Report on the Condition of the South

by Carl Schurz

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF LOUISIANA,

New Orleans, September 8, 1865.

Sir: In compliance with your request, I have the honor to submit some remarks upon the civil government of Louisiana, and its relation to the military administration of this department. These relations are more anomalous and complicated, probably, than in any other insurrectionary State, and it will be useful in considering these questions to bear in mind the changes that have occurred since the occupation of this city by the Union forces. These are, briefly—

1. The military administration of the commander of the department of the Gulf, Major General Butler.

2. The military government, of which Brigadier General Shepley was the executive, by appointment of the President.

3. The provisional government, of which the Hon. M. Hahn was the executive, by appointment of the President, upon nomination by the people at an election held under military authority.

4. The constitutional government, organized under the constitution adopted by the convention in July, 1864, and ratified by the people at an election held in September of that year. Of this government the Hon. J.M. Wells is the present executive.

This government has not yet been recognized by Congress, and its relation to the military authority of the department has never been clearly defined. Being restrained by constitutional limitations, its powers are necessarily imperfect, and it is frequently necessary to supplant them by military authority. Many of the civil officers still hold their positions by the tenure of military appointments holding over until elections can be held under the constitution. These appointments may be vacated by the commander of the department, and, if under the constitution the power of appointment reside in the governor, be filled by him: if it does not, the appointment must be filled by the military commander. Very few removals and no appointments have been made by me during my command of the department; but the governor has been advised that all persons holding office by the tenure of military appointment were subject to military supervision and control, and would not be permitted to interfere in the duties committed to him by the President of restoring "civil authority in the State of Louisiana;" that upon his recommendation, and for cause, such officers would be removed; and if the power of appointment was not under the constitution vested in him, the appointment would be made by the department commander, if, upon his recommendation, there was no disqualifying exception.

The instructions to the military commanders, in relation to the previous governments, were general, and I believe explicit; but, as their application passed away with the existence of these governments, it is not necessary to refer to them here. Those that relate to the constitutional government are very brief, so far, at least, as they have reached me. In a confidential communication from his excellency to the late President, in which he deprecated, in strong terms, any military interferences, and expressed very freely his own views and wishes, he concluded by saying that "the military must be judge and master so long as the necessity for the military remains;" and, in my instructions from the War Department, of May 28, 1865, the Secretary of War says: "The President directs me to express his wish that the military authorities render all proper assistance to the civil authorities in control in the State of Louisiana, and not to interfere with its action further than it may be necessary for the peace and security of the department."

These directions and wishes have been conclusive, and I have given to the civil authorities whatever support and assistance they required, and have abstained from any interference with questions of civil or local State administration, except when it was necessary to protect the freedmen in their newly acquired rights, and to prevent the local courts from assuming jurisdiction in cases where, of law and of right, the jurisdiction belongs inclusively to the United States courts or United States authorities. With the appointments made by the governor I have no right to interfere unless the appointees are disqualified by coming under some one of the exceptions made by the President in his proclamation of May 29, 1865, or, (as in one or two instances that have occurred,) in the case of double appointments to the same office, when a conflict might endanger the peace and security of the department.

My personal and official intercourse with the governor has been of the most cordial character. I have had no reason to distrust his wish and intention to carry out the views of the President. I do distrust both the loyalty and the honesty (political) of some of his advisers, and I look with apprehension upon many of the appointments made under these influences during the past two months. The feeling and temper of that part of the population of Louisiana which was actively engaged in or sympathized with the rebellion have also materially changed within that period.

The political and commercial combinations against the north are gaining in strength and confidence every day. Political, sectional, and local questions, that I had hoped were buried with the dead of the past four years, are revived. Independent sovereignty, State rights, and nullification, where the power to nullify is revoked, are openly discussed. It may be that these are only ordinary political discussions, and that I attach undue importance to them from the fact that I have never before been so intimately in contact with them; but, to my judgment, they indicate very clearly that it will not be wise or prudent to commit any question involving the paramount supremacy of the government of the United States to the States that have been in insurrection until the whole subject of restoration has been definitively and satisfactorily adjusted.

Before leaving this subject I think it proper to invite your attention to the position of a part of the colored population of this State. By the President's proclamation of January 1, 1863, certain parishes in this State (thirteen in number) were excepted from its provisions—the condition of the negroes as to slavery remaining unchanged until they were emancipated by the constitution of 1864. If this constitution should be rejected (the State of Louisiana not admitted under it) the legal condition of these people will be that of slavery until this defect can be cured by future action.

The government of the city of New Orleans, although administered by citizens, derives its authority from military orders, and its offices have always been under the supervision and control of the commander of the department, or of the military governor of the State. The present mayor was appointed by Major General Hurlbut, removed by Major General Banks, and reinstated by myself. Under the constitution and laws of the State the principal city offices are elective, but the time has not yet been reached when an election for these offices should be held. Although standing in very different relations from the State government, I have thought it proper to apply the same rule, and have not interfered with its administration except so far as might be necessary to protect the interests of the government, or to prevent the appointment to offices of persons excepted by the President's proclamation.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ED. R.S. CANBY, Major General, Commanding.

Major General CARL SCHURZ United States Volunteers, New Orleans.

No. 9.

STATEMENT OF GENERAL THOMAS KILBY SMITH.

New Orleans, September 14, 1865.

I have been in command of the southern district of Alabama since the commencement of General Canby's expedition against Mobile, and have been in command of the district and post of Mobile, with headquarters at Mobile, from June until the 25th of August, and relinquished command of the post on September 4. During my sojourn I have become familiar with the character and temper of the people of all of southern Alabama.

It is my opinion that with the exception of a small minority, the people of Mobile and southern Alabama are disloyal in their sentiments and hostile to what they call the United States, and that a great many of them are still inspired with a hope that at some future time the "confederacy," as they style it, will be restored to independence.

In corroboration of this assertion, I might state that in conversation with me Bishop Wilmer, of the diocese of Alabama, (Episcopal), stated that to be his belief; that when I urged upon him the propriety of restoring to the litany of his church that prayer which includes the prayer for the President of the United States, the whole of which he had ordered his rectors to expunge, he refused, first, upon the ground that he could not pray for a continuance of martial law; and secondly, that he would stultify himself in the event of Alabama and the southern confederacy regaining their independence. This was on the 17th of June. This man exercises a widespread influence in the State, and his sentiments are those of a large proportion of what is called the better class of people, and particularly the women. Hence the representatives of the United States flag are barely tolerated. They are not welcome among the people in any classes of society. There is always a smothered hatred of the uniform and the flag. Nor is this confined to the military, but extends to all classes who, representing northern interests, seek advancement in trade, commerce, and the liberal professions, or who, coming from the North, propose to locate in the South.

The men who compose the convention do, in my opinion, not represent the people of Alabama, because the people had no voice in their election. I speak with assurance on this subject, because I have witnessed the proceedings in my district. I do not desire to reflect upon the personnel of the delegation from Mobile, which is composed of clever and honorable men, but whatever may be their political course, they will not act as the true representatives of the sentiments and feelings of the people.

I desire in this connexion to refer to the statements of Captain Poillon, which you have submitted to me, and to indorse the entire truthfulness thereof. I have known Captain Poillon intimately, and have been intimately acquainted with the proceedings of the Freedmen's Bureau. Many of the facts stated by Captain Poillon I know of my own personal knowledge, and all I have examined into and believe.

On the 4th of July I permitted in Mobile a procession of the freedmen, the only class of people in Mobile who craved of me the privilege of celebrating the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Six thousand well-dressed and orderly colored people, escorted by two regiments of colored troops, paraded the streets, assembled in the public squares, and were addressed in patriotic speeches by orators of their own race and color. These orators counselled them to labor and to wait. This procession and these orations were the signal for a storm of abuse upon the military and the freedmen and their friends, fulminated from the street corners by the then mayor of the city and his common council and in the daily newspapers, and was the signal for the hirelings of the former slave power to hound down, persecute, and destroy the industrious and inoffensive negro. These men were found for the most part in the police of the city, acting under the direction of the mayor, R.H. Hough, since removed. The enormities committed by these policemen were fearful. Within my own knowledge colored girls seized upon the streets had to take their choice between submitting to outrage on the part of the policemen or incarceration in the guard-house. These men, having mostly been negro drivers and professional negro whippers, were fitting tools for the work in hand. Threats of and attempts at assassination were made against myself. Threats were made to destroy all school-houses in which colored children were taught, and in two instances they were fired. The same threats were made against all churches in which colored people assembled to worship, and one of them burned. Continued threats of assassination were made against the colored preachers, and one of them is now under special guard by order of Major General Wood. When Mayor Hough was appealed to by this man for protection, he was heard to say that no one connected with the procession of the 4th of July need to come into his court, and that their complaints would not be considered. Although Mayor Hough has been removed, a large majority of these policemen are still in office. Mayor Forsyth has promised to reform this matter. It is proper to state that he was put in office by order of Governor Parsons, having twice been beaten at popular elections for the mayoralty by Mr. Hough. This gives an indication of what will result when the office will again be filled by a popular election.

The freedmen and colored people of Mobile are, as a general thing, orderly, quiet, industrious, and well dressed, with an earnest desire to learn and to fit themselves for their new status. My last report from the school commissioners of the colored schools of Mobile, made on the 28th of July, showed 986 pupils in daily attendance. They give no cause for the wholesale charges made against them of insurrection, lawlessness, and hostility against their former masters or the whites generally. On the contrary, they are perfectly docile and amenable to the laws, and their leaders and popular teachers of their own color continually counsel them to industry and effort to secure their living in an honorable way. They had collected from themselves up to the 1st of August upwards of $5,000 for their own eleemosynary institutions, and I know of many noble instances where the former slave has devoted the proceeds of his own industry to the maintenance of his former master or mistress in distress. Yet, in the face of these facts, one of the most intelligent and high-bred ladies of Mobile, having had silver plate stolen from her more than two years ago, and having, upon affidavit, secured the incarceration of two of her former slaves whom she suspected of the theft, came to me in my official capacity, and asked my order to have them whipped and tortured into a confession of the crime charged and the participants in it. This lady was surprised when I informed her that the days of the rack and the thumbscrew were passed, and, though pious, well bred, and a member of the church, thought it a hardship that a negro might not be whipped or tortured till he would confess what he might know about a robbery, although not even a prima facie case existed against him, or that sort of evidence that would induce a grand jury to indict. I offer this as an instance of the feeling that exists in all classes against the negro, and their inability to realize that he is a free man and entitled to the rights of citizenship.

With regard to municipal law in the State of Alabama, its administration is a farce. The ministers of the law themselves are too often desperadoes and engaged in the perpetration of the very crime they are sent forth to prohibit or to punish. Without the aid of the bayonets of the United States Alabama is an anarchy. The best men of Alabama have either shed their blood in the late war, emigrated, or become wholly incapacitated by their former action from now taking part in the government of the State. The more sensible portion of the people tremble at the idea of the military force being eliminated, for, whatever may be their hatred of the United States soldier, in him they find their safety.

It has not been my lot to command to any great extent colored troops. I have had ample opportunity, however, of observing them in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, and, comparing them with white troops, I unhesitatingly say that they make as good soldiers. The two colored regiments under my command in Mobile were noted for their discipline and perfection of drill, and between those troops and the citizens of Mobile no trouble arose until after the proclamation of the provisional governor, when it became necessary to arm them going to and from their fatigue duty, because they were hustled from the sidewalk by infuriated citizens, who, carrying out the principles enunciated by Mayor Hough and the common council and the newspapers heretofore alluded to, sought to incite mob. I have said that a great deal of the trouble alluded to in the government of the State has arisen since the appointment and proclamation of the provisional governor. The people of Alabama then believed they were relieved from coercion of the United States and restored to State government, and that having rid themselves of the bayonets, they might assume the reins, which they attempted to do in the manner above described. When I speak of the people I mean the masses, those that we call the populace. There are thinking, intelligent men in Alabama, as elsewhere, who understand and appreciate the true condition of affairs. But these men, for the most part, are timid and retiring, unwilling to take the lead, and even when subjected to outrage, robbery, and pillage by their fellow-citizens, refrain from testifying, and prefer to put up with the indignity rather than incur an unpopularity that may cost their lives. Hence there is danger of the mob spirit running riot and rampant through the land, only kept under by our forces.

That there are organized bands throughout the country who, as guerillas or banditti, now still keep up their organization, with a view to further troubles in a larger arena, I have no doubt, though, of course, I have no positive testimony. But this I know, that agents in Mobile have been employed to transmit ammunition in large packages to the interior. One man by the name of Dieterich is now incarcerated in the military prison at Mobile charged with this offence. A detective was sent to purchase powder of him, who represented himself to be a guerilla, and that he proposed to take it out to his band. He bought $25 worth the first, and $25 worth the second day, and made a contract for larger quantities. Deputations of citizens waited upon me from time to time to advise me that these bands were in being, and that they were in imminent peril upon their avowing their intentions to take the oath of allegiance, or evincing in any other way their loyalty to the government; and yet these men, while they claimed the protection of the military, were unwilling to reveal the names of the conspirators. I have seen General Wood's statement, which is true in all particulars so far as my own observation goes, and I have had even far better opportunities than General Wood of knowing the character of the people he now protects, and while protecting, is ignored socially and damned politically; for it is a noticeable fact that, after a sojourn in Mobile of upwards of six weeks in command of the State, during part of which time he was ill and suffering, he received but one call socially out of a community heretofore considered one of the most opulent, refined, and hospitable of all the maritime cities of the South, the favorite home of the officers of the army and the navy in by-gone days; and that one call from General Longstreet, who was simply in transitu.

THOMAS KILBY SMITH, Brigadier General United States Volunteers.

No. 10.