hardwicke, a step which both Eeynolds and Ellis
had advocated.
George II., who had granted the charter and after
whom the colony was named, died in October, 1760,
just about the time that Wright arrived at Savan-
nah, but the news was not received in the province
until February, 1761, causing the adjournment of
the Assembly and the holding of services in memory
of the dead King.
By the provisions of the Treaty of Paris the ter-
ritory of Florida was ceded to England, and George
III. changed the boundary between that territory
and Georgia by which all the land between Florida's
northern line and the Altamaha River was added to
Governor Wright's jurisdiction, and a new commis-
sion was issued to him in which the limits of the
province were fixed. One of the matters treated of
in the proclamation of George III., concerning the
territory acquired by the Treaty of Paris, related to
the Indian tribes to whom he allotted the lands
lying between the Mississippi and the head waters
of the streams flowing into the Atlantic. From these
lands the white people were for the time being ex-
cluded. He desired that friendly relations should
exist between the Indians and the whites, and is-
sued orders to the governors of Virginia, the Caro-
linas and Georgia to hold a conference with the In-
dian chiefs. The conference, so ordered, was held
at Augusta, and was attended by 700 Indians. It
lasted five days and Governor Wright was the pre-
siding officer. It resulted in a very satisfactory
treaty, which was signed by all of the parties inter-
ested. The convention opened on Nov. 5, 1763.
Until the adoption of the Stamp Act, Governor
Wright's conduct appears to have been satisfactory
to the people ; but after that time his life in Georgia
was, if we may take his own letters as evidence, very
140 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
miserable. When the Massachusetts proposition of
a congress was received, Alexander Wylly, the
speaker of the commons house of Assembly, sum-
moned that body to a meeting, and about two-thirds
of the members, sixteen in number, attended. The
meeting was held Sept. 2, 1765, and the delegates
pledged "their hearty cooperation in every measure
for the support of their common rights." Governor
Wright, however, succeeded in preventing the ap-
pointment of representatives of the province in the
proposed congress. In October he ordered the
troops to attend a muster in honor of the King,
whose ascension to the throne happened five years
before, on the 26th day of that month; but although
a large number assembled, they took no part in the
programme prepared and marched through the
streets, denouncing the Stamp Act and even uttering
threats against Governor Wright. William Knox,
the Assembly's agent in England, defended the act,
and the Assembly, on Nov. 15, 1765, "resolved to
give instructions to the committee of correspond-
ence to acquaint William Knox, agent for this prov-
ince, that the province has no further occasion for
his services."
December 5 of the same year, a little more than
a month after the Stamp Act was to take effect, His
Majesty's ship Speedwell arrived at Savannah with
the first stamps, but from the first of November un-
til their arrival the governor had stopped the issue
of all grants and warrants and gave passes to ves-
sels in which it was certified that neither the
stamped paper nor the distributing officer had ar-
rived. The officer, Mr. Angus, arrived Jan. 3, 1766,
and landed secretly, as the governor had received
information that 200 Liberty Boys had organized
and threatened to break into the fort and destroy
the papers. Governor Wright had previously
THE COLONY OF GEOEGIA. 141
caused the stamps to be placed in Fort Halifax in
care of the commissary. Excitement ran high. Mr.
Angus was forced to seek refuge in the house of the
governor, with a guard set around it, where he re-
mained a fortnight and then left the city. Threat-
ening letters were sent to Governor Wright, and
James Habersham, president of the council, was
waylaid and forced to take refuge under the roof of
the governor, as the stamp distributor had done.
Finally the stamps were, on February 3, deposited
on board the man-of-war which had brought them
over. The only use to which any of them had been
put was to clear out between sixty and seventy ves-
sels collected in the port of Savannah and which
could not sail without them.
With the repeal of the Stamp Act quiet settled
upon Georgia, but, as the governor well said, it was
' ' but a temporary calm. ' '
On Jan. 20, 1767, the governor, under the terms
of the ' * Mutiny Act, ' ' called upon the Assembly for
the supplies for the King's soldiers on duty in the
province. In reply, on February 18, they sent him
word that "they humbly conceived their complying
with the requisition would be a violation of the trust
reposed in them by their constituents, and founding
a precedent they by no means think themselves justi-
fiable in introducing." The governor found it pru-
dent to let the matter rest there, and could only send
the proceedings of the Assembly to the King's min-
isters.
When Mr. Knox was deposed from his office of
agent the governor desired the appointment of Mr.
Cumberland, but the Assembly disregarded his wish
and appointed Mr. Samuel Garth, who represented
South Carolina in the same way. This did not sat-
isfy the governor and council, and no agent was em-
ployed from that time until 1768, when Benjamin
142 THE HISTORY OP GEORGIA.
Franklin became agent and served until the War of
the Revolution.
The Stamp Act having failed, another measure
was adopted by Parliament which was calculated to
call forth a strong protest from the colony. This
was a bill to tax certain articles of commerce, and
against a compliance with it the Massachusetts
House of Representatives urged the other provinces
to take united action. Another letter came from
Virginia, and, when the Georgia Assembly met and
had transacted its regular business, the house or-
dered these letters recorded in the journal and in-
dorsed the action of the other provinces. This
called forth a message of protest from Governor
Wright ordering that the Assembly be dissolved.
Dr. Noble Wymberly Jones was the speaker of the
Assembly. He has been styled "one of the morning
stars of liberty in Georgia," and Governor Wright
therefore did not hold him in high esteem. The
council was composed of men in favor with the Brit-
ish government, but the commons house of Assembly
held an opposing view of affairs. When, therefore,
Dr. Jones was again elected speaker of the house,
the governor refused to recognize him and ordered
that body to elect another speaker. The house re-
fused to do so and the Assembly was again dissolved.
In July, 1771, Governor Wright, having obtained
a leave of absence, went to England, and James
Habersham was named by the King to act in his
place, with the title of president. The last Assembly
had, by resolution, declared that the governor had
no right to reject a speaker chosen by them, and the
King had virtually ordered Mr. Habersham to re-
fuse to recognize as speaker any one who should be
the first choice of that body. Therefore, when it
met on April 21, 1772, and elected Dr. Jones, Mr.
Habersham ordered another election. Again they
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 143
elected Dr. Jones, whom the president rejected.
When, for the third time, he was elected Dr. Jones
declined to serve, and Archibald Bulloch was chosen.
Him the president accepted. These proceedings
were entered on the journal, and Mr. Habersham
ordered that they be expunged, but the Assembly
refused to obey, and he dissolved it.
After an absence of nineteen months Governor
Wright returned in February, 1773, and his first act
was to acquire from the Indians a tract of land con-
taining 2,100,000 acres, in payment of a debt due by
the Indians to the traders.
When the Boston Port Bill was passed a meeting
of the patriots in Georgia was held at Savannah to
express their sympathy for the people of that city.
The meeting was held on July 27, 1774, but was not
largely attended, and, in order that the whole colony
might be represented and take part in the matter,
it was adjourned to August 10. Among other things,
the resolutions declared that the action of the Brit-
ish Parliament in passing that bill and other meas-
ures acted " contrary to natural justice and the
spirit of the English Constitution." A subscription
was taken for the Bostonians, and 600 casks of rice
were sent to them. Jonathan Bryan, the only pa-
triot member of the Council, was present at the
meeting, and when Governor Wright convened them
a motion was made to expel Mr. Bryan, but that
gentleman said, "I will save you that trouble," and
handed in his resignation.
A Provisional Congress was held in Savannah in
January, 1775, one of the objects of which was to
elect delegates to the Continental Congress to be
held in Philadelphia in May, and Noble Wymberly
Jones, Archibald Bulloch and John Houstoun were
elected, but they did not attend, as only a small num-
ber of the parishes were represented in the body
144 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
which elected them, and it was thought that their
right to represent the province might be questioned.
They sent a letter to the Continental Congress, and
this is an extract from it: " There are still men in
Georgia who, when an occasion shall require, will be
ready to evince a steady, religious and manly at-
tachment to the liberties of America." Dr. Lyman
Hall was sent as a delegate to that Congress from
St. John's parish, and was admitted "subject to
such regulations as the Congress should determine
relative to voting."
On the night of May 11, 1775, Joseph Habersham
led a party of six men who broke into the powder
magazine and took away all the ammunition it con-
tained. Some of it was sent to South Carolina and
some to Boston, and it is said that some of it was
used at the battle of Bunker Hill. On June 5, 1775,
the King's birthday, the first liberty pole was raised
in Georgia. Following the example of the other
colonies the people of Savannah, on June 22, 1775,
elected a Council of Safety, of which William Ewen
was made president. This council called a Provin-
cial Congress to meet in Savannah July 4, 1775.
Every parish was represented, and Archibald Bui-
loch was elected president. It endorsed all the pro-
ceedings of the Continental Congress, and fell in
line with the other colonies so far as they had acted
in regard to the oppressive measures adopted by
Great Britain. Five delegates were elected to the
Continental Congress, namely, Archibald Bulloch,
John Houstoun, Eev. John Joachim Zubly, Noble
"Wymberly Jones and Dr. Lyman Hall. The Con-
gress established a Council of Safety in place of the
council previously elected by the people, which body
was authorized to act while the Provincial Congress
was not in session. During this session of Congress
it was ascertained that a British ship was shortly
THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 145
expected to arrive with 14,000 pounds of gunpowder.
An armed schooner manned by Commodore Oliver
Bowen, Maj. Joseph Habersham and others, under
commission of the Congress, proceeded to Tybee
and captured the vessel. Part of her cargo was
retained for use at home, and the rest was sent to
General Washington.
On Jan. 17, 1776, several British war vessels ap-
peared at the mouth of the Savannah River, and the
Council of Safety ordered the arrest of Governor
Wright so as to prevent his holding communication
with them. Maj. Joseph Habersham volunteered, on
the 18th, to carry out this resolve with the aid of
some of his young friends. On the same day he
boldly passed the guard at the governor's residence,
made his way into the dining-room, where a dinner
party had assembled, laid his hand upon the gov-
ernor and said: "Sir James, you are my prisoner."
The party were so astonished at this bold act that
they fled. The governor gave his solemn promise
not to make an attempt to escape, but, disregarding
his parole, he did escape on February 11, and se-
cured safety on board a British ship lying in the
river below the city of Savannah. A new Provin-
cial Congress convened in Savannah on Jan. 22,
1776, and Archibald Bulloch was again elected
president. A form of government was adopted, and
the title of chief magistrate was changed from gov-
ernor to ''President and Commander-in- Chief of
Georgia. ' ' To this new office Archibald Bulloch was
elected.
The delegates to the Continental Congress from
Georgia, elected in July, 1775, were Archibald Bul-
loch, John Houstoun, Dr. J. J. Zubly, Dr. Lyman
Hall and Dr. Noble Wymberly Jones. In January,
1776, Bulloch, Houstoun and Hall were reflected,
but Button Gwinnett and George Walton succeeded
vol. a— 10.
146 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
Zubly and Jones. Archibald Bulloch could not at-
tend on account of duties he had to perform at home
as President of Georgia, and John Houstoun was
detained at home. The Declaration of Independ-
ence, therefore, was signed only by Hall, Gwinnett
and Walton, and the news of the passage of that
most important measure reached the people of
Georgia on Aug. 10, 1776, by whom it was received
with demonstrations of great joy. By it Georgia
agreed to stand with the other twelve colonies in
abjuring allegiance to the mother country, and the
thirteen sisters continued to stand together until
their independence was secured, holding fast all the
time to the resolve that progress should mark every
step in their history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Jones, Charles C., Jr.: History of Georgia (2 vols.);
McCall, Hugh: History of Georgia (2 vols.); Harris, T. M. : Memorials of
Oglethorpe; Stevens, Wm. Bacon: History of Georgia (2 vols.); Georgia
Colonial Records, published by the State; Collections of the Georgia His-
torical Society (6 vols.)
WILLIAM HARDEN,
Librarian, Savannah Public Library.
CHAPTER II.
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION,
1776-1861.
Condition in 1776.
The colony of Georgia was by fifty years the
youngest of the "original thirteen." At the begin-
ning of the War for Independence its population was
still small and sparse, totalling about 20,000 whites
and 17,000 blacks. The people realized that they
lived on an endangered frontier, exposed to attack
from the strong Creek and Cherokee Indian con-
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION". 147
federacies and from any European powers which
should hold Florida or Louisiana. The British gov-
ernment had shown the colony special favors, includ-
ing an annual grant of moneys in payment of its
official salaries. Since 1760 the colony had pros-
pered greatly under Sir James Wright, one of the
most able and devoted of all the British provincial
governors. There were few local grievances, and
the majority of people, as might well have been ex-
pected, were slow in joining the revolutionary move-
ment. Before the close of 1775, however, the radical
party secured control and sent delegates to the sec-
ond Continental Congress. These radicals, further-
more, adopted a provisional frame of government
for the commonwealth in April, 1776, welcomed the
news of the Declaration of Independence which their
delegates at Philadelphia had signed, and began to
operate against the British in Florida.
First Constitution.
In response to summons by Archibald Bulloch,
provisional governor of the state, a constitutional
convention met at Savannah in October, 1776, and
on the fifth of the following February promulgated
the first regular constitution of the state. This
vested the major powers of government in a legisla-
ture of a single house, which, among its functions,
was to elect annually a governor and an advisory
council. All members of the Assembly were re-
quired to own 250 acres of land or £250 worth of
other property, and to be Protestants, but must not
be clergymen. Courts of law were provided, and
a bill of rights was included in the constitution.
Georgia in Revolutionary War.
In the years 1776-1778 there were half-hearted
expeditions of continental troops and Georgia mil-
148 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
itia against the British post of St. Augustine, and
there were wranglings of Loyalist and patriot fac-
tions in the interior, but the state had little expe-
rience of actual war. Near the close of 1778, the
British army and navy began serious operations
against the two southernmost states. Commodore
Parker's fleet landed about 2,000 troops under Col.
Archibald Campbell at the outskirts of Savannah,
December 27. Gen. Robert Howe, commanding the
American force of 672 men for the protection of
Savannah, neglected to guard a private path across
the swamp, was taken in flank December 29, and
driven from the town with heavy loss. Gen. Benja-
min Lincoln, replacing Howe in command of a mis-
cellaneous undisciplined and ill-equipped force,
could only watch the British from the Carolina side
of the Savannah River. Gen. Augustine Prevost
brought British reinforcements from Florida and
took command at Savannah, while Campbell ad-
vanced to Augusta, and, with the aid of local Loyal-
ists under McGirth, occupied most of the Georgia
uplands. After much irregular skirmishing, 400
Americans, among whose commanders Col. Elijah
Clarke was conspicuous in the battle, defeated and
destroyed a force of 700 British at Kettle Creek,
Feb. 12, 1779. American forces under Generals Lin-
coln, Williamson, Rutherford and Ashe, now planned
to unite and destroy Prevost 's remaining army in
the interior, which lay near the junction of Briar
Creek and Savannah River. But the British sur-
prised Ashe in camp and cut to pieces his body of
1,700 men. The British army in Georgia was now
increased to about 5,000, the royal government, with
Wright in charge, was reestablished at Savannah,
and nearly all the state reduced to submission. Near
the end of April, Prevost invaded South Carolina
with a view to capturing Charleston, but was re-
PULASKI MONUMENT. SAVANNAH.
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNTOK 149
pulsed by Lincoln in June, and fell back to stand on
the defensive against an attack upon Savannah by
French and American allies. Count D'Estaing
reached the river in September with thirty-six ships
of war and 2,800 men, and was joined before Savan-
nah by Lincoln with an army of 2,000. After costly
procrastination by D'Estaing, and brief ineffective
siege operations, the combined attack by the allies
on October 9 was decisively repulsed. The day wit-
nessed the heroic deaths of Count Pulaski, leading
a charge of the Continental dragoons which he com-
manded, and of Sergeant Jasper while fixing a flag
upon a captured parapet. D'Estaing sailed away
and Lincoln withdrew into Carolina. The British
control was again extended over most of Georgia,
the state government again became fugitive, and
Indian depredations added to the suffering of the
people at the hands of the British. Charleston fell
before the British attack on May 12, 1780, and little
hope was left to the local patriots except from the
operations of partisan bands. There were many
skirmishes in the interior, but no change in the for-
tunes of war until 1781, the northern march of Corn-
wallis diminished the British forces in Georgia and
South Carolina to the strength of mere garrisons.
The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October
19, liberated Continental troops to give aid in the
South. Gen. Anthony Wayne besieged and captured
Augusta June 5, 1782, and shut up the remaining
British troops within Savannah, which was finally
evacuated by them on July 11, 1782.
Georgia is reported to have furnished 2,679 troops
to the Continental army, in addition to the partisan
fighters, or minute-men, who rallied to meet emer-
gencies and quickly disbanded afterward. A large
number of skirmishes, as well as a few battles were
fought upon Georgia's territory, and the wide
160 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
devastation of her fields was one of the fortunes of
war.
Conditions at Close of War.
At the arrival of peace, the state in large part
lay waste, the stock of slaves depleted by the carry-
ing off of some 4,000 by refugee loyalists, and the
indigo industry ruined by the loss of the British
bounty. The state was heavily in debt and the
finances chaotic. The governor, Lyman Hall, in
1783, urged the laying of adequate taxes, but the
Assembly declined to do so and instead amplified
the confiscation law (first enacted March 1, 1778),
and provided for the payment of much of the cur-
rent expense with the proceeds of forfeited loyalist
estates. Among these that of Sir James Wright
alone was appraised at nearly £34,000. In 1786 the
Assembly emitted £30,000 in bills of credit, which
rapidly depreciated and added to the prevailing em-
barrassment. With its public lands, meanwhile, the
state was very generous. It gave a plantation each
to Generals Wayne and Greene in gratitude for their
services, and 20,000 acres to the Count D'Estaing.
It also provided for the gratuitous distribution of
land in liberal parcels (about 250 acres each) to sol-
diers in the late war and to other deserving citizens.
The demand was so eager that upon the opening day,
at Augusta, the mob of applicants partly wrecked
the land-office. The state also devoted 40,000 acres,
by acts of 1784-85, to the endowment of the Univer-
sity of Georgia, which it at that time chartered
as the first of the American state universities. This
institution, established at Athens, opened its doors
to students in 1801.
Upon the southern frontier a disturbance arose
in 1785 from desperadoes along the Florida bound-
aries, and disorders occurred in 1786 and occasion-
ally afterward from bands of runaway slaves in the
6EOEGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 151
swamps of the Savannah River. Disturbances on
the Indian frontier were more or less chronic. The
government of Georgia received overtures, August,
1787, from John Sevier, who claimed to be governor
of the state of Franklin, proposing a joint campaign
against the disorderly Creeks. Georgia was pro-
ceeding to raise 3,000 men for this purpose, when
simultaneously the Creeks sued for peace and the
state of Franklin collapsed. A boundary dispute
between Georgia and South Carolina was referred
by the two states to a joint commission, and adjusted
by the treaty of Beaufort, 1787, which fixed the
Tugalo River as the branch of the Savannah sepa-
rating the two states, instead of the Keowee con-
tended for by Georgia.
Georgia's Part in Forming the U. S. Constitution.
The proposal arising in 1785-6 for revising the
Articles of Confederation and establishing a more
perfect Federal Union were welcomed by the people
of Georgia with particular enthusiasm because of
the frontier location of the state and its need of
strong backing in the event of any war with the
Spanish, the French or the Indians. Upon receiving
an invitation to send delegates to a convention at
Philadelphia, the Assembly, Feb. 10, 1787, appointed
six delegates, of whom only four attended, viz.:
William Few, William Pierce, William Houston and
Abraham Baldwin. The leading spirit among these
was Mr. Baldwin, a graduate of Yale College, who
had emigrated from Connecticut to Georgia, had
fathered the University of Georgia and played a
most worthy part in the general affairs of his time.
The votes of Georgia in the convention were con-
sistently cast for the strengthening of the central
government, and excellent diplomacy was shown by
her delegates in aiding minorities to shape the con-
152 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
stitution so that their constituents would accept it.
When the constitution was presented to the states
for ratification, the Georgia legislature promptly
called a convention for the purpose, and the conven-
tion promptly and unanimously ratified it on behalf
of the state, Jan. 2, 1788.
State Constitution Amended.
Attention was then turned to remodelling the
state constitution. In this a peculiar process was
followed. The legislature, under resolution of Jan.
30, 1788, selected three citizens from each county to
be summoned as a convention, as soon as the Federal
constitution should be ratified. This convention
met in November and framed a new constitution,
which was then submitted to a second convention
elected by the people and empowered to amend and
ratify it. The second convention contented itself
with amending the instrument and passed it on to a
third convention, to be elected, for ratification. This
was finally accomplished May 6, 1789. The legis-
lature was made bicameral, with a Senate to be pop-
ularly elected every third year. Senators were re-
quired to own 250 acres of land and assemblymen
200 acres, or £250 and £150 worth of property re-
spectively. The governor with a two-year term,
a 500-acre or £1,000 property qualification and a
veto power, was to be chosen by the Senate from
among three persons nominated by the House. This
constitution was considerably amended in 1795, and
in 1798 (May 30) was replaced by a more elaborate
one, framed and adopted by a popularly elected con-
vention. Under it the Senate, as well as the House,
was given a one-year term, and the qualifications for
membership were slightly changed. The governor
was chosen by joint ballot of the two houses from
1795 to 1824, and then by amendment his election
GEORGIA IN THE FEDEBAL UNION. 153
was given to the people directly. The constitution
of 1798 prohibited the importation of negro slaves
from abroad after October 1 of that year. The
capital of the state, which had been shifted from
Savannah to Augusta in 1786, was changed to the
village of Louisville in 1798, and to the town of
Milledgeville, located for the purpose, in 1803. It
continued at Milledgeville until its final transfer to
Atlanta in 1868.
State Sovereignty — Eleventh Amendment.
Under the Federal constitution, Georgia had
early occasion to contend for state sovereignty. In
1792 Mr. Chisolm, of South Carolina, brought a
suit against Georgia in the U. S. Supreme Court.
Georgia denied the jurisdiction of the court and re-
sisted its judgment when rendered against her.
Georgia's resistance in this case led to the adoption
of the eleventh amendment to the Federal constitu-
tion, which thereafter prevented the occurrence of
suits against a state by citizens of another state.
Yazoo Land Sale.
The generous land policy of Georgia promoted a
rapid settlement of her territory, particularly in
the uplands whither immigrants flocked from the
partially exhausted lands of Virginia and North
Carolina. The state 's population in 1790 was 82,548
souls, including 29,264 negro slaves. In the next
decade it increased, nearly double, to 162,686, in-
cluding 59,486 negro slaves. Settlement was still
mainly confined to the district, about a hundred
miles wide, between the Savannah and Oconee riv-
ers. The state had, however, a nominal ownership,
or right of preemption, over the territory westward
to the Mississippi River, and the disposal of its dis-
tant western lands became a problem of much con-
154 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
troversy. In 1785 the legislature erected a county,
named Bourbon, to comprise much of the Mississippi
district, but repealed the act in 1788 and offered
to sell the northern half of its western territory to
the United States. The terms were rejected by
Congress, but private companies now made bids for
large western tracts. Speculators had secured a
cession from the Choctaw Indians in 1785, and in
1789 three companies contracted with the state gov-
ernment to pay about $207,000 for a title from
Georgia to some fifteen or twenty million acres of
what was then called the Yazoo district from the
Yazoo Eiver which flows through part of it. Pro-
tests against the activity of these companies were
made by the United States and Spanish govern-
ments, and the companies abandoned their enter-
prise without completing their payments or receiv-
ing title from the state. In 1794 the project was
revived. Four companies offered a total of $500,000
for four great tracts, comprising the larger part of
the present area of Alabama and Mississippi. Many
prominent men of Georgia and neighboring states
were concerned in this speculation, though its chief
centre was at Boston. The companies distributed
many of their shares among the members of the
legislature, and the bill passed and was signed by
Governor Mathews, under pressure, Feb. 7, 1795.
Shortly after the sale was consummated a cry of
bribery and corruption was raised by James Jack-
son, who denounced the sale in the newspapers,
raised a great ferment in the state, resigned from
the United States Senate, secured a seat in the state
legislature, and carried through a bill (Act of Feb.
13, 1796) rescinding the act of the previous year.
The legislature ceremoniously burned the documents
concerned with the Yazoo sale, in token of its abso-
lute repudiation. By this time the Yazoo com-
GEOEGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 155
panics had sold lands to " innocent purchasers," and
the issue as to the obligation of contracts was raised
by the investors, who refused to receive back the
purchase money and began to bombard Congress
with petitions. The state endeavored to fortify its
position by inserting a clause on the subject in the
new state constitution, 1798, but the issue would
not down. In 1802 the state transferred the prob-
lem to the Federal government by ceding its claim
to all lands west of its present western boundary
(the Chattahoochee and a line from the " great
bend" of that river to Nickajack on the Tennessee).
John Randolph had been on a visit in Georgia dur-
ing the intense Yazoo excitement, and in Congress
became the leading opponent of the Yazoo claim-
ants. Year after year Randolph and the Georgia
congressmen defeated bills for compensation to the
Yazoo petitioners, until finally after the Supreme
Court, in the case of Fletcher v. Peck, 1810, had de-
clared the original sale valid and its annulment im-
possible, Randolph's resistance was overridden
and the claimants compensated under an act of 1814
which appropriated $5,000,000 for the purpose.
Growth of State.
About 1795 there had begun a period of prosperity
in Georgia which lasted until the restriction of trade
with Europe just prior to the War of 1812. Sea-
island cotton, introduced in 1786, filled the gap left
by the ruin of indigo, and made the coast planters
comfortable. And, much more important, the inven-
tion of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, near
Savannah, made the short- staple variety of cotton
available for highly profitable production in a wide
expanse of the uplands. Immigration into the
Georgia Piedmont was strongly stimulated by this.
The population of the whole state increased by
156 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
ninety thousand in the first decade of the new cen-
tury, standing in 1810 at 252,433, of whom 105,218
were negro slaves. In 1802 the state invented, and
thereafter maintained, a new land policy, that of
gratuitously distributing newly acquired public
lands by lottery. The lots were mostly 202*^ acres
in size, and all citizens of the state were given
chances in the drawings. Fortunate drawers re-
ceived fee simple to their lots, with no obligations
as to residence or improvements upon them. The
system gave every citizen a prospective pecuniary
interest in every fresh acquisition of lands by the
state, and it intensified the already eager demand
for the expulsion of the Indians. The Cherokees
were partly free from pressure for the time, because
of their more remote location. The Creek lands
were those most wanted, but the "Creek Nation" at
the time was able to demand respect of its neighbors.
Their territory lay adjacent to Spanish Florida and
within reach of French Louisiana; the Chickasaws
and Choctaws, possible allies, were near at hand, and
English merchants were furnishing the Creek war-
riors, through the port of Pensacola, any supplies
which they wanted and could pay for. The talented
half-breed chief of the Creeks, Alexander McGil-
livray, made the most of their strategic position,
and the reputation which his diplomacy had .stfven
the Creek confederacy lived on after his death
(1793). In 1794 a body of Georgia frontiersmen,
led by Elijah Clarke, squatted upon Creek lands and
declared that they would hold them against all com-
ers. But the governor of Georgia sent militia and
ousted them without waiting for Federal aid. The
state government, however, was anxious to acquire
the lands by regular process, and brought all pres-
sure that it could to that purpose. When ceding its
western lands in 1802 the state required and secured
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 157
from the United States an agreement that the Fed-
eral government would, for the benefit of the state,
extinguish the Indian title to all remaining lands
within the state as soon as that could be accom-
plished peaceably and on reasonable terms. Numer-
ous negotiations were held in the following years
with a view to securing cessions, but both the Creeks
and Cherokees proved tenacious of their Georgia
lands, and they ceded only small tracts. Col. Ben-
jamin Hawkins, U. S. Indian agent, aided greatly
throughout his long service in keeping the peace on
the Georgia frontier.
War of 1812.
Meanwhile, public attention was diverted to party
politics and for a time very strongly to foreign af-
fairs. The Republicans had so great a majority
over the Federalists in the state that they them-
selves fell into factions. The North Carolina set-
tlers in the Georgia Piedmont rallied around the
Clarke family, while, in opposition, such of their
neighbors as had come from Virginia joined hands
with the planters in the lowlands in support of
James Jackson and his younger associates, William
H. Crawford and George M. Troup. But the fac-
tions did not acquire definite party machinery be-
fore the crisis in foreign relations united the state,
for the time, in the one paramount policy of vindi-
cating American honor against British insult.
The War of 1812 was supported with vigor. The
only hostilities in which the state was involved were
with the western or "Red Stick" division of the
Creeks, who at Tecumseh's instigation declared war.
A force of Georgia militia under General Floyd
failed to reach the Red Stick territory, but Andrew
Jackson marching from Tennessee crushed them at
the Horseshoe Bend, and forced a capitulation at
158 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
Fort Jackson, Aug. 9, 1814. The news of peace with
Great Britain, early in 1815, brought great rejoicing
in Georgia, as elsewhere, and inaugurated a new
period of prosperity. There followed ''flush times"
in the whole cotton belt. Amelia Island was the
scene of smuggling and piratical operations during
and after the war, but this irregularity was sup-
pressed in 1817. Depredations by Indians and ab-
sconded negroes on the southwestern frontier of
Georgia caused campaigns to be made, 1816-1818,
against their forts on the lower Chattahoochee and
in the province of Florida. With a large body of
Georgia militia in his army, Andrew Jackson, in the
so-called Seminole War, shattered the strength of
the banditti, and incidentally wrecked the pretense
of Spanish sovereignty in Florida. The purchase
of that province by the United States in 1819 re-
lieved Georgia of vexing problems in that direction,
and left her people free to consider internal affairs.
State Politics.
The domestic factions promptly reappeared, with
stronger organization than before the recent British
war, though the duels and horse-whippings which
had characterized the earlier regime were not con-
tinued. Crawford, after a useful career as a con-
servative leader in state politics had withdrawn into
the Federal service. George M. Troup, George R.
Gilmer, Jesse Mercer and John M. Berrien were
among the leaders of the Troup party, which was
the more aristocratic, and John Clarke, Matthew
Talbot, John Forsyth, John M. Dooly and Wilson
Lumpkin led the opposition, the Clarke party, which
found most of its support among the frontiersmen
and other non-slaveholding farmers. In heated con-
tests Clarke was elected governor in 1819 and again
in 1821. but in 1823 the Troup party secured a ma-
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 159
jority in the Assembly and Troup was made gov-
ernor. In 1824 the choice of governor was given to
the people, and in 1825 a most exciting campaign
among the people resulted in the election of Troup
over Clarke by a narrow majority. The fortunes
of politics continued to vary between the factions,
giving the governor's chair, the chief prize, to For-
syth in 1827, to Gilmer in 1829 and to Lumpkin in
1831. By this time Federal problems came in some
measure to overshadow the local faction-fighting.
Aside from the Indian problem, to be discussed be-
low, the protective tariff furnished the most promi-
nent issue. The Georgians had never given warm
support to protection. The whole state became
strongly opposed to the policy when, after 1824, the
protected interests sought to heighten the degree of
their advantage at the expense of the staple pro-
ducers and the importing merchants. The legis-
lature and other public bodies made numerous anti-
tariff expressions, though no crisis arose in the state
comparable to the Nullification episode in South
Carolina. Crawford, the leading Georgian in Fed-
eral affairs, was first and last a moderate state-
rights, low-tariff advocate, not doctrinaire, and not
extreme, and his colleagues in Georgia took tone
from him in these things, as in most affairs, except
that they discarded moderation in the Creek and
Cherokee crises.
Indian Affairs — The Creeks.
The Georgia-Indian controversies were matters of
very wide interest in the middle eighteen-twenties
(Creek) and the early thirties (Cherokee). All of
the other states which had Indian problems on their
own hands, principally New York, Tennessee, Ala-
bama and Mississippi, were much concerned with
the Georgia contests as forecasting the later Indian
160 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
policy of the nation, and the politicians everywhere
were exercised over the probable effects upon the
doctrine of state rights. In such states as were
erected from Federal "territories," the title of the
public lands, upon removal of the Indians, was vested
in the United States government. But in the case
of one of the original states, like Georgia, the public
lands, after the extinguishment of the Indian title,
were the property of the state and would yield no
Federal revenue. By buying out the Indians in
Georgia, therefore, the central government would
incur a dead expense, with no prospect of future
reimbursement. At the close of the War of 1812
the people of Georgia began to reach the opinion
that the United States government was creating
within their state an Indian territory into which
nearly all the Creek and Cherokee tribesmen were
being concentrated. The treaty of Fort Jackson in
1814, for example, had extinguished the Creek title
to a great and fertile tract in central Alabama, and
drove many of the Indians eastward to new homes
in Georgia. The state authorities protested at the
time, and as years passed protested more vehem-
ently, demanding of the President and Congress the
discharge of their duty under the contract of 1802
between Georgia and the United States government.
President Monroe repeatedly held negotiations with
the tribal chiefs, and in 1821 secured from the
Creeks a cession of nearly half of their remaining
area in Georgia. The citizens, however, were soon
clamoring again for the complete removal of the
Creeks from the state. The Creeks by this time had
yielded nearly all their holding in Alabama, and if
they ceded more land in Georgia their whole popu-
lation must remove to strange regions beyond the
Mississippi. To this removal most of the Creek
chiefs were firmly opposed, but a small group of
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 161
them, led by William Mclntosh, a half-breed chief-
tain and a cousin of the Georgian governor, Troup,
was in favor of complete sale and migration. This
policy of the Mclntosh faction was learned of late
in 1824 by two commissioners whom Monroe had
appointed to treat with the Southern Indians, and
who themselves were Georgians with the Georgian
eagerness for Creek removal. They notified the
president of the situation and, acting upon some-
what ambiguous instructions from him, made a
treaty at Indian Spring, Feb. 12, 1825, with Mcln-
tosh and his fellows. This chief purported to cede,
on behalf of the Eastern Creeks, all title to all re-
maining lands in Georgia, in exchange for land be-
yond the Mississippi and $5,000,000 in money. Pro-
tests against its validity were made at the time, but
the United States Senate ratified it promptly, and
John Quincy Adams signed it March 5, as one of
his first acts as president. The Western or "Bed
Stick" Creeks now raised a great clamor against
the treaty, and they murdered Mclntosh April 29,
and drove his followers in terror to the white set-
tlements for refuge. Impressed by this, President
Adams sent agents to investigate, who promptly
reported that the cession had been obtained fraudu-
lently and the whole body of the Creeks were much
incensed at it. Adams then adopted the opinion
that the treaty was invalid and the cession of no
effect. Governor Troup and the Georgia legisla-
ture, on the other hand, declared that the treaty had
been justly made and was binding, that the ratifica-
tion of the treaty had transferred the title to the
land ceded from the Creek confederacy to the state
of Georgia, and that the Federal government had no
further jurisdiction in the matter. A new treaty
was made at Washington, Jan. 24, 1826, by Adams
and a Creek delegation, which professed to abrogate
V«L 2—11.
162 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
the treaty of Indian Spring, and by which the
Creeks, for a new money consideration, ceded most,
but not all, of their Georgia lands. The Georgia
governor and legislature refused to recognize the
abrogation of the Indian Spring treaty, and ordered
a survey of the whole Creek tract for distribution by
lottery and early settlement by citizens. The Creeks
drove out the surveyors, and Adams notified Troup
that he would prevent the survey by force if neces-
sary. Troup replied in defiance : ' 'I feel it my duty
to resist to the utmost any military attack which the
Government of the United States shall think proper
to make upon the territory, the people, or the sover-
eignty of Georgia. * * From the first decisive
act of hostility you will be considered and treated as
a public enemy." On the same day, February 17,
Troup ordered the state militia to prepare to repel
invasion. Adams, meanwhile, had submitted the
whole matter to Congress in a special message of
February 5. Committees of each house reported
early in March, advising against conflict with the
state. The Senate committee, in fact, through the
chairman, Thomas H. Benton, upheld the Indian
Spring treaty as valid and declared that, if injustice
had been done the Creeks, some other way must be
found to imdemnify than by attempting to retro-
cede them lands in Georgia. By this time the most
stubborn of the Creeks were obliged to abandon
hope of retaining lands in Georgia, and by treaties
of 1827 and 1828 their title to all remaining frag-
ments of territory in Georgia was extinguished, and
the whole body of the Creeks was removed beyond
the Mississippi.
The Cherokee Controversy.
The Georgia government began to put similar
pressure upon the Cherokee confederacy just at the
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 163
time when Andrew Jackson acceded to office and
reversed the policy of the Federal executive in In-
dian affairs. The Cherokees, however, found a
champion for their cause in the United States Su-
preme Court, under John Marshall's domination.
The climax of the Cherokee problem was hastened
by several developments between 1825 and 1830. On
the one hand a number of white missionaries began
to persuade the Indians to give up their roving
habits, to till their fields and build substantial
houses and otherwise attach themselves perma-
nently to the district in which they then lived. A
number of half-breed and white chiefs of the Chero-
kees at the same time caused the formerly loose con-
federation of villages to hold a constitutional con-
vention upon Caucasian models, in 1827, and adopt
a formal republican constitution declaring the Cher-
okee Nation to be one of the sovereign powers of
the earth, owing no allegiance and acknowledging
no dependence whatever. On the other hand, the
Georgians denied the validity of such a constitution,
and the legislature, by an act of December, 1830,
paralyzed the working of the Cherokee "national"
government. Meanwhile the discovery of gold de-
posits in the territory, in 1829, made the Georgians
more impatient to expel the Cherokees altogether.
The legislature enacted accordingly that the laws of
the state be extended over such portion of the Chero-
kee district as lay within the state boundaries, and
it forbade the residence of any white person in that
district without license from the Georgia govern-
ment. The chiefs carried into the U. S. Supreme
Court a suit on behalf of the "Cherokee Nation" for
injunction against the execution of these obnoxious
laws by the state of Georgia. The majority of the
court decided, however (1831), that although the
Cherokees were a nation they were not a foreign
164 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
state, and therefore could not be a party to a suit
before the court, and it denied the motion for in-
junction. Soon afterward the same attorneys
brought a more hopeful case into the same court for
the same purpose. It was the case of Samuel Wor-
cester, a missionary whom the state authorities had
arrested, tried and sentenced to imprisonment for
illegal residence in the Cherokee territory. The case
was brought into the Supreme Court upon writ of
error. The decision of the court, rendered by Chief
Justice Marshall, 1832, in favor of the plaintiff, de-
clared that the extension of Georgia's laws over the
Cherokee territory had been illegal and void, and
the judgment of the court against Worcester was a
nullity. Upon the rendering of this decision by the
court it became the duty of the president to cause the
release of the prisoner. Jackson, however, had
taken the side of Georgia in the controversy, and he
refused to execute the court's decision. Worcester
staid in the Georgia penitentiary until he tired of
martyrdom, when he petitioned for and obtained
pardon from the governor. The Cherokees were
forced to the conclusion that their claim of national
sovereignty was hopeless, and likewise their effort
to retain permanently their lands in Georgia. After
some factional quarreling among them, the chiefs
agreed to a treaty made at New Echota, Dec. 29,
1835, by which the "Cherokee Nation" ceded all of
its land east of the Mississippi for an equal area in
the west and a bonus of five million dollars in money.
In 1838 the last of the fourteen thousand Cherokee
Indians and their thirteen hundred negro slaves
were escorted westward by Federal troops, and
Georgia divided among her citizens in lottery par-
cels the final acquisition of her public lands.
GEORGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 165
Settlement of Indian Lands and Movement of Population.
Most of the attractive parts of the Creek and
Cherokee acquisitions were settled with a rush.
Some settlers came from the states lying just east-
ward, and to the promising townsites immigrants
came from the far northern states. But in general
the stream of interstate migration continued to flow
across Georgia, dropping only a few stragglers on
her lands. Georgia's own citizens were given ad-
vantage by the land lottery, and for the most part
there was simply a westward and southwestward
drift within the state. The statistics of population
in Georgia were as follows: 1820, total 340,985, in-
cluding 149,656 negro slaves ; 1830, total 516,823, in-
cluding 217,531 slaves ; 1840, total 691,392, including
280,944 slaves; 1850, total 906,185, including 381,682
slaves, and in 1860, total 1,057,286, including 462,198
slaves. The number of free negroes was never
above 3,500, and the number of foreign-born whites
was likewise very small. The rate of increase in
Georgia's population was only a little higher than
that of the South as a whole, which indicates that
the state furnished nearly as many emigrants in the
westward movement of these decades as it received
immigrants.
Nearly all the Creek tract lying above Macon and
Columbus was known in advance to be excellent land
for cotton, and it attracted planters by thousands
with their slaves. Many thousands of yeomen farm-
ers moved thither likewise, and for some years there
was a free-and-easy regime, when men of the several
sorts dwelt in the same localities and devoted their
resources to the same industry. Some prospered
largely from the work of five or ten or twenty field-
hands on their respective plantations, others pros-
pered more moderately from the labor of their own
families and perhaps one or two slave helpers.
166 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
Then came the great cotton crisis of 1839 and a half
decade of severe hard times to follow. Cotton prices
fell to starvation levels. The less efficient producers
were forced to abandon the industry. Thousands of
small farmers sold their cotton lands for what they
would bring, and moved away. Some moved south
to the pine-barrens, and part of these fell into dis-
couragement and became "poor white trash"; some
moved west where there was always fresh oppor-
tunity; some moved north to the Georgia and Ten-
nessee mountain valleys where they raised corn and
wheat, apples, pigs and turkeys, which they mar-
keted in the plantation districts ; some moved away
as far as the Ohio and Illinois country where they
would be free of competition from plantation gangs
in their work; and some, and these the larger por-
tion, found no sufficient reason to emigrate, but
stayed where they had settled, in the cotton lands
of western Georgia, lived on as best they might dur-
ing the lean years, and prospered thereafter as be-
fore, amidst their plantation neighbors.
Railroads.
The construction of railroads had begun in the
state in the early thirties, with main lines from
Augusta and Savannah toward the centre of the
state. After much discussion, the legislature, in
1836, committeed the state to the building of a rail-
road with public funds to connect the Georgia roads
with the Tennessee Eiver and the great Northwest.
After many political vicissitudes, this road was com-
pleted in 1850. Soon after roads were built south-
west from Macon and Atlanta, extending the cotton
belt in that direction. The general effect of the rail-
roads was to cheapen food supplies and manufac-
tures for the planters, and intensify their devotion
to the production of cotton. At the same time the
GEOEG1A IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 167
railroads, by bringing in the miscellaneous products
of more favored producers outside the state, injured
the cereal-producing farmers in and near the cotton
belt, and crippled most of the local manufactories.
The railroads had been launched and built largely
with the political purpose of aiding the South to
keep pace with the North in population and other
material development. They were a failure in this,
and as intersectional relations became more
strained, the situation of the South, as viewed by
the Southern statesmen, grew desperate.
Slavery Question.
The rise of the slavery issue between the sections,
in the early thirties, began more effectively than
anything before to merge Georgia 's policy, and even
her identity, into that of the slaveholding and
slavery-defending South. Her people tended
strongly to embrace the pro-slavery views of Dew
of Virginia and Harper of South Carolina, and to
accept the teachings of Calhoun that the rights and
powers of the states were useful in the period mainly
for safeguarding the interests of the South as a
section. In fact, the sentiment was developing, half-
consciously, that the South, with its peculiar condi-
tions and special needs, ought to have a separate
national government of its own and that an early
opportunity should be seized for establishing this.
Georgia was neither in the van nor in the rear of
this movement. Among her politicians there were
no fire-eaters as radical as Yancey of Alabama, or
Quitman of Mississippi, and no nationalists as un-
compromising as Brownlow of Tennessee. The
Georgia spokesmen of the forties and fifties were a
new group, but differed little from the older school.
The local parties had twice changed their names—
the Troup party to State Eights and then to Whig,
168 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
and the Clarke party to Union and then to Demo-
crat ; but the general attitude of their members and
their leaders had changed little. The two factions
continued to oppose one another in elections, but as
formerly they could find few issues upon which they
could differ. Upon Federal relations the people of
the state were almost a unit in their general atti-
tude from the time of the Creek controversy to the
time of secession. From 1845 onward the most
prominent and powerful Georgians in politics were
Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens and Howell
Cobb. The first two were Whigs, and Cobb a Demo-
crat, but their policies were almost identical. The
Georgians of whatever faction had had the idea of
the importance of their state and the justice and
value of state rights bred into them, and they were
quite generally ready to use their state machinery
for any purpose to which it might appear that it
ought to be devoted. ^
The Wilmot Proviso, proposed in 1847, began to
draw the slavery controversies to a focus. Toombs,
Stephens and Cobb were among the leading cham-
pions of Southern interests, and in 1849-50 they
made fierce denunciations of the Northern policies
and threatened secession if Northern aggressions
were not stopped. Their purpose in this was in
large part to carry through the compromise meas-
ures of 1850. But their constituents at home became
highly wrought over the emergency as described in
the speeches in Congress, and the legislature pro-
vided for the call of a convention to take action on
Federal relations. In the summer of 1850 the pros-
pects were that this gathering would be of radical
tone. But as soon as Clay's compromise was
adopted by Congress, the three Georgians hurried
home and canvassed the state to secure the election
of delegates who would vote to accept the compro-
GEOEGIA IN THE FEDERAL UNION. 169
mise. The convention, which met at Milledgeville
December 10, proved to have a great majority of
delegates favorable to the compromise. By a vote
of 237 to 19 it adopted a set of resolutions widely
known as the Georgia Platform, which declared that
although the state was not entirely content with the
compromise just reached by Congress, yet on the
basis of that agreement she desired to remain in
the Union; but that in case of any further aggres-
sion by the North the attitude of Georgia would be
reversed, and disruption would most probably ensue.
Charles J. McDonald led an effort to form a party
in the state to reject the compromise, but he received
little support. The action of the Georgia convention
put the first check upon the very menacing secession
movement in the Lower Southern states in the early
fifties, and caused the defeat of the impulse, though
it lived in South Carolina and Mississippi until the
end of 1851. When the Whig party fell apart in
1852, some of its Georgia membership, including
Toombs and Stephens, went over to the Democrats,
while the rest went for a time into the Know Nothing
order, and toward the end of the fifties called them-
selves Constitutional Unionists and advocated fur-
ther compromise. But the Kansas-Nebraska quar-
rels, the Dred Scott Decision, John Brown's raid and
Lincoln's election brought on such a crisis that com-
promise was no longer possible.
Secession.
In the debates of the final secession movement in
Georgia the differences of opinion were merely
variations in degree, and not differences in kind.
The constitutionality of secession was conceded by
practically everyone of importance. The burning
question was as to its expediency. On this the
shades and shiftings of opinions were extremely
170 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
various. Herschel V. Johnson was a secessionist
in 1850, but was a Douglas Democrat (vice-presi-
dential candidate), and a Unionist in 1860; Eugenius
A. Nisbet, on the other hand, was a compromiser in
1850 and a secessionist in 1860. Toombs, Stephens
and Howell Cobb wavered together for a period,
then Toombs and Cobb went with the secessionists
while Stephens opposed on the ground of insufficient
grievances. Benjamin H. Hill emerged as a new
leader in 1857, denying the expediency of secession,
but he was more than offset by Joseph E. Brown,
governor from 1857 to 1865, sprung from yeoman
stock and swaying thousands of mountaineers and
other non- slaveholders. Brown believed that the
South should strike for national independence, and
that in the new nation the state should demand bet-
ter guarantees of state rights than had existed in
the Federal Union. As governor, Brown did much
to hasten secession. Finally, Thomas E. E. Cobb, a
tyro in politics though a jurist of distinction, con-
tributed the idea that secession need not mean a
permanent disruption of the American Union, but
that the Southern states could probably r center the
Union if they wished, and in so doing secure better
guarantees of their interests than they now had.
Prodded by the action of South Carolina, Georgia,
through her convention, adopted the secession pol-
icy Jan. 19, 1861, and thereby made it certain that
at least the Lower South would strike for national
independence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — A very, I. W.: History of Georgia, 1850 to 1881 (New
York, 1881); Butler, J. C. : History of Macon and Central Georgia (Macon,
1879); Charlton, T. U. P.: Life of James Jackson (Augusta, 1809, and
reprint Atlanta, n. d.); Cleveland, H.: Life of Alex. H. Stephens (Phila-
delphia, 1866); Fielder, H.: Life of Joseph E. Brown (Springfield, Mass.,
1883); Gilmer, Q. R.: Georgians (New York, 1855, partly autobiograph-
ical); Haskins, C. H.: The Yazoo Land Companies (in the American His-
torical Association Papers, Vol. IV., No. 4); Harden, E. J.: Life of George
M. Troup (Savannah, 1840) ; Jones, C. C. Jr. : History of Georgia (2 vols.,
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 171
Boston, 1888, extends to 1782); Johnston and Browne: Life of A. H.
Stephens (Philadelphia, 1878); Jones and Butcher: History of Augusta
(Syracuse, N. Y., 1890); Lumpkin, Wilson: The Removal of the Cherokee
Indians (New York, 1907; autobiographical); Lee and Agnew: History
of Savannah (Savannah, 1869); McCall, Hugh: History of Georgia (2 vols.,
Savannah, 1811-1816, extends to 1782); Philips, Ulrich B.: Georgia and
State Rights (Washington, D. C., 1902, extends from 1783 to 1861, con-
tains critical bibliography); Phillips: History of Transportation in the
Eastern Cotton Belt (New York, 1908); Royce, C. C.: The Cherokee Na-
tion of Indians (in U. S. Bureau of Ethnology Report for 1883-4, Wash-
ington, 1887); Reed, John C.: The Brother's War (Boston, 1905, con-
tains appreciation of Robert Tombs); Reed, W. P.: History of Atlanta
(Syracuse, N. Y., 1889); Stevens, W. B.: History of Georgia (2 vols., New
York, 1847, and Philaaelphia, 1859, extends to 1798); Stovall, P. A.:
Life of Robert Toombs (New York, 1892); Stephens, A. H.: War between
the States (2 vols.. Philadelphia, 1868-1870); White, George: Statistics of
Georgia (Savannah, 1849), Historical Collections of Georgia (New York,
1854).
ULRICH B. PHILLIPS,
Professor of History, Tulane University of Louisiana
CHAPTEB HI.
GEOEGIA IN THE CONFEDEEACY, 1861-1865.
Secession Accomplished.
The election of a President by a purely sectional
party, which had in various ways shown undisguised
hostility to the South and her institutions, a party,
which for the first time since the formation of the
government was represented in but one section of
the Union, excited in Georgia and the other South
Atlantic and Gulf states a feeling of genuine alarm.
All agreed that the South was in great peril. The
only point of difference was as to the remedy.
The conservative sentiment of the people of
Georgia was shown in the presidential election of
1860. The most pronounced Southern rights Demo-
crats carried the state by a plurality vote, polling f of
172 THE HISTOEY OF GEOBGIA.
Breckinridge and Lane 51,893 votes, while the united
vote for the Bell and Everett and Douglas and John-
son electors was 54,435. After the result of the elec-
tion became known, the tide began to set strongly
toward secession, which was stoutly advocated by
Howell and Thomas E. R. Cobb, Henry E. Jackson
and Francis S. Bartow, while Alexander H. Steph-
ens, Herschel V. Johnson and Benjamin H. Hill stood
just as firmly against it.
The Georgia legislature met early in November
and, influenced by Gov. Joseph E. Brown, began to
take measures for the defense of the state by cre-
ating the office of adjutant-general, to which position
Henry C. Wayne, of Savannah, was appointed, by
authorizing the acceptance of 10,000 troops by the
governor, and by the purchase of 1,000 Maynard
rifles and carbines for coast defense. The legislature
also provided for an election on the first Wednesday
in January of delegates to a convention which should
determine what action the state should take in this
emergency.
The secession of South Carolina on Dec. 20, 1860,
added to the enthusiasm of those Georgians who
favored immediate secession. Popular approval of
the action of the South Carolina State Convention
was manifested in the large cities and towns of
Georgia by bonfires, the ringing of bells and the fir-
ing of cannon. Volunteer companies that had been
organized by act of the legislature began to offer
their services to the governor, and many new com-
panies were formed even in December, 1860. The
zeal of the Georgia militia had shown itself as early
as Nov. 10, 1860, when a convention of military com-
panies, presided over by John W. Anderson, heartily
endorsed the recommendations of Governor Brown
looking to the defense of the state against possible
aggression.
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 173
Before the assembling of the State Convention,
which was called for Jan. 16, 1861, the people of
Georgia became alarmed because of the removal, by
Major Anderson, of the Federal garrison from Fort
Moultrie to Fort Sumter, with the plain intention of
subsequently using that strong fortress as a means
for accomplishing the coercion of South Carolina.
Governor Brown being advised that the people of
Savannah would probably seize Forts Jackson and
Pulaski, decided that it was advisable to occupy them
with state troops, so as to prevent their seizure by
the citizens on the one hand or by a hostile force on
the other hand, before the Georgia Convention could
decide on the policy which the state should adopt in
this emergency. Under instructions from Governor
Brown, issued Jan. 2, 1861, Col. A. B. Lawton, com-
manding the First Volunteer Regiment of Georgia,
having selected details from the Chatham Artillery
under Capt. Joseph S. Claghorn, from the Savannah
Guards under Capt. John Screven and from the Og-
lethorpe Light Infantry under Capt. Francis S. Bar-
tow, 134 men in all, went by boat on the morning of
January 3 to Cockspur Island and seized Fort
Pulaski without resistance from the few men there
stationed, who were allowed to continue in their
quarters without restraint. These proceedings were
reported to General Totten, at "Washington, by Capt.
|Wm. H. C. Whiting, of North Carolina, afterwards
a major-general in the Confederate States service.
The Georgia Convention assembled in Milledge-
ville Jan. 16, 1861, and was composed of 295 dele-
gates representing every interest of the state.
Among the delegates were George W. Crawford, ex-
secretary of war of the United States and ex-gov-
ernor of Georgia ; ex-United States Senators Robert
Toombs and Herschel V. Johnson, the last named
being also an ex-governor of Georgia ; ex-representa-
174 THE HISTORY OP GEORGIA.
tives of the United States Congress, Stephens, Col-
quitt, Poe, Bailey, Nisbet, Chastain and Murphy (the
last named died on the day of the assembly of the
convention) ; ex- justices of the Georgia Supreme
Court Benning, Nisbet, Linton, Stephens and War-
ner; ex- justices of the Superior Court, among them
being Hansell, Tripp, Kice, Eeese, Harris and Flem-
ing. In addition to all these able statesmen were
three of Georgia's most distinguished lawyers, Ben-
jamin H. Hill, Thomas E. B. Cobb and Francis S.
Bartow. The ministry and the college were repre-
sented by Nathan M. Crawford, president of Mercer
University, and Alexander Means, ex-president of
Emory College.
"When the convention assembled, Asbury Hull, a
gentleman of unblemished character and of well-
known conservatism, nominated George W. Craw-
ford as president and moved that he be elected by
acclamation. This was done, and Albert Lamar, of
Muscogee county, was then chosen secretary.
When, on the morning of the 19th, the convention
met, it went into secret session on motion of Mr.
Hull, and so soon as the doors were closed, Hon. Eu-
genius A. Nisbet, of Macon, offered the following
resolutions :
"Resolved, that in the opinion of this convention it is the right and
duty of Georgia to secede from the present Union and to co-operate with-
such of the other states as have done or shall do the same for the purpose
of forming a Southern Confederacy upon the basis of the Constitutionjof
the United States.
"Resolved, that a committee of be appointed by the Chair to
report an ordinance to assert the right and fulfil the obligation of the
state of Georgia to secede from the Union."
The vote on the resolutions was taken : ayes, 166 ;
nays, 130. The ordinance carrying the resolution
into effect was then adopted, and George W. Craw-
ford, the president, said : ' ' Gentlemen of the conven-
tion, I have the pleasure to announce that the
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 175
state of Georgia is free, sovereign and inde-
pendent."
Joined Confederacy
As soon as the result was announced to the great
throng on the outside of the capitol ttye people ap-
plauded, the cannon thundered a salute, and that
night Milledgeville was brilliantly illumihated. Simi-
lar demonstrations occurred that evening and the
next in all the large towns and cities of the state.
On January 28th the convention appointed commis-
sioners to the several Southern states that had not
yet seceded to present to them the ordinance of se-
cession and the reasons which prompted its adop-
tion. These commissioners were : to Virginia, Henry
L. Benning; Maryland, Ambrose E. Wright; Ken-
tucky, Henry E. Jackson ; Tennessee, Hiram P. Bell ;
Missouri, Luther J. Glenn; Arkansas, D. P. Hill;
Delaware, D. C. Campbell; North Carolina, Samuel
Hall; Texas, J. W. A. Sanford.
On January 29th the convention adjourned to meet
in Savannah in March. Meanwhile important events
were occurring elsewhere. On the Sand Hills near
Augusta was situated the arsenal, consisting of a
group of buildings around a commodious and beau-
tiful parade ground. Here were a battery of artil-
lery, 20,000 stand of muskets, with a large quantity
of munitions, guarded by a company of United States
troops under command of Capt. Arnold Elzey, of
Maryland, later major-general in the Confederate
Army. On January 23d Governor Brown, accom-
panied by his aide-de-camp, Hon. Henry E. Jackson,
who had been colonel of Georgia troops in the Mexi-
can War, and Col. William Phillips, visited Captain
Elzey and made a verbal request that he withdraw
his command from Georgia. Upon that officer's re-
fusal Col. Alfred Gumming, commanding the Au-
gusta Battalion, was ordered to put his force in
176 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
readiness to support the governor's demand. These
troops consisted of the Oglethorpe Infantry, Clinch
Eifles, Irish Volunteers, Montgomery Guards, two
companies of minute men (from which was soon
after organized the Walker Light Infantry), the
Washington Artillery and the Kichmond Hussars.
In addition' to these there were about 200 mounted
men from Burke county and a company of infantry
from Edgefield District, South Carolina.
On the 24th, in obedience to instructions from J.
Holt, Secretary of War of the United States, Captain
Elzey accepted the terms offered by Governor Brown
and surrendered the arsenal to the Georgia troops,
who vastly outnumbered the force under Captain
Elzey. The United States troops were not treated
as prisoners of war, but retained their arms and
company property, occupied quarters at the arsenal,
had free intercourse with the city and surrounding
country, and were to have unobstructed passage
through and out of the state by water to New York,
via Savannah. One of the terms of surrender was
that the public property was to be receipted for by
the state authorities, and accounted for upon adjust-
ment between the state of Georgia and the United
States.
Another noted incident of the month of January,
1861, was the seizure at New York, probably under
orders of the governor of that state, of thirty-eight
boxes of muskets that were about to be shipped to
Savannah. After a sharp remonstrance, which was
unheeded, Governor Brown directed Colonel Lawton
to take sufficient military force and seize and hold
every ship in the harbor of Savannah belonging to
citizens of New York. Three days after this was
done the guns were ordered released, but delay in
forwarding them led to the seizure of other vessels.
News being received that the guns were on the way,
GEOEGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 177
the seized vessels were released. The Georgia Con-
vention resumed its session at Savannah March 7,
1861, ratified the Confederate Constitution on March
16th, adopted a new State Constitution, authorized
the issue of treasury notes and bonds for revenue for
public defense, tendered a tract ten miles square for
the Confederate seat of government, and transferred
to that government the control of military opera-
tions, as well as forts and arms.
Georgia's delegation to the Confederate Provi-
sional Congress, which met at Montgomery, Ala.,
consisted of Francis S. Bartow, George W. Craw-
ford, Augustus Kennan, Alexander H. Stephens,
Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Thomas E. E. Cobb,
Benjamin Harvey Hill and Augustus E. Wright.
When the provisional government of the Confed-
erate States was organized with Jefferson Davis, of
Mississippi, as president, Alexander H. Stephens, of
Georgia, was elected vice-president, and Eobert
Toombs was appointed secretary of state.
The first call to Georgia made by the government
of the Confederate States was for troops for Pensa-
cola. The enthusiastic reply to this call is shown in
the fact that 250 companies were tendered. Georgia
had already in the field the First Volunteer Eegiment
of Georgia, organized prior to the war and com-
manded by Col. A. E. Lawton, upon whose appoint-
ment as brigadier-general H. W. Mercer was elected
colonel and, when toward the close of 1861 he was
promoted to brigadier-general, Col. Charles H. Olm-
stead was elected colonel.
Of the 250 companies that responded to the call
for troops to serve outside of the state, ten were
formed into a regiment and styled the First Eegi-
ment of Georgia Volunteers, with James N. Eamsey
as colonel. These were sent to Pensacola, and six
weeks later to Virginia where, in the Laurel Hill
ToL
178 THE HISTOEY OF GEORGIA.
campaign, they were the first Georgia troops to ex-
perience actual war. The First Independent Bat-
talion of Georgia, under Maj. Peter H. Larey, con-
sisting of four companies, was also sent to Pensacola,
and to this battalion was attached the first company
of Georgia troops that had gone from that state to
Pensacola, being from Atlanta and first commanded
by Capt. G. W. Lee.
The Georgia Secession Convention, prior to its ad-
journment at Milledgeville to meet in March at
Savannah, had authorized the equipment of two regi-
ments, to be either all infantry or infantry and artil-
lery as the governor should decide. The organiza-
tion of these two regiments had not been completed
when active hostilities began, so the companies that
had been then formed were consolidated into one
command under Col. Charles J. Williams, and turned
over to the government of the Confederate States as
the First Georgia Regulars. Thus it happened that
there were three First Georgia regiments.
Georgia Troops.
At the time of the first battle of Manas sas, Georgia
had organized 17,000 men, armed and equipped them
herself at an expense of $300,000, and sent them into
service mostly outside of the state. So generous was
this outpouring of men and munitions that in Sep-
tember, 1861, when Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston,
commanding the department of the West, called upon
the governors for arms, Governor Brown was com-
pelled to reply with great regret: "There are no
arms belonging to the state at my disposal. All have
been exhausted in arming the volunteers of the state
now in the Confederate service in Virginia, at Pen-
sacola and on our own coast, in all some twenty-
three regiments. Georgia has now to look to the shot-
guns and rifles in the hands of her people for coast
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 179
defense, and to guns which her gunsmiths are slowly
manufacturing. ' '
Allowing for reenlistments and reorganization of
commands, Georgia furnished to the Confederate
cause ninety-four regiments and thirty-six bat-
talions, embracing every arm of the service. There
were commissioned from Georgia the following gen-
eral officers: Maj.-Gens. Howell Cobb, Lafayette
McLaws, David Emanuel Twiggs, Wm. H. T.
Walker, Ambrose Ranson Wright, Pierce M. B.
Young; Brig.-Gens. E. Porter Alexander, George T.
Anderson, Robert H. Anderson, Francis S. Bar-
tow, Henry L. Benning, Wm. R. Boggs, Wm. M.
Browne, Goode Bryan, Thomas Reed Rootes
Cobb, Alfred H. Colquitt, Philip Cook, Charles
C. Crews, Alfred Gumming, George Pierce Doles,
Dudley M. DuBose, Clement A. Evans, Wm. M.
Gardner, Lucius J. Gartrell, Victor J. B. Girar-
dey, George P. Harrison, Alfred Iverson, Henry
Rootes Jackson, John K. Jackson, A. R. Lawton,
Hugh W. Mercer, Paul J. Semmes, James P. Simms,
Wm. Duncan Smith, Maxley Sorrel, Marcellus A.
Stovall, Bryan M. Thomas, Edward Lloyd Thomas,
Robert Toombs, Claudius C. Wilson, Wm. T. Wof-
ford. Of these, Brig.-Gen. Clement A. Evans com-
manded a division for the last five months of the
war, and it is said that commissions as major-gen-
eral had been made out for him and for Brigadier-
General Benning just before the collapse of the Con-
federacy.
Georgia furnished three lieutenant-generals : Wm.
J. Hardee, John B. Gordon and Joseph Wheeler, the
latter of whom became a citizen of Alabama and
congressman from that state. Lieutenant- General
Longstreet, after the war, made his home in
Georgia, and all that was mortal of him sleeps in her
soil.
180 THE HISTOEY OF GEORGIA.
The naval officer from Georgia of highest rank was
Commodore Josiah Tattnall.
Civil Officers of Confederacy.
Of civil officers of the Confederacy and members
of the Military Staff of President Davis, the follow-
ing were from Georgia: Vice-President Alexander
H. Stephens; First Secretary of State Eobert
Toombs; Philip Clayton, assistant secretary of the
treasury; John Archibald Campbell, assistant secre-
tary of war; Alexander Eobert Lawton, quarter-
master-general of the Confederate States; Isaac
Munroe St. John, commissary-general; Win. M.
Browne, an Englishman, but a citizen of Georgia,
assistant secretary of state ; James D. Bulloch, naval
agent to England.
During 1861 the Georgia troops in Virginia did
good service in the first and second West Virginia
campaigns, and at the first Battle of Manassas,
where the heroic Francis S. Bartow, commanding a
brigade, fell dying at the close of the dashing charge
which swept the Federals from the Henry House
plateau. His last words, ' ' They have killed me, but
never give up the fight," were like a bugle call to
valorous deeds that found an echo in the hearts of
thousands of Southern patriots ready to do or die
in the cause of home and native land.
War Conditions in Georgia — Campaigns in the State.
Early in the fall of 1861 Governor Brown, having
visited the coast and ascertained that the measures
taken for its defense by the Confederate government
were insufficient, determined to call out the state
troops. Early in September George P. Harrison
was appointed a brigadier-general of state troops
and ordered to organize a brigade and arm it as far
as possible with army rifles and the balance with
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 181
good country rifles and shotguns, and place the men
in camps of instruction near the coast. This brigade
was rapidly formed of volunteers eager for the serv-
ice and put in good condition. F. W. Capers was
commissioned brigadier-general and assigned to the
same duty. A third brigade was formed by Brig.-
Gen. W. H. T. Walker.
During this period Ira E. Foster ably acted as
state quartermaster-general, and Col. J. I. Whitaker
as commissary-general. Hon. Thomas Butler King
had been sent to Europe as commissioner to arrange
for direct trade. In equipping Fort Pulaski and
other fortifications, and in arming and maintaining
troops and other expenses of war, Georgia had spent
$1,000,000. Among these expenditures was the pur-
chase of steamers for coast defense.
Commodore Josiah Tattnall, a native Georgian
who, while an officer in the United States Navy, had
been greatly distinguished in China and Japan, hav-
ing resigned from the old navy upon the secession
of his native state, was appointed senior flag officer
of the State Navy, which did not then possess a boat
or a gun. In March, 1861, he was appointed com-
modore in the Confederate States Navy, and as-
signed to whatever navy he could find or create in the
waters of South Carolina and Georgia. He went
diligently to work, and during the summer produced,
in what was called a ''Mosquito fleet," the semblance
of a navy by arming a river steamer and a few tugs
with such guns as could be procured. He was or-
dered by the Confederate government to distribute
this little fleet along the coast from Port Koyal south,
for the special purpose of aiding vessels coming
from England with war supplies.
Early in September Brig.-Gen. A. B. Lawton, who
had been in command of the district of Savannah
since April 17th, informed the secretary of war that
182 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
additional troops were badly needed for coast de-
fense. He had at this time an aggregate present
of about 3,000 men at sixteen posts, the most im-
portant of which were Tybee Island, Camp Lawton,
Fort Pulaski, Sapello Island, Fort Screven, Savan-
nah and Brunswick. On Oct. 26, 1861, the military
department of Georgia was created and General
Lawton was put in command, with headquarters at
Savannah. Three days later he was notified that the
enemy's fleet had sailed for the South. Lawton 's
force had, by efforts already described, been greatly
increased, and Col. Hugh Mercer was appointed
brigadier-general. General Lawton now had in his
department about 2,000 men under General Mercer
at and near Brunswick, and about 3,500 north of the
Altamaha and generally near Savannah. About 500
of these forces were cavalry, well mounted and
armed, and the remainder included three batteries of
artillery. About 2,000 of the infantry were well
drilled and disciplined. There were also available
about 3,000 state troops "armed in a fashion" within
a few hours' call. The channels of approach to Sa-
vannah were being blocked by the efforts of the navy
under efficient officers. The coast defenders were
cheered by the tidings that Gen. Eobert E. Lee, who
had during the latter part of the summer and fall
been commanding in West Virginia, had been ap-
pointed to command the military department, in-
cluding the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and
East Florida. Commodore Tattnall, with his little
flotilla of three vessels, with great audacity attacked
the Federal fleet at the entrance of Port Royal sound
November 4th and 5th. After the capture by the
Federal fleet of Forts Walker and Beauregard, and
the occupation of Hilton Head by the enemy, Tatt-
nall succeeded in bringing off his little fleet in safety.
There were other skirmishes between the Federal
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 183
gunboats and Tattnall's mosquito fleet. In order to
force the Federal gunboats to pass under the fire of
the guns of Fort Pulaski, as they approached Sa-
vannah, piles were driven into the channels which
open into the river on the north and south, and other
obstructions made which, for the time, were effective.
Lieut. James H. Wilson, later a great cavalry leader,
endeavored to remove these piles, and had nearly
cleared a passage when detected and driven off by
Commodore Tattnall.
Ordnance Officer W. G. Gill, just before the fall of
the forts near Port Eoyal, South Carolina, gave the
following statement of the condition of the Georgia
coast defenses : On the south end of Jekyl Island, one
42-pounder and four 32-pounders, with 60 pounds of
shot and shell; on the St. Simon's Island batteries
one 10-inch and one 8-inch columbiad, two 42 and five
32-pounders, with 75 rounds of ammunition ; at Fort
Pulaski, on Cockspur Island near the mouth of the
Savannah Eiver, five 10-inch and nine 8-inch co-
lumbiads, two 10-inch mortars, two 42-pounders,
twenty 32-pounders, one 24-pounder and a very good
supply of ammunition. Fort Jackson, near the city
of Savannah, had one 32-pounder rifle, five 32-pound-
ers and three 18-pounders. Thunderbolt battery
had one 8-inch gun and three 18-pounders. Green
Island battery had one 10-inch rifled gun, one 10-inch
and two 8-inch columbiads, two 42-pounders and
four 32-pounders.
After the occupation of Hilton Head and Port
Boyal by the United States forces, Federal light
draught gunboats went through Ossabaw, Warsaw,
St. Helena and Cumberland sounds as far down as
Fernandina, Fla., rapidly taking possession of the
whole coast line, except the entrance to Savannah
harbor. They did not, as yet, attempt to attack Fort
Pulaski.
184 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
In November the famous steamship Fingal, that
had been bought on the Clyde in September, 1861,
by Capt. James D. Bulloch, of Georgia, naval agent
of the Confederate States, and which had sailed from
Greenock, Scotland, early in October under the Brit-
ish flag and With a British captain, under the direc-
tion of Capt. Bulloch and Pilot Makin, evading the
blockaders, entered the port of Savannah. She
brought 10,000 Enfield rifles, 1,000,000 ball cart-
ridges, 2,000,000 percussion caps, 3,000 cavalry
sabers, 1,000 short rifles and cutlass bayonets, 1,000
rounds of ammunition per rifle, 500 revolvers and
ammunition, two large rifled cannon, two smaller
rifled guns, 400 barrels of cannon powder and a lot
of medical stores and material for clothing. No
single blockade runner ever again brought into any
port of the Confederacy so large a cargo of military
and naval supplies.
Of this rich cargo, 1,000 Enfield rifles had been
shipped directly to Governor Brown, and 9,000 for
the Confederate government. One-half of these were
ordered to be distributed by General Lee to the
troops of Georgia and South Carolina, with the con-
dition that the troops receiving them must enlist for
three years or for the war.
On the latter account, Colonel Dow's regiment of
Mississippians was armed out of the guns expected
by Georgia.
Captain Bulloch made several attempts to get to
sea again r Jh the Fingal, but was foiled by the
blockaders.
Gen. Henry R. Jackson, who had, as brigadier-
general, commanded Georgia troops in the West Vir-
ginia campaign of Cheat Mountain and along the
Greenbrier Eiver during the summer and fall of
1861, having been appointed by Governor Brown
major-general of the state forces, assumed command
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 185
Dec. 28, 1861, with headquarters at Savannah. Gen-
eral Jackson hastened to inform General Lee that the
division of state troops under his command was
placed at the latter 's disposal for the defense of
Georgia, whereupon General Lee expressed gratifi-
cation, adding ' * I will direct General Lawton to indi-
cate to you where your troops can be of most service
and to designate such points as you may take under
your exclusive charge."
The year 1862 opened with considerable activity
along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. On
January 26th an expedition comprising 2,400 in-
fantry under Gen. Horatio G. Wright, in transports
convoyed by six gunboats, anchored in Warsaw
sound and on the next day made a reconnaissance
of Wilmington narrows up to the obstructions of
sunken hulks and piling, while a similar reconnais-
sance reached the obstructions at Wall's cut. On
the 28th four months* provisions and supplies of am-
munition were sent down to Fort Pulaski under the
protection of Commodore Tattnall and his fleet.
Upon nearing the fort they were fired upon by the
Federal gunboats north of the Savannah under
Eodgers and by those south under Davis, presenting
the strange spectacle in which the contestants were
separated by land. The supplies were successfully
thrown into the fort ; but as the gunboat Samson and
her two unarmed companions sailed back up the river,
several rifle shells were sent through her, hurting
no one and doing no serious damage. As the boats,
on their return from their adventurous errand, ap-
proached the docks at Savannah, they were wildly
cheered by the vast crowds there gathered.
When the Federals succeeded in removing the ob-
structions from Wall's cut and were becoming more
and more aggressive, General Mercer, in command
at Brunswick, under orders from General Lee, re-
186 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
moved the batteries from St. Simon's and Jekyl
Islands and sent the heavy guns to Savannah.
The terms of service of many state troops expir-
ing, great difficulty was experienced in getting them
to reenlist. But there was no delay in supplying
every regiment which Georgia had been asked to
contribute to the Confederate service, for when
twelve regiments were asked, eighteen were fur-
nished.
On February 18th came news of the fall of Fort
Donelson and the capture of its garrison. President
Davis now called General Lee to Richmond as his
military adviser, and sent Ma j. -Gen. John C. Pem-
berton, an officer of the old army, having a fine repu-
tation as an engineer, to command the department of
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The Federal
forces, which since the last of January had been
erecting batteries along the north side of Tybee,
were ready by April 10th to attack the Confederate
garrison of 400 who, under Col. Charles H. Olmstead,
were holding Fort Pulaski. The land troops of the
Federals operating for the reduction of the fort num-
bered near 3,000 men under Maj.-Gen. David Hunter
and Brigadier-Generals Benham, Viele and Gilmore.
To the demand for a surrender, Colonel Olmstead
replied that he was there "to defend the fort, not to
surrender it. " So at 8 :15 on the morning of April
10th all the beleaguering batteries opened fire. After
a gallant resistance the fort was rendered untenable
and terms of capitulation were arranged by Colonel
Olmstead and General Gilmore. The terms of capit-
ulation were that the sick and wounded of the
garrison should be sent under a flag of truce to the
Confederate lines, but this provision General Hunter
refused to ratify, and the whole garrison was sent
to the forts in New York Harbor. General Hunter
on May 9th issued a proclamation declaring all
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 187
slaves in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida to be
henceforth free forever. President Lincoln, how-
ever, annulled this order and rebuked the act of
General Hunter. The first negro regiment in United
States service was at this time organized by Hunter.
It soon became evident that the fall of Fort
Pulaski did not involve the capture of Savannah.
The Confederate force on the Georgia coast was
amply able to resist any force of Federals then in
that quarter.
On April 16th a reconnaissance of Whitemarch
Island by seven companies of the Eighth Michigan
Eegiment under Col. W.'M. Fenton led to a spirited
affair. This force, 300 strong, was resisted by 100
men of the Thirteenth Georgia Eegiment under Cap-
tains Crawford and McCally, who held the superior
force of the enemy at bay until reinforced by
Col. Marcellus Douglas, when they drove back the
Federals, with a loss to the Georgians of four killed
and fifteen wounded. Colonel Fenton reported his
loss as ten killed and thirty-five wounded.
Outside of the state, Georgia soldiers appeared to
great advantage in all the campaigns of 1862 east of
the Mississippi Eiver. At Shiloh the Washington
Light Artillery of Augusta (known also as Girardy's
battery), Capt. Isadore P. Girardy, attached to the
brigade of John K. Jackson, rendered conspicuous
service and suffered severe loss, while the Mountain
Dragoons of Capt. I. W. Avery, by their efficient and
arduous labors, proved themselves worthy of their
comrades of the infantry and artillery.
The proximity to the northern part of the state of
the Federal forces in the spring of 1862 led to the
celebrated raid of James J. Andrews, whose purpose
was to break up railroad communication south of
Chattanooga, so that Buell might the more readily
capture that important point. Andrews and nine-
188 THE HISTOKY OF GEORGIA.
teen of his men, at an appointed time, were in Mari-
etta, Ga., and, buying tickets to various points as
regular passengers, boarded the northward-bound
mail train. At Big Shanty, now called Kennesaw,
while the train stopped for breakfast, Andrews and
his men uncoupled a section of the train consisting
of three empty box cars with the engine (called ' ' The
General"), which they at once manned with two ex-
perienced engineers, who set this fraction of the
train in rapid motion before the sentinels standing
near suspected the movement. Wm. A. Fuller, con-
ductor of the train, and Anthony Murphy, foreman
of the Atlanta machine shops, who happened to be on
the train, comprehending what had happened, ran on
foot until they found a hand car, with which they
pushed on until they found an engine ("The
Texas"), and then pressed Andrews and his party
so closely that they abandoned "The General" and
took to the woods. They were all captured within a
few days and Andrews, with seven of his men who
had gone into the expedition with full knowledge of
its character, were convicted and executed as spies.
Some of the others finally escaped and some were ex-
changed. It is probable that the Federal officer was
correct in his views, who said that Andrews and his
bridge burners "took desperate chances to accom-
plish objects of no substantial advantage."
Though the battle of Shiloh, which began with
such glorious promise and closed with such disap-
pointment of exalted hopes, had failed of its main
object, it, together with subsequent movements of
the western Confederate armies, gave a check to the
triumphant march into the heart of the Southwest,
which Grant had planned and begun immediately
after his great victory at Don el son.
The brilliant campaign of Jackson in the Shenan-
doah Valley, his skilful march to form a junction
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 189
with Lee at Richmond, and the raising of the siege
of the Confederate capital by these combined forces
under the leadership of Lee in the Seven Days' Bat-
tles, changed the whole plan of the Federal armies
for 1862, and for months threw the invaders upon the
defensive and kept them there until near the close
of the year. Although after the end of the Maryland
and Kentucky campaigns the Union armies began an-
other advance, their aggressive was halting and
timorous and brought to a sudden termination for
several months by the decisive Confederate victory
of Fredericksburg in Virginia, the drawn battle at
Murfreesboro in Tennessee and the disastrous re-
pulse of Sherman's attack at Chickasaw Bayou, near
Vicksburg, Miss. In all these movements the sol-
diers and officers of Georgia bore their full share of
hardship and danger, and obtained their full propor-
tion of all the honors won by as gallant hosts as were
ever marshalled for battle since time began.
The short space allowed for this sketch of Georgia
in the Confederacy does not permit the recital of the
exploits of Georgians beyond the borders of the state.
In July, 1862, the armed cruiser Nashville ran the
blockade into Savannah with a cargo of arms. This
was the first commissioned armed cruiser of the Con-
federate States.
In November, 1862, Col. Thomas Wentworth Hig-
ginson, with his regiment of South Carolina negroes,
committed many depredations on the Georgia coast.
The message of Governor Brown to the legislature
in November described the military work of the year.
Of $5,000,000 appropriated, $2,081,004 had been ex-
pended; 8,000 state troops had been employed and
supported for six months ; the state 's quota of Con-
federate war tax, $2,500,000, had been paid ; a state
armory had been established in the penitentiary,
which was turning out 125 guns a month.
190 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
The constitutionality of the Confederate Conscrip-
tion Acts, submitted to the legislature by Governor
Brown and referred by that body to the State Su-
preme Court, was by the latter body fully sustained.
Other war measures of the legislature of 1862 were
acts restricting the cultivation of cotton to three
acres a hand, for the purpose of diversifying agricul-
tural industry and making the people self-support-
ing ; appropriating $500,000 to supply the people with
salt ; $100,000 for cotton cards ; more than $500,000
for obstruction of rivers ; $400,000 for the relief and
hospital association; $1,500,000 for clothing for
Georgia soldiers ; $2,500,000 for the support of wid-
ows and families of dead or disabled soldiers;
$1,000,000 for a military fund and $300,000 to assist
in removing indigent non-combatants from any part
of the state threatened with invasion. The governor
was authorized to raise two regiments for home de-
fense and to impress slaves for work on the defenses
of Savannah.
At the beginning of 1863 the United States au-
thorities were collecting at Charleston harbor a fleet
of nine iron-clads for an attempt to capture Fort
Sumter and Charleston harbor. Admiral Dupont,
commander of the fleet, detached one of these, the
Montauk, for a trial against McAllister. This work,
constructed on Genesis Point to guard the approach
to Savannah by the Ogeeshee river, was in charge
of Maj. John B. Gallic, supported by troops under
Col. R. A. Anderson, its main armament consisting
of one rifled 32-pounder and one 8-inch columbiad.
The Montauk, under John L. "Worden, who had
fought the Virginia in Hampton Eoads, assisted by
four wooden gunboats, on Jan. 27, 1863, attacked
Fort McAllister, and after a four hours' bombard-
ment, withdrew defeated.
A still more determined attack followed on Febm-
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 191
ary 1, and the Federal monitor and gunboats again
suffered defeat, though the Confederates paid for
their victory by the death of their brave commander,
Maj. John B. Gallie.
On February 27th the Nashville (or Rattlesnake,
as she was now called) ran aground not far above
the obstructions in the Ogeechee. On the following
morning Worden, having observed this, steamed
down with his vessel under the guns of the fort, and
from a point about 1,200 yards from the cruiser,
poured in such a fire as to blow up the vessel. But
the Montauk was so much injured by the explosion
of a torpedo in the channel that she was compelled
to run upon a bank out of range to repair damages,
while her pumps, with difficulty, kept her afloat. But
the most formidable attack upon Fort McAllister
was made on March 3d by the three new monitors,
the Pas sale, Patapsco and Nahant, assisted by mor-
tar boats. For seven hours 15- and 11-inch shell and
shot were hurled at the fort, and the mortar boats
kept up the din all night with no effect, except
slightly wounding two men and temporarily dis-
mounting the 8-inch gun and 42-pounder. But the
dawn of March 4th found the damage repaired and
the fort as good as ever.
Admiral Dupont, who was preparing for his naval
attack upon Charleston, now decided to save his am-
munition by letting Fort McAllister alone.
An expedition, which set out from St. Simon's
Island on June 8, 1863, for the purpose of destroy-
ing the Confederate salt works near Brunswick was
defeated; but on June llth another expedition
burned the town of Darien.
On the morning of May 3d, in North Georgia, the
celebrated raid of Col. A. D. Streight, who, at the
head of 1,500 men, had set out from Tuscumbia, Ala.,
on the night of April 26, 1863, for the purpose of de-
192 THE HISTOEY OF GEORGIA.
stroying railroads and machine shops, was brought
to an end by the capture of the Federal raiders, who,
deceived by the skilful strategy of Gen. N. B. For-
rest, with a Confederate force of about one- third
their strength, surrendered unconditionally to that
wily and fearless chieftain, and were sent as prison-
ers of war to Richmond, Va.
The famous ship Fingal, whose successful running
of the blockade with arms and ammunition in 1861
has already been narrated, having been converted
into an ironclad and named the Atlanta, was placed
under the command of Lieut. Wm. A. Webb, and un-
der orders from the Confederate government on
June 17, 1863, entered Warsaw sound for the pur-
pose of attacking two of the best monitors of the Fed-
eral fleet, the Weehawken and Nahant. But the At-
lanta was not suited for shallow water and ran fast
aground within 600 yards of the Weehawken, where
she became an easypreyto her enemies and, with very
heavy loss of her crew, was compelled to surrender.
As the fall of 1863 came in, Georgia for the first
time during the mighty struggle of the sixties felt
the shock of a great invading host. Her troops had
won distinction upon every battlefield of Virginia,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, and thousands
of her valiant soldiers, through every grade from
general officers to privates, had shed their blood for
the Southern cause. At last upon the Georgia line
the contending armies met, and the brilliant victory
of Chickamauga drove back, for a time, the tide of
invasion. In the Confederate army under Gen.
Braxton Bragg, assembled in August, 1863, for the
defense of Chattanooga, were the following Georgia
commands: In John K. Jackson's brigade of Cheat-
ham's division the second battalion of the First Con-
federate Regiment, Maj. James Clark Gordon; Fifth
Regiment, Col. Charles P. Daniel, and the second bat-
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 193
talion of sharpshooters, Maj. Eichard H. Whitely;
in Bate's brigade of Stewart's division the Thirty-
seventh regiment and fourth battalion of sharp-
shooters; in the brigade of Marcellus A. Stovell of
John C. Breckinridge 's division the Forty-seventh
Georgia Regiment, Capt. W. S. Phillips ; in W. H. T.
Walker's division, S. E. Gist's brigade was half
Georgian and C. C. Wilson's brigade almost entirely
so; in the brigade of Col. John H. Kelly of Brig.-
Gen. Win. Preston's division the Sixty-fifth Georgia,
Col. E. H. Moore; in Maj.-Gen. Joseph Wheeler's
cavalry corps in Col. C. C. Crew's brigade the Second
Georgia Eegiment, Lieut.-Col. F. M. Ison, the Third,
Col. E. Thompson, and the Fourth, Col. I. W. Avery ;
in Brigadier- General Forrest's cavalry corps the
First Georgia, Col. J. J. Morrison, and the Sixth
Georgia, Col. John E. Hart in H. B. Davidson's
brigade of Pegram's division; Co. G of Second
Cavalry, Capt. Thomas M. Merritt, escort for Gen-
eral Cheatham; Scogin's Georgia Battery Melanc-
thon Smith's battalion; Capt. Evan P. Howell's bat-
tery attached to Walker's division; Dawson's bat-
tery, Lieut. E. W. Anderson, and Co. E, Ninth Artil-
lery battalion, Lieut. W. S. Everett, attached to
Stewart's division; the batteries of Capts. Tyler M.
Peeple and Andrew M. Wolihin of Leyden's Ninth
battalion; in the reserve artillery under Maj. F. H.
Eobertson the Georgia batteries of Capts. M. W.
Havis and T. L. Massenburg.
Of Longstreet's corps, Anderson's, Wofford's and
Bryan's Georgia brigades did not arrive in time to
take part in the battle. But the brigade of Gen.
Henry L. Benning shared the fight of both days. In
his brigade were the Second Georgia, Lieut.-Col.
Wm. S. Shepard; the Fifteenth, Col. Dudley M. Du-
Bose; the Seventeenth, Lieut.-Col. Charles W. Mat-
thews; the Twentieth, Col. J. D. Waddell.
Vol 2-13.
194 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
When on Sept. 7, 1863, Eosecrans sent McCook and
Thomas to such positions south of Chattanooga as
would flank that Confederate stronghold, Bragg
abandoned the town and retired southwards. After
several days of marching and counter-marching, be-
ing reinforced by a part of Longstreet's corps from
Virginia, he began an advance against Eosecrans,
who was concentrating his troops at Lee and Gor-
don 's Mills, 12 miles south of Chattanooga. On Sep-
tember 19th Bragg attacked General Thomas, who
commanded the left of Eosecrans* army. The day
closed without decisive advantage to either side.
During the night- of the 19th each commander pre-
pared for the decisive struggle, which all believed
the morrow would bring.
General Bragg placed Lieut.-Gen. Leonidas Polk
in command of his right wing, consisting of the corps
of D. H. Hill and Wm. H. T. Walker, the division of
Cheatham and the cavalry of Forrest. To Lieut.-
Gen. James Longstreet he gave the left wing, em-
bracing the corps of Buckner and Hood, the division
of Hindman and the cavalry of Wheeler. Thomas,
still commanding the left of Eosecrans' army, so
arranged his force as to cover the Eossville (or Chat-
tanooga) and Dry Valley roads. His line of battle
began 400 yards east of the Chattanooga road on a
crest which was occupied from left to right by four
divisions: Baird's of Thomas* corps, E. W. John-
son's of McCook 's corps, Palmer's of Crittenden's
and Joseph J. Eeynolds' division of Thomas' corps.
On the right of Eeynolds stood the divisions of
Brannan and Negley. Across the Chattanooga road
toward Missionary Eidge came the divisions of
Sheridan and Jeff. C. Davis under McCook as corps
commander, while Crittenden stood in reserve with
the divisions of Wood and Van Cleve.
Bragg 's plan of battle was successive attacks from
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 195
right to left. When the battle opened on the morning
of the 20th, the divisions of Breckinridge and Cle-
burne of D. H. Hill's corps made a fierce assault
upon Thomas, while to their help came the divisions
of Gist and Liddell in the corps of Gen. Wm. H. T.
Walker, and the strong pressure of the Confederates
was increased by the advance of Cheatham's divi-
sion. So hard was Thomas pushed that he called for
help, and Eosecrans responded to his appeal by hur-
rying troops from the Union right, who, as they
hastened to the left, exposed to the watchful eye of
Longstreet a gap in the Federal line, through which
that wary leader pushed the eight brigades of Bush-
rod Johnson, McNair, Gregg, Kershaw, Law, Hum-
phrey, Benning and Eobertson. Under the leader-
ship of the dashing Hood, this strong force swept
from the field Sheridan's entire division, two bri-
gades of Davis* division and one of Van Cleve's,
Hood falling desperately wounded as the shouts of
victory rang in his ears. Longstreet, seeing at once
the necessity of disregarding the order of the day,
wheeled to the right instead of the left, overrunning
and capturing battery after battery, wagon-trains,
thousands of prisoners and the headquarters of
Bosecrans, who, forcibly borne away with his routed
right, hastened to Chattanooga — which had been for
more than ten days in his possession — seeking in
its fortifications refuge for his routed wing as well
as for the troops under Thomas, who, helped by Gor-
don Granger, fought desperately to hold his ground,
until night should enable him to withdraw the left
wing of the defeated army without further disaster.
As the shades of evening were gathering thick
around, under the continued attack of the left wing
under Longstreet and the right under Polk, the Fed-
erals were forced to give way, Gen. Wm. Preston's
division gaining the heights and firing the last shots
196 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
of the battle by moonlight. As the Federals fell
back, a tremendous shout from the charging Con-
federates thrilled their entire host with the story of
victory.
The defeated Union army retreated to Chat-
tanooga, where Kosecrans spent the day and night
of the 21st hurrying his trains and artillery out of
town, but, finding that he was not pressed, remained
there with his army. Bragg spent the 21st in bury-
ing the dead and gathering the trophies of the field,
among which were fifty-one cannon and 15,000
small arms. During the next two days he came
slowly into position on Missionary Eidge and Look-
out Mountain, which he connected by a line of earth-
works across Chattanooga Valley and sent into Look-
out Valley a force which commanded the twenty- six-
mile wagon road to Bridgeport, thus compelling the
Union army to draw its supplies by an almost im-
passable mountain road of sixty miles. Thus Bragg
hoped to force the defeated army to a surrender.
The Federals were reduced to the verge of starva-
tion, when the two corps of Howard and Slocum,
from their Army of the Potomac under Hooker,
and Sherman's army from Mississippi, came to their
relief, and through dispositions made by Gen. U. S.
Grant opened the way for obtaining supplies and for
attacking the army under Bragg.
While Grant was concentrating everything for
raising the siege of Chattanooga, the Confederate
government sent 15,000 men from Bragg under the
command of Longstreet to drive Burnside out of
East Tennessee. Thus it happened that a little over
two months after the great Confederate victory of
Chickamauga, Bragg was defeated, November 25th,
at Missionary Eidge, and Longstreet was repulsed
at Knoxville November 29th. The silver lining to
the cloud that overhung the South and Southwest was
GEOEGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 197
the brilliant little Battle of Ringgold, where Cle-
burne gave check to the pursuing victors and turned
them back for the time.
Chickamauga was the greatest battle fought on
Georgia soil. Missionary Eidge and the Battle of
Knoxville were entirely fought in Tennessee, and
Einggold made illustrious northwest Georgia. In the
assault on Fort Loudon at Knoxville, November 29th,
four Georgia brigades were conspicuous, Bryan's
and Wofford's of McLaw's division, and Anderson's
and Benning's of Hood's division, Benning being in
support of the other three upon whom fell three-
fourths of the loss in that day's battle.
In the Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25th,
Lieut.-Gen. Wm. J. Hardee commanded the right
wing of Bragg 's army and John C. Breckinridge the
left. If George Thomas, who held the left of Rose-
crans ' army at Chickamauga, deservedly obtained by
his bold stand the title "Rock of Chickamauga,"
Hardee, who just as stoutly held Bragg 's right at
Missionary Ridge, deserves equally the wreath of
fame. Gen. Alfred Cumming's brigade of Steven-
son's division won high praise from General Cle-
burne, who commanded Hardee 's right in the repulse
of Sherman at the Tunnel, and the Georgians who
were in Bate's brigade of Breckinridge 's division
were also distinguished in repelling attacks upon
their front. According to the reports of both Steven-
son and Cleburne, the Georgians of Cumming's bri-
gade joined with the Tennesseeans, Arkansans and
Texans of Cleburne 's division in driving back Sher-
man's troops, capturing prisoners and two of the
eight stand of colors, taken in this victorious charge.
The disastrous result elsewhere on the ridge made it
necessary for Hardee to withdraw his wing that
night, Cleburne 's division covering the retreat.
At Ringgold Cleburne received orders to hold the
198 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
main gap in Taylor 's Ridge and check the pursuit of
the enemy until the trains and rear of Bragg 's army
were well advanced. Here Cleburne advantageously
posted his division, embracing troops of Texas, Ala-
bama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, and
Goldthwaite's battery of Napoleon guns. Hooker,
with the three divisions of Osterhaus, Geary and
Cruft, at 8 A. M. of November 27th formed line and
moved to the attack, which was so effectually re-
pulsed by Cleburne 's one division that the pursuit
was checked and Hooker, by Grant's orders, re-
turned to Chattanooga. By this brilliant battle, for
which Cleburne and his men received the thanks of
the Confederate Congress, the artillery and wagon
trains of Bragg 's army were saved, and the Con-
federates went into quarters around Dalton, which
they fortified with a strong outpost at Tunnel Hill.
In this new position they remained during the winter
of 1863-64, and until the opening of the Atlanta cam-
paign, May 5, 1864.
On June 22, 1863, Governor Brown, in obedience to
a requisition from the Confederate government, is-
sued a proclamation calling for the organization of a
force of 8,000 men over the age of 45 years, or other-
wise not subject to military duty, to be mustered in
for six months from August 1st for home defense,
stating, that "the President is obliged to mass the
armies of the Confederacy at a few important key-
points and cannot, without weakening them too much,
detach troops to defend the interior points against
sudden incursions. He therefore calls upon the people
of the respective states, who are otherwise not sub-
ject to be summoned to the field under the conscrip-
tion laws, to organize, and, while they attend to their
ordinary avocations at home, to stand ready at a
moment's warning to take up arms and drive back
the plundering bands of marauders from their own
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 199
immediate section of the country." The governor
requested the citizens of the various counties to as-
semble at their court-houses on the first Tuesday of
July and organize the number required of them by
counties. To this call not merely 8,000, but 18,000
men responded. The command of this force was
conferred upon Howell Cobb, promoted to major-
general with headquarters at Atlanta, and under him
were Brig.-Gens. Alfred Iverson, Jr., with headquar-
ters at Borne, and Henry E. Jackson at Savannah.
Maj.-Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, who, on account of
ill-health, had resigned from the Confederate army,
entered the service of the state, with special charge,
for the time, of fortifications.
According to a statement published by authority
of the government at Eichmond, at the close of the
year 1863, Georgia had lost a greater number of sol-
diers than any other state of the Confederacy. The
list, as published, stands thus: Georgia, 9,504; Ala-
bama, 8,987; North Carolina, 8,361; Texas, 6,377;
Virginia, 5,943; Mississippi, 6,367; South Carolina,
4,511 ; Louisiana, 3,039 ; Tennessee, 2,849 ; Arkansas,
1,948 ; Florida, 1,119. In Georgia's loss were included
the following general officers killed in battle : Francis
S. Bartow, acting brigadier at First Manassas ; Capt.
W. F. Brown of the Twelfth Georgia, acting as
brigadier-general at Chantilly or Ox Hill (command-
ing Trimble's brigade) ; Col. Marcellus Douglas,
acting as brigadier-general (in command of Lawton's
brigade) at Sharpsburg; Brig.-Gen. Thomas E. E.
Cobb, at Fredericksburg ; Brig.-Gen. Paul J. Semmes
at Gettysburg; Col. Peyton H. Colquitt, acting as
brigadier- general at Chickamauga. To Georgia's
loss in general officers should be added Brig.-Gen.
Claudius C. Wilson, who died in the service after the
Battle of Chickamauga and just before that of Mis-
sionary Eidge.
200 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
At Dalton, Dec. 2, 1864, General Bragg issued a
farewell address to the army of Tennessee and
turned over the command temporarily to Lieut.-Gen.
Wm. J. Hardee. On Dec. 16, 1863, Gen. Joseph E.
Johnston was assigned to the command of the Con-
federate Army of Tennessee at Dalton.
On Feb. 17, 1864, on account of Sherman 's Merid-
ian expedition, the divisions of Cheatham, Cleburne
and Walker under Lieutenant- General Hardee were
sent to reinforce Lieut.-Gen. Leonidas Polk in Mis-
sissippi, but they were soon recalled on account of
Sherman's return to Vicksburg. When Grant
learned of the departure of troops to Mississippi, he
ordered Thomas to move forward and get posses-
sion of Dalton and as far South of that as possible.
On February 24 fighting began near Dalton and con-
tinued during the next two days, when this attempt
was abandoned and the Federal army returned to
the neighborhood of Chattanooga.
Although the year 1863 had closed in gloom, yet
before the opening of the spring campaigns in Vir-
ginia and Georgia the hopes of the Southern people
had been revived by a series of brilliant triumphs.
At Oulstee, in Florida, the troops of that state and
Georgia (mostly those of the latter state) under
Brig.-Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt and Col. George P.
Harrison, with Joseph Finegan of the Department of
Florida in chief command, gained a decisive victory
(Feb. 29, 1864) ; at Okalona, in Mississippi (Febru-
ary 22), Forrest scored a success over Sherman's
cavalry under Wm. S. Smith, then after other vic-
tories captured Fort Pillow (April 12) ; while the
defeat of Banks in Louisiana (April 8 and 9) and
Steele in Arkansas (April 25 and 30) with the re-
covery of much lost territory in both states, the naval
triumph of the Albemarle on the Eoanoke Eiver in
North Carolina, and the capture of Plymouth by
GEOEGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 201
General Hoke (April 19 and 20), and the defeat of
the raid of Kilpatrick and Dahlgren in Virginia in
March, raised to the highest pitch the hopes of the
valiant hosts, who, nnder Lee in Virginia and John-
ston in Georgia, stood ready to dispute the advance
of the invading hosts of Grant and Sherman re-
spectively.
In each of the grand armies Georgia was well rep-
resented. In that of Northern Virginia, four of the
nine brigades of Longstreet's corps were Georgians ;
those of Wm. T. Wofford, Goode Bryan, George T.
Anderson and Henry L. Benning. In Swell's corps
were the Georgia brigades of George Doles of Bodes '
division, and of John B. Gordon of Early 's division.
In A. P. Hill's corps were the Georgia brigades of
Ambrose B. "Wright of B. H. Anderson's division,
and Edward L. Thomas of Wilcox's division. The
Georgia batteries of Callaway and Carlton (the lat-
ter known as the Troup Artillery) were attached to
the artillery of Longstreet's corps, commanded by a
Georgian, Brigadier-General E. P. Alexander. With
the second corps was the Georgia battery of Capt.
John Milledge, while with A. P. Hill's corps was the
Georgia artillery battalion of Col. A. S. Cutts, known
as the Sumter Battalion. In the cavalry corps of
Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, Georgia was represented by
the brigade of Gen. P. M. B. Young, containing
the Seventh Begiment, Col. W. P. White; Cobb's
Legion, Col. G. J. Wright; Phillips' Legion; Twen-
tieth Battalion, Col. J. M. Millen; and after July,
one Georgia company with the Jeff. Davis (Miss.)
Legion.
The Georgia troops in the Confederate Army of
Tennessee at and around Dalton in early May of
1864 were: In Hardee's corps and Gen. Wm. H. T.
Walker's division, J. K. Jackson's Georgia and Mis-
sissippi brigade, Gist's Georgia and South Carolina
202 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
brigade, C. H. Stevens' Georgia brigade and H. W.
Mercer's Georgia brigade; in the same corps and
Win. B. Bate's division, Tyler's Georgia and Ten-
nessee brigade; in Maj.-Gen. C. L. Stevenson's divi-
sion of Hood's corps, Alfred Gumming 's Georgia
brigade, and in Maj.-Gen. A. P. Stewart's division
of Hood's corps, Stovall's Georgia brigade. In Maj.-
Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry corps in Maj.-Gen.
W. H. Martin's division was the Georgia brigade of
Alfred Iverson.
In artillery of Martin's battalion, Capt. Evan P.
Howell's Georgia battery; of Palmer's battalion, the
Georgia batteries of Capts. R. W. Anderson and
M. W. Havis ; of Johnson's battalion, Capt. Max Van
D. Corput's Georgia battery; of Robertson's bat-
talion, Georgia battery of Lieut. W. B. S. Davis.
The State Guards and Reserves consisted of men
who had been regular soldiers, but were honorably
discharged, of men over the military age or of youths
under military age, also of state and county civil
officers or employees in government shops who, upon
the invasion of the state, were called into the field.
These troops consisted of: First Battalion, Maj. W.
R. Symons ; First Regiment, Col. J. H. Fannin ; First
Battalion, known as "Augusta Fire Brigade,"
Lieut.-Col. C. A. Platt; Atlanta Fire Battalion,
Lieut.-Col. G. W. Lee ; Georgia State Guards, Lieut.-
Col. J. R. Freeman; Second Regiment, Col. R. F.
Maddox; Third Regiment, Col. E. J. Harris; Fourth
Regiment, Col. R. S. Taylor; Fifth Regiment, Col.
J. B. Cumming; twenty-six independent companies.
During the siege of Atlanta the following state
troops participated : First Brigade, Brig.-Gen. R. W.
Carswell, consisting of Col. E. H. Pottle's regiment
(First) ; Second Regiment, Col. C. D. Anderson ;
Fifth Regiment, Col. S. S. Stafford; First Battalion,
Lieut.-Col. H. K. McCoy; Second Brigade, Brig.-
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 203
Gen. P. G. Phillips, consisting of Third Eegiment,
Col. Q. M. Hill; Fourth Eegiment, Col. B. McMillan;
Sixth Eegiment, Col. J. W. Burney; Artillery Bat-
talion, Col. C. W. Styles ; Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen.
C. D. Anderson; Fourth Brigade, Brig.-Gen. H. H.
McKay. The regiments composing the last two bri-
gades are not given in the official records.
The Cadet Battalion from the Georgia Military
Institute (Marietta, Ga.) served with distinction
during the campaign from Dalton to the sea.
Sherman's Campaign in Georgia.
The army under Johnston numbered about 50,000
men at and near Dalton on May 5, 1864, when the
Georgia campaign began. At Eesaca, when Polk's
corps from Mississippi had joined him, his strength
was something over 70,000.
The three field armies concentrated under Sher-
man for the advance against Atlanta numbered
98,235, increased soon to 112,000.
On May 7, 1864, the Federal army had advanced
past Tunnell Hill to Mill Creek Gap. On the 8th
and 9th on Eocky Face, before Dalton and at Dug-
Gap, fierce attacks were made by the Federals and
all their assaults were repulsed. The fight, said
Sherman, "attained the dimensions of a battle."
Meanwhile McPherson's flanking army reached
Snake Creek Gap near Eesaca, and encountered only
Grigsby's Kentucky cavalry and the cadets of the
Georgia Military Institute, supported by Cantey's
brigade. McPherson, deceived by the stout resist-
ance of this small force, withdrew for the night to a
position between Sugar Valley and the entrance to
the gap.
Johnston had sent Hood with the divisions of Hind-
man, Cleburne and .Walker to Eesaca, but, learn-
ing of McPherson's withdrawal, ordered Cleburne
204 THE HISTORY OP GEORGIA.
and Walker to Tilton, midway, and being advised
that Polk had arrived at Eesaca with Loring's divi-
sion of the Army of the Mississippi, maintaining his
position at Dalton during the llth and 12th, during
which time Wheeler, moving around the north end of
the mountain, defeated Stoneman's cavalry, inflict-
ing on them considerable loss in men and wagons.
On May 14 Sherman's movements caused Johnston
to abandon Dalton and concentrate his army around
Eesaca. The fighting around Dalton had cost the
Federals 800 men and the Confederates 400.
During May 14 and 15 there was heavy fighting
around Eesaca, in which Hood, with Stewart's and
Stevenson's divisions, drove the Federal left from
its ground, and Hindman repulsed Hooker's ad-
vance, but McPherson drove Folk's skirmishers from
the hill in front of his left, which commanded the
Western and Atlantic railroad bridge over the Oos-
tenaula, and held it. John K. Jackson's brigade,
having failed to drive back General Sweeney's
flanking force, Johnston decided to abandon Eesaca
and retire toward Kingston.
On May 19, in and around Cassville, there was
heavy skirmishing and Johnston planned to give
battle here, but for reasons which were subject of
considerable dispute between him and two of his
three corps commanders. Hood and Polk, he decided
to retire and crossed the Etowah next morning.
Meanwhile a Federal division had occupied Eome,
capturing a large amount of commissary and quar-
termaster stores.
Learning that the Federal army had crossed the
Etowah far to the Confederate left, Johnston moved
forward to meet them and took up a position between
Dallas and the railroad. Along this line there were
ten days of continuous fighting, which included heavy
skirmishing and three fierce engagements between
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 205
portions of the two armies. On May 25, at New
Hope Church, Hooker attacked Stewart's division
of Hood's corps, but his vigorous assaults resulted
in a succession of bloody repulses. A heavy storm
with vivid lightning and peals of thunder blending
with the cannon's roar and the musket's sheet of
flame added to the grandeur of these awful charges.
Hooker's loss was 1,406 and Hood's less than 400.
Two days later Sherman sent Howard with two
divisions to turn Johnston's right, which brought on
a desperate encounter at Pickett's Mill in which
Howard suffered a severe defeat, losing 1,500 men to
a Confederate loss of 400.
Next day, as McPherson began to withdraw from
Dallas, Bate's division of Hardee's corps quickly
assailed his three divisions, meeting with a repulse
in which the loss of the opposing forces was about
400 on each side.
On June 4 Johnston found that the Federal army
extended far beyond his right and drew back to a
new line.
Sherman and Johnston agree in calling this series
of engagements near Dallas, from May 25 to June 4,
the Battle of New Hope Church, and Sherman calls
it a drawn battle.
Now for several days there were constant skirm-
ishes between the two armies, whose comfort was
greatly interfered with by steady rains. On June
14, on Pine Mountain, Lieut.-Gen. Leonidas Polk
was killed by a cannon shot while reconnoitering the
position of the Federals.
On June 19 the Confederate army was placed in
a new position, the key to which was Kenesaw Moun-
tain. On June 22, at Kulp's (or Kolb's) Farm, Scho-
field's and Hooker's troops attacked Hood's corps
and were repulsed by the Confederates, who in turn,
trying to capture the Federal entrenched artillery,
206 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
were repulsed, their loss of 1,000 men exceeding that
of the Federals by several hundred. After five days
more of steady skirmishing, Sherman made an as-
sault all along the Confederate front (June 27).
This assault was preceded by a furious cannonade,
which fairly shook the ground. Then the bugles
sounded the charge and the attacking columns
rushed forward. Logan, supported by Blair and
Dodge, moving against the Confederate right east of
the mountain and against the mountain itself, lost
heavily, seven of his regimental commanders falling
dead or wounded. A furious attack upon Cockrell 's
Missourians of French's division was also repelled
with heavy loss. The skirmishers of Walker's divi-
sion, attacked in front and on each flank, were forced
to withdraw, but being halted on the crest of a little
hill and aided by French's cannon on Little Kenesaw,
drove back the Federals before they came near
Walker's line of battle. The determined assault of
Palmer's corps with Hooker in reserve upon the in-
trenchments held by Cheatham's and Cleburne's
divisions was repulsed with great slaughter to the
assailants. "By 11:30 the assault was, in fact, over
and had failed," says Sherman in his Memoirs, and
in another account of this battle he states: "We
failed, losing 3,000 men to the Confederate loss of
630." Among Sherman's killed were Generals
Harker and McCook. After a few days Sherman
tried another flank movement and on the night of
July 2 Johnston abandoned Kenesaw Mountain, the
scene of his recent victory, and Marietta, leaving no
trophies of any kind to the enemy.
In all the fighting on this line the Federal army
had lost 8,000 men and the Confederate army 4,000.
Johnston fell back until he had crossed the Chat-
tahoochee river, and on July 17 received instructions
to turn the army over to Lieut.-Gen. John B. Hood,
GEOEGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 207
temporarily commissioned as general, a leader more
aggressive and less cautious than General Johnston.
He had been disabled in an arm at Gettysburg and
lost a leg at Chicamauga, yet was in the field at the
opening of the campaign of 1864. The army turned
over to General Hood, when he took command (July
18) was about 50,000 strong, to which must be added
about 5,000 state troops under Maj.-Gen. Gustavus
W. Smith.
On July 20 Hood sent the corps of Stewart and
Hardee to attack Thomas* wing of Sherman's army,
while only partially intrenched at Peachtree Creek.
The attack proved a failure. Brig.-Gen. H. H.
Stevens, of South Carolina, was among the killed.
McPherson, with Sherman's left wing, had al-
ready seized the Augusta railroad and was prepar-
ing to continue his flanking movement to the Macon
road. Unless this movement could be checked, At-
lanta was in danger of speedy capture. Hardee was
directed to move with his corps to the extreme left
and rear of the Federal army, Wheeler's cavalry
accompanying him, and to attack at daylight or as
near thereafter as possible. When Hardee became
fully engaged, Cheatham was to take up the move-
ment from his right and G. W. Smith, with the
Georgia state troops, was then to join in the attack.
General Stewart on Hood's left was ordered to
watch Thomas and prevent his going to the aid of
Schofield and McPherson, and to join in the battle
the instant that the movement became general. The
attack was made July 22 with great gallantry, but
was only partially successful. At the close of the
day the Confederate right held part of the ground
previously occupied by the Federal left, Hardee
bearing off as trophies eight guns and thirteen
stands of colors, and Cheatham capturing five guns
and five stands of colors. Both Hood and Sherman
208 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
claimed the victory. As to these claims this much
can be said: Sherman's orders prove that he ex-
pected to swing into Atlanta that day, which he had
failed to do ; Hood hoped to surprise and drive Sher-
man's army down Peachtree Creek, and this he had
failed to do. But he had defeated Sherman's flank
movement toward the Macon road and saved Atlanta
for a time. The loss of the Federals in this day's
fight, known as the Battle of Atlanta, was near 4,000
men, among whom Gen. James B. McPherson was
killed. The Confederates lost somewhat more, the
exact number not being given separately. Among
their killed was Maj.-Gen. W. H. T. Walker, of
Georgia.
Six days after this an attempt upon Sherman's
part to turn the Confederate left brought on the bat-
tle of Ezra Church, which was fought by Lieut.-Gen.
Stephen D. Lee, now in command of Hood's old corps
against Sherman's right. The Confederates failed
with heavy loss in their fierce assault, yet the Fed-
eral movement also failed of complete success.
Meanwhile Sherman sent out two great cavalry
raids, one under General McCook down the right
bank of the Chattahoochee and thence across the
West Point road to the Macon road below Jonesboro,
and the other under General Stoneman from the left
flank of the Federal army toward the railroad from
Macon with instructions to push on to Anderson-
ville, if possible, and release 34,000 Union prisoners
there confined. Wheeler sent Iverson to look after
Stoneman, while he attended to the column under
McCook. Near Newnan General Wheeler defeated
McCook, inflicting heavy losses in killed and wounded
and capturing 950 prisoners, two cannon and 1,200
horses with equipments. Wheeler pursued beyond
the Chattahoochee and well nigh completed the de-
struction of McCook 's command. On the same day
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDEKACY. 209
(August 2) Stoneman, with 500 of his men, sur-
rendered to Gen. Alfred Tver son, who, with Maj.-
Gen. Howell Cobb, had defeated the Federals the day
before at Macon and then had pushed after them in
swift pursuit. Iverson also captured many more of
Stoneman 's routed troops as they fled toward Eaton-
don, together with the horses of all the men captured
with Stoneman and two cannon. These two brilliant
victories put out of the combat about 3,000 of Sher-
man's 10,000 cavalry. Wheeler, being now sent to
the rear of Sherman's army, burned the bridge over
the Etowah, captured Dalton and Eesaca and de-
stroyed thirty-five miles of railroad, then going into
Tennessee, together with Forrest, did much damage
to the Federal lines of supply in that state.
But Sherman continued to extend his lines west-
ward and southward from Atlanta. In one of these
movements General Schofield's corps of Sherman's
army attacked Major-General Bate near Utoy Creek
(August 6) and was repulsed with heavy loss.
Thinking that in the absence of Wheeler he could
employ his own cavalry to advantage, Sherman sent
Kilpatrick against the Macon road, but this expedi-
tion was defeated by Gen. W. H. Jackson's Con-
federate horsemen, and a Federal raid along the
Augusta road was at the same time (August 22) re-
pelled.
During the month of August, from the 9th until
the 25th, Atlanta was subjected to a furious bom-
bardment, that of the 9th being the most terrible of
all. General Hood, in his Advance and Retreat,
says : "Women and children fled into cellars. It was
painful, yet strange, to see how expert grew the old
men, women and children in building their little un-
derground forts, into which to fly for safety during
the storm of shell and shot. Often mid the darkness
of night were they constrained to seek refuge in
Vol. 2—14.
210 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
these dungeons beneath the earth. Albeit I cannot
recall one word from their lips expressive of dis-
satisfaction or willingness to surrender."
On the night of August 25, Sherman, despairing of
taking Atlanta by direct attack, disappeared from
the Confederate front and began a flank march to
the south and west of Atlanta. He sent Slocum with
his sick and wounded to hold an entrenched camp on
the Chattahoochee with one corps, while with his
other five he marched to Fairburn on the West Point
road and then turned southward towards Jonesboro,
which place the head of his column reached August
30. Thither Hood sent Hardee with his corps and
that of Stephen D. Lee to attack the Federals. But
Hardee found them already intrenched and failed
to drive them out (August 31). Lee's corps then
marched back to protect Hood's line of retreat from
Atlanta. Hardee 's single corps was now attacked
by greatly superior forces of the enemy, but, not-
withstanding the piercing of his centre and the cap-
ture of the greater part of Govan 's brigade and eight
of his cannon, by hard fighting he restored his line
and stoutly held it until night. By this gallant stand
at Jonesboro, Hardee enabled Hood to withdraw in
safety from Atlanta and concentrate his forces at
Lovejoy next morning, September 2.
On this same day Sherman took possession of At-
lanta, scoring the first decisive victory won by the
Union armies in the campaigns of 1864.
But Hood, instead of retreating southward, in
less than two weeks moved westward, and on Sep-
tember 20 fixed his headquarters at Palmetto on the
West Point railroad. Here President Davis visited
the army, to which he made an encouraging speech
and in conjunction with General Hood formed a plan,
by which it was hoped Sherman might be made to let
go his conquests in Georgia. By marching north-
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 211
ward and destroying the single line of railroad over
which the Federal army drew its supplies, it was
hoped that Sherman could be compelled to retire into
Tennessee. But, if he should start from Atlanta to
march through Georgia, Hood's army could fall upon
his rear, while other forces placed in his front might,
by united efforts, effect his overthrow. President
Davis never intended that General Hood should
move his army beyond striking distance of that of
Sherman.
Hood crossed the Chattahoochee on October 1 and
marched to Dallas, destroyed the railroad for fifteen
miles above Marietta and sent General French to
capture Allatoona. That officer attacked this post
in the early morning of October 5, captured part of
the Federal works and drove the Federals under
Corse into a little star fort, which he would have
forced into a surrender but for the approach of Sher-
man with his army. French, retiring, rejoined Hood,
who, still moving northward, tore up the railroad
from Resaca to Tunnel Hill and captured the Federal
posts at Tilton, Dalton and Mill Creek Gap. Then,
avoiding battle, he marched to Gadsden in Alabama,
where he had abundant supplies. Thence he moved
in the direction of Florence on the Tennessee. Sher-
man says that thus far Hood's movements had been
rapid and skilful. He had thus far prevented any
farther advance of the Federal army in Georgia,
for Sherman, leaving one corps to hold Atlanta, had
marched northward after Hood. Thus, for more
than two months after the fall of Atlanta, Hood kept
Sherman in North Georgia. Sherman now sent by
rail two of his six corps to reinforce General Thomas,
who had been put in command of Tennessee with
headquarters at Nashville. With the rest of his
army Sherman then turned back toward Atlanta.
Hood, instead of hanging on his rear, after consult-
212 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
ing with General Beauregard, who had been placed
in command of the western department, decided to
march into Tennessee.
Let us pause here to consider the losses of the op-
posing armies from the opening of the campaign at
Dalton, May 7, to the fall of Atlanta, Sept. 2, 1864.
The greatest strength of the Union army during
that period was 113,000 effective troops. Its losses
were reported as 4,423 killed, 22,822 wounded and
4,442 captured or missing — 31,087.
The greatest strength of the Confederate army is
placed by some at 65,000, by others at 84,000. Prob-
ably 71,000 effectives is a correct estimate. The
Confederate losses were 3,044 killed, 18,952 wounded
and 12,983 captured — 34,979. Major Dawes, of Cin-
cinnati, estimates that each army lost, in round num-
bers, 40,000.
Soon after Sherman had captured Atlanta, he
thought that Georgia could be politically isolated
from the other states of the Confederacy, and sent
ambassadors to Vice-President Stephens and Gov-
ernor Brown; but they refused to have anything to
do with his propositions and announced the deter-
mination of Georgia to succeed or fall with her
Southern sisters.
On November 14 Sherman concentrated around
Atlanta 60,000 infantry in four corps, the right wing
under Howard and the left under Slocum, and 5,500
cavalry under Kilpatrick.
Under Sherman's orders Capt. 0. M. Poe "thor-
oughly destroyed Atlanta, save its mere dwelling
houses and churches." There was no effort to keep
the flames from spreading and about eleven-twelfths
of the city was destroyed. Capt. Daniel Oakey, of
the Second Massachusetts Volunteers, says : ' ' Sixty
thousand of us witnessed the destruction of Atlanta,
while our post band and that of the Thirty-third
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 213
Massachusetts played martial airs and operatic se-
lections." Nothing can be added to this testimony
of the barbarism that marked this whole transac-
tion, which was a fitting sequel to the expulsion of
the people of Atlanta soon after its occupation by
General Sherman.
There was no force to oppose Sherman's march
except 3,000 Georgia Reserves (state troops) under
Maj.-Gen. Gustavus W- Smith and Wheeler's cav-
alry. These forces, by presenting a bold front at
Griffin, Forsyth and Macon successively, caused
Howard to pass those places unmolested.
At Griswoldville the state troops, contrary to the
orders of General Smith, made an attack upon an
intrenched Federal division and were repulsed, los-
ing 51 killed and 472 wounded. Yet they remained
close to the Federal line until dark, when they were
withdrawn to Macon and sent by rail to Thomasville,
and from that point to Savannah.
As the Federal army approached Milledgeville,
attempts were made to remove the state property
and archives. Since the penitentiary had been used
for the manufacture of arms and would probably
be destroyed, Governor Brown released the convicts
and organized them into a uniformed and enlisted
battalion under Captain Eoberts, which did good
service in removing property and in resisting the ad-
vance of the enemy.
Along the line of march, Sherman's "Bummers"
entering private houses, took everything valuable,
burned what they could not carry off and sometimes
set fire to the house itself. They tore rings from the
fingers of ladies and hung up old men to make them
tell where treasures were buried.
Wheeler, with his cavalry, was almost ubiquitous,
defeating exposed detachments, preventing foragers
from going far from the main body, defending cities
214 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
and towns along the railroad lines, and in some in-
stances saving arsenals and depots of supplies.
The gallant defense of the railroad bridge over the
Oconee river by part of the Georgia reserves and
the cadets of the Georgia Military Institute held
Howard's advance in check during the 23d and part
of the 24th of November. Throughout the 23d the
cadets under Austin held the railroad bridge, and
Maj. A. L. Hartridge drove back a Federal detach-
ment which had found its way over the river.
Throughout the 24th, Gen. H. C. "Wayne, in command
at this point, kept the bridge until night, stoutly
holding one end of it, though the enemy set fire to
the other.
Wheeler, at midnight on November 25, learning
that Kilpatrick was moving against Augusta, ha-
stened to check him, his march lighted by the barns,
cotton gins, corn-cribs and houses fired by the Fed-
erals. Near Waynesboro he routed Kilpatrick so
effectually that the Federal horsemen sought the
protection of their infantry, from which they did not
venture again during the campaign.
Since Beauregard was unable to collect troops
enough to do more than delay Sherman 's march, the
Federal army appeared on December 10 near Savan-
nah, which city was defended by 18,000 troops under
Lieut.-Gen. Win. J. Hardee. The approaches to
Savannah by water had been hitherto successfully
defended, and on the night of July 3, 1864, the Fed-
eral gunboat Waterwitch had been captured by a
boarding party under Lieuts. Thomas P. Pelot and
Joseph Price, and added to the Confederate navy
with Lieut. W. W. Carnes in command. In this
brilliant affair Lieutenant Pelot was killed. We
have seen that Fort McAllister had scored victory
after victory over the Union fleet. Now the little
fortress was put to the severest test of all. On De-
GEOEGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY, 215
eember 13 Maj.-Gen. Wm. B. Hazen, with his divi-.
sion about 4,000 strong, assaulted Fort McAllister,
which was defended by only 230 men. These fought
the assailants until they were individually over-
powered. Sherman was now able to communicate
with his fleet. For eight more days Hardee, with his
little army, held Savannah against Sherman's army
of more than three times his numbers, and then with-
drew across the Savannah, having made one of the
most successful retreats of the war.
Before the evacuation Commodore Tattnall de-
stroyed the Confederate ships and naval property,
blowing up the water battery Georgia, burning and
sinking the Milledgeville and WaterwitcJi and de-
stroying the navy yard and a large quantity of ship
timber. The small steamers Beauregard and Gen-
eral Lee, an unfinished torpedo boat, 150 cannon and
32,000 bales of cotton fell into the hands of the Fed-
erals. The ironclad Savannah was still in the river
when the United States flag was raised over Fort
Jackson, and its commander, Captain Brent,
promptly opened fire, drove the troops from the guns
of the fort and defiantly flew the Confederate flag
until the night of the 21st. Then, running his vessel
over to the Carolina shore, he disembarked his crew
to join Hardee 's column, and at 10 o'clock blew up
the Savannah.
General Sherman reported that he had destroyed
the railroads for more than 100 miles, had carried
away more than 10,000 horses and mules, as well as
a countless number of slaves. He said: "I estimate
the damage done to the state of Georgia and its
military resources at $100,000,000, at least $20,000,-
000 of which has inured to our advantage, and the
remainder is simply waste and destruction."
At the close of 1864 the polls of the state had de-
creased from 52,764 to 39,863. The state's expendi-
216 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
ture for the year had been $13,288,435, and bank
capital had decreased one-half. It required $49.00
of Confederate money to buy $1.00 of gold. Governor
Brown claimed that during the fall and winter
Georgia had a larger proportion of her white popu-
lation under arms than any other state in the Con-
federacy. On Jan. 23, 1865, Gen. Win. T. Wofford
assumed command of the Confederate force in North
Georgia with headquarters in Atlanta. There was
great destitution through all this section. He called
in and organized several thousand men and obtained
corn which he and General Judah, of the Federal
army, distributed among the people, the two generals
having made a truce for that purpose.
Notwithstanding the dreadful condition of affairs,
the legislature, which assembled in February, passed
resolutions sustaining the continuance of the war.
When the campaign of 1865 opened, the soldiers of
Georgia, both in Virginia and in the Carolinas, were
ready as ever to stand by their colors to the bitter
end. It was the chivalric Georgian, John B. Gordon,
who made the desperate attack upon Grant's lines at
Fort Stedman, and who, at Appomattox, led the last
attack made by the army of Northern Virginia. It
was Brig.-Gen. Clement A. Evans, acting as major-
general in command of Gordon's division, which in-
cluded the troops of the old Stonewall Brigade, who,
after Lee and Grant had agreed upon terms of sur-
render, but being on the extreme left, knowing noth-
ing of what had happened, led a successful charge,
which shed a parting glory over the army of North-
ern Virginia.
The last noteworthy military event in Georgia was
the cavalry raid of Maj.-Gen. James H. Wilson in
April, 1865, who, with 10,000 cavalry, swept through
Alabama and entered Georgia near West Point, one
of his detachments under Colonel LaGrange defeat-
GEORGIA IN THE CONFEDERACY. 217
ing a small Confederate force under Gen. Bobert C.
Tyler (who was killed) April 16. On the same day
at Columbus another division of Wilson's force de-
feated Howell Cobb, capturing 1,200 men and fifty-
two field guns. Wilson '& forces now took up the line
of march for Macon, but when within thirteen miles
of Macon they were met by Brigadier-General Bob-
ertson of Wheeler 's corps under a flag of truce, bear-
ing a letter from General Cobb announcing an armis-
tice between Generals Johnston and Sherman; but
before General Wilson could take action, Colonel
White, of his command, dashed into the city and
received its surrender, Generals Cobb, G. W. Smith
and Marshall and the garrison being held as pris-
oners of war. When informed of the armistice, Gen-
eral Wilson issued the necessary orders to carry it
out. On April 30 he received notice of the final
capitulation of all the Confederate forces east of the
Chattahoochee river.
The last cabinet meeting of the Confederate gov-
ernment was held in Washington, Ga., on May 4 and
5, 1865. On the morning of May 10, 1865, near Ir-
winville, Ga., President Davis was captured.
Georgia at Close of War.
The close of the war found Georgia in a sad condi-
tion. The assessed valuation of the whole taxable
property of the state had been reduced from $600,-
000,000 in 1860, to less than $200,000,000, her re^
sources of every kind had been fearfully depleted,
her territory ravaged, her workshops destroyed, her
slaves had been freed and her people reduced to
poverty. But, with the same courage that had been
displayed through all the four years of war, the
brave men and noble women of Georgia wasted no
time in pining over their lost cause and ruined for-
tunes. With indomitable spirit they went to work
218 THE HISTORY OF GEOEGIA.
to repair the waste and desolation of war. How well
they have succeeded is shown by the proud position
which Georgia holds to-day in the restored Union.
BIBLIOGRAPHY — A very, Isaac W.: Avert/ s History of Georgia; Deny,
Joseph T.: Story of the Confederate States; Evans, Gen. Clement A.: Con-
federate Military History (12 Vols.); especially the sixth volume of the
work entitled Georgia by Joseph T. Deny; Century Company's Battles
and Leaders of the Civil War; Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
(Rebellion Record), published by the United States Government.
JOSEPH T. DERBY,
Author of The Military History of Georgia; The Story of
the Confederate States, etc.
CHAPTER IV.
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION, 1865-1909.
Federal Army in Control.
After the devastating experience of the last year
of the war, with three-fourths of its wealth de-
stroyed, its slaves made free, one-fourth of its rail-
roads torn up and a debt of twenty million dollars
pressing upon its impoverished and almost ruined
people, the State of Georgia entered in 1865 upon
the dark and distressing era of reconstruction.
Governor Brown had been arrested, although he
had been given his parole, and had been taken to
Washington City and put in prison. Complaining
to the President of this treatment, he was set at
liberty within a week. When he returned to Georgia
he found the state under the control of the Federal
army, with a Federal officer in charge of every city.
Thereupon Governor Brown resigned his office, ad-
vising the people to make the best of the situation,
to agree to the Thirteenth Amendment to the con-
stitution abolishing slavery, and to support the gen-
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 219
eral government in their plans to reconstruct the
Southern states.
The Federal army was in undisputed control of
the state for about two months, during which there
was no governor or any semblance of executive au-
thority. The generals in charge were exemplary
officers, however, and did many acts of kindness.
Soldiers returning to their homes and destitute peo-
ple generally were fed from their commissaries.
Horses and mules that had been surrendered by the
Confederate authorities, and even stock that had
been left in the state by the Federal army under
General Sherman, were turned over to the farmers,
who were in sore need of help for the plowing. The
officers and soldiers of the Federal army were as
considerate and generous as could be expected.
Provisional Government Convention.
In January, 1865, James Johnson, of Columbus,
was appointed by President Andrew Johnson pro-
visional governor of Georgia. It was the purpose of
this provisional appointment to secure at once the
necessary steps to reorganize the state on the terms
demanded by Congress for the reentry of the state
into the Union. Accordingly, in July, Governor
Johnson went to Milledgeville and assumed the
duties of his office. He at once issued a proclama-
tion calling for a state convention to meet in Oc-
tober. Every man who had been a Confederate sol-
dier, or who had served in the war in any capacity,
was required to take the oath of allegiance to the
government before he could vote. Those who had
held office before the war and afterwards served as
Confederate soldiers were not allowed to vote. All
who took no part in the war were allowed to vote.
Many leading men were thus disqualified, but the
great body of citizens voted.
220 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
The convention met in Milledgeville in October.
The first thing done was to repeal the ordinance of
secession. Then slavery was declared abolished in
the state of Georgia, a new constitution of the state
was adopted and the war debt was repudiated. It
is to the credit of this convention, bare as it was of
the leaders of the state, that it was very unwilling
to refuse the payment of the war debt. Upon that
issue there was grave dispute and a long hesitance,
though it had been made a condition of reconstruc-
tion. Governor Johnson telegraphed the situation
to the President of the United States. The answer
came back that without the repudiation of the war
debt Georgia would not be admitted to the Union.
This settled the matter.
Before the convention adjourned it ordered an
election for Governor and for members of the legis-
lature and of Congress, to be held in November,
1865. At this election Charles J. Jenkins, of Bich-
mond county was chosen governor without oppo-
sition. He was one of the remarkable men of that
day. Born in South Carolina in 1805, he had moved
to Georgia with his parents when he was eleven
years old. He had graduated at the State Univer-
sity, was attorney-general of the state in 1831, and
had been repeatedly in the legislature. He was the
author of the famous "Georgia Platform" adopted
by the Convention of 1850. He had declined to be-
come a member of the cabinet of Millard Fillmore,
and just before the war was appointed to the Su-
preme Court of the state. He was now called to the
high duty of governor at a most trying epoch in the
history of Georgia.
State Government Organized — Not Recognized by Congress.
In December, 1865, the legislature met according
to law, and on the 14th Jenkins was inaugurated
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 221
governor, President Johnson having telegraphed
his consent to this action. The Thirteenth amend-
ment to the constitution was ratified. Alexander
H. Stephens and Herschel V. Johnson were elected
United States senators.
It now appeared that the troubles of Georgia
were at an end and that the storm-tossed and dis-
tressed state would find an anchor within the Union.
Those hopes were dispelled by the unhappy dissen-
sions between President Johnson and Congress.
The President had followed the milder measures
of Lincoln, and was pursuing the course of recon-
struction outlined by his great predecessor. To
him, as to Lincoln, the states had never been out of
the Union, therefore they could not become terri-
tories. They were merely rebellious members.
When the war closed the Union was still undivided,
in his opinion, and the states constituting it were
intact, therefore there was little to be done except
to repeal the Ordinances of Secession and the coun-
try would go on as usual. Not so with Congress.
The Southern states had rebelled, and they should
be made to feel bitterness and humiliation for their
conduct. Hence the conflict of the President and
Congress, out of which grew the measures of recon-
struction and the impeachment and trial of the
President.
The state organization was recognized by the
President, but Congress refused to seat the senators
and representatives chosen, and the Federal army
still held control of the state. This was the period
when the "carpet baggers" made their appearance.
They followed the Northern army into the South
bent on deluding the negro, swindling him out of
what little he had and, if possible, foisting them-
selves into office. They were mere adventurers who
were repudiated in their own communities and came
222 THE HISTOBY OF GEORGIA.
South seeking new fields for the display of their
cunning.
The Freedman's Bureau, a good thing in itself
and authorized by Congress for the protection of
the freed slaves, was the occasion of the carpet bag-
ger invasion. The poor, deluded and bewildered
negroes, wild in the ecstacy of their freedom and
ignorant of the wiles of designing enemies in the
guise of friends, fell an easy prey to their seduc-
tions. It was not hard to deceive them with the cry
of " forty acres and a mule." They readily believed
that they deserved a recompense, substantial and
immediate, for the unpaid years of their slavery,
and whatever they could find they had a right to
appropriate.
^ Out of this condition grew the Ku Klux Klan,
which was an organization demanded by the rude
times to preserve order, intimidate the negroes and
prevent the dissolution of the labor system upon
which the regeneration of the South depended.
Much has been written of the atrocities of this or-
ganization, but one need only consider the menace
of several millions of negroes no longer compelled
to labor, long unused to self-control, inflamed by
ruthless men against their former masters, and mut-
tering unheard of threats against those they once
held in reverence, to realize that some preventive
measures were imperative to protect a defenseless
society against the incursions of that part of the
negro population that had abandoned itself to its
primitive barbarity. Happily the condition lasted
but a few years. Error was committed on both
sides, but out of a semi-lawless condition there soon
arose an adjustment of relations that made for the
peace and good will of both races.
When the Fourteenth amendment was proposed,
the legislature of Georgia refused to ratify it. The
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 223
argument was that if the state was a territory it
had no right to vote on it. If it was a state it was
entitled to have its senators and representatives in
Congress, to discuss a measure proposed for general
adoption. This provoked another crisis with Con-
gress. Ex-Governor Brown advised the people to
accept the demands of Congress since, in the end,
they would be compelled to do so. This advice cast
him in the shadow of a great unpopularity, from
which it took years for him to emerge. Governor
Jenkins and Benjamin H. Hill threw their great
weight against the measures of Congress, and ad-
vised the state to stand firm in its refusal.
Military Rule — Second Convention.
In March, 1867, the tide of events brought Georgia
again under military control, with Alabama and
Florida in the Third Military District, Gen. John
Pope in command. An election for another consti-
tutional convention took place in July. There were
as many negroes as whites allowed in the registra-
tion lists, there being 95,973 negroes out of 192,235
registered voters. In the election for delegates, the
best men of the state were passed by. Out of 166
delegates, thirty-three were negroes. In December,
1867, the convention met in Milledgeville, and re-
mained in session over three months. A constitu-
tion was framed and ordered submitted to the people
in April, and members of Congress were to be
chosen.
At the same election the question of removal of
the state capital was submitted. The growing city
of Atlanta, that was rising rapidly from the ashes
of war, clamored for the honor. It was the note of
progress sounding in the state. Atlanta offered
an executive mansion, a building for the legislature
and a site for a new capitol.
224 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
When the convention adjourned it needed money
to pay its expenses. A demand was made upon the
treasurer for forty thousand dollars, which he re-
fused to pay except upon a warrant from the gov-
ernor. General Meade, the military officer in control
of the state, wrote to Governor Jenkins and asked
him for the warrant. This Jenkins refused to issue,
whereupon he was removed from office by General
Meade, and Gen. Thomas. H. Euger, of the United
States Army, was " detailed for duty" as governor
of Georgia, and Capt. Chas. F. Rockwell as
treasurer.
Governor Jenkins at once left the state, taking
with him four hundred thousand dollars of money
from the treasury and the great seal of the state.
The money he deposited in a bank in New York
City to the credit of the State of Georgia. The seal
he carried with him to Nova Scotia, where he went
with his family to reside. When he returned to
Georgia, several years later, he returned the money
and the seal, saying: "I derive great satisfaction
from the reflection that it has never been desecrated
by the grasp of a military usurper's hand." The
legislature ordered a gold facsimile of the seal made
and presented to him with the motto: "In arduis
fidelis."
State Government Again Reorganized.
Rufus B. Bullock, the Republican candidate, was
elected governor, in 1868, over Gen. John B. Gor-
don. The constitution was ratified and Atlanta was
selected as the state capital. Twenty-eight negroes
were elected to the legislature, which met in July.
This legislature, having ratified the Fourteenth
amendment to the constitution and done everything
else required by Congress, was allowed to inaugu-
rate Bullock as governor of the state, and the mili-
tary authorities withdrew in his favor.
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 225
Trouble With Congress— Georgia Finally Readmitted into
the Union.
In September, however, the legislature expelled
the negro members on the ground that they had no
right to hold office under the existing constitution.
Congress, in retaliation of this act and considering
it a violation of their own reconstruction measures,
promptly refused to seat the members from Georgia
in that body. The Supreme Court held that negroes
were entitled to hold office. Governor Bullock was
directed to reconvene the legislature, including the
expelled negroes, and require that body to ratify the
Fifteenth amendment to the constitution, or else
Georgia should not be represented in the national
councils.
The legislature therefore met in January, 1870,
and amid great excitement attempted to organize.
Much noise and tumult prevailed and many efforts
at adjournment were made. Finally both houses
were organized, the negroes were allowed to keep
their seats, and the Fifteenth amendment was
ratified.
This turbulence attracted the attention of Con-
gress, which passed an order directing the judiciary
committee to look into the situation in Georgia, in
order peaceably and promptly to reconstruct that
state. Wise counsels prevailed at last. The com-
mittee reported the conduct of the convention and
the legislature to be "improper, illegal and arbi-
trary proceedings." Congress ordered a new and
fair election. Shortly afterward a bill was passed
admitting Georgia to the Union. It was signed by
President IT. S. Grant in July, 1870. In January,
1871, the senators and members of Congress from
Georgia were admitted to their seats in Congress.
The work of reconstruction of the seceding states
was at length complete. The union of states was
Vol. 2—15.
226 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
again established. Georgia was the last to be read-
mitted, and with her accession ended the trying
era of reconstruction, that was so full of prejudice
against the Southern states and of unhappiness for
the people.
The era of peace begins with the resignation of
Governor Bullock in October, 1871, and the assump-
tion of his duties by Benjamin Conley, the president
of the Senate. An election for governor was held
in December, at which James M. Smith was elected
without opposition.
The sudden and unexplained retirement of Gov-
ernor Bullock led to an examination of his office by
a committee of the legislature, who soon reported
that bonds to the extent of several million dollars
had been fraudulently issued during his administra-
tion. Those bonds were promptly declared void and
have never been paid by the state. Charges were
preferred against Governor Bullock and a warrant
issued for his arrest. An officer sought for him in
New York in vain. After a few years he submitted
to arrest, was tried and acquitted on account of in-
sufficient proof to convict.
Education.
The constitution of 1868 had directed the legisla-
ture to provide for a system of common schools for
the state. An act for this purpose had been passed
in 1872, and Governor Bullock had appointed Gen.
'J. B. Lewis as State School Commissioner. A new
law was passed in 1872 perfecting the system, one-
half the rental of the Western and Atlantic Railroad
was added to the school fund, and Governor Smith
appointed Gustavus J. Orr as State School Com-
missioner. From this beginning has grown, in suc-
cessive years, a great school system, the bulwark
and pride of the state.
A. H. COLQUITT.
GEOEGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 227
In addition to this educational movement, the
North Georgia Agricultural College at Dahlonega
was opened in January, 1873, as one of the branch
colleges of the University. The old mint of the
United States Government and ten acres of land had
been donated for this educational purpose. This
college is still one of several branch colleges that
are Icoated in different parts of the state, the pur-
pose of which is to supply an elementary collegiate
instruction leading up to higher courses in the
greater parent institution.
Furthermore, about the same time, the donation
of certain public lands by Congress to the state and
territories for the promotion of agricultural and
mechanic arts, was engaging the attention of
Georgia. The share allotted to this state was ac-
cepted by the legislature, and the interest arising
from the sale of the lands was turned over to the
trustees of the University to carry out the purposes
of the act. This was the beginning in Georgia of the
School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, as a part
of the University, and one of the many departments
of that great system of higher education.
Thus it is clear that the thought of the state at the
beginning of the new era was wisely placed in the
education of its sons and daughters in schools of all
degrees and kinds.
New Constitution.
Alfred H. Colquitt was elected governor in 1876
over Jonathan Norcross, the Eepublican candidate,
by a majority of eighty thousand votes, the largest
ever known in the state. In the same year the vote
of Georgia was given overwhelmingly for Tilden
and Hendricks, the Democratic candidates in the
national election. Benjamin H. Hill, the great
orator and statesman, was chosen United States
senator for a term of six years.
228 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
A new constitution now engaged the thought of
the people. The constitution of 1868 was considered
a Republican measure and was not satisfactory. A
convention to revise it was called by the legislature,
which convention met in Atlanta in July, 1877. Sev-
eral important changes were made in the constitu-
tion. The term of office of the governor was reduced
from four years to two years. The system of ap-
pointing judges and solicitors of the superior court
was changed from appointment by the governor to
election by the legislature. This has subsequently
been changed to election by the people. The sessions
of the legislature were made biennial instead of an-
nual, though this also was subsequently restored by
amendment to an annual session limited to fifty days.
The regulation of freight and passenger rates was
put under control of the legislature. The payment of
the fraudulent bonds was prohibited. A complete sys-
tem of common schools was established, and other
wise and important provisions were made for the
public good.
This instrument is still known as the "Constitu-
tion of 1877," and with the amendments that have
been made since its adoption by the people in De-
cember of that year, is the constitution under which
the state affairs are now administered. So thor-
oughly were the finances of the state guarded by
the constitution that Eobert Toombs, one of the lead-
ing spirits of the convention, declared they "had
locked the doors of the treasury and thrown away
the key."
Legislative Investigations.
The spirit of investigation and reform which had
seized upon the people manifested itself in the legis-
lature of 1878. A demand was made for a sweeping
inquiry into all the departments of the state govern-
ment. Committees were appointed to examine the
GEOEGIA IN THE NW NATION. 229
offices of the secretary of state, comptroller-general,
state school commissioner, public printer, and into
the affairs of the penitentiary. All the committees
reported favorably regarding their investigation,
except those who investigated the comptroller-gen-
eral and the treasurer. Here certain abuses were
discovered which soon brought those two officers be-
fore the Senate on articles of impeachment pre-
sented by the House. The comptroller was charged
with receiving and using money illegally, making
false returns and altering the records of his office.
He was convicted, removed from office, and disquali-
fied from holding any public office during his life.
The treasurer was acquitted of the charges brought
against him.
Political Contests.
The most exciting political contest that had oc-
curred up to this time was the memorable Colquitt-
Norwood campaign of 1880. The nominating con-
vention had sat in Atlanta for six hot and strenuous
weeks, unable, by the rule requiring two-thirds ma-
jority, to agree upon a candidate. Ballot after bal-
lot was taken, appeal after appeal was made for
harmony. Alfred H. Colquitt had a majority, but
not two-thirds of the delegates. His adherents re-
mained steadfast. The minority was unshaken.
After thirty ballots were taken and a nomination
appeared hopeless, the convention appealed to the
people and adjourned. The bare majority put Col-
quitt in the field. The minority put Thomas M.
Norwood, of Savannah, in the field.
The contest that followed was memorable. Every
act of Governor Colquitt 's official life was discussed.
He was assailed for appointing Joseph E. Brown to
the United States Senate, which had been done upon
the resignation of General Gordon in May. Brown
was still unpopular for the attitude he had assumed
230 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
after the war, and for his prosecution of certain
citizens of Columbus for the killing of a Republican.
In the election in October, Governor Colquitt won by
a large majority, and Brown was returned by the
legislature as a member of the senate.
Growth and Progress.
The census of that year showed the population
of the state to be 1,542,180, being an increase in ten
years of over 350,000. Under this census Georgia
was entitled to ten representatives in Congress.
The governor's message showed the industries of
the state to be in a satisfactory condition, the credit
good, the public debt reduced, the tax on railroad
property collected and several thousand dollars
added to the state revenue.
To show the progress of the state, the year 1881
signalized the first of several great expositions that
have been held in Georgia. The International Cot-
ton Exposition opened its doors in Atlanta in Octo-
ber, and the world was invited in to see what the
cotton states had done in the fifteen years since the
war closed. All the states were represented in ex-
hibits that covered twenty acres in beautiful houses
designed for the purpose. It was a notable gather-
ing of people from all parts of the country, to vie
in the arts of peace and to exhibit the fraternal good-
will as well as the products of field and factory.
Benjamin H. Hill, the senior senator from
Georgia whose eloquent voice had so long charmed
and convinced his hearers, passed off the stage of
life in August, 1882. He was buried with distin-
guished honors and mourned by the people as one
of their most distinguished statesmen. In October,
1882, Alexander H. Stephens, now past seventy
years of age, was called to the position of governor.
His life had been active in the discharge of high
GEOKGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 231
political duties. He was one of the great men in
the crucial era of war. He had long battled against
bodily infirmity, and finally succumbed to advancing
years and enfeebled strength. He died in office
March 4, 1883. At his death James S. Boynton,
president of the Senate, became governor until the
election was held, which resulted in the choice of
Henry D. McDaniel.
The state now rises to the question of a new cap-
itol building. In 1883 a million dollars was appro-
priated for the purpose, and a site was chosen upon
an elevated place in the capital city. The material
of the building was limestone, with Georgia granite
for the foundation and marble for the interior. It
was not completed until 1889, but when turned over
to the state there were a few dollars of the original
appropriation still unexpended. It is said to be one
of the few capitol buildings in the world whose cost
did not exceed the original amount set aside for its
construction.
In 1885 the legislature passed an act establishing
the Georgia School of Technology as a branch of
the University. The sum of $65,000 was appropri-
ated for building and equipping the school. This
splendid institution, which is located in Atlanta,
has steadily grown under increased appropriations
and an energetic administration, until it has ac-
quired a national reputation for excellence. Many
hundreds of the young men of the state acquire
technical knowledge of the industries, and, fully pre-
pared for great things, enter upon the noble task of
building up a wealthy and prosperous state.
General Gordon's Administration.
In October, 1886, the beloved soldier, Gen. John
B. Gordon, was chosen to be governor of the state.
His military record in the war which was so splen-
232 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
did that few soldiers surpassed him, his statesman-
like conduct in the Senate of the United States, his
gallantry and high character, endeared him to the
people. As long as he lived he was the idol of the
old soldiers and the beloved hero of the war. After
his death a bronze monument upon the capitol
grounds in Atlanta attested the affectionate regard
of the people he had served in war and in peace.
At the same election an amendment to the consti-
tution was ratified by the people, giving the legis-
lature power to levy a tax for supplying artificial
limbs to disabled Confederate soldiers, and in other
ways provide for the destitute heroes who had
served their state in the war. From time to time
pensions have been allowed, homes for the old and
infirm soldiers have been provided until the state
is properly caring for the aged servants who haz-
arded all and lost much in her service.
Among the young men who had arisen to high es-
teem in the regard of the state was Henry W. Grady,
the editor of the Atlanta Constitution. He was a
brilliant writer and orator, and had made several
notable speeches of great eloquence and power. His
famous speech at the banquet of the New England
Club in New York in 1886 had raised him to national
prominence as an earnest, eloquent and brilliant ad-
vocate of progress and peace. His sad death in
1889 was the occasion of universal grief. Memorial
meetings were held in many places, a statue was
erected to his honor, and a hospital in Atlanta bears
his name.
Governor Northerns Administration.
In 1890 "William J. Northen, the president of the
State Agricultural Society, was nominated for gov-
ernor, and being endorsed by the Farmers ' Alliance
was elected without opposition. Governor Northen
was in no sense the candidate of the Alliance, but his
JOHN B. GORDON.
GEOEGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 233
deep interest in things agricultural, and especially
his interest in the educational affairs of the state,
endeared him to the great and powerful population
of the rural districts. The Alliance had become a
great organization, whose purpose was to secure
better laws for the protection of the farming inter-
ests. It had its day, served its time of usefulness,
and has given way to other organizations.
The disposition of the "Western and Atlantic
Railroad was among the first cares of Governor
Northen. This splendid property had been built by
the state from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and was a
source of considerable revenue to the state. It had
already been leased for a term of twenty years,
which lease expired in 1890. The legislature decided
to renew the lease, and in June of that year the bid
of the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis Eailway
was accepted for a lease of the road for twenty-nine
years for $35,000 a month.
The question of education constantly recurred to
the attention of the legislature. As the public school
system grew it became necessary to establish schools
for the training of teachers. The thought of the
people drew more and more toward the training of
the youth. In 1889 the legislature had passed an
act providing for the establishment of a Normal and
Industrial College for Girls, to be located at Mill-
edgeville. Its course of instruction included not
only a normal training for teachers, but also stenog-
raphy, bookkeeping, telegraphy, dressmaking, cook-
ing, music and art. In 1891 the legislature decided
to establish a school in Athens exclusively designed
for teachers. It is located in the building known
as Eock College, and on the site of the once experi-
mental station in agriculture. These two great
schools annually enroll five hundred students each,
and neither can keep pace with the great demand
234 THE HISTOKY OF GEORGIA.
for attendance made upon it. Both have added
strength and dignity to the industries and to the
profession of teaching, and are a power for good
in the welfare of the state.
The rise of the People's party, or the Populist
party, in Georgia is one of the political facts of
great significance. The leaders of the Farmers'
Alliance organized this new party in Georgia,
though the party had assumed proportions outside
of the state and at one time grew into national sig-
nificance. The great leader of the party in Georgia
was, and still is, Thomas E. Watson, of Thomson,
an ahle lawyer, an orator of rare persuasiveness and
a man of great earnestness and personal attraction.
He had been a member of the legislature, a Con-
gressman, and in 1896 became the candidate for
vice-president of the United States on the People's
Party ticket. In 1908 he was candidate for Presi-
dent on the same ticket.
For a number of years the People's party grew
in strength. "Watson made a memorable race for
Congress in the Tenth Congressional District in
1895, but was defeated by J. C. C. Black. Candi-
dates for governor were put out, but in no instance
was the party signally successful. Of late years
this party and the Democratic party have been
more in accord and much of the sharpness of strife
and division has been abandoned in the state
elections.
The state has been Democratic in its electoral
vote for the high offices of the general government.
In 1892 Grover Cleveland was the choice of Georgia,
and in making up his cabinet chose Hoke Smith, of
Atlanta, a prominent lawyer and statesman of rare
ability, to be the Secretary of the Interior. This
position was held by Smith for a number of years,
when, failing in agreement with the financial poli-
GEOKGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 235
cies of his chief, he resigned to resume the practice
of law.
Governor Atkinson's Administration.
In 1894 an exciting contest for the Democratic
nomination for governor occurred. There were two
candidates in the field: W. Y. Atkinson and Gen.
Clement A. Evans. A series of joint debates and
a vigorous campaign of a few months followed, when
it became evident that a majority of the delegates
elected were for Atkinson. General Evans wrote a
card withdrawing in the interest of party harmony,
and Atkinson was nominated without opposition.
It was during his term of office that the Interna-
tional and Cotton States Exposition was held in
Atlanta, where all the industries and resources of
the South were represented. It was one of the
greatest fairs our country has ever had. Every
state in the Union sent its exhibits, and even foreign
countries were represented. The visitors numbered
thousands daily, who came to rejoice that the war-
wasted lands of Georgia and the South were again
blooming with prosperity.
The war with Spain in 1898 was the occasion of
a prompt and patriotic response on the part of
Georgia to the demands of the general government
that peace be established on the island of Cuba. The
sympathy of the entire country was on the side of
the distressed and abused citizens of that unhappy
island. There was bitter feeling against the Span-
iards, and the safety of American citizens in Cuba
was endangered.
The wreck of the Maine, the excitement created
by the uncertainty of the cause of the event, the de-
mands of Congress that Cuba should be freed from
Spanish rule and the call of the President for volun-
teers to enforce this demand, found Georgia liber-
ally disposed to act with all other states in this crisis
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
in the West Indies. The call for three thousand sol-
diers made upon Georgia was promptly met. Three
regiments were organized and placed at the disposal
of the general government.
Among the major-generals appointed by Presi-
dent McKinley was Joseph Wheeler, a Georgian by
birth, who had served with distinction as a cavalry
leader in the Confederate army. Among the briga-
dier-generals was W. W. Gordon, of Savannah, who,
after the war, was on the commission to arrange for
the evacuation of the island of Porto Eico. Thomas
M. Brumby, of Georgia, served on the Olympia, as
lieutenant, under Admiral Dewey in the Philip-
pines. Brumby was sent to raise the American flag
over the city of Manila upon the occasion of the
surrender of that city.
During the war a number of camps were located
in Georgia, being in easy distance for transporta-
tion in case of need. There were camps at Chicka-
mauga Park, Macon, Athens, Augusta and Colum-
bus. President McKinley visited these camps, and
was enthusiastically received by the people. His
noble character, pure life and patriotic feelings
made him admired and beloved by the whole nation.
When his life was ended by an assassin shortly
after the Spanish war, there were no people that
mourned more sincerely for his untimely and un-
fortunate death than the people of Georgia.
The disposition of penal convicts has always been
a perplexing problem with any state. In 1897 the
legislature passed an excellent law, creating a
Prison Commission, who should have charge of all
convicts. Provision was made whereby male and
female convicts should be kept apart. Children un-
der fifteen years should be given the education of a
reformatory school, men disabled should not be
hired out and white and colored convicts should not
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 237
work together. A state farm was located near Mill-
edgeville, on which many convicts were employed as
laborers. The Prison Commission is also a Board
of Pardons, before which come all applications for
executive clemency. The board patiently hears all
cases and makes proper recommendations to the
governor, who alone has the power to pardon.
This disposition of convicts was reenacted with
some change in 1900. Under the improved system
the labor of felony convicts not sent to the farm is
disposed of by contract to do work that does not
compete with skilled labor.* The state keeps a close
supervision of all convicts and hires out only their
labor. It retains all guards, wardens, physicians,
chaplains, in its employ. It regulates the kind of
work, the hours of labor and rest, the kind, quantity
and quality of food, and the character of the shelter
that is supplied to convicts. The male felony con-
victs who are sentenced to five years or less service
are subject to the demand of the counties for work
to be done upon the public roads.
By those regulations it is believed that the unnec-
essary hardship of a convict's life is avoided, that
his health and morals are protected and that his
servitude, while severe as it should be to become a
punishment for and deterrent to crime, is not at-
tended with cruelty and mistreatment.
Governor Candler's Administration.
Allen D. Candler became governor in 1898. His
administration was signalized by the jubilee in At-
lanta over the victory of the American armies in the
war with Spain. President McKinley was present,
paying a tender tribute to the valor of Southern
* By act of the legislature of 1908 the hiring of convicts was abol-
ished. Work on country roads was substituted for the lease system.
238 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
leaders and soldiers both in the war between the
states and the war with Spain.
Under this administration the University at
Athens received new buildings, the capacity of the
schools for the deaf, dumb and blind, and the state
institution for the insane was enlarged, and the fund
for the support of the common schools was in-
creased.
It is indeed notable that all the state institutions
had become firmly fixed in the affections of the peo-
ple by this time. The University of Georgia, an
ancient and honorable school of a hundred years7
history, was beginning to receive the attention it
deserved. New buildings were being added, an en-
larged campus with great possibilities for the fu-
ture was laid out and new departments added.
With the election of Walter B. Hill as chancellor,
the University took on new life and vigor. After
his death David C. Barrow took up the work of his
beloved predecessor, until at the present day the
prospects of this great institution, under the help
of its many generous friends and alumni, are bright
with glorious promises for the good of the young
men of the state.
The other institutions allied to the University are
receiving the popular support as well. The School
of Technology in Atlanta, offering many courses in
industry, has no superior in the Southern states.
The Girls' Industrial College at Milledgeville, the
State Normal School at Athens, the Industrial
School for Negro children in Savannah, the many
branch colleges and the Agricultural colleges, one
for each Congressional district, betoken the interest
taken by the people in higher classical, as well as
in industrial, education.
The common school system, though young in years,
shows an amazing growth. From the simplest be-
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 239
ginning, it has reached the proportions of about
ten thousand teachers and over a half million of
children. The expenditures for common school edu-
cation are considerably over two million dollars a
year, and while this is by far an insufficient sum,
yet it maintains in the rural districts a five months'
school annually for every child who will attend. In
1903 the legislature passed an act requiring uniform
textbooks to be used in all the public schools of the
state. This is the practice in one-half of the states
of the Union, and when wisely and honestly selected
by skilled educators, is a means of securing the
latest and best school books at a considerably re-
duced price.
Governor Terrell's Administration.
In 1902 Joseph M. Terrell succeeded Governor
Candler. The four years of his administration were
times of peace and general prosperity. At the close
of his second term of office, a spirited contest for
the Democratic nomination for governor occurred
between Hoke Smith and Clark Howell. They were
both of Atlanta, of rival daily papers, of influence
and prominence in the politics of the state. The
campaign resulted in the choice of Hoke Smith, who
was duly inaugurated in June, 1907.
Governor Smith's Administration.
The administration of Governor Smith was for
two years only. During the first part of his ad-
ministration he removed Joseph M. Brown from
office as member of the Railroad Commission, which
was the occasion of much comment and division of
opinion. The legislature of 1907 passed a prohibi-
tion law excluding, by severe legislation, the sale or
manufacture of any kind of alcoholic liquors in the
boundary of the state. At the same time a panic
240 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
of unparalleled extent swept over the country, ma-
king money scarce, lowering the price of stocks and
bonds, and affecting the operations of many banks.
The year was filled with alarm and apprehension.
Eailroad legislation was proposed that threatened
the revenues of the great corporations.
When the time for nominating a successor to Gov-
ernor Smith arrived, Joseph M. Brown was in the
field. He was the son of the war governor of
Georgia, Joseph E. Brown, but up to this time had
taken no active part in the politics of the state. The
campaign was a sharp one, and the people were di-
vided on the state issues. At the primary election
in June, 1908, Governor Smith was defeated for
nomination and the race for governor left in the
hands of Joseph M. Brown, who was elected
October 7.
Conclusion.
This brings the history of the great state of
Georgia down to the present day. The little colony
planted at Yamacraw in 1733 has grown in a cen-
tury and three-quarters to be the Empire State of
the South, with over two million inhabitants living
happily and prosperously on farms, in villages,
towns and cities. The area of the state is 59,000
square miles, or 37,760,000 acres. It was the largest
of the original thirteen states, at that time including
the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. It
now ranks ninth in size.
The surface of the state is divided into three
zones. North Georgia is mountainous, with a few
peaks nearly 5,000 feet high, Middle Georgia is hilly
in places with much level land, South Georgia is a
level area covered with great pine forests and rich
alluvial soil, the congenial home of the Georgia peach
which has grown into an industry threatening to
rival cotton in its value. The state is well drained
GEORGIA IN THE NEW NATION. 241
by over fifty streams large enough to be classed as
rivers, and affording enough water power, in Mid-
dle Georgia particularly, to grind all the grain and
manufacture all the cotton goods in the world. The
state is thus blessed with a diversity of soil, a vari-
ety of climate, an abundance of water power and an
enterprising population that guarantees great
growth and progress in the future.
There is nothing grown in any state, Florida ex-
cepted, which cannot be raised in Georgia. Cotton
is still the great agricultural product. Before the
war the state produced one-sixth of the cotton crop
of the country. At the present day the state raises
about one million bales of cotton valued at nearly
$50,000,000. The special variety known as sea island
or long staple cotton grows along the coast, and on
account of its fine quality commands a special price.
Fruits of all kinds known in the temperate zone
are grown in Georgia. The Georgia watermelon
has become famous for its kind and quality. The
Elberta peach grows to greatest perfection upon
Georgia soil. The Le Conte pear had its origin in
South Georgia. In vegetables, berries, and indeed all
sorts of farm and garden products, the state offers a
most alluring prospect to the homeseeker, where
land is cheap, soil is fertile and climate is inviting.
The state is rich in wood, of which two hundred
and thirty varieties are recognized in its forests.
The vast pine forests on the southern area make the
finest ship timber in the world, besides affording a
great turpentine industry. Georgia pine is recog-
nized as among the most beautiful and artistic of
finishing woods for interior decoration. The swamps
afford cypress for shingles, the uplands yield hick-
ory, oak, maple and other valuable woods.
The gold producing area is in North Georgia,
where, before the days of California mining, the
Vol. 3—16.
242 THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
placers were worked with great profit. Along the
Tennessee border there are beds of iron ore that
are worked with profit to the owners. Stone moun-
tain in DeKalb county is the largest single mass of
rock in the world. The marble quarries of North
Georgia are delivering a quality of marble that al-
ready has passed into national favor. Georgia
stands next to Vermont as a marble state.
The manufacture of cotton goods has increased
enormously of late. There are many factories in
many places, utilizing about one-fifth of the cotton
yield of the state. Commerce has kept pace with
industry, favored by the extensive railroad system
and the many navigable streams. There are over
forty railroad companies with 5,000 miles of road,
with a value of over $60,000,000. The vast traffic
of the west comes through the state on its way to the
harbors, where hundreds of vessels are engaged in
the coast and foreign trade.
Along with other Southern states, Georgia has re-
covered from the devastation of war. Her people
have laid aside all bitterness of the struggle and
are engaged in the friendly rivalry for industrial
and commercial supremacy. Her towns are increas-
ing in number and growing in size, new avenues are
opened annually for an enlarged and diversified ag-
ricultural product, factories, foundries, canneries
and other forms of industry are springing up, and
thepeople are steadily determined to build again anew
condition of prosperity, greater and nobler than that
cherished in the ancient traditions of their fathers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY — I. W. Aveiy: History of Georgia (New York, 1881);
L. B. Evans: History of Georgia (New York, 1906); Messages of the
Governors. Reports of the Georgia State Departments. A ppleton's A nnual
Encyclopedia. Files of the Atlanta Constitution. Files of the Augusta
Chronicle.
LAWTON B. EVANS,
Superintendent oj Schools, Augusta, Ga.
THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
CHAPTEB I.
COLONIAL AND TEEEITOBIAL ALABAMA,
1540-1819.
The Alabama-Tombigbee Basin and Its People.
'HE division of territory embraced within
the state of Alabama has had a long
and eventful history, but not under the
modern name. It has been subject to
five flags, besides the Indian occupation,
and during each period has been connected with
other districts and enjoyed a different name. There
is no doubt, however, as to the unity of the river
basin which makes up the main part of the modern
state. The sources of the Coosa lie in Georgia and
those of the Tombigbee in Mississippi, and the great
bend of the Tennessee has been added on the north
for good measure; but the Alabama-Tombigbee
basin, nevertheless, makes up a unit, economic as
well as historic.
Alabama a Geographical Unit.
If one will take a map of America he will find that,
although the Mississippi receives many large tribu-
taries on the west from its source to its mouth, there
are none of any volume on the east side below the
Ohio. The great Apalachian mountain system
comes to an end before it reaches the Mexican Gulf
or the Mississippi, but its foothills and highlands
243
244 THE HISTORY OP ALABAMA.
throw all streams southward instead of permitting
them to reach the Mississippi River. It does more,
for, while there are a number of rivers flowing to
the Gulf, the watershed and hill country are so pro-
nounced as to make in the Alabama-Tombigbee
drainage system a basin greater and of more diver-
sified interests than any other east of the Missis-
sippi. Geographically speaking, there would be
room for three Gulf commonwealths between the
Mississippi and the Atlantic, and for only three, ex-
cluding the Florida peninsula, which is sui generis.
The rivers draining to the Atlantic must cause the
population of that district to have their interest cen-
tred on the ocean, while those near the Mississippi
would look, in their turn, to the west. Intermediate
between the two there should be a state looking to
the Gulf at the mouth of Mobile Eiver. And such
has been the course of events.
The physical basis of history includes as its main
factors climate, soil and rivers. In this instance the
climate is mild, permitting of ice, but with summer
weather prevailing over half the year. Geologically
the soil shows several belts. One runs in a limestone
crescent, beginning near the Ohio mouth and ending
near the Atlantic, cutting across the Gulf-bound
rivers. This is the fertile Black Belt, producing
cereals, especially maize, and nut-bearing trees, al-
though wheat and cotton were not native. North-
ward was the rough country between the Gulf rivers
and the Tennessee Valley, abounding in minerals,
but not of much importance in early days. South-
ward of the Black Belt was the low Coastal Plain,
made up largely of sand, and covered with pine
forests. The river basins were alluvial and their
vegetation luxuriant. Large game, such as deer,
bear and, in early times buffalo, abounded, birds
were numerous, the beaver plentiful, and fresh and
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 245
salt water fish to a large extent determined the
course of migration and settlement.
The Indians.
The Indians built their habitations mainly upon
the bluffs of the rivers, where water and fish were
abundant and near which the maize grew with little
cultivation. The origin of the Indians is still un-
settled. Those of the Alabama-Tombigbee basin
were mainly of three stocks. To the west were the
Choctaws, and north of them on the sources of the
Tombigbee lived the Chickasaws. These two tribes
were of the Muscogean race, as was the other great
division which now concern us, the Muscogees
proper, on the Alabama Eiver and its sources.
There is some reason to think that the Indians of
historic times were preceded by other of a higher
state of culture. Not that remains are extensive
enough to justify any theory of Mound Builders, or
that some works found on the Gulf necessarily call
for an Aztec origin, but up on the Black Warrior
Eiver, at what has been called Moundville, have
been found evidences of a civilization superior to
that anywhere else near the Gulf. There are numer-
ous large mounds, and from them has been taken
pottery of a high grade, many rare stone imple-
ments, and in particular a bowl or vase representing
a bird so well executed as to earn the title of the
Portland Vase of American archaeology.
The Indians were in the stage of culture known as
barbarism, claiming descent through the mother,
and having a gens ("iksa"), phratry and tribe or-
ganization well developed. They were in the transi-
tion from the hunting to the agricultural state, but
were prevented by the absence of cattle from devel-
oping the intermediate pastoral condition, which
elsewhere has been almost essential in the advance
246 THE HISTOKY OF ALABAMA.
to civilization. They used pottery but not iron. Like
all primitive peoples, religion entered into almost
every act of their life. Animism — the belief that
every object has life, a faith marked by the use of
totems — prevailed, rather than the monotheism often
attributed to them. "War and hunting were the
principal occupations of the men, while the women
were the agriculturists. They had not developed an
alphabet, and their traditions, which were many and
full of interest, were transmitted with the aid of
wampum belts from generation to generation.
What would be the effect on these natives of the
advent in their country of races further advanced in
culture? Would the contact be as a spark to in-
spire or a fire to consume?
The Spanish Explorers.
With the capture of Granada from the Moors,
Spain was redeemed and at last the Genoese Colum-
bus succeeded in interesting Queen Isabella in his
plan of finding the East by sailing to the West.
He reached some islands, and they were named for
the Indies it was thought he had discovered. In
point of fact a new world stood in his way, and ex-
ploration by Columbus to the south and others to the
west gradually revealed its outlines. He made a
settlement in Hispaniola, which remained for some
time the Spanish base. From there Cuba was col-
onized, Mexico conquered by the filibuster- statesman
Cortez, Central America explored and Peru seized
by the coarse Pizarros.
Exploration to the north came later. Ayllon
found that Florida was no island and that the At-
lantic coast had many inhabitants, deep rivers and
fertile lands. The governor of Jamaica sent Pineda
in 1519 to explore westward of the peninsula, and he
discovered numerous islands, bays and rivers, which
COLONIAL AND TEKKITOKIAL ALABAMA. 247
he, in true Spanish manner, named for saints or di-
vine attributes, according to the day upon which
they were seen. The greatest bay and river were,
therefore, called Espiritu Santo — the Holy Spirit.
This is found upon numerous Spanish charts be-
sides that sent home by Pineda, but its location has
never been definitely settled. The maps show it as a
large bay with one and sometimes two rivers empty-
ing into it, and generally with an offset to the east.
A number of inlets would possibly suit, but most of
the bays of the north Gulf coast are too shallow for
the prominence given it, and the Espiritu Santo was
probably Mobile Bay.
The first land explorer was Narvaez, who, in 1528,
led an expedition from Tampa northwardly, which
suffered so as to be compelled to seek to the sea
again among the Apalaches. The Spaniards touched
at many places, probably Dauphine Island amongst
them, and, after losing their leader and many men
in storms, were driven westwardly to Texas.
De Soto had acquired fame and wealth in the con-
quest of Peru, and, after securing the appointment
of governor of Cuba and adelantado of Florida, be-
gan, near Tampa, the exploration of his new pos-
sessions. Like Narvaez, he first reached Apalache,
but thence struck northeastwardly. The Spaniards
desired gold and De Soto sought to rival the ex-
ploits of his comrades in Peru, so that from the
Savannah he turned northward towards the moun-
tains of which he heard. He there came in contact
with the Chalaques — the Cherokees of a later day —
and coasted along the southern line of their moun-
tains, seeking Cosa, of which all Indians in the
southeast had spoken.
In the summer of 1540 he crossed the watershed
between the ocean and the Gulf and struck the
sources of a river flowing to the southwest. Accord-
248 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
ing to his chronicler Biedma, this was known as the
Espiritu Santo, which emptied into the Bay of
Chuse, but his route has been variously placed.
There were a number of towns in the Cosa country,
some on islands in the river, others inland, prob-
ably on the watershed between the Coosa and Talla-
poosa rivers. It was a different land, a different
race of Indians from those they had heretofore met.
Oaks, walnuts and maize abounded, the towns were
palisaded and the tribes stood in closer relations.
They were in the Muscogee country. The Spaniards
rested over a month, but found little trace of gold.
De Soto proceeded southwestwardly through the
river basin and entered the domains of Tascalusa,
where, after crossing a large stream, doubtless the
Alabama, he came to Mauvila, a palisaded town con-
taining large houses. Here in October, 1541, oc-
curred possibly the most sanguinary battle in In-
dian warfare. It is true De Soto was victorious on
account of his firearms and armor, but he lost many
men and horses, pearls and stores, including flour
for the mass and much of the swine brought from
Spain. It was necessary to remain some time in
order to recuperate.
The men were in favor of descending to the Bay
of Chuse, forty leagues away, to meet the fleet of
Maldonado, which De Soto had directed to repair
thither; but the adelantado had nothing to take
back to Cuba, and, therefore, resolved on proceeding
further. So northwestwardly they took their course,
and reaching a large river at Zabusta built a barge.
There, possibly at the place now called Erie, they
crossed the Black "Warrior in the face of the Choc-
taws.
There were no draft animals in America, and this
explains why De Soto so often pressed the natives
into service as burden bearers — a usage common
COLONIAL AND TERKITOKIAL ALABAMA. 249
enough in South America. Not only this, but De
Soto would keep a chief captive until he reached
another district. These two practices, together with
unnecessary cruelty, brought about many misfor-
tunes, and none greater than he encountered when he
crossed what we call the Tombigbee. He had sev-
eral battles with the Chickasaws, and afterwards
worked his way to the Mississippi and beyond.
The next year he died. He was buried in the
Great Eiver, down which those of his followers
who survived made their way and finally reached
Mexico.
Not only was no gold discovered, but little was
added to knowledge, for the Spaniards followed
native paths, and De Soto's four chroniclers throw
but dim light upon the country and its inhabitants.
Nevertheless, a recollection was preserved of the
pleasant land of Cosa, and in 1558 Velasco, gov-
ernor of New Spain, sent out an expedition to ex-
plore with a view to colonization. His commander,
Bazares, describes the coast, where Bas Fonde and
Filipina Bays seem to correspond to Biloxi and Mo-
bile. The next year Velasco sent a colony under
Tristan De Luna, which occupied the mainland of
Florida at Ychuse. The fleet was lost in a storm
and the colonists had to remain whether or no. De
Luna sent out men who explored the country north-
wardly, coming first to Nanipacna. There they seem
to have crossed De Soto's path, for the country had
been desolated by white men, and the name recalls
Talipacana near Maubila. The expedition pressed
on and reached Cosa, where they were received
kindly and won the goodwill of the natives by help-
ing them in war. They finally returned to the colony
on the coast, where there was much dissension be-
tween De Luna and his second in command, much
dissatisfaction and suffering on the part of the peo-
250 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
pie. In 1561 the colonists took advantage of the call
of a fleet and abandoned the country.
Colonization of the Gulf coast seemed to Spain of
less importance than that of the Atlantic side of
Florida, where St. Augustine was soon founded to
protect the Bahama channel and the passage of the
plate fleets. One of the places occupied was Santa
Elena, in what is now South Carolina, whence Juan
Pardo, in 1566, undertook exploring expeditions as
far west as Cosa and Trascaluza. He must have
followed to some extent the Indian trails used by
De Soto, and he reported that he was within a few
days of New Spain, but he did not reach the Missis-
sippi. He founded several posts, to which may be
due the evidences of mining which were afterwards
found in the mountains of Georgia and Carolina.
In the next century the Spaniards were not only
able to claim Florida as extending from the Chesa-
peake to Mexico, but several provinces were mapped
from Pansacola and Apalache on the Gulf around to
Chicora on the Atlantic. Spanish influence was
greater than has generally been believed, and the
work of the Franciscans and Dominicans, especially
among the Apalaches, left valuable results.
With the Spaniards begins American literature.
Biedma was a soldier accompanying De Soto, Ranjel
the adelandato's private secretary, and the Gentle-
man of Elvas was a Portuguese adventurer — all
witnesses of the scenes they record. The more
stilted Garcilasso, on the other hand, was a Peruvian
who obtained his material later from soldiers, and
did not write on our soil. The report of Pineda was
earlier, but official rather than literary, and this may
also be said of Tristan De Luna and of Pardo.
Not only Spanish thought, but Spanish power
dominated America. Charles V. was unable to ac-
complish in Europe his desire to restore to his Eo-
COLONIAL AND TEBRITOBIAL ALABAMA. 251
man Empire the whole coast of the Mediterranean,
but this ambition was realized around the American
Mediterranean. The new provinces of Spain ex-
tended from the Chesapeake Bay to Venezuela.
French Colonization.
It was a great ambition to hold the continent from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, but it required a great
country to carry it out. And Spain did not remain
what she had been. In the Seventeenth century her
place was taken on land by France and on the sea
by England. From political and economic causes
Spain declined, and the great duel with the Saxon
was left to the Frenchman. The French had settled
Canada while the English were colonizing Virginia,
Massachusetts and the Carolinas, and the Canadian
La Salle, in 1682, took possession of the Mississippi
Valley and named it Louisiana for the King of
France.
It required much diplomacy to satisfy Spain with
this severance of Florida from Mexico, but at last it
was submitted to. She had not used the river sys-
tems, for the land east of Mexico was valuable to
her only to guard the ocean approaches to her treas-
ures. The Frenchman, on the other hand, while de-
siring mines, was to exploit the Indians as he had
done in Canada, and thus the river basins were of
paramount value to him.
Iberville discovered the mouth of the Mississippi,
but found, on account of its swift current and the
nature of the adjacent soil, that it was expedient to
establish his colony further to the east. This was
effected in 1699 temporarily at Biloxi, and then per-
manently at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff on Mobile
River. The Spaniards had fortified the mouth of
the Pensacola Bay a few months previously, but
there they found a harbor only, while the French, by
252 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
means of the widely extended Alabama-Tombigbee
basin, came in immediate touch with the great Choc-
taw, Chickasaw and Alabama tribes of the vast in-
terior. Moreover, they gained portages over to the
Tennessee River, whose upper reaches brought them
to the Cherokees of the Apalachian range, who, in
turn, looked down upon the waters draining to the
English colonies on the Atlantic. The Mississippi
River was to be important as a means of communi-
cation with Canada, but the first real colonization
was on the Mobile, and thence began the sphere of
influence among the Indians.
The French had already, at Quebec and Montreal,
entered upon the experiment of town-making, and
now took up the same task in the South. In Canada
they sought to translate to America the mediaeval
walled city, but at Mobile, on its first site and also
on the second made necessary by an overflow in 1710,
they established a commercial town which should
owe its protection to the cannon of a regular fortress.
A port, called for the Dauphin, was found and util-
ized at the east end of Dauphine Island, but the
main settlement was at the head of the Bay. Thence
expeditions, for trade or for war, came and went
between the French and the Indians upon the double
river system, and thence naval stores, timber, and
especially skins and furs were taken to France to
exchange for the manufactures of that day.
Louis XIV. found it necessary, on account of the
war with England in which Marlborough and Prince
Eugene worsted him, to commit the new colony, in-
cluding Mobile and other posts, to the merchant
Crozat in 1712, although he still retained control of
the military. Bienville had been the governor after
Iberville's death, and now Cadillac, who had founded
Detroit, was placed in control. The experiment,
however, was not a success for the merchant, and
COLONIAL AND TEBRITORIAL ALABAMA. 253
he was glad enough when, in 1718, the more enter-
prising John Law took it off his hands and those of
the king for the Company of the West.
Law's Company was to do great things for Louisi-
ana, but relatively less for the settlements on Mo-
bile waters. A storm in 1717 shoaled up the en-
trance to Port Dauphin, and the channel over by
Mobile Point had not yet deepened. The Missis-
sippi became the great attraction, painted in golden
colors in the broadsides of that day, and so the
capital was removed to the west. The Alabama-
Tombigbee basin became what the French would
nowadays call a Department, supreme in Indian
affairs, to be sure, but in civil administration second
to the lately founded New Orleans. Bienville had,
in 1714, built Fort Toulouse up between the Coosa
and Tallapoosa rivers in order to influence the Ali-
bamons and check the English of Carolina, and dur-
ing the first Chickasaw war in 1736, when he was
again governor, erected Fort Tombecbe" on the Tom-
bigbee above the Black Warrior to dominate the
Choctaws and Chickasaws.
The history of the river basin is almost that of the
city at its mouth, for such posts as Toulouse and Tom-
becbe were little more than forts and town life cen-
tred on the bay. No plan has been preserved of Mobile
on its first site, but as it was merely removed there is
every reason to suppose that the "Plan de la Ville et
Fort Louis de la Louisiane" made by Sr. Cheuillot in
1711 shows not only the new town but substantially the
arrangement of the old town also. The site selected
was where the river makes a slight bend to the south-
west, a fact subsequently of importance in the growth
of the city ; but at the beginning the streets were run
parallel and perpendicular to the river. These streets
were thirty toises wide — each toise being six feet —
and the blocks averaged fifty toises square.
254 THE HISTOEY OF ALABAMA.
The fort, with its esplanade and shade trees, was
the principal feature of the town. At first it was,
like most of the houses, of cedar, but in 1717 was
renamed Fort Cond6 and reconstructed of brick
made in the vicinity. In the fort was the house of
the governor, together with the magazine, bell tower
and other necessary structures.
A peculiarity of the French colonies was that the
people had little to do for themselves. The govern-
ment provided all the necessaries, and shops were
almost unknown. Gardeners and hunters could dis-
pose of their wares, but anyone wishing to purchase
cloth or other manufactures bought them of the
company or royal magazine. The king or the com-
pany thought for everyone. Even Paris fashions
prevailed, for everything came from France.
The government did not give patents, but assigned
lands and recognized the transfers thereafter. Town
lots were twelve and a half by twenty-five toises, and
thus admitted of house and garden. There were a
number of more formal land grants in the vicinity,
such as the St. Louis Tract, between Bayou Chateau-
gue" (Three Mile Creek) and St. Louis Eiver (Chick-
asabogue), and at the mouth of the bay Mon Louis
Island, belonging to the Durands. In the distressing
years which closed the French administration the
population decreased, and Madame De Lusser, per-
haps in lieu of a pension for her husband killed in
the Chickasaw war, was granted a tract of land
immediately south of the fort and running a mile
westward. Bienville on the highland facing the bay
had a "maison avec jardin," and near by the Mande-
ville Tract commemorates one of the most distin-
guished officers.
Priests ministered in their sacred vocation, and
missionaries were found not only among the Tensas
and Apalaches, whom Bienville had settled near,
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 255
but also far up the rivers among the native tribes.
Even literature began, for there is no more charm-
ing writer than Penicaut, who describes the country
and gives its history, and later Bossu writes of
Toulouse and Tombecbe, as well as of the quarrels of
the officers and the maladministration in which
Louisiana began to resemble the parent France.
For law they had the Coutume de Paris, quaint and
ill-suited, one would think, in its Middle Age provi-
sions, and indeed it took not the firm hold it acquired
in Canada.
The last campaigns of Louis XIV. had resulted
unfortunately, and they were not in this to stand
alone. The Eegent, the friend of John Law, kept
the peace, but Louis XV. was drawn into the wars
which made Frederick famous. In America the
English, by their traders, succeeded in influencing
the Cherokees and Chickasaws, and, reversing Bien-
ville's ambition, in a measure hemmed the French
colonies between the Apalachians and the Gulf.
They even built a fort on the Tallapoosa which
threatened Toulouse and caused a civil war among
the Choctaws.
The Seven Years' War of Europe was reflected in
the British blockade of the Gulf ports, but the fall
of Fort Duquesne on the Ohio, and of Quebec and
Montreal in Canada, wrought the ruin of Louisiana.
The French King ceded the territory west of the
Mississippi, together with New Orleans, to the King
of Spain, and all of the first settlements, Mobile and
its river basin, to Great Britain. The Peace of Paris
of 1763 marked the withdrawal of the French flag
from the whole of North America.
British West Florida.
The British flag now waved from the Atlantic
coast to the Mississippi River. There was a possi-
256 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
bility that, like Spain, England had grasped more
than she could hold. Two things, however, must be
remembered. In the first place the English were
increasing in numbers, and in the second the change
of occupations due to the industrial revolution at
home was driving many to the new colonies, where
the ingrained Anglo-Saxon love and knack of local
self-government promised a firm foundation for
future commonwealths.
The coast territory was divided into East and
West Florida, of which the Chattahoochee or Apa-
lachicola was the boundary, while the interior above
the line of 31° was reserved as hunting grounds for
the red subjects of the king. Although Mobile was
the larger, the British, for naval reasons, chose as
their capital Pensacola, located on a smaller bay but
nearer the Gulf.
The Indian policy was different. The Anglo-
Saxon seems to have a greater repugnance than the
Latin to intermarriage with darker races, and con-
sequently the British introduced the plan, already
adopted on the Atlantic, of buying lands from the
Indians for the settlement of white colonists. This
was effected by a series of treaties, and in 1765 the
vicinity of Mobile and a strip reaching far up the
west bank of the Tombigbee was secured. Indeed,
to embrace this and similar settlements on the Mis-
sissippi the colonial boundary was moved northward
to pass through the mouth of the Yazoo.
The Indian trade was systematized, prices fixed,
traders licensed, and all placed under the supervi-
sion of a superintendent of Indian affairs. At the
same time large powers were vested in the local gov-
ernors and also in the legislature which was granted
to the province of West Florida. Those Scotchmen
who had been carrying British influence from Caro-
lina over the mountains north of the French forts
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 257
now flocked to Mobile, and McGillivray, Mclntosh,
and similar names became familiar on the bay as
well as on the river. Fort Conde was called Char-
lotte for the new queen, Toulouse and Tombecbe'
were renamed, but almost immediately abandoned,
and forts built at Manchac and on the Mississippi,
where now lay the true frontier.
The legislature was made up of a council and of
"commons from several districts. Those from Mo-
bile, and Charlotte county in which it lay, were es-
pecially influential. They led the movement for
annual elections, and the conflicts with the govern-
ors, especially Chester, stopped only short the revo-
lution which broke out upon the Atlantic. A full set
of courts, from Chancery and Admiralty down to a
Court of Bequests for small debts, was established,
and the jury system introduced where the French
had had the one-man rule of the commandant. Even
the Church of England was established, although
the rector, Rev. Mr. Gordon, was paid so little that
he did not long remain, and Father Ferdinand after
all kept his old influence. On the whole, there prom-
ised to be little difference between West Florida
and the other southern colonies except in the larger
numbers of the Latin race, and there was greater
harmony with the Catholic French than in Carolina
with the Huguenots.
The first governor was George Johnstone, a rough
naval officer who soon embroiled himself with the
army, and in particular with Major Farmar, the
commandant at Mobile. He had Farmar tried by
court-martial, from which, however, this gentleman
emerged victorious. The governors changed in rapid
succession. One committed suicide, another was
promoted to a West Indian position. Elias Durn-
ford was chief executive for some time, and to Tnim
and to Pittman we are indebted for the first survey
Vol. 2—17.
258
of Mobile Eiver and Bay. Pittman, indeed, is one of
our authors, but his subject was the Mississippi
Settlements.
After England had acquired from the Indians the
territory about the Bay and Tombigbee Eiver, she
put in force a land system which tended to induce
immigration. The plan was perhaps crude in that
it enabled the grantee to locate his own claim, and
thus there came to be a great deal of irregularity,
and in the course of time overlapping grants ; but it
was a case of first come first served, and in its way
was efficient. Officers and soldiers of the late war
with France were given land, which took the place
of a modern pension. A private soldier got fifty
acres and officers more, and upon the Tombigbee
many took advantage of the donation. Mclntosh,
Farmar, Blackwell, Sunflower, Bassett, McGrew,
and other names date from this period. On the
Eastern Shore of the Bay there not only grew up
the Village, but Durnford, Terry and Weggs had
pleasant places, and Crofttown, on its lofty red cliff,
became the regular summer camping ground of the
Mobile garrison.
The town clustered about Fort Charlotte, being
more regular to the north, however, than on the west
and south sides. The lots surviving from French
times were unchanged, and the little frame and
mortar houses, often shaded with oaks or magnolias
and overgrown with vines, faced rural ways where
cattle mingled with people from three continents.
McGillivray & Strothers, or McGillivray & Swanson,
were the leading merchants and carried on a con-
siderable business from the King's Wharf in front
of the fort. Grants were made in the suburbs to
people who wished to farm. The present Orange
Grove, Fisher and Choctaw Point Tracts and Far-
mar's Island date from this time.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 259
To the British is due the credit of making indigo
as well as naval stores a fixed product of the coun-
try, in addition to the peltries of former days, and
agriculture as well as Indian trade furnished a basis
for future growth. Even the Revolution which
broke out upon the Atlantic promised to result to
the advantage of West Florida for fleeing loyalists,
many bringing property settled on the Tombigbee.
The Floridians remained loyal and are said to have
burned the Declaration of Independence as well as
imprisoned two emissaries who brought that trea-
sonable document. Certain it is that Superintend-
ent Stewart used his influence only too well to in-
cite th6 Indians, particularly the Muscogees and
Cherokees, to harry the Georgian and Carolinian
settlements.
Spain had not formally recognized the independ-
ence of the British colonies, but took advantage of
their civil war to advance her own interests. Ber-
nardo Galvez, the energetic young governor of Lou-
isiana, in 1779 advanced up the Mississippi Kiver,
captured the British posts before General Campbell
could relieve them from Pensacola, and next year
invested Fort Charlotte. Campbell undertook a re-
lief expedition, but was delayed by storms, and
Durnford was compelled to capitulate. The Span-
iards then took the offensive and eastward from
Spanish Fort on the Bay defeated the Waldeckers,
who were in the British pay.
Not only did Galvez hold Mobile, and with it the
Alabama- Tombigbee basin and the dependent coast,
but next year attacked and captured Pensacola also.
General Campbell, Governor Chester and the troops
were repatriated to New York.
The treaties of peace in 1782-3 which recognized
the independence of the United States also recog-
nized that the northern coast of the Mexican Gulf
260 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
had become Spanish again. The Spanish flag waved
from St. Augustine to Mobile, from Mobile to New
Orleans. The Anglo-Saxon had fallen back before
the Latin, and the Choctaws and Muscogees looked
on in amazement from their native fastnesses. It
seemed as if the hand had been turned backward
upon the dial.
Spanish West Florida.
Galvez's conquest of West Florida showed a re-
vival of Spanish vigor. Affairs were regulated by
royal decrees from Madrid, but practically Ameri-
can viceroys had learned to accommodate themselves
to the new world conditions and were good govern-
ors. There had ceased to be any large immigration
from the mother country, and to the south the popu-
lation was made up of Indians, with the Spanish or
Creoles as upper classes. In Louisiana, and also in
Florida now reconquered, the population was largely
French, the Indians remaining in the interior. Rep-
resentative government entirely disappeared, and
in its place the authorities paternally regulated
everything. English law had been superadded to
the Coutume de Paris, and now both were gradually
displaced by the Partidas, and the local alcaldes con-
tinued the jurisdiction of the English justices of the
peace.
Pensacola was still nominally the capital. There
was the land office and there were held juntas or
commissions for sundry purposes. But the govern-
orship of West Florida was practically annexed to
that of Louisiana, and almost everything of import-
ance had to be sent to New Orleans for ratification.
The old Latin division of authority came into force
again, for the intendant controlled the grant of
lands and was practically independent of the gov-
ernor. They often differed and their quarrels re-
mind us of Bienville and La Salle.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 261
The lack of immigration from Spain made it nec-
essary, in order to build up the country, to induce
immigration from some other quarter, and the Brit-
ish colonies and the American Union, which suc-
ceeded them, furnished a good many adventurers,
who received grants and became valuable citizens.
This caused in turn a relaxation of the rules as to
religious observances. Theoretically, everything re-
mained Catholic, and the Mobile church at the corner
of Koyal and Conti was the place of worship for a
large parish. The priest, as in French times, made
visitations to the coast and to the interior, but there
grew up a great deal of religious indifference, which
was to prove more difficult to handle than dissent.
Mobile remained the principal town. The streets
were renamed for Spanish saints and worthies,
Dauphin being called for Galvez, St. Charles becom-
ing St. Joseph, and Conti yielding to St. Peter.
There was less commerce than formerly, especially
after the outbreak of the French Eevolution, and
the streets leading to the river were gradually oc-
cupied or became mere lanes. When the govern-
ment house was removed to Eoyal near Fort Char-
lotte, it gave the name to a new street, Government,
north of the Fort Esplanade.
The house of John Forbes & Co. succeeded Pan-
ton, Leslie & Co., of British time, and became the
principal institution. Their main business was con-
ducted from the spot now occupied by Royal and St.
Francis, and from the warehouses further west, and
they had a canal and landing to the north of the
King's Wharf. Spain continued their license to im-
port English goods, to which the Indians had become
accustomed, and they took the place of the old Brit-
ish traders, their caravans traversing Indian paths
and their bateaux plying the rivers. John Forbes
& Co. were really the diplomatic agents of the Span-
262 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
ish government, and played a great part in all the
events of the day. It might almost be said that they
conducted the department of the interior.
The impetus given by Galvez did not last more
than a few years. Public affairs became Spanish in
form, and even private documents were finally writ-
ten in Spanish instead of the native French, but the
uncertainty of political matters in Europe was re-
flected, if not intensified, in America.
In acknowledging the independence of the United
States, England had made their south boundary the
line 31°, ignoring that of 32° 28' which she had
previously fixed as the limit of West Florida. This,
of course, did not bind Spain, but it proved a matter
of embarrassment until, in 1795, Jay effected a
treaty in which Spain acknowledged the line of 31°.
Her colonial officials delayed carrying this out as
long as they could, but in 1798 they had to yield.
Next year the surveyor Ellicott, with his Spanish
consorts, erected a boundary stone on Mobile Eiver
hardly thirty miles above the Bay, and shortly after-
wards Fort St. Stephen was turned over to McClary
and his troops from Natchez.
North of the line came into existence Mississippi
territory, and West Florida, as thus cut short, con-
sisted of a strip of coast hardly sixty miles wide.
Naturally there was little basis for growth, and the
ruling classes were hardly the ones to take advan-
tage of what there was. Indeed, an entirely new
period may be dated from the delimitation of the
boundary. It is true immigration from the United
States somewhat increased, but it was to a large
extent of people who looked forward to the absorp-
tion of the country by America. For a while Forbes
& Co. maintained their old hold upon the Indians,
but the gradual immigration to Mississippi terri-
tory rendered that increasingly more difficult. As
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 263
Napoleon's hold grew in Europe, and England's was
strengthened on the sea, even Spaniards feared sep-
aration of West Florida from Spain.
President Jefferson seized the opportunity, and in
1803 purchased Louisiana. Louisiana had formerly
gone to the Perdido and such was to be the American
construction. It is true that Napoleon hinted in no
doubtful manner that this was not correct, and the
administration did not dare oppose him; but the
time might come when even he might have his hands
full at home. The Spaniards exacted duties on
goods brought by sea to the American Fort Stoddert
just above the line, and, as is usual on ill-guarded
frontiers, criminals of all kinds escaped from one
country to the other.
West Florida had reached a crisis in its history.
Its rivers were gone and time must soon tell whether
the coast should remain Latin or become Anglo-
Saxon.
The Territorial Governments.
The creation of Mississippi territory in 1798 cut
the history of the Southwest in two, but it did not
mark the coming of the Anglo-Saxon and the re-
tirement of the Latin, for that had occurred when
the British came. It was not so much a change of
race as a change of institutions. Previously the
population had come from Europe and settled on
the coast and rivers so as to communicate the better
with the old home. With the coming of the Ameri-
cans, however, we have an immigration through the
interior and from communities which had ceased to
look to the ocean except as a means of commerce,
which were instinctively expanding over the moun-
tains to the Mississippi Valley. The district south
of Tennessee did not even touch the Gulf, and there
were originally plans for its creation into a vast
state fronting the Mississippi Eiver and touching
264 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
Georgia to the rear. It was the old British West
Florida cut off from the sea, and, after a little, com-
pensated by the addition of the Indian country
lying between 32° 28' and the Tennessee line. At
first ruled entirely by governor and judges ap-
pointed from the seat of Federal government, it rose
to the second grade of territory in 1800. Besides
earlier counties about Natchez on the Mississippi
there came to be Washington county on the Tombig-
bee, and from it, in 1812, was taken Clarke county in
the forks of the rivers, and Madison up in the great
bend of the Tennessee had been formed in 1800.
The political history of the territory can be better
told in connection with Mississippi, for the eastern
half, whose separate interests soon came to the sur-
face, was less populous and had less weight in the
government. The purchase of Louisiana empha-
sized the affiliations of the Mississippi communities,
and correspondingly emphasized the unity of the
Mobile and Tombigbee settlements. The claim that
the purchase extended to the Per dido determined
the people to make the ideal a reality. At last the
Tombigbee people were erected into a separate ju-
dicial district, and, in 1804, President Jefferson sent,
in the person of Harry Toulmin, a professor late
from England, a man who was to be influential in
the development of this section. Locally its growth
oscillated between Fort Stoddert, where the United
States had a garrison and Admiralty Court, and St.
Stephens, a town built somewhat further back from
the river than the old Spanish fort. Huntsville on
the Tennessee, with its beautiful site and admirable
climate, also grew rapidly from immigration down
the river from the Carolinas and Virginia, as well
as across from Nashville and other Tennessee set-
tlements. Many of those pressed on further and
down the Bigbee.
COLONIAL AND TEKBITORIAL ALABAMA. 265
The territorial system of the United States is in
a measure colonial, in that the territory is dependent
upon a distant head, but it is different in that this
dependence is meant to be temporary. From the
first there is the aspiration for statehood. The Fed-
eral authorities followed the preceding governments
in making treaties with the Indians, but its plan
was more definite and covered not only acquisition
of lands for settlers, as from the Choctaws and
Cherokees, but also the opening of roads through to
the Atlantic states. The land system, too, was an
improvement in that it required the survey of the
whole country and then the sale of small tracts to
individuals. While the rivers remained the princi-
pal means of intercourse and on account of the soil
attracted planters, they ceased to be the only high-
ways.
The fertility of the river bottoms led to a feature
which was to become important as time went on.
Slavery had existed from the beginning of European
settlement, at first of the natives and afterwards of
negroes imported from the Spanish Islands and
from Africa. It had been adopted in Virginia and
other Anglo-Saxon colonies as a necessity in the
competition with the Spaniards to the south. Now
the American immigrants brought slaves with them
and the institution assumed a more definite shape
and took a stronger hold upon the country than un-
der the Latins.
The basin of the Alabama Eiver was held by the
Muscogees, now generally called Creeks, but the
Choctaws soon relinquished all their lands on the
Tombigbee, thus extending the cession of 1765.
This district rapidly grew in population and re-
sources. It had local courts, county organization
and a militia system, springing from the needs of a
country which had slaves in every household, and
266 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
an Indian border but a few miles away. Rough as
was the civilization in many respects, it was not as
when men begin from savagery. People brought
with them the institutions — political, social, eco-
nomic— of the older states. Even religion soon took
a hold. The eccentric Lorenzo Dow was probably
the first Protestant preacher on the Bigbee, but the
Congregationalists and Presbyterians had been
about Natchez even from British times, and from
1808 Baptists and Methodists had local churches.
The people took an interest in Federal affairs, and
held an indignation meeting when the report came
that the Leopard had fired into Chesapeake over
the right of search. Interest aroused by Burr's
descent of the Mississippi ifcivsr ^as intensified by
his escape to the Tombigbee and capture at Mcln-
tosh Bluff by Capt. E. P. Gaines from Fort Stod-
dert. There was much sympathy for Burr, and so
he was soon sent eastward by Indian roads for trial
at Richmond. The Bigbee settlers loved their dis-
trict, but looked eagerly forward to the acquisition
of Mobile from the Spaniards. When the Kempers
and others established the short-lived state of West
Florida, with capital at Baton Rouge, the settlers
made, also, an attempt on Mobile. It was ill-man-
aged, however, and the United States sent a detach-
ment from Fort Stoddert to protect the city against
the Americans.
When the War of 1812 broke out with England, the
use of the Spanish Gulf ports by the English fleet
gave the long-wished for excuse, and General Wil-
kinson, in command of the Southwest, sailed from
New Orleans for Mobile. He politely demanded
that the Spaniards retire across the Perdido, as
Mobile was in American territory. Cayetano Perez
was even more polite, but denied the assumption;
however, his forces were so inferior to Wilkinson's
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COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 267
that the American general was shortly able to report
that Mobile had been surrendered " without the effu-
sion of a drop of blood." The river basin was at
last a political unit, and its commerce flowed un-
vexed to the sea.
There remained, however, a greater problem than
the Latins, who at least could be absorbed into the
body politic, for at Mobile the Bigbee immigrants
cordially united with them in building up the port.
This was not true of the Indians; who occupied more
than half of the territory, in fact practically the
whole of the basin of the Alabama and its tribu-
taries. Whether the Indian could become an Ameri-
can citizen was a question to be settled by time. At
all events he was there and had to be dealt with. He
had given up all the land he could spare from hunt-
ing, and, unless civilized, there must come a conflict
of interests between him and the whites. The Union
had agents among the Indians, and agriculture, cat-
tle and other evidences of progress abounded among
the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Col. Benjamin Hawk-
ins oversaw the Creeks from his headquarters near
what is now Macon, Ga., but despite his optimism
there was a strong undercurrent of opposition
among them. This was brought to a head by the
visit of Tecumseh, who was aiding the British in the
Northwest. Pushmataha managed to keep the Choc-
taws in line, and the Chickasaws were too far off to
be dangerous, but the war party among the Creeks
soon acquired the upper hand. An attempt at Burnt
Corn failed to prevent them from obtaining muni-
tions from Pensacola, and on Aug. 30, 1813, the
Creek, Weather ford, captured and destroyed Fort
Mims, where the Alabama joins the Tombigbee.
Settlers in Clarke county fled to blockhouses and
improvised forts, and terror reigned supreme.
The Federal authorities had their hands full in
268 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
opposing British armies, and indeed were soon, with
the capture of Washington, themselves in flight ; but
* * Remember Fort Mims ' ' became a watchword which
roused Georgia and Tennessee as well as the terri-
torial authorities at Natchez. Three armies of mi-
litia were soon in the field converging towards the
heart of the Creek territory.
All suffered from the short terms of enlistment,
and the Georgia troops under Floyd effected little.
The Mississippi army was hampered by instructions
to restrict itself to the defense of Mobile, but for-
tunately Claiborne construed this broadly and as-
sumed the offensive. He defeated the Indians at
Holy Ground, Econochaca, and built a supply depot
and fort upon the commanding Alabama bluff since
named for him. The rough but energetic Andrew
Jackson, accompanied by Coffee and others, marched
by way of Huntsville to the upper Coosa and fought
his way southward, possibly on the old route of De
Soto. Talladega, Horse Shoe Bend and other vic-
tories made him famous, and he was finally able,
from Fort Toulouse — rebuilt and rechristened for
him — to dictate peace, which settled the Indian ques-
tion for many years. All land west of the Coosa and
of a line running southeastwardly from Fort Jack-
son was ceded to the United States.
Jackson descended the river to Mobile, and placed
Fort Charlotte and Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point
in proper condition for defense. Captain Lawrence
on the Point had soon to sustain the attack of a
British fleet, assisted by Indians on land, but was
victorious. The Mobile district seemed reasonably
secure, and Jackson transferred his headquarters
to New Orleans to oppose the British. After their
defeat at that point they returned, captured Fort
Bowyer and made Dauphine Island one vast camp ;
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL ALABAMA. 269
but Fort Charlotte protected Mobile until the Peace
of Ghent put an end to hostilities.
Now that the heart of the river basin from the
Tennessee Valley to the Florida line was open to
white settlement, immigration came by leaps and
bounds. The Whitney gin made cotton-raising the
money-making industry, and planters took up much
of the Black Belt. Town-making became the rage.
Not only was Blakely founded across the delta as a
rival to Mobile, and even St. Stephens had neigh-
bors, but Wetumpka, Montgomery, Selma and Tus-
caloosa were laid out, besides others which were to
live only on paper. The steamboat had come on the
Mississippi. It was clear that in a short time it
must solve the transportation question and make of
the river basin an agricultural commonwealth. The
old times when the port which looked abroad was
the only place of interest had passed. Local centres
were developed over the eastern half of Mississippi
territory, and the commerce through Mobile vastly
increased.
The western half, with Mississippi River as its
promoter, had increased even more rapidly, and in
1817 was erected into the state of Mississippi. The
counties left outside became the territory of Ala-
bama, whose legislature met at St. Stephens as the
first capital ; but in two years the sentiment steadily
grew that this new territory also was ripe for state-
hood.
Thus, then, we have traversed the early history of
Alabama, from its exploration by the Spaniards and
settlement by the French, through the varying
domination of the Briton and Spaniard. The In-
dians were still there, but they were segregated.
The African had come, but he was a laborer. The
Latin and Briton had fused into the American. The
unity of the Alabama-Tombigbee basin had at last
270 THE HISTOEY OF ALABAMA.
been recognized, and steam was to make of it a real-
ity heretofore undreamed of. Colonial dependence
upon a mother country across the sea had come to
an end, and even territorial institutions were to
merge into those of a self-governing state.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — I. GENERAL: Brown, W. G.: School History, Ala-
bama; Hamilton, P. J.: Colonial Mobile (1897), Colonization of South
(1904, History of N. A. Series); Winsor, Justin: Narrative and Critical
History (8 vols., 1887); Transactions Alabama Historical Society.
II. INDIAN: Gatschet: Creek Migration Legend; Hawkins: Sketch of
Creek Country; American State Papers, Indian Relations (1832, Vols. I.
and II.).
III. SPANISH: Maps, etc., at Seville; American State Papers, Public
Lands (Vols. I.-VL); White: New Recopilacion (Vols. I. and II); Trans-
lated Records, Mobile Probate Court; Original Records, Mobile Probate
Court. Travels — DeSoto: GarcUasso, Gentleman of Elvas (Sp. Explor-
ers, 1907), Biedma and Ranjel in Trail Maker series; Ternaux-Compans,
Recueil Floride; Collot: Atlas; Cabeza de Vaca (Spanish Explorers, 1907).
Histories — Scaife, W. B.: America, Geographical History (1892); Barcia:
Ensayo Cronologico (1723); Lowery, W.: Spanish Settlements in U. S.
(1901); Ruidiaz: Florida (1893, 2 vols.).
IV. FRENCH: Documents — Maps in Howard Library (New Orleans);
Parochial Records, Mobile; Mss. by Margry at New Orleans; Mss. by
Magne at New Orleans; French, B. F. : Historical Collections, Louisiana
(Vols. I.-V.), Historical Collections, Louisiana and Florida (Vols. I. and
II.); Margry: Decouvertes (Vols. I.- VI.); Cusachs Mss., New Orleans.
Travels — Penicaut in 6th French and 5th Margry; La Harpe, B.: Journal
Historigue (1831); Charlevoix, Hisloire de la Nouv. France, etc. (1744);
Le Page du Pratz: Histoire de la Louisiane; Dumont: Memoires His-
toriques (6 French); Bossu: Nouvaux Voyages; Kip's Early Jesuit Mis-
sions. Histories— Gayarre": Louisiana (4 vols.); Martin: Louisiana;
Fortier: Louisiana (1904, 4 vols.); King's Bienville (1892); Shea, J. G.:
Catholic Missions (1854), Catholic Church in Colonial Days.
V. BRITISH: Documents — Haldimand Papers (Ottawa); West Flor-
ida Records in Alabama Department of Archives. Travels — Adair's
American Indians (1775); Romans' Florida; Jeffrey's French Dominion.
Robert's Florida; Bartram's Travels North Carolina (1793). Histories —
Campbell, R. L.: Colonial Florida (1892).
VI. AMERICAN: Documents — Pickett Papers, Alabama Department
of Archives; Draper Mss. (Madison, Wis.); Ellicott's Journal; Latour's
War in West Florida (1816); Deed Books, Probate Court, Mobile County,
Washington County, etc. Histories — Claiborne, J. F. H.: Sam Dale;
Meek, A. B.: Romance of Southwest. History (1857); Pickett, A. J.:
Alabama, 1851 (1896, reprint); Brewer, W.: Alabama (1872); Ball and
Halbert: Creek War (1895); Ball, T. H.: Clarke County (1882).
PETER JOSEPH HAMILTON,
Author of Colonization of the South; Reconstruction, etc.
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 271
CHAPTER II.
ALABAMA FROM 1819 TO 1865.
Alabama Admitted to the Union.
It was not an accident that four western states
were admitted into the Union within the brief period
of three years extending from December, 1816, to
December, 1819. Nor was it entirely due to the skill
of politicians that two of these, Illinois and Indiana,
came from the northwest, and two, Mississippi and
Alabama, from the southwest. The four states grew
up with the same western movement of population
that followed the War of 1812.
In the South, the conquest of the Mobile district
and the battle of New Orleans determined definitely
that this whole region was to belong to the United
States, and that no foreign power would interfere
with the settlers from the eastern states ; while the
victory of Jackson over the Creek Indians at Horse-
shoe Bend, in what is now eastern Alabama, and the
resulting treaty of Fort Jackson in 1814, were a
definite indication that the Indians were not to be
allowed to stand in the way of the development of
the new region.
Thus encouraged, immigration poured in steadily
in three streams. The rich valley of the Tennessee
Eiver in northern Alabama was settled chiefly from
Tennessee, and, indirectly, through Tennessee, from
Virginia and the older states. The central regions,
along the river valleys and in the flat lands, were
settled largely from Georgia, and, through Georgia,
from North and South Carolina, the settlers often
making their way through the Creek territory. The
Mobile district and the valleys of the Alabama and
272 THE HISTOEY OF ALABAMA.
the Tombigbee rivers were settled by people from
many different states, some coming even from New
England. One colony, consisting of French exiles,
who had followed the fortunes of Napoleon until his
downfall, founded on the Tombigbee River a town,
which they called Demopolis, in what later became
Marengo county.
In 1817 the territory, which afterwards became the
state of Alabama, contained 33,000 inhabitants; in
1818, 67,000; in 1820, 137,000. In 1817, Mississippi
state was organized and the remaining portion of
the territory became Alabama territory. Two years
later, March 2, 1819, Congress passed an enabling
act, permitting the people of this territory to form
a state government. The act by which Georgia had
in 1802 ceded this land to the national government
provided that it should be subject to the provisions
of the Ordinance of 1787, except as to slavery. The
enabling act carried out this idea, and specified that
the state constitution should be in accord with that
ordinance, save as to slavery, and offered to the
state certain land grants for education and funds
for internal improvement.
In accordance with this act, a constitutional con-
vention met at Huntsville on July 5, 1819, and con-
tinued in session until August 2. Huntsville was at
that time the most flourishing town in northern Ala-
bama, and was more distinctly American than Mo-
bile, the leading town of South Alabama. The con-
vention was an able body of men. Some of them
had already gained political experience in the older
states; many of them were to attain prominence in
the later history of Alabama. It is possible to trace
in the document which they drew up the influence
of Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, North and South
Carolina ideas ; yet the document was not a slavish
imitation. It was a good, practical constitution, and
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 273
it lasted with several small amendments down to the
War of Secession. It contained a bill of rights,
provided for the usual three departments of govern-
ment, legislature, governor and courts, and accepted
the conditions and the offers of the enabling act.
The most interesting sections are an elaborate one
concerning banks, and a brief one about slaves,
both of which will be referred to later on.
The new constitution was duly approved, and on
Dec. 14, 1819, Alabama became a state in the Union.
The state government had already been formed, the
General Assembly had met at Huntsville on Oct. 25,
1819, and Gov. W. W. Bibb had been inaugurated on
Nov. 9, 1819.
Growth and Development.
The new state, which had thus been safely
launched, was in some respects a frontier commun-
ity of pioneers, in other respects it closely resembled
the older states farther east. Mobile, although a
small town with scarcely more than 2,000 inhabi-
tants, was more than a hundred years old, and had
some of the conservatism that naturally came from
French and Spanish traditions ; but Blakeley, which
faced it across the bay, was a new American town,
enterprising and western in its character. So were
most of the settlements that sprang up on the Ala-
bama and the Tombigbee rivers. With the excep-
tion of Mobile, there were few places in Alabama
that could boast of being more than ten or twelve
years old. The inhabitants were naturally ab-
sorbed in the practical task of clearing away the
forests and conquering the new soil ; but the distance
from the older states was so short and the prospect
of rapid growth was so clear, that many of the
pioneers came from the higher class, and gave an
eastern tone to the new state.
The chief towns were Mobile, Hunstville, St.
Yd. 2—18.
274 THE HISTORY OP ALABAMA.
Stephens, Claiborne, Blakeley, Florence, and Tusca-
loosa. None of these had more than 2,000 inhabi-
tants, most of them considerably less. Montgomery,
the future capital of the state, was a mere village,
which had been founded two years before through
the joint efforts of John Falconer, of South Carolina,
and Andrew Dexter, of Ehode Island. With re-
markable forethought, Dexter reserved the crest of
a commanding hill for the future state capitol. His
dream waited thirty years for its fulfillment, but in
1846 the state capital was moved from Tuscaloosa,
and in 1847 the building was erected on the hill
where he had planned that it should be. The towns
were small, but every one of them expected to be a
city, and lots in them sold at fancy prices.
The state was largely agricultural, and was to
remain so until the war. The chief crop was cotton,
and for transportation the planters depended, in the
main, on the rivers. Of these there were two groups,
one centering at Mobile, consisting of the Alabama
and the Tombigbee rivers and their tributaries,
the other consisting of the Tennessee River and its
tributaries, which flowed through the northern part
of Alabama into the Ohio. These two systems lacked
common commercial interests, and thoughtful men
feared that the state might ultimately divide into
two sections. To overcome this difficulty, the legisla-
ture early planned roads to unite the two sections.
This was the beginning of many plans to connect the
northern and the southern parts of the state, some-
times by canals from the Tennessee to the Coosa,
and later by railroads from Gunter 's Landing on the
Tennessee to the Alabama River at Selma or Mont-
gomery.
A great step in the development of these rivers
was taken in 1821, when the first steamboat made
its way from Mobile to Montgomery. The trip took
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 275
five days, which was one-sixth of the time required
by barges. The entire population of the little town,
Montgomery, turned out to bid it welcome, and well
they might, for it was the beginning of a new method
of transportation which was to make it possible for
the towns to become cities.
Although the state was a new one, with a widely
scattered population, dependent almost entirely
upon agriculture, nevertheless, churches, schools,
and newspapers, the three great institutions of civi-
lization, began their existence early. Naturally, the
Eoman Catholics took the lead in early Mobile, but
Protestants soon followed, and with the coming of
settlers from other states, the Methodists and the
Baptists became the most numerous. Other denomi-
nations followed soon, and in a few years after its
admission all the leading churches were represented
on its soil.
In early Mobile, education had been carried on,
partly at least, in connection with the church. In
the other sections of the state private schools sprang
up as occasion permitted. Washington Academy
had been founded at St. Stephens in 1811, and Green
Academy at Huntsville in 1812. Planters not infre-
quently employed tutors for their children, and
sometimes sent their boys to school in the east. The
territorial government had as early as 1814 given
some financial aid to private academies. The en-
abling act provided for a state ' ' Seminary of Learn-
ing," and set aside certain lands for it and also for
the general cause of education. No regular public
school system, however, was developed until shortly
before the war. To carry out the provisions for a
seminary of learning, the University of Alabama
was chartered in 1820, and after some years of plan-
ning was opened in 1831. From that time until the
present day it has exercised a strong and healthy
276 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
educational influence. When Alabama became a
state, newspapers already existed in Mobile, Hunts-
ville, St. Stephens and Florence. The next year they
were established at Montgomery, Claiborne, Ca-
hawba, and Tuscaloosa.
The conquest of nature absorbed the inhabitants
of the new state so fully that they had little time for
political questions; nor did these for some years
press upon them for solution. The new state began
its career in the "Era of Good Feeling'* under Presi-
dent Monroe. The bitter Missouri contest was con-
temporaneous with its admission, and during the
years of political quiet that followed, Alabama knew
no politics. The population was nearly half slave;
but the conditions were favorable to slavery, and
there was little difference of opinion about it. Laws
were passed to regulate the institution, to prevent
cruelty on the one hand and wholesale emancipation
on the other, to prescribe the status of free negroes,
and to maintain order among the slaves and the
free. The question then passed into the background,
where it slumbered, with one or two brief inter-
ruptions, until it was called forth by the great dis-
cussions that immediately preceded the war.
The Indian Lands.
The Indian, unlike the negro, early brought the
state into touch with the national government and
its policies. During the War of 1812, while Alabama
was still a part of the Mississippi territory, the
Creek Indians had sided with the British, and had
perpetrated the massacre of Fort Mims. They had
not been definitely checked until Andrew Jackson
defeated them at Horshoe Bend. The treaty of
Fort Jackson, Aug. 9, 1814, restricted them within
definite limits in the eastern part of the state. In
1816 the Cherokees gave up all their lands except a
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 277
small area in the northeast of the state, and the
Chickasaws all save an equally small space in the
northwest, and the Choctaws all except a narrow
strip west of the Tomhigbee.
This left three-quarters of the state open to white
settlement. But, as the whites poured in, the de-
mand increased that all Indians should be removed
by the national government. In Georgia the same
struggle was going on, and, while the treaty of 1826
secured for that state practically all that was asked,
Alabama was left without relief. In 1830 the Choc-
taws gave up their lands, and soon afterward moved
west of the Mississippi. But the Creeks, who held
the largest territory and were directly in the line
of settlers coming from Georgia, still remained, and
were at times troublesome. At length in 1832 they
consented by the treaty of Dancing Babbit to give
up their lands and go west. White settlers imme-
diately rushed into the ceded land before the time
fixed by the treaty. Federal troops were ordered to
enforce its terms, and in the attempt in August,
1833, killed a settler named Owens. Excitement
ran high. Governor Gayle and Secretary of War
Cass had a sharp correspondence, and for a time a
struggle seemed imminent between the state and the
national governments. Fortunately Francis Scott
Key, who was sent from Washington to arrange the
matter, showed great tact and fair-mindedness, a
compromise was reached, and the dispute was set-
tled amicably.
At length four years later, in 1837, after a lively
fight with the whites at Pea Eidge, the Creeks finally
left their old home and followed the other Indians
across the Mississippi. The Cherokees agreed to
leave in 1835, and by 1838 only a few scattered
Indians remained in the state, and the Indian ques-
tion in Alabama was settled forever.
27S THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
Nullification.
Before this problem was finally disposed of, Ala-
bama was brought face to face with another that
raised serious questions as to the relation of the state
to the nation. The nullification controversy, which
raged so hotly in South Carolina, spread quickly to
Alabama, and at one time it seemed possible that the
state would endorse the attitude of South Carolina.
Many South Carolinians, caught by the westward
movement, had emigrated to Alabama, and kept the
states in close touch. Moreover the economic con-
ditions that brought about the trouble in the older
state were even more marked in the newer. Ala-
bama was an agricultural state and had almost no
manufactories at all. Public opinion was therefore
naturally opposed to a protective tariff; and when
South Carolina proposed the remedy of nullification,
it was an open question whether Alabama would
endorse its action. The matter became an issue in
the gubernatorial campaign of 1831, John Gayle,
who vigorously condemned nullification, was elected,
and the legislature by a vote of forty-six to sixteen
declared against it.
State Banking.
The decade 1830-40 was an eventful one in the
state's history. It not only covered the settlement
of the Indian question and the nullification contro-
versy, but it witnessed the culmination and the
downfall of the State Bank. While Alabama was
still a territory, the need of more money was keenly
felt. In addition to the usual demand for capital
to develop the resources of a new country, the money
in circulation was steadily drained eastward by the
sale of government lands. To meet this want, banks
were needed which would lend money on ordinary
security, and would increase the circulation by issu-
ing bank notes. The territorial legislature estab-
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 279
lished several, usually reserving to the territory an
option on a part of the stock. The constitutional
convention recognized the importance of the subject,
and devoted a long section of the constitution to it.
This section authorized the establishment of a State
Bank, safeguarded it as far as was thought wise,
and provided that the state should hold at least two-
fifths of the stock.
The legislature of 1823 established "The Bank of
the State of Alabama." It was to be controlled by
a president and twelve directors, all appointed by
the legislature. It was to make loans, issue notes,
and be the depository of state funds. The Bank was
located at the state capital, which was then Cahawba,
but it was moved to Tuscaloosa, when that town
became capital in 1826. Branches were established
in 1832 at Montgomery, Mobile, and Decatur, and in
1835 at Huntsville. The growth of the bank corre-
sponded with the "Flush Times" that culminated
in 1836, when speculation and wild finance reached
their height. It is hard to apportion to the bank
on the one hand and to circumstances on the other
their proper shares of responsibility for what hap-
pened. But it was certainly badly managed, and
there were many accusations of corruption. The
appointment of its president and directors for short
terms by the legislature put it in politics, and it
was openly charged with favoritism and graft. For
some years it prospered, or seemed to, and in 1836
the state tax laws were repealed, and the bank was
relied on to defray the state's expenses. Scandals
connected with its management, combined with the
panic of 1837, brought it to grief. Legislative in-
vestigation followed, and in 1842-43, under the
leadership of Governor Fitzpatrick and John A.
Campbell, the legislature put the whole system in
liquidation. In 1846 a commission was appointed, of
280 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
which F. S. Lyon was chairman, to wind up its
affairs. Under his able guidance the task was com-
pleted in 1853.
Political Conditions.
With the growth of the state, participation in
national affairs increased. The Indian problem had
been a local one with possibilities of national com-
plications; the bitter experience with a state bank
was, although scarcely recognized as such at the
time, a phase of the general financial recklessness
that swept over the whole country; the nullification
controversy brought Alabama in touch with a
national question that concerned especially an older
state to the east of them; in 1836 the struggle of
Texas for independence aroused a lively sympathy
in a state that was itself largely as yet a land of
pioneers. Mass meetings were held, funds were sub-
scribed, and volunteers were organized to help the
cause. In the massacre at Goliad was a company of
troops organized near Montgomery by Captain
Ticknor. They perished almost to a man.
This growing interest in public affairs showed
itself quickly in a livelier participation in political
life. For years the state had been unquestionably
Democratic. The popularity of Andrew Jackson had
been very great ; but with his retirement in 1837 the
Whig party made rapid strides, especially among
the larger planters in the rich farming regions of
the central and southern parts of the state. By 1839
they controlled two of the five congressional districts,
those embracing Tuscaloosa and Mobile; and in a
spectacular campaign in 1840 they came near carry-
ing the state for President Harrison. So anxious
did the Democrats become that they urged the selec-
tion of congressmen on a " General Ticket" by a
joint vote of the entire state instead of by districts.
This was done in 1841, but public sentiment pro-
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 281
nounced against it. When compelled to return to the
old system, they made in 1842-43, a still more signifi-
cant effort to retain their control by changing the
old plan of counting three-fifths of the slaves in
determining the population of the congressional dis-
tricts. Under the new law only whites were to be
counted. This is interesting as showing not only
the growth of the Whig party, but that its strength
at this time lay largely in the districts where slavery
was strongest.
Mexican War and Its Relation to the Slavery Question.
In 1846 the Texas question reappeared in the form
of a war with Mexico. In spite of memories of
Goliad, men enlisted freely. Some served with
troops from other states. An Alabama regiment was
led by Col. John E. Coffey, and a battalion by Maj.
J. J. Seibels. Excitement ran high, and at the close
of the war enthusiastic receptions were given to
Generals Shields and Quitman when they passed
through the state. It is difficult to explain with
certainty the great interest that the war aroused
among Alabamians. They were stirred by the love
of adventure, by the hope of fame, and by a ready
and not too critical sympathy with their fellow coun-
trymen who were beset by foreigners. Themselves
inhabiting a new and rapidly growing state, they
felt the charm of growth and expansion, and
dreamed more or less of new boundaries for the
nation whose political life was now beginning to
pulse vigorously in their veins. Some doubtless
foresaw with tolerable clearness an increase of slave
territory and planned therefor.
Whatever may have been their motive in waging
the war, there is no question that it brought them
face to face with the great problem of slavery in
the territories, which involved the question of states
282 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
rights and was to find its solution only in civil war.
The states rights sentiment was not a new one in
Alabama history. It had been stirred by the Indian
question and by the nullification contest. The fol-
lowers of John C. Calhoun in Alabama had for more
than ten years been called "States Eights Men,"
especially in opposing the Whig ideas of a National
Bank and national aid to internal improvement.
They had found an able leader in Dixon H. Lewis,
one of the most remarkable men of his day. A warm
friend of Calhoun and of Yancey, he is the connect-
ing link between the older South Carolina school of
political philosophy and the later group that fol-
lowed the leadership of the Alabamian, Yancey.
But none of these discussions brought the question
of states rights home to the people of Alabama so
persistently or so effectively as did the territorial
problems that grew directly and indirectly out of
the Mexican War. These touched the slavery ques-
tion and made it for the first time a great political
issue in the state. The legislature had, it is true,
from time to time passed laws in regard to slaves,
for example, in 1827, to check and to regulate the
slave trade, in 1832 to prevent free negroes from
coming into the state, in 1834 to require emancipated
slaves to leave the state within twelve months after
emancipation, and at different times to regulate the
patrol system and the management of slaves. But
these acts had aroused no serious differences of
opinion, and the anti-slavery movement found little
sympathy in any part of the state. James G. Birney,
who at that time lived at Huntsville, became in the
early thirties an agent for the Colonization Society,
and established a few feeble branches of it ; but his
work met with a discouraging reception, and he left
the state, joined the out and out abolitionists, and
became their candidate for the presidency. In the
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 283
main, the abolitionists were regarded as dreamers,
and the danger from them was too remote to create
more than a passing wave of excitement.
But with the acquisition of the lands that came
from the Mexican War, the question assumed the
new and more practical form, whether slavery should
exist in the territories. This became a national issue
from the moment that Wilmot of Pennsylvania pre-
sented in Congress his well-known proviso excluding
it from them. In Alabama, as in the other Southern
states, this called forth a general and vigorous pro-
test, which found expression in local meetings in
many parts of the state, and culminated in a famous
set of resolutions adopted by the State Democratic
convention in Montgomery in 1848. This was the
most advanced position taken by any Southern state
at that time and was taken under the leadership of
William L. Yancey, who now succeeded Lewis as the
leader of the "States Eights Men," and was to be
from this time until his death in 1863 the most con-
spicuous of all Alabamians. These resolutions were
known far and wide as "The Alabama Platform."
They declared that neither Congress nor a territorial
legislature had a right to prohibit slavery in the
new territories which had been acquired by the com-
mon efforts of all the states, that it was the duty of
the national government to protect slave property in
this territory, and that the party would support no
man for the presidency who would not indorse these
resolutions.
The first part was merely the logical and final
development of Calhoun's philosophy; but the last
resolution was a bold statement of a plan of political
action, which is the keynote of Yancey 's policy. The
National Democratic convention which met in Balti-
more that year refused to adopt the Alabama Plat-
form; and the Democrats of the state, with the
284 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
exception of Yancey and a few of his followers,
supported Cass for the presidency in spite of the
fact that he did not fulfill its requirements. It failed,
therefore, at the time, to achieve its purpose, but it
aroused a vigorous discussion in Alabama and in
other states, and was to reappear twelve years later
with important results at the Charleston Convention.
Meanwhile the political pendulum throughout the
state swung toward the conservative side. Yancey
was denounced by many as a radical and an agitator,
the compromise measures of 1850 were indorsed by
the Whigs and with some hesitancy by the Demo-
crats, and a Union convention at Montgomery in
1851 went so far as to deny the right of secession.
By 1852, when Pierce was elected to the presi-
dency and William B. King, a distinguished Ala-
bamian, to the vice-presidency, the problems result-
ing from the Mexican War seemed to have been
permanently solved, and the political excitement
subsided.
Industrial and Economic Questions.
The lull was a brief one, but it gave the people
an opportunity to discuss their economic and indus-
trial needs, and to push forward plans for coopera-
tion in these lines. Indeed no student of the early
fifties can fail to be impressed with the beginning
made in business development, and to wonder how
rapid its progress would have been, if it had not
been interrupted by the War of Secession. Business
had been the absorbing theme during the state's
early years, and it had come near to being the only
one during the ' ' flush times ' ' of 1830-36. A traveler
who visited the state in 1833 says : "It was a subject
of wonder and cogitation to me, who had been for
many years constantly taken up with the affairs of
government, and the strife of party politics, to listen
to my Montgomery friends talking without ceasing
WILLIAM R. KING.
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 285
of cotton, negroes, land and money." Nor had this
interest waned greatly during the fifteen years that
followed. The panic of 1837 had seriously checked
the progress of many undertakings. The Mexican
War and the political turmoil that followed it ab-
sorbed public interest at the expense of the discus-
sion of business. But at bottom this still consti-
tuted the chief interest of the state, and by the fifties
it had made considerable progress. The population
had grown to nearly 800,000. Farming was still far
the most important industry, and cotton was almost
the only crop for sale. But the amount raised was
steadily increasing. At Mobile alone the cotton
receipts had increased from 10,000 bales in 1819,
when the state was admitted, to 237,000 during the
flush times of 1836, and to 549,000 in 1852. The
means of transportation showed great improvement.
Steamboats had grown in number and rivaled in
size and comfort those on the Mississippi. A definite
movement for good roads had been started, and
plank roads had been built with some enthusiasm,
but they had proved unsatisfactory and the move-
ment died. Its loss, however, was more than made
good by the coming of the railroad. In 1831 the
Tuscumbia Eailroad was begun. It was to run to
Decatur, connecting the two navigable sections of
the Tennessee Eiver which were separated by the
Muscle Shoals. Forty-four miles of it were finished
in 1833. In 1834 the Montgomery Eailroad was
chartered. Its progress was delayed by the panic,
but twelve miles were opened for business in 1840.
About twelve years later it reached West Point, Ga.,
and became an important link in the system by
which travelers and merchandise came from the
east to Montgomery and thence by steamboats down
the Alabama to Mobile. In 1848 the Mobile and Ohio
Eailroad was chartered and thirty-three miles had
286 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
been built in 1852. Other lines were planned, and in
1854 the South and North Railroad was incorpo-
rated, which was destined to be the first successful
attempt to connect the Tennessee and the Alabama
Kiver valleys, and thereby to unite in a business way
the two sections of the state.
To many men this rapid development seemed to
call for more capital than could be furnished by the
scanty resources of private individuals, and a strong
demand arose for state aid in the building of rail-
roads. Judge L. P. Walker was a leading advocate
of this plan. Others who feared the extension of
the powers even of their own state government
earnestly opposed it. They found a vigorous leader
in Governor Winston, who during his two terms,
1853-57, vetoed thirty-three measures of this kind.
Nor did this demand for an enlargement of the
activities of the state government restrict itself to
such industrial lines as the building of railroads. In
1854 the legislature passed an act establishing the
public school system in the state, and money was
appropriated for it in addition to the fund set aside
by the United States government in the .enabling
act.
Slavery Controversy.
This prospect of a quiet industrial development
was suddenly swept aside when in 1854 Douglas
brought forward his Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and the
struggle for Kansas began, which in one form or
another was to continue until it was settled by the
war. The slavery question was thus once more
brought to the front, and in a definite and dramatic
form. Newspapers and speakers discussed the
matter ; but the situation demanded action, and Ala-
bama probably did more than any other Southern
state, save Missouri, to beat the Emigrant Aid So-
cieties, at their own game. Several companies of
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 287
men went from the state, the largest of which was
organized by Jefferson Buford. His purpose is best
seen by reading his card in the newspapers : "I wish
to raise three hundred industrious, sober, discreet,
reliable men, capable of bearing arms, not prone to
use them wickedly or unnecessarily, but willing to
protect their section in every real emergency."
Border warfare is demoralizing, and his men may
not have lived up to his ideal; but he and they
were in earnest, and seem to have behaved rather
better than many others did under trying condi-
tions.
The old friction over fugitive slaves and the new
terror and indignation that followed John Brown's
raid added fuel to the flame of passion that was fast
getting beyond control, while the Dred Scott decision
was felt to be a strong indorsement of the constitu-
tional position of the States Eights men. In vain
did more conservative men try to stem the current
of public opinion as Whigs, or to direct it to other
issues as Americans or Know-Nothings, or to con-
trol it as a wing of the Democratic party under the
leadership of Forsyth, Seibels and Fitzpatrick. The
result was inevitable. The current of events carried
the Yancey wing of the Democratic party into con-
trol, and the state's delegates to the national conven-
tion in Charleston in 1860 were instructed to insist
upon the adoption of the Alabama Platform by that
body, and to withdraw if their request were refused.
In vain did Forsyth protest against the demand for
a platform which would "scatter the Democrats to
the winds." "The result must be," he said, "sub-
mission to a Republican administration, or a dissolu-
tion of the Union." Alabama had made up its mind
to demand what it considered its full rights under
the constitution and to abide by the consequences,
and the legislature passed an ominous resolution in-
288 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
structing the governor to call a state convention in
case Lincoln should be elected.
Secession.
At Charleston, Yancey in a speech of wonderful
force and eloquence urged the demands of his state ;
but his efforts were unsuccessful, and the Alabama
delegates and many others withdrew. The party
was hopelessly split and Lincoln was elected.
Now followed the most intense and earnest discus-
sion as to whether the state should secede. Those
who opposed secession urged that Lincoln's election
made no great change in the situation, that the
Supreme Court, which had recently given the Dred
Scott decision, was still to be depended upon, and
that Congress was still safely conservative. What
could Lincoln do? Moreover, how would the situa-
tion be improved by secession? "Would fugitive
slaves be easier to recover if Ohio and Massachu-
setts belonged to a foreign government? "Let us,
at any rate," they said, "consult with the other
Southern states, and see whether we can devise some
plan to secure our rights in the Union. If not, then
we can secede together."
The advocates of immediate secession on the other
hand, replied that cooperation had been tried before
and had failed, and that the temper of the times
made any compromise impossible, even if it were de-
sirable. Their opinion of the significance of Lin-
coln's election was clearly stated by Governor
Moore :
' ' The Republicans have now succeeded in electing
Mr. Lincoln, who is pledged to carry out the prin-
ciples of the party that elected him. The course of
events shows clearly that this party will in a short
time have a majority in both branches of Congress.
It will be in their power to change the complexion of
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 289
the Supreme Court so as to make it harmonize with
Congress and the President. .When that party gets
possession of all the departments of the government
with the purse and the sword, he must be blind
indeed who does not see that slavery will be excluded
from the territories, and other free states will in
hot haste be admitted into the Union until they
have a majority to alter the constitution. Then
slavery will be abolished by law in the states. The
state of society that will exist in the Southern states
with four millions of free negroes and their increase
turned loose upon them, I will not discuss — it is too
horrible to contemplate."
The struggle over the question of secession was
hard and close. Even when the convention met, no
one knew what its decision would be. In a test
vote, the immediate secessionists won by a majority
of fifty-four to forty-five, and the ordinance of seces-
sion was finally adopted on Jan. 11, 1861, by a vote
of sixty-one to thirty-nine. Twenty-four delegates
did not sign it.
A newspaper of the time records that when the
result was announced "the rejoicing commenced,
and the people seemed wild with excitement, * * *
cannon reverberated through the city, the various
church bells commenced ringing, and shout after
shout might have been heard along the principal
streets."
On February 4, less than a month later, the dele-
gates from the seceding states met in Montgomery,
and organized the Confederate States of America.
In the capitol building, which still stands on the hill
reserved for it by Dexter, the Confederate Congress
shaped the destinies of the new republic, and on its
portico Jefferson Davis was inaugurated on Febru-
ary 18, amidst unbounded enthusiasm. For three
months Montgomery continued the capital of the
Vol. 2—19.
290 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
Confederacy, and Alabama occupied the most con-
spicuous place on the stage.
Alabama's Fart in the Confederacy.
In the war that followed, Alabamians played as
important a part as in the scenes that ushered it in.
In the cabinet of President Davis served two Ala-
bamians, L. P. Walker, as secretary of war, and
Thomas H. Watts, as attorney-general. Judge
John A. Campbell, who resigned his place on the
bench of the Supreme Court of the United States
at the outbreak of the war, became assistant secre-
tary of war, and, because of his great learning and
ability, exercised an influence with the administra-
tion almost equal to that of a member of the cabinet.
.William L. Yancey was at once sent abroad as the
representative of the new government to enlist the
sympathy and the help of England, and after his
return, made the influence of Alabama strongly felt
in the Confederate Senate.
On the field and on the sea the state contributed
its full share of men and won its full share of glory.
Its population in 1860 contained a little more than
half a million whites, and the number of soldiers that
it furnished to the Confederate cause has been va-
riously estimated at from ninety thousand to one
hundred and thirty thousand. These soldiers were
found in every important battle of the war. They
followed many famous commanders who were born
in other states, and served with a fervor that knew
no state divisions. They constituted the troops with
which Generals Wheeler and Gordon won their first
fame; and served under General Longstreet, who,
although born in another state, is himself on the
official list of generals accredited to Alabama.
Eaphael Semmes, a resident of Mobile, commanded
the. Alabama, which did more damage to Northern
ALABAMA, 1819-1865. 291
commerce than any other vessel during the war.
In the Confederate army were found six major-
generals from Alabama, and twenty-nine brigadier-
generals. From Alabama came the "Gallant Pel-
ham,'* the boy artilleryman, of whom General Lee
said, "It is glorious to see such courage in one so
young."
While the state did not become the scene of great
campaigns, as did Virginia and Georgia, yet its soil
was often invaded by Union troops, and there was
scarcely any section of it that did not at some time
during the war suffer the horrors of invasion, and
that did not at its close show its dreadful effects.
After the battle of Shiloh, in 1862, the Confeder-
ate army moved southward into Mississippi, and
the fertile valley of the Tennessee River in north-
ern Alabama fell into the hands of the Federal
troops. It remained in their possession almost con-
tinuously until the end of the war. In 1863 Streight
made a raid through the hill country of northern
Alabama, and was captured after a brilliant pursuit
by Gen. N. B. Forrest. It was an Alabama girl,
Emma Sansom, who, amidst shot and shell, guided
Forrest to a ford near Gadsden, and helped him
overtake the Federals.
Raids were made through the central portion of
the state by General Rousseau in 1864, and by Gen-
eral Wilson in 1865, resulting in the burning of the
state university, the tearing up of railroads and the
destruction of much public and private property at
Montgomery, Selma and other places.
The port of Mobile was blockaded in 1861. In the
summer of 1864 Admiral Farragut, in the desperate
battle of Mobile Bay, defeated the Confederate fleet
under Admiral Buchanan. The neighboring forts
were captured later after a brave resistance, and on
April 12, 1865, Mobile surrendered.
292 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
With few exceptions, the people of Alabama sus-
tained the cause of the Confederacy to their utmost.
While secession was still a question open for dis-
cussion, many opposed it ; but when war came, they
followed their state, and gave their lives and their
property freely in behalf of the new government,
whose beginning they had witnessed with high hopes
in their own capital city, Montgomery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — By far the most important collection of material for
the history of the state is to be found in the state department of archives
and history, which is located in the capitol at Montgomery. Its director,
Dr. Thomas M. Owen, has accumulated an invaluable collection of manu-
scripts, official documents, newspaper files, books, and maps. Some of
this material is in course of publication under the editorship of the di-
rector. The files in the office of the Montgomery Advertiser are also very
helpful. The following are the most important books : Brewer, W. : Ala-
bama: Her History, Resources, War Record andPublic Men (indispensable
for reference) ; DuBose, J. W. : Life and Times of Yancey (gives full ac-
count of the political movements that led to the War of Secession);
Fleming, W. L.: Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (invaluable
for the war period); Garrett, William: Reminiscences of Public Men in
Alabama (a rich storehouse of information); Hodgson, J.: Cradle of the
Confederacy (gives full account of the political movements that led to the
war); Owen, T. M.: (ed.) The Transactions of the Alabama Historical
Society (4 vols.); Petrie, George: (ed.) Studies in Southern and Alabama
History (3 vols.); The Memorial Record of Alabama (2 vols., containing
biographical sketches and also important articles on different phases of
the state's history by specialists) ; Northern Alabama (containing sketches
of men and places by various authors). The earliest historians of the
state were A. B. Meek, the author of Romantic Passages in Southwestern
History, and A. J. Pickett, whose great History of Alabama covers the
first year of this period. Pickett's work has been continued in a brief
form by Owen, in his Annals of Alabama. The Official Records of the
War of the Rebellion give a great deal of material for the war period;
articles on Mobile and Montgomery in Historic Towns of the Southern
States, ed. by L. P. Powell, give some idea of the growth of towns in the
early days. The three general histories of Alabama by W. G. Brown,
L. D. Miller, and J. C. DuBose, intended primarily for school text-books,
contain valuable information.
GEORGE PETRIB,
Projetsar of History and Latin, Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
BECONSTKUCTION IN ALABAMA. 293
CHAPTER HI.
KECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA.
Conditions in Alabama After the War.
When the War of Secession ended, organ-
ized society in Alabama scarcely existed. The
social and economic results of the war were appall-
ing. It was estimated that 35,000 men had died in
the military service, and that as many more were
wounded or in broken health from hard service.
Five years after the war the census of 1870 showed
that the number of whites in Alabama was then
about 100,000 less than it would have been had the
population increased as it did between 1850 and
1860, and the black population was about 80,000 less
than it should have been.
Destruction of Property.
Half a billion dollars worth of property, including
slaves worth $200,000,000, had been lost; public
buildings, railroads, steamboats, factories, banks
and capital, money, farm implements and farm
stock, mills and gins — all such accumulations of
property had been partially or totally destroyed.
North Alabama had been for three years the con-
tending ground of both armies, and in twelve coun-
ties of that section property had almost disappeared.
The raids of Eousseau in 1864, and of Wilson in 1865,
carried destruction down from the northern part of
the state to Central Alabama as far as Montgomery,
and the invading armies coming up from Mobile in
1865 completed the wasting of the central and south-
ern counties. Several towns, among them Selma,
Decatur, Athens and Guntersville, were burned;
294 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
other towns, among them Huntsville, Florence,
Courtland, Mobile and Montgomery, were partially
destroyed. Thousands of dwellings along the paths
of the raids had been burned and hundreds had been
deserted. (In North Alabama and in the southeast-
ern counties, constituting over a third of the state,
tories and deserters roamed and looted almost at
will from the early part of 1864 to the latter part of
1865> After the surrender, the negroes in the Black
Belt frequently seized what teams and supplies they
found at hand and set out to join the Federals, thus
helping to complete the ruin.
Confiscation Laws.
To make matters worse the Washington admin-
istration began a general enforcement of the Fed-
eral confiscation laws. In this the most unscrupu-
lous agents were engaged, and many persons pre-
tending to be Federal agents perpetrated frauds
upon the people. Legally, all war supplies and cot-
ton owned by the Confederate government were sub-
ject to confiscation by the United States government.
But the treasury agents and pretended agents made
little distinction between Confederate property and
private property, and stole impartially from indi-
viduals and from the government. The Federal
grand jury at Mobile, which, in 1865, investigated
the confiscation frauds, reported that the agents
stole in Alabama 125,000 bales of cotton, worth then
at least $50,000,000, and that most of this was pri-
vate property. Two of these cotton agents — T. C. A.
Dexter and T. J. Carver — were tried and fined $90,-
000 and $250,000 respectively; the others escaped
capture. The loss of the cotton removed the only
important source of revenue still existing in the
lower South.
Another burden felt for the next three years was
EECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA. 295
the Federal cotton tax. This tax was two and a
half cents a pound in 1865, three cents in 1866, and
two and a half cents in 1867. It was estimated that
first and last the people of Alabama paid $15,000,000
of the cotton tax, of which $10,388,072.10 was paid
before the cotton left the state.
Economic and Social Conditions.
The general economic collapse resulted in dis-
tressing destitution and suffering. Especially was
this the case in the " white" counties where, during
the war, there had been few negroes to raise sup-
plies and whence had been recruited most of the
state's quota of soldiers. Consequently the loss of
life fell most heavily here, and here, also, the eco-
nomic losses were most keenly felt, for in these dis-
tricts there had been slenderer resources than in
the Black Belt. Nowhere in the state was there a
supply of money. The crops failed in 1865, and
were poor for years after the war. Nowhere in the
state was there plenty, and the bare necessities of
life were lacking in many of the northern counties.
There were several cases of starvation. In Sep-
tember, 1865, the state authorities reported that
139,000 whites were totally destitute and suffering.
In December of that year the number had increased
to 200,000, and in May, 1866, 80,000 widows and
orphans alone were reported.
Society was in a disorganized state. Families
were broken up; feuds and quarrels among neigh-
bors had begun during the war, and still lasted;
public opinion no longer had its proper influence in
controlling and directing the social order. In North
Alabama several thousand tories and deserters, per-
secuted and persecuting during the war, had now
become practically outlaws, and over the entire state
the lowest class of the population, recruited by the
296 THE HISTOBY OF ALABAMA.
scum of both armies, threatened a reign of lawless-
ness. The negroes added another element of inse-
curity to the situation. To test their newfound free-
dom they left, in great numbers, their former
masters and flocked to the towns where the army
posts were located and where the Freedmen's Bu-
reau distributed scanty rations twice a week. Here
disease and death in their closely packed quarters
soon thinned their numbers, and the removal of the
protecting influence of their masters left the race
exposed to imposition by the low whites, and race
friction began and continued.
Under such conditions the temper of the white
people was sorely tried. The great majority were
feeling the bitterness of defeat, while a few thou-
sand "unionists" wanted vengeance for the perse-
cution they had endured during the war. The sol-
diers were willing to accept in good faith the results
of the war, but were sensitive to every appearance
of a desire to humiliate them. The women had bitter
memories of suffering and suspense endured, and of
relatives lost. A class of noisy people, mostly critics
of the war period, were searching for scapegoats
and directing, especially through the local press, ir-
ritating language at the "Yankees." The arrest of
Davis and other Confederate leaders, among whom
were the Alabama war governors Moore, Shorter
and Watts, checked the desire for reconciliation, and
the coming in of Northern people as business men,
speculators and missionaries served to complicate
the situation. The Northern churches generally an-
nounced towards the formerly separate Southern
organizations a policy of "disintegration and ab-
sorption." The Episcopal churches were closed for
several months by the army and Bishop Wilmer sus-
pended from his duties because he refused to pray
for the President of the United States.
RECONSTRUCTION- IN ALABAMA. 297
No State Organization.
Politically the state had no organization for a
period of six months in the middle of 1865. During
the latter part of 1864 and the spring of 1865 the
Confederate government had gradually weakened,
and in many parts of the state had gone to pieces.
The surrender of the armies left the state without
civil government. After the Federal occupation the
military posts were few in number and widely sepa-
rated. Over the most of the people there was no
government from March to September, 1865. A sort
of lynch law, an early manifestation of the Ku Klux
movement, served to check in some degree the dis-
orderly negroes, the horse thieves and outlaws.
Under such conditions reconstruction in Alabama
began, and these conditions seriously influenced the
course of the restoration of the state to the Union.
The Attempt at Restoration by President Johnson, 1865-1867
As soon as the Confederate government fell, in
several districts of Alabama — in the Tennessee val-
ley even before the news of Lee's surrender came —
the people began to hold " reconstruction" meetings,
at which they pledged to President Johnson their
support of any plan of restoration that might be
offered. Some wanted the President to appoint a
governor ; others wanted him to recognize Governor
Watts and the legislature elected in 1863. A move-
ment was started in central Alabama to have the
legislature to convene and take steps to get the state
back into the Union, but this was stopped by the
military authorities.
Johnson, who had adopted in essentials the plan
of reconstruction worked out by Lincoln,, issued on
May 29, 1865, a proclamation granting amnesty to
all Confederates except the higher officials, civil and
military. In May and June he appointed provi-
298 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
sional governors over the late Confederate states.
In Alabama there were several candidates for the
provisional governorship among those who had at
some time opposed the Confederacy. The best known
were William H. Smith, D. C. Humphreys and D. H.
Bingham, all tories or deserters and none of them
fitted to be governor. Lewis E. Parsons, who was
finally appointed provisional or military governor
on June 21, was a New Yorker by birth who had sub-
mitted to but had given slight support to the Con-
federacy. He was directed by the President to call
a constitutional convention which should reorga-
nize the state government and amend the constitu-
tion of 1861 to suit the changed conditions of 1865.
At this time the various Federal offices were again
opened in Alabama. During the summer Parsons
called a convention to meet on September 10, pro-
claimed in force the laws of 1861, with the exception
of those relating to slavery, and directed the Confed-
erate local officials to resume and continue in office
until superseded.
Before the end of September Parsons had in fair
working order the state and local administrations,
and was using his efforts with the President to se-
cure the pardon of those who were excepted from
the Amnesty Proclamation of May 29. His admin-
istration would have been stronger and more re-
spected had it not been for the frequent interference
of the President and the military authorities with
the civil officials of Alabama, and for the interfer-
ence of the Freedmen's Bureau in all matters re-
lating to the negroes. The Freedmen's Bureau re-
moved a whole race from the jurisdiction of the
state government; the President and the army offi-
cers frequently reversed or disregarded the action
of the state administration; consequently, the Par-
sons government was discredited and weakened.
RECONSTKUCTION IN ALABAMA. 299
Constitutional Convention.
The convention, which met in September, was a
fairly respectable but not an able body. It was
divided into violent Unionists and Confederate sym-
pathizers, the latter being in the majority. During
its short session of ten days it declared slavery abol-
ished, repudiated the war debt and declared null
and void the ordinance of secession. It admitted
the negro to civil rights and ordered elections of
state and county officers and members of Congress
to be held during October and November.
The state gradually settled down, the elections
were held, members of Congress chosen, and Robert
M. Patton, a North Alabama man who had taken no
part in the war or in the events leading to it, was
elected governor. The legislature met on November
20 and proceeded at once to enact much needed
legislation. On December 13 Patton was inaugu-
rated; Governor Parsons and George S. Houston, a
member of Congress before the war, were elected to
the United States Senate. But neither the senators
nor the congressmen-elect were admitted to seats by
the radicals at Washington. Patton 's administra-
tion from beginning to end, though recognized by
the President, was constantly interfered with by the
army officials, the Freedmen's Bureau and the Presi-
dent himself. It was merely a provisional govern-
ment under the control of the President, just as
Parson's administration had been. The legislature
in 1865 and 1866, in addition to much other con-
structive work, endeavored to make a place in the
social order for the emancipated blacks. It gave
them civil, not political, rights — the right to hold
property, to testify in court, to sue and be sued, to
intermarry, etc. To check their alarming tendency
to idleness and thieving and to prevent the enticing
away of labor, strict laws were passed to prevent
300 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
vagrancy and to regulate the relations of employer
and employed. This was the so-called "Black
Code," which furnished the Northern politicians
with so much campaign material.
Meanwhile the struggle between President John-
son and Congress, begun in December, 1865, was
going on, and until that was decided the fate of the
seceding states would be in doubt. For political and
other reasons the Bureau agents and the mission-
aries, religious and educational, had begun to cause
irritation between the blacks and the whites by their
methods of inculcating the new doctrines of freedom
and equality ; the labor system was already demoral-
ized by the unwise meddling of the Freedmen's Bu-
reau, and the blacks, by the closing months of 1866,
were wild for political equality.
Soon it was seen that Congress would win against
the President, and over his veto the Civil Rights
Act and a new Freedmen's Bureau Act were passed
in 1866, and the proposed Fourteenth amendment
sent out to the states for ratification or rejection.
In Alabama, in anticipation of the victory of Con-
gress, the people, in 1866 and early in 1867, ranged
themselves in two parties. The great majority of
the whites, regardless of former political affiliations,
united into the Conservative (later called the Demo-
cratic) party and endorsed the policy of President
Johnson. A small number of the leading whites
were willing to accept a limited negro suffrage if it
could be tried under proper conditions ; the majority
were opposed to negro suffrage of any kind. About
15,000 whites, for various reasons, favored recon-
struction by Congress, and for a few months most
of them acted with the radical Republican party.
The blacks were, in 1866-1867, organized by the
carpet-baggers — white adventurers from the North
— into a secret political society known as the Union
RECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA. 301
or Loyal League, and this organization held them
safely for the radical Republican party.
Meanwhile the state legislature considered and re-
jected the proposed Fourteenth amendment on the
ground that to ratify it would be humiliating to the
legislature and to the people of Alabama, and dis-
graceful conduct toward those who would be dis-
franchised by it. Two years had passed since the
close of the war, and now it was clear that the great
problems were still to be settled. The negro ques-
tion in politics was the disturbing factor. The
President 's plan had failed and his experiment drew
to a close. Had it not been for the unsettling in-
fluence of politics the state would now have been in
a fair way towards recovering from the results of
war. As it was, nothing could be settled until Con-
gress tried its plan.
Reconstruction by Congress, 1867-1868.
By the Reconstruction Acts of March 2 and 23,
and July 19, 1867, Alabama, along with the other
Southern states, was placed under military rule un-
til the negroes and the whites who were not disfran-
chised could be enrolled and a new government or-
ganized on the basis of this new citizenship. Ala-
bama, with Georgia and Florida, formed the Third
Military District, which was commanded by Gen.
John Pope, who had headquarters at Atlanta. The
state was under the immediate command of Gen.
Wager Swayne, Assistant Commissioner of the
Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama from 1865 to 1868.
Governor Patton was directed by Pope to continue
the civil administration, subject to control by the
military authorities.
During the summer of 1867 the registrars ap-
pointed by Pope rapidly carried on the enrollment
of voters. The disfranchisement of whites included
302 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
practically all who had had experience in civil life,
or held high office in the Confederate army — a total
of 40,000 according to one estimate.
Constitutional Convention.
In October, 1867, elections were held under the
direction of the military authorities for the election
of delegates to a constitutional convention. The
whites were in the minority, without organization
and leaders, and made no show against the blacks
closely organized in the Union League and led by
able and unscrupulous adventurers. Ninety-eight
radicals, of whom eighteen were negroes and two
conservatives, were elected to the convention. The
white radicals were carpet-baggers and native ''scal-
awags ' ' of little note or ability. The carpet-baggers,
with their negro followers, controlled the conven-
tion. The constitution framed by it was copied from
Northern models, and was not remarkable except for
its disfranchising provisions. The proceedings of
the convention shower1, that the blacks had come un-
der the control of the outsiders, and that, therefore,
the native white radicals were much dissatisfied.
In February, 1868, the constitution was sent be-
fore the people for ratification; state and local offi-
cials were to be elected at the same time. About
75,000 whites and 93,000 blacks were registered; a
majority of the registered voters, or about 84,000,
must vote in the election or, according to the Recon-
struction Act, the constitution would fail of adop-
tion. Only 70,812 votes were cast, about 14,000 less
than necessary. The whites had seemingly won by
organizing their forces to stay away from the polls.
But in June, in spite of the fact that under its own
law reconstruction in Alabama was defeated, Con-
gress voted to include the state with six other states
in an act of readmission. So in July General Meade,
KECONSTKUCTION IN ALABAMA. 303
who had succeeded Pope, turned Patton out of office
and put in his place William H. Smith, the radical
governor-elect. The radical legislature met, sen-
ators and representatives — all new-comers to the
state — were elected and admitted to Congress, and
the state was again in the Union.
Carpet-Bag and Negro Bule, 1868-1874.
From June, 1868, to December, 1874, the state was
in the hands of a ruling party composed mainly of
negroes, with sufficient carpet-baggers and scala-
wags for leaders and office holders. The mass of
whites representing intelligence and property had
little influence in the government, which was ineffi-
cient and corrupt. The leaders of the blacks, in or-
der to retain their control, kept alive the irritation
between the races, and the whites secured protection
by violent and revolutionary methods which, in time,
caused a loss of respect for law.
During this period, in which the government was
growing weaker and weaker, the general character
of the state and local administration was, however,
growing better. This was due partially to the fact
that the officials chosen in 1868 were the poorest
possible, and all changes could be only for the better.
William H. Smith, the governor, was a Confederate
deserter. He was weak, but though used by corrupt
men was not himself corrupt; and although at the
head of a negro party he wanted a white man 's gov-
ernment, and did not favor the carpet-bag element.
The other state officials and the members of Con-
gress were, from 1868 to 1870, all carpet-baggers.
In the first legislature, 1868-1870, the Senate had
thirty- two radical members and one conservative;
the House had ninety-seven radical and three con-
servative members. Since the local elections in
1868 had not been contested by the whites who
304 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
planned, by abstaining from voting, to defeat the
constitution, the radicals had gained nearly all offi-
ces, both county and state. No other reconstructed
state was afflicted at the beginning with such a uni-
formly bad lot of office holders. But in this condi-
tion lay the hope: the worst came first. In other
states the reverse was true. At every subsequent
election, office after office and county after county
came into the control of the whites until nothing
was left the radicals except the Black Belt. It was
the same with the members of Congress, for gradu-
ally native whites — first scalawags, then conserva-
tives— replaced the adventurers. This change was
hastened by the growing breach between the scala-
wags and the carpet-baggers, and by the hostility
between the former and the negroes. Only the sup-
port of the Federal troops kept the reconstruction
administration in control. Governor Smith disliked
negroes and would organize no negro militia, and
thus the state was saved that humiliation; on the
other hand he would organize no white troops, fear-
ing lest they might overthrow his administration.
In 1870 the division in the radical party enabled
the conservatives to elect as governor Eobert B.
Lindsay, a Scotchman by birth, who was well-inten-
tioned but rather inefficient, and in politics colorless.
He was unable to accomplish any but negative re-
forms, being opposed by a radical Senate and ad-
ministration. Two years later the radicals were
united, and Davis P. Lewis, a scalawag of consider-
able ability and decency, was elected. He was hos-
tile to the corrupt elements of his party, but had no
control over it or over his administration. Before
the end of his term the government practically went
to pieces from weakness and lack of support.
The misrule of reconstruction was, as stated,
worst at first, gradually getting better as the whites
RECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA. 305
secured more and more control over the government.
The worst abuses were in regard to the taxation, the
finances, the endorsement of railroads and the
schools. Under the first reconstruction administra-
tion the rate of taxation was increased from one-
fifth of one per cent, on a portion of the wealth of
the state in 1860 to three-fourths of one per cent, on
all property in 1868, an increase which, considering
the loss of property, was about eightfold. The state
expenditures increased from $530,107 in 1860 to
$2,081,649.39 in 1873. The bonded debt grew from
$4,065,410 in 1866 to $30,037,563 in 1874, which,
added to a city and county debt of about $12,000,000,
amounted to about 65 per cent, of the value of the
farm lands of the state. Property rapidly decreased
in value and thousands of people emigrated to the
West. Salaries of officials were doubled and the
number of offices increased.
A great part of the public debt resulted from the
fraudulent endorsement of new railroads. A law
was passed in 1867 authorizing the endorsement by
the state of the bonds of new railroads at the rate
of $16,000 for each mile actually constructed. The
roads secured the endorsement not only for what
little they constructed but for hundreds of miles
that were never built ; one road alone — the Alabama
and Chattanooga Railway — secured an endorsement
of $5,300,000, of which $1,300,000 was fraudulent.
The roads, with one exception, defaulted and left
the state to pay interest on their bonds. The total
liabilities due to the railroad frauds were never ex-
actly known, because Governor Smith, under whom
most of the endorsements were made, kept no rec-
ords, but they were estimated at $14,000,000.
The school system begun in 1868 might, under dif-
ferent circumstances, have succeeded, but neither
the administration. nor the^teaching force was com-
306 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
petent, and the system, borrowed from Northern
states, was too complicated for Alabama. Dr. N. B.
Cloud, the state superintendent of education, was
not a person of ability or of strong character, and his
assistants in his own office and in the counties were
neither honest nor efficient. In several counties the
school fund was embezzled by officers. Many of the
teachers secured for the schools were those who
came from the North or were taken from the Freed-
men's Bureau schools. The whites objected to the
views of history and the doctrines of social equality
taught by some of the teachers, especially in the
negro schools. For a while there was decided hos-
tility to the schools, and the white children fre-
quently were not allowed by their parents to attend.
Later the more objectionable teachers were replaced,
but by that time the finances were exhausted. The
public school system never equalled in results the
ante-bellum schools. As a result of a difficulty
caused by the endeavor to graft the negro schools
of the American Missionary Association into the
Mobile system, the latter, which had flourished for
twenty years, was practically destroyed. To the
State University a radical faculty was supplied, but
the attendance of students ceased and it was given
back to conservative control. In 1870 a Democrat,
Joseph H. Hodgson, became superintendent. He
reorganized the system, but the educational fund
was now bankrupt, and the public schools were
turned into tuition schools. The radical legislature
from the first persistently diverted the funds that,
by the constitution, belonged to the schools. Speed,
a radical, was elected superintendent in 1872, but
there was no money and he could do nothing. By
1873 the shortage from the school fund amounted to
$1,260,511.92, all of which had been illegally diverted
by the legislature to other purposes.
RECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA. 307
For the churches also there was a reconstruction
period. Throughout the period of political recon-
struction the missionaries of the Northern churches
worked to get a foothold in Alabama. They did not
succeed in disintegrating the Southern organiza-
tions, for the only whites who joined them were the
few "unionists" in north Alabama, but they did suc-
ceed in organizing the negroes into separate
churches removed from any control by Southern
whites. The close of the period left the Northern
and Southern churches still unfriendly to each other.
Industrially, during the reconstruction period, the
state as a whole did not prosper. The white coun-
ties showed signs of progress from the conditions of
1865, and in time attained the dominant industrial
position that was formerly held by the Black Belt.
The latter, with uncontrolled and undirected negro
labor, fell into economic decline. Cities, mines,
factories and good crops after this time were found
only in the white counties. Free negro labor was
not as efficient as slave labor had been. Freed from
the competition of efficient slave labor on fertile soil,
the whites began to make headway ; they, rather than
the blacks, were emancipated by the destruction of
slavery.
The Overthrow of Reconstruction and the Readjustment.
As already stated, the control of local government
in the white districts after the first elections in
1868 passed gradually into the hands of the whites,
the state government and the Black Belt counties
remaining under the control of the radicals. The
whites used not only the legal means of ousting the
latter, but also at times revolutionary and violent
methods. The radicals, at every election under their
control, had used fraudulent methods, and the white
man's party, in turn, need similar methods; the
308 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
Union League, which held the blacks in line, was
opposed and broken np by the Ku Klux movement,
a secret organized movement which succeeded by
frightening and intimidating the negroes, who were
thus made to stay away from the polls. After the
solid ranks of the blacks were broken, the power of
the radicals rapidly declined.
The final overthrow of the reconstruction party
was accomplished in 1874. The state administration
was weak; the radical party was seriously divided
• — carpet-bagger, scalawag and negro, each demand-
ing more than the others could or would give. The
Democrats or Conservatives, stimulated by victory
In other states, were well organized and well led, and
were determined to endure no longer the rule of the
radicals. The race issue now became an important
one and united the whites, for most of the whites in
the radical party deserted when race lines were
drawn. The blacks, having lost confidence in their
leaders, did not vote in full strength. George S.
Houston, Democrat, was elected governor, and the
state has since been controlled by the white man's
party.
The radicals were soon driven out of the Black
Belt counties, their last stronghold, the Republican
party declined in power and the number of its white
members decreased until it became merely an or-
ganization to secure Federal offices. The whites
have remained solidly Democratic, all second party
movements failing because of the fear of the poten-
tial negro vote. The races were left unfriendly by
reconstruction, and the churches and schools still
feel the injury of the policies then pursued. The
whites have shown an increasing disposition to fol-
low leaders who hold extreme views on the race
question, but the negro, the unwilling cause of re-
construction, has suffered most from its results.
RECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA. 309
The radicals did not give up their control over
Alabama in 1874 without a fight. A committee of
Congress was sent to investigate conditions and to
find out why the political change had been made. The
report of this committee was in the usual radical
spirit, but it was too late now to use the "outrage"
issue, and the whites of Alabama were left to work
out their own salvation. The first legislature under
Governor Houston set about the readjustment; the
number of officials was reduced, salaries scaled
down, and retrenchment began in every place. It
is said that one could not borrow a sheet of paper
at the state house. As nearly as possible the carpet-
bag laws were repealed, a commission was appointed
with authority to adjust the public debt, a memorial
against the seating of George E. Spencer was sent
to the United States Senate, and a convention or-
dered for the purpose of framing a new constitution.
The Convention of 1875 met at Montgomery in
September and was in session less than a month.
The strongest men of the state were members, and
L. P. Walker, formerly Confederate secretary of
war, was made president. The obnoxious features
of the Constitution of 1868 were repealed, and a
constitution adopted that the people regarded as
legal and as their own. Biennial instead of annual
legislatures were ordered, taxation was limited, and
state and local aid to railroads, etc., was forbidden.
The mingling of races in schools, etc., and by inter-
marriage, was prohibited by law.
The debt commission had a heavy task and took
several years to complete it. The total amount of
state obligations was about $32,000,000. Payment
of fraudulent debts was refused ; others more or less
tainted were scaled, and the rate of interest was re-
duced. The creditors of the state were satisfied with
what the commissioners offered. The debt, after
310 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
all adjustments, amounted to $12,000,000. Soon the
state securities were selling at par and the treasury
was not embarrassed.
Education prospered with the return of home
rule. The law ordered the separation of races, and
the whites were no longer hostile to the school sys-
tem. For the first time since the war the teachers
were paid promptly. School funds came from three
sources — state appropriation, local taxation and tui-
tion fees. The State University was revived, and
the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Auburn
was developed.
For several years the Democrats devoted their
efforts to rooting out the carpet-bag office holders
who still had control of the Black Belt. By skilful
gerrymandering, all of the congressional districts,
except one, were made safely Democratic. The
legislature reduced the salaries and curtailed the
powers of the carpet-bag officials in the black
counties. Official ballots were adopted and a resi-
dence of thirty days required before voting. In
1876 the Eepublicans polled only 55,582 votes to
99,235 for the Democrats. Tilden and Hendricks
carried the state in that year. At this time the last
partisan investigation of affairs was made by a com-
mittee of Congress. In 1878 the Eepublican Conven-
tion, consisting principally of negroes, made no nom-
inations for state offices, but advised that the Green-
back ticket be supported. In 1880 the situation was
similar. The negroes were confused by the suspen-
sion of the Eepublican party, and in great numbers
voted for Democrats in the local elections. When
there was no radical candidate in the field several
Democrats would run for the same office — a * ' scrub ' '
race, it was called. The attitude of the people toward
the central government and the North grew more
friendly, though for several years there was com-
RECONSTRUCTION IN ALABAMA. 311
plaint of the annoyances of the deputy marshals and
the United States commissioners who were stationed
in the state.
When it was certain that the whites were again in
secure control of the state, political questions be-
came less important and economic problems pressed
forward for solution. A healthy development of the
railroads followed the collapse of the Reconstruction
era, and with development came questions of rates
and regulations. The white county farmers, emanci-
pated from competition with slave labor, now pros-
pered. The mineral district was being developed
in the late seventies, and in south Alabama the great
forests of pine were being cut for lumber. Condi-
tions were not prosperous in the Black Belt where
the quality of labor had so deteriorated; the negro
laborers were drawn off in such number to work on
the railroads and to go to Texas that the legislature
passed a law taxing immigration agents. "Sunset"
laws were passed to prevent the theft of farm pro-
duce. The prohibition movement began in 1875, and
never ceased to grow. Beginning with the seventies
the farmers began to organize into "granges'* or
Patrons of Husbandry. Congress finally began work
designed to open Mobile harbor, which had not been
in good condition since 1864. In 1880 the state was
in much worse condition than in 1860, but it was
again in the hands of its best people, and progress,
however slow, was certain. *
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Annual Cyclopedia (New York, 1865-1877), article
"Alabama" in each volume; Cameron Report (Washington, 1877) —
Senate Report No. 704, 44 Cong. 2 sess.; Coburn Report (Washington,
1875), House Report No. 262, 43 Cong. 2 sess.; Fleming, Walter L.:
Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (New York, 1905), and author-
ities therein cited, and Documentary History of Reconstruction, 2 vols.
(Cleveland, 1906-1907); Ku Klux Report (13 vols., Washington, 1871),
Senate Report, No. 41, 42 Cong. 2 sess.; Report of the Joint Committee on
Reconstruction (Washington, 1866), House Report No. 30, 39 Cong. 1 sess.
WALTER L. FLEMING,
Professor of History, Louisiana State University.
312 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
CHAPTER IV.
THE NEW ALABAMA, 1880-1909.
Condition of Alabama in 1880.
The year 1880, though differing in no marked re-
spect from the years immediately preceding and
following it, is a convenient one from which to date
the rise of the new Alabama. Six years had elapsed
since the overthrow of the carpet-hag regime and
the restoration of the government into the hands of
those to whom it had formerly belonged. The per-
manence of the restoration seemed assured, and the
state had now fairly entered upon a period of re-
trenchment and recuperation. Through careful su-
pervision expenditures had been greatly diminished,
a balance had accumulated in the treasury, and the
rate of taxation for state purposes had been re-
duced. The enormous public debt, which was a
legacy of the reconstruction period, and which from
1874 to 1876 had offered so many perplexing prob-
lems to the commission appointed to deal with it, was
now almost completely readjusted, and the state by
means entirely creditable had passed from bank-
ruptcy to good financial standing. Five years had
passed since the constitution of 1868, thrust upon
the people by a radical Congress, had been super-
seded by a frame of government more to their lik-
ing, though still embodying many features of the
congressional system of reconstruction, and by 1880
the new administrative machinery had become well
adjusted in all its parts and was working smoothly.
And not only in Alabama's political history, but
also in the story of its industrial development, the
year 1880 marks a convenient turning point. Bir-
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 313
mingham was only a farm at the close of the War
of Secession, and when incorporated as a city
in 1871 had only twelve hundred inhabitants; but
it was now beginning to justify the optimism of its
founders. The famous Pratt mines had opened in
1879, the mineral wealth of the district was becoming
known to capitalists, and the population of the city
between 1871 and 1880 had increased threefold.
Anniston, however, was still a village hardly known
save in its own county, and Bessemer and Sheffield
were yet unborn. In 1870 only 11,000 tons of coal
were mined in the state; in 1880 the product was
323,972 tons, and in 1885, 2,494,000 tons.
Southern and central Alabama were undergoing
no such rapid development. In the southernmost
counties the lumber industry was prospering, but in
the central tier of counties known as the "Black
Belt," where the richest lands of the state are situ-
ated, the prosperity of ante-bellum days had not
returned. Owners of large plantations were fre-
quently selling their lands, or else leasing them un-
der the share-tenant system and emigrating to other
regions. Of the negroes, too, there was a noticeable
emigration, many going to Texas and others seek-
ing employment in the mineral belt of northern Ala-
bama. The farm acreage of the state in 1880, al-
though it had increased more than a fourth during
the preceding decade, was still less than it had been
in 1860. The value of farm property in 1880 was
also less than it had been in 1860, but it was over a
third greater than in 1870. The war had been fol-
lowed by a period of depression in agriculture which
reached its maximum in the seventies, but by 1880
there were unmistakable signs of improvement. The
yield of cotton, the principal crop, clearly illustrates
the agricultural conditions between 1860 and 1880.
In the former year the product of Alabama was
314 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
989,955 bales; in 1870 it had declined to 429,482
bales, but by 1880 it had risen to 699,654 bales.
It is evident, therefore, that with the restoration
of autonomous government, the substitution of con-
servatism and economy for radicalism and extrava-
gance in state administration, the rise of new in-
dustries in northern Alabama, and the gradual re-
covery of agriculture from the depression following
the war, the state, in 1880, was facing the dawn of
a new era, brightened by the signs of political peace,
industrial development and intellectual progress.
Politics.
In 1880 the political complexion of the state had
been Democratic for six years. The Republicans
then retained control of only a few counties in the
Black Belt, and in this year they placed no state
ticket in the field. The party leaders, however,
urged the Republican voters to support the Green-
back ticket, and this attempt at fusion caused them
to lose their greatest stronghold. One district in
northern Alabama was carried by the Greenback-
Republican candidate for Congress, but on the gen-
eral state ticket the Democrats were victorious by a
majority of 90,000. From this time forward the
largest Democratic majorities usually came from
the counties with the largest proportion of negroes,
while those counties with a very small negro popula-
tion were generally carried by the Republicans. In
1882 the Republicans of the state again supported
the Greenback ticket and thereafter showed very
little activity until 1888, when they were encouraged
to some extent by a growing disaffection among the
Democrats. As early as 1886 the solidity of the
white voters began to be threatened by the general
discontent of the agricultural class. There had been
a number of farmers' organizations, such as
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 315
"granges" and agricultural "wheels," in the state
for years, but in 1886 these were being supplanted
by the Farmers' Alliance. A central state Alliance
was organized in 1889, and in the following year
there were societies in every county and the organi-
zation went actively into politics as a radical fac-
tion of the Democratic party. At the Democratic
state convention in May its representatives sup-
ported Eeuben F. Kolb, the commissioner of agri-
culture and a prominent Alliance member, as their
candidate for governor. There were four other
candidates for the nomination, among whom the
votes of Kolb's opponents were divided. On the
first ballot Kolb received 235 votes, and all the others
combined only 285. Thirty- three ballots were taken
without breaking the deadlock, but on the thirty-
fourth the conservative element, hoping to prevent
a division of the party by the Alliance, united in
the support of Thomas Gr. Jones, who then received
271 votes to Kolb 's 255, and was declared the nomi-
nee. There was now a serious breach in the Demo-
cratic ranks; on the one side were ranged the Kolb
men with the machinery of the Farmers' Alliance
at their command, on the other were the conservative
Democrats, with their old leaders and with the sup-
port of the regular party organization.
The contest, however, had hardly begun. Shortly
after Governor Jones had assumed his office the ex-
aminer of public accounts had reported a number of
minor irregularities in Kolb's conduct of the office
of commissioner of agriculture. The governor took
no action on the case, and the commissioner was
not at all injured among his adherents by the report ;
in fact he rather gained additional sympathy from
them as the victim of what they believed to be politi-
cal canards. In September, 1891, Kolb's term as
commissioner of agriculture expired, the legislature
316 THE HISTOKY OF ALABAMA.
having previously made the office elective, and as
his successor had not yet been chosen, Governor
Jones appointed Hector D. Lane to fill the vacancy
during the interim. Kolb, however, refused to sur-
render his office on the ground that the legislature,
in making it elective, had revoked the power of the
governor to fill it at any time by appointment. Lane
brought suit to oust Kolb in an inferior court of
Montgomery county, but lost his case. An appeal
was then taken to the state Supreme Court, by which
the decision of the lower court was reversed. The
chief effect of these events was to embitter the fac-
tions and to make Kolb a greater idol than ever in
the eyes of the Alliance men.
Although it was at this time a kind of unwritten
law among the Democrats that each of their gov-
ernors was entitled to two terms, or four years in
office, Kolb determined to seek vindication by again
opposing Jones for the Democratic nomination. The
primary elections held in 1892 for the choice of dele-
gates to the state convention resulted favorably for
Jones, but the Alliance men declared that this result
had been accomplished by fraud, and, believing that
their leader would not receive fair treatment in the
Democratic convention, they resolved to hold one of
their own. There were consequently two conven-
tions, two platforms and two tickets, and both fac-
tions declared themselves to be the real Democracy.
The platform of the Alliance faction was extreme
in its advocacy of radical measures, among its de-
mands being the abolition of the national banking
system, the expansion of the currency to not less
than fifty dollars per capita, the free and unlimited
coinage of silver, and reform in the methods of taxa-
tion and in the convict lease system. The returns
from the state election in August gave Jones a ma-
jority of 11,000, but Kolb claimed that he had been
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 317
defeated by fraud, and that he was entitled to a
majority of 40,000. It was undeniable that he had
carried most of the white counties, and that Jones
owed his election to the large majorities in the Black
Belt, to obtain which must have necessitated the
voting of negroes in large numbers. The Alliance
men declared that the result of the Black Belt elec-
tions was due to the absolute control of the polls in
these counties by their opponents. The situation
was so anomalous that the regular election law
failed entirely to meet the case. It provided for
three inspectors at each polling place, two of whom
were to be of different political parties, but as the
Kolb and Jones men both claimed to be Democrats,
this provision of the law apparently did not apply
to their contest. The Alliance men then decided to
contest the election before the legislature, but find-
ing that there was no legal provision for such a pro-
ceeding, they attempted to persuade the governor to
summon the legislature in special session for the
enactment of a law to meet the emergency. When
Governor Jones rejected the proposition the two
factions became irreconcilable.
On account of President Cleveland's sympathies
with the conservative faction, the Kolb men were
even alienated from the national Democratic orga-
nization. They now adopted the name of "Jeffer-
sonian Democrats," and on Sept. 15, 1892, met in
convention in Birmingham to nominate candidates
for Congress and a list of presidential electors. The
Populist party, organized in the state about four
months previously, also met in Birmingham at this
time, and the two organizations coalesced, chose
their candidates, and drafted a platform denouncing
the Cleveland administration, demanding free coin-
age of silver, a currency circulation equal to fifty
dollars per capita, an income tax, lower tariff rates
318 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
and the abolition of national banks and alien owner-
ship of land. Many of Kolb's followers were not
willing to go so far from their old party, for which
they still felt some attachment, and consequently
the third party ticket did not show the same strength
in the November elections that the Kolb guberna-
torial ticket had shown in the preceding August.
When the legislature met in the following winter
the Kolb members were in the minority and sought
in vain to bring the contested election before that
body. Their efforts, however, were not entirely
fruitless, for it was largely on account of their cry
of fraud that a law was passed providing for a
modified form of the Australian ballot. Under the
system of voting thus adopted, the voter who could
not read might be assisted in marking his ballot
either by one of the inspectors of the election, to be
chosen by himself, or by a person selected for
this purpose by the inspectors. This last pro-
vision, it will be seen, rendered many of the
advantages of the Australian ballot nugatory,
and in some instances perhaps even facilitated
fraud.
The contest between the regular and the Jeffer-
sonian Democrats by 1894 had reached its bitterest
stage, and the political excitement throughout the
state was intense. The Jeffersonians again put for-
ward Kolb as their candidate, and adopted a plat-
form similar to that of 1892. Their ticket received
the endorsement of both the Populists and the Re-
publicans. The Democrats nominated William C.
Gates for governor, and in spite of the coalition
against him he received a majority of 27,000 ; Kolb 's
defeat, therefore, according to the official returns, be-
ing more decisive than in 1892. Nevertheless the Jef-
fersonians again raised the cry of fraud ; many were
sufficiently violent in their feelings to urge resist-
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 319
ance, and on Gates' inauguration day some of them
went through the form of inaugurating Kolb gov-
ernor on the streets in front of the capitol. The
state thus passed through the greatest political ex-
citement it had experienced since the days of recon-
struction.
After the panic of 1893 the discontent of the small
farmer class, which had made possible the Kolb
movement, gradually spread to other classes, and
by 1896 had contributed powerfully to creating a
new party alignment. In the period 1894-96 the
price of cotton and iron, the staple products of
southern and northern Alabama, continually de-
clined; labor was idle, factories and furnaces were
shutting down, farmers were heavily in debt and
merchants were unable to make their collections.
It was inevitable, therefore, that the demand of the
debtor class for more and cheaper money, which had
been heard for a number of years, should spread
rapidly; and Alabama, like the other Southern
states, was soon swept with the free-silver craze.
The conservative element now found itself greatly
in the minority. The haste with which the regular
Democrats accepted an issue which the Jefferson-
ians had already advocated did much to heal the
breach within the party.
The two candidates for the regular Democratic
nomination in 1896 were R. H. Clarke, a gold Demo-
crat, and Joseph F. Johnston, a free-silver advocate.
The latter was nominated and was elected by a large
majority. His free-silver views won for him the
support of many Populists and much larger num-
bers of former Jeffersonians, while the irreconcil-
ables among the latter faction supported the Popu-
list candidate for governor, A. T. Goodwyn, who
also had the support of the Republicans. In both
the Populist and the Republican parties there was
320 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
much opposition to fusion this year, but an agree-
ment was finally reached whereby the Eepublicans
were allowed to name the candidates for secretary
of state and attorney-general, and the Populists
were to nominate the rest of the state ticket. At the
national election in November the party alignment
was very complicated. The Populists, who were
allied with the Republicans in the state elections in
August, now supported Bryan for the presidency;
the Democrats were divided on the free-silver issue,
and the Republicans alone were free from party di-
vision and entangling alliances. The strength of
the various parties is indicated by the popular vote
for president: the vote cast for Bryan and Sewall
was 107,137; for Bryan and Watson, 24,089; for
McKinley and Hobart, 54,737, and for Palmer and
Buckner, 6,462. Though the vote for the ''gold
Democratic" ticket was small, it was drawn from
a very intelligent class of citizens. Large numbers
of Democrats, moreover, supported Bryan without
accepting his currency views.
From the foregoing it will appear that, in 1896,
the Populist party was no longer seriously chal-
lenging Democratic supremacy. It had been pre-
eminently the party of the small farmer, and its
strength had lain in the prejudice of this class
against nearly all other classes. The revolt of the
mass of the Democratic party in the state against
Grover Cleveland, and their enthusiasm for free-
silver, had brought many Populists back into the
Democratic fold. Moreover, the fusion of the Popu-
list and Republican parties was not conducive to
the growth of the former; on account of the preju-
dice of the small farmer class toward the negro, the
alliance of the "People's" and the "black man's"
parties was to many very distasteful. The Popu-
list movement had also encountered an insurmount-
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 321
able obstacle in the Black Belt. It is safe to assume
that but for the heavy Democratic vote polled in this
part of the state, Alabama would have been swept
by a tide of Populism. In the late sixties and early
seventies the Black Belt had been a Eepublican
stronghold. After 1880, as already stated, the situ-
ation was reversed. Twelve Black Belt counties, in
1872, gave a Republican majority of 26,619 ; in 1892,
a Democratic majority of 26,246, and in 1894 of
34,454.* In 1892-94 the Populists were successful
only where the proportion of negro voters was rela-
tively small. The large Democratic vote in the
Black Belt was due chiefly to the influence wielded
over the colored voter by the dominant white class,
the negroes as a rule voting the ticket favored by
their employers. There is no doubt, however, that
the manipulation of election returns was well-nigh
universal in the Black Belt while the Kolb movement
menaced the supremacy of this region. The Demo-
cratic state conventions were usually dominated by
the Black Belt men, though the number of real
Democrats whom these men represented was
very small. Moreover, during the political ascend-
ency of the Black Belt, the negro population
of the region was increasing much more rapidly
than the white. In 1900 there were in the centre of
the state twelve counties in which there were three
times as many negroes as whites, and during the
preceding decade the negro population of these
counties increased at the rate of 17 per cent., while
the increase of the whites had been only about 10
per cent. It is not very inaccurate, then, to desig-
nate the Black Belt counties in this period as the
"rctten boroughs'* of Alabama. The only question
*See the Nation, Vol. 59, pp. 211 ff., for a very interesting discussion of Black
Belt politics in 1892-94.
Vol. 2—21.
322 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
was how long the rest of the state would submit
to such an arrangement.
Spanish-American War.
From this narrative of the political history of the
state, it is necessary to digress for a moment to show
the part played by Alabama in the Spanish- Ameri-
can War. The state furnished three regiments, one
of which was colored, and President McKinley ap-
pointed two ex-Confederates of Alabama, Joseph
Wheeler and William C. Gates, respectively major-
general and brigadier-general of United States vol-
unteers. At the battle of Santiago General Wheeler
was in command of all the cavalry, and later he
served with much distinction in the Philippines. It
was another source of pride to the people of Ala-
bama that Richmond Pearson Hob son, the young
naval officer who sank the collier Merrimac in the
mouth of Santiago harbor, was a native son of their
state. The war showed that American patriotism
was nowhere stronger than in Alabama among the
men and the sons of the men who had once fought to
divide the Union.
The Negro in Politics.
The failure of the Kolb movement had fully de-
monstrated the impracticability of contesting the as-
cendency of the Black Belt so long as the negro re-
mained a factor in politics. The benefit to the negro
of the suffrage may be readily imagined when Gov-
ernor Johnston, in his message of May 2, 1899, de-
clared, "There is not a negro in all the common-
wealth holding office under the present constitution,
* * * nor has there been for nearly a genera-
tion." But this statement, which the governor had
put forward as an argument against any revision
of the existing constitution so as to disfranchise the
JOSEPH H WHEELER.
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 323
negro, was to the advocates of disfranchisement a
proof that the intimidation and fraud used to ac-
complish this result should give way to legal meth-
ods. The legislature, at its session of 1898-99, or-
dered an election to decide whether a convention
should be held to revise the suffrage clauses in the
constitution. The governor approved the act, but
later he decided that he had erred, and in May he
summoned a special session of the legislature which
repealed the measure. For his action in this matter
he was much criticized by the members of his party,
and at the state convention in Montgomery, in 1900,
they not only failed to follow the usual precedent of
endorsing the outgoing Democratic administration,
but they also declared themselves in favor of the
convention, asserting, however, that no white man
should be disfranchised, nor the constitution of the
United States be violated by the convention 's action.
The question of holding this convention was the
main issue before the people at the state election in
August, and the result showed that the next legis-
lature would favor the proposition. The Populist
party had now noticeably declined; there was no
fusion this year between it and the Kepublicans,
and the Democratic ticket was elected by a majority
of 70,000.
New Constitution.
The legislature, at its next session, authorized a
special election to decide the question of a constitu-
tional convention. The vote was taken on the 23d
of April, 1901, and resulted in a majority for the
convention of 24,000. On the 21st of May this body,
consisting of 155 delegates, of whom all but four-
teen were Democrats, met in Montgomery and sat
continuously, with only one week's intermission,
until the 3d of September. The chief problem before
it was to secure the disfranchisement of the negro
324 THE HISTOEY OF ALABAMA.
on grounds other than those prohibited by the
United States constitution, and at the same time to
deprive no white man of the ballot. To accomplish
this purpose it took advantage of certain social and
economic differences between the races, which would
permit the exclusion of the negro from the suffrage
for reasons other than those of race, color, or previ-
ous condition of servitude. The right to vote, there-
fore, was made dependent, first, on a long term of
residence ; secondly, on the payment of all poll taxes
due from the voter since 1901 ; and thirdly, upon the
ability to read and write any part of the Federal
constitution in the English language, and upon the
pursuit of some lawful occupation during the greater
part of the previous year, or upon the ownership of
forty acres of land or three hundred dollars worth
of property. These provisions, if rigidly enforced,
would disfranchise nearly every negro voter in the
state, and a great many white voters as well; but
the convention fulfilled its promise to disfranchise
no white man by adopting temporary "grand-
father" and "good character" clauses, which gave
the right of permanent registration before Dec. 20,
1902, first, to soldiers and sailors who had served
in the War of 1812 or any subsequent war of the
United States, and to their lawful descendants ; and
secondly, to persons who were of good character and
understood the duties and obligations of citizenship
under a republican form of government. Among the
other changes which were embodied in the new frame
of government were the substitution of quadrennial
for biennial sessions of the legislature, the provision
for a lieutenant-governor, the restriction of special
legislation and of the power of municipalities to con-
tract indebtedness, and the extension of the terms
of elective state officers from two to four years, with
the provision that none should be eligible for a sec-
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 325
ond term, and that the governor might hold no state
office nor enter the United States Senate within a
year after the expiration of his term. The state tax
rate was reduced from seventy-five to sixty-five cents
on every hundred dollars worth of property, thirty
cents of which, or nearly one-half, was to be applied
to the support of public schools. The new constitu-
tion was adopted in the convention by a vote of 132
to 12, one Democrat voting against it. On the llth
.of November it was submitted to a vote of the people
and was adopted by a majority of 26,879.
Thus was enacted the final scene in the " undoing
of reconstruction" in Alabama. All the evidences
of submission to the radical programme of Congress
in the sixties and seventies, which had been in-
cluded in the constitution of 1875, namely, the de-
nial of the principle of secession, the declaration
that all persons born or naturalized in the United
States and residing in Alabama were citizens of the
state, and the prohibition of educational or property
qualifications for the suffrage or office holding, did
not appear in the new instrument. The effect of the
new requirements for voting was readily seen in the
following year in the registration of voters; the
number of negroes registering in this year being
about 2,500, while the registration of white voters
amounted to about 180,000. With the disfranchise-
ment of the negro disappeared the political ascend-
ency of the Black Belt. In Montgomery county, the
most populous part of this region, only twenty-seven
negroes registered in 1902, out of a total colored
population of about 52,000.*
A test case was soon brought in the courts to de-
termine the constitutionality of the new suffrage
clauses. A negro named J. W, Giles brought suit in
*Sec the International Yearbook for 1902. The total registration in 1904 was
208,932, the colored registration being 3,654.
326 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
the United States circuit court against the regis-
trars of Montgomery county, seeking to compel them
to allow him to register as a voter. In his suit he
alleged that the suffrage clauses in the constitution
of Alabama were repugnant to the constitution of
the United States. In 1903 the case reached the
United States Supreme Court, which decided
against the plaintiff, declaring, first, that he asked
to be registered under a law which he himself as-
serted to be "unconstitutional in fact and fraudulent
in intent"; and secondly, that the plaintiff asked the
court to undertake a task beyond its jurisdiction ; the
alleged injury was political, and the remedy should
also be political.
A peculiar innovation in 1906 was the nomination
by the Democratic party in its primaries of "alter-
nate senators," who were to succeed the venerable
senators Morgan and Pettus in case they should fail
to serve out their complete terms. In the following
year both of these revered statesmen died, and, in
obedience to the will of his party, Governor Comer
appointed former Congressman J. H. Bankhead and
ex-Governor Johnston, who had polled the highest
number of votes in the contest for "alternates," to
the vacant seats.
Governor Comer's Administration.
The contest for the governorship among the Demo-
crats in 1906 was full of excitement. In the pri-
maries B. B. Comer, the anti-railway and anti-cor-
poration candidate, defeated his more conservative
opponent, B. M. Cunningham, the lieutenant-gov-
ernor, and was elected without serious opposition.
The Comer administration began in January, 1907,
and immediately concerned itself with the regula-
tion of the railways. The Alabama legislature, like
that of about a score of other states, passed laws re-
JOHN T. MORGAN.
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 327
ducing passenger rates. When the Southern Kail-
way sought to secure an injunction from the Federal
court, restraining the state officials from enforcing
the rate law until its constitutionality could be de-
cided, the charter of the road was declared forfeited
under the terms of a law forbidding appeal from a
state to a Federal court, and the railway officials
agreed to a compromise. Other roads, however,
under the protection of a Federal injunction, suc-
cessfully resisted the law, and in November the gov-
ernor convened the legislature in extraordinary
session to determine, as he said, whether the rail-
ways or the people should rule the state. A large
number of new bills for fixing rates were passed,
and these were supposed to be "injunction proof,"
inasmuch as they prohibited, on pain of heavy fines,
all appeals from the state to the Federal courts.
The legislature had hardly adjourned, however, be-
fore the enforcement of the rate laws was effectively
prevented by Federal injunction. The hostility to
the railways was strongest among the same classes
that in 1892 were aligned with the Kolb movement,
and it was a remarkable coincidence that Thomas G.
Jones, the man who, as candidate for governor, then
led the conservative forces of his state against the
revolt, in 1907, as Federal district judge, was again
called upon to check the spirit of radicalism within
Alabama.
Material Progress.
After this review of the principal political move-
ments in the state from 1880 to 1909, it may be well
to describe the material and educational progress
during the same period. In spite of the remarkable
increase in mines and factories, agriculture re-
mained the leading industry. The cotton crop alone,
in 1906, was worth over seventy-three millions of
dollars, an amount four times as great as the value
328 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
of the state's coal product for that year, and over
two and a half times as great as the value of its
product of pig iron. The cotton crop in 1880 was
699,654 bales ; in 1890, 915,210 bales ; in 1900, 1,106,-
840 bales, and in 1904, 1,461,990 bales ; the product
for this last year being the greatest in the history
of the state. In the amount of cotton produced in
1880, 1890 and 1900, Alabama was surpassed by only
three other states. The total value of farm products
increased from $56,872,994 in 1879 to $91,387,409 in
1899. The value of farm property increased 36 per
cent, from 1870 to 1880, 37 per cent, from 1880 to
1890, and 22 per cent, from 1890 to 1900. Though
the total farm acreage showed very little increase
between 1880 and 1900, there was a striking increase
in the number of farms and a decrease in their size,
an indication, perhaps, that agriculture was becom-
ing more intensive. The average size of an Alabama
farm in 1860 was 346.5 acres, in 1880, 138.8 acres,
and in 1900, 93 acres. It is less encouraging, how-
ever, to observe that after 1880 the proportion of
farms operated by their owners steadily decreased.
In 1900 about one-fourth of the farms of the state
were operated by share tenants, and a third by cash
tenants, but the proportion of share tenants was
much smaller than in many other Southern states.
The amount of improved farm land was steadily in-
creasing, and after 1900 more and more attention
was given to diversified farming and to the raising
of improved breeds of live stock. Scientific meth-
ods, once ridiculed, were replacing the crude systems
of cultivation employed by previous generations,
and the farmers, as a class, were more prosperous
in 1908 than they had been at any time since 1860.
In the development of its mines and manufactures
the state also made remarkable progress after 1880.
Between 1900 and 1905 the value of its factory
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 329
products increased over 50 per cent., and the capital
invested in these industries increased over 75 per
cent. During this five-year period the value of the
lumber and timber products of the state increased
over 27 per cent., the iron and steel products over
40 per cent., and the cotton factory products 105
per cent. There were six steel works and rolling
mills in the state in 1900 and ten in 1905 ; the num-
ber of spindles in its cotton mills in 1900 was 411,-
328; in 1907, 876,944. In 1906 Alabama ranked
third in the production of iron ore, fourth in the
production of pig iron, and fifth in the production
of bituminous coal. The development of the great
coal and iron industries after 1880 was very rapid.
The production of coal in Alabama is recorded as
early as 1834, and there was a desultory working
of coal beds until about 1870, when the production
was 11,000 short tons. From this date there was a
steady increase until, in 1906, the total product was
13,107,963 tons, valued at $17,514,786. It has been
estimated that the Warrior Coal Field alone, em-
bracing an area of about 3,000 square miles in north
central Alabama, contains enough coal to supply the
world for nearly three centuries. Iron, like coal,
was produced on a small scale in Alabama before
1870, especially during the war. A furnace was
built in Franklin county about 1818, and was worked
for several years. The modern industry, however,
came in with the increased production of coal, and
its progress was facilitated by the presence of rich
limestone deposits in the vicinity of the furnaces.
The output of pig iron in the state in 1906 was val-
ued at $28,450,000.
Educational Progress.
But the progress of the state was not confined
solely to material affairs. In educational matters
330 THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
there was the same notable advance. Between 1880
and 1906 the school enrollment increased 209 per
cent.; the proportion of school population enrolled
increased from 42 to 60 per cent., and the sum ex-
pended on public schools increased 300 per cent.
In 1907 the legislature made more liberal appropria-
tions for educational purposes than ever before in
the history of the state. Each county received an
annual grant of a thousand dollars for the erection
and repair of rural school houses; the regular sum
for the support of public schools was supplemented
by an additional appropriation of $300,000 for 1908,
and of $350,000 for each succeeding year; a special
appropriation was made for the establishment of a
high school in every county, and two new normal
schools were established. Nearly all the other state
educational institutions received increased appro-
priations. In addition to the special state tax for
school purposes, forty counties, by 1907, were levy-
ing school taxes to supplement the regular state
fund.
Prohibition.
On the first day of the year 1908 another import-
ant social movement within the state almost reached
its culmination. Fifty of the sixty-seven counties,
by this date, had prohibited the sale of intoxicating
liquors within their limits. For over twenty years
the legislature at every session had been granting
to various localities the right to vote on the question
of prohibition within their respective jurisdictions,
and as a result the no-license system under local
option had become widely extended. A general local
option law passed at the regular session of 1907 had
greatly facilitated the progress of the movement,
and when the legislature reconvened in special ses-
sion in the autumn public sentiment against the
liquor traffic was so strong that a new law was
ALABAMA, 1880-1909. 331
passed prohibiting the sale of liquors within the en-
tire state after the 1st of January, 1909. Alabama
was thus the second Southern state to adopt statu-
tory prohibition, Georgia having taken the lead.
This brief story of the progress of the state seems
amply to justify the title of "the New Alabama"
which has been given to this chapter. But while it
is correct to say that a new commonwealth arose
after 1880, it should also be borne in mind that the
new order was not too much unlike the old. Indus-
trial development, indeed, wrought great changes,
but in its ideals and sympathies the society of the
state still remained all that is implied by the term
"Southern."
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — No comprehensive history of the state for this period
exists. Certain phases of the state's history after 1880 are dealt with in
Brant and Fuller's Memorial Rec-ord of Alabama, 2 vols. (Madison, Wig.,
1893). Among the numerous smaller works, intended chiefly for school
use, consult William Garrott Brown's History of Alabama (New York,
1900), Thomas M. Owen's Annals of Alabama, published as a supplement
to an edition of A. J. Pickett's History of Alabama (Birmingham, 1900),
Joel C. Du Bose's Sketches of Alabama History (Philadelphia, 1901), L.
D. Miller's History of Alabama (Birmingham, 1901), and John W. Bev-
erly's History of Alabama for the Use of Schools (Montgomery, 1901).
Much useful information concerning the material progress of the state
may be obtained from the files of the Manufacturers' Record (Baltimore).
WILLIAM 0. SCROGGS,
Assistant Professor of History, Louisiana State University.
THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER I.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES.
The Laud of the Aborigines.
MISSISSIPPI has not had a continuous
history in the same way as England,
France or Spain, but the boundaries,
especially on the south and west, are
natural, and the peoples who have
flourished there have all left their impress. There
are Indian, French, British and Spanish elements in
her make-up, and in a sense the American is the
heir, if not a combination, of his predecessors, work-
ing out the old problem of civilization under new
conditions.
Geography.
The physical basis of history consists principally
of the soil, water courses and climate. Looking at
a map of North America we find that while the Mis-
sissippi River receives tributaries on the west from
its source to its mouth, there is on the east no large
affluent south of the Ohio River. Thus there is a
large coast region north of the Mexican Gulf whose
drainage is directly southward from the Appalachian
range, whose foothills make up a watershed which
not only throws the Tennessee and Cumberland
rivers northward to the Ohio, but is the source of
many streams which seek the Gulf of Mexico.
332
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 333
The drainage, then, is from north to south, more
or less parallel with the Mississippi. The watershed
is one thousand feet high in the Pontotoc ridge, and
gradually becoming lower as it runs south in sev-
eral divisions. These give rise to considerable
rivers, such as the Pearl and Pascagoula, and fur-
ther east are the Alabama- Tombigbee, Chatta-
hoochee and other systems. The basins are of un-
equal size, and some, as those emptying in Mobile
Bay, could give rise to separate interests; but to-
gether they make up one district, the Old South
West, extending from the Mississippi to the Chatta-
hoochee, from the Appalachian highlands to the Gulf.
No fairer land can be found for a commonwealth.
The country is made up geographically of several
belts, running roughly from east to west, and cut
transversely by these rivers. A large limestone
district, known now as the Black Belt, sweeps in a
crescent around the foothills of the Appalachians, ex-
tending southeastwardly from the junction of the
Ohio and Mississippi across these different drainage
basins to terminate near the Atlantic. Northeast-
ward of this is a rough country, rich in minerals,
but in early times unattractive to man. Southward
of the Black Belt prairies is the Coastal Plain,
formed principally of sand, often underlaid with
clay. The fertile lands produced cereals and nut-
bearing trees in great abundance, while the coast
was given over to the pine woods. The transverse
river basins, such as the Mobile, and, par excellence,
the Mississippi, were made up of alluvial soil, and
their vegetation was luxuriant. Large game like
the deer, bear and even buffalo abounded, especially
in the interior and about the water courses; birds
were numerous and beavers were plentiful, while
edible fish could be caught in every stream.
The Mississippi River, like the Nile, flowed
334 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
through a fertile country which it had created. On
the western side and on both sides near its mouth
the country was low and subject to inundations,
while on the eastern bank were often found bluffs
like those at Baton Rouge, the Tunicas, Natchez
and Vicksburg, which became a series of hills east-
ward of the Yazoo Eiver, extending roughly parallel
with the great stream so as to enclose the Yazoo
delta and give it a character of its own. It was in-
tersected with bayous and ranked among the most
fertile districts of America.
In the southwest the valleys of several streams,
like Bayou Pierre, Cole's Creek, the Homochitto
and Thompson's Creek made up a district having
special characteristics. The land was high and yet
well watered by these creeks, which, unlike else-
where in this country, drained directly to the Mis-
sissippi. What was to become the northwestern and
southwestern parts of Mississippi were, therefore,
closely connected with the Mississippi River, and
separated in character of soil and drainage from the
prairies further to the east and the pine barrens of
the coast. It may turn out that these characteristics
will leave their mark in the history of the in-
habitants.
The climate of this whole country is temperate.
Snow is often known in its northern parts, and ice
occurs down to the coast, but the predominant season
is summer. Spring and autumn are mere names.
Cold weather often does not come until January,
while warm weather is sometimes known as early
as March. Summer represents three-fourths of the
year, which generally admits of two or three crops
of vegetables. Beans and melons are native to the
soil, but the staple product here, as elsewhere in
America, is maize or Indian corn. This grows so
early and so abundantly as to have been in all ages
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 335
the chief reliance of the population. Wheat on the
one hand and cotton on the other are not native to
this section, and were not known to the native races.
Indians.
The origin of the aborigines is still an unsolved
problem. Their linguistic affinities divide them into
a half dozen great stocks, and the country in which
we are now interested shows traces of several and
of their succession. There are enclaves, like the
Biloxi on the Gulf and the much greater Natchez,
Tunicas and Yazoos, whose names show their seats
on or near the Mississippi River, but having affini-
ties with races west of the great river. They were
apparently cut off and surrounded by the great Mus-
cogeean race, which, in historic times, extended from
the Mississippi to the Atlantic and from the moun-
tains to the Gulf. It would seem as if the branch
which assumed the special name of Muscogee (the
later Creeks) broke off earlier and extended east-
ward until they reached also the sources of streams
draining to the ocean. The western branch was, at
the time when history begins, subdivided into the
Choctaws, Chickasaws and Chocchumas, who lived
eastward of the Mississippi, and indeed the first
two were more in touch with the Tombigbee and
other Gulf streams than with the Father of Waters.
The Chocchumas were about Yazoo Biver and east-
ward, while to their north lived the Chickasaws and
to the southeast the Choctaws. The Choctaws
claimed the great mound Naniwaya on Pearl Eiver
as their "mother," the place where the Chickasaws
left them on arrival from west of the Mississippi.
The Indians were in the transition from the hunt-
ing to the agricultural age and had not developed
the intermediate pastoral stage, and doubtless this
was due to the fact that there were no native animals
336 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
which were suited to this condition. Dogs they had,
but no cattle. The buffalo was being extinguished
in historic times, and even the buffalo was hardly a
good subject for domestication. They were not
savages, for they used fire, had family, religion and
government. They were in the middle status of
barbarism, making pottery of beauty, and semi-
agricultural. Traditions they had, traditions tied
up with strings of beads wrought into belts, handed
down from one generation to another; but this was
an esoteric art, known to few and never taught to
strangers. Mexico showed to what height native
culture might attain, but Mexico also showed that
it was accompanied by a decline in bravery or, at
least, in the art of war. This stage, whether it be
higher or lower, was not that of the Gulf Indians.
They were typically men of the Stone Age.
Would the Indians advance to civilization, or
would the absence of cattle keep them in barbarism?
Would the advent of other races stimulate them or
check their advance? Could minds which had
evolved their inventions and institutions suddenly
adopt those of Europe? Such are the problems
before us.
The First Explorers.
Spain, with Columbus' discovery of the New
World, became the leading nation of Europe, and
the wealth of the West Indies, Mexico and Peru at-
tracted many to her new possessions. As the South
was reduced, interest grew in the North, and the
vast province of Florida lured the Spaniards from
other fields.
It extended from our Chesapeake Bay to Mexico,
but little was known of it. A governor of Jamaica
ventured in 1519 to send one Pineda to explore, and
he reported a great harbor, which he named Es-
piritu Santo, about the centre of the north Gulf
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 337
coast. In 1528 Narvaez was forced to take ship at
Apalache after a disastrous exploration of penin-
sular Florida, and soon with most of his followers
miserably perished in storms off the northern coast.
But the indomitable Spaniards were not to be dis-
mayed.
The first European who penetrated the interior
of the Gulf country was Hernando De Soto, who had
acquired wealth and fame in Peru, a typical con-
quistador. The early route of De Soto was confined
to the Gulf side of the peninsula, and he then struck
northeastwardly and reached streams emptying into
the Atlantic.
Afterwards he reached the sources of a river
flowing to the southwest, and according to Biedma
this was known as the Espiritu Santo, which emptied
into the Bay of Chuse. In this Cosa country there
were a number of towns, some on islands in the
river, others inland on the watershed between our
Coosa and the Tallapoosa. The Spaniards rested
there for several months, but found little gold. It
was a different region, a different race of Indians
from those they had heretofore met. Oaks, walnuts,
maize abounded, the towns were palisaded and the
tribes stood in closer relations to each other.
In the fall of 1540 De Soto proceeded southwest-
wardly, and, after crossing a large river (the Ala-
bama), he came to Mauvila, a palisaded town, con-
taining large houses. Here occurred possibly the
most sanguinary battle in Indian warfare. De Soto
was victorious on account of his firearms and armor,
but lost many men and horses, including much of
the swine brought with him from Spain. It was
found necessary to remain in the vicinity some time
in order to recuperate.
The men were in favor of descending to the Bay
of Chuse, not over forty leagues away, to meet the
Vol. 2—22.
338 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
fleet of Maldonado, which De Soto had directed to
repair hither, but the Adelantado had nothing to
take back to Cuba and therefore resolved on pro-
ceeding further. So northwestwardly they took
their course, and, reaching a large river at Zabusta,
built a barge and crossed. This was the Black War-
rior, at possibly the place now called Erie.
In December they reached the River of Chicaca,
our Tombigbee, and horsemen forded the stream
probably near the modern Cotton Gin above Aber-
deen, where the river tributaries form an island.
After passage came negotiations with the Chicka-
saws, during which their chief induced the Span-
iards to help him against the hostile Sacchumas,
known to us as the Chocchumas.
De Soto spent the winter in the Chickasaw coun-
try between what is now known as Tupelo and Pon-
totoc. The Spanish camp can even now be traced in
oblong earthworks.
There being no draft animals in the country, De
Soto, like other Spaniards in South America, was
used to having Indians as burden bearers, and made
a practice not only of taking a chief from one dis-
trict until succeeded by one from another territory,
but also of impressing several hundred Indian
tamemes or porters. This had been the main cause
of much of the hostility which he encountered, and
led the Chickasaws to display their indomitable in-
dependence. They not only refused his demand for
porters, but, attacking his camp, nearly destroyed
his whole force. Had they had anything of the disci-
pline of the Europeans and continued the battle, in-
stead of making a fierce onset and retiring, there
would have been no Spaniards left to tell the story.
De Soto, perforce, remained a month, retempering
arms, constructing lances of ash and making other
repairs, suffering at the same time repeated attacks
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 339
from the Chickasaws. Finally in April, 1541, the
Spaniards marched northwest through the uplands,
and after various mishaps reached the Bio Grande,
our Mississippi.
They built barges and finally crossed over to
meet new adventures. After wandering around for
two years, they returned to the Mississippi, deter-
mined at last to find their way back by sea. While
they were building boats De Soto died, probably
near Helena, Arkansas, and left Moscoso as his suc-
cessor. The survivors reached the sea and coasted
along until they found Mexico.
Thus ended for the present the Spanish explora-
tion of the interior. It was almost barren of results,
no treasures being found and the accounts being so
confused as to add little even to geographical knowl-
edge. Indian paths were followed and no roads were
cut.
In 1558 an expedition was sent by Velasco, gov-
ernor of New Spain, to seek out a place suitable for
colonization. His captain Bazar es explored from
the west as Pineda had from the east, and thus vis-
ited most, if not all, of the harbors. His description
of Bas Fonde and Filipina bays resembles Biloxi
and Mobile waters, and at all events between
Pineda and Bazares the coast seems to have been
explored and the way opened for permanent settle-
ment. Accordingly, next year came the occupation
by Tristan de Luna of the mainland of Florida, at
Ychuse, a point apparently between Mobile and
Pensacola bays. He sent an expedition northwardly
to Nanipacna, which they found desolated by white
men, doubtless those under De Soto, and they, too,
reached the pleasant land of Cosa. The expedition,
however, was broken up by dissension, and in 1561
the colonists were taken away before anything last-
ing had been accomplished.
340 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Attention was henceforth concentrated upon the
Atlantic coast, where St. Augustine was now estab-
lished. More interest was felt in securing penin-
sular Florida, for it guarded the Bahama passage
and thus the route of the plate fleets from Mexico
to Spain.
Santa Elena, in what is now South Carolina, was
one of the points occupied, and the activity of the
Spaniards is shown by two expeditions under Juan
Pardo in 1566, the second of which went as far west
as Cosa and even Trascaluza, within a few days, it
was reported, of New Spain. This, however, must
have been guesswork, as there is no record that the
Mississippi was reached, and even that river was a
long way from Mexico. Between this and the At-
lantic, however, Pardo established several posts.
There is little evidence that in the Sixteenth cen-
tury there was anything more than an occasional
expedition to the interior between the Mississippi
and the Chickasaw or Tombigbee Kiver. On the
north coast of the Gulf the harbors were explored
and used, late in the Seventeenth century provinces
were claimed with headquarters at Panzacola and
Apalache bays, and in 1670 there was found need
for a boundary treaty with England.
The occupation, however, was practically limited
to the Atlantic, and the Mississippi Valley was at
most within the Spanish sphere of influence.
The French on the Mississippi.
The descent of Spain was as rapid as her ascent.
Religious and economic reasons can be given, and
both kinds, no doubt, had their influence. England
and Holland succeeded to her power on the ocean,
and France superseded her upon land. The French
monarchy, planned by Richelieu, developed by Col-
bert, was at the end of the Seventeenth century di-
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 341
rected by Louis XIV. Europe was too small for his
activity. All countries already had colonies, and
America and India were explored and exploited for
the benefit of the Grand Monarque.
Marquette and Joliet rediscovered the Missis-
sippi Eiver from Canada in 1673, and descended
the Arkansas, and nine years later the intrepid La
Salle explored it to its mouth, where he took posses-
sion of the whole basin and named it Louisiana.
The explorer missed the river when he came to col-
onize the country from the sea, and died by the
hands of an assassin in what has become Texas.
After the struggle with William of Orange, Louis
took up the question of the settlement of the vast
province named for him. Iberville was sent out, and
in 1698 succeeded where his fellow Canadian had
failed and entered the mouth of the Mississippi.
The current was found too strong for the vessels of
that day, and the marshes which constituted its bank
offered no inducement to settlement; but the coast
and islands of the sound were visited and named,
and a temporary location sought on the Back Bay of
Biloxi, with Ship Island as its outer bulwark. Iber-
ville and his brother, Bienville, explored the country,
and not only became acquainted with the Indians,
but gradually secured a hold on them from the Gulf
to the mountains. Choctaws, Mobilians, Chicka-
saws and Alibamons visited the French, and the
earlier advances of the English were overbalanced.
It was determined to effect a definite location of
the colony on Mobile Eiver, and Fort Louis, erected
on what is now called Twenty- seven Mile Bluff, be-
came the capital of the vast province of Louisiana.
The reason of this was plain. The Alabama-Tom-
bigbee basin gave access to the three largest Indian
tribes, and at the same time a safe harbor named
Fort Dauphin, on Dauphine Island, at the mouth of
342 .THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
the Bay, afforded communication with the home
country.
The story of any community may be looked at
from the inside and from the outside — the develop-
ment of the people themselves and their relations to
the outside world. A characteristic of the coloniza-
tion of Louisiana was the establishment of posts at
strategic points among the Indians with the pur-
pose of occupying and keeping out the English from
the east and the Spanish from the west. Thus, on
the Mississippi there was a small post near the
mouth, Fort Rosalie erected among the Natchez, and
St. Pierre on the Yazoo, while the mouth of the
Ohio, the lower Wabash, and points even more re-
mote were made bases of influence over the western
tribes. The English had settled Carolina and a
French fort was built at the junction of the Coosa
and Tallapoosa rivers to control the Indians on the
southern flank of the Appalachian range, at the part-
ing of the drainage between the Gulf and the ocean.
Posts were established even on the Tennessee River,
as at Mussel Shoals and higher up among the Chero-
kees. French facility in diplomacy was never better
illustrated than by Bienville amidst the American
Indians.
This good beginning must, in order to tell in the
long run, be followed up by the coming of immi-
grants who should develop the country. The land
was eminently fitted for agriculture, but Crozat, to
whom the king turned over the colony in 1712, aimed
at trade with the Indians on the one side and with
the Spaniards on the other, besides mining if pos-
sible. Law's Company, the so-called Western Com-
pany, from 1717 had the same plans, but was also a
land-selling syndicate which induced much immigra-
tion. It is true many of the immigrants were not
fitted to subdue the wilderness, but to the Missis-
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 343
sippi Bubble lower Louisiana owed the firm start
which it obtained. There was more than one change
of capital. In 1718, after the harbor of Dauphine
Island had been closed by a storm, there was a doubt
as to where to place the metropolis. Mobile was
handicapped by the loss of the old harbor, and Bien-
ville, who was governor since Iberville's death,
wished to move the seat of government to New Or-
leans, which had just been established in the fertile
delta of the Mississippi. The Commissary Hubert
had already looked over the field, and, having ob-
tained a concession in the Natchez country as being
the best district, favored building the capital at
Fort Eosalie. As a compromise the council hit upon
New Biloxi, on the west side of the Bay near the
spot marked by the present lighthouse. Here a fort
was built and commerce went on actively enough
with the Indians and with the mother country
oversea.
In 1723 New Orleans became the permanent cap-
ital, and so far as the part of Louisiana between the
Mississippi and Tombigbee is concerned, we may
note that three of the nine districts into which the
country was divided were Biloxi, Natchez and the
Yazoo post. At each of these places were conces-
sions more or less cultivated, and a warehouse for
the purchase of peltries and other products and for
the distribution of French manufactures among the
Indians.
French Management of Mississippi Settlements a Failure.
France rallied somewhat after the accession of
Louis XV., but the expenses and profligacy of the
court at Versailles hampered the development of her
colonies even as it affected the morale of her armies.
The soldiers sent to Louisiana were not always of
the highest class and suffered a good deal from the
344 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
malarial conditions which they met. Neither com-
missariat nor hospital service was well organized
at that time, and the sufferings of the army in war-
like expeditions were very great. The country con-
tinued to grow slowly, however, and the French rela-
tions with the Indians were generally good. It is
doubtful whether there would have been any trouble
at all but for the rivalry of the British on the At-
lantic coast. Their traders, generally Scotch,
threaded the Appalachian highlands and competed
with the French even on the central Mississippi.
They were sure to foment any difficulties which
might arise.
What is called the Natchez War is generally said
to have been due to the cupidity of the French com-
mandant at Fort Eosalie, but this is not quite cer-
tain. At all events the garrison was massacred in
1729, followed shortly by a similar disaster on the
Yazoo, and the whole colony thrown into consterna-
tion; but Perier's revenge was ample. At the fort,
and later on Bed Eiver to the west, he practically
exterminated the Natchez, except some few who
took refuge among the Chickasaws and later in the
Muscogee confederacy.
Chickasaw relations were more important, for
they had become from an early date thoroughly
identified with the English of Carolina. The origin
of this ill-success of the French is not easy to trace.
It was probably due in part to the fact that the
Choctaws were firm allies of the French and in al-
most constant war with the Chickasaws. At quite
an early date the Choctaws, in revenge for an in-
jury, murdered a Chickasaw embassy as it was re-
turning with a French convoy. The Chickasaws
never abandoned the idea that the French connived
at this, and when was added the flight to them of
Natchez refugees and the constant visits of the
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 345
English traders, the situation is more easily under-
stood.
The Chickasaw country had not, up to that time,
been mapped and was difficult of access. It was a
strategic point at the sources of the Yazoo and the
Tombigbee, as well as of streams leading to the
Tennessee, to a large extent prairie, and subject to
great variations in the streams. Bienville's at-
tempt, in 1736, to subdue the Chickasaws from the
Tombigbee was well planned, but a detachment from
the French settlements in the Illinois was destroyed
in detail, while Bienville himself met with a decisive
defeat at Ackia, near the scene of De Soto's dis-
aster. Bienville's second expedition was from the
west. It landed in the Yazoo delta and found it
impracticable to proceed, so that the French gen-
eral was glad to receive the nominal submission
of the Chickasaws and return home. Had he gone
further up the river and made his headquarters
about Chickasaw Bluff, where De Soto crossed,
the tale might have been different. An expedi-
tion of his successor, Vaudreuill, some years later,
also from Cotton Gin on the Tombigbee, chronicled
no disaster, but it also secured only a nominal
peace.
The same English traders, James Adair among
them, influenced by the Chickasaws, finally ex-
tended their intrigues to the Choctaws. Bed
Shoe became an English partisan, and this was the
more unfortunate since his district was the Six
Towns, the nearest the coast. The French from
Fort Tombecbe secured his assassination, but there
was long a civil war between the Choctaws who
favored the English and French respectively. Vic-
tory came ultimately to those who favored the
French, but at the price of retarding colonization
far from the coast or rivers.
346 THE HISTOKY OF MISSISSIPPI.
France Loses Mississippi Country.
It was not the natives, however, but the Seven
Years' War which finally decided the future of
Louisiana. There was no actual fighting in the
Mississippi Valley west of Fort Duquesne, and the
fate of Louisiana did not depend upon any event
within her own bounds, except so far as the British
blockade in the Gulf cut off supplies and communica-
tion with France.
The French King had taken back Louisiana, in
1732, after the Western Company had failed, but
found it a heavy charge, for it did not repay the ex-
penses of its maintenance. Agriculture, despite the
efforts of some of the governors, had not been made
the basis of a great commonwealth. Trade was still
looked to and the officers who came out from France
generally thought more of enriching themselves than
of rendering good service to the government. The
French King finally, in 1762, made a present of
Louisiana to his cousin, the King of Spain, who ac-
cepted it with reluctance, but with the idea that hold-
ing the mouth of the Mississippi Eiver might enable
him the better to defend Mexico. This treaty, however,
was kept secret, and in 1763 France ceded to Great
Britain all territories east of the Mississippi Eiver
and north of Bayou Manchac and Lake Pontchartrain.
The aborigines still occupied their old hunting
grounds, although there had been some tribal
changes besides extinction of the Natchez. The few
coast Indians were practically extinct, and the Choc-
taws and Chickasaws had united to exterminate the
Chocchumas at Line Creek. But the natives had
become dependent upon European goods and arms,
and in European treaties were considered as pass-
ing with the lands. And now the coast east of the
Lakes and the whole interior of the Mississippi Val-
ley was ceded by the Latin to the Briton.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 347
British West Florida.
With the cession to Great Britain came a new
alignment in the southwest. Even names were
changed, for the country between the Mississippi
and Tombigbee ceased to be called Louisiana, and
the old Spanish name of Florida was restored. The
peninsular part was made the province of East Flor-
ida and the coast between the Chattahoochee and
the Mississippi erected into the new province of
West Florida. The boundary between Georgia and
East Florida ran from the sources of the St. Mary's
to the Chattahoochee, and for the time being almost
the same line was in the shape of the parallel of
31° assigned as the north boundary of West Florida.
The country to the north, bounded on the east by
the Appalachian system, was reserved for the use of
the Indians. Great Britain, therefore, recognized
her colonies as lining the seacoast from Labrador
southwardly around to the Mississippi Eiver, and
the interior was now definitely separated from them.
The up-river forts were now useless, and so Tou-
louse and Tombecbe were abandoned. Rosalie on
the Mississippi and St. Pierre on the Yazoo had al-
ready completely dropped out of notice even before
the Chickasaw War.
When George Johnstone arrived as governor of
West Florida, his commission was changed so as to
extend West Florida far enough north to include
the Natchez country, because of valuable settle-
ments in that quarter. The north boundary was
declared to run eastwardly from the mouth of the
Yazoo River, which was 32° 28'. The capital of
West Florida was Pensacola, laid out, however, on
a new site.
A legislature was granted the province, and its
contests with the governor sometimes stopped only
short of the pitch reached by the political disturb-
348 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
ances in the Atlantic colonies. Commerce was at
first still looked to to build up the country, as set
out more particularly in a glowing proclamation of
Governor Johnstone.
The new policy was not only to include foreign
commerce, but trade with the different Indian na-
tions. These were uniformly friendly to the French,
and some of them even followed the French flag west
across the Mississippi River. Thus there went
some of the Alibamons, and the Coosadas, who had
tarried for a while on the Tombigbee River. There
had been no real traders in French times except the
commandants of the several posts and their agents,
and now this was to be changed. The Crown ap-
pointed a superintendent of Indian affairs for the
southern department, and the governors of the dif-
ferent provinces licensed traders, who were put un-
der bond. Treaties with the different tribes regu-
lated the price of goods, and the whole grew into
much more of a system than obtained under the
French. The English manufactures were more di-
versified and the price lower, so that in course of
time the Indians became at least as much attached
to Great Britain as they had been to France.
A new land policy soon led to the settlement of
the country, particularly on the Mississippi. Sol-
diers who had served in the late war were entitled
to land grants varying with their rank. A private
received fifty acres, officers much more, and special
grants were made not only by the council, but by a
mandamus of the king in his royal council to the
governor of West Florida. Such were the grants to
General Lyman, who had aided in the capture of
Havana, and to Amos Ogden, of New Jersey, of
lands near the Mississippi.
The French government had looked on the Indians
as subjects and the whole land as royal territory,
COLONIAL AND TBEEITORIAL TIMES. 349
granting concessions at will, the Frenchmen settling
throughout the interior. The French had often
adopted Indian customs, sometimes married Indian
women, and were on cordial terms with the natives
everywhere except among the Chickasaws. The
British, on the other hand, had the Anglo-Saxon re-
pugnance to marriage with dark-skinned races, and
unconsciously pursued a better policy. Families
settled within touch of each other, thus building up
a white neighborhood of agriculturalists who had
little to do with the Indians. It became necessary,
therefore, in order to prevent friction, to purchase
territory from the native tribes, and this was done
by the government in a series of treaties. The first
was held at Augusta in 1764, attended by Stewart,
the Indian superintendent, and many Creeks and
Cherokees. The second, possibly even more import-
ant, was held at Mobile the next year, when not only
the whole coast west to the Mississippi was ceded,
but two interior strips. One embraced the shores
of Mobile Bay and extended from the Tombigbee
on the east to the Buckatunna on the west, the north
line being near the modern Bladon, and the second
was the east bank of the Mississippi Eiver from
Bayou Manchac up to the mouth of the Yazoo.
These two districts gradually became well settled,
the nucleus of a flourishing colony.
The selection of Bayou Manchac, otherwise known
as Iberville Elver, as a southwestern boundary must
have been from maps rather than from information
as to facts, for the bayou was high and dry in the
summer time, and only navigable when the back
water of the Mississippi flowed through it in the
winter and spring. Even then it was generally full
of driftwood, but the British government undertook
to make it navigable and spent a good deal of money
cutting up logs and otherwise improving the naviga-
350 THE HISTOKY OF MISSISSIPPI.
tion. A fort named for Lord Bute was built at the
Mississippi end and it was planned to establish a
city near it, for the importance of towns was realized
and it was thought possible to create them instead
of leaving their growth to time. The city did not
materialize, but trading houses did, and the point
became of some importance. Across the bayou, con-
nected by a wooden bridge, was a Spanish fort.
The bayou never became of the value anticipated
for communication between Mobile and Pensacola
on the one side with the upper Mississippi and Ohio
posts on the other. At worst, however, vessels could
land where the bayou joined the Amite and the
portage of nine miles is described by the botanist
Bartram as being over a good level road.
The nation of shopkeepers, as Napoleon was to
describe them, had acquired the right to use the
Mississippi Eiver from its mouth, and proceeded to
do so. English trading vessels from Europe or from
Mobile ascended the river, passing in front of New
Orleans without stopping, going up to Fort Bute,
Baton Rouge and the settlement which grew up un-
der the hill at Natchez. They not only carried sup-
plies to their own colonists, but, with little attempt
at secrecy, sold to the Spanish plantations at prices
which could not be duplicated in New Orleans. This
became, in time, the cause of a good deal of friction.
Major Loftus was sent from Pensacola through
the mouth of the Mississippi Kiver charged with the
duty of ascending to Fort Chartres and taking pos-
session of the Ohio Valley. The Indians, however,
ambuscaded his little fleet at the point where good
Father Davion used to minister to the Tunicas, and
lie returned discomfited to Mobile. Major Farmar
afterwards made the ascent himself and met an ex-
pedition from Fort Pitt, and they together took pos-
session of the Great West.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 351
The American Revolution began on the Atlantic in
1774, culminating in the Declaration of Independence
two years later, but the Floridas remained loyal,
There were no rebels on the Gulf coast, and, as East
Florida became a political haven for loyalists fleeing
from Georgia and Carolina, West Florida was the
destination of many of the quieter class, who did not
relish civil war and sought new homes in the South-
west. Not a few settled above Mobile and Pensacola,
but perhaps even more went further, to Natchez and
Manchac, and the population up the Mississippi
finally amounted to a thousand or more. The set-
tlements were described in a book written by Pit-
man, and constituted two of the six districts entitled
to representation in the colonial legislature. As a
result, this river region became thoroughly angli-
cized, while the Gulf coast about Pascagoula and
Biloxi remained essentially French. On the Missis-
sippi agriculture flourished, the staples being indigo
and tobacco, and to these was afterwards added cot-
ton. On the Gulf the people were mainly hunters
and fishermen, although Krebs at Pascagoula was
to lead the way in inventing a cotton gin consisting
of rollers which measurably excluded the seed while
passing the lint through.
Negro slaves had been common under the French,
and the increasing agriculture brought the need of
more still. As the English controlled the sea, many
were brought from Jamaica and other British
islands and some direct from Africa.
The country did not long remain exempt from the
dangers incident to revolutionary times. The Con-
tinental Congress authorized Oliver Pollock to pur-
chase ammunition in New Orleans, and it is doubt-
ful whether George Eogers Clark would have been
able to conquer the Northwest for Virginia without
this assistance. A British vessel named the West
352 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Florida patrolled the waters about Lake Pontchar-
train, but an American privateer captured her, and
with the connivance of the Spanish government the
coast passed under the surveillance of this repre-
sentative of the new American navy.
James Willing, who had been a resident of
Natchez, obtained some kind of a commission from
Congress and came down the river on the nominal
errand of getting the inhabitants to take an oath of
neutrality. He was well received, for the people,
although loyal, were not disposed to wage war upon
the other colonies. Realizing his power, Willing
turned jayhawker, if not pirate, and robbed his
former friends. Col. Anthony Hutchins, who had
secured a large grant near Natchez, and Sir William
Dunbar, one of the most cultivated men of the age,
were among the sufferers. The inhabitants were
doubly unfortunate, for upon their appeal to General
Campbell, at Pensacola, he sent a commander who
was little better than Willing himself.
Meantime there had come to the head of affairs
in Louisiana Bernardo Galvez, at once ambitious
and able. At his distance from Spain he had pro-
consular power, and, in 1779, learning of a breach
between England and his own country, he took active
steps to reestablish Spanish authority on the Gulf.
He seized Fort Bute at Manchac, and marching rap-
idly compelled Colonel Dickson to surrender Baton
Eouge and also its dependency, Fort Pamnure at
Natchez. The whole of the Mississippi settlements
fell to Spain.
Galvez sailed to Mobile in 1780 and succeeded in
capturing it, which carried also the coast. He then
made elaborate preparations, and in 1781 attacked
Pensacola. The contest there was more equal, but
the explosion of the magazine in Fort George forced
General Campbell and Governor Chester to a capit-
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 353
illation. They marched out with honors of war, and
were repatriated on Spanish vessels to New York.
There was a counter-revolution by the people of
Natchez, for they succeeded in regaining possession
of Fort Panmure and hoisted the British flag; but
this triumph was short lived. They learned of the
capitulation of Pensacola and its results, and many,
dreading Spanish vengeance, fled through the for-
ests, swimming rivers and suffering unheard-of
privations until they reached the Atlantic colonies.
There was now no opposition to Galvez. His con-
quest of West Florida was ratified by the treaty of
peace which was signed in 1782 between Great
Britain and Spain. The whole Gulf coast was Span-
ish again.
West Florida Under Spain.
West Florida had been conquered by Galvez while
governor of Louisiana, but with true Spanish con-
servatism no change was made on the face of af-
fairs. West Florida remained nominally a separate
province, with capital at Pensacola as under the
British ; but practically it consisted only of a number
of posts like Pensacola, Mobile and Natchez, while
the administration of these and of the more numer-
ous Indian tribes centred at New Orleans. The gov-
ernor of Louisiana was also governor of West
Florida.
As under the British, the country consisted of sev-
eral districts, some fronting the Gulf while others
faced the Mississippi Eiver. The connection was
very slight, being politically through responsibility
to common authorities at New Orleans and phy-
sically by the Lake route and Indian paths across
the Gulf rivers. The inhabitants of Pascagoula
and Biloxi went on raising cotton and tobacco, and
mainly living by hunting and fishing, visited by
priests from Mobile, and occasionally hearing of
Vol. 2—23.
854 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
outside affairs through schooner from New Orleans,
On the Mississippi Bayou Manchac sank into in-
significance because no longer a real frontier, Baton
Rouge became a little town in an agricultural dis-
trict, while further up the river old Fort Rosalie
was practically abandoned and the settlement of
Natchez grew up on the river bank under the hill.
Both Natchez and Baton Rouge, however, became
places of importance and refinement, and centres of
growing indigo, tobacco and cotton interests. While
typically river towns, frequented by rough boatmen,
their inhabitants were English or from the Atlantic
states. If some of these were refugees, many
brought means, which they increased, and others
brought education and high family connections, so
that during the Spanish period the American Gen-
eral Wilkinson could speak of Natchez as "an ex-
tensive, opulent and polished community. " Bayou
Pierre and Cole's Creek to the north and St. Cath-
erine's Creek and other settlements to the south in-
creased in numbers and prosperity, and made the
district one of peculiar interest. It was Anglo-
Saxon under Spanish rulers, and even Protestant-
ism took root, despite the perfunctory acts of the
commandant and the greater zeal of the priest.
The wars of the Northwest had not been repeated
in the Southwest, for there was not the same pres-
sure upon the aborigines. While the Natchez and
Mobile districts were increasing in numbers, there
was no immediate danger of the population out-
growing the lands ceded to the British, and the ac-
complished commandants and governors of Spanish
West Florida had little difficulty in securing the at-
tachment of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Muscogee
Indians. It seemed as if a primitive kind of civil-
ization would be indefinitely prolonged — the Euro-
peans living a trading life within their fixed bounds ;
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 355
the Indians hunting and fishing and bartering to
the whites the products of their territories in ex-
change for goods and firearms.
The French were a decadent race according to the
British standard in the middle of the Eighteenth
century, when suddenly their Revolution trans-
formed them into the leading people upon the globe.
Their ambassador, Genet, landed in Charleston and
commenced raising an American army to reannex
Louisiana to France. Washington opposed the
scheme and Jefferson even then saw that America
could not brook the possession of the mouth of the
Mississippi by any strong power. Nevertheless
Genet interested many men and created great
uneasiness in Louisiana before the French gov-
ernment recalled him. There was even a British
plan to detach Louisiana, which secured aid and
comfort.
Nor were the Spanish authorities of the decadent
kind. The inhabitants of Louisiana and West Flor-
ida had no complaints to make of their government,
and Governor Miro and his successors initiated an
extensive and successful attempt towards interest-
ing the West. If the West were to become independ-
ent of the United States, there seemed to be no good
reason why it should not depend on Spain.
Boundary Question.
And to this political kaleidoscope was added yet
another element. Great Britain, by her treaty in
1782, had recognized the American boundary as the
line of 31°, although she had previously extended
West Florida up to 32° 28'. Therefore, the United
States asked that Spain should recognize 31° as the
boundary, but, until weakened by the wars of the
Revolution, Spain absolutely refused to do so.
If the United States went to 31°, moreover, the
356 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
state of Georgia claimed that this should be her
southern boundary, for her charter ran from sea to
sea. Georgia, therefore, claimed at least as far as
the Mississippi, for there was no other nation
in the way. The United States made their claim in
a diplomatic manner, at the same time refusing to
use force to secure their end. Georgia, encouraged
by the success of her Indian policy, and of old ac-
customed to war with Florida, was not prepared to
let Spain stand in her way. In 1785 she erected a
county called Bourbon on the Mississippi River—
really the old Natchez District — and commissioned
some of the leading citizens as her officials. This
brought on a diplomatic war between Georgia and
the United States, as well as Spain, but Georgia per-
severed and some years later sold much of her ter-
ritory to stock companies for 25 cents an acre. The
consideration was promptly paid and the companies
were finally declared by the United States Supreme
Court to have valid titles, even though a political
revolution in Georgia culminated in a repeal of the
Yazoo Acts, as they were called.
Spain was an old country and had seen many races
come and go. The Goths, the Moors, the French in
turn invaded her borders; but the Spaniard was
made more a Spaniard by the pressure brought to
bear upon him from without. In Florida the Span-
iards had to face a different problem, one to which
their previous experience had not accustomed them.
To the north was growing up a country which could
not be confined to the Atlantic coast and whose popu-
lation was spreading gradually but surely across
the mountains to the Mississippi River. There had
been conflict with Georgia in colonial days, but a
greater than Georgia was here. At last conditions
at home made Spain unwilling to face new problems
in America, and Godoy, the real ruler, consented to
COLONIAL AND TEKEITORIAL TIMES. 357
the treaty urged by Jay, the American ambassador.
In 1795 the line of 31° was assented to.
But the Western intrigue was still on and differ-
ent excuses were found in Florida against running
the line until 1797, when the Americans sent Andrew
Ellicott, a Quaker surveyor who had served in
Georgia, down the Mississippi and backed him up
by Lieutenant McClary and Captain Pope with
United States troops. Ellicott succeeded in stirring
up strife in a community which had been remarkably
peaceable, but Captain Guion was finally sent by
General Wilkinson, the American commander-in-
chief, and succeeded in confining Ellicott to his true
duties. Aided by Freeman for the Americans and
Estevan Minor and Sir William Dunbar for the
Spaniards, Ellicott began running the line from near
Davion's Bluff and gradually continued it east-
wardly. He crossed Mobile Eiver, the Chattahoo-
chee, and finally reached the sources of the St. Mary.
Ellicott 's Journal gives a long account of affairs
at Natchez, the impression left being that Gayoso,
the Spanish commandant, was actually imprisoned
in his fort by an uprising of Americans. The real
fact seems to have been that there was no difficulty
except between Ellicott and Gayoso. The inhab-
itants of the Natchez district, however, like Anglo-
Saxons everywhere, early showed their capacity for
self-government. It being reasonably clear that
Natchez would fall within American territory, a
convention was held and a kind of constitution sub-
mitted to Gayoso and promptly approved. This
provided that the inhabitants should have a speedy
administration of justice under alcaldes chosen by
them, should not be imprisoned for political offenses,
and should not, as a part of the militia, be called to
serve outside their own district. Governor Caron-
delet approved the arrangement. Gayoso was
358 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
shortly afterwards appointed to be governor in place
of Carondelet, himself promoted to Quito, and Minor
was made commandant at Natchez. Minor, himself
of American origin, approved the election in the
several beats of the district of a Committee of
Safety, and despite interference by the military, this
committee was duly elected, Col. Anthony Hutchins
being the leading man in the movement. On March
29, 1798, the Spanish garrison evacuated the fort at
the Natchez and withdrew to New Orleans, and very
soon the post at Nogales, now Vicksburg, was also
abandoned. The advance of the American and the
retreat of the Spaniard had thus begun — a move-
ment which was only to reach its climax a century
later.
The Natchez district, as well as that upon the
Tombigbee, was for the time being left without any
law except that of the military. The citizens of
Natchez applied to Captain Guion to take care of the
roads, patrol, police, liquor traffic and recovery of
debts, and he promised his support wherever it
might be necessary, particularly as to the sale of
liquor to the Indians, but left judicial matters to the
citizens themselves.
Gen. James Wilkinson arrived in August. Guion,
on his way down, had conciliated the Chickasaws at
Chickasaw Bluff, while the Choctaws were generally
friendly, and Wilkinson found himself able to devote
his attention to fortifying the new southwestern
frontier. He concentrated his troops at Davion's
Bluff, generally called Loftus Heights, and there
constructed Fort Adams. Over on the Tombigbee
the post of St. Stephens had likewise been delivered
by the Spaniards to Lieutenant McClary, and a post
was established at Fort Stoddert on Mobile River
just above the line.
The military occupation of the southwest was
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 359
complete, but there was need of a civil government.
Titles to land, the foundation of everything, were
uncertain, for there were British, Spanish and
Georgian grants, and even sovereignty was still in
dispute between the United States and Georgia.
Spanish domination had ceased, but it was not clear
what would follow.
Mississippi Territory.
European colonization had occupied the American
coasts, and was now to give way to something native.
It is true the Indians, who in the Gulf regions occu-
pied all the interior, remained barbarians of the
Stone Age, and contact with civilization was to ruin
rather than develop them. But a new type of native
had been originated and a form of migration over
the mountains to the Mississippi Valley, all so dif-
ferent that old names became inappropriate. Im-
migrants were no longer colonists, looking oversea
to a dearer home, but American citizens who brought
home and free institutions with them.
Mississippi territory, created April 7, 1798, was
to have in its internal growth and external relations
a very real history of its own. In one respect it
might seem the condition of the people was inferior
to that under Latin rule, for public expenses were
now paid by taxation instead of by a paternal gov-
ernment. But on the other hand their industries
were no longer under governmental control, but
free. Taxation was the price of liberty.
After the Spanish evacuation there were two
districts subject to the American government — the
Natchez and the Tombigbee districts — both of which
had been ceded by the Choctaws to the British gov-
ernment. The Natchez country was now cut off
from the Baton Rouge district, and similarly over
to the east the Tombigbee settlements, although
360 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
twice the size of those about Natchez, were but the
upriver end of the Mobile country. However, the
Natchez district had a town and more people lived
about Bayou Pierre, Cole's Creek, Catherine's
Creek and Homochitto than about St. Stephens and
Fort Stoddert on the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers.
Government Under Sargent.
Winthrop Sargent, former secretary of the North-
west territory, was governor of the new Missis-
sippi territory, and his arrival in October, 1798,
put at end to the military interregnum. As pro-
vided by the Act of Congress, he and the judges, who
soon joined him, put in force a code of laws not un-
like that with which he was familiar on the Ohio, laid
out several counties on the Mississippi and an
enormous one called Washington on the Tombigbee.
He commissioned judges of Common Pleas and
County courts, justices of the peace and sheriffs,
and the new territory was launched upon its career.
It required negotiation and concession on both
sides to obtain the relinquishment of Georgia's
rights to the soil, and it was not until an Act of 1802
that an agreement was reached making compensa-
tion to settlers under the Yazoo and other grants.
An even greater need for Federal assistance was
found in the Indian relations. The United States
had, in 1786, in the treaties of Hopewell on the
Keowee Eiver, been successful in inducing the Choc-
taws and Chickasaws to place themselves under the
American protection and to subject their trade to
supervision, and now other treaties provided for the
re-running of the old British lines. The two districts
making up Mississippi territory were connected by
the trace or path cut by McClary, but there were no
means of communicating with the seat of Federal
government except by runners through the Choctaw
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 361
and Creek nations, or by water passing through the
Spanish territory. In 1801 General Wilkinson nego-
tiated treaties with the Chickasaws at what after-
wards became Memphis, and with the Choctaws at
Fort Adams, by which a wagon-road was provided
for, following the old trace from Natchez to Col-
bert 's Ferry on the Tennessee Eiver below Mussel
Shoals, and thence on to Nashville. This was
doubly important. Not only did it afford a safe re-
turn for the western people who took their wares
by flat and keel boats to Natchez and New Orleans,
but it encouraged immigration by land as well as
river. A treaty with the Creeks in 1805 enabled the
government to establish a horse path, afterwards
widened into the Federal Eoad from Milledgeville,
in Georgia, by Minis' Ferry across the lower Ala-
bama and Tombigbee rivers to Fort Stoddert and
St. Stephens, and in the same year, by the treaty of
Mt. Dexter, the Choctaws ceded the land south of
McClary's path and thus connected the districts of
Natchez and the Bigbee.
The title to land is the foundation of civilization,
for this is based on private property. The United
States found it necessary to provide for the recog-
nition of grants by former governments, and to es-
tablish a system of its own for granting the public
domain to individuals. The policy in the North-
western territory had at first been worse than that
of the prior governments. Virginia had provided
for limited grants, with an imperfect system of loca-
tion, but the United States only for that of thou-
sands, or even millions, of acres to companies of
speculators. Experience showed the necessity of
patenting small tracts in order to induce immigra-
tion. The old empresario plan was given up and a
simple system adopted on the Ohio of dividing into
townships six miles square, each containing thirty-
362 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
six sections, so that when, in 1802, land offices were
established at Washington, the capital which super-
seded Natchez, on the one side and at Fort Stoddert
on the other, a solution of the question was attain-
able. Lands could be bought in small tracts, even
less than a single section, and where necessary credit
was extended to the purchaser. The southwestern
frontier of the United States thus became a Mecca
for worthy people of small means.
Turning to the local side of territorial life we find
that the country gradually developed, agriculture
being the mainstay and cotton rapidly becoming the
most valuable product. Negro slaves were brought
from the Spanish possessions and overland from the
Atlantic states.
Governor Claiborne.
Sargent 's laws were no more popular in the new
territory than they had been in the old, and indeed
found greater opposition, for an agent was sent to
the seat of the Federal government to secure their
repeal. They called for exorbitant fees, which went
to the governor, and his own frigid manner seemed
to invite opposition. He was not removed, but as the
easiest way of getting rid of the laws the territory
was advanced to the second grade, which admitted
of a local legislature. When this met in 1802, it
played havoc with the governor's laws. Sargent
had already left for Boston, and the popular W. C.
C. Claiborne, of Tennessee, was appointed in his
place by the new president, Mr. Jefferson. Cotton
receipts had long been the circulating medium, and
legislation now provided for money and a bank, and
amongst other things for an active militia.
It was almost as if an armed host had been
camped in the country. The whole territory was
divided up into military beats, and the lower officers
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 363
were elected just as were the members of the legis-
lature. The beats became the unit for civil as well
as for military purposes, and the whole Southwest
received a military cast. Of the same nature was
the patrol, who kept a sharp oversight over the
slaves, visited their quarters and rendered summary
justice.
A digest of laws was compiled and published in
1807, the foundation of the civil system of future
states. Its compiler was Harry Toulmin, an Eng-
lish Unitarian minister, who had left England for
America. Mr. Jefferson found him a school teacher,
made him president of the Transylvania University,
and in 1804 appointed him Judge of the Superior
Court of the Washington district on the Tombigbee.
Influence of Louisiana Purchase.
A turning point in the history of the Southwest
was the purchase of Louisiana by Jefferson in 1803.
Mississippi territory lost its governor, for Claiborne
was promoted to the head of the new territory of
Orleans, and the United States not only acquired the
undisputed right of navigating the Mississippi, but
now owned the mouth of the river itself. Missis-
sippi territory on one side, however, still remained
on the frontier, for its faced Spanish West Florida.
It is true Louisiana was always claimed by the
United States to extend as far eastward as the
Per dido Eiver, but a hint from Napoleon for some
time restrained the Federal authorities from under-
taking to enforce the claim.
The whole West, however, was undergoing trans-
formation. Indiana had been made a separate ter-
ritory in 1801, Ohio admitted as a state the next
year, and Illinois territory was soon to be separated
from Indiana. Conditions gradually changed both
in Europe and America.
364 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Spanish Possessions and Aaron Burr.
There came to be an intense desire in the West to
expel the Spanish from Baton Bouge and Mobile on
the one side, and to make good the United States
claim out to the Sabine on the other. At the same
time the Mexican authorities prepared to assert the
Spanish claim eastward to the Arroya Hondo and
send an army forward to maintain it, while General
[Wilkinson marched to oppose occupation. War
seemed imminent.
Then entered a new factor. Aaron Burr, after
ceasing to be Vice-President, took advantage of his
personal popularity to organize an expedition which,
he said, was to occupy a Spanish grant which he
had purchased. Jefferson was hostile to him and
set in motion the whole governmental machinery to
prove that he had treasonable designs. He was ar-
rested in Kentucky, defended by Henry Clay, and
released. He went down the Ohio and Mississippi,
but rumors preceded him. Wilkinson, whom he
claimed at one time as one of his friends, now con-
cluded a truce with the Spanish general, by which the
disputed territory was left neutral ground, and
marched for New Orleans and Natchez. Cowles
Mead, acting as governor of Mississippi territory
in the absence of Governor Williams, called out the
militia, and feverish anxiety prevailed.
Burr arrived near Natchez, anchored on the Span-
ish side of the river, and, when interviewed, quietly
surrendered to the civil authorities. District- Attor-
ney Poindexter attempted, unsuccessfully, to have
him indicted by the grand jury under the direction
of the Territorial Supreme Court, which had no
Federal jurisdiction. It declined to release Burr
from his recognizance, however, and the next morn-
ing he was not to be found.
A few days later Burr was arrested near the lower
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 365
Tombigbee and kept in easy confinement at Fort
Stoddert for some time, charming everyone who met
him. Such was his magnetism that Captain Gaines
found it expedient to send him under a picked guard
across Mims Ferry and through the states to Rich-
mond for trial. There he was acquitted, Chief Jus-
tice Marshall presiding; but his plans had received
such a blow that he never returned to the Southwest,
even to claim a beautiful woman whom he had fasci-
nated near Natchez.
The Spanish rule below the line was mild, but
blood proved thicker than water. The brothers
Kemper had made raids upon Spanish possessions,
and had been badly treated in return. In 1810 they
had their opportunity again, and with other daring
spirits raised at Baton Eouge the standard of the
independent State of West Florida. The Spaniards
retired to Mobile and Pensacola, the new flag was
unfurled at Biloxi and Pascagoula, and Kemper
roused the Washington district to raise an army
of invasion. Whiskey and dissension, however,
ruined the project, and a Spanish force from Mobile
captured the invaders on the way.
The United States, while disavowing the acts of
the Kempers, nevertheless, through Governor Clai-
borne, of Louisiana, took possession of the pseudo
state. As time went on they felt emboldened to go
further, and General Wilkinson, in April, 1813,
"without the effusion of a drop of blood," compelled
the surrender of Mobile. Ultimately the territorial
acquisitions were divided between Louisiana and
Mississippi territory, which thus reached the Gulf.
War of 1812.
Meantime war had commenced with Great Britain
and, as Pensacola was used as a base by the British
fleet in the Gulf, the whole coast was threatened. An
366 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
even more pressing danger, however, arose in the
interior, when Tecumseh, supposed to be inspired
from Canada, came to arouse the southern Indians,
who held still three-quarters of the nominal bounds
of Mississippi territory.
The Choctaws were kept in alliance with the
Americans by the exertions of Pushmataha, and the
alarm felt even in the Natchez district was gradually
allayed. Tecumseh had been fully successful in his
visit to the Creeks, however, and what Colonel
Hawkins, the Indian agent, at first thought would
be an Indian civil struggle developed into the Creek
War, which, in 1814, laid waste Fort Minis and the
settlements between the Alabama and Tombigbee.
This was a long way from the seat of Federal gov-
ernment, but the militia of Georgia, Tennessee and
Mississippi territory were called into service. The
Mississippi volunteers under Gen. F. L. Claiborne
marched over to Mt. Vernon near Fort Stoddert,
and finally built Fort Claiborne on the Alabama and
burned the Creek stronghold of Econochaca or Holy
Ground. Floyd did not advance far with the
Georgia troops, but the indomitable Jackson pressed
southward from Tennessee, winning such battles as
Talladega and Horse Shoe Bend. He camped,
finally, at old Fort Toulouse, then renamed for him,
in the fork of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, whence,
after dictating peace, he floated down the Alabama
to Mobile.
Soon England and the United States arranged a
peace at Ghent, and the development of the South-
west was renewed. The Creek War had devastated
the eastern portion of Mississippi territory, but had
resulted in opening to white settlement all the coun-
try west of the Coosa and south to the Gulf. The
Natchez district had not suffered, and it also grew
by leaps and bounds.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TIMES. 367
Industrial Progress.
The Latins had brought cattle and the horse to
America, with the result that agriculture not only
furnished food, but tobacco, indigo and cotton for
export. Whitney's invention of a gin which, by
cylinder and teeth eliminated the seed, reached the
Southwest in the time of the Spaniards, and in the
first years of the new territory it revolutionized in-
dustry. More cotton was planted, more immigrants
came, more slaves were imported. Plantation life
established an extensive rather than intensive type
of civilization, and the Southwest contrasted even
more sharply with the North than did the rest of the
South. Transportation, however, was difficult, and
in consequence there was little incentive to raise a
surplus for exchange abroad. Eoads were rude
because the population was sparse in this rural ter-
ritory, and boats slow and uncertain.
In 1811 war was threatening and nature was in
convulsion. Earthquakes engulfed New Madrid on
the upper Mississippi and the end of the world
seemed near, when there came a happy portent
meaning much for the future.
After Fulton invented his steamboat and operated
it on the Hudson River, his agent, N. J. Roosevelt,
carefully explored the Ohio and Mississippi with a
view of introducing the invention. Failure was pre-
dicted on account of the strong currents, but he built
at Pittsburgh the steamer New Orleans and gradu-
ally descended the rivers. The whole population
of the little towns of Cincinnati and Louisville
turned out to see the wonder, and she carried cotton
down from Natchez. The transportation problem
was solved. A new step had been taken in civilization.
We have not been able to trace the evolution of a
commonwealth up from the Stone Age, for the In-
dians were gradually retreating before the white
368 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
men. We study its history only from the time of
the settlement of the civilized races, and can now
see that with the American territory growing from
the nuclei at Natchez and on the Mobile, the advance
in the inventions and institutions of civilization was
more marked than at any time before.
Religious and Social Conditions.
The incomers brought the Protestant religion,
with its individualism as well as its fear of God.
The Congregationalists had come even in Spanish
times, but the new denomination called Methodists
and the other pioneer sect of Baptists followed close
behind and became dominant. The eccentric Lor-
enzo Dow, at the beginning of the Nineteenth cen-
tury, found all three faiths in active operation, al-
though to his notions there was sometimes little suc-
cess to their efforts.
If religious institutions had taken a strong hold,
political were even more prominent. The necessi-
ties of the case made the community a military
democracy, self-governing as far as the Federal
policy permitted, and anxious for the fuller auton-
omy of statehood. Taxation was rather coveted
than avoided, for it gave the people public buildings,
roads and laws.
The social institutions were sui generis. The
adaptation of the soil to agriculture, particularly to
cotton, and the resulting importation of negro
slaves led to the plantation life and created a spe-
cial form of society, having aristocratic and patri-
archal elements with all its democracy. How far
the prevailing Jeffersonian tendency to liberty,
equality and fraternity would affect this social or-
ganism remained to be seen.
Institutions are not the only milestones of human
progress. They mark the intellectual side, but in-
COLONIAL AND TEKBITORIAL TIMES. 369
ventions come even earlier and are the basis upon
which institutions rest. The inhabitants of Missis-
sippi territory inherited all that had been used by
Europeans and Americans, and were now to find in
the new cotton gin and steamboat the cause and
means of upbuilding an agricultural commonwealth
unique in history.
State Formed 1817.
The old Southwest was a geographical unit in that
it drained to the Gulf, but when the steamboat em-
phasized waterways there was a cleavage of in-
terests. Previous plans for one great state, or for
two states running east and west, gave way before
the new conditions. The river steamer called for
the division line to run north and south, practically
on the line between the Mississippi and Tombigbee
basins, and thus, in 1817, came into being the State
of Mississippi, formed of the western half of the
old Territory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — I. GENERAL : Winsor, Justin : Narrative and Critical
History (8 vols., 1887), Mississippi Basin (1895), Transactions Missis-
sippi Historical Society: Ogg, F.A.: Opening of the Mississippi (1904)
Hamilton, P. J.: Colonization of South (1904, History of N. A. Series);
Colonial Mobile (1897); Monette, J. W.: Valley of Mississippi, 1848).
II. INDIAN: Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; American State
Papers, Indian Relations (1832, Vols. I. and II.).
III. SPANISH: Documents. — Maps, etc., at Seville; American State
Papers, Public Lands (Vols. I.-VI.); White: NewRecopilacion (Vols. I.
and II.). Travels — De Soto: Garcilasso, Gentleman of Elvas (Spanish
Explorers, 1907), Biedma, Ranjel (in Trail Maker Series'); Ternaux-
Compans: Recueil Floride; Collot Atlas; Cabeza de Vaca (Spanish Ex-
plorers, 1907). Histories— Scaife, W. B.: America Geographical His-
tory (1892); Barcia: Ensayo Cronologico (1723); Lowery, W.: Spanish
Settlements in U. S. (1901); Ruidiaz : Florida (1893, 2 vols.).
IV. FRENCH: Documents. — Maps in Howard Library, New Orleans;
Mss. by Margry at New Orleans; Mss. by Magne at New Orleans; Paro-
chial Records of Mobile, New Orleans, and Natchez; B. F. French: His-
torical Collections Louisiana (Vol. I.-V.), Historical Collections Louisiana
and Florida (Vols. I.-II); Margry: Decouvertes (Vols. I.-VI.); Cusachs
MSB., New Orleans. Travels — La Harpe, B. : Journal Historique (1831);
Penicaut, in 6th French and 5th Margry; Charlevoix: Histoire de la Nouv.
France, etc. (1744); Le Page du Prate: Histoire de la Louisiane; Dumont:
Vol. »— »4.
370 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Memoires Historiques (6 French); Bossu : Nouvaux Voyages: Kip's Early
Jesuit Missions. Histories — Gayarre": Louisiana (4 vols.); Martin:
Louisiana; Fortier: Louisiana (1904, 4 vols.); King's Bienvitte (1892);
Shea, J. G.: Early Voyages on Mississippi, Catholic Missions (1854);
Catholic Church in Colonial Days.
V. BRITISH: Documents — Haldimand Papers (Ottawa). Travels—
Adair's American Indians (1775): Pitman, Ph.: Mississippi Settlements
(reprint, 1906); Romans: Florida, Jeffrey: French Dominion; Roberts:
Florida; Bartram, Wm. : Travels North Carolina, etc. (1793). Histories
—Campbell, R. L.: Colonial Florida (1892).
VI. AMERICAN : Documents. — Draper Mss. (Madison,Wis.) ; Ellicott'e
Journal, Laws of Mississippi Territory, Judges: Laws of Mississippi
Territory, Toulmin, Latour: WarinWest Florida (1816); DeedBooks of
Mobile and other counties. Histories. — Claiborne, J. F. H. : Mississippi
as Colony, Territory, etc.: Meek, A. B.: Romance of Southwestern History
(1857); Ball and Halbert: Creek War (1895); Jones, J.G.: Protestantism
in Mississippi, etc. (1866).
PETER J. HAMILTON,
Author of Colonization of the South, Reconstruction, etc.
CHAPTER II.
MISSISSIPPI A STATE IN THE UNION,
1817-1861.
The Constitutional Convention of 1817 and Organization of
State Government.
After much discussion, extending over a period of
seven years, the movement for the admission of
Mississippi territory as a state into the Union was
successful. The Congress of the United States in
the Georgia settlement had provided "that the ter-
ritory thus ceded shall form a state, and be admitted
as such in the Union as soon as it shall contain sixty
thousand free inhabitants, or at an earlier period
if Congress shall think it expedient.*' After the
census of 1810, which gave the territory a popula-
A STATE IN THE UNION. 371
tion of forty thousand, both free and slave, the peo-
ple grew restive under the territorial status. The
desire, however, on their part to procure statehood
was not caused by the anxiety to maintain a balance
of power in the National Congress which was felt by
political leaders in the admission of a new state
into the Union. As yet, they were almost wholly
unacquainted with political values, and were con-
scious of only that degree of nationality which made
them desirous of sharing in every privilege granted
by the constitution. The same ideal of personal lib-
erty and equal opportunity that had taken posses-
sion of the minds of the people of the older com-
munities had fixed itself in their thought and aspira-
tion; and here upon this far outpost of American-
Anglo-Saxon civilization a social organism was be-
ginning to establish itself such as was found in the
mother colonies. They styled themselves — and
they were for the most part — the legitimate off-
spring of Seventy- six. Though the section had
taken no part in the War for Independence, many of
the inhabitants, as citizens of other states, had seen
honorable service in that war. Having, however, as
a community, been an active participant in the War
of 1812, and having shared with distinguished hon-
ors in Jackson's victories, they took no small credit
to themselves for the successful termination of this
second war for independence. Their ambition for
statehood manifested itself in numerous resolutions
passed by the people, and in memorials of the Gen-
eral Assembly to Congress, seeking admission into
the Union. These efforts were sedulously continued
in spite of the fact that the number of the state's
white population hardly justified the demand, and
theii unwearying perseverance would have gained
admission earlier had not a conflict arisen among
the people themselves over the question as to
372 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
whether Mississippi territory should form one state
or two. The majority of the people wanted one, but
finally acquiesced in the decision of Congress, which
provided for one state and a territory.
The enabling act, which was signed by President
Madison March 1, 1817, empowered the people of the
western part of Mississippi territory to form a con-
stitution and state government, and provided for
the admission of such state into the Union on an
equal footing with the original states. The bound-
ary clause of the enabling act embraces the follow-
ing described territory: "Beginning on the river
Mississippi at the point where the southern bound-
ary line of the state of Tennessee strikes the same,
thence east along the said boundary line to the Ten-
nessee River, thence up the same to the mouth of
Bear Creek, thence by direct line to the northwest
corner of the county of Washington, thence due
south to the Gulf of Mexico, thence westwardly, in-
cluding all the islands within six leagues of the
shore, to the most eastern junction of Pearl River
with Lake Borgne, thence up said river to the thirty-
first degree of north latitude, thence west along the
said degree of latitude to the Mississippi River,
thence up the same to the beginning. ' '
The act of Congress apportioned the representa-
tives among the counties, fixed the day of election
on the first Monday and Tuesday in June, 1817> and
provided that the convention should meet at the
town of Washington, the seat of government of the
territory, on the first Monday in July. An election
was held throughout the fourteen counties and re-
sulted in the selection of forty-seven delegates.
The constitutional convention of the western part
of the Mississippi territory met at the town of
Washington on July 7, 1817. The meetings were
held in the Methodist church, erected in 1805, the
A STATE IN THE UNION. 373
fruits of a religious revival conducted by Lorenzo
Dow, the New England itinerant.
The convention organized by electing Governor
David Holmes president and Louis Wiston secre-
tary. On July 10 a committee of twenty was ap-
pointed to draft a constitution. The new constitu-
tion, however, was mainly the work of the chair-
man, George Poindexter, an able lawyer who, like
so many of his profession, was attracted to the rich
section and soon became a factor in its development.
Under the provisions of the constitution the ex-
ecutive power was vested in a governor, elected by
qualified electors for a term of two years, only free-
holders being eligible; the legislative power was
vested in two branches, one to be styled the Senate,
the other the House of Eepresentatives, and both
together the General Assembly, and it was provided
that only free-holders could be members of the As-
sembly; the judicial power was vested in one Su-
preme Court and a superior court, the last to be
held in each county at least twice during the year by
a judge of the Supreme Court elected for the dis-
trict. The judges were elected by the General As-
sembly, and held office during good behavior up to
the age of sixty-five years. Provision was also made
for the establishment of a court or courts of chan-
cery, courts of probate and justices' courts. The
suffrage clause provided that every free white male
of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who
was a citizen of the United States and had resided
in the state one year preceding an election, and the
last six months within the county, city or town in
which he offered to vote, and was enrolled in the
militia thereof, except when exempted by law from
military service, or, having the aforesaid qualifica-
tions of citizenship and residence, had paid a state
or county tax — was deemed a qualified elector.
374 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
A difficult question for the convention to settle
was the site for the state capital; Natchez was
strongly supported, but could not muster sufficient
votes to secure it. The convention avoided the ques-
tion by requiring that the first session of the General
Assembly be held in Natchez, and thereafter at such
place as might be directed by law. The name which
the new state was to bear was also the subject of
considerable controversy. The committee reported
in favor of the name Mississippi. When the pre-
amble came up for adoption, Cowles Mead moved
to strike out the word Mississippi and insert in lieu
thereof the word Washington, but the motion was
lost by a vote of seventeen for Washington and
twenty-three for Mississippi. The cost of the con-
vention was $9,703.98, and $100.00 was paid for the
use of the little brick church.
Under the provisions of the schedule adopted by
the constitutional convention, Governor Holmes is-
sued writs for an election to be held in each county.
The state officials selected at this election were
David Holmes, governor, and Duncan Stewart, lieu-
tenant-governor. The members of the General As-
sembly were also elected, and George Poindexter
was selected to represent the state in the House of
Eepresentatives.
At the time fixed for the first meeting of the Gen-
eral Assembly at Natchez, yellow fever prevailed
there, and Governor Holmes issued a proclamation
calling the session at Washington. The body con-
vened Oct. 6, 1817 ; on the following day the election
returns were canvassed, and Governor Holmes was
inaugurated in the presence of both Houses. The
constitution having provided for the election of all
state officers except the governor and lieutenant-
governor, the following officers were elected : Daniel
Williams, secretary of state; Lyman Harding, at-
A STATE IN THE UNION. 375
torney-general ; Samuel Brooks, treasurer, and John
B. Girault, auditor. On October 9 the Assembly
elected Walter Leake and Thomas H. Williams
United States senators, and on the same day ad-
journed on account of disturbed conditions growing
out of the continued spread of yellow fever.
On December 8 the General Assembly met at
Natchez at the house of Edward Turner. In making
up the committees Edward Turner, Charles B.
Green and Harman Eunnels were entrusted with
the organization of the judicial system, Joseph Ses-
sions, George H. Nixon and John Joor with the
militia, and Philander Smith, John Joor, George H.
Nixon, George B. Dameron and Henry G. Johnston
with the finances.
The young commonwealth had lost no time in
placing itself in readiness for statehood, and when
Congress met in December a resolution admitting
the state of Mississippi into the Union was passed
by the Senate and House, and was signed by Presi-
dent Monroe December 10, 1817. The resolution
which made the new state a member of the American
Union was reported by James Barbour, a senator
from Virginia, and was in the following words:
* * Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That the State of Mississippi shall be
one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United
States of America, and admitted into the Union on
an equal footing with the original states in all re-
spects whatever."
And thus, shed from the great mass of Anglo-
Saxon civilization in America, this handful of society
began to assume a distinct social and political or-
ganization that was destined to share in the future
history of the American nation. It had outstripped
and displaced two valiant nations; had conquered
376 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
the wilderness infested with wild beasts and reeking
with deadly malaria; and at the same time was do-
mesticating one savage race — a herculean task for
which it has never received proper credit — while it
contended with another that would not be domesti-
cated. Nothing withstood its onward march, and
everything for which men contended passed into its
keeping. So strong was its breed that a mere hand-
ful of people scattered upon isolated spots was suf-
ficient to develop a thriving social organism which,
while it differed somewhat in minor points, retained,
as a whole, an unchangeable likeness to the parent
stock.
Pioneer Statehood, 1817-1832.
In passing from the territorial to the state form
of government, the authority of the chief executive
had been greatly curtailed. He no longer had the
appointment of officers from justice of the peace to
treasurer-general, and his authority comprehended
little more than a participation in legislation, and
the right to extend pardon to offenders against the
penal laws. The General Assembly, however, had
large powers conferred upon it, which was only a
shifting of excessive authority from one branch of
government to another, an error which the people
afterwards realized and corrected.
Administration of Governor Holmes.
The territorial administration of Governor
Holmes, covering over eight years, had been a period
of steady growth and advancement; the population
had grown from 40,352 in 1810 to 73,000 in 1817, and
agricultural interests were taking a firm hold. The
emigration to the state about this time was largely
from Virginia and the Carolinas ; Georgia, Kentucky
and Tennessee furnished many settlers, and to this
was added a sprinkling of emigration from Pennsyl-
A STATE IN THE UNION. 377
vania, New York and the New England states, much
heavier than is commonly supposed. Of foreign-
born population there had never been a large influx,
and though this continued to be the condition and
accounts for the uniform Anglo-Saxon type among
the people, it is worthy of note that just prior to the
War of Secession the foreign-born population
was larger than it was forty years after the war.
What weight this fact would have in a discussion of
the relative economic growth of the two periods has
yet to be determined.
During the first years of statehood the subject
which commanded the attention of the governor
most was internal improvement. He appreciated
the value of transportation in the development of a
new country and wrote to William H. Crawford in
1818 that the Pearl River, the Pascagoula, Chicka-
sawhay, Leaf, Big Black, Yazoo, Homochitto and
Bayou Pierre were susceptible of improvement for
navigation, and that the improvement of three im-
portant roads was in contemplation; one leading
from Natchez to Washington, one to St. Stevens and
one to Madisonville on Lake Pontchartrain.
It was during this early period of the state's ex-
istence that the Elizabeth Female Academy was es-
tablished. It was located near the town of Wash-
ington, February, 1818, being the first chartered
institution for the higher education of young women
in the United States. Jefferson College, a school for
young men, had been established by the legislature
of the Mississippi territory in 1803 at the territorial
seat of government. Thus we find the state at a very
early period of its existence provided with two col-
leges.
Administration of Governor Poindexter.
In January, 1820, Governor Holmes was suc-
ceeded by George Poindexter. The new chief execu-
378 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
tive had been prominent in public affairs since 1803,
and was the admitted leader of the Jefferson Kepub-
licans of Mississippi. Soon after his inauguration
Governor Poindexter sent a special message to the
General Assembly, recommending "a general revi-
sion and consolidation of the statutes"; he also
urged the establishment of better schools to be sup-
ported by a public fund, which was an advanced
position for the state along educational lines. The
governor 's policy in reference to public schools, how-
ever, was not carried out, and it was some time be-
fore the state had any definite legislation upon the
subject of the general education of the people.
The important events of 1820 in Mississippi were
the survey of the Alabama line, the United States
census, which showed that the population had in-
creased to 75,000, and the Choctaw Treaty of Doak's
Stand, which opened up 5,500,000 acres of fertile
land for settlement, this being one of a series of
treaties by which the Indians of the state were out-
witted in the disposition of their lands.
The most exciting political question in Missis-
sippi at this time, as elsewhere, was the admission
of Missouri into the Union. The status of slavery
in the state was the same as that of the other south-
ern states; the people believed that slaves were
recognized forms of property, and felt that their
owners should not be discriminated against on ac-
count of being slaveholders in the settlement and
development of new territory. There had been at
an early period of the state's history grave doubts
as to the wisdom of permitting great numbers of
savages, many of whom represented the worst ele-
ment of their race, to be brought into the state, and
several of the territorial governors had impugned
the practice. There had also been, from time to
time, prohibitory legislation against slaves being
A STATE IN THE UNION. 379
brought to the state as merchandise ; but, though the
traffic was generally considered to be an odious one
and beneath the calling of a gentleman, the ethical
side of the question had never seriously presented
itself to the minds of the people, and they could
neither understand nor appreciate the constant in-
terference of Northern abolitionists in the matter.
Such a marked improvement was evident in the
condition of these savage people in their domestica-
tion among the better white classes, that the latter
were wholly unconscious of any desire upon their
part to abridge a single liberty belonging to any
person, white or black, that they themselves en-
joyed. If the ethical side of the question was of any
moment at all, it rested in the fact that the negroes
were regarded as an ignorant, helpless race, totally
unfit to be thrown upon its own resources, and really
needing the supervision and protection of the white
race. As an economic question, slavery had fixed
itself in the life of the people. The Indian had
proven a failure as a domestic; the country, in its
virgin state, could hope for nothing but agricultural
development for many years ; the owners of the land
were descended from a race who had inherited from
their English ancestors a love of the land, and a
strong desire to possess it, and no other people fitted
so well in the industrial life as these simple black
folk, who withstood the heat and malaria, and
yielded readily to domestication. Long and close
association with the white race had its civilizing
effect upon the negroes, and it was not long before
the two races became warmly attached, both alike
manifesting a keen interest in the other's welfare.
Thus as economic interests had fixed the system in
the laws of the people, the domestication of the race
fixed it in their hearts. The abolitionist was right
in his position on the ethics of slavery, but more than
380 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
benighted in his conception of its condition in the
South. Forever opposed to the old rehabilitated
story of a people being required to "make bricks
without straw," is the truth of the love and fidelity
that existed between master and slave.
It was about this time that the banking system
of the state began to receive some adverse criticism.
In 1809 the Territorial Assembly passed an act for
the establishment of the Mississippi Bank with a
capital stock of $500,000, and in 1818 the State As-
sembly passed a supplemental act which gave the
bank exclusive privileges, also pledging itself not
to allow the establishment of another bank before
Dec. 31, 1840. In his message of 1821 Governor
Poindexter made a strong attack on the Mississippi
Bank, saying that by the act above noted exclusive
privileges had been secured to a corporate body,
without an equivalent to the state, until the year
1840. The inability of the bank, however, to meet
the demands of the state for increased banking facil-
ities caused the legislature later to ignore its pledge,
and incorporate a new institution known as the
Planters' Bank of Mississippi. In this brief out-
line of the state's history there is no room for a
lengthy discussion of its banking system, but it may
be of interest to note that for twenty years during
this period of state growth, its politics revolved
around its banking interests.
In 1821 the General Assembly of Mississippi
passed an act authorizing the governor to codify
the laws of the state. This blending of the duties
of the executive and judicial departments was the
subject of a protest signed by a minority of the
Senate. At this same session of the Assembly an
act was passed appointing a commission to select
a site for the seat of government near the centre of
the state within the recent Choctaw purchase. The
A STATE IN THE UNION. 381
site was selected Nov. 28, 1821, and was called Jack-
son, in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson, with whom
the people had many tastes in common. With the
opening of the new Choctaw purchase and the loca-
tion of the seat of government, a steady growth and
wholesome industrial development set in.
Administration of Governor Leake.
Walter Leake, an able man and a native of Vir-
ginia, succeeded Governor Poindexter, and followed
in his administration the policy of internal improve-
ment that had been pursued by his predecessors.
The General Assembly met for the first time in the
new capital in the small two-story state house which
had been provided at a cost of $3,000. Appropria-
tions were made for the improvement of the Pearl
and Big Black rivers, and roads were laid out con-
necting the various settlements with the seat of gov-
ernment ; new farm lands were cleared, county seats
and towns located in the New Purchase, and the
diffusion of population became greater than at any
previous time.
Governors Brandon and Holmes.
Gerard C. Brandon, who, upon the death of Gov-
ernor Leake, exercised the powers of governor until
Jan. 7, 1826, called the attention of the people to
renewed efforts in internal improvements, and in
his first message took occasion to say that "In every
public institution, the stock of which is calculated
to produce a revenue, it appears to me the state
should be the principal concerned. By this policy
she might, in a few years, have an overflowing treas-
ury. '* Thus it is seen that there was a constant
effort on the part of both the people and the public
officials to develop the state along substantial lines.
In 1826 David Holmes was again called to the
382 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
office of chief executive. The expenditures had ex-
ceeded the receipts and the new administration
faced a deficit of $41,000, made up of $21,000 due
the bank, and $12,000 for claims of state warrants.
To meet the deficit it was necessary to revise the
revenue system, and a heavy increase in all taxation
was made.
In the summer of 1826 Governor Holmes, on ac-
count of failing health, resigned, and Lieutenant-
governor Brandon again assumed the duties of
governor. After filling out the unexpired term of
Governor Holmes, he was elected to the office by the
people in 1827.
On Jan. 20, 1828, General Jackson, then a candi-
date for President, visited the capital, arousing
great enthusiasm among the people. In the follow-
ing November the electoral vote of Mississippi was
cast for Jackson and Calhoun. Beginning with this
period a great Democratic revival set in which found
expression in Mississippi in a popular demand for
radical changes in the organic law.
At this time the state's finances were in a healthy
condition, the receipts being far in advance of the
expenditures. The fertile land opened for settle-
ment attracted the attention of the people of the
older Southern states, and a large immigration
flowed into the northern districts, made up mainly
of thrifty families of Anglo-Saxon stock. In the
counties first settled the people had already assumed
the social position held by the best circles of the
older states, and these counties furnished the state
most of its distinguished men. Though not at close
range, they felt perceptibly the influence of the wave
of intellectual activity that about this time swept
over English-speaking nations. The new states,
especially those of the lower South, modeled them-
selves upon the plan of the older communities, and
A STATE IN THE UNION. 383
in this way American civilization was kept uniform,
the commonwealths growing, with slight differences,
into one people with the same ideals and aspirations.
It is true that the struggles incident to pioneer
life and the almost unbridled form of Democracy
taught by Jackson, coupled with the old-world cus-
tom of dueling, and the prevailing habit of indulging
in strong drink, had somewhat coarsened the fibre
of the people, but notwithstanding all this the high-
est religious and political ideals were held and
woman was regarded with the deepest reverence.
The best English literature was found in the home,
and the conversation and public addresses of the
people were ornate with quotations from the clas-
sics. The intelligent Englishman traveling through
the older counties would have instantly recognized
the kinship of the inhabitants with the best classes
of his own country. Unlike the people of the West,
in whose dreary isolation Dickens imagined that
he foresaw a situation that could never be altered,
these were of a more aspiring strain, retaining to
a large extent their ancestral characteristics and
leanings, and exhibiting, in their manner, an air of
superiority that characterized the English gentry.
There was a ruder and simpler class dwelling
among the state's population, especially in the out-
lying districts, but they, too, had caught something
of the spirit of the older communities, and although
they were rude and unlearned they were keen to see
their own interests, and were demanding for them-
selves every blessing that Democracy accorded to
the more privileged classes.
The Democratic Movement and the Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1832.
The demand for a constitutional convention had
been gathering force for several years previous to
384 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
1832. The movement for a convention was simply
a natural demand by the majority for greater pow-
ers of self-government. Like all state constitutions
made before 1800, the first constitution of Missis-
sippi was somewhat aristocratic in its tendency.
There was now an irresistible trend of the people
of the entire country in the other direction. Andrew
Jackson had been elected to the presidency. A re-
form bill had been forced through the British Par-
liament by the strength of the popular demand for
a larger share in the government. The people were
coming into greater control everywhere.
The General Assembly submitted the question of a
constitutional convention to a vote of the people.
The election was held in August, 1831, and was car-
ried by the advocates of a convention. At the next
session of the General Assembly on Dec. 16, 1831,
an act was passed providing for the election of
delegates in August, 1832, to a convention to meet
in Jackson on the second Monday of September,
1832. Abram M. Scott had succeeded Gerard C.
Brandon as governor, and he was in sympathy with
the movement for a convention.
The issues in the campaign put forward by the
friends of the convention were: manhood suffrage,
ad valorem taxes, limited term of office, election of
all officers, executive, legislative, judicial and mili-
tary, by the people, separate judges for circuit and
supreme courts, a legislature once in two years, no
dominant church and free public schools with the
funds distributed impartially for the benefit of the
common people. The convention met in the little
brick state house at Jackson on Monday, Sept. 10,
1832, and organized by the election of P. Eutilius B.
Pray, a native of Maine, president, and John H.
Mallory, secretary.
There were forty-seven delegates in the conven-
A STATE IN THE UNION. 335
tion, and the majority favored radical changes in
the constitution of 1817. A distinct cleavage existed
between the radical and conservative elements. As
a rule, the radicals represented the new counties
and the conservatives the old. The new counties
wanted enlarged self-government ; the older counties
clung steadfastly to the ideals of the past.
It was soon evident that the majority would not
compromise and had determined to push popular
rights to the highest point yet attained. The spirit
of the convention was soon made known by the re-
port of the committee on bill of rights. That ad-
vised: That there should be no property qualifica-
tion for suffrage or public office; that the people
were capable of self-government and of electing
their own officers, and ought to exercise this right
directly through the ballot-box in all cases where
they can with advantage and convenience do so, and
that whenever the people delegate this inestimable
power the reason and necessity for so doing shall
be strong and imperative ; that to preserve the prin-
ciple of rotation in office and prevent officeholders
from becoming oppressive or unmindful of their
duty as public servants, no office should be held dur-
ing life or good behavior ; that no person should hold
more than one office at the same time; that the ex-
ecutive, judicial and legislative powers should be
strictly separate, and that monopolies are odious and
contrary to the spirit of free government and ought
not to be suffered in any case whatever.
The convention was in session forty-six days, and
adopted a new constitution Friday, Oct. 26, 1832.
In commenting on this constitution Governor Scott
took an enthusiastic view of the future under its
provisions; he said that its adoption marked the
new era of "a new term of political existence, un-
shackled by the prejudices, errors and forms which,
Vol. 2—25.
386 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
in old communities, sanctified by time and strength-
ened by habit, too often acquire the force and energy
of nature," and his words expressed the opinion of
the people.
A brief survey of the provisions of the constitu-
tion of 1832 will show its pioneer character. The
chief executive power was vested in a governor
chosen (by qualified electors) for two years, and in-
eligible to office for more than four years in any term
of six. Other state officials were elected for two
years, except the attorney-general, whose term was
four years. The legislative power was vested in a
Senate and House of Eepresentatives. Members
of the lower house were chosen every two years,
during the first week in November; their number
could not be less than thirty-six nor more than one
hundred. The senators were chosen for four years
(one-half biennially), and their number could not be
less than one-fourth nor more than one-third the
number of representatives.
The judicial power was vested in a High Court of
Errors and Appeals, consisting of three judges
chosen by the electors, one elected each two years
from each of the three districts into which the state
was divided, for a term of six years; in a Circuit
Court held in each county at least twice each year,
its judges chosen for four years; in a Superior
Court of Chancery, the chancellor elected on a state
ticket for a term of six years ; in a Court of Probate,
its judges chosen in each county for two years, and
a county board of police elected for two years. No
life offices were permitted.
All white males, twenty-one years old and up-
wards, and citizens of the United States, were quali-
fied electors. Eesidence in the state for one year
next preceding election, and four months in county,
A STATE IN THE UNION. 387
city or town was required. All elections were to be
held by ballot.
It will be noted that novel doctrines had been in-
fused into the constitution. For the first time in
the state's history no restriction was placed on
popular suffrage, and for the first time in any state
the principle of popular election was applied to the
judiciary. The old aristocratic tendencies of the
Revolutionary era, which controlled in the making of
the constitutions of the original thirteen states, had
given way before the new democracy of the South
and West. The new state of Mississippi had set an
example of popular rights which was to exert a
powerful influence on her sister states.
The Growth of the State, 1832-1861.
In 1832, under the terms of the Treaty of Ponto-
toc made with the Chickasaw Indians, 6,283,804
acres were added to the public domain. This im-
mense territory, comprising the entire northern part
of the state, was divided into twelve counties.
The economic condition of the state, at the begin-
ning of 1833, was excellent. The rapid emigration
of the Choctaws to the territory west of the Missis-
sippi left the people in almost undivided possession
of an immense area of rich farming lands, which
were being rapidly taken up by actual settlers.
The prosperity of the people was shown in the condi-
tion of state finances. The receipts from November,
1831, to January, 1833, were $106,000 ; expenditures,
$91,000.
The legislature authorized the sale of bonds to
the amount of $1,500,000 for the basis of additional
currency to be issued by the Planters' Bank, the
idea being that the great prosperity of the state
would make the payment of the bonds easy out of
the bank profits.
388 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
In the field of politics the two great subjects of
controversy were the protective tariff and nullifica-
tion; these two questions occupied the attention of
the legislature at the January session of 1833 to a
considerable extent. The Democrats opposed the
tariff and were generally with Jackson in his course
toward nullification ; the Whigs favored a protective
tariff and also opposed nullification.
In 1831 the legislature chartered a company to
build a railroad from Woodville, Miss., to St. Fran-
cisville, La., and other companies were chartered
during the next six years. In 1837 about seven hun-
dred men were employed in the construction of the
Woodville & St. Francisville road, which was to be
twenty-nine miles long. On the Natchez-Jackson
railroad hundreds of men were at work between
Natchez and Washington, and trains were running
between the two places in May, 1837.
From 1832 to 1837 was a period of speculation and
rapid development. The credit of the state and of
individuals was being strained to the breaking-point.
Everybody seemed to be growing rich and there was
no thought of danger. The bonds of the state were
quoted in London at a large premium, and the gen-
eral belief was that they were as good as, if not
better than, gold.
The year 1836 is often referred to by historians
as "the most prosperous year in the history of the
state, " but the flush times were largely speculative
and fictitious. A period of real prosperity had
caused overtrading and too much stretching of
credit. The state had fed the fever with extrava-
gant issues of bonds, the people incurred debts
which they could not pay, and financial ruin was
inevitable.
The financial crisis came in the spring of 1837,
and the state met the emergency by passing the
A STATE IN THE UNION. 389
"Post Note" law, authorizing the banks to issue
notes payable in thirteen months at 6 per cent, in-
terest, which should be receivable for taxes and all
public dues, and by chartering the Union Bank.
These measures, however, served only to increase
the general distress.
It was in these years that the state, through the
Planters' and Union banks, piled up the indebted-
ness which was afterwards repudiated.
The state census of 1837 showed a total white
population of 144,351; slaves, 164,393. Acres of
land in cultivation, 1,048,530; number of bales of
cotton produced, 317,783. The white population of
the larger towns were: Natchez, 3,731; Vicksburg,
2,796; Columbus, 1,448; Jackson, 529; Clinton, 613;
Grand Gulf, 490. Port Gibson, Woodville and
Grenada were the only other towns having over 400
whites.
The dominant leader in state affairs during its
time of financial distress was Alexander Gallatin
McNutt, who was elected governor in 1837 as an
anti-bank candidate. His crusade against the banks
was just, but his zeal led the state into repudiation.
The state was a large stockholder in the Union and
Planter's banks, and was the guarantor of their
notes. It is evident that the state was the victim
of dishonest and corrupt methods in the manage-
ment of the banks. There can be no doubt, however,
that repudiation was wrong and that a compromise
settlement should have been made with the innocent
holders of the state's bonds.
In 1844 better conditions returned. In Ms mes-
sage to the legislature of 1846, Gov. A. G. Brown
said: "The past two years have presented a period
of very general prosperity. Farming lands have
improved in value." There had been a large influx
of very desirable immigrants into the "Chickasaw
390 THE HISTOBY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Purchase," and all forms of industry had brought
good returns.
Up to this time little attention had been paid to
the education of the children of the state at public
expense. There was no public school system worthy
of the name, and no provision had been made for a
state university. Governor Brown made an investi-
gation of educational conditions, and on this based
a message to the legislature urging appropriations
for public schools. A state university was chartered
in 1844, and its doors were opened for students Nov.
6, 1848. This was the beginning of an institution
which has since maintained the highest educational
standard.
In April and May, 1846, there was great excite-
ment in Mississippi over the war with Mexico, and
volunteer companies were drilling in the streets of
scores of towns in the state. Two regiments and one
battalion of riflemen were furnished by Mississippi
to the armies of the United States, and Jefferson
Davis and John A. Quitman made national reputa-
tions as leaders under Taylor and Scott. Taylor's
army was saved from defeat at Buena Vista by the
gallantry of Mississippians under command of Jef-
ferson Davis, and Mississippi troops in Quitman 's
'brigade raised the first American flag over the cap-
tured City of Mexico.
The years 1847-50 were marked by great prosper-
ity in Mississippi, caused by the successful termina-
tion of the Mexican War, the addition of new terri-
tory to the Union and the discovery of gold in Cali-
fornia. All these things stimulated good feeling
and a hopeful view of the future. The prairie and
bottom lands of the state brought seventy-five and
eighty dollars an acre. The crops of cotton and
corn were large, and the farmers raised great quan-
tities of cattle, horses and hogs.
A STATE IN THE UNION. 391
National politics, as influenced by the large ac-
quisition of territory from Mexico, filled the minds
of the people during the administration of Governor
Matthews, 1848-50. On the question of the admis-
sion of slavery into the newly acquired territory,
they took the stand that it was the common property
of the United States, and to prohibit the citizens of
one portion of the Union from inhabiting such ter-
ritory with their slaves would be a palpable violation
of that clause of the constitution which provides
that citizens of each state shall be entitled to all
the privileges and immunities of citizens in the sev-
eral states. They contended that slaveholders
should have equal rights with non-slaveholders in
the settlement of the territories.
The inauguration of Gen. John Anthony Quitman,
one of the heroes of the war with Mexico, as gov-
ernor, Jan. 10, 1850, was attended with all the mili-
tary display thought to be necessary for the occa-
sion. He was one of the most extreme State's Bights
Democrats in public life, and his administration was
marked by an intense agitation of questions growing
out of the Compromise of 1850.
An act of Congress of far-reaching importance
to Mississippi was passed Sept. 28, 1850, under the
terms of which the state was granted all swamp and
overflowed lands for the purpose of building a levee
system for protection against the overflow of the
Mississippi River. This legislation was the begin-
ning of a levee system, kept up at public expense,
which has opened up for cultivation 4,250,000 acres
of the richest cotton land in the world.
The period 1854-58 was memorable for industrial
growth and development. It was at this time that
the state extended substantial aid to the building of
railroads. In 1854 the legislature passed an act au-
thorizing the state to take $300,000 stock in railroads.
392 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Levee protection having become assured, im-
mense cotton plantations were opened up in the
river counties, which only a few years before had
been considered hopelessly unavailable.
The economic growth of the state during this par-
ticular period was of that sound, healthy nature that
indicated great progress in the future in every di-
rection, and gives rise to the question as to whether
slavery, from a purely economic standpoint, would
have proved a failure in the South or not. But al-
ready forces were at work to relieve the democratic
institutions of the country of this paradoxical con-
dition. From a matter of social reform it urged its
way into national politics, and met with as bitter
opposition in one channel as in the other. By the
abolitionist it was condemned because of its con-
trariety to the law of humanity ; as a political ques-
tion it involved rights granted in the constitution,
a betrayal of which was not thought possible by the
Southern people. Mississippi was central ground,
if not the storm centre, of the controversy, and the
decade of 1850-60 was a time of earnest discussion
of sectional questions affecting the political, indus-
trial and social life of the state.
The people of Mississippi have always adhered to
the early interpretation of the constitution, which
was accepted by the New England, as well as the
Southern, school of construction. When the consti-
tution was adopted by the various states there was
little difference of opinion as to their rights under
its provisions. The New England position was
clearly indicated by its attitude on the Louisiana
Purchase, which caused its public men to advocate
secession; and on the embargo laid upon shipping
by the National government in 1808, when the peo-
ple declared it unconstitutional and refused to en-
force it; Gen. Benjamin Lincoln going so far as to
A STATE IN THE UNION. 393
resign his office as collector of the port of Boston,
rather than incur the odium of enforcing the law.
The position of New England was shown again in
1812, when Massachusetts and Connecticut openly
defied the President when he made a requisition on
their governors for the use of the militia of those
states within their borders. In both states nullifica-
tion and secession were advocated by those in au-
thority.
The Southern position was given in the Virginia
and Kentucky resolutions of 1798, which contained
the ideas of Jefferson and Madison; by the action
of Georgia in 1828-30, when that state refused to
obey an act of Congress concerning the Cherokee
Indians, and again in 1832, when South Carolina
declared an act of Congress null and void and was
ready to secede if necessary.
It was natural for New England to rebel against
the Louisiana Purchase and the Embargo, because
both were against her welfare and bore heavily upon
the political and economic interests of her people;
for the same reason South Carolina was consistent
when she resisted a national law which operated
oppressively upon her economic well-being. These
incidents serve to show that both New England and
the South believed in the right of secession, and both
were willing to exercise it under certain conditions.
In the course of time as the country developed,
the interests of the North and South became widely
separated by the growth of economic and social
differences. Both sections used slave labor in the
beginning, but owing to climatic conditions in the
North it did not pay there and was abandoned; in
the South it succeeded, and was believed to be neces-
sary to the economic development of the country.
The accumulated wealth of the Southern states was
bound up in slaves; this species of property had
394 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
been recognized and protected by the organic law
of the land, and any attack upon it was regarded as
an infringement on state rights and an assault on
the rights of property.
The difference in the system of labor, North and
South, caused an economic conflict between the sec-
tions. The people of the South believed that their
civilization and enormous agricultural interests de-
pended upon the perpetuation of slavery, and that it
should not be subjected to outside interference ; and
when many of the states of the North openly nulli-
fied the national fugitive slave laws, incited the
slaves to insurrection, called the constitution "a
league with death and a covenant with hell" and
burned it in the streets, they began to believe that
their political and property rights were in danger.
Mississippi, as a typical Southern state, was slow
to believe that it was the ultimate policy of the
Northern states to interfere in the domestic and
economic affairs of the South. From 1820 to 1859
the great majority of the leaders counseled a
patient-waiting policy; both Democrats and Whigs
adopted that course, and very few were advocates
of secession during that time.
A discussion of the policies of state leaders and
of political parties is continued in this article under
the heading "State Politics and Party Leaders,
1817-1861."
Economic, Social and Educational Conditions, 1850-1861.
By the year 1850 the pioneer period of statehood
had been passed. The entire territory of the state
had been practically abandoned by the Indians,
county government had been established every-
where, the rude log cabin had given place to the
handsome home of colonial architecture, and the
forest had given way to the cotton plantation.
A STATE IN THE UNION. 395
Economic Conditions.
The economic basis of the state was agriculture;
cotton was the chief product and the great wealth
producer. In the wealthy counties, where the lands
were most productive and profitable, slave labor
largely predominated; in many of the upland
counties where the lands were not so rich the small
farmer tilled his own soil, which he could do with
greater profit than with slave labor.
As the profits from agriculture increased, the
demand for labor increased also; the profits from
the farms were then invested in slaves brought
from Virginia and the Carolinas. Under these con-
ditions the evolution of the cotton plantation was
simple. As lands were cheap and to be had in the
uncleared forest on credit, or for a very small out-
lay, the young farmer would begin his operations
with a few hundred acres of wild land and a half
dozen negroes. In a few years the plantation would
be cleared of trees and undergrowth, and its cultiva-
tion yielding large profits. These profits were in-
vested in more land and negroes year by year, until
large wealth came to the owner. To buy land for
the production of cotton and to put the profits in
more land and negroes was the simple formula by
which the Mississippi planter grew opulent. The
profits from a New England farm by the best pos-
sible management were three or four per cent. ; the
Southern planter made from 15 to 30 per cent.
It was natural that the state should be devoted
almost entirely to agriculture, as the returns were
good and the lands plentiful. The state was grow-
ing rich through the cultivation of the soil, and it
was not strange that its people did not take up manu-
facturing, a line of industry which is never estab-
lished in the first years of the development of an
agricultural section.
396 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
The idea of the planters, who largely formed pub-
lic opinion and policies, was to make Mississippi an
immense plantation for the cultivation of cotton.
The growth of food crops was frequently abandoned
by planters living near the large water-courses, corn
and hogs being supplied to them by the farmers of
Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, who shipped their
produce down the Mississippi Eiver. This policy,
however, was not pursued by all. There were many
planters, whose purpose was to make their planta-
tions industrial units, as independent as possible of
outside sources of supply. The best regulated
plantations not only made all necessary food sup-
plies, but kept up little centres of industry for the
manufacture of clothing, shoes and hats, and for the
repair of farming implements.
It was natural for an industrial system based on
slave labor to create a large leisure class, which
grew larger as wealth increased. This was true in
Mississippi as well as in the other Southern states.
This leisure class furnished the country with the
statesmen who were most influential in the organiza-
tion of the Union, and by whom the country was
dominated for the first seventy-five years of its his-
tory as a nation. It also developed the social graces
and amenities of life which made the courtesy and
hospitality of the Southern gentlemen famous wher-
ever gentle manners and good breeding were
cultivated.
Social Conditions.
The centre of the social, as well as of the indus-
trial, system was the plantation. Manual labor was
necessarily associated with slavery, and was re-
garded as degrading by the governing classes.
While the social system was intensely democratic
in theory, in reality it was a perfect type of a feudal
aristocracy modeled after that of England. Like
A STATE IN THE UNION. 397
the English gentry, the American of the South of
the highest class did not regard the man engaged in
trade as his social equal. This idea was brought
from England to Virginia, and was carried to all
the states of the South.
The well-to-do planters of Mississippi had yearly
incomes ranging from ten thousand to one hundred
thousand dollars; they spent much of their time in
travel, especially during the heated term in summer.
Every year, from July to October, the fashionable re-
sorts of Virginia were thronged with rich planters
from the lower South.
The social life of the plantation was marked by \
a sincere hospitality ; the owner was courtesy itself ;
his home, his family and his ancestors were first in
his affections; he was generous, kind-hearted and
quick to take offense ; to wound him in his honor was
to give an unpardonable affront, and the duel was the
mode for the redress of such grievance. There was a
chivalry in his nature which accorded woman the
highest place in his ideal of a well-ordered society,
and no one was allowed to even hint in his presence
that she was not the embodiment of all the virtues.
In the pursuit of pleasure during the winter New
Orleans was a favorite centre with Mississippi
planters. The fondness of the Creole for music and
gayety appealed to them, and they took advantage
of yearly visits to make settlements with commis-
sion merchants, to give their wives and daughters
some of the enjoyments of city life.
Educational Conditions.
During the pioneer period of the state's history
it was the custom of cultured families to send their
sons and daughters, after they had acquired the
necessary preliminary training from private tutors
and at local academies, to the colleges and universi-
398 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
ties of Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Mas-
sachusetts and Connecticut. The University of
Virginia, Chapel Hill and Princeton were favored
by many families of wealth and culture.
The University of Mississippi was chartered in
1844, and when it was opened for students in No-
vember, 1848, a strong appeal was made for local
support; from that time, therefore, the majority of
young men seeking higher education were sent to
Oxford instead of Charlottesville and New Haven.
Up to the forties little attention had been paid to
the education of the children of the state at public
expense, and there was no public school system
worthy of the name. In 1846 Governor Brown in
his message urged appropriations for that purpose,
and in that year the legislature passed "An Act to
establish a System of Public Schools." But this law
was fatally defective, as it provided that the tax
could not be levied until the consent of a majority
of resident heads of families in each township had
been given in writing. The public schools struggled
along under the law of 1846 and that of 1848 until
1861; many counties had good schools supported by
public taxation; others were very imperfectly pro-
vided for in this particular.
In 1860 there were 1,116 public schools in Missis-
sippi attended by 30,970 pupils.
State Politics and Party Leaders, 1817-1861.
The state of Mississippi entered the Union during
the administration of James Monroe, which was the
era of good feeling in American politics. The Fed-
eralists had made their last effort as a national
party in 1816, and the organization was in a state
of dissolution in 1817. The Jeffersonian Eepubli-
cans were at the height of their power, and the
[Whig party had not yet been formed.
A STATE IN THE UNION. 399
The men who held a controlling influence in Mis-
sissippi politics when the state was admitted were
David Holmes, George Poindexter and Walter
Leake; they were not only natives of Virginia but
belonged to the most steadfast school of Jeffersonian
politics, whose political creed centred in strict con-
struction of the constitution and state sovereignty.
This school of public men, first known as Republi-
cans and later as Democrats, have controlled the
politics of the state, with few interruptions, since
its admission into the Union. From 1817 to 1832
there was not sufficient opposition from the advo-
cates of the old Federalist party to have any influ-
ence on public affairs ; the leaders of the Democratic
party were George Poindexter, Eobert J. Walker,
Thomas Hinds, Powhatan Ellis, Thomas B. Reed
and Abram M. Scott.
The first presidential election in which the state
participated was in 1820; three electors were
chosen, one of whom died before the election, so that
the state's first vote for President was cast for
James Monroe.
From 1824 to 1840 the Democratic party was su-
preme in the state and Andrew Jackson was the
idol of the people. In 1836 there was great dissatis-
faction over the candidacy of Martin Van Buren
for the presidency, and but for the well-known de-
sire of General Jackson, the state would have been
carried by Hugh L. White, the Whig candidate, in
spite of its large majority of Democratic voters.
The state was carried for Van Buren by only 311
majority, and when he was again a candidate in
1840 Ee was defeated by William H. Harrison. In
the national election of 1848 the Democrats were
again defeated. These were the only defeats of the
Democratic party in national elections during the
first forty years of the state's history.
400 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
The same uniform success attended the party in
state politics, with the single exception of 1835,
which resulted in the defeat of Hiram G. Kunnels,
the caucus nominee of the Democratic party, by
Charles Lynch, the candidate of the Poindexter
Democrats and Whigs. The political effect of the
constitution of 1832 was to place the control of pub-
lic affairs more firmly in the hands of the Democrats.
In the selection of the state judiciary by popular
vote, party lines were not drawn, the result being
that while the Whigs were in the minority they fur-
nished many of the ablest men on the bench from
1832 to 1861— William Lewis Sharkey, Cotesworth
Pinckney Smith, William Yerger, Edward Turner
and John Isaac Guion were Whigs.
The Democrats were defeated by the brilliant
oratory of Seargent Smith Prentiss in the congres-
sional election of 1837, and it was under his leader-
ship that the Whig party attained its greatest
prestige.
The decade from 1840 to 1850 developed such
Democratic leaders as Jefferson Davis, Albert G.
Brown, Henry S. Foote, John A. Quitman, John J.
McEae and Jacob Thompson. These men dominated
the policies of their party in Mississippi for twenty
years, and it was during these years that the great
questions of State and National Eights became the
absorbing issues before the country.
Mississippi, by reason of its advocacy of the doc-
trine of the Virginia school of constitutional con-
struction and on account of its Anglo-Saxon citizen-
ship, was from the beginning entirely committed to
the principle of state sovereignty in all the functions
of government not specifically delegated to national
authority. While this is true, the spirit of nation-
ality was dominant among the people, and when the
national interests were involved there was a ready
A STATE IN THE UNION. 401
response in defense of the country. In territorial
times the national feeling was manifested in the
belligerent attitude of the people in their relations
with Spanish neighbors, and later in their response
to the call of the country for the defense of New
Orleans against the English. In 1846 Governor
Brown was very much offended at the national au-
thorities because they would not accept twenty-five
hundred Mississippians for service in the war with
Mexico. There was no diminution of national feel-
ing in Mississippi until 1847, when the controversy
arose over the admission of new states carved out
of the territory acquired from Mexico. The vote
of the House of Representatives of 115 to 105 in
favor of the "Wilmot Proviso" was an open
avowal of the Northern states that they would not
allow slaveholding territories to enter the Union.
The feeling of the South was deeply stirred by
this frank avowal of a purpose to discriminate
against her people in the occupation and develop-
ment of the territories. The legislature of Virginia
passed resolutions affirming "that the adoption and
enforcement of the Wilmot Proviso would present
two alternatives to the people of Virginia, one of
abject submission to aggression and outrage, and
the other of determined resistance at all hazards
and to the last extremity.7' This official announce-
ment of Virginia had a strong influence on Missis-
sippi as well as on every other Southern state.
The state election of 1849 resulted in the success
of John A. Quitman, who represented the doctrine
that Congress did not have the constitutional right
to restrict slavery. The Democratic and Whig
parties were both committed to that position by the
action of a non-partisan convention held the same
year, and Quitman received many Whig votes. He
was the most radical of the "Southern Bights" men,
Vol. 2—26.
402 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
favored secession, and at that time was far in ad-
vance of such Democratic leaders as Jefferson Davis,
Henry S. Foote and Albert G. Brown.
By 1850 the danger point had been reached in the
discussion of sectional issues, the leaders of the
North as well as those of the South had given way
to much intemperate criticism of motives, and the
conservatives of the country bestirred themselves to
bring about a compromise. They turned to Henry
Clay, the " great pacificator, " who early in 1850 in-
troduced in the Senate his famous measure known
to history as the "Compromise of 1850.'*
After the passage of the Clay compromise it was
believed that the slavery controversy would be
ended, but it had the opposite effect in Mississippi.
Jefferson Davis had opposed and voted against the
compromise, and all the Mississippi congressmen
supported his position. Henry S. Foote, the other
senator, had voted for it, and, after being condemned
by the legislature, he appealed to the people by an-
nouncing himself as a candidate for governor
against John A. Quitman, the candidate of the
Democratic State Eights party.
In November, 1850, Foote organized the Union
party, which nominated him for governor. The fol-
lowing of Quitman was made up of the majority of
the Democratic party and an influential minority of
State Eights Whigs; Foote 's forces were enlisted
from the old line Whigs and Union Democrats.
The first trial of strength was had in September,
1851, over the election of delegates by the people to
a convention called by act of the legislature to meet
in Jackson Nov. 10, 1851, to express the opinion of
the people on the compromise. In that election a
large majority of Union delegates were chosen, and
the Quitman policy of resistance was condemned by
7,000 majority. After this decisive reverse, Quit-
A STATE IN THE UNION. 403
man foresaw his defeat in his contest for the gov-
ernorship and withdrew. Jefferson Davis was
called by the Democratic party to fill the breach.
He resigned his seat in the Senate, although Senator
Foote had reserved his place there to fall back on
in the event of his defeat, and attempted to rally his
party for the November election.
When Quitman was made the candidate of the
Democrats, a majority of the convention really
wanted Davis as a more conservative candidate. It
was suggested to Quitman that he withdraw in
favor of Davis and accept the senatorship which the
party proposed to give him, but he claimed the
nomination as a vindication of his policies and it
was given him with many misgivings.
While Mr. Davis opposed the Compromise of 1850
as taking everything from the South and giving
nothing in return, he had never advocated disunion
as a remedy. In his brief campaign for governor
he took the position that secession was the last al-
ternative, the final remedy, and should not be re-
sorted to under conditions as they existed at that
time. His appeals in behalf of this cause, while not
successful, reduced the majority against his party
from 7,000 to 1,000. Jefferson Davis has been rep-
resented as advocating the dissolution of the Union
in the campaign of 1851, but such a theory is an en-
tire misconception of his position. He believed with
John C. Calhoun that the Union was being en-
dangered by not giving the South equal rights in the
territories, by nullification of the fugitive slave laws
in the Northern states, and by the continual agita-
tion of the slavery question by fanatical abolition-
ists. He loved the Union with perfect sincerity, and
his entire course during all the troubles of 1850-60
is a refutation of the charge that he favored its
dissolution.
404 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
In the presidential campaign of 1852 the state
was carried for Franklin Pierce, by a good majority,
on a platform of general acquiescence in the Com-
promise of 1850. The majority of both Democrats
and Whigs were willing to stand by the compromise
and were hopeful that it would at least give the
country a rest from the continued agitation of the
slavery question by such men as Garrison, Phillips
and Burlingame. There was a concerted effort on
the part of conservative men in all the states to
bring about a better state of feeling by pouring oil
on the troubled waters, and for a time it succeeded.
During the years between 1854 and 1860 many
events occurred which reopened with increased vio-
lence the agitation of all the old issues arising out
of the rights of slaveholders in the territories.
Stephen A. Douglas made a deplorable blunder in
introducing the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and precipi-
tated the Kansas struggle ; Mrs. Stowe wrote Uncle
Tom's Cabin, which fired the heart of the North and
prepared its people to give aid to John Brown in
his mad attempt to bring about a general slave in-
surrection; the fugitive slave law was nullified by
many Northern states, and the Supreme Court of the
United States was denounced in the most violent
fashion for its decision in the Dred Scott case, and
a higher law was invoked. By 1860 the people of
Mississippi firmly believed that it was the inten-
tion of the dominant element of the North to disre-
gard the constitution which secured them rights in
the Union, and to obliterate slavery regardless of
all property rights, or of the misery it would bring.
This belief had been strengthened by the revolu-
tionary utterances of Garrison, Phillips, Sumner,
Seward and Wade, by the endorsement of Helper's
"Impending Crisis" by Republican congressmen,
and by the suggestion in Northern schoolbooks that
A STATE IN THE UNION. 405
negro regiments from Jamaica and Hayti might be
landed in the South to aid in a servile insurrection.
All these things go to show that for the six years
preceding the secession of the Southern states the
states of the North were very aggressive in their
attacks upon the South.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln a last at-
tempt was made by Senator John J. Crittenden, of
Kentucky, to compromise all differences between
slaveholding and non-slaveholding states. His plan
of settlement was approved by Jefferson Davis, as
the leader of the best sentiment of the South, and
throughout the discussion in the committee of thir-
teen appointed to consider it, he stood ready at all
times to accept it as the best solution of the danger-
ous problems confronting the country. Mr. Davis
made a sincere effort to secure the adoption of the
Crittenden Compromise, and the great majority of
the people, regardless of party, favored it. The
measure failed, but its failure cannot be laid at the
door of Southern leaders.
In Mississippi the legislature had been called to-
gether by Governor Pettus, soon after the election
of President Lincoln, for the purpose of calling a
convention of delegates elected by the people to con-
sider the then " existing relations between the gov-
ernment of the United States and the government
and people of the state of Mississippi, and to adopt
such measures of vindicating the sovereignty of the
state and the protection of its institutions as shall
appear to them to be demanded. "
The election of delegates to the convention took
place Dec. 20, 1860, and resulted in the selection of
a majority favoring secession from the Union.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Manuscript Sources. — The manuscript sources of
Mississippi history are preserved in the state department of archives
and history, and are readily accessible to the investigator. These his-
torical materials are extensive and embrace the collected archives of the
406 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
executive, legislative, and judicial departments, and may be broadly
classified as executive journals, judicial records, and minutes, archives
of the various state departments, journals of constitutional conven-
tions and a collection of unofficial manuscripts.
For a more minute description of these valuable collections see Annual
Reports of the Director of the Department of Archives and History,
1902 to 1908, inclusive.
Printed Sources. — The printed sources of Mississippi history, 1817-
1861, consist of books, newspaper files and pamphlets. A large collec-
tion of such materials is preserved in the state historical department. A
brief suggestive list from these materials follows. — Baldwin: Flush Times
in Alabama and Mississippi (1853-1901); Claiborne: Life and Corre-
spondence of John A. Quitman (2 vols., 1860); Cluskey: Speeches and
Writings of Albert G. Brown (1859); Cobb: Mississippi Scenes (1851);
Davis, Reuben: Recollections of Mississippi and Mississippians (1891);
Foote: Bench and Bar of the South and the Southwest (1876), Casket of
Reminiscences (1874); Ingraham: The Southwest (1876); Prentiss: Mem-
oirs of S. S. Prentiss (2 vols., 1855, 1879, 1899); Riley: Publications of
the Mississippi Historical Society (9 vols., 1898-1906); Rowland: Mis-
sissippi Official and Statistical Registers (2 vols., 1904-1908), Encyclo-
pedia of Mississippi History (2 vols., 1907; this work covering the entire
field of the state's history from 1540 to 1907); Sparks: Memoirs of Fifty
Years (1870); Van Winkle: Nine Years of Democratic Rule (1847),
Newspaper files — Natchez Areal (1821-1822); Port Gibson Correspondent
(1821); Jackson Mississippian (1835-1843); Mississippi Free Trader
(Natchez, 1835-1851); Natchez Daily Courier (1841-1861); Vicksburg
Whig (1842-1847); WoodviUe Republican (1826-1848).
For lists of newspaper files and pamphlets see Annual Report of the
Department of Archives and History (1908).
DUNBAB ROWLAND,
Director, Department of Archives and History, Jackson, Miss.
CHAPTER III.
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY,
1861-1865.
Secession of Mississippi.
Immediately after the election of President Lin-
coln, Gov. John J. Pettus issued a call for a special
session of the legislature of the state to meet in
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 407
Jackson, Nov. 26, 1860. In accordance with the ad-
vice of the representatives of the state in both
branches of Congress, who met in Jackson four days
before the legislature assembled, the governor in-
serted in his message to that body a recommendation
that it call a convention for the purpose of withdraw-
ing from the Union without awaiting the action of
other states. On the third day of the legislative
session the recommendation was formally approved
by the adoption of a resolution, providing for a con-
vention to meet at Jackson, Jan. 7, 1861, and declar-
ing that " secession by the aggrieved states, for their
grievances, is the remedy" to be applied to the
emergency then confronting the South.
Upon the recommendation of Governor Pettus the
legislature authorized him to appoint commission-
ers to visit the other Southern states to inform them
that Mississippi did not ''intend to submit to the
sectional administration about to be inaugurated
at Washington," and to secure their cooperation in
the establishment of an independent nation. The
reports and speeches of nine out of the sixteen men
chosen for this important service are still preserved.
They show that the commissioners were received by
the states to which they were accredited as the am-
bassadors from a sovereign and independent nation,
and as such were treated with great distinction.
The special session of the legislature then ad-
journed after providing for a new coat of arms for
the state and adopting a joint resolution justifying
its action.
The secession convention assembled in the hall of
representatives at Jackson, Jan. 7, 1861. Ninety-
eight delegates answered to the first roll-call, and
the two absentees were in their seats on the follow-
ing morning. The delegates were divided into two
classes — the "unconditional secessionists," who
408 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
were determined on secession at any cost, and the
"cooperationists," who were in favor of secession
1 'only upon condition that the border states between
the two sections would cooperate in the movement. ' '
The latter class constituted only about one-third of
the convention.
Upon the organization of the convention by the
election of William S. Barry, of Lowndes county,
president, Mr. L. Q. C. Lamar, then in his thirty-
seventh year, presented a resolution providing for
the appointment of a commission of fifteen "with
instructions to prepare and report as speedily as
possible an ordinance providing for the withdrawal
of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union,
with a view to the establishment of a new Confed-
eracy, to be composed of the seceding states." The
resolution was passed, and on the third day of the
convention Mr. Lamar, as chairman of the commit-
tee, reported "an ordinance to dissolve the Union
between the State of Mississippi and the states
united with her under the compact entitled 'The
Constitution of the United States of America. ' ! A
substitute motion "providing for the final adjust-
ment of all difficulties between the free and slave
states of the United States, by securing further con-
stitutional guarantees within the present Union/'
was promptly rejected by a vote of twenty-one to
seventy-eight. An amendment to postpone the ap-
plication of the ordinance until, at least, the states
of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana had
taken a similar step, and another to submit the ques-
tion to the qualified electors of the states were de-
feated by overwhelming majorities, the votes being
twenty-five to seventy-four on the former, and
twenty-nine to seventy on the latter proposition.
The yeas and nays having been ordered on the
final passage of the ordinance, the secretary called
,L. Q. C. LAMAR.
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 409
the roll slowly, the first name being James L. Alcorn.
As he had been an ardent * ' cooperationist, " all who
were present awaited his vote with much interest.
He arose and responded with much feeling: "Mr.
President, the die is cast; the rubicon is crossed;
I follow the army that goes to Rome ; I vote for the
ordinance." When the roll-call had proceeded un-
til it was manifest that the state would sever its
connection with the Union, tears came into the eyes
of the delegates and of the large throng of specta-
tors who had assembled to view the solemn pro-
ceedings.
In less than an hour from the time of its intro-
duction, the ordinance was adopted by a vote of
eighty-four to fifteen, only one delegate being ab-
sent. The profound silence which followed the an-
nouncement of the vote was finally broken by the
earnest tones of a minister who, in eloquent words,
invoked the Divine blessings on the step just taken,
while the delegates and spectators, standing with
bowed heads, joined in the invocation.
Immediately thereafter a gentleman entered the
hall bearing "a beautiful silk flag with a single
white star in the centre," which the president of
the convention received, remarking, after a brief
pause, that it was the first flag to be unfolded "in
the young republic." The delegates then saluted
it by rising, and the hall rang with the shouts of
applause from the multitude of spectators. This
scene gave rise to the popular war-song "The Bon-
nie Blue Flag that Bears a Single Star," written
by one of the spectators, who first sang it in the old
theatre in Jackson on the night of the following day.
An eye witness of many of these stirring scenes says
that "illuminations and artillery salutes in Jackson
and elsewhere * * * expressed the popular ap-
proval of this drama in the history of the state."
410 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
The ordinance having been engrossed on parch-
ment was signed by ninety-eight members of the
convention in the presence of the governor and the
members of the legislature on Jan. 15, 1861. Al-
though one of the delegates present, Dr. J. J. Thorn-
ton, of Eankin county, refused to sign the document,
he was one of the first volunteers to enter the army
of the Confederacy. The only other delegate who
failed to sign the ordinance, John W. Wood, of At-
tala, did not attend the final session of the con-
vention.
The secession convention also adopted "An ad-
dress setting forth the Declaration of the Immediate
Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of
Mississippi from the Federal Union. ' ' It placed the
state on a war footing, and elected a major-general
(Jefferson Davis) and four brigadier-generals
(Earl Van Dorn, Charles Clark, James L. Alcorn
and C. H. Mott) to take charge of the military forces
of the little nation. Wiley P. Harris, Walter
Brooke, William S. Wilson, A. M. Clayton, W. S.
Barry, James T. Harrison and J. A. P. Campbell
were chosen to represent the state in a conven-
tion of the seceding states to meet in Montgomery,
Ala., Feb. 14, 1861, for the purpose of framing a
constitution for the new Confederacy. After a ses-
sion of seventeen days the secession convention of
Mississippi then adjourned subject to the call of the
president. It reassembled on March 25, 1861, and
ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States
by a vote of seventy-eight to seven.
When notified of the action of the state in seced-
ing from the Union, the senators and representa-
tives from Mississippi in Congress promptly re-
signed their seats and returned to their homes. In
his farewell address to the United States Senate,
Jefferson Davis made a brief and dignified defense
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 411
of the step which his state had taken. This memor-
able address, "neither apologetic nor aggressive,"
but chaste in diction and elevated in sentiment, was
widely published and everywhere received as a
statement of the views and incentives that actuated
the people of the seceding states. On February 9
he was elected by the Montgomery convention to
serve as President of the Confederacy. Although
he had neither sought nor desired this position, he
promptly went to Montgomery, where he was inau-
gurated, Feb. 18, 1861.
Preparations for the Conflict.
As a result of the election of President Lincoln
in November, 1860, military companies were organ-
ized in Mississippi at the rate of from seven to eight
a week, numbering from fifty to sixty men each. At
the time of the signing of the ordinance of secession
(Jan. 15, 1861) there were sixty-five companies of
volunteers in the state. On Jan. 23, 1861, the seces-
sion convention revised the military law of 1860 and
placed the state on a war footing, as stated above.
Wiley P. Harris, of Jackson, Miss., wrote to Presi-
dent Davis, Sept. 30, 1861: "You would be struck
with the aspect which our state now presents. Ex-
cept in the principal towns, the country appears to
be deserted. There are not more men left than the
demands of society and the police of the slave-hold-
ing country actually require. The state has put in
the field and in camp about 25,000 men. This ex-
ceeds her proportion. ' ' A few weeks later Governor
Pettus estimated that the number of Mississippi
volunteers had increased to over 35,000, "which is
probably," he adds, "a larger proportion of the
adult male population than any state or nation has
sent to war in modern times. ' '
The problem of arming and equipping this large
412 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
number of troops was a serious one. A few of the
most wealthy planters in the state equipped com-
panies at their own expense. Flintlock muskets
were changed for the use of percussion caps, and
with these a large number of troops were armed for
battle. Churches gave their bells and housewives
their copper and brass cooking utensils to be used
in making cannon. Spinning wheels and looms were
taxed to their utmost capacity to make clothing for
the use of the soldiers.
Several days before the meeting of the Montgom-
ery convention for the purpose of forming the Con-
federacy, Mississippi had entered actively into mili-
tary operations on her own account. In obedience
to an order from Governor Pettus to " prevent any
hostile expedition from the Northern states descend-
ing the river" (Mississippi), troops stationed at
Vicksburg fired upon the steamer 0. A. Tyler, from
Cincinnati, on Jan. 11, 1861. Another force of about
1,500 men, ordered to meet at Enterprise on the
same day, was soon (January 13) on its way to Pen-
sacola to help capture Fort Pickens. On January
15 Mississippi troops made an attack upon the Fed-
eral naval works on Ship Island, capturing the same
in a third assault on the morning of the 20th.
In the latter part of March, 1861, twenty com-
panies of Mississippi troops were sent to Pensacola
under the command of Gen. Charles Clark. They
were there organized into two regiments and trans-
ferred (April 14) to the command of General Bragg,
being the first Mississippi troops to enter the pro-
visional army of the Confederate states.
Beginning of Hostilities in the State.
The advance into Mississippi of 100,000 Federal
troops under General Grant after the battle of
Shiloh (April 6, 1862) marks the beginning of hostil-
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDEBACY. 413
ities in the northern part of the state. When this
formidable army entrenched itself before Corinth,
General Beauregard, having only 53,000 men, was
forced to evacuate the place and retire fifty-five
miles south to Tupelo, which he made a base of
operations. Here he was superseded by General
Bragg. General Bosecrans fortified Corinth and
made it a base of supplies. About this time Holly
Springs was captured by a Federal force. General
Bosecrans attacked General Price at luka on Sep-
tember 19, and forced him to retreat to Baldwin.
General Van Dorn made a daring and bloody
attempt to recapture Corinth (Oct. 3-4, 1862), but
was repulsed with great loss after having taken part
of the town. The Confederate army then retreated
toward Bipley and later to Grenada, where it was
stationed when the second campaign was inaugu-
rated against Vicksburg. As the campaigns against
Vicksburg were among the most important of the
war, a more detailed account of them will now be
given.
Campaigns Against Vicksburg.
The Confederate government depended on a small
fleet of gunboats above Memphis and a few guns at
Memphis, and the two forts, Jackson and St. Philip,
near the mouth of the river, for the protection of the
river and for keeping it under Confederate control.
Early in the war the Union troops had gained Ken-
tucky and Tennessee, destroyed the Confederate
gunboats and taken possession of the upper river
almost to Memphis.
The United States government sent a large
squadron under Admiral Farragut, with a flotilla
of gunboats, mortar-boats and transports bearing
an army under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, to the
mouth of the Mississippi (May, 1862). By captur-
ing the forts at the mouth of the river and taking
414 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
possession of New Orleans, this force opened the
river as far north as Vicksburg.
Admiral Farragut at once steamed up the river
to Vicksburg, carrying with him thirty-five vessels,
including nine ocean war vessels, eighteen mortar-
boats and transport boats, with 3,000 troops. He
appeared before Vicksburg May 18, 1862. About the
same time Memphis fell, and the upper river gun-
boat fleet came down the river and anchored above
the city.
Upon the fall of New Orleans the Confederate
government, seeing the danger that threatened
Vicksburg, hastily sent a few heavy guns and troops
to defend it. These were scarcely mounted when
Farragut demanded the surrender of the city. The
citizens of the place were well-nigh unanimous in
saying "the city must be defended, even if all our
houses and property are destroyed." The two
great Federal fleets then bombarded the city until
July 18 — two months.
We are told that "one of the most brilliant naval
feats recorded in the annals of naval warfare" oc-
curred on July 15, 1862. On that day the Confeder-
ate ram Arkansas, which had been built partly at
Memphis and partly near Yazoo City, under the
direction of the gallant Mississippian, Capt. Isaac
N. Brown, ran out of the mouth of the Yazoo River,
and "single-handed attacked the whole Federal
fleet, including Admiral Farragut 's squadron of
eight vessels and Admiral Davis 's gunboat fleet of
twelve vessels." She reached the wharf at Vicks-
burg after losing about half of her crew, but, being
disabled, was finally blown up by her officers to pre-
vent her capture by the Union fleet. The Federal
authorities having decided that Vicksburg could not
be taken from the water front, brought the first
campaign to an end.
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 415
The second campaign against Vicksburg was be-
gun in December, 1862. Gen. W. T. Sherman, after
being largely reinforced, was directed to move rap-
idly down the river with his fleet to take Vicksburg,
which was then held by only about 5,000 Confeder-
ate troops, before General Pemberton with 21,000
men could go from Grenada to the relief of the city.
General Grant, then in the vicinity of Oxford and
Water Valley, with an army of 50,000 Federal
troops, had planned to attack the Confederate army
at Grenada or to follow it towards Vicksburg if it
left his front. Although these expeditions were well
planned, both of them failed. General Sherman
with his force of 33,000 men and sixty guns de-
scended the river and disembarked near the mouth
of Chickasaw Bayou, ten miles from Vicksburg. In
attempting to lead his army to the hills several
miles distant, he encountered a small Confederate
force of about 2,500 men under Gen. Stephen D. Lee
and was disastrously repulsed with an Union loss
of 1,776 killed, wounded and prisoners, and a Con-
federate loss of only 120 men. This battle took place
near the head of Chickasaw Bayou six miles from
Vicksburg on Dec. 29, 1862.
General Grant's plans also failed of execution
because of cavalry raids under Gen. N. B. Forrest
and Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The first of these raids
in west Tennessee destroyed bridges and tore up
sixty miles of the railroad over which the supplies
for the Federal army were to be transported. The
second, captured and destroyed the Federal stores
amounting to several million dollars that had been
collected at Holly Springs. These two skilfully-
planned raids forced General Grant to move his
army to Memphis and enabled General Pemberton
to go to the relief of Vicksburg. When the Confed-
erate reinforcements from Grenada began to arrive
416 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
in Vicksburg, General Sherman reembarked his
army upon his transports (Jan. 3, 1863) and disap-
peared from before the city.
The third campaign against Vicksburg was begun
in January, 1863, immediately upon the failure of
the preceding one. It terminated successfully for
the Union army on July 4, 1863. Upon his return
to Memphis General Grant put his army on trans-
ports and descended the Mississippi Eiver, being
reinforced by General McClernand, who had super-
seded General Sherman after his failure to take
Vicksburg.
The united armies, which numbered over 50,000
men, encamped on the Louisiana side of the river.
During the months of January, February, March
and part of April, numerous attempts were made in
connection with Admiral Porter's gunboat fleet and
the transport's to force a passage through the bayous
and rivers in the delta between the Mississippi and
Yazoo rivers and to reach the highlands north of
Vicksburg. By cutting the levee at Yazoo Pass on
the Mississippi side a force under General McPher-
son was enabled to enter the Coldwater and Talla-
hatchie rivers, and the smaller gunboats and trans-
ports succeeded in getting within a few miles of the
Yazoo Eiver, where they were stopped by the guns
at Fort Pemberton on the Tallahatchie River. About
30,000 Union troops were engaged in this attempt.
A similar attempt was made by Admiral Porter and
General Sherman to get through Steele 's Bayou and
Deer Creek into Sunflower Eiver and into the Yazoo.
This also failed. An unsuccessful effort was then
made to get below Vicksburg from Lake Providence
through a bayou into the Eed Eiver and thence into
the Mississippi. General Grant also attempted to
change the channel of the Mississippi by means of
a canal dug opposite the city of Vicksburg, so as to
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 417
cause the river to make a new bed with its waters
emptying below the city. This plan also failed.
General Grant then decided upon the bold plan of
running his gunboats and transports by the batteries
at Vicksburg in order to provide facilities for cross-
ing to the Mississippi side below the city with a
part of his army which he marched below Vicksburg
on the Louisiana side of the river. His boats suc-
cessfully passed the batteries on the night of April
16 and again a few nights later. General Grant then
landed with two corps of nearly 35,000 men at
Bruinsburg, Miss., leaving a third corps on the oppo-
site side of the river to threaten the bluffs to the
north of Vicksburg. With his troops that had
crossed the river he marched rapidly toward Port
Gibson before General Pemberton could concentrate
his forces to check the advance. General Bowen
with about 5,000 men stationed at Grand Gulf at-
tempted to stop General Grant, but was defeated
near Port Gibson (May 1) and driven across the
Big Black Eiver.
In the meantime several Federal cavalry raids
into different parts of Mississippi forced General
Pemberton to send Confederate troops from Vicks-
burg for the protection of public and private prop-
erty, thereby greatly reducing the forces available
for the protection of the city. The most celebrated
of these raids was that made by a force under Gen-
eral Grierson, who passed through the state from La
Grange, Tenn., to Baton Eouge, La. (April 17-May
2, 1863). Other similar raids penetrated to different
parts of the state from the Memphis and Charleston
railroad between Memphis and Corinth.
After the battle near Port Gibson, General
Grant's army rested near the Big Black Eiver until
he was reinforced by General Sherman. About May
8 the Federal army, numbering about 42,000 men,
Vol. *— 27.
418 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
moved toward Eaymond and Jackson. They suc-
ceeded in cutting off Confederate reinforcements
attempting to reach Vicksburg. On May 12, a Con-
federate brigade was encountered at Eaymond and
forced back to Jackson. One corps of General Grant's
army then marched to Jackson by way of Clinton,
while another corps went to the same destination by
another route. As Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who
had reached Jackson on the evening of May 13, had
only a small body of Confederate troops at his com-
mand, he was forced to evacuate the city. He made
a show of resistance, however, in order to gain time
to move some of his supplies and the state archives
before the entrance of the Federal army. After an
engagement which lasted several hours, the Union
army marched in and destroyed the supplies that
had been left and burned several buildings, includ-
ing the Catholic church and the penitentiary.
General Johnston, having withdrawn from the city
to the north, sent dispatches to General Pemberton,
who was near Vicksburg, suggesting that he attack
the Union army at Clinton. These dispatches were
delivered by a Union spy to General Grant, who
promptly arranged to thwart the plans of the Con-
federates. In order to prevent the junction of Pem-
berton 's and Johnston's forces, he planned to concen-
trate several divisions of the Federal army near
Edwards. Then followed the battle of Champion
Hill or Baker's Creek, May 16, in which the Con-
federates with only 15,000 men, after offering a
gallant resistance to 35,843 Union soldiers, were
forced to retreat across Baker's Creek. After an-
other small engagement at a railroad bridge over
Big Black River (May 17), the greater part of Gen-
eral Pemberton 's army retired within the intrench-
ments surrounding Vicksburg.
The memorable siege of Vicksburg began after
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 419
General Pemberton's return to the city, and lasted
forty-seven days (from May 18 to July 4, 1863). On
May 19 and May 22 General Grant attempted to
take the city by assault, but was repulsed with a
loss of about 5,000 men. He was rapidly reinforced,
however, until his army numbered about 75,000 men.
He placed about 220 guns in position, and the city
was encircled on the land side by his troops
and on the river front by Admiral Porter's
formidable fleet. The besieged city, containing
only 17,000 effective Confederate troops, was
virtually surrounded by "a sheet of bayonets
and fire." General Johnston, who had succeeded in
collecting an army of 25,000 or 30,000 men, planned
in vain to go to the relief of General Pemberton.
We are told that the fleet threw into the city "day
and night the largest shells and shots known in
modern warfare." The besieging infantry and ar-
tUlery on the land side kept up a continuous fire on
the entrenched army within the city. The scream of
shells and the roar of cannon were at times almost
deafening. The inhabitants sought refuge in caves
dug into the hillsides. As the siege advanced the
supply of food was exhausted, and hunger and ex-
posure produced diseases which became so wide-
spread that, when the heroic resistance of the be-
sieged city came to an end on July 4, 1863, 8,000
men were reported sick. With the fall of Port Hud-
son, four days later, the work of opening the Missis-
sippi Eiver to Federal commerce was completed.
Closing Incidents of the War in the State.
On July 12, 1863, General Sherman made an un-
successful attempt to recapture Jackson, from which
the Federal army had withdrawn May 14. General
Johnston again evacuated the city because of the
superior numbers of the Union force, and retreated
420 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
to Brandon on July 16. He was followed by part of
General Sherman's army which, after capturing
Brandon and destroying the railroad, returned with
the rest of the Federal forces to Vicksburg.
After the fall of Vicksburg the greater part of
the Confederate forces were transferred to other
states, leaving only a small infantry force in the
state. In the autumn of 1863 and the winter follow-
ing, cavalry forces were organized by Gen. Stephen
D. Lee and Gen. N. B. Forrest to protect the state
against Federal raids. Many small engagements
followed in which the Confederates were generally
victorious. One of the most disastrous raids was
made in the winter of 1864 by General Sherman
with a force of over 30,000 men. He made an ex-
pedition from Vicksburg to Meridian along the line
of the Alabama and Vicksburg railroad, being in-
effectually opposed from the Big Black Eiver to the
latter place by General Lee with a small cavalry
force of only 2,500 men. In this raid the Federal
forces laid waste the country through which they
passed, burning and destroying public and private
property. They burned Meridian and destroyed the
railroads leading into that city, warping the railroad
irons so as to make them utterly useless. They re-
turned to Vicksburg by a route to the north of the
one they had just traveled, continuing their work
of destruction. The following extracts from Gen-
eral Sherman's reports give an insight into the char-
acter of his work: "We are absolutely stripping
the country of corn, cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry,
everything, and the new-growing corn is being
thrown open as pasture fields or hauled for the use
of our animals. The wholesale destruction to which
the country is now being subjected is terrible to
contemplate." "We have desolated this land for
thirty miles round about [Jackson], There are
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 421
about eight hundred women and children who will
perish unless they receive some relief." "There
was and is too great a tendency to plunder and pil-
lage, confined to a few men, that reflects discredit
on us all."
Gen. William Sooy Smith with a cavalry force of
7,000 men made a cavalry raid into north Missis-
sippi, intending to unite with General Sherman's
force at Meridian. This expedition got only as far
as West Point, Miss., where its work of destruction
was arrested by General Forrest. This raid re-
sulted in the destruction of the railroads and much
property as far as it extended, over 3,000 mules and
as many negroes being carried off.
Shortly after these raids Mississippi was again
deprived of a large part of the troops that had been
collected for her defense, General Lee's division of
cavalry with what infantry had been left in the state
being sent to reinforce Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's
army in Georgia. The only troops left in Missis-
sippi were Forrest's cavalry in the northern part
of the state, and a small brigade under Gen. Wirt
Adams near Jackson.
At Brice's Cross-Boads (June 10) General For-
rest met and completely routed a large Federal
force of cavalry and infantry that had been sent
from Memphis to defeat him, gaining one of the
most signal victories of the war for the forces en-
gaged. In the following month another Federal
force of about 15,000 men under Gen. A. J. Smith
was sent against General Forrest. Several engage-
ments were fought near Pontotoc and Tupelo, July
16-19, ending in a drawn battle at Harrisburg, near
the latter place, in which Generals Lee and Forrest
lost nearly 1,000 men. The Federal force then re-
treated to Memphis.
422 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Mississippi Troops in Other States.
Before the end of hostilities, Mississippi furnished
over 70,000 troops to the armies of the Confederacy.
They did heroic services in the armies of Robert E.
Lee, the Johnstons, Beauregard, Bragg, Hood, and
of other Confederate generals in less important com-
mands. In the battle of Shiloh the Sixth Mississippi
Regiment lost 70.5 per cent, of those engaged; at
Sharpsburg the Sixteenth Mississippi lost 63.1
per cent. ; at Chickamauga the Twenty-ninth Mis-
sissippi lost 52.7 per cent.; at Murfreesboro the
Eighth Mississippi lost 47.1 per cent. ; in the Seven
Days' battle around Richmond, at Games' Mill and
Glendale, Feather ston's Mississippi Brigade lost
49.3 per cent, and Longstreet's division 50 per cent.
A list of all the gallant officers who were furnished
by the state to the Confederate army cannot be given
in this connection. No treatment of the military
record of Mississippi would be completed, however,
without mentioning the following commanders whose
valuable services reflect credit upon the history of
the state: Maj.-Gen. Earl Van Dorn, the dashing
cavalry leader; Capt. Isaac N. Brown, the brave
commander of the Confederate ram Arkansas;
Brig.-Gen. Richard Griffith, who fell in the Seven
Days' battle around Richmond; Brig.-Gen. Carnot
Posey, who was killed at the head of his command
at Bristow Station; Brig.-Gen. William Barksdale,
whose services at Gettysburg have made "the place
where Barksdale fell" a spot of historic interest,
and Maj.-Gen. E. C. Walthall, who served through-
out the war without asking for "a hard place for
glory" or "a soft place for comfort." In the
Georgia campaign Maj.-Gen. William T. Martin and
Brigadier-Generals Wirt Adams, W. S. Featherston,
S. W. Ferguson, M. P. Lowrey, C. W. Sears, J. H.
Sharp and J. A. Smith rendered conspicuous serv-
MISSISSIPPI IN THE CONFEDERACY. 423
ices. Mississippi was represented in Virginia by
Brigadier-Generals B. G. Humphreys, Nathaniel H.
Harris, Joseph E. Davis and Col. J. M. Stone.
Generals J. E. Chalmers, Eobert Lowry, S. G.
French and others also rendered valuable services
in this great conflict.
Government During the War Period.
The history of the government of Mississippi
while in the Confederacy may be briefly summar-
ized as follows: John J. Pettus, who was chief ex-
ecutive of the state when it seceded from the Union,
was reflected almost without opposition in October,
1861. He was succeeded by Charles Clark, who was
governor of the state from Nov. 16, 1863, to May 22,
1865, when he was removed by Federal troops, being
followed by Judge William L. Sharkey as provi-
sional governor by the appointment of President
Johnson.
During the greater part of the connection of the
state with the Confederacy, the sessions of the state
legislature were devoted to the consideration of mat-
ters pertaining to the war and to the welfare of the
soldiers in the army. In anticipation of the capture
of the state capital by the Federal army in 1863,
the public records of Mississippi were removed to
Meridian. They were afterwards moved to Enter-
prise, Columbus and Macon, in the order named.
The legislature met at Macon and at Columbus,
General Clark being inaugurated at the latter place.
Upon the fall of the Confederacy in 1865, Gov-
ernor Clark issued a proclamation from Meridian
the day after the surrender of General Taylor near
that place in which he directed the legislature to
assemble in extraordinary session at Jackson on
May 18 to provide for a state convention. In this
proclamation he enjoined all county officers to be
424 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
watchful in the preservation of order and the pro-
tection of property. "Let all citizens,'* he said,
"fearlessly adhere to the fortunes of the state, as-
sist the returning soldiers to obtain civil employ-
ment, and meet facts with fortitude and common
sense." The legislature was in session only about
one hour when the report came that General Osband,
of the Federal army, had received orders to arrest
the members. It was hastily dissolved and the
members left the capital in great confusion. In its
brief session, however, provision was made for the
appointment of a committee to go to Washington in
order to confer with the President in regard to the
situation.
In a short time a Federal officer demanded that
Governor Clark vacate his office and surrender the
archives of the state. Upon leaving the office the
governor said: "I comply with your demands only
because I am forced to do so, and protest in the name
of freedom and justice against this act of lawless
usurpation on the part of the President of the
United States." Governor Clark was then arrested
and sent to Fort Pulaski, Savannah, where he was
imprisoned. This act marks the beginning of the
period of Federal interference with the civil affairs
of the state.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Lowry and McCardle: History of Mississippi; Riley,
Franklin L. : School History of Mississippi; Rowland: Mississippi Official
and Statistical Register (1908). Publications of the Mississippi Historical
Society: Lee, Stephen D.: The Campaign of Vicksburg, Miss., in 1863 from
April 15th to and Including the Battle of Champion Hill, or Baker's Creekt
May 16, 1863, and Siege of Vicksburg (Vol. III.); Deupree, J. G.: Capture
of Hotty Springs, Dec. 20, 1862; Gordon, James: Battle of Corinth and Sub-
sequent Retreat; Lee, Stephen D. : Campaign of Generals Grant and Sher-
man against Vicksburg, December, 1862, and January 1 and 2, 1863,
known as the Chickasaw Bayou Campaign and Sherman's Meridian Ex-
pedition from Vicksburg to Meridian February 3 to March 6, 1863 (Vol.
IV.); Battlefields of Mississippi (Vol. V.); Lee, Stephen D.: Battle of
Brice's Cross Roads and Battle of Harrisburg, or Tupelo; Wood, Thomas
H.: Secession Convention of 1860 (Vol. VI.); Dowman, Robert: Yazoo
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 425
County in the Civil War; Deupree, J. G.: Reminiscences of Service in the
First Mississippi Cavalry; Jones, J. H.: The Rank and File at Vicksburg;
McNeilly, J. S. : A Mississippi Brigade in the Last Days of the Confederacy
(Vol. VII.); Lee, Stephen D. : Index to Campaigns, Battles and Skirmishes
in Mississippi from 1861 to 1865 (Vol. VIII.); Love, Wm. A.: Missis-
sippi at Gettysburg; McFarland, Baxter: A Forgotten Expedition to Pen-
sacola, January, 1861 (Vol. IX.). Consult also Official Records of the
Union and Confederate Armies.
FRANKLIN LAFAYETTE RILEY,
Professor of History, University of Mississippi.
CHAPTER IV.
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION,
1865-1909.
Reorganization of State Government, 1865-1868.
In according military honors to the Mississippi
troops surrendered by Gen. Richard Taylor, Gen.
E. R. Canby had followed the example of General
Grant in his magnanimous policy of conciliation, and
his generosity and manly bearing had favorably
impressed the gallant men who had made an heroic
struggle for Southern independence. Both officers
and men returned to their desolated homes with the
full determination to accept in good faith the re-
sults of the war, and to meet the responsibilities
which they had assumed.
The governor of Mississippi at this time was
Charles Clark, a native of Ohio. When Governor
Clark was informed by General Taylor of his inten-
tion to surrender, he decided that the proper course
to pursue was to issue a call for a meeting of the
legislature, to recommend that the people accept in
good faith the results of the war, and to send a com-
mission to Washington to consult the President as
426 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
to the necessary steps for the restoration of the
state to the Union. On May 6, 1865, the governor
issued a proclamation calling the legislature to meet
in Jackson on May 18. The legislature responded to
the call and met May 20, 1865. The governor sent
in a message in which he recommended calling a
constitutional convention, repealing the ordinance of
secession, remodeling the state constitution and ap-
pointing a commission to consult the President on
the subject of the restoration of the state to the
Union.
After the message of the governor had been read,
the legislature was informed by General Osband,
the commander of a brigade of negro troops sta-
tioned at Jackson, that the members would be ar-
rested if they attempted to exercise the functions
of a law-making body. This threat of interference
by the military authorities caused the legislature to
adjourn after a brief session, at which it provided
for a convention to be held July 3 ; and the appoint-
ment of three commissioners "to consult with Presi-
dent Johnson as to a plan for restoring the State of
Mississippi to harmonious relations with the Fed-
eral Government, on such a basis as will tend to per-
petuate the liberty and prosperity of the American
people.*' Resolutions were adopted deploring the
assassination of President Lincoln and the attempt
on the life of Secretary Seward, and repudiating the
charge that Jefferson Davis and Jacob Thompson
were implicated.
After the adjournment of the legislature, General
Osband notified the governor that he could not rec-
ognize the civil government of Mississippi, placed a
guard over the departments in the state house, de-
manded the custody of public buildings and archives,
and fixed May 22, 1865, as the date for delivery.
The last official act of Governor Clark, as recorded
MISSISSIPPI A PAKT OF THE NATION. 427
in his official journal, bears date of May 22, 1865,
and is the appointment of William L. Sharkey,
"William Yerger and Thomas J. Wharton as com-
missioners to consult the President concerning the
speedy restoration of Mississippi to the Union. On
the same day the governor was arrested in the ex-
ecutive office by General Osband, and was soon
after imprisoned in Fort Pulaski, Savannah, on a
charge of treason. This action of the military au-
thorities deprived the state of even a semblance of a
government, and created a feeling of dismay and
apprehension in the minds of the people. This state
of uncertainty and fear was somewhat relieved by
the President's proclamation of May 29 regarding
the restoration of North Carolina, which revealed
his policy toward the states of the Southern Con-
federacy. A short time after their appointment
William L. Sharkey and William Yerger went to
Washington to consult the President ; the third com-
missioner was unable to go. While the people of the
state had been somewhat reassured by the North
Carolina proclamation of the President, the inter-
regnum which began with the arrest of Governor
Clark left them without any of the forms of civil
government, and this state of affairs continued until
June 13.
The selection of Judge Sharkey and Judge Yerger
to represent the interests of the state at Washington
was wise, and could not have been improved upon.
They had been eminent members of the high court
of errors and appeals, both were old-line Whigs with
decided leanings to the Union, and both had the
confidence and good- will of the people. On arriving
in Washington they met with a cordial reception
from the President, but he informed them that they
could not be received officially as commissioners rep-
resenting the state of Mississippi. In replying to
428 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
their representations, the President asked if the
plan for the reorganization of North Carolina would
be acceptable to them and to the people of Missis-
sippi. After expressing a preference for the plan
adopted by the legislature, the commissioners ac-
cepted the plan proposed by the President. On June
13 President Johnson issued a proclamation, as com-
mander-in-chief of the army, appointing William L.
Sharkey provisional governor of Mississippi.
The appointment of Judge Sharkey removed much
of the doubt and depression which were universal
at the time throughout Mississippi. He belonged to
that school of Whig statesmen of which Henry Clay,
John Bell and John J. Crittenden were the best
types. He was, by nature, a pacificator, and his
long service as chief justice of the high court of
errors and appeals had given him a place in the
confidence and affections of the people which even
the bitterness and disasters of war could not shake.
In order to promote a return of confidence he di-
rected the county and municipal judges, and other
officials in office on May 22, to resume their duties.
He ordered an election for August 7 for delegates to
a constitutional convention to meet August 14, and
made some necessary appointments of state officials.
Soon after the inauguration of the provisional
government a conflict arose with the military au-
thorities over the enforcement of the criminal laws.
A judge issued a writ of habeas corpus to a military
officer who had arrested a citizen of the state on a
charge of murder, and the officer not only refused
to obey the writ but arrested the judge for issuing it.
The constitutional convention met in Jackson
August 14. The political affiliation of its members
is interesting to show the trend of public opinion
as compared with 1861. In the convention of 1861
there were eighty-four Democrats and twenty-five
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 429
Whigs; the convention of 1865 was composed of
seventy Whigs and eighteen Democrats ; seven dele-
gates of the convention were members of the conven-
tion of 1861, only one of whom voted for secession.
The convention, regardless of party, was divided
into two sections — those in favor of accepting the
results of the war, and those who proposed to con-
tend for emancipated slaves on the ground that de-
priving the Southern people of property without
compensation was a great public wrong. The con-
vention was the first one in the South held under
the President's reconstruction policy, and its atti-
tude was anxiously watched by the people of the en-
tire country. The two questions to decide were:
first, should the abolition of slavery be recognized,
and, second, what place should the negro occupy un-
der the laws ? The sentiment of the convention was
in favor of acquiescing in emancipation, and leaving
the status of the negro as a citizen to be determined
by each state. By a vote of eighty-seven to eleven
this policy was adopted by the convention, and was
incorporated in the constitution. The convention also
declared the ordinance of secession to be null and
void, and further provided for a general election on
the first Monday in October, the legislature to meet
on the third Monday. The work of the convention
met the approval of the President, and he expressed
the confident hope that the example of Mississippi
would be followed by the other Southern states.
The result of the election in October, on the whole,
indicated a willingness to abide by existing condi-
tions. Gen. Benjamin G. Humphreys, late of the Army
of Northern Virginia, but a Union man before the
war, was elected governor; the congressmen elected
had all opposed secession, and the three judges of
the high court of errors and appeals had favored it.
The legislature met October 16, and after an ad-
430 THE HISTOBY OP MISSISSIPPI.
dress by Judge Sharkey the governor-elect took the
oath of office, delivered his inaugural address and
was declared governor of the state of Mississippi.
Judge Sharkey in his address said that he was
" proud to say that Mississippi had taken the lead
in the work of reorganization, and that without any
light for her guidance, she had set an example to her
sister states that is being deemed worthy of emu-
lation, and with the most beneficial results to the
South." Governor Sharkey was not regularly re-
lieved of his duties until December 14, when he was
notified that he could give way to the governor
elected by the people.
In his inaugural address, Governor Humphreys
said that emancipation had imposed a great duty
upon the state. "Several hundred thousand of the
negro race, unfitted for political equality with the
white race, have been turned loose upon society ; and
in the guardianship she may assume over this race
she must deal justly with them and protect them in
all their rights of person and property. The high-
est degree of elevation in the scale of civilization to
which they are capable, morally and intellectually,
must be secured to them by their education and re-
ligious training, but they cannot be admitted to polit-
ical or social equality with the white race. ' '
During the first eight months of Governor Hum-
phrey's administration about 9,000 negro troops
were retained for duty in Mississippi. There was
little discipline among them and they were allowed
to go about fully armed and were permitted to assist
authority in a way most offensive and humiliating
to their former masters. It was not possible for
such men to perform the duties assigned them with-
out exciting resentment. They terrorized the weak
and helpless of both races, defied the civil authority
and advised the people of their race not to work.
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 431
The legislature refused to ratify the Thirteenth
amendment, on the ground that the amendment to
the state constitution covered the same subject and
further action was unnecessary. At a special ses-
sion of the legislature, 1866-67, it also refused to
ratify the Fourteenth amendment, on the ground
that "the voting class should not be swollen by sud-
den and large infusions of ignorance and prejudice. ' '
In the meantime Congress refused to recognize
the Mississippi senators and representatives se-
lected under the Johnson plan of reconstruction, and
on March 2, 1867, adopted over the President's veto
the military reconstruction act, which had for its
purpose the control of the Southern states by negro
votes. Under the act Mississippi was made a sub-
district, under the military orders of Gen. Alvan C.
Gillem, his immediate superior being Gen. E. 0. C.
Ord, in command of the fourth district. Under his
order an election was held for delegates to a con-
stitutional convention to be held Jan. 9, 1868, the
delegates to be elected by the male citizens of the
state, twenty-one years old and upwards, "of what-
ever race, color or previous condition of servitude,"
residents for one year, and not disfranchised. The
registration of voters under the reconstruction acts
was the duty of the military commander. As the
registration proceeded, it was shown in September
that 60,167 negroes and 46,636 white men had been
allowed to qualify as voters. This was a startling
demonstration of the folly and stupidity of negro
suffrage in Mississippi.
The constitutional convention assembled in Jack-
son Jan. 9, 1868, and adjourned May 17. It was
controlled completely by men representing the
basest element of the population, and seventeen of
its members were negroes. It was necessarily a
erode and revolutionary body, and the constitution
432 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
it formed, on being submitted to the people June 22,
1868, was defeated, 56,231 votes being cast for and
63,860 against it. At the same election Humphreys
was reflected governor by 8,000 majority, according
to the official report of the result given out by Gen-
eral Gillem. As the defeat of the constitution re-
quired the continuance of existing conditions with
Governor Humphreys in charge of civil affairs, its
friends attempted to overthrow the result as de-
clared by Gillem by appealing to Congress.
On June 4 General Gillem was succeeded in com-
mand of the fourth district by Gen. Irwin McDowell,
who, a few days later, issued an order for the re-
moval of Governor Humphreys and Attorney- Gen-
eral Hooker on the ground that they were obstruct-
ing the enforcement of the reconstruction laws.
Gen. Adelbert Ames was ordered to assume the
duties of provisional governor, and Capt. Jasper
Myers was detailed to fill the office of attorney-gen-
eral. Ames went to Jackson and notified Governor
Humphreys of what had been done. The governor
replied that he regarded the proposed removal as
an usurpation and in violation of the constitution
of the United States, and that President Johnson
had disapproved the order. "I must therefore,"
said he, "in view of my duty to the constitutional
rights of the people of Mississippi, and of the dis-
approval of the President, refuse to vacate the
office of governor, or surrender the archives and
public property until a legally qualified successor
under the constitution of Mississippi is appointed."
On the next day, June 15, 1868, the governor was
forcibly ejected from his office in the capitol by a
detail of soldiers under orders from Colonel Biddle,
post-commandant at Jackson. By such methods
was the civil authority violently overthrown by the
military.
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 433
Military Government, 1868-1870.
The civil government of Mississippi, which was
overthrown by the force of military authority, had
been in operation nearly three years.
Under conditions as they existed for three years
after the war, local government in Mississippi was
under the control of natives to the soil. These men
were making a faithful effort to adjust their insti-
tutions to conditions without a parallel in the expe-
rience of civilized communities. A reasonable de-
gree of success had attended their efforts, some
mistakes had been made and some wrongs had been
committed by the less responsible element, but noth-
ing had been done to justify the passage of a law
which disfranchised honest, intelligent men, and en-
franchised those who were ignorant, depraved and
vicious.
The reconstruction act was passed possibly with-
out a full knowledge of its terrible results, as the
debates seem to indicate that the effect of negro
rule, which was the inevitable outcome of such legis-
lation, was not the subject of discussion. The mem-
bers of Congress knew nothing of the real situation
in the South, and made no effort to gather reliable
information. It was the opinion of some of the best
men in the North that there was nothing in the situa-
tion of affairs which justified even military rule.
Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, advised that
the burden of responsibility be placed on the South-
ern people. "They have," he said, "the brain and
the experience and the education to enable them to
understand the exigencies of the present situation."
Louis Agassiz, the great scientist, looked with
loathing upon the enfranchisement of an ignorant,
servile and alien race. In their frenzied zeal for the
elevation of the negro who was incapable of self-
government, such men as Sumner and Stevens forgot
Vol. 2— 2g.
434 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
the rights of a race that had been self-governing for
centuries.
The effect of the reconstruction act, as construed
by General Ames, was the complete annihilation of
all civil government as it had existed during the
administrations of Sharkey and Humphreys; and
in the exercise of his powers he assumed all the
functions of the executive, legislative and judicial
departments of government. During the first seven
months of military rule the county officers were al-
lowed to continue to discharge their duties ; but this
policy did not meet the approval of the carpet-
baggers who clamored for the " rebels" to be turned
out. Congress had been urged by a committee of
these men to declare all offices vacant, that they
might be filled by " loyal citizens." In response to
the demands of the committee, Congress passed a
joint resolution declaring that all office-holders of
Mississippi who could not take and subscribe to the
oath of July 2, 1862, should be removed and the
vacancies filled by the military commander. On
March 23, 1869, General Ames issued General Or-
ders No. 16, declaring that "all civil offices in this
District which have been held by persons whose
legal disabilities have not been removed, and who
cannot take the oath prescribed by the Act of Con-
gress of July 2, 1862, are vacant." The result of
this order was the summary removal of officials from
governor to constable. These positions had been
filled by men selected by the people, they had quali-
fied under the laws of the state, and held the respect
and confidence of the communities in which they
lived. Under the terms of the order, the respectable
and responsible native whites could not hold office,
hence it was impossible to fill the vacated offices with
honest, capable men. It was necessary to appoint
2,000 officials from the motley crowd that remained
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 435
after the exclusion of the intelligent, influential men
of the state. There could only be one result from such
a policy — the handing over of the government to
alien whites who were not citizens of the state, and
to a horde of ignorant negroes who were taught to
believe that the property was to be turned over to
them by their new-found friends. General Ames
excused his appointments by claiming that it was
the best he could do under the circumstances. The
great majority of his appointees were incompetent
and dishonest, and were more intent upon gain than
duty. Even after the appointment of "loyal citi-
zens" to all the public offices of the state, the gov-
ernor would frequently remove them when they re-
fused to support all his measures. In other cases,
where his friends whom he had appointed to office
were guilty of dishonest practices, he showed a de-
sire to shield them. In the summer of 1869 Presi-
dent Grant, by proclamation, designated Tuesday,
November 30, for the re-submission of the constitu-
tion which had been defeated by popular vote. At
the same time there was to be a general election for
state officers, members of the legislature and repre-
sentatives in Congress. This precipitated the first
political contest of the military rule. The re-sub-
mission of the rejected constitution of 1868 enabled
the voters to cast their ballots for or against the
prescriptive clauses and the clause forbidding the
loaning of the credit of the state, and the vote for the
constitution meant the rejection of those clauses.
Two factions of the Republican party contended
for the control of the state. One under the name of
the National Union Eepublican party, with a plat-
form of "toleration, liberality and forbearance,"
had as its candidate for governor Judge Lewis
Dent, a brother-in-law of President Grant. The
platform was conservative and was made to appeal
436 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
to the native white vote. The Eadical Republicans
nominated James L. Alcorn as their candidate for
governor, and made a strong bid for the negro vote.
The election resulted in the ratification of the con-
stitution with the prescriptive clauses stricken out,
and the state credit clause was adopted. In the con-
test for governor, Alcorn was elected by a large ma-
jority. Congress passed a bill readmitting the state
to the Union Feb. 23, 1870, and on the 26th General
Ames proclaimed the termination of his military
command, and left the state to take a seat in the
Senate, to which he had been elected by the legis-
lature.
Reconstruction and Revolution, 1870-1876.
The state had been reconstructed according to the
congressional plan, under the provisions of which
its interests were placed in the keeping of white
aliens and ignorant negroes. Its advocates pro-
fessed to believe that under the new conditions the
return of peace and plenty was assured. Governor
Alcorn in his inaugural address condemned what
he termed the evils of the patriarchal system, and
spoke in congratulatory words of the blessings
which were to come from the new order of things.
The first election held under congressional re-
construction clearly foretold the influence of the
negro vote. In the legislature of 1870 there were
thirty-five negroes, five in the senate and thirty in
the house. One of them was elected a senator of
the United States. A negro held the office of secre-
tary of state, and almost every county having a
black majority had negro officials. The leaders of
the race very soon awoke to the fact that the Repub-
lican party depended upon the negro vote for suc-
cess at the polls, and they were not slow in demand-
ing a full share of the spoils.
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 437
The failure of the governor to control the legisla-
ture in the direction of economy was made apparent
early in the session. Its leaders were carpet-
baggers with no interests in the state, their names
did not appear on the tax-books, and most of them
were citizens and office-holders for revenue only.
It was their purpose to create as many additional
offices as possible and pile up taxes as high as the
people would bear. The governor, on the other
hand, had been a citizen of the state for twenty-five
years and was a large property-holder and taxpayer.
He knew how poor the people were, and he went into
office with the expressed intention of administering
the government on a basis of rigid economy. While
he was very unpopular with the white people, they
preferred him to a carpet-bagger.
Before the meeting of the legislature, it leaked
out that the party in power had determined to elect
Governor Alcorn a United States senator for the
full term beginning March 4, 1871. The election of
Alcorn to the Senate required his resignation, and
this would leave the government entirely under the
control of the carpet-baggers and negroes. Such a
prospect greatly alarmed the taxpayers of the state,
and public meetings were held at which resolutions
were passed requesting the governor not to resign
his office, but his election early in the session of the
legislature indicated his willingness to turn the
state over to the tender mercies of his hungry fol-
lowers. His acceptance at the hands of the legisla-
ture of the office of United States senator necessarily
tied his hands and prevented the exercise of his
extensive powers for the protection of the taxpayers.
The legislature continued in session six months,
and its expenses were three times as great as those
of 1865. That the per diem plan of compensation
had much influence in prolonging the session is un-
438 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
doubted. An expensive official organization was
provided, new offices created and salaries increased.
A new judicial system was organized which greatly
increased the number of judges. In order to throw
these appointments to the carpet-baggers, the first
circuit judges were not required to be residents of
the state. There was in all departments an elabora-
tion of government which was entirely unnecessary,
and which was more expensive than the state could
bear. Appropriations were made with little or no
knowledge of the revenues from which they were to
be paid. The legislature made the offices, the gov-
ernor filled them with his appointees, the party lead-
ers had to be provided for at the expense of the
public, the appointed officials were generally incom-
petent and dishonest, hence financial ruin and bank-
ruptcy were inevitable. The receipts in 1870 were
$436,000, the disbursements $1,061,294. The cost of
the legislative session of 1870 was more than half
of the entire revenue. In 1871 the expense of the
judiciary was $377,000. These figures show that
Governor Alcorn's recommendations of conserva-
tive expenditures were not effective. He retired
from office Nov. 30, 1871, to take his seat in the
Senate.
Governor Alcorn was succeeded by Lieut.-Gov.
E. C. Powers, and although the latter tried to arrest
the prevailing corruption in the legislature and in
the administration of county offices, conditions con-
tinued to grow worse. Expenditures were still in
excess of the receipts. At the end of the first four
years of reconstruction the expenditures had ex-
ceeded the receipts by $871,987, and the state in-
debtedness had increased from $1,178,175, in 1870,
to $3,443,189 in 1874. During the Powers adminis-
tration the people were in great distress on account
of general corruption in the government, short
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 439
crops and the financial stringency brought on by the
panic of 1873.
It was under these distressing conditions that the
gubernatorial election came on. The contest was be-
tween two factions of the Eepublican party, both of
which were bidding for the negro vote. One of the
factions was led by Alcorn, the other by Ames, and
both contested the nomination for governor. Alcorn
had denounced Ames in the Senate as an interloper,
and said that he was not a citizen of the state he
represented, and did not even have the right to claim
a technical residence there. In his heart Alcorn had
all the contempt for the carpet-bagger which was
felt by the native whites, and it found expression in
his contest with Ames. At the Republican conven-
tion the support of the negroes went to Ames, and
his friends controlled by a majority of about five to
one. On the ticket with Ames were three negroes,
two of whom were notorious rascals and criminals.
The convention was a rabble of disorderly negroes,
who demanded the offices for their race on the
ground that they supplied the votes. The friends of
Alcorn bolted and put out a full ticket in opposition
to Ames. This split in the Republican ranks gave
the Democrats and Whigs the balance of power, and
an attempt was made to throw that vote to Alcorn.
But by this time both Ames and Alcorn were re-
garded by the white people as enemies of good gov-
ernment, and the effort failed. Ames had the solid
support of the negroes and was elected by a sub-
stantial majority.
The election of 1873 was the culmination of the
evil effects of reconstruction. The rule of the alien
and the negro was complete, with the latter holding
the lion's share of the offices. The lieutenant-gov-
ernor, secretary of state, superintendent of educa-
tion and commissioner of immigration and agricul-
440 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
ture, all were negroes ; both houses of the legislature
had negro presiding officers; in the senate ten
negroes held seats ; of the seventy- seven Eepublicans
in the house, fifty-five were negroes and fifteen were
carpet-baggers; the majority of the county offices
were filled by negroes, 90 per cent, of whom could
neither read nor write. The governor had declared,
on the floor of the senate and during his campaign
for election, that he alone was the guardian of the
negroes' rights, and after his election the negro
leaders were apparently his chief advisers. Davis,
the negro lieutenant-governor, and Cordoza, the
negro superintendent of education, as the bosses of
the negro machine, were very influential with the
governor, and as both were notoriously corrupt,
such counselors made the administration odious to
the best elements of all parties.
At the beginning of 1874 the burden of taxation
was so great that it threatened the confiscation of
all property. The tax levy ranged from 2y2 to 5
per cent. Over 6,000,000 acres of land, out of a
total area of 30,000,000 acres in the entire state,
were forfeited for taxes. In some counties the land
tax amounted to $4.50 per acre. Such conditions led
to the calling of taxpayers' conventions with mem-
bers from all parties. The state grange resolved
that " taxation in Mississippi has become a burden
so large and extensive that the vital energies and
industries of our state are becoming sapped, par-
alyzed and destroyed, and ruin inevitable and irre-
trievable stares us in the face." Memorials were
sent to the legislature urging a reduction in the tax
rate, and the governor attempted to bring it about.
The local elections of 1874 resulted in large gains
for the Democrats and Whigs, who had combined for
the purpose of rescuing the state from the spoiler.
They gained control of an increased number of
MISSISSIPPI A PAKT OF THE NATION. 441
counties with a corresponding increase in members
of the legislature. Under these encouraging con-
ditions the Democratic members of the legislature
held a meeting March 3, 1875, and appointed a state
committee to organize the Democratic-Conservative
party for the campaign of that year. A convention
representing the combined Democratic and Whig
voters of the state was held August 3, and a gen-
eral campaign inaugurated for the control of the
legislature, with Gen. J. Z. George in active control
of its management. The contest in reality was one
in which the whites were practically all on one side
and the blacks on the other. White Republicans, led
by Governor Alcorn, were in open opposition to
Ames on the ground that he had yielded everything
to the worst element of the party. The campaign
was one of intense feeling on the part of the white
people; they believed that a supreme effort should
be made to save their civilization from destruction.
After the meeting of the Democratic convention
the white people devoted all their time to the organ-
ization of political marching clubs in every com-
munity. Both parties organized their clubs with
military features. The legislature at its last ses-
sion had appropriated $60,000 for the organization
of two regiments of militia, a part of which could be
used for the purchase of Gatling guns and small
arms. As the campaign progressed, there were fre-
quent collisions between the whites and blacks, and
the governor called for Federal troops. When these
were refused he began to organize two regiments
of negro troops.
As the time for the election drew near, it became
evident that the Republicans were losing ground.
The anti-Ames wing of the party had gained the ear
of the President; a number of influential negroes
advised their people to vote the Democratic ticket
442 THE HISTORY OP MISSISSIPPI.
or remain away from the polls, and the leaders who
were loyal lost hope. During the campaign there
was intimidation on both sides. Many negroes were
pledged to vote the Democratic ticket, and had to be
protected from violence. Their preachers charged
the members of the church to vote the Republican
ticket, and those who refused were turned out. On
the other hand, the whites terrorized the negroes
with their military organizations, refused them em-
ployment unless they voted the Democratic ticket,
and announced that it would be best for them to stay
at home on election day.
The election was held Nov. 3, 1875, and was more
orderly and free from disturbances than any since
the war. The Democrats carried the state by over
30,000 majority, elected four congressmen, a state
treasurer, a majority of both houses of the legis-
lature and local officers in sixty-two of the seventy-
four counties. The election marked the downfall of
corrupt government, based on negro suffrage, in the
state of Mississippi.
Restoration of Home Rule, 1876-1800.
The revolution at the ballot-box was soon followed
by a session of the legislature, and a general in-
vestigation of all branches of the state government
was immediately taken up. It was the avowed pur-
pose of the Democrats, in the event of success, to
investigate the official conduct of Ames, Davis and
Cordoza, with a view to their impeachment and re-
moval from office. It was known that Davis and
Cordoza were guilty of almost every form of official
corruption. Ames, on the other hand, had, in the
opinion of the Democrats, been guilty only of illegal,
arbitrary and tyrannical official acts, and was held
to be culpable in condoning wholesale dishonesty in
those over whom he held control and for whose offi-
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 443
cial honesty he was responsible. Davis was im-
peached and convicted; Cordoza was allowed to re-
sign while the impeachment was pending, and Ames,
after the articles of impeachment were dismissed,
resigned. On March 29, 1875, the date of Governor
Ames' resignation, John M. Stone, president pro
tempore of the senate, was inaugurated governor of
the state.
The legislature made a searching investigation of
every department of the state government, which
resulted in unveiling the extravagance, fraud and
corruption that pervaded it in all directions. It was,
perhaps, the ablest body of legislators that had ever
assembled in Mississippi. The legislature remained
in session three and a half months, and the laws
enacted had in view a readjustment of the admin-
istrative and financial system which had been in
operation under the Republican regime. These laws
were wise and wholesome, and were based upon the
theory that rigorous economy was necessary for the
rehabilitation of the state. The economic condition
of the people was as bad, if not worse, as at the
close of the war. There had been very little re-
cuperation in the ten years which had passed; the
lands of the people, which were about the only
sources of revenue left to them, had borne the
burdens of taxation ; millions of acres had been for-
feited to the state, and the farms remaining in the
hands of the owners were heavily encumbered with
mortgages. It was therefore the wisest statesman-
ship to reduce the expenses of the state to a mini-
mum, and this was the task which the legislature of
187G accomplished.
The total expenditure of 1875, the last year of the
Ames administration, was $1,430,000; in 1876, the
first year in which the taxpayers were in control, the
total expenditure was $547,000. At the beginning of
444 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
1876 state warrants were selling as low as eighty
cents on the dollar ; before the legislature adjourned
in April they stood at ninety-five cents, and before
the close of the year were at par. In addition to the
policy of economy established by the legislature,
there was a complete revolution in the methods of
conducting the public business. Under the rule of
the non-taxpayers, public office was regarded as an
opportunity for securing the largest pay for the
least service, and the holders of petty county offices
secured large fortunes in a few years. Under the
rule of the taxpayers honest methods and honest
service marked the administration of public offices.
The wise and economical conduct of public affairs
by Governor Stone was rewarded in 1877 by his
election to a full term of four years. In his mes-
sage of January, 1878, he reported that the laws
had been impartially enforced, and that all the bless-
ings of good government had been secured to the
people. The total receipts from all sources in 1877
were $865,000, disbursements $562,000. The last
years of the Stone administration brought in a new
prosperity; there was a "boom" in railroad build-
ing; the Agricultural and Mechanical College was
founded, and the census of 1880 showed an increase
of 40 per cent, in the population of the state. In his
last message to the legislature Governor Stone
urged the establishment of an institution for the
higher education of young women.
After six years of honest, economical government
the state showed many evidences of improvement;
its public debt was small — and in this particular it
had a decided advantage over the other Southern
states, this favorable condition being secured by the
constitution of 1869, which prohibited pledging the
state's credit; confidence in its financial integrity
had been restored by a prompt payment of all its
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 445
obligations, and there had been a steady improve-
ment in the relations between the two races. After
1876 the negro took little or no part in politics, and
the change was good for him, as it gave him more
time to find out that industry and right dealing were
better for him to strive for than political control.
But even after the revolution of 1875 the negro was
not without representation in the political life of
the state ; they served as members of the legislature
as late as 1894, and held county offices up to 1890.
From 1880 to 1890 there was a complete readjust-
ment of race relations from both political and in-
dustrial standpoints. The negroes devoted them-
selves more to their duties as farm laborers and
mechanics, and less to the occupations of the politi-
cian. The white people, relieved of the burdens
which had prevented advancement, had more time
to give to the upbuilding of the state.
In 1882 there was a change of administration.
Governor Stone was succeeded by Gen. Robert
Lowry, who continued the general policies of his
predecessor; during his administration the state
made great advances along the lines of educational
development, the establishment of manufacturing
enterprises and the building of railroads.
The year 1886 was notable for the adoption of an
effective public school law and the passage of a local
option act which submitted the question of the sale
of intoxicating liquors to the counties. In his mes-
sage of 1888 Governor Lowry said that signs of in-
dividual and general prosperity were more mani-
fest in Mississippi than at any time of the decade.
The Constitutional Convention of 1890.
The Mississippi constitution of 1868 had, ever
since its adoption under the reconstruction regime,
been regarded with distrust by the best citizens. It
446 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
had been amended four times, but the changes
wrought in it had not satisfied the people. As early
as 1879 an agitation was begun for a new constitu-
tion. The objections urged against the existing
charter were its origin, its suffrage provisions,
which had given the state over to negro control for
seven years, its unequal provision for representa-
tion in the legislature, the appointment instead of
election of judges by popular vote, too frequent
elections, an objectionable system for the registra-
tion of voters, and need of greater powers for the
control of corporations and for the limitation of
legislative power. While all these objections were
urged as reasons for a change, the most vital and
popular demand came from the advocates of radical
changes in the regulation of the suffrage. Although
the negroes had largely given up the right to vote,
they were still entitled to cast their ballots under
the law. This was a constant menace to good gov-
ernment, and in some counties a small minority of
greenbackers and independents had, by the aid of
negro votes, gained control of local affairs. In 1881
these elements had united in the gubernatorial cam-
paign and cast over 50,000 votes. Good government,
under existing conditions, depended on a suppressed
negro vote. This was gradually undermining the
political morality of the people, and it was feared
by some of the most thoughtful and far-seeing men
that it would, if continued, be a source of endless
trouble.
By 1886 the demand for a change in the organic
law caused the legislature to adopt a resolution
calling a constitutional convention, but it was vetoed
by Governor Lowry. At the session of 1888 a reso-
lution was adopted by which the calling of a con-
vention was made an issue in the gubernatorial cam-
paign of 1889. In that contest John M. Stone
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 447
favored a new constitution and was nominated by
the Democratic convention for governor. In the
campaign for the convention, Senator J. Z. George
led those favoring it, and the success of the move-
ment, as well as the good results afterwards ob-
tained, were due to his wise and statesmanlike lead-
ership. The opposing forces were directed by Sen-
ator E. C. Walthall, who based his opposition on
the general ground that it was best to accept the
situation with all its evils rather than take the risk
of disrupting the political harmony of the white
race, which might be endangered by the disfran-
chisement of large numbers of white voters. The
popular vote at the November election was favorable
to a convention, and the legislature, at the session
of January, 1890, made provision for it; Governor
Stone approved the act Feb. 5, 1890, and on March
11 issued a proclamation calling an election of dele-
gates July 29, for a constitutional convention to be
held Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1890.
According to the act of the legislature the con-
vention met at the state house Tuesday, Aug. 12,
1890, and organized by the election of Judge S. S.
Calhoon, of Hinds county, as its presiding officer.
On taking the chair Judge Calhoon said that the
colossal fact confronting the convention was "that
there exists in this state two distinct and opposite
types of mankind. We find ourselves together and
we must live together, and the question is how shall
it be arranged so that we may live harmoniously."
He gave expression to the question which was upper-
most in the minds of the delegates, for every
thoughtful man in the convention knew the terrible
results of placing political power in ignorant and
incompetent hands. It was conceded that good gov-
ernment was impossible under universal suffrage
where 60 per cent, of the electors were ignorant
448 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
and semi-barbarous. How to restrict the suffrage
without coming in conflict with the provisions of the
Federal constitution by the elimination of ignorant
voters, was the great task of the delegates. There
were two men in the convention who were its recog-
nized leaders — James Z. George and Wiley P. Har-
ris— both of whom were constitutional lawyers of
great acumen and learning, and had been selected as
the best authorities in the state on the questions which
were pressing for solution. These two men largely
dominated the thought and action of the convention.
The franchise regulations of the constitution were
based upon the report of the judiciary committee
drawn by Judge Harris. There had been many
propositions referred to the suffrage committee, the
most important of which are here given as indi-
cating the range of sentiment. Judge S. S. Calhoon
proposed as a limitation on the suffrage one year's
residence and poll-tax payment for two years ; Hon.
E. B. Campbell, a property qualification ; Judge J. B.
Chrisman, a property qualification and the oath of
the voter that "I have read and comprehended the
article of the constitution of this state which pre-
scribes the qualifications of voters," and am not de-
barred ; Judge H. F. Simrall, a Republican member,
residence in the state two years, in the county one
year, payment of poll-tax on the day of payment
preceding election, and the Australian ballot; Hon.
R. H. Taylor would require the voter to "read this
constitution in the English language and write his
name"; Judge Samuel Powell would make the dis-
qualifications "convictions of any felony, petit lar-
ceny or unlawful cohabitation or failure to pay
taxes for last year"; Hon. R. G. Hudson proposed
the admission of both men and women to suffrage
under a property qualification and ability to read
and write. The delegates from the black counties
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 449
generally favored an alternative educational or
property qualification; the majority of the dele-
gates from the white counties were unalterably op-
posed to a property qualification.
The question of the constitutional effect of the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Fed-
eral constitution, and the act of Congress of Feb.
23, 1870, readmitting the state to representation,
was submitted to the judiciary committee, and the
committee submitted its report through Judge Wiley
P. Harris, its chairman, on the tenth day. The report
set out "that the Fourteenth amendment in terms
recognizes the right of the state to determine who
shall vote — by those clauses which reduce the repre-
sentation, if any male citizen of the United States
and of the state are excluded from the franchise as
a class"; clauses which are interpreted by con-
temporary history as giving the state the right to
elect between giving the negro full franchise or sub-
mitting to a reduction of representation in Congress.
"The Fifteenth amendment has but one operation,
and was engrafted in the constitution for the single
purpose of laying an inhibition on the state of dis-
criminating against the colored man because of race
or previous condition of servitude. The state has
just as large discretion in regulating the franchise
as it had before its adoption, with the single limita-
tion that the regulations which it prescribes shall
apply alike to both races." In dealing with the act
of Congress readmitting the state to representation,
the committee reported that the act of Congress re-
admitting Mississippi into the Union, in 1870, limit-
ing the right of the state to impose certain restric-
tions upon the right of franchise and otherwise pro-
hibiting the state from changing the constitution of
1869, was of no effect, so far as it made the state
unequal with other states in self-government.
Vol. 2—28.
450 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
There was a strong element in the convention
which was opposed to any restriction of the suffrage
which would disfranchise any considerable body of
white men. It was estimated that an educational
qualification would disfranchise 5,000 whites out of
a voting population of 130,000, and a property quali-
fication would disqualify a larger number. On the
other hand, there was a very able element which
contended that effective qualification should be
thrown round the franchise, and that if white men
were disfranchised, however deplorable it might be,
it was their duty to submit for the public good.
After long and patient discussion this idea pre-
vailed, and the franchise clause adopted operated to
disfranchise the illiterate of both races. In its
final form it provides, after excepting idiots, insane
persons and Indians not taxed, that an elector must
reside in the state two years and in the election pre-
cinct one year. All taxes, including a poll-tax of
$2, for the two years preceding the one in which
the elector offers to vote, must have been paid on
or before the first day of February of that year, and
an elector must also have been registered at least
four months prior to the election at which he offers
to vote. In addition the voter must "be able to read
any section of the constitution of the state, or he shall
be able to understand the same when read to him,
or give a reasonable interpretation thereof." The
franchise regulations were reenforced by the pas-
sage of an ordinance adopting the Australian sys-
tem of ballot. The constitution, as a whole, was
adopted Nov. 1, 1890, it being the seventy-second day
of the session.
Mississippi was the first of the Southern states to
solve the problem of disfranchising the ignorant
voter by legal constitutional means, and the example
it set was soon followed by other states of the South.
MISSISSIPPI A PAET OF THE NATION. 451
While the primary object of the constitutional con-
vention of 1890 was the elimination of ignorance
from the electorate, the constitution it adopted con-
tained many other admirable provisions, and the
charter, as a whole, will compare favorably with
the greatest systems of organic law which have been
promulgated by Americans. These features cannot
be elaborated in one brief chapter, neither is there
space for mention of the many notable men who were
delegates to the convention.
Economic, Social and Educational Conditions, 1865-1908.
The economic condition of Mississippi at the close
of the war was appalling. The struggle had resulted
in the financial ruin of the people; every family
was impoverished and starvation confronted all
alike; the farms which had been the main sources
of wealth in the past were barren wastes with fences
gone, buildings destroyed and implements prac-
tically worthless; all forms of business were at a
standstill; what little money the people had was
wholly without purchasing power; all forms of
transportation had failed ; the negroes were idle and
could not be induced to work ; the productive energy
of the white people had been reduced to such an
extent that the remaining resources of the state
could not be utilized, and all the usual factors in
the production of wealth were unequal to the task
of economic reorganization. In 1866 it was esti-
mated that there were 10,000 dependent and indi-
gent widows of Confederate soldiers in Mississippi ;
and estimating three children to each, it is a con-
servative estimate to place the number of depend-
ents at 40,000. There were few families that were
not mourning the loss of one member or more, and
it was the frequent comment of newspaper corre-
452 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
spondents visiting the South, in 1866, that it seemed
as if one-half of the men were gone.
The actual economic loss of the state of Missis-
sippi from 1861 to 1865 is difficult to estimate ; some
items of loss can, however, be approximately deter-
mined. In 1860 the number of slaves in the state
was 436,631, valued at $218,000,000; the realty was
assessed at $157,836,737; in 1870 the assessment
was $118,278,460. The Hinds County Gazette of
Feb. 2, 1866, estimates the actual loss of Hinds
county at $25,926,000 as follows :
22,352 slaves emancipated $11,176,000
200 buildings burned 600,000
Growing crops destroyed 500,000
10,000 bales of cotton burned 3,000,000
Vehicles, furniture, etc., destroyed 200,000
Stocks, bonds, etc 250,000
Live Stock carried away 2,000,000
Depreciation in value of lands 10,000,000
It is safe to presume that this is a conservative,
estimate, as it does not include the loss arising
from the destruction of railroads and rolling stock,
public bridges, factories, grist and lumber mills,
and other forms of wealth. It is impossible to esti-
mate, with any claim to accuracy, the loss in the
other sixty-one counties in the state.
But in spite of all these discouraging conditions
the returning soldiers determined to repair the
losses of the war, and plunged with energetic en-
thusiasm into the tasks which were before them.
Men who had never before labored in the fields un-
dertook the daily toil of the farm, and women ac-
customed only to direct the labor of others took up
the menial drudgery of the household. On accounT~
of the unreliable character of the negro under new
conditions, there was little or no advancement from
186L±o_L8Zfi. The f reedmen paid more attention to
politics, " protracted meetings'* and secret societies
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 453
than to the cultivation of the fields; many of them
believed that every adult member of the race would
be presented with forty acres of land and a mule by
the Federal government, and most of their time was
occupied in " staking off'* the richest acres in the
localities in which they lived.
In the social life of the people there had been a
complete revolution; the same love of hospitality
remained, but the wealth which had made it possible
was gone. The manner of living was completely
changed ; under the old conditions life on the planta-
tion was pleasant, under the new the head of the
family felt that it was dangerous for the unprotected
members of his household to be left alone. Where
the question of daily bread was the absorbing
thought, there was little time for social pleasures.
Every home had been bereaved through the death
of father or son, and the hearts of the people were
sad. So that the years immediately succeeding the
war were devoted to the simple life in which the
maidens helped their mothers with household duties
and the young men toiled to build up the waste
places. As time went on and as conditions improved,
the old habits and customs of the people were re-
newed; the old books which remained in the family
library were read and reread; the chess-board and
card-table were brought forth again and the house
party was revived. After the revolution of 1875,
when the horror of negro rule had departed, the re-
turn to normal conditions was still more marked,
every form of activity took on new life and the future
was bright.
During the first decade after the war large sums
of money were spent on negro education. There was
a general sentiment among the white people in
favor of the education of the dependent race; at a
454 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
meeting of the State Teachers' Association at Jack-
son, July 31, 1867, resolutions were passed favoring
the establishment of public schools for the negroes.
The Bishop of Mississippi, in a letter to the Colum-
bus Index of Dec. 19, 1866, advised the planters to
establish schools on the plantations for the instruc-
tion of negro children, and it was done in not a few
instances.
Under congressional reconstruction an elaborate
and expensive system of public schools was estab-
lished ; but the main object of its creators seemed to
be to provide places for political hangers-on. In
1870 the members of the House committee on edu-
cation was composed entirely of carpet-baggers and
negroes. The entire educational system was under
the control of the non-taxpayers, and its practical
operation created wide opposition. In 1873 some
important changes were made in the public school
law, which improved the system and placed it more
under local control. In 1886 there was a complete
revolution in the public schools, followed by the most
beneficial results; and since that time these schools
have made steady and substantial progress through-
out the state.
The reorganization of the institutions for higher
education after the war was immediate and was
brought about under the best conditions. Governor
Sharkey had been a member of the board of trustees
of the state university since its incorporation in
1844, and soon after assuming his gubernatorial
duties took steps for the reopening of the institution
for students. On July 1, 1865, he called a meeting
of the governing body to be held at Oxford on July
31. At that meeting a faculty was selected; the
university was opened the first Monday in October,
and 193 students were in attendance during the ses-
sion. During the administration of Governor Hum-
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 455
phreys the university was liberally supported by the
state. Under military reconstruction the trustees
of the university were not displaced, and General
Ames was inclined to allow the institution to remain
under control of the board without change in its mem-
bership. In 1870 the legislature passed an act which
was intended to "radicalize" the institution ; the ma-
jority of the old trustees were removed, and the new
appointees were largely politicians of the new regime.
The legislature of 1873 established the Alcorn
Agricultural and Mechanical College for the higher
education of negroes, and appropriated $50,000 a
year for ten years for its support, and the same
amount was given for the support of the university.
In 1878 the legislature passed an act for the estab-
lishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College
for the technical education of the youth of the state,
and in 1884 the Industrial Institute and College was
chartered for the education of white girls of Missis-
sippi in the arts and sciences. This institution was
the first state supported college for young women in
the United States, and such a policy was in keeping
with the precedent first set by the state in the char-
ter of Elizabeth Female Academy in 1819.
The period from 1880 to 1908 has been a time of
substantial advancement in the industrial and edu-
cational conditions of the state. The administra-
tions of Governors A. J. McLaurin, A. H. Longino
and J. K. Vardaman left the state in good economic
condition. One of the evidences of improvement
was the building of a new capitol, which was begun,
completed and occupied during the Longino admin-
istration. The great growth of the lumber interests
in the southern part of the state has caused the
rapid development of that part of Mississippi, and
its increase in wealth and population since 1890 has
been marked.
456 THE HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
The appropriation for common schools for the
years 1908 and 1909 was $2,500,000; for higher edu-
cation, $768,500.18. In 1907 the valuation of realty
was $222,386,593.35; personality, $106,572,223; rail-
roads, telegraph and telephone lines, express and
sleeping-car companies, $45,629,244, making a total
of $374,588,060.35; the amount invested in banks
was $22,438,070.05.
State Politics and Party Leaders, 1865-1908.
Before the war political lines were closely drawn
in Mississippi between the Democratic and Whig
parties on all public questions with the exception
of slavery, the two parties being practically to-
gether on that subject. On the policy of Southern
independence there was a well-defined line of cleav-
age; the majority of the Democrats favored seces-
sion in 1861, the majority of the Whigs opposed it.
During the four years of war the men of both parties
went to the armies of the Confederacy in defense of
its cause ; political differences were in abeyance, and
that condition of affairs continued after the return
of peace.
When Judge Sharkey, as provisional governor,
ordered an election for delegates to the convention
of 1865, neither the Democratic nor the Whig party
had an organization looking to its control. While
the election resulted in the selection of a large ma-
jority of Whigs, their success can be attributed to
the fact that there was a sentiment among the
Democrats that the men who opposed secession
would be most apt to secure the best terms from the
Federal administration. This idea also prevailed in
the selection of General Humphreys for governor at
the election held under the Presidential plan of re-
construction.
The reconstruction act of 1867 marked the begin-
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 457
ning of the Eepublican party in Mississippi. In the
Presidential elections of 1856 and 1860 not a vote
had been cast for Fremont or Lincoln. Under the
franchise clause of the constitution of 1868 the
negroes were clothed with the suffrage. This caused
the organization of the Eepublican party in Missis-
sippi under the leadership of two small elements of
white men, the majority of whom were from the
North ; these were supplemented by a small number
of white citizens of Mississippi, some of whom had
ability and character. A few Whigs under the
guidance of James L. Alcorn joined the Eepublican
party, but the great majority allied themselves with
the Democrats. Alcorn was nominated for governor
by the first Eepublican convention held in Missis-
sippi, his selection being brought about by the rad-
ical negro element. The more conservative Eepub-
licans nominated Judge Louis Dent on a platform
which might appeal to white Democrats. That
movement failed and Alcorn was elected. The tri-
umph of the negroes had a very depressing effect on
the native whites, the prevailing sentiment being
expressed by L. Q. C. Lamar, who said in an address
"that nothing remained for the South but the moral
and intellectual culture of her people."
In 1872 the Democrats of the first congressional
district decided to reorganize the party, and a con-
vention was held for the purpose of nominating a
candidate for Congress. The nomination was given
to Col. L. Q. C. Lamar ; he made a brilliant canvass
of the district and was elected, in November, by a
majority of nearly 5,000 votes. This election made
him the leader of his party in Mississippi, and
caused its systematic reorganization throughout the
state. In 1873 political conditions had reached an
interesting situation. Alcorn and Ames, the two
Eepublican United States senators, had quarreled,
468 THE HI8TOBY OF MISSISSIPPI.
and both were striving for control as candidates for
the nomination of their party for governor. This
factional fight seemed to afford an opportunity for
the white people, who were now acting together re-
gardless of party, to secure a measure of good gov-
ernment. Ames secured the support of the negroes
and was nominated ; the friends of Alcorn bolted the
convention and placed him in the field as an oppo-
sition candidate, with the hope of securing the sup-
port of the whites. No nomination was made by
the Democrats, but the party refused to support
Alcorn and Ames was elected.
From 1873 to 1875 the Democrats were strength-
ened by the corrupt methods of the party in power,
and its complete Africanization caused an over-
whelming majority of the white people to unite in
one party as the only means of defense. For two
years prior to the political campaign of 1875 a
thorough organization of Democratic voters was
perfected in every county for the purpose of electing
a majority of the members of the legislature; the
campaign having that end in view was opened by a
convention held in Jackson Aug. 3, 1875. This con-
vention adopted a platform of principles, nominated
a candidate for state treasurer and took the name of
the Democratic- Conservative party; this was the
reorganization of the Democratic party in Missis-
sippi. The leaders of the movement were L. Q. C.
Lamar, J. Z. George, E. C. Walthall, J. M. Stone,
Ethelbert Barksdale and C. E. Hooker. General
George was placed in active management of the
campaign, and Colonel Lamar led the forces in the
field. Great public meetings were held in every
county and were marked by an intense enthusiasm,
which indicated that the state was thoroughly
aroused. The public feeling may be shown by the
MISSISSIPPI A PAST OF THE NATION. 459
following resolutions, which were adopted at a great
gathering in Yazoo county :
"Resolved, That we are in favor of a vigorous and aggressive canvass
in the contest now approaching in Mississippi, and we appeal to our fel-
low-citizens throughout the State to unite with us in our endeavors by
legitimate means to regain control of our public affairs, and thus to
secure to all classes, white and black, the blessings of a just and honest
government.
"Resolved, That we favor low taxes and an immediate reduction of all
public expenditures,
"Resolved, That honesty and capacity are the only proper tests of
official fitness,
"Resolved, That all men are equal before the law, and are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, amongst which is not
the right to hold office unless the aspirant possesses the integrity and
other qualifications necessary to its execution."
The defeat of the Eepublicans in the election
practically eliminated the party from state politics.
In 1878 the Greenback party began to have some
success in county elections through a union of a few
white Eepublicans, disaffected Democrats and ne-
groes. The party had an electoral ticket in the
presidential campaign of 1880 and cast 5,797 votes
for Weaver. In 1881 the opposition to the Demo-
cratic party nominated a full ticket for state officers
and polled 52,009 votes. In 1892 the Populists in
Mississippi cast 10,256 ballots for their candidate
for President, and in 1895 the party increased its
vote in the gubernatorial election to 17,466.
It was generally believed that the disfranehise-
ment of the negroes through the constitution of 1890
would result in a political division of the whites, and
there was a decided tendency in that direction, as is
shown by the vote cast by the Populist party in 1892
and 1895, but that party disintegrated in 1896, and
its members in Mississippi returned to the Demo-
cratic fold. The Eepublican party had been so
thoroughly discredited in the state that it was im-
possible for it to gain recruits, and since 1876 it has
retained only a nominal existence for the distribu-
460 THE HISTOEY OF MISSISSIPPI.
tion of Federal patronage. In 1899 the Populists
had a candidate in the field against the Democratic
nominee for governor, but the ticket made little im-
pression. In the gubernatorial campaigns of 1903
and 1907 there was no opposition to the Democratic
party.
In the political life of the state since 1870 condi-
tions of an extraordinary nature have called for-
ward men of the best talent and character ; and this
was especially true of the leaders developed by the
revolution of 1875. The one man who, possibly,
stands apart as the head and front of that great
movement was L. Q. C. Lamar. He had, by his great
Sumner speech of 1874, attracted national attention
as a gifted expounder of the best principles of a new
Union. While believing that the Southern people
had held the position which was historically correct
in their interpretation of the national constitution,
he was willing to abide by the settlement made by
the gage of battle, and his statesmanship looked to
the building of a firmly united nation. As long as
he remained in public life he represented the best
sentiment of the people of Mississippi. The political
campaign of 1875 brought into public life two other
leaders of influence and power — J. Z. George and
E. C. Walthall. They were colleagues in the United
States Senate for twelve years; George was re-
garded as the great constitutional lawyer of the Sen-
ate ; Walthall as the ideal American senator. These
three men — Lamar, Walthall and George — were the
leaders held in highest esteem among the post-
bellum statesmen of Mississippi. The man who has
left the greatest and best impression in the field of
state politics is J. M. Stone; so strongly intrenched
was he in the public confidence that no other citizen
has been honored with a like term of office as the
state's chief executive. In the national House of
MISSISSIPPI A PART OF THE NATION. 461
Representatives John Allen, Charles E. Hooker, 0.
R. Singleton and Ethelbert Barksdale had distin-
guished careers.
The senatorial seats of Walthall and George are
now ably filled by H. D. Money and A. J. McLaurin.
In the national House of Representatives John
Sharp Williams has attained great distinction as
the leader of the Democratic party, and has been
elected as the successor to Senator Money.
In state politics the race question has appeared,
and it was the successful issue in the campaign of
1903 ; J. K. Vardaman, the winning candidate, advo-
cated depriving the negroes of the benefit of all
school funds except those coming from taxes paid
by the race. In the gubernatorial election of 1907
the race question was not an issue ; E. F. Noel was
elected governor.
In national elections there is only one party in
Mississippi. The state has maintained its tradi-
tions, and since 1872 has cast its vote in the electoral
college for the Democratic candidate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Manuscript Sources. — The original sources of Mis-
sissippi history for the period 1865-1908 are preserved in theDepartment
of Archives and History down to 1895; the records after that date are in
the custody of the departments in which they originated. These archives
are similar in character to those described under the head of manuscript
sources, in article Mississippi, 1817-1861.
Printed Sources. — Davis, Varina Howell: Jefferson Davis (1890);
Why the Solid South (1890); Dodd: Jefferson Davis (1908); Dunning:
Reconstruction, Political and Economic (Vol. XXII. The American
Nation, 1907); Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi (1901); Lowry and
McCardle: History of Mississippi (1891); Lynch: Bench and Bar of
Mississippi (1881); Mayes: L. Q. C. Lamar, His Life, Times and Speeches
(1896); Riley: Publications, Mississippi Historical Society (1897-1906);
Rhodes: History of the United States, 1850-1877, Vol. VII (1906); Row-
land: Encyclopedia of Mississippi History (1907), Mississippi Official and
Statistical Registers (2 vols., 1904-8); Smedes: A Southern Planter (1900).
For lists of newspapers, files and pamphlets see Annual Report of the
Department of Archives and History (1908).
DUNBAB ROWLAND,
Director Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER I.
COLONIAL AND TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE.
Early Explorations of Tennessee.
jEFORE the trader, the hunter and the ex-
plorer invaded the territory now known as
Tennessee, the land was held by several
remarkable tribes of Indians. The Chicka-
saws were dominant in West Tennessee
and the Cherokees in East Tennessee, while the
middle division of the state was a part of the
famous hunting grounds of the Iroquois. At one
time, probably in the Seventeenth century, the Shaw-
nees took up their abode in the hunting grounds and
gave their name to Sewanee, the town, Sewanee the
mountain, and to the beautiful river that now bears
the name of Cumberland. They were expelled about
the year 1714 by the allied Chickasaws, Cherokees
and Iroquois. Tennessee was often visited by those
wanderers of the forest, the Creeks, whose home,
however, was further south. The Chickasaws were
inclined to peace, though redoubtable in war. The
Cherokees, who were warriors above all, were unre-
lenting in their hostility to the white men. The
Creeks, being soldiers of fortune, gave the early
settlers of East Tenneseee not a little trouble. Such
were the inhabitants of Tennessee when the indomi-
table white man put in his appearance.
COLONIAL-TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 463
The first white man to set foot within the boun-
daries of Tennessee was Ferdinand De Soto who
crossed the Mississippi near Chisca's village on the
Chickasaw Bluffs, where Memphis is now situated,
in the spring of 1541. Nothing came of this incident
except to give Spain a phantom claim to the country,
which was afterwards ratified by the Pope. In 1584
Queen Elizabeth with a royal flourish handed over
to Sir Walter Raleigh a patent granting him all the
land in America between the 33d and 40th parallels
of north latitude. The name of Virginia was given
to this empire and Tennessee was a part of it. The
Spanish claim was allowed virtually to lapse, when
the French took up the work of exploration in ear-
nest in 1673. Marquette and Joliet were the first to
explore the Mississippi valley and they made a note
of the Chickasaw Bluffs. In 1682 La Salle voyaged
down the Mississippi and claimed the country in the
name of France, calling it Louisiana. He stopped
and built a cabin and fort which he called Prud-
homme, made a treaty with the Indians and estab-
lished a trading post. It was here that the first
house was built by the white men in Tennessee.
Subsequently the French trader Charleville built
a store at Salt Lick, where the city of Nashville now
stands.
Early Settlements.
Tennessee was thus included in English Virginia
and French Louisiana at the same time, with the
shadowy Spanish claim hanging over. But while
the French were making the approach from the
west and expected to hold the land through a power-
ful chain of forts located at favorable points on the
river, the English from the east were casting long-
ing eyes upon a territory reputed to be of unrivalled
charm and fertility and to be a paradise for the
hunter. On the eastern side of the Alleghanies there
464 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
were hordes of adventurous spirits who were eager
to penetrate the land beyond the mountains where
the western waters flow. The first of these daring
invaders was Andrew Lewis, who was dispatched by
the Earl of London, governor of Virginia province,
in 1756 to build a fort on the Little Tennessee Eiver.
He established Fort London accordingly on the south
side of the stream, about thirty miles from the pres-
ent city of Knoxville — the first structure built by the
English on the soil of Tennessee. The venture was
unfortunate, however, for the promise of becoming
a permanent settlement was never realized. A clash
with the Cherokees resulted in the massacre of the
garrison and the destruction of the fort.
The apprehension was general among the Indians
that the English settlers entertained the purpose of
seizing their lands and driving them out, and this
fear was encouraged by the French, whose object
seemed to be trade rather than colonization. In
order to allay the Indian unrest, King George issued
a proclamation forbidding the acquisition of lands
from the Indians or the establishment of settlements
west of the sources of the streams which flow into
the Atlantic. But the restless frontiersmen could
not be restrained. They began to straggle across the
mountains, to clear the wilderness, and build their
cabins. This steady invasion aroused the resent-
ment of the Indians, and in order to conciliate them,
a conference was held and the boundary line between
the lands of the contestants was fixed by treaty. The
dauntless backwoodsman, however, cared little for
imaginary lines, and it is noticeable that the boun-
dary was continually moving west.
When Virginia was divided in 1663, Tennessee
became a part of Carolina, and when Carolina was
divided in 1693, Tennessee became a part of North
Carolina, though the boundary lines were so inde-
COLONIAL-TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 465
terminate that some of the early settlers were
uncertain as to the colony in which they were located.
When the tide of English settlement became strong,
Tennessee was a part of the colony of North Caro-
lina.
To the English colonists on the Atlantic coast Ten-
nessee had all the charm of mystery. The traders
had been the first to penetrate it but they had done
little in the way of exploration. The hunters who
were attracted by the stories of abundant game to
be found there, were the real forerunners of the per-
manent settlement. In 1748 a considerable band of
hunters under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Walker,
of Virginia, penetrated the heart of Middle Ten-
nessee. He gave to a range of mountains the name
of the Duke of Cumberland, and the mountain stream
to which the Shawnees had given their own 'name, he
called the Cumberland Eiver. In 1760 Daniel Boone
and a large party of hunters made their way into
Tennessee, and an inscription on a venerable tree
crediting him with having killed a bear there testifies
to his visit. The hunters naturally carried back
with them to Virginia and North Carolina wonderful
stories of the beauty and richness of the land; and
so the way was paved for the coming of the hardy
pioneer whose purpose was to make for himself and
his family a home in the wilderness.
The trader, the hunter, and the explorer having
performed their task, the settler now took up the
work. Tennessee had been in turn a part of three
English colonies, yet it was a terra incognita to all
of them. The settlement of the state was hardly
due to any organized effort. The pioneer settlers
were of Scotch-Irish descent, and they came in small
parties as the impulse moved them. Their first set-
tlement was made north of the Holston Eiver in the
northeastern part of the state. The Shelbys were the
Vol. 2— 30.
466 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
leaders in this settlement. The most famous colony,
however, was that of the Wautauga Association on
the Wautauga Eiver, which ran to the south of the
Holston.
The most striking figure at Wautauga was James
Eobertson, who has been accorded the honor of
being the Father of Tennessee. Eobertson was born
in Virginia, but his family moved to North Carolina
while he was a youth. In 1770 he journeyed to the
beautiful valley of the Wautauga, where he was
entertained by a pioneer settler. He remained long
enough to raise a crop of corn there and decided
to return home and bring back his family. While
crossing the mountains he lost his way and would
no doubt have perished had not two hunters found
and relieved him. He brought with him a con-
siderable party from North Carolina, and thus the
settlement became an assured fact.
Eobertson was not a man of much education or
wealth but he was a splendid type of the pioneer,
hardy, brave and resourceful. Though virtually the
founder of the Wautauga settlement his name is
more closely identified with Middle Tennessee, and
a county in that division of the state was named
after him.
Wautauga had a unique and eventful history. The
settlement throve apace, and in 1772, the families
there were so numerous that a political organization
was effected, the first within the confines of the
present state. The settlement was considered by its
inhabitants to be in the limits of Virginia, but a gov-
ernment survey showed that the Virginia line was
the Holston Eiver, and as land below that stream
was forbidden territory, the agent for the Crown
among the Cherokees ordered the Wautauga settlers
to move off. They were living on Indian land out-
side the protection of any organized colony. Singu-
COLONIAL-TERRITOKIAL TENNESSEE. 467
lar as it may seem, the Cherokees expressed the wish
that they might be allowed to remain, provided they
remained where they were, and made no further
encroachments on the territory of the Indians.
Washington District; Revolutionary War.
This relieved the situation. Wautauga was thus
an independent colony, owing allegiance to no gov-
ernment— a tiny, unorganized republic lost in the
western wilderness. From this anomalous condition
of affairs came the first written constitution in Amer-
ica ; for the settlers being sensible men and realizing
that they were beyond the jurisdiction of the white
man's government and living on land at the suffer-
ance of the Indians, organized a government of their
own and dispatched James Robertson and John Bean
to negotiate a lease of the land from the Indians.
This little independent commonwealth existed until
the breaking out of the Revolution in 1775, when it
became voluntarily a part of the Washington Dis-
trict.
How this district originated is a matter of some
interest. When the colony of North Carolina de-
clared her independence of Great Britain, the settle-
ments on the Wautauga and Nollichucky rivers
united and constituted themselves the Washington
District — the first division of the kind to be named
after George Washington. At their own request
they were included in North Carolina, in order that
they might share in the expense of maintaining the
Revolution and participating in the conflict of arms.
Formal recognition of the admission of the district
was made in 1776, and the county of Washington
was established therefrom in 1777. It has been noted
as a singular fact that no British invader ever set
foot upon the soil of Tennessee. The British fought
the early settlers through the Indians. During the
468 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
transition period between the application for admis-
sion and the establishment of Washington county,
the Indians were incited by their British allies to
wage war against the settlements in this county. The
information of the approaching invasion was given
by an Indian woman, Nancy Ward, the Pocahontas
of the West. The pioneers took steps to repel the
invasion by building forts at various points. The
Indians in two parties of about 350 each marched
against the forts at Heaton's Station and Wautauga.
The garrison at the former place, 170 men in all, did
not wait for the Indians under Dragging Canoe to
come up, but marched out to meet them. The en-
counter ensued at a place called Island Flats, where
the Indians were dispersed with a loss of forty
killed, while the pioneers did not lose a man.
Fort Wautauga was garrisoned by forty men un-
der the command of Captain James Eobertson and
John Sevier. The Indians, commanded by Old Abra-
ham of Chilhowee, attacked the fort about sunrise,
but were repulsed with considerable loss and forced
to retreat. It was during this attack that Kate Sher-
rill — Bonny Kate — a handsome mountain girl, was
pursued by the Indians up to the stockade where she
was rescued by her future husband, the gallant John
Sevier. These and other successes against the In-
dians resulted in a treaty of peace.
The county of Washington was now commensurate
with the present state of Tennessee, and induce-
ments were offered to settlers to take up their abode
within its confines. James Eobertson organized a
body of pioneers and crossed the lonely hills of Ten-
nessee, arriving at French Salt Lick, the site of the
present city of Nashville, where he laid the founda-
tions of a permanent settlement.
While the indomitable settlers were thus acting as
the Bear Guard of the Eevolution, they were also
COLONIAL-TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 469
pushing the work of civilization into the West. The
task of developing the Cumberland colony went ac-
tively on. Robertson brought his family from Wau-
tauga and that settlement acted as a sort of feeder
for the Middle Tennessee colony. In order to make
the journey between the two less toilsome, a fleet of
boats was constructed under Captain John Donelson,
who took a considerable party from Fort Patrick
Henry on the Holston River to the French Salt Lick
on the Cumberland. The expedition was consum-
mated on April 24, 1779, and it brought a valuable
addition of forces to the Cumberland settlement.
Subsequently Donelson 's fleet of thirty or more ves-
sels was used by the colony in hostilities against the
Indians and for other public services.
In 1780 the Cumberland settlers took steps to form
a government by adopting a compact, which has been
pronounced a model of its kind. These settlers were
mostly of good Virginia stock, and they believed in
law and order. In penetrating into the wilderness
they were animated by an intense love of liberty and
a desire to elude British oppression. They were for
the most part men of some education. It has been
said that in 1776 out of 200 of those who crossed the
Alleghanies. only two were unable to write their
names.
At first everything went well with the Cumberland
settlers. They built cabins and cultivated the land,
and entertained the hope that they had at last ar-
rived at a place where the strong arm of British
oppression could not reach them. But while they had
escaped one danger, they soon found themselves in
the meshes of another. They were surrounded by
hostile Indians who ambushed them when they
strayed away from their homes, and shot a good
many of them while they were cultivating their crops.
Agriculture became almost impossible under these
470 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
conditions. In ordinary engagements with the In-
dians the pioneers were consistently successful, but
the savages were numerous and they were experts
at Parthian warfare. Eepulsed to-day, they were
apt to return to-morrow. This constant warfare with
the Indians began to tell on the nerves of the set-
tlers. They were confronted with starvation and
their ammunition had nearly given out. Some aban-
doned their new homes and returned to the old. In
this emergency Robertson made a dangerous trip to
the East and returned with a supply of ammunition
just in time to prevent the despairing settlers from
abandoning their homes for good. Though Robert-
son had made peace with the Chickasaws, the colony
was continually beset by the Cherokees, the Creeks
and other tribes. The hardy pioneer proved himself
a valiant Indian fighter, but many of the leading men
in the colony were killed, crops were destroyed, cattle
and horses were captured and cabins were burned
by the savages. General despair set in, and in 1782
a council was held to decide whether the colony
should be abandoned. This would probably have
been done, but for the resolution of Robertson. It
was on this occasion that he proved his dauntless
spirit more conclusively than in all his battles with
the Indians and his hazardous expeditions across the
mountains. His address to the council turned the
tide. His rude eloquence put new spirit into the
drooping hearts of the pioneers. The end of the
Revolutionary War was in sight, he told them, the In-
dians would no longer be fortified by English support,
and it would not be a great while before there would
be large accessions to the colony from the ranks of
the patriot armies. "Fight it out here,'* was Rob-
ertson's thrilling command, and the colonists re-
sponded to the call of the man who never went back.
He had, indeed, foreseen the future. Peace between
COLONIAL-TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 471
Great Britain and the American colonies in 1782
brought some relief from the Indian attacks; and
there was an influx of settlers who gave new strength
to the colony. The savages, indeed, kept up a guer-
rilla warfare, but the men of the Cumberland were
better prepared for them. Conditions marked a
steady improvement. Life and property became
measurably secure. The farmer could pursue his
calling with but little fear of interruption. James
Bobertson's great work of forging a new state out
of the wilderness — once the hunting grounds of the
wild men of the forest — had been practically assured.
In the meantime there was another great govern-
ment builder in the eastern part of the state, and as
the early history of Middle Tennessee is virtually
the history of James Eobertson, so the colonial his-
tory of East Tennessee centres in the career of one
of the most romantic figures that graced the annals
of the state.
John Sevier was born of gentle parents in the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Living on the fron-
tier, he naturally had few educational advantages,
but in this respect he did not differ materially from
other young gentlemen of the time. He became in
after life a master of apt and forceful English, but
he was always a man of deeds rather than of words.
He completed his education when he was not quite
seventeen, married immediately and went into busi-
ness. When he was only eighteen he conducted a
successful fight against the Indians who had en-
deavored to loot his store. This was the beginning
of the career of the greatest Indian fighter in Amer-
ica. In all he fought thirty-five Indian fights and
never lost one of them. His undeviating success was
due to the fact that he never waited for the savages
to come after him ; he went after them, and he struck
as the hurricane strikes.
472 THE HISTOEY OF TENNESSEE.
Such was the man who, in the Valley of the Wau-
tauga, was destined to play so distinguished a part.
Sevier was a man of some wealth at the time when
he journeyed across the mountains and met Robert-
son, and decided to cast in his fortunes with those of
the Wautauga colony. When Eobertson migrated to
the Cumberland, Sevier remained at Wautauga. By
reason of this he took a considerable part in the Rev-
olution. In 1780 misfortune had crowned the cause
of the Revolutionists. Lincoln had surrendered to
Sir Henry Clinton; Georgia was virtually in the
hands of the British; Gates had been defeated by
Cornwallis, and the relentless Tarleton had driven
Sumpter before him in bitter defeat. Cornwallis had
now determined to enter North Carolina and make
his victory complete. Word was brought of his in-
tentions to the men across the mountains and they
resolved to checkmate his plans. He had sent the
brave but illfated Major Ferguson to guard his army
from attack on the west, and the mountaineers di-
rected their attention towards the destruction of this
body of men. Tennessee shares in the glory of King's
Mountain, because of the 910 men who fought that
fight, she contributed more than any other colony,
and some of her ablest leaders like Sevier and Shelby
participated in it with marked distinction. But for
the mountain men of Tennessee it is doubtful whether
the battle would have been won, and had it not been
won, it is probable that the Revolution would have
been lost. King 's Mountain is considered by military
experts the decisive battle of the Revolution, and it
was largely to the splendid bravery of the early
Tennesseeans of the Wautauga Association that the
victory was due. This colony of valiant men from
Virginia stock, but from soil included in North Caro-
lina, did its full duty during the Revolution, not only
keeping the British enemy out, but crossing the
COLONIAL-TEKRITOKIAL TENNESSEE. 473
mountains and striking him in the rear to such pur-
pose that his apparently decisive victories turned to
naught. In the meantime the dauntless settlers both
at Wautauga and on the Cumberland had to repel
continuous assaults of the Indians who had been in-
cited to this congenial work by the British foe.
Great was the rejoicing throughout the territory,
now known as the state of Tennessee, when peace
was finally declared, but the troubles of the settlers
were by no means over. They were still subject to
unexpected attacks from the Indians, but the white
population was steadily increased by the coming of
the Continental soldiers who were allowed a bounty
of so much land in the territory. A concerted attack
by the Indians about the time peace was declared
aroused John Sevier; and, after he had repulsed it,
he organized a force of men and carried the war into
the enemy's country in so characteristic a manner
that the Indian peril was now practically removed
from East Tennessee. Moreover, the accessions to
the population were rapidly making the whites
strong enough to deter the Indians from any but
sporadic and ill-considered attacks.
The State of FrankliL.
After the Eevolution many claims for military
services and supplies were presented by the men
west of the Alleghanies against the government of
North Carolina. Irritation and friction were thus
created between the main colony and her western
territory. The alliance between the two had always
been more or less unnatural, for the early settlers
of Tennessee were Virginians who had built their
homes by the western waters under the impression
that they were on the soil of their native state. They
had never received any protection from North Caro-
lina and had been compelled to form their own gov-
474 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
eminent and protect themselves. They had even
gone to the rescue of North Carolina in the pure
spirit of patriotism and from an innate love of
liberty.
North Carolina, however, was in financial straits,
and in order to get rid of her obligations to her west-
ern citizens, she ceded Tennessee to the United
States, provided the national government accepted it
in two years. At a subsequent session of her legis-
lature, sovereignty was asserted over the territory
west of the Alleghanies until the cession thereof
should be accepted. The land office, however, was
closed and all entries of land made after May 25,
1784, were declared null and void.
Tennessee was now completely out in the cold. The
territory had been ceded to the United States which
had not accepted it. North Carolina still asserted
sovereignty, but withdrew all protection, including
even that to land titles. Naturally those inde-
pendent and courageous mountaineers were in-
dignant, and once again they held a convention
and created for themselves a new government.
At that time the territory, now known as the
state of Tennessee, was composed of four counties-
Washington, Sullivan, Greene and Davidson. The
latter held aloof, but the other three elected delegates
to a convention and adopted a constitution. The
Rev. Samuel Houston was a member of the conven-
tion, and he submitted a draft of a constitution which
made any person ineligible to office who could be
proved guilty of immorality, profane swearing,
drunkenness, Sabbath^breaking, and gaming, or who
did not subscribe to the doctrine of the Trinity and
the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The rev-
erend legislator's constitution did not fare well at
the hands of those hard-headed, sensible men, who
had seen enough of the union of church and state.
COLONIAL-TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 475
Instead a constitution similar to that of North Caro-
lina was adopted, the new state was named after
Benjamin Franklin, and John Sevier was chosen
governor.
While these events were taking place North Caro-
lina repealed the act of cession, formed the Wash-
ington District into a brigade and appointed Sevier
brigadier general. He thought that it might be ad-
visable to compromise, but finding that his people
were opposed to anything of the kind he did not hesi-
tate to go with them and accept the governorship.
It is uncertain whether the founders of the state
of Franklin intended that it should become a part of
the union, as one of the provisions of their constitu-
tion was that "the inhabitants within these limits
agree with each other to form themselves into a free,
sovereign, and independent body politic or state, by
the name of the Commonwealth of Franklin. ' ' Sub-
sequently, however, they did apply for recognition
as a state, but Congress gave no sign. North Caro-
lina, too, treated the new state as a myth. She went
on legislating and executing laws within the boun-
daries of Franklin, and she made new counties out
of parts of Davidson and Sullivan. The anomolous
condition of the new state was not calculated to give
it either strength or stability. It had no standing.
It was beyond the pale. Though its territory con-
tained inconceivable and at that time unknown riches,
it had no means of exploiting its resources, for it was
to all intents and purposes an outlaw among the
states.
Efforts at compromise were made, first on the
part of Franklin and then on the part of North Caro-
lina. Commissioners from the new state were ac-
corded a hearing by the general assembly of the old
state, but nothing was done. In the meantime the
relations between the two commonwealths were be-
476 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
coming strained. Kesolute warrior though he was
when war was the order of the day, John Sevier was
instinctively a man of peace, and he strove contin-
ually to prevent any resort to arms between the two
states. He was a soldier because the exigencies of
the time made war a necessity ; but he was primarily
a constructive statesman and born leader of men.
Had anybody but Sevier been governor of Franklin,
the chances are that there would have been a useless
but bloody conflict between the two states.
Evidently North Carolina began to feel somewhat
apprehensive, for the second overtures came from
her. Governor Caswell requested Col. Evan Shelby
to confer with Governor Sevier, and see if some basis
of adjustment could be agreed on. The conference
resulted happily in an agreement between the two
governments to avoid conflict or friction until the
next meeting of the general assembly of North Caro-
lina. The public business was to be carried on by
the authorities of the two states acting in conjunc-
tion.
But the state of Franklin was giving signs of pre-
mature decay. Sevier had mistrusted the venture
from the first; but he served faithfully throughout
his term of office, which expired in March, 1788. No
election was held to choose his successor, and thus
the state of Franklin, after three years of fitful life,
passed out of existence. After Sevier 's somewhat
curious arrest at the instigation of Col. John Tipton
and his prompt release and return to his home, he
was elected to represent Greene county in the senate,
of North Carolina, his disabilities were removed and
he was admitted as a member of that body. No ill-
feeling seems to have been entertained towards him,
and this is not astonishing, as he was a man of
charming personality and his career as the greatest
of all the Indian fighters must naturally have made
COLONIAL-TEBRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 477
an appeal to the people of North Carolina. He was,
indeed, soon reinstated as brigadier general of the
Washington District and had the honor to be the
first member of Congress elected from the territory
west of the Alleghany mountains.
The Territory of Tennessee.
While the annals of East Tennessee were thus en-
livened, those of Middle Tennessee were by no means
dull. The commission of atrocities by the Indians
had not ceased ; and the Cumberland colony suffered
not a little from the Spanish intrigues. It was nec-
essary to organize several punitive expeditions
against the savages, because of the indifference of
the national government which, in 1790, had at last
accepted the cession of Tennessee from North Caro-
lina. There was no objection on the part of the Ten-
nesseeans to the cession this time, as the United
States had adopted a territorial policy that was now
understood and that was generally acceptable.
Tennessee now became a part of the territory of
the United States south of the Eiver Ohio, and Wil-
liam Blount was appointed governor thereof. The
present territory of the state was divided into two
judicial districts, one embracing the four eastern
counties and called the Washington District; the
other embracing the three western counties of Dav-
idson, Sumner and Tennessee, and called the Mero
District, after the Spanish governor of Louisiana
and West Florida, who happened at the time of
naming the district to enjoy the favor of the Cum-
berland colony. President Washington appointed
John Sevier brigadier general for the Washington
District and James Eobertson brigadier general of
the Mero District. Governor Blount proved himself
an able executive, and he seems to have done all he
could to speed the aspirations of the territory to-
478 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
wards realizing statehood. A territorial legislature
was established, and the people enjoyed a measure
of popular government. But the territorial form of
government was only transiently acceptable to the
people of Tennessee. It allowed them little or no
initiative, and so after six years of it, the southwest
territory, as it was called, took steps to become a
state. This was done with the approval of Governor
Blount, who had a census taken, in accordance with
an act of the legislature, showing the population of
the territory to be 66,000 free inhabitants and 10,000
slaves. Thereupon the governor called a constitu-
tional convention, of which he was made president.
The constitution was modelled after that of North
Carolina, and as there was a contract between that
state and the United States that the territory should
become a state when it had a population of 60,000,
the people of Tennessee claimed admission to the
Union not as a concession but as a matter of right.
A government was therefore organized before Ten-
nessee had been formally admitted to statehood,
John Sevier was chosen governor of the new Com-
monwealth and Blount was made a United States
Senator.
A State in the Union.
The Federalists in Congress opposed the admis-
sion of the new state on party grounds, and New
England was almost solidly hostile. The reasons for
this hostility need not be dwelt upon. The House of
Eepresentatives adopted the bill admitting the state
by a good majority, but the Senate passed a different
bill that placed obstacles in the way of attaining
statehood. When, however, conference committees
were appointed, the Senate receded from its position,
and Tennessee became a state. It was from this
act of volunteering into the Union that Tennessee
derived the name of the Volunteer State.
COLONIAL-TERRITORIAL TENNESSEE. 479
At the time of admission in 1796 East and Middle
Tennessee were in process of rapid settlement, and
Knoxville and Nashville were growing towns. West
Tennessee, though included in the boundaries of the
state, was the property of the Chickasaw Indians.
It was about a quarter of a century before this di-
vision of Tennessee was purchased from the Bed
men.
Very little is known about the schools of that time,
but the settlers seemed to have numbered few illiter-
ates among them. Of the 366 signers of the petition
to annex Washington District to North Carolina and
of the Cumberland Articles of Agreement only three
had to make their marks. That there were some
schools in the state is not only a matter of inference,
but a matter of common knowledge. The Eev. Sam-
uel Doak founded a school in Washington county in
1780, which was probably the first institution of
learning established in the Mississippi Valley. The
Eev. Thomas Craighead established a school near
Nashville in 1785 ; and in 1794 the Eev. Samuel Car-
rick was made president of Blount College, just es-
tablished by the territorial legislature — the first col-
lege, by the way, in the country to permit the co-
education of the sexes, and the first graduate of
which was Barbara Blount, a daughter of Governor
Blount. In process of time this institution became
the University of Tennessee.
Such was the state that those two indomitable
souls, John Sevier and James Eobertson, gave to
the Union.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Allison, John: Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History
(Nashville, 1897); Clayton, W. W.: History of Davidson County (Phila-
delphia, 1880); Draper, Layman C.: King's Mountain and Its Heroes
(Cincinnati, 1881); Ellet, Mrs.: Pioneer Women of the West (New York,
1852); Gilmore, James R.: Rear Guard of the Revolution (New York,
1886), John Sevier as a Commonwealth Builder (New York, 1887); Hay-
wood, John: Civil and Political History of Tennessee (Knoxville, 1823);
Putnam, A. W.: History of Middle Tennessee (Nashville, 1859); Ramsay,
480 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
J. G. M.: Annals of Tennessee (Philadelphia, 18GO); Roosevelt, Theodore:
The Winning of The West (New York, 1895); Sanford, E. T.: Blount Col-
lege and the University of Tennessee; Wright, Marcus J.: Life of William
Blount (Washington); Nashville, History of, published by H. W. Crew
(Nashville, 1890).
.WALKER KENNEDY,
Editor Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Term.
CHAPTER II.
TENNESSEE AS A STATE, 1796-1861.
Steps to Statehood.
When the legislature of the "Southwest Terri-
tory'* met in 1794 it began preparations for admis-
sion to the Union. Eesolutions were passed to the
effect that the people be enumerated and their wishes
concerning admission be ascertained. Nothing more
was done at this regular meeting of the Assembly,
because Governor Blount was in doubt as to the
proper method of procedure. It was eventually
decided that a constitutional convention should
be called in case the population included the requisite
number for admission. Consequently the governor
convened the Assembly in extraordinary session in
June, 1795. Immediately an act was passed author-
izing the taking of the census, and directing the gov-
ernor to call a constitutional convention if the in-
habitants numbered 60,000.
Constitutional Convention of 1796.
The time in which the census was to be taken was
from September 15 to November 15, and the com-
pensation for the work was fixed at a per capita rate.
It was found that the number of inhabitants included
65,676 whites, 973 free negroes and 10,613 slaves.
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 481
The population of Middle Tennessee was 11,924, and
of East Tennessee was 65,338. The number of slaves
in Middle Tennessee was much larger in percentage
than in East Tennessee. The census having dis-
closed more than the requisite number of inhabitants,
Governor Blount called a constitutional convention
to meet on Jan. 11, 1796, at Knoxville. There were
eleven counties in the territory and each county was
represented in the convention by five members. Gov.
"William Blount was elected chairman, and the ses-
sion lasted twenty-seven days. The constitution
was drawn by a committee consisting of two mem-
bers from each county. It was never submitted to
a vote of the people. The first General Assembly
met at Knoxville on March 28, 1796. John Sevier
was elected governor and William Blount and
William Cocke United States senators. President
Washington sent a copy of the constitution to Con-
gress on April 8. It soon appeared that there was
considerable opposition to admission in Congress.
This was doubtless due to party strife. The two
great parties of the United States at that time were
the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist. The people
of Tennessee were largely Anti- Federalists. One of
the leading arguments against admission was based
on the difference of opinion regarding the propriety
of organizing the state before application for admis-
sion had been made. The opposition was mainly in
the Senate. The House of Representatives favored
admission by a vote of forty-three to thirty. Finally,
on May 31, the Senate accepted the House bill and
on June 1 President Washington attached his signa-
ture and Tennessee became the sixteenth state of the
Union.
John Sevier, First Governor of Tennessee.
John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee, was
of French extraction. He was born in Virginia and
Vol. 2—31.
482 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
came to Tennessee when he was about seventeen
years of age. He was to the early settlements of
East Tennessee what James Eobertson was to the
settlements in Middle Tennessee. His popularity
was the kind that evinces the most excellent traits
of character. His name was a terror to the savage
and unfriendly Indians, and a pledge of safety to the
community where he lived. He was a man of great
personal magnetism and of kindly geniality, and he
was remarkably well equipped for the work he per-
formed. His commanding ability as a soldier and
statesman makes him one of the most interesting
characters in the history of the state. He served as
governor for three terms in succession, twice in a
period of fourteen years. He held many impor-
tant positions of public trust and discharged his
duties with distinguished credit to himself and his
country.
The two United States senators who had been
elected before the state was admitted to the Union
were for that reason not permitted to take their
seats. Therefore it was necessary for the governor
to call an extra session of the General Assembly to
reelect senators Blount and Cocke and to provide for
the election of one congressional representative from
the state at large. Andrew Jackson became the
candidate for this position and was elected without
opposition. At the expiration of Senator Cocke 's
term Andrew Jackson was elected to succeed him
in the United States Senate. The same General
Assembly that elected Jackson to the Senate also
elected Joseph Anderson to succeed Senator Blount,
who had been expelled from the United States Senate
on the charge that he had entered into a conspiracy
to transfer Florida and Louisiana from Spain to
England.
iH
ANDREW JACKSON
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 483
The Constitution of 1796.
The constitution under which Tennessee became
a state was not, to any great extent, unlike that of
North Carolina framed in 1776. It was thus through
North Carolina that English institutions were trans-
mitted to Tennessee. Those institutions have been
developed under three constitutions, each of which
shows plainly the evolution of the principles of
democratic government. Those three constitutions
were adopted in 1796, 1834 and 1870, respectively.
A close analysis of the constitution of 1796 reveals
the defects that were most likely to be inserted at
that time. It was not to be expected that the
pioneers should be thoroughly familiar with the
principles of political science. However, there were
several able men in the convention that framed the
constitution. Among them was Andrew Jackson,
who, according to tradition, suggested the name
Tennessee. The defects did not become manifest
for several years after the adoption of the constitu-
tion. This fact indicates that it was fairly well
adapted to the existing conditions. It was much
more democratic than the constitution of North
Carolina, which served as a model. Land ownership
was the leading requisite for membership in the
legislature, which was a bicameral body. The gov-
ernor was elected by the people to serve for two
years, but he could not serve longer than six years
in any period of eight years. The establishment of
courts was left to legislative enactment, a provision
that produced great confusion and dissatisfaction.
The legislature elected judges of the superior and
inferior courts and appointed justices of the peace,
and these officials were to serve during good be-
havior. Coroners, sheriffs, trustees and constables
were elected by the county court to serve for two
years.
484 THE HISTOKY OF TENNESSEE.
That part of the constitution providing for the
uniform taxation of land has been severely criti-
cized. Each unit of base, which was 100 acres, was
to be taxed the same as every other unit, except in
the case of town lots, which could not be taxed more
than 200 acres of land. This provision operated
very unjustly after towns grew up and the adjoining
land increased hi value more rapidly than other land.
The problem of taxation has always been one of the
most serious difficulties with which governments
have had to contend, and Tennessee early recognized
this fact. Mr. J. W. Caldwell, in his Constitutional
History of Tennessee, says that ' * Tennessee was one
of the first states to declare in favor of uniform taxa-
tion, but it was not until 1834 that the declaration
was made effective."
The controversy concerning the disposal of the
public lands was one of the first difficulties with
which the new state had to deal. The original
treaties with the Indians were not thoroughly spe-
cific and North Carolina was still perfecting titles to
land in Tennessee. The United States government
entered into the controversy by claiming its author-
ity in the matter of disposing of unappropriated
lands. This authority was conceded by Tennessee
in 1806, when it was also agreed that Tennessee
should satisfy the claims of North Carolina out of
the lands ceded by the United States. It was fur-
ther provided by the same compact that Tennessee
should appropriate 100,000 acres of land for the use
of two colleges, 100,000 acres for the use of acade-
mies, of which there was to be one in each county,
and 640 acres to every six miles square of ceded ter-
ritory for the use of schools. The land question irt
Tennessee, as elsewhere, was one of great confusion,
and the appropriations for educational purposes did
not yield satisfactory results.
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 485
The constitution provided for freedom of con-
science in religious belief and for the freedom of the
press, but ministers of the Gospel were excluded
from membership in the legislature. Any person
who denied the existence of God or did not accept
the doctrine of future rewards and punishments
could not hold any office in the civil department of
the state.
Early Religious Bodies.
Keligion was not the least of the subjects that en-
gaged the thoughts of the early settlers. The Pres-
byterians were the first to establish themselves.
Dissentions among them soon prepared the way for
the Methodists and Baptists. By 1830 the various
denominations in the state were Presbyterians, Bap-
tists, Methodists, Cumberland Presbyterians, Luth-
erans, Christians, Episcopalians and Catholics. The
year 1800 witnessed a most remarkable outburst of
religious enthusiasm in the Cumberland district.
The great revival was inaugurated by James
McGready, a Presbyterian minister who came from
North Carolina and settled in Kentucky. One of the
leading results of this revival was the organization
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It took
its name from the Cumberland Presbytery and dif-
fered from the mother church in the belief concern-
ing the doctrine of predestination and in the relin-
quishment of the educational qualifications of min-
isters. It is an interesting fact that this Cumberland
branch of the Presbyterian denomination has again
united with the mother church in the early years of
the Twentieth century.
Governors Rcane, Sevier and Blount.
When Governor Sevier *s first administration
reached the constitutional limit he was succeeded by
Archibald Eoane. It was during Boane's adminis-
486 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
tration that the rivalry between Sevier and Andrew
Jackson for leadership in the state began. They
were candidates for the position of major-general.
The deciding vote was cast by Governor Eoane in
favor of Jackson. Jackson then lived in West Ten-
nessee, or what afterwards became Middle Ten-
nessee. It was not before 1809 that the population
of that section was as large as the population of
East Tennessee. At the expiration of Governor
Eoane 's first and only term he was succeeded by
Sevier, who again served through the constitutional
limit. It was during the next administration, that of
Willie Blount, of Middle Tennessee, that Andrew
Jackson's political ascendancy began. Blount 's elec-
tion marks the transfer of power from East to
Middle Tennessee. In fact this sectional rivalry
dates from the time when the Cumberland settlers
refused to join the state of Franklin, and again in
1795 voted against state organization. Subsequent
events, as will be shown later, emphasized this
division.
Tennessee in the War of 1812.
It was during Blount 's administration that the
War of 1812 began. Tennessee supported the war
policy and 2,500 of her citizens immediately entered
the service of the government under the command of
General Jackson. This was the beginning of Jack-
son's prominence. He led his troops toward New
Orleans, was stopped at Natchez, and after an ex-
asperating delay received an order from the secre-
tary of war to dismiss his troops. This he refused
to do before he had marched his men home, a distance
of 500 miles.
Meanwhile the Indians under the leadership of
Tecumseh, the celebrated Shawnee chief, conceived
a plan of organizing all the western tribes for the
purpose of cooperation in an effort to recover the
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 487
lands which they formerly owned, and to stop what
they considered the encroachments of the whites.
Tecumseh visited the Southwest and induced Wil-
liam Weatherford, or Bed Eagle, the Creek chief, to
join him in this scheme. Weatherford 's scheme was
to unite with the British against the Americans. He
commanded the Creeks at the massacre of Fort
Mims in the Alabama country on Aug. 30, 1813, when
500 men, women and children were cruelly and piti-
lessly murdered. The news of this massacre did not
reach Nashville before December 18, and prepara-
tions were made immediately to send troops against
the Indians. General Jackson was in command. It
was in this campaign that he displayed the genius of
a great leader. The principal battle was fought on
March 27, 1814, at Tohopeka, where the terrible
slaughter of the Indians utterly broke their power.
In this battle Ensign Sam Houston, afterwards gov-
ernor of Tennessee and president of the Texas Re-
public, did valiant and heroic service. This campaign
of the Southwest was conducted by Tennesseeans
almost entirely unaided. For the successful prose-
cution of the campaign Governor Blount had raised
$370,000 on his own responsibility. Jackson became
the hero and the idol of the state. In May of the
same year he was offered the position of brigadier-
general in the regular army, and soon after that of
major-general. He accepted the latter, succeeding
Gen. William Henry Harrison.
While these events were taking place the British
had devised plans to capture the Louisiana Terri-
tory. General Jackson was placed in command of
the army in the Southwest. He marched into Florida
in the fall of 1814 and captured Pensacola, where the
British army had its headquarters. He then cap-
tured Mobile and moved on to New Orleans, where
on Jan. 8, 1815, he won the celebrated victory over
488 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
the British under General Packenham. In the mean-
time peace had been made between Great Britain
and the United States. The effect of the War of
1812 upon Tennessee was to emphasize its impor-
tance as a part of the Union. It became known as the
"volunteer state" by reason of the ready response
with which its citizens met the calls for soldiers in
this war and in the Mexican War. The Hartford
Convention, noted for its attitude toward secession
in opposing the War of 1812, had finally destroyed
the power of the Federalist party. With the as-
cendancy of what was then called the Democratic-
Eepublican party Tennessee became more promi-
nent as a state.
Settlement of West Tennessee; Financial Distress.
In 1815 Joseph McMinn was elected governor and
was twice reflected, serving until 1821. This was a
period of great importance in the history of the
state. West Tennessee was opened for settlement
in 1819. This section included the territory between
the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, and was pur-
chased from the friendly tribe of Chickasaw Indians
in 1818. The early settlers were comparatively free
from conflicts with the Indians, and consequently
the population increased so rapidly that by 1824 fif-
teen counties had been organized. The city of
Memphis was founded in 1819. During this period
David Crockett, the celebrated pioneer hunter and
statesman, and the hero of the Alamo, settled in
West Tennessee on the Obion River. The population
of West Tennessee had grown to 99,000 by 1830. The
rapid settlement and development of this section of
the state has no parallel in the history of the South-
west. Most of the settlers came from East and Mid-
dle Tennessee, but many came also from the West.
The story of the great migratory movement towards
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 489
the Mississippi Valley, of which the settlement of
West Tennessee and of all Tennessee was a part,
forms one of the most interesting series of chapters
in American history.
While Governor McMinn was a man of undoubted
honesty and integrity, yet he was lacking in ability
to deal with the difficult financial problems which
confronted not only Tennessee but also the entire
country after the War of 1812. Many of the states
were passing " endorsement " and "stay" laws, cre-
ating loan offices and banks, and unwisely interfer-
ing with the relations between debtor and creditor.
Tennessee was not an exception, and its legislation
was in keeping with that of the other states. These
conditions were the results of the general financial
distress. The history of banking in Tennessee from
1807 to 1865 furnishes many examples of a mistaken
financial policy. It is a noteworthy fact that the
Free Banking Act of 1852 in Tennessee approached
the method on which the national banking system of
the present time is founded. Indeed, in the entire
period of ante-bellum days the principles of banking
in Tennessee, as in other western states, were gradu-
ally evolved out of the intricate and perplexing
financial confusion.
Governmental Reforms Under William Carroll.
The greatest reform governor and the greatest
constructive statesman in Tennessee prior to the
War of Secession was William Carroll. He is very
appropriately called the reform governor. When he
was elected governor Tennessee needed the services
of such a man, one who was admirably qualified for
the work that was imperatively demanded. The de-
fects of the constitution of 1796 had become apparent
in the course of time. The state had developed be-
yond the conditions of frontier civilization. A
490 THE HISTOEY OF TENNESSEE.
change in the method of taxing land, and of electing
judges of the courts, justices of the peace and other
officers was needed. Carroll was a successful busi-
ness man and he adopted business methods in his
administration. He called for a thorough examina-
tion of the banks, the resumption of specie payment
and the repeal of "stay" and ''indorsement" laws,
and succeeded in proving to the people the superi-
ority of industry and frugality over legislative en-
actments as a means of improving their condition.
He advocated wise reforms and with consummate
tact and ability succeeded in getting his measures
adopted. Consequently it is needless to say that
Tennessee again entered upon an era of prosperity.
Carroll was governor from 1821 to 1827, and again
from 1829 to 1835. The break was caused by the
constitutional limit of six years.
In the meantime, from 1827 to 1829, Sam Houston
was governor. His administration was not charac-
terized by any extraordinary event except his resig-
nation from the governorship in 1829, when he
abandoned his campaign against Carroll for gov-
ernor and left the state. Unfortunate domestic in-
felicity was the cause of Governor Houston's resig-
nation and voluntary exile. His subsequent career
in Texas gave the great prominence that is attached
to his name. He was a man of commanding appear-
ance, richly endowed with qualities that invariably
attract a large following.
The second administration of Carroll is also char-
acterized by important reforms. Other governors
prior to his time had advocated internal improve-
ments, but Carroll succeeded in obtaining larger
appropriations for this purpose than had hitherto
been made. The common school system of the state
was inaugurated in the early part of this adminis-
tration, but at first the counties contributed very
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 491
little to the support of the schools. The office of
superintendent of public instruction was created in
1835, at the expiration of eight years was abolished,
and was again created in 1865. Although the privi-
lege of local taxation was established in 1845 and
provision was made whereby an amount was to be
contributed by the state to each district equivalent
to the amount raised by local taxation, yet the devel-
opment of the school system was never satisfactory.
There was not only a lack of funds, but there was
also frequent waste of the funds that were contrib-
uted. Unfortunately the people relied upon private
schools for the work of education, and the appella-
tion of "poor schools" commonly given to public
schools brought the public schools into disfavor.
Through Governor Carroll's urgent recommenda-
tions the criminal laws of the state were reformed
and more humane methods of dealing with crim-
inals were adopted ; it was also through his influence
that the state penitentiary and the hospital for the
insane were built. It was during this administration
that the state issued its first bonds in 1833, which
were to be used for the payment of bank stock.
Tennessee's Part in National Affairs.
It has been said that Tennessee almost ruled the
Union from 1830 to 1850. Perhaps it would be more
nearly correct to say that from 1830 to 1850 Ten-
nessee was one of the most prominent states in the
Union. In 1824 Andrew Jackson was candidate for
President of the United States, was defeated by
John Quincy Adams, but was elected President in
1828 and his administration extended through two
terms. It was during his administration that Ten-
nessee became a leader among the states. Jackson
had been a leading citizen of the state since the time
prior to its admission to the Union. He was Ten-
492 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
nessee's first representative in Congress. It was
round his commanding personality that the public
men gathered. Unyielding and invincible in de-
termination, he was a man of original genius who
had made for himself his own position in the world.
Brave and chivalrous, straightforward and honest,
he inspired his numerous followers with a sincere
admiration and an implicit faith. However the ad-
vent of the spoils system may be deplored, Jackson
must always stand out as one of the greatest leaders
of men, and as one of the greatest political figures in
America in the first half of the Nineteenth century.
Prior to 1850 Tennessee was undoubtedly one of
the most active states in the work of developing the
democratic tendencies and in breaking away from
the rigid conservatism of the older states. Jackson
occupies a unique position in the history of the na-
tion and also of the state, but even Jackson did not
always dominate in Tennessee. The spirit of inde-
pendence was one of the most striking features of
Tennessee politics at the close of Jackson's adminis-
tration. Tennessee's part in the national affairs is
readily seen in an examination of a list of some
prominent representatives during this period. Hugh
Lawson White succeeded Jackson in the United States
Senate and was candidate for President when Martin
Van Buren was elected in 1836. Felix Grundy was
attorney-general in President Van Buren 's cabinet.
John Catron was one of the judges of the Supreme
Court of the United States from 1837 to 1865. John
Bell was speaker of the House of Representatives in
1834, secretary of war under President Harrison,
leader of the Whig party in Tennessee and candidate
for President in 1860. James K. Polk succeeded
Bell as speaker of the House of Representatives and
was President of the United States from 1845 to
1849. Andrew Johnson was first elected to Congress
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 493
in 1843, and served in that capacity during the ten
succeeding years. Cave Johnson was postmaster-
general under President Polk, during whose admin-
istration the general government undertook the issue
of postage stamps. From 1830 to 1860 Tennessee
furnished seven ministers to foreign countries,
among whom were John H. Eaton, minister to Spain
in 1831; William H. Polk, minister to Italy in 1841;
Andrew J. Donelson, minister to Germany in 1848,
and Neill S. Brown, minister to Eussia in 1850. The
formation of the national Whig party resulted from
the contests between Andrew Jackson and Henry
Clay. Tennessee has been called "the mother of
Southwestern statesmen " because she furnished a
large number of able men who assisted in the making
of the southwestern states.
The Constitution of 1834.
As a result of Governor Carroll's earnest recom-
mendations and of the urgent demand of the time,
the second constitutional convention met at Nash-
ville on May 19, 1834. It remained in session until
the latter part of the following August and suc-
ceeded in framing a constitution that was admirably
adapted to the times. The constitution of 1796 was
the product of the general political conditions in the
United States, while that of 1834 came from the
necessities arising out of an organized state. The
contest between aristocracy and democracy that
characterized the political history of the United
States in the first quarter of the Nineteenth century
was settled, so far as Tennessee was concerned, when
the constitution of 1834 was adopted. Contrary to
the method followed in 1796, the constitution of 1834
was submitted to the people, and on March 5-6, 1835,
it was ratified by a majority of 24,975 votes. Only
free white men voted in this election. There were
494 THE HISTORY OF TE1TNESSEE.
about 1,000 free negroes in the state who were op-
posed to the new constitution, but they were ex-
cluded from participation in the election. While the
free negro was disfranchised he was not subject to
military duty in time of peace, nor to the payment of
the free poll tax.
The convention of 1834 was composed of men
whose training in public service was comparatively
limited. However, the defects of the first constitu-
tion were avoided and the new constitution was more
democratic. Taxation was more equitably arranged,
the judiciary was made independent of the legisla-
ture, property qualification for membership in the
legislature was removed, and provision was made for
the election of judges, sheriffs, justices of the peace
and other officers by a vote of the people. This
constitution recognized the three grand divisions of
the state by providing for the election of one su-
preme judge from each division. At first the su-
preme judges were elected by the legislature, but an
amendment in 1853 provided for their election by
the people.
The jurisprudence of Tennessee was developed un-
der the constitution of 1834. The period from 1834
to 1861 was productive of able and learned jurists,
and the judicial opinions were excellent contribu-
tions to law literature. The new conditions arising
amidst the growth of industry and commerce were
adequately and efficiently met by the new adjust-
ments of the judiciary, and the commanding ability
of the judges established those adjustments upon a
solid and permanent basis.
Party Politics, 1834-39.
'About the time when the new constitution went
into effect the political divisions in the state began
to be based upon questions of national politics. The
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 495
Democratic-Republican party prevailed absolutely
in Tennessee in the period following the War of
1812. With Jackson as national leader this party
became known as the Democratic party, and the
party of Clay and Adams, the opponents of Jackson,
was called the National Republican party. In the
presidential campaign Tennessee refused to accept
Jackson's choice of a candidate to succeed him, and
favored Hugh Lawson White instead of Martin Van
Buren for president. In the state election of 1835
those who favored White were called Whigs, and,
although Van Buren was elected president, this
party gained the ascendancy in the state. The gu-
bernatorial contest between William Carroll and
Newton Cannon was full of intense interest both
from a national and a local standpoint. Carroll was
an adherent of Jackson and hence of Van Buren,
while Cannon was an adherent of White. Cannon
was elected and served until 1839, when he was suc-
ceeded by James K. Polk.
The contest between White and Van Buren, or
rather between White and Jackson in Tennessee,
called into political activity more prominent men
than any other contest in the history of the state.
Among the opponents of Jackson was Col. David
Crockett, who wrote a Life of Martin Van Buren,
Heir Apparent to the Government and the Appointed
Successor of General Andrew Jackson. The success
of White's followers in the state established the
supremacy of the Whigs in Tennessee, and their
controlling influence in the state was felt in every
national election from Jackson to Buchanan.
Internal Improvements.
Prior to the War of Secession one of the leading
questions in Tennessee was that of internal improve-
ments. The growth of commerce and the increase
496 THE HISTOBY OP TENNESSEE.
of population called for increased facilities of trans-
portation. As early as 1794 a lottery was authorized
by the territorial legislature as a method of raising
funds to build a wagon road. The state of New
York called upon Tennessee in 1811 for assistance
in an effort to secure the aid of the Federal govern-
ment to internal improvements undertaken by that
state. But Tennessee, like other strict construction
states, could not consistently call upon the Federal
government for aid to such work. However, govern-
ors Willie Blount, McMinn and Carroll strenuously
advocated the development of a system of internal
improvements by the state. The first systematic
effort was made in 1830 at the suggestion of Gov-
ernor Carroll. The plan provided for a board of
internal improvements consisting of two commis-
sioners from each grand division of the state, with
the governor as ex-officio president. An appropria-
tion of $150,000 was made, and in 1831 additional
local boards were appointed. But the results of
these efforts were not satisfactory.
The constitution of 1834 contained the statement
that "A well regulated system of internal improve-
ments * * * ought to be encouraged by the
General Assembly.'* Consequently a new plan was
brought forward in 1835-36. This was called the
Pennsylvania plan, but perhaps it was better known
as the partnership plan. It was devised for the pur-
pose of encouraging the building of railroads and
turnpikes. The state was to take one-third of the
capital stock of railroad and turnpike corporations
after two-thirds of such stock had been subscribed
for by private individuals, and was to issue bonds for
the payment of such stock. An act of 1837-38 au-
thorized the state to take one-half of such stock, but
the total amount of the state subscription was lim-
ited to $4,000,000.
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 497
Evidently, Tennessee had an experience similar
to that of other states engaged in such enterprises
at that time. At least Tennessee seemed to realize
that the burdensome debts of other states which had
resulted from internal improvement enterprises
served as a warning. Consequently the increase of
the state debt was checked in Tennessee in 1840 by
the repeal of all the laws that had provided for state
aid to internal improvement companies. The act of
1840 reveals the fact that fraud had been practised
and that the state had borne more than its share of
the expense incurred by the enterprises. As a result
no further assistance was given until 1848, when the
state was authorized to indorse the bonds of rail-
road companies and thereby assume a secondary lia-
bility. But this plan also failed to give satisfaction.
In all of these acts no adequate provision was made
for the protection of the state. In 1852, however,
an act was passed which met the conditions more
satisfactorily. Under this act railroad companies
seeking state aid were first required to get enough
bona fide subscriptions for stock to make the main
line of the road ready for the iron rails. When this
was done and thirty miles at each end of the road
were completed, the company was to receive for each
mile $8,000 of 6 per cent, state bonds to be used in
purchasing rails and equipment. As each twenty
miles were completed more bonds were issued. The
state was protected by proper provision for first
mortgage on the completed part of the road, and on
the entire road when it was completed. Provision
was also made whereby the road paid the interest
on the bonds and also maintained a sinking fund to
retire them. Under the act of 1852 and its amend-
ments in 1854 the state issued, prior to the War of
Secession, bonds to the amount of $13,739,000. The
wise Drovisions of this act and of its amendments
498 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
would have resulted in the liquidation of the debt
thereby incurred had the War of Secession been
averted. These bonds, together with other liabili-
ties, made the state debt $17,594,806 at the beginning
of the war. The constitution of 1870 prohibited the
use of the state's credit as an aid to internal im-
provements.
Notwithstanding the financial difficulties arising
from the internal improvement projects, the state
profited by the construction of turnpikes and rail-
roads during this period. The highways of a state,
like the fences on a farm, are a good indication of
the enterprise of the citizens. The first corporation
charter granted by Tennessee was for the Cumber-
land Turnpike Company in 1801. In the first half
of the Nineteenth century numerous turnpike com-
panies were incorporated, especially after macadam
came into use. Even the public school and academy
funds were invested in the stock of turnpike com-
panies. The state also undertook the work of im-
proving the facilities for navigation. Governor
McMinn contemplated a scheme for building a canal
to unite the Tennessee and Mobile rivers, and Gov-
ernor Cannon advocated a similar scheme to unite
the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. Tennessee
was among the first states to encourage railroad con-
struction, and so great was the enthusiasm for rail-
roads that canals and the improvement of rivers al-
most ceased to be considered. The first railroad
charter was granted in 1831 to the Memphis Railroad
Company, afterwards known as the Atlantic and
Mississippi Eailroad Company. The Nashville and
Chattanooga Railroad was the first operated in the
state. The Hiwassee Railroad Company was granted
a charter in 1836. This road became a part of the
East Tennessee and Georgia road, which was com-
pleted in 1856. The East Tennessee and Virginia
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 499
road was combined with this to form what was
known as the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia
road now a part of the Southern Railroad system.
The great commercial convention met at Memphis
in 1845, with John C. Calhoun as chairman. It was
a time when internal improvement was the chief
topic for discussion. The Mississippi River was
looked upon as a "great inland sea." As a result of
the convention a scheme was proposed to connect the
Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean by means
of a railroad. Consequently the construction of the
Memphis and Charleston road was begun in 1851 and
completed in 1857.
Party Politics, 1839-44.
Contemporaneous with the movement for internal
improvements, the political activity of the state, es-
pecially in relation to national affairs, became more
intense. The first joint debate engaged in through-
out the state by candidates for governor was con-
ducted by James K. Polk and Newton Cannon in
1839. The discussion was directed mainly to na-
tional issues. Polk was a Democrat, Cannon a
Whig. Of the two Polk was the more brilliant and
forceful stump speaker. At the time of his nomina-
tion for governor he was speaker of the national
House of Representatives. Polk was elected and
served one term. It was a time of great political
excitement throughout the entire country, and Ten-
nessee gave little heed, in the campaign, to state af-
fairs. Indeed, from this time until 1860 the state
issues were superseded by national issues in the gu-
bernatorial discussions. The parties were about even-
ly divided in the state and the contests for the gov-
ernorship attracted attention throughout the counr
try. The newspapers of the state began to partici-
pate in the political contests when William Carroll
500 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
first entered the race for governor, and by the time
of the presidential election in 1840 they had become
important political factors. The Whigs carried the
state for Harrison and Tyler in 1840, and Governor
Polk was succeeded by the Whig candidate, James C.
Jones, in 1841. Polk was superior to Jones in seri-
ous debate, but Jones was a master in the art of
story-telling and ridicule. Jones served two terms,
and during the first of those terms the legislature
was so evenly divided between the Whigs and Demo-
crats that it failed to elect United States senators.
About this time the state debt became a question of
political importance. In 1843 Nashville was made
the permanent capital. During Jones' administra-
tion the Tennessee School for the Blind and the Ten-
nessee Deaf and Dumb School were established.
Tennessee's prominence in the national political
contests was again emphasized by the election of
President James K. Polk in 1844. The Whigs of the
state being in the majority, Polk failed to carry
Tennessee, the first and only time a successful candi-
date for President has failed to carry his own state.
But Tennessee heartily favored Polk's Mexican War
policy. Among the distinguished Tennesseeans who
served in that war were William B. Bate, William
B. Campbell, B. F. Cheatham, W. T. Haskell, Gideon
J. Pillow and William Trousdale. Of these, Trous-
dale, Campbell and Bate afterwards became govern-
ors of the state. For services in the Mexican War
the governor called for 2,800 volunteers, and 30,000
immediately offered their services.
Slavery and Secession.
The annexation of Texas was the leading issue in
the presidential campaign in 1844. Associated witfc
it was the great question of slavery. Henry Clays
the presidential candidate who carried Tennessee,
JAMES K. POLK.
TENNESSEE AS A STATE. 501
favored annexation, but was of the opinion that the
question of slavery should not be considered in that
connection. The convention which framed the con-
stitution of 1834 considered the question of eman-
cipation, but finally came to the conclusion that it
was inexpedient to interfere with the institution of
slavery. In the first decade of the Nineteenth cen-
tury emancipation societies were organized in Ten-
nessee. In the latter part of the first quarter of that
century two emancipation papers were published in
East Tennessee : one was entitled The Manumission
Intelligence, the other the Genius of Universal
Emancipation. The opposition to slavery even in
the early years of the century was mainly in East
Tennessee. But the question of slavery was not very
prominent in Tennessee before 1850. In that year
the "Southern convention" met at Nashville, having
been called by A. J. Donelson, of Tennessee, to con-
sider Clay's celebrated compromise of 1850. This
convention was composed of leading men from
Southern states, and contrary to the expectations of
Donelson they expressed in unmistakable terms
their opposition to the compromise measures and
to congressional interference with the rights of
slave-owners. The convention was composed mainly
of Democrats, and in the next gubernatorial contest
the Whigs of Tennessee succeeded in electing Wil-
liam B. Campbell governor. The convention was
looked upon by the Whigs as a secession meeting,
and secession and nullification had not been favored
in Tennessee. The Whigs of the state, however, as
also of the nation, gradually became divided on the
question of slavery, and in 1853 Andrew Johnson,
the Democratic candidate, was elected governor.
Johnson served as governor through two terms, and
was succeeded in 1857 by Isham G. Harris, a Demo-
crat. Johnson was opposed to secession. Prior to
«02 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
1860 Tennessee was loyal to the Union, but the
Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 made slavery the lead-
ing question of the nation, and the tendency in Ten-
nessee was toward the defense of slavery. In 1856
Tennessee gave her vote in favor of a Democrat,
James Buchanan, for President.
During Johnson's administration, to encourage
the growth of agriculture and the mechanic arts, the
legislature appropriated $30,000, in 1853, to estab-
lish agricultural and mechanical fairs. In the course
of time this led to the establishment of the bureau
of agriculture, statistics and mines. Prior to the
War of Secession Tennessee was one of the leading
states of the South in the growth of industry and
commerce; in 1840 she was the foremost state in the
Union in the production of Indian corn, and among
the leading states in the production of tobacco and
wheat. The coal and marble industries began to
develop about 1840. In transportation facilities the
state was not surpassed by any other Southern state
at the outbreak of the war. In the making of the
nation Tennessee occupied a prominent position,
especially in the propagation of democratic tenden-
cies brought about by the development of the states
west of the Alleghany Mountains. Always conserva-
tive, she faced secession reluctantly, and hoped, even
until the firing of the first gun of the war, that a
reconciliation of the sections might be effected.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Caldwell: Constitutional History of Tennessee; Gar-
rett and Goodpasture; History of Tennessee; Haywood: Political His-
tory of Tennessee; Phelan: History of Tennessee; Putnam: History of
Middle Tennessee; Ramsey: Annals of Tennessee; Roosevelt: Winning
of the West; American Historical Magazine; American Historical Review.
JAMES DICKASON HOSKINS,
Professor of History and Economics, University of Tennessee.
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 503
CHAPTER III.
TENNESSEE AS A PART OF THE CON-
FEDERACY, 1861-1865.
Tennessee's Attitude Toward Secession.
Prior to the War of Secession the attitude of Ten-
nessee toward secession and nullification was one of
opposition. The prominent position held by her in
national affairs had been on the side of loyalty and
devotion to the Union. The secession proposals of
New England from 1812 to 1815 were regarded with
disfavor in Tennessee. When South Carolina pro-
posed the doctrine of nullification, and began to urge
its adoption to such an extent as to make secession
inevitable, Andrew Jackson, then President of the
United States, emphatically and effectively ex^
pressed his opinion favoring the preservation of the
Federal Union. It has been said that this unmis-
takable attitude of Jackson, the first President from
Tennessee, "made possible the preservation of the
Union in 1861-65." Granting this claim to be doubt-
ful, the indisputable fact remains that Jackson's at-
titude toward disunion in 1830 may be taken as an
illustration of Tennessee's attitude toward the same
subject from that time until 1860. In the National
convention held at Charleston, S. C., in 1860, the
Democratic delegates from Tennessee by their rigid
conservatism created a feeling of distrust toward
themselves throughout the South. At another meet-
ing of this convention, held at Baltimore in the same
year, dissention again prevailed, and the Tennessee
delegates were among those who withdrew and nomi-
nated John C. Breckenridge for President. The last
[Whig National convention assembled in Baltimore
504 THE HISTOKY OP TENNESSEE.
on May 9, 1860, and nominated John Bell, of Ten-
nessee, for President. The platform adopted by this
convention was expressed in the words: "The
Union, the constitution, and the enforcement of the
laws." Bell's party became known as the ''Consti-
tutional Union Party. ' ' In the election that followed
these conventions, Tennessee voted for Bell. Slavery
caused the downfall of the Whigs in Tennessee, of
whom Bell had been the leader. It was the question
of slavery that brought the people of the state to-
gether, and prepared for the separation from the
Union that took place under the coercive influence of
the event at Fort Sumter.
At the outbreak of the war Isham G. Harris, a
Democrat, was serving his second term as governor
of the state. He was strongly in favor of secession,
while his predecessor, Andrew Johnson, also a
Democrat, was equally as strong in his convictions
favoring the Union. Governor Harris was elected
the second time in 1859. His opponent in the race
for the governorship was John Netherland. Slavery
was the leading issue of the campaign, and the Demo-
crats took the position that each state had a right to
regulate slavery within its own boundaries, since,
according to their belief, it was a legal institution.
Many of the Whigs entertained the same opinions
regarding slavery, but they were more willing to
support compromise measures. Netherland was the
candidate of the coalition party of the Whigs and
Know-Nothings. He was defeated by a large major-
ity. He was a citizen of East Tennessee and Harris
was a citizen of West Tennessee.
In the presidential election of 1860 Abraham Lin-
coln, the successful candidate, 'did. not receive an
electoral vote from the slave states. In this election
the sectional line was so clearly drawn as to arouse
the spirit of resentment among the Southern states.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 505
At the time of the election the legislature of Ten-
nessee was in session and considerable apprehen-
sion prevailed among the people of the state con-
cerning the outcome. Excitement throughout the
South had become intense. Southern leaders were
not at all reserved in expressing their opinion that
the election of Lincoln was an indication that the
Federal government would abolish slavery. But the
attitude of Tennessee was characterized by the
greatest caution. South Carolina passed her ordi-
nance of secession on Dec. 20, 1860, and thereby pre-
cipitated the crisis. She was soon followed by
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana
and Texas. In the meantime appeals came from the
seceding states for Tennessee to join them, but no re-
sponse was given as Tennessee still hoped for recon-
ciliation. Other states occupying the same position
as Tennessee regarding secession were Arkansas,
Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.
Pursuant to a call of Governor Harris, the legis-
lature met in an extra session on Jan. 7, 1861, to con-
sider the question that was forcing itself upon the
state through the trend of affairs in the South. In
his message the governor suggested the advisability
of providing for an election in which the question
should be submitted to a vote of the people as to
whether or not a convention should be held for the
purpose of considering the secession of the state
from the Union. He further stated in the same
message that eventually "in all human probability,
the only practical question for the state to determine
will be whether or not she will unite her fortunes
with a Northern or Southern confederacy; upon
which question when presented, I am certain there
can be little or no division in sentiment, identified
as we are in every respect with the South." An act
was passed providing for an election to be held on
506 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
February 9, to determine the question of call-
ing the convention as suggested by the governor.
In this election the people declared their opposition
to the convention by a majority of 11,877 votes.
Those voting for it numbered 57,798, and those
against it 69,675. The opposition was mainly in
East Tennessee where the Union sentiment was
strongest. Middle Tennessee gave a small majority
against the convention and West Tennessee gave a
large majority for it. At the same time when the
election was held to determine the question of hold-
ing the convention the vote was also taken for dele-
gates, and the secession delegates received 24,749
votes, while the Union delegates received 88,803. In
the meantime, on Feb. 4, 1861, the seceded states
organized the provisional government of the Con-
federate States at Montgomery, Ala. After the
February election in Tennessee it was thought that
the question of secession had been finally determined
so far as the state was concerned. But a sudden
change occurred when, on April 12, 1861, the attack
was made on Fort Sumter. Three days later
President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to
defend the Union, and Governor Harris emphatically
refused to comply with the request from the secre-
tary of war for Tennessee's quota. The President's
call for volunteers revealed his policy of coercion,
and the spirit of resentment that suddenly mani-
fested itself in those states that had been slow to
secede amounted to a revolution of opinion. Thou-
sands who had hitherto favored the preservation of
the Union now felt themselves constrained to join
the ranks of secessionists. In Tennessee the change
was greatest in the middle and western divisions;
the eastern division adhered firmly to the Union.
On April 18, 1861, several of the prominent lead-
ers of the state issued an address in which they ex-
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 507
pressed their approval of the action of the governor
in refusing to comply with the call for volunteers,
their opinion that it was the duty of the state to
take sides neither with the North nor the South, and
also their opinion that the state should prepare "to
maintain the sanctity of her soil from the hostile
tread of any party/' Among those who signed this
address were John Bell, ex-Gov. Neill S. Brown and
Cave Johnson, formerly postmaster-general under
President Polk. Governor Harris again assembled
the legislature in extra session on April 25, and in his
message recommended an ordinance "formally de-
claring the independence of the State of Tennessee of
the Federal Union, renouncing its authority and reas-
suming each and every function belonging to a sepa-
rate sovereignty." He also recommended an ordi-
nance providing for the admission of Tennessee as a
member of the Southern Confederacy. On May 1 the
legislature authorized the governor to enter into a
military league with the Confederacy. The terms of
agreement were submitted to the legislature on May
7, and were immediately ratified. The whole mili-
tary force and military operations of the state were
to be under the control and direction of the President
of the Confederacy until Tennessee became a mem-
ber of the Confederacy; and upon becoming a
member of the Confederacy, Tennessee was to trans-
fer to it all public property acquired from the United
States precisely as other states of the Confederacy
had done. It was also agreed that the Confederacy
should repay all expenditures of money made by the
state between the date of the agreement and the date
of the admission to the Confederacy.
The Ordinance of Secession.
The Declaration of Independence and Ordinance
of Secession was passed on May 6. It waived "any
508 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
expression of opinion as to the abstract doctrine of
secession,'* and asserted the right of the people to
change or abolish their form of government in ac-
cordance with their desires, and declared that all
laws and ordinances which made the state a member
of the Federal Union were "abrogated and an-
nulled " and that Tennessee was henceforth "a free,
sovereign and independent state." This ordinance
was submitted to a vote of the people on June 8, and
was ratified by a majority of 56,675. In East Ten-
nessee the returns showed 14,780 for secession and
32,923 against it ; in Middle Tennessee 58,265 voted
for secession and 8,198 against it ; in West Tennessee
29,127 voted for secession and 6,117 against it ; in the
military camps 2,731 voted for secession. On May 6
another act was passed authorizing the governor to
raise, organize and equip a provisional army of
55,000 volunteers, 25,000 for active service and the
remainder as a reserve. This army was for the de-
fense of the state, and to defray the expenses of
such defense the governor was authorized to issue
bonds to the amount of $5,000,000.
The results of the election to determine the ques-
tion of secession show that East Tennessee was the
Union section of the state. The Union leaders in
that section were Andrew Johnson, William G.
Brownlow, Horace Maynard and T. A. E. Nelson.
Johnson was United States senator from Tennessee
when the state seceded, but he remained in the
Senate. All of these and other prominent citizens
of East Tennessee engaged in an active campaign to
prevent secession. On May 30, 1861, a convention
composed of 469 delegates, representing mainly the
counties of East Tennessee, assembled in Knoxville
to express disapproval of "the hasty and incon-
siderate action of the General Assembly." After
adopting strong Union resolutions, including an
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 509
appeal to the people to vote against secession in the
coming election, the convention adjourned to meet
again at Greeneville on June 17. The Greeneville
convention adopted a "Declaration of Grievances"
and prepared a memorial to the legislature which
included a request that East Tennessee and such ad-
joining counties of Middle Tennessee as might de-
sire be permitted to become a separate state. This
request was not granted. A large number of the citi-
zens of East Tennessee joined the Union army, and
the contest that eventually arose for the control of
this section of the state resulted in a reign of terror.
On the contrary, a large majority of the Union lead-
ers in Middle and West Tennessee yielded to the
overwhelming influences of those sections favoring
secession. Among them were John Bell, Neill S.
Brown and Gustavus A. Henry. The citizens of
those sections entered the Confederate army in vast
numbers. The bitterness engendered by this division
of the state became exceedingly intense and has
operated against harmonious relationships even to
the present time.
Tennessee a Member of the Confederacy.
A proclamation issued by the governor on June
24, 1861, formally severed Tennessee from the
United States, and one issued by President Davis on
July 22 announced that she was a member of the
Confederacy. The permanent constitution of the
Confederate States was adopted on August 1, and
in the following October G. A. Henry and Landon C.
Haynes were elected to represent the state in the
Confederate Senate.
Thus Tennessee became a part of the Southern
Confederacy, and during the war about 408 battles
and skirmishes were fought within her boundaries,
making her territory a veritable battleground. The
510 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
"provisional army" of the state, together with its
equipments and stores, was transfered to the Con-
federacy on July 31, 1861, and made a part of Gen.
Leonidas Folk's army. General Polk had his head-
quarters at Memphis. Before the end of the year
the military organization of the state comprised
about 108 regiments. The manufacture of ammuni-
tion and various army supplies was conducted in the
state, and the cities of Nashville and Memphis soon
became important supply centres for the South.
Tennessee's Participation in the War.
At the very outset Tennessee's position was ren-
dered more important by the neutral policy adopted
by the state of Kentucky. Had Kentucky seceded,
the line of defense would have been along the Ohio
Eiver. As it was, a vigorous contest for the military
possession of Kentucky became at once inevitable.
The Federals gathered their forces along the Ohio
Eiver, one army under Gen. IT. S. Grant taking its
position at Cairo, the strategical point at the mouth
of that river, and another at Louisville under Gen.
D. C. Buell. Immediately after taking possession
of Cairo, General Grant established fortifications
at Paducah and Smithland, the one situated at the
mouth of the Tennessee Eiver, and the other at the
mouth of the Cumberland Eiver. Meanwhile the
Confederates suffered no delay in fortifying the im-
portant positions along approaches to the South.
General Polk advanced toward Cairo and blockaded
the Mississippi Eiver with strong fortifications at
Columbus, about twenty miles below Cairo. The
Mississippi was also guarded by fortifications at
Island No. 10 and Fort Pillow. Fort Donelson
guarded the Cumberland Eiver while Fort Henry
guarded the Tennessee.
.Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was placed in com-
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 511
mand of the western department of the Confeder-
ate army on Sept. 10, 1861, and under his direction
the Confederates established their first line of de-
fense along the Cumberland Kiver, from Cumber-
land Gap on the east to Columbus on the west. As
has already been indicated, General Polk was in
command at the western end of this line ; Gen. S. B.
Buckner was in command at Bowling Green, the
central fortification, and Gen. George B. Crittenden
was in command at the east. Preparations were
made by the Federal forces to break through this
line. General Grant attacked the Confederates at
Belmont, Mo., a small fortification opposite Colum-
bus, on Nov. 7, 1861. After receiving reinforcements
the Confederates succeeded in repelling the attack.
The next effort was directed toward the right flank
of the Confederate line. On Jan. 19, 1862, Gen.
George H. Thomas, in command of the Federal
army, attacked and defeated the Confederates under
the command of Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer at Fishing-
Creek or Mill Springs, near Cumberland Gap. In
this battle General Zollicoffer was killed and the
Confederate forces withdrew beyond the Cumber-
land Eiver, and Cumberland Gap was won by the
Federals.
On Feb. 2, 1862, General Grant again left Cairo
with a force of 17,000 men and a fleet of seven gun-
boats under the command of Commodore Foote, and
advanced toward Fort Henry on the Tennessee
Kiver. This fort was defended by Gen. Lloyd
Tilghman with a force of 2,610 men. As soon as he
realized that he could not maintain his position,
General Tilghman surrendered on the 6th after a
severe battle lasting over two hours, by which the
transfer of most of his troops to Fort Donelson had
been secured.
Fort Donelson was the next objective point and
512 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
the place where the main struggle was to occur.
Here one of the most important battles of the war
was fought, Feb. 12-16, 1862. The capture of Forts
Henry and Donelson meant the opening of the Ten-
nessee and Cumberland rivers and the final break-
ing of the first line of the Confederate defense.
General Grant with a large body of troops, aided by
a fleet of gunboats under Commodore Foote, began
to surround Fort Donelson on the evening of the
12th. He was aided by Generals J. A. McClernand,
C. F. Smith and Lew Wallace. The Confederates
were under the command of Gen. John B. Floyd, who
was aided by Generals Pillow and Buckner. The
number of Federal troops is estimated at from 27,000
to 50,000, while the estimated number of Confeder-
ates varies from 12,000 to 20,000. The Fort was
completely surrounded on the second day, but the
resistance was at first so successful as to make Grant
doubtful about the possibility of capturing the gar-
rison at that time. A fatal mistake was made by
the Confederates when they failed to take advantage
of the opportunity for escape toward Nashville of-
fered by the road cut through the ranks of the enemy
on the 15th. This opportunity lost and all hope of
saving the fort gone, Generals Floyd and Pillow
gave the command of the troops to General Buckner
and escaped. Col. N. B. Forrest, the celebrated cav-
alry leader, also escaped after having protested
against the surrender of the garrison. General
Buckner surrendered on the 16th. The Confederate
loss, including prisoners, is estimated at 15,067, and
the Federal loss in killed and wounded is estimated
at 2,331.
Thus the Confederate line of defense was broken
and the way toward the South was open. After the
defeat of the Confederates at Mill Springs, Johnston
had retired from Bowling Green to Nashville, and
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 513
now lie evacuated Nashville, fell back to Murfrees-
boro, and eventually took up his position at Corinth,
Miss. General Polk also evacuated Columbus,
strengthened the defenses along the Mississippi and
retired to Corinth. The Federals under General
Buell took possession of Nashville and began to
gather forces at Savannah on the Tennessee Eiver
near the southern boundary line of the state and not
far distant from Corinth. They also occupied the
position at Pittsburg Landing not far from Savan-
nah, and Grant assumed command on March 17.
These reverses lost to the Confederacy nearly all of
Middle and West Tennessee and left the government
of the state in the hands of the Federals.
Meanwhile the results of operations in East Ten-
nessee served to intensify the bitterness of feeling
between the factions. The Confederates had secured
control of that section of the state early in the war.
Generals Zollicoffer and Crittenden were at first in
command of the Confederate troops. Early in 1862
Gen. E. Kirby Smith assumed command with head-
quarters at Knoxville. On Nov. 8, 1861, an attempt
was made by the Federals to burn all the railroad
bridges between Stevenson, Ala., and Bristol, Tenn.
Five out of nine bridges were burned and communi-
cation with Virginia was thereby interrupted. Six
of the men accused of the bridge-burning were cap-
tured and five of them were hanged. The sixth was
pardoned by President Davis on December 26 in
response to the following telegram from Elizabeth
Self: "Honorable Jefferson Davis: My father,
Harrison Self, is sentenced to hang at four o'clock
this evening on a charge of bridge-burning. As he
remains my earthly all, and all my hopes of happi-
ness centre on him, I implore you to pardon him."
"With the Confederate troops concentrated at
Corinth, and the Federals at Pittsburg Landing, a
Vol. 2—33.
514 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
memorable contest would certainly occur before any
considerable delay. The control of the Memphis
and Charleston Eailroad was of great importance
to both sides. Grant evidently intended to attack
the Confederates at Corinth. His immense army of
about 40,000 troops was in six divisions and was
soon to be reinforced by troops under General
Buell. General Johnston, in command of the Con-
federate army, which was equally as large as
Grant's, determined upon an early attack and con-
sequently moved his forces toward Pittsburg Land-
ing or Shiloh, where on Sunday morning, April 6,
he opened fire. On the first day the Federals were
repulsed, but the Confederates suffered an irrepar-
able loss in the death of General Johnston, who was
killed early in the afternoon. Gen. G. T. Beaure-
gard assumed command, but the confusion that fol-
lowed the fall of General Johnston proved fatal, and
the next day, after having received large reinforce-
ments, the Federals inflicted a crushing defeat and
forced the Confederates to retreat to Corinth where
they were reinforced. The Confederates lost about
one-fourth of their army while the Federals lost
13,573. Anticipating an attack by an overwhelming
force of Federals under General Halleck, General
Beauregard evacuated Corinth on May 30.
After the evacuation of Columbus on the Missis-
sippi, Island No. 10 became the important point of
defense. It was attacked by Commodore Foote and
General Pope on March 16, and surrendered on
April 7 after a strenuous resistance lasting through
three weeks. After the evacuation of Corinth, Fort
Pillow was abandoned on June 1 and the city of
Memphis fell into the hands of the Federals on
June 9. Thus the entire line of the Confederate
defense had been destroyed and the Mississippi was
open to Vicksburg,
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 515
Meanwhile, General Beauregard was succeeded by
Gen. Braxton Bragg who, in command of the Army
of Tennessee, proceeded toward Chattanooga. Gen-
eral Buell also advanced toward the same goal, in-
tending to invade East Tennessee. Bragg succeeded
in arriving at Chattanooga first and prepared to
invade Kentucky. The cavalry raids of Morgan and
Forrest prepared the way for this invasion. On
August 16 Gen. E. Kirby Smith moved northward
from Knoxville through Kentucky, captured Eich-
mond, threatened Cincinnati and joined Bragg on
October 4. Bragg was followed by Buell, who de-
feated him in battle at Perryville on October 8. He
retreated south and concentrated his forces at Mur-
freesboro, Term., on December 2. The second con-
test for the control of Tennessee was soon to begin.
On October 30 General Buell was superseded by Gen.
W. S. Eosecrans, who gathered the Federal forces at
Nashville, whence he advanced toward Murfreesboro
on December 26. Here he attacked Bragg on the
31st, and the two large armies struggled in a fierce
battle for three days, the fortunes shifting from one
side to the other. Finally Bragg withdrew to
Shelbyville, whence Eosecrans forced him to retreat
towards Chattanooga in June, 1863. Meanwhile,
brilliant but destructive cavalry raids were made
through Middle and West Tennessee by Gen. N. B.
Forrest. Thus, with the retreat of Bragg to Chat-
tanooga, Middle Tennessee was left in possession of
the Federals.
In July, 1863, the Confederate forces under Gen-
eral Bragg were concentrated at Chattanooga, but in
September they were withdrawn and marched into
Georgia to unite with the forces under General Long-
street. Upon the approach of Gen. A. E. Burnside
to East Tennessee General Buckner had withdrawn
from Knoxville to join Bragg near Chattanooga.
516 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
General Rosecrans continued his advance and took
possession of Chattanooga on September 9. The
two armies came together at Chickamauga on the
19th, and for two days engaged in one of the most
desperate battles of the west. The Confederates
succeeded in driving the enemy into Chattanooga
and besieged them there. Each side suffered a loss
of more than 15,000 men. After the battle of Chick-
amauga, General Longstreet was sent against the
Federal forces at Knoxville under General Burn side.
Meanwhile General Grant came to the rescue of the
Federals at Chattanooga on October 24. In the bat-
tles of Lookout Mountain, Orchard Knob and Mis-
sionary Ridge, he repulsed the Confederates, forcing
them to retreat toward the south. Upon hearing that
Federal troops were advancing to the relief of Burn-
side at Knoxville, Longstreet attacked him on No-
vember 29 and was repulsed. The siege of Knox-
ville was raised on Dec. 4, 1863, but the Confederate
troops were not withdrawn from East Tennessee
until the spring of 1864.
During the Atlanta campaign Gen. John B. Hood
succeeded Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in command of
the Confederate army. After the fall of Atlanta
General Hood moved toward Tennessee, crossing the
Tennessee River on Nov. 21, 1864, and advancing
toward Nashville. He encountered the enemy under
General Schofield at Spring Hill and drove them in
retreat to Franklin. On Nov. 30, 1864, he attacked
the strong Federal entrenchments at Franklin and
was repulsed in a terrific battle in which both armies
suffered severe losses. Schofield hastened to Nash-
ville to join General Thomas while Hood followed in
pursuit and strongly fortified himself near the city.
On December 15 General Thomas attacked the Con-
federate entrenchments and for two days the battle
was waged with stubborn severity. On the first day
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 517
the Federals were repulsed, but on the second day
the Confederates were utterly defeated and began
their retreat south, finally withdrawing from Ten-
nessee to northern Mississippi. This was the last
important battle in Tennessee, and the state was
secure in the possession of the Federal authorities.
Tennessee's record in the War of Secession fully
sustains the reputation which she had acquired by
her participations in previous wars. To both South-
ern and Northern armies she contributed a large
number of officers and privates. More than 115,000
of her citizens served in the Confederate armies, and
more than 38,000 served in the Union armies. Be-
sides these, the number of colored troops that en-
listed in the service of the Union from Tennessee is
estimated at nearly 18,000. In the number of battles
fought within her boundaries she was surpassed by
no other state except Virginia, and some of her best
troops served in the defense of the Confederacy in
other states.
Civil Government.
The civil government of the state was centered at
Nashville until the fall of Fort Donelson. At the
state election held Aug. 1, 1861, Governor Harris
was again reflected. The legislature elected at the
same time was largely favorable to the Confederacy.
The state was also represented in the Provisional
Confederate Congress, and after Nov. 6, 1861, in
the Permanent Confederate Congress. The legisla-
ture convened in Nashville, and on December 21 ad-
journed to Jan. 20, 1862. On February 15, while
the attack was being made on Fort Donelson, the
legislature adjourned to meet at Memphis, where it
convened again on February 20 and adjourned again
on March 20, 1862, sine die. Governor Harris
joined the Confederate army.
On Feb. 22, 1862, the civil government of the state
518 THE HISTOEY OF TENNESSEE.
was suspended and martial law was established by
General Grant. Andrew Johnson was appointed
military governor by President Lincoln on March 3
of the same year, and assumed his duties at Nash-
ville on the 12th. He adopted a policy by which he
hoped to restore a state government in harmonious
relations with the Union. He assumed an attitude
of severity against all opposition to reconciliation
with the National government. He established a
provisional government, exacted of public officers,
the Nashville city council, teachers, preachers and
prominent citizens the oath of allegiance, and filled
all vacancies with Union men. But he could do very
little in the execution of his plans during the strenu-
ous contest between the opposing armies in the state
before the latter half of 1863. The Confederates of
the state held a convention at Winchester in Middle
Tennessee on June 17, 1863, and nominated Robert
L. Caruthers for governor. At the same time candi-
dates for the Confederate Congress were nominated.
The entire ticket was elected and the congressmen
took their seats at Richmond, but Caruthers was
never inaugurated as governor.
Restoration to the Union.
The restoration of Tennessee to the Union was
strongly urged by a delegation of citizens in con-
sultation with President Lincoln after the repulse
of the Confederate army in Middle Tennessee in
1863. Consequently, on September 19 of that year
the President authorized Governor Johnson to use
such pov ^ r!fas might "be necessary and proper to
enable the loyal people of Tennessee to present such
a republican form of state government" as would
entitle the state to the guarantee and protection of
the United States. On December 8 the President
issued his celebrated Amnesty Proclamation, which
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDEEACY. 519
included an oath of allegiance and a plan of recon-
struction. According to this plan the Confederate
states were to establish a republican form of govern-
ment by a vote of not less than one-tenth of the vote
cast in each state in the presidential election of 1860.
In compliance with a request from the Union citi-
zens of the state, Governor Johnson issued a proc-
lamation on Jan. 26, 1864, ordering an election of
local officers on March 5 in those parts of the state
under the control of Federal authorities. He also
prescribed an oath for voters which was more ex-
acting than that of the President, but it was not ac-
cepted as was shown by the fact that the election
was a failure.
There were two factions among the Unionists of
the state, and the dissentions which divided them
increased with the efforts to restore the state to the
Union. They were the Radicals and the Conserva-
tives, and these names sufficiently indicate the mean-
ing of the division. A meeting of prominent Union
leaders was held at Nashville on Aug. 12, 1864,
which resulted in the calling of a convention to be
held in that city on September of that year, to con-
sider the rehabilitation of civil government and to
arrange for participation in the approaching presi-
dential election. The convention met at the ap-
pointed time, but only a small number of counties
sent delegates. However, a resolution was adopted
by which all Union men favoring any measure for
crushing the rebellion were admitted. Dissention
prevailed, but the Radicals gained control and nomi-
nated electors on the Lincoln and Jf n ticket.
Resolutions were adopted requesting the governor to
require a strong oath like that prescribed in the
preceding March election, and favoring an amend-
ment of the state constitution abolishing slavery.
An executive committee composed of five citizens
520 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
from each grand division of the state was appointed.
In compliance with the request of the convention the
governor issued a proclamation on September 15
for the enrollment of the state militia and ordering
those who failed to serve without plausible excuse
to be expelled from the state. On September 25 he
ordered the presidential election to be held in No-
vember, and authorized all white citizens who had
resided in the state for six months prior to the elec-
tion and had been loyal to the Union to vote. He
also demanded the oath prescribed by the convention.
President Lincoln was requested to relinquish the
rigid franchise qualifications, but he declined to do
so stating that he would not interfere with any presi-
dential election "except it be to give protection
against violence." The McClellan and Pendleton
electors withdrew and the Lincoln and Johnson
ticket was elected, but the vote of Tennessee was re-
jected by Congress.
In November, 1864, a convention was called by
the executive committee, appointed in September, to
meet at Nashville on December 19 of that year to
consider the methods by which Tennessee could be
restored to the position which it formerly occupied
in the Union. General Hood's invasion of the state,
and the close proximity of his army to the city of
Nashville, prevented the meeting hi December. Pur-
suant to a second call by the committee, the con-
vention met on Jan. 9, 1865, and, in comparison with
the September convention of 1864, was likewise com-
posed of a small number of regularly elected dele-
gates. There was considerable discussion as to
whether or not the convention should propose
changes in the organic law of the state instead of
providing for a regular constitutional convention.
Following the advice of the governor, the delegates
proceeded to propose amendments to the state con-
TENNESSEE IN THE CONFEDERACY. 521
stitution abolishing slavery and forbidding legis-
lative enactments * * recognizing the right of property
in man.'* Then follows a schedule of proposed al-
terations and changes providing for the repeal of
the section of the constitution forbidding laws for
the emancipation of slaves, and of the military
league made with the Confederacy May 7, 1861 ; for
the suspension of the statute of limitations and the
annulment of all legislative enactments after May 6,
1861, and of all state bonds issued after the same
date. It also declared the ordinance of secession and
the military league acts of ''treason and usurpa-
tion" and ratified the civil and military acts of
Governor Johnson. These proposed amendments
and changes were to be submitted to a vote of thei
people on Feb. 22, 1865, and if adopted an election
was to be held on March 4 of the same year for
governor and members of the legislature. A resolu-
tion was passed prescribing the " iron-clad" oath
for all voters except those who had been "uncondi-
tional Union men. ' ' This oath contained the follow-
ing statement: "I am an active friend of the gov-
ernment of the United States and the enemy of the
so-called Confederate States; I ardently desire the
suppression of the present rebellion against the
government of the United States ; I sincerely rejoice
in the triumph of the armies and navies of the United
States, and in the defeat and overthrow of the
armies, navies and of all armed combinations in the
so-called Confederate States."
At the election held on Feb. 22, 1865, the proposed
changes were ratified, the vote being 25,293 for and
48 against them. Consequently Governor Johnson
issued a proclamation on February 25 declaring the
amendments to the constitution and the annexed
schedule ratified and confirmed. He also ordered
an election for governor and legislators on March 4.
522 THE HISTOEY OF TENNESSEE.
In the same proclamation he stated that the people
of Tennessee, "by their own solemn act at the ballot-
box," had formally stricken the shackles "from the
limbs of more than 275,000 slaves in the state. ' ' In
the Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1, 1863, Presi-
dent Lincoln did not mention Tennessee either in the
list of rebellious states or in the list of exceptions.
(See EMANCIPATION PKOCLAMATION, Vol. III.) It was
through the influence of Governor Johnson that this
omission was made and the abolition of slavery in
Tennessee was left to the state. This was the only in-
stance in which abolition was left to a seceded state.
The state election was held on March 4 and
William G. Brownlow, the noted Whig and Union
leader, was elected governor. He received 23,352
votes out of a total of 23,387. The vote for legis-
lators was the same as that for governor. Thus,
according to the two elections of February and
March, 1865, Tennessee had complied with the re-
quirements of President Lincoln's Amnesty Proc-
lamation. The legislature met at the appointed
time, April 2, 1865, and inaugurated Governor
Brownlow on the 5th of the same month. Governor
Johnson had already been inaugurated as Vice-
President of the United States on March 4. The
legislature ratified the Thirteenth amendment to the
constitution of the United States by a unanimous
vote. President Lincoln was assassinated on April
14. This sad and most unfortunate event intensified
the partisan feeling in Tennessee.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Burgess: The Civil War and the Constitution; Cald-
well: Constitutional History of Tennessee; Garrett and Good pasture:
History of Tennessee; Humes: The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee;
Jones : Reconstruction in Tennessee (in Why the Solid South?); Porter:
Tennessee (in Confederate Military History); Rhodes; History of the
United States from the Compromise of 1850; Temple: East Tennessee
and the Civil War; Acts of the Tennessee General Assembly, 1861-65.
JAMES DICKASON HOSKINS,
Professor of History and Economics, University of Tennessee.
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 523
CHAPTER IV.
TENNESSEE SINCE THE WAR, 1865-1909.
Introduction.
Tennessee occupies a unique position among Her
sister states. This uniqueness runs all through her
history. She drew her life blood from two of the
original colonies. Her earliest settlers founded in-
dependent governments in the wilderness, and on
their own petition North Carolina assumed jurisdic-
tion. Tennessee was the first state formed from
Federal territory, and the only state whose citizens
were ever reduced from citizens of a state to become
citizens of a territory (1790).
Tennessee was unique in having a period of three
months during which she performed all the functions
of a state before receiving the consent of Congress to
her admission.
A unique distinction was the fact that at Watauga
the first government west of the Alleghany Moun-
tains was formed on Tennessee soil. Unique again
when during the war with Mexico 2,800 troops were
called for and 30,000 responded : enough to fight the
war alone, unaided by other states. Again, Tennes-
see was the last state to secede from the Union dur-
ing the War of Secession; and she was the first to
be readmitted to statehood. Not only the time of
secession, but the character of the ordinance is dif-
ferent from the other seceding states, and declares
for secession as a "revolutionary right," needing no
other justification than the natural privilege of free
men. Tennessee furnished more troops to the South-
ern and Northern armies, in proportion to her popu-
lation, than any other state, the number being 115,-
524 THE HISTOKY OF TENNESSEE.
000 to the Confederacy, and about 51,000 to the Fed-
eral side. Tennessee was the only Southern state
that joined the Confederacy, besides Virginia, which
had a large Union following; and yet, she was dis-
tinct from Virginia in having the Union men remain
as citizens of the commonwealth, constituting almost
one-third of the citizens of the state, and desperately
striving to control the state government. Tennessee
is again unique in that she was the only Southern
state to manumit her slaves by direct vote of her citi-
zens. She was the only state voluntarily to seek re-
admission to the Union before the close of the war.
Unique again is the fact that her name was not men-
tioned in Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation.
Tennessee was, too, the only Southern state that
escaped Congressional " reconstruction. " And her
manner of being readmitted to the Union was differ-
ent from that of any other Southern state.
While in these respects Tennessee history differs
from that of other Southern states, she is like them
in the sufferings endured and the loyalty displayed.
'And perhaps because of her very uniqueness in other
respects, she suffered more, while her loyalty was no
less genuine.
Reconstruction.
The period of reconstruction of Tennessee covers,
a longer period than in other Southern states. It
goes back to 1862, when after the fall of Fort Donel-
son, the state came under Federal control. In March
of that year the Federal army under Generals Smith
and Buell entered Nashville, and the state govern-
ment was withdrawn by Governor Harris to Mem-
phis. On Nov. 3, 1862, President Lincoln appointed
Andrew Johnson military governor of the state, who
proceeded as far as possible to. restore order and
to establish the authority of the government.
Late in 1864, some "loyal" men, with the approba-
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 525
tion of Andrew Johnson, called a convention to as-
semble in Nashville. Delegates under this call from
a number of counties met in Nashville, Jan. 9, 1865.
Who elected those delegates no authentic records dis-
close. As a matter of fact, they were for the most
part self appointed. Of course, the "loyal leading
men" getting up and issuing the call for the con-
vention had no legal or constitutional warrant in the
premises whatsoever.
This is admitted, and the only reasonable excuse
offered is, that, as the result of the war, the state
and its affairs were in chaos and the people without
any civil government at all.
But this convention of its own will adopted what
it called amendments to the constitution of 1834 and
also a schedule of several sections deemed by it
proper in the reorganization of the state govern-
ment.
With reference to the question under review, it
is not necessary to mention the amendments to the
constitution, except to say that one abolished slavery,
and respecting the schedule it promulgated it need
only be said that its ninth section is pertinent. This
section is as follows:
"The qualification of voters and the limitation of the elective fran-
chise may be determined by the General Assembly, which shall firat as-
semble under the amended constitution."
Andrew Johnson, then military governor of the
state, by a proclamation issued Feb. 25, 1865, de-
clared the amendments and the schedule promul-
gated by the aforesaid convention ratified by a vote
of the people, and a permanent part of the organic
law of the state. In the adoption of these amend-
ments Tennessee by her own act abolished slavery
from her borders.
Andrew Johnson, who had been military governor
since 1862, having now been elected as Vice-Presi-
526 THE HISTOKY OF TENNESSEE.
dent of the United States, an election for governor
was called for March 4, 1865.
The Brownlow Administration, 1865-1869.
At this election W. G. Brownlow, of East Tennes-
see, became governor, and the state entered upon its
Keconstruction period proper. And now began four
years of misrule more trying upon the brave men and
women of Tennessee than the four years of terrible
war. It was a condition from which they sought
deliverance for years in vain, but from which, after
suffering untold ills, they were released by the ambi-
tion of one man : William Gannaway Brownlow, who,
after serving four years as governor, aspired to a
seat in the United States senate.
Brownlow was formerly a clergyman, and earned
the sobriquet " Parson Brownlow." He was after-
ward editor of the Knoxville Whig, and was espe-
cially known for his bitter vituperation and vindic-
tive spirit. On account of his unpopularity he was
compelled to suspend his paper on Oct. 24, 1861. He
was an advocate of slavery, but violently opposed to
secession. His value to the Union lay only in his
radical, vindictive partisanship; otherwise he was
wholly unfit for high office, and conspicuously with-
out ability.
The first object of the administration was to fulfil
all the conditions deemed necessary to be readmitted
to all the rights of statehood in the Union. These
conditions had been partially met, under the sugges-
tion of President Lincoln, by the calling of a conven-
tion in January, 1865, which submitted to the people
the amendments to the state constitution abolishing
slavery, as mentioned above. The legislature as-
sembled in April, 1865, and promptly ratified the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States consti-
tution. All had now been done that the state gov-
W. G. BROWNLOW.
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 527
eminent could do, and the governor and members
of the legislature awaited news from Washington,
expecting that Tennessee would now be given her
full rights as a reconstructed state. No doubt recog-
nition would have soon followed, but the assassina-
tion of Lincoln now occurred, and Congress, having
taken matters into its own hands, adopted a less
liberal policy toward the seceded states. The delay
of Tennessee's readmission was more than a year,
during which time the memorable bitter contest took
place between Congress and the President, over their
relative powers.
The radicals in Tennessee looked upon the assas-
sination of Lincoln as in reality a special providence
to them, since by it there was elevated to the presi-
dency of the United States a Tennessean who was
in full sympathy with them in their efforts to obtain
readmission. They were doomed, however, to be dis-
appointed, as Johnson could do nothing. In fact, it
proved a great disaster, as Johnson could not har-
monize the warring factions in Congress as well as
Lincoln. It was, however, the crowning glory of
Johnson's ambition to sign on July 23, 1866, the bill
readmitting Tennessee into the Union.
There are some points of difference worthy of note
in the readmission of Tennessee, as compared with
other Southern states. In September, 1865, General
Rosseau, in command at Nashville, wrote to the Ten-
nessee delegation of senators and representatives
elect, who were waiting in Washington, requesting
pointedly to know their attitude toward the adminis-
tration if admitted. Their answer was published
throughout all the Northern states, and was that
they would support the policy of Johnson and of the
Federal government. Many public men at this time
expressed themselves as favoring seating Tennes-
see's representatives at the opening of the session.
528 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
However, when Congress convened in December, and
Mr. Maynard, representative from the First District
of Tennessee, undertook to take part in the prelim-
inary proceedings, he was not recognized, and Ten-
nessee had to wait yet longer.
The struggle which Tennessee had made for re-
admission into the Union had made her many friends,
and it is probable that a majority of both houses
were really in favor of such admission without delay.
But following the established rule, the question was
referred to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction.
This committee placed the matter in the hands of a
sub-committee consisting of Messrs. Grimes, Grider,
and Bingham, who at once proceeded to collect evi-
dence on the subject. The letter of Governor Brown-
low to certain members of Congress stating that, "if
the admission of congressmen would mean the with-
drawal of the army from the state, he was opposed
to it," made an unfavorable impression.
However, on March 5, 1866, a joint resolution in-
troduced by Mr. Bingham on behalf of the committee,
recommending readmission, passed second reading.
The matter rested here, and Congress turned its at-
tention to the Fourteenth Amendment, causing a de-
lay of some months to Tennessee. On July 19, a
telegram was received from Governor Brownlow,
stating that the state had ratified the Fourteenth
Amendment. There was now nothing in the way of
a final vote, and on July 20th, the resolution received
a vote of 135 to 72 in the House, and on the next
day the senate, by a vote of 28 to 4, amended the
resolution, expressly stating, that Tennessee could
only be restored to the Union "by the consent of the
law making power of the United States." The
house concurred, and Johnson signed the resolution
on July 23, — not, however, without protesting against
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 529
the position of Congress that a "joint resolution was
necessary to restore a state."
This readmission of Tennessee in the manner de-
scribed was, in effect, the re-creating of a state, and
not the restoration to original rights according to the
Crittenden resolution passed by Congress in July,
1861.
Brownlow's Militia.
The legislatures which convened during Governor
Brownlow's administration were composed in large
part of inexperienced and radical members, ready
without question to do the bidding of their more
partisan leaders. Men formerly prominent in the
state's affairs were now disfranchised. Unionism
was the chief qualification for exercising the right
of suffrage, and the result was that less than one-
seventh of the voting population of the state was
represented.* No effort was made by Governor
Brownlow or the legislatures to deal with the re-
turned Confederates, former masters of the state,
otherwise than as a subject class. No kindness was
shown. Distrust, prejudice, rancor and bitterness
of feeling, were allowed full sway.
Some of the acts proposed by Brownlow 's first
legislature may serve to show their hostile attitude
to the Confederates. The soldiers had returned
from the army, poor, and in many instances having
no other clothes than the uniforms they wore. It
was proposed, and the bill passed the House by a
vote of 58 to 5, to fine any one wearing the "rebel
uniform." A bill was passed by the Senate depriv-
ing ministers, who sympathized with the South, of
the right to celebrate the marriage ceremony, and
requiring them to work the roads, and serve in the
militia. Another bill provided that no woman could
be licensed to marry, unless she had first taken tha
*Factig.
Vol. 2—3*
530 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
"oath of allegiance." These although receiving en-
couragement, fortunately failed to become laws ; but
the bills enacted into laws were sufficiently irritating
to greatly intensify the bitter feeling in the state.
The legislature of 1866 had enacted a law em-
powering the sheriff of each county to organize a
posse of twenty-five, or more if necessary, loyal men.
The alleged excuse for this was the presence in cer-
tain parts of the state of guerilla bands; but the
real object was to control the elective franchise by
intimidation and force. The records of the time are
full of accounts of outrages undoubtedly committed
by this armed patrol. In 1867 was passed "Brown-
low's Militia Law," which organized a state guard,
composed largely of negroes and scalawags, whose
plain purpose was to continue the permanent dis-
franchisement of the Confederates.
This band was subject to the orders of the gover-
nor to be used at his discretion. When an election
was held, the State Guard would be stationed at
"rebellious localities to enforce the franchise law."
This law took away the right to vote from Con-
federates, natives of the state, and now ready to
submit to the arbitrament of the war, and gave it to
"loyal men" and carpet-baggers, who had resided
within the state probably not over six months.
These acts and the organization of the Loyal
'League, a partisan union order among the negroes,
and the consequent insolence of this class, lately
slaves, now free, and drunk with the ideas of power
and liberty pumped into them by irresponsible and
designing white men, led to the organization, in self-
protection, of the famous Ku Klux Klan.
Ku Klux Elan.
This Order originated at Pulaski, in Tennessee, in
the summer of 1866. It was the outgrowth of a local
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 631
secret society; out of which the young men of the
community, recently returned from the war, ob-
tained much amusement on account of grotesque and
mysterious initiation ceremonies. The effect upon
the superstitious and ignorant negro race was quickly
detected, and the wider purpose of the Order was
at once developed. The Klan soon spread over the
entire South.
The following are the names of the six originators.
All are now dead except the two whose addresses are
given: John C. Lester; James R. Crowe, Sheffield,
Ala. ; John Kennedy, Nashville, Tenn. ; Calvin Jones ;
Richard R. Reed; Frank 0. McCord.
It is not the purpose of this article to discuss the
general effect throughout the South of this Order;
our main purpose is with Tennessee and her peculiar
history. Attention must be called, however, to the
remarkable manner in which the hitherto intolerable
conditions of the South were completely met, and
overcome by this organization. And it is to be noted
that it was done with the least violation of law, either
of the Federal or state government. It was probably
the most remarkable evidence on record of the re-
sourcefulness of the Anglo-Saxon race, and its ability
and determination to dominate. Driven to despera-
tion by conditions that threatened to destroy their
civilization, the citizens of the South, through this
organization, turned upon their enemies, over-
whelmed them, and became again masters of their
own soil. It was a drastic measure, and its abuse
can but be condemned. But its proper use must be
commended by all good men everywhere, for by it
was preserved the purest Anglo-Saxon civilization
of this nation.
This Order had a prescript, or constitution, which
was adopted at the convention secretly held at Nash-
ville in the summer of 1867. A copy of this prescript
532 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
i« in the possession of Hon. B. T. Quarles, archivist
for the state of Tennessee, and it is through his
courtesy that the photographic reproduction is here
given.
This, and all other original copies, were printed
at Pulaski on a hand press, and for that reason some
imperfections are to be noticed. The title page is
as follows: "Bevised and Amended Prescript of the
Order of the XXX. Damnant quod non intelli-
gunt."
The entire prescript has been reproduced from
photographs of the original, and can be found in
The American Historical Magazine (Vol. V., No. I.,
Nashville) .
Attention is called to the Latin quotations, which
in the original, are found at the top of every page.
A few are here given: "Magna est veritas, et pre-
valebit"; "Fiat justitia mat codum"; "Fide non
armis"; "Dat Deus his quoque finem"; "Deo ad-
juvant e, non timendum."
The quotations throughout the entire prescript
were well selected by classical scholars, and showed
a deep appreciation of the situation confronting the
South. Whatever may be said in condemnation of
the outrages afterwards committed in the name of
this Order, Tennessee is proud of the fact that the
beginnings of this Invisible Empire were on her soil,
and that the Grand Wizard who ruled over this
Mighty Mystic Bealm was, as is now well known, the
intrepid Gen. N. B. Forrest, of Memphis.
Governor Brownlow was determined to break up
this band, and for that purpose declared martial law
in several counties, and sent companies of his
"militia** to these points in the state to make arrests.
Madison county, West Tennessee, was one of the
first put under martial law, and, at one time, as
many as 800 of " Brownlow 's Militia" were stationed
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TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 533
there. He employed secret agents and detectives
to assist him. None were arrested, for they success-
fully disguised themselves and eluded detection. The
testimony of General Gordon before the investigat-
ing committee brings out the fact that not one mem-
ber of the Order was ever convicted in Tennessee.
Governor Brownlow, in July, 1868, convened the
legislature in extra session, stating in the call: "Be-
bellious elements in the state are secretly assuming
and perfecting a military organization known as the
Ku Klux Klan, with an eye to overthrow the state
government."
There is no telling how much longer these evils
wonld have continued in Tennessee, had it not been
for the ambition of Governor Brownlow to succeed
Johnson in the Senate, and the legislature of 1869
very promptly elevated him to that lofty position.
This change brought to the governor's chair the
speaker of the Senate, Hon. D. W. C. Senter, a man
with a more liberal policy than his predecessor to-
ward the Confederates of the state. The Order now
having accomplished its purpose, and an era of better
times appearing, the Grand Wizard, in March, 1869,
disbanded the Klan by official proclamation.
Struggle for Control of State.
It is interesting history to trace the legal struggle
in which the citizens of Tennessee were engaged
from 1865-1870 in their effort to regain control of
the state government. This control was finally se-
cured in peaceful manner, under the strictest observ-
ance of the forms of existing law and was brought
about as follows:
The General Assembly which convened in 1865,
soon after the adoption of the constitutional amend-
ments, lost no time in passing laws limiting the elec-
tive franchise.
534 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
In May 3, 1866, this same General Assembly — and
we may observe that it remained in session as long
as it wanted to — amended the franchise law of 1865,
and provided that every white male inhabitant of
the state twenty-one years of age and upward, and
a citizen of the United States, should be entitled to
the privilege of the elective franchise, subject, how-
ever, to the following exceptions and disqualifica-
tions : (1) Parties who bore arms against the United
States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion;
(2) Those who voluntarily gave aid, comfort, coun-
tenance, counsel, or encouragement, to those hostile
to the United States, or who sought or voluntarily
accepted any offers, civil or military, or attempted
to exercise the functions of any office, civil or mili-
tary under the Confederate States, or of any in-
surrectionary state, hostile to the United States, with
intent or desire to aid the rebellion or any insurrec-
tionary authority, or who voluntarily supported any
pretended government or authority hostile to the
United States, "by contributions in money or prop-
erty, by persuasions, or influence, or in any other way
whatever."
This amending act provided that the governor
should appoint a commissioner of the registration for
each county in the state, whose duty it was to ascer-
tain by proof and register the name of each and
every qualified voter, and to issue to each a certificate
that he was entitled to the privilege of the elective
franchise.
The proof required to be presented to this com-
missioner of registration was the evidence of two
competent witnesses known to the commissioner to
have been at all times unconditional Union men, and
who testified that they were personally acquainted
with the person claiming to be registered, and that
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 635
he had not been guilty of any acts disqualifying him
under the provisions of the act.
In addition the applicant for registration was re-
quired to take and subscribe to an oath, that he had
never voluntarily borne arms with intent to aid the
rebellion, nor with such intent at any time to give
aid, comfort, counsel, or encouragement to the rebel-
lion, and that he had never sought, nor accepted,
nor exercised the functions of any office under the
authority of the Confederate States, or of any in-
surrectionary state.
This commissioner of registration was authorized
to hear proof against, as well as for, the applicant
for registration.
The Act provided that no person should be en-
titled to vote at any election unless registered under
the act, and who had received a certificate of regis-
tration.
The previous registration under the Act of 1865
was annulled, and this amendatory Act of 1866 was
substituted.
Subsequently, the same General Assembly, on
March 8, 1867, (see Acts of 1867, ch. 36), passed
another act.
The fourth section of this act empowered the
governor to set aside the registration of any county
and make known the same by proclamation, when
it should be made to appear to his satisfaction that
fraud and irregularities had intervened in the regis-
tration of the voters of such county.
It is proper to observe here that the same legis-
lature, on Feb. 25, 1867, also changed the law by
striking out the word "white" so as to allow the
colored brother to vote.
But notwithstanding the long and strenuous ef-
forts of this continuous General Assembly to per-
petuate its power and to protect the state govern-
536 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
ment from invasion by those who in any way had
sympathized with what it called the rebellion, quite
a number of people received certificates of registra-
tion who had become disgusted with the debaucheries
and excesses of the party in power.
Governor Brownlow set aside the registration in
various counties, and under the act of Feb. 26, 1868,
ch. 52, removed a number of commissioners of regis-
tration who had not acted in accordance with what
he thought was necessary to preserve the state in
the hands of the truly loyal.
It may be noticed that the legislature on May 8,
1867, passed an act which, by its third section, de-
clared null and void the registration in Overton
county, taken under the previous act.
All these acts made it a crime for any person to
vote who was not entitled to do so under the pro-
visions of the act.
One William Staten received, Dec. 10, 1867, from
the commissioner of registration of Gibson county, a
certificate as a qualified voter. On Feb. 23, 1868,
Governor Brownlow issued a proclamation declaring
the registration in this county void under the provi-
sions of one of the acts before mentioned. On March
7, 1867, an election was held in Gibson county for
sheriff, and Staten voted at said election under the
authority of his certificate of registration issued to
him Dec. 10, 1867. On March 26, 1868, Staten was
indicted by the grand jury of the county for illegal
voting. The indictment set forth the act aforesaid
which he violated in voting. The lower court quashed
the indictment, and the state appealed.
The case was heard by the supreme court for the
western division at its April term, 1869, the supreme
court being composed of Henry G. Smith, George
Andrews, and James O. Shackelford.
These jurists held that, when a certificate entitling
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 537
a party to vote was issued under any of the acts
aforesaid it was in the nature of a vested property
right, and that it could not be taken away without
due process of law, and hence, that the legislature
had no right, without giving the party a hearing, to
deprive him of his right to vote under his certificate,
and hence, could not confer upon the governor the
right to disfranchise him.
Senter, who as speaker of the Senate succeeded
to the governorship on the election of Brownlow to
the Senate, desired to be elected governor at the
regular election. He was distrusted by the radicals,
who nominated as their candidate William B. Stokes.
The Democrats seized their opportunity, and prom-
ised Senter their support, if he would allow them to
vote. The decision of the supreme court in the
"William Staten case referred to above was the turn-
ing point in the contest, especially affecting the
result in Middle and West Tennessee. In addition
to this, Senter instructed the commissioners of regis-
tration to issue certificates to Democrats, which was
done very generously. Sender was elected by the
largest majority ever given a candidate for governor.
The legislature was also overwhelmingly Demo-
cratic for the first time since the war. Ante-bellum
leaders, with Gen. John C. Brown at the head, were
once again in the saddle, and Tennessee began to
emerge from the dark clouds of the reconstruction
period.
And yet there was another serious fignt before the
conservatives gained safe control of the state. Ail
effort was made by the radicals and defeated parti-
sans of Brownlow to bring the state again under
military rules, — to "un-state" Tennessee, to use a
term then in vogue. This occurred in 1870 shortly
after the election of Senter, and created much excite-
ment throughout the state.
538 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
The legislature that met under Senter had lost no
time in repealing all the obnoxious acts of the Brown-
low administration, including the act creating the
"State Guard," all laws granting aid to internal
improvements, etc. We may observe here that the
strenuous Brownlow legislature was in a long con-
tinuous session, and in addition to its efforts to dis-
franchise perpetually the intelligent citizens of the
state, was also engaged in heroic efforts to increase
the bonded indebtedness, and some $20,000,000 was
added to the already impoverished state.
The effort of the radicals to reconstruct Tennessee
was fostered and in every way encouraged by the
holders of the bonds of the state-aided railroads,
who saw the prospect of a repudiation of this debt by
the Senter legislature. The cry was raised in Con-
gress that Tennessee was about to repudiate the
amendments to the state constitution voted upon
under Johnson, and was again setting itself in "re-
bellion" against the government. Ample encourage-
ment of this idea was received in Congress from
such men as Thaddeus Stevens, Oliver P. Morton and
Ben Wade.
A committee to investigate the situation was ap-
pointed, of which Gen. B. F. Butler was chairman.
The Tennessee legislature sent to Washington to
interview this committee, speaker D. B. Thomas of
the Senate, and speaker W- O'N. Perkins, of the
House.
In addition, a mass meeting of citizens of Nash-
ville held on March 19, 1870, appointed a committee
composed as follows: ex-Governor Neill S. Brown,
Judge John M. Lea, Judge J. C. Guild, and Gen. G.
P. Thruston, an ex-Federal officer who had settled
in Nashville, and was now lending his valuable aid
toward restoring order.
Testimony was given before the committee by
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 539
speakers Thomas and Perkins, and by Judge Lea
and General Thruston. The efforts of these gentle-
men were successful, and the threatened return to
military rule was averted. However, no legislation
was enacted by that legislature on the subject of the
railroad debt, and for the time being agitation on
that question ceased.
The Constitution of 1870.
The Democrats now in power were determined to
get rid of all obnoxious legislation in the best way
possible, and to do their utmost to prevent a return
of such abuse of power as had been wit aessed under
Brownlow. There had been no revisiou of the state
constitution since 1834, and it was thought that now
was the time to call a convention for that purpose.
Accordingly, after having submitted the question
to the people, this convention assembled in Nash-
ville, Jan. 10, 1870. The importance of the task
before them was realized, and the ablest men in
the state were sent as delegates. Judge 0. H. P.
Nicholson, the "Nestor of the Convention, " who
afterwards became the chief justice of the state, was
made chairman of the committee on elections and
suffrage, the most delicate work before that body.
Hon. John C. Brown, afterwards governor, was
elected permanent president.
There was present one member of the constitu-
tional convention of 1834 in the person of Mr. Boiling
Gordon, of Hickman county, who was made tempo-
rary president. This convention altogether con-
sisted of some of Tennessee's most distinguished
men, and even now it is considered an especial honor
to be referred to as having been "a member of the
constitutional convention of 1870." Under the lead-
ership of wise men, the work of the convention was
quickly done, adjournment being reached on Feb-
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
ruary 23, one month and thirteen days after assemb
ling. The chief action of the convention was the re-
enactment of the constitution of 1834 with the elim-
ination of the word "white" and the addition of a
poll-tax qualification.
By thus applying the elective franchise to "every
male person of the age of twenty-one," (the con-
stitution of 1834 provided that only "free white
men" could vote), Tennessee embodied in its con-
stitution the substance of the Fifteenth Amendment
nearly two months before this was ratified and pro-
claimed by the government.
There was a fight over giving the suffrage to ne-
groes by constitutional provision. Four members,
on February 22, filed a protest, stating: "We hold
that this convention has no right to force negro suf-
frage upon the people of Tennessee." A separate
popular vote was urged on this provision. But argu-
ments in favor of negro suffrage were forcefully
presented by the wise leaders and the policy pre-
vailed. Thus we have presented to us the sight of
men of Southern blood, and only recently from the
field of battle, calmly and resolutely facing the in-
evitable, and arguing that the right of suffrage be
given by constitutional provision to former slaves.
In order to prevent the appointment of county
offices of election by the governor, a power which
had been so grossly abused by Brownlow, the con-
vention provided (Act XI., Sec. 17), "No county
office created by the legislature, shall be filled other-
wise than by the people or the county court." The
constitution was submitted to the people and ratified
on March 26, 1870, by a vote of 98,128 for, to 33,872
against.
Tennessee has had three constitutions, the first
one ratified in 1796, called by Thomas Jefferson the
"most democratic constitution of any state"; the
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 541
second in 1834, and the third in 1870. The changes
in the constitution of 1870 from that of 1834 are,
however, so slight, outside of the right of suffrage,
that the present constitution may be viewed more
as an amended instrument of 1834 than as a new
constitution of 1870. Undoubtedly the leaders of the
state acted wisely at that time of unsettled conditions
in tampering as little as possible with the state
constitutional law; but it is a fact recognized for
some years in the state that this constitution in
some provisions is cumbersome under present, and
decidedly altered conditions. Hon. Joshua W.-Cald-
well, who has written a most valuable book on the
Constitutional History of Tennessee, presents very
cogent reasons why a new constitution, or important
amendments, are needed, and adds (p. 339), "but
for the aid thus given by the Supreme Court, the
state would be intolerably hampered by the present
constitution. ' '
Judge Nicholson himself said when the present
constitution was ratified, that a new constitution
would be needed within ten years.
The people of the state are very slow to take hold
of this matter, however. In 1897 the time seemed
to many to be ripe for a constitutional convention,
but the proposition was overwhelmingly defeated.
Again in 1904, amendments along certain lines were
defeated. However, as Mr. Caldwell says (p. 353) :
"Conditions demand, and ere long will compel a
revision. ' '
The State Debt.
At the close of the days of reconstruction, Ten-
nessee, like her sister states, was confronted with an
enormous public debt which had been piled up during
the chaotic period just following the war. In Ten-
nessee the settlement of her debt was a question
agitating her public men for fourteen years. Ten-
542 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
nessee's state debt in 1870 consisted of three distinct
divisions: (1) the state debt proper; (2) the "state-
aid" debt; (3) the Brownlow debt. These classes
are explained in the following paragraphs.
Previous to the War of Secession, in her effort to
extend aid to worthy improvements within her bor-
ders, Tennessee's outstanding bonds amounted to
$16,643,000. A small proportion of these bonds
($3,844,000) constituted what became known as the
"state debt proper," while the remaining bonds
($12,799,000) were issued under the policy men-
tioned above of extending state aid to internal im-
provements, mainly railroads, and for which liens
were held on the roads. This indebtedness was in-
creased by the Brownlow administration just after
the war by an added debt of $20,363,406, making a
total debt now on the state of $37,006,406. At one
time the total debt, with accumulated interest,
amounted to $42,000,000, and this at a time when
the state was impoverished, and the roads on which
she held liens for practically all the debt were de-
stroyed. The state did enforce liens against twelve
roads, to which bonds amounting to $20,502,000 had
been issued. The roads sold for only $6,698,000 mak-
ing a net loss of $13,804,000 to the state.
Speculators, through a subsidized press and con-
certed action, attacked the validity of the post bellum
series of bonds, and thus ran the price down to a
minimum. After purchasing the bonds at a few
cents on the dollar, as was done in many instances,
they were presented to the state at their full value
to discharge liens against other roads.
The state debt question now became a burning poli-
tical issue, and gave rise to three distinct parties;
(1) Those who wished to pay the "state debt proper"
only; (2) those who desired to pay the entire debt
in full— called the "Sky Blues," and (3) a class
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 543
between these two, that favored paying in full
the state debt proper, but effecting an equitable
compromise of the remainder.
The controversy over the settlement of the debt
was the occasion of a Eepublican gubernatorial vic-
tory in 1880, the only executive of that political
party in the state since the days of Brownlow and
Senter to the present. At this time the Democrats
split into two factions, the State Credit faction and
the Low Tax Democrats. John V. Wright was nomi-
nated on a platform to settle the whole debt on a
basis of fifty cents on the dollar with 4 per cent,
added. Judge S. F. Wilson was nominated as an
independent Democrat, and favored settling in full
the state debt proper, and equitably adjusting the
balance, since it was tainted with illegality. Hon.
Alvin Hawkins, Republican, was elected.
Again in 1882 the battle raged about this question,
and again the Democratic party was split. The
regular Democracy nominated Gen. Wm. B. Bate,
while the "Sky Blues" nominated Hon. J. H. Fus-
sell. Governor Hawkins was a candidate to succeed
himself.
General Bate was overwhelmingly elected, and
under his administration the debt was settled, and
thereafter removed from the arena of politics. The
settlement was, the payment in full of the "state
debt proper, ' ' including accrued interest, except dur-
ing the war. This debt was admitted by all as valid,
and included bonds issued before the war for the
following purposes: State capitol, $493,000; Hermi-
tage bonds, $35,000; agricultural bonds, $18,000;
Union Bank, $125,000; Bank of Tennessee, $214,000;
turnpike bonds, $741,000; Hiwassee B. B. bonds,
$280,000; East Tennessee and Georgia E. E.
bonds, $144,000 ; Memphis & La Grange E. E. bonds,
$68,000; total, $2,118,000.
544 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
It was provided that the remaining indebtedness
should be funded into 30-year 3 per cent, bonds for
one-half the principal and accrued interest. The
bonds held by schools and charitable institutions
were exempted from this settlement, and refunded
at full value.
At the time of the settlement of the state debt
question, the debt, with interest, amounted to nearly
$30,000,000. By the settlement under Governor Bate,
the debt was reduced to about $16,500,000.
In 1899 the legislature passed the Sinking Fund
Act, and since that time the debt has been retired
at the rate of some half million dollars a year. At
the present time (1908) the state debt is as follows:
4y2 per cent, redemption bonds, $1,000,000; 4% per
cent, penitentiary bonds, $600,000 ; 3 per cent, settle-
ment bonds, $9,994,300; 5 per cent, certificates of
indebtedness held by charitable and educational in-
stitutions, $14,000 ; 6 per cent, certificates of indebt-
edness held by charitable and educational institu-
tions, $656,000; total regular interest-bearing debt
(1908), $12,214,300.
With her immense resources and an accumulating
sinking fund, the credit of the state is "gilt edged,"
and the state debt will, within a few years, be en-
tirely wiped out.
Education.
There is no more accurate test of the progress of
a people than the development of the school system,
and the support given to educational matters.
Tennessee has been called the "University State
of the South" from the number of institutions of
higher learning found in her midst. She now has a
superb system of schools, public and private, and is
preparing for yet greater progress in this direction
in the near future. With such institutions as Van-
derbilt University, Nashville, founded in 1875 ; Uni-
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 545
versity of Tennessee, Knoxville; University of the
South, Sewanee; Cumberland University, Lebanon;
Southwestern Presbyterian University, Clarksville;
Union University, Jackson; Carson and Newman
College, Jefferson City; Grant University, Athens;
Washington College, Salem ; University of Nashville,
and Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville; and
many others, both for young men and young women,
the need of Tennessee's students are well cared for.
Nashville is already the greatest educational centre
of the South, and annually thousands of young men
and women gather there from all parts of the United
States.
Among the institutions for negroes, established
by religious denominations since the war, may be
mentioned: Fisk University, Roger Williams Uni-
versity (recently burned), Central Tennessee Col-
lege, and Knoxville College. Fisk University (Nash-
ville) is the highest grade collegiate institution for
negroes in the world (Merriam).
The present public school law was enacted in
1873, and although at first considered an experiment,
has proven eminently successful. The permanent
school fund amounts to the sum of $2,512,500, bear-
ing 6 per cent, interest. In addition a state tax of
fifteen cents on the $100 is levied, and where this
amount is found insufficient to maintain the schools
in any county for five months, the county courts
are authorized to levy additional taxes to the same
amount as the state. A direct appropriation of
fifty cents per pupil — to be increased Jan. 1, 1909,
to seventy-five cents per pupil is also made. Under
this special appropriation, the state during 1908,
paid for her schools the sum of $425,000.
In addition an appropriation was made by the
legislature of 1907 of $100,000 to the State Univer-
sity; and of $250,000 to the Peabody College for
Vol. 8-35.
546 THE HISTOKY OF TENNESSEE.
Teachers, — this latter appropriation, however, con-
tingent upon the location at Nashville of the Pea-
body Educational Fund of $1,000,000 by the trustees
of the Peabody Board.
The number of pupils in the public schools of Ten-
nessee in 1870 was 89,000; in 1907-8, 773,380. The
average number of school days has increased from
77 in 1870, to 117 in 1906-7.
Tennessee has a less percentage of illiterates than
any other seceding state except Texas and Arkansas
— in 1900 the per cent, being 14.1 for whites, and
41.6 for negroes. In 1907 the per cent, of illiterates,
both races, was only 29.4. This is a gratifying situa-
tion compared with conditions thirty years ago when
the increase in white illiterates for the decade from
1860-1870 was 50 per cent. The situation in 1870
was,in fact, alarming, when the commissioners would
often, to relieve themselves of any responsibility,
employ a few peripatetic teachers, wholly unfit
oftentimes for the duties devolving on them, and
suffer them to teach until the funds were exhausted,
when school would be suspended until the following
year, only to be taken up again in the same way
for a month or two.
The white population of the state has increased
during the past three decades about 50 per cent.;
but the school enrollment to-day is, for whites alone,
nearly 400,000, an increase of some 600 per cent.
Great impetus has been given to the cause of
public education in Tennessee, especially within the
past five or six years by an extensive propaganda on
this subject. The people are alive to the great value
of efficient schools, and are preparing for yet greater
things.
General Growth and Resources.
Tennessee's advance has been great since the days
of the sixties. In 1860 the census valuation of all
TWO VIEWS OF MARBLE QUARRY NEAR KNOXVILLE. TENN.
TENNESSEE, 1865-1909. 547
property (excluding negroes) was $393,693,767. It
is to be noted that this valuation was before the
devastation of the war. The war reduced the value
of farm products alone $114,414,354 (see Handbook
of Tennessee, p. 19). The census report in 1900
gave a valuation of $887,956,143, and 1908 the value
was in excess of one billion dollars. In 1900 there
were more people owning their own homes in Ten-
nessee than in any other Southern state, except
Texas. There were more manufactories than in
any other Southern state except Texas and Vir-
ginia ; the value of her agricultural products stands
sixteenth in the Union, and exceeds all the seceding
states, except Texas. In the value of her manufac-
turing products she ranks twenty-fifth in the Union,
and leads all the Southern states, except Louisiana,
Texas and Virginia. More than 3,900 miles of rail-
roads bring her in touch with the world, and afford
an outlet for her vast products.
Every variety of soil to be found in the United
States may be found in the state. Every crop
grown in the Union, except the tropical fruits, may
be profitably and successfully grown. Her mineral
resources have hardly been touched, and include,
among others : iron, coal, marble, copper, zinc, lead,
limestone, sandstone, and phosphates. The first
shipment of phosphate was made in 1894, when
19,188 tons, valued at $67,158, were shipped; in
1906, the shipment was 499,815 tons, and was valued
at $1,852,840. This phosphate is found in middle
Tennessee, mainly about Mt. Pleasant and Co-
lumbia. In 1906 Tennessee furnished 12.71 per cent,
of the world's supply of phosphate.
In addition to her minerals, there are great forests
covering thousands of square miles in the iron and
other regions of the state. These forests contain
many species of fine trees, especially hardwoods.
548 THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
Tennessee has a number of large cities. The four
largest are: Memphis, with a population of about
150,000; Nashville comes next with a population of
about 125,000; Chattanooga and Knoxville each
have about 50,000.
The population of the state in 1900 was 2,020,616,
and in 1908 it was estimated safely at two and one-
quarter millions. In 1860 the population was 1,109,-
801. In the forty-seven years since the beginning
of the war Tennessee has doubled her population.
Conclusion.
Tennessee is one of the fairest jewels in the dia-
dem of the Nation. Eight states touch her borders,
and the mighty Mississippi sweeps by her western
side, while other rivers of navigable size penetrate
her fertile valleys. She is endowed with a balmy,
salubrious climate, remarkable scenery, and a lavish
abundance of fruits, minerals and timber. Her
statesmen and patriots have not only honored
her but the Nation, and their Anglo-Saxon prin-
ciples are kept pure and intact, with a glorious
history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. — The following books and pamphlets have been con-
sulted in the preparation of this paper: Caldwell: Constitutional History
of Tennessee; DeBow's Review (1868); Edmunds: Facts About the South;
Dickinson, J. M.: Reply to Speech of Senator Baxter on Tennessee (1903);
Fertig: The Secession and Reconstruction of Tennessee; Fleming: The Pre-
script of the KuKluxKlan; Folk, Reau E.; Tennessee's Bonded Indebt-
edness (1908); Garrett and Goodpasture: History of Tennessee; Lester
and Wilson: The Ku Klux Klan; Marshall: Life of General William B.
Bate; Merriam: Education in Tennessee; Miller's Manual of Tennessee;
Paine, Thos. H.: Handbook of Tennessee (1903); Phelan: History of Ten-
nessee; The American Historical Magazine; Prescript of Order of XXX
(Original copy printed at Pulaski, Tenn.) ; Acts and Journals of Tennessee
Legislature; Tennessee School Reports, especially 1906, and Statistical
Report, 1907.
CAREY A. FOLK,
Assistant Treasurer of the State of Tennessee; formerly Pret-
ident of Boscobel College, Nashville.
University of California
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