FOOTNOTES:
[112] New York Tribune, April 14, 1863.
[113] Rebellion Recs., vol. viii. Doc. pp. 418, 419.
[114] Gen. Chalmers has denied, with vehemence, that he ever did any cruel act at Fort Pillow, but the record is against him. Soldiers under brave, intelligent, and humane officers could never be guilty of such cruel and unchristian conduct as these rebels at Pillow. Gen. Chalmers is responsible. As an illustration of the gentle and forgiving spirit of the Negro, it should be recorded here that many supported the candidacy of Gen. Chalmers for Congress, and voted for him at the recent election in Mississippi.
[115] See Report of Committee on Conduct of War.
Part 8.
THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM.
CHAPTER XXI.
RECONSTRUCTION[116]—MISCONSTRUCTION.
1865-1875.
The War over, Peace restored, and the Nation cleansed of a Plague.—Slavery gives Place to a Long Train of Events.—Unsettled Condition of Affairs at the South.—The Absence of Legal Civil Government necessitates the Establishment of Provisional Military Government.—An Act establishing a Bureau for Refugees and Abandoned Lands.—Congressional Methods for the Reconstruction of the South.—Gen. U. S. Grant carries these States in 1868 and 1872.—Both Branches of the Legislatures in all the Southern States contain Negro Members.—The Errors of Reconstruction chargeable to both Sections of the Country.
APPOMATTOX had taken her place in history; and the echo of the triumph of Federal arms was heard in the palaces of Europe. The United States Government had survived the shock of the embattled arms of a gigantic Rebellion; had melted the manacles of four million slaves in the fires of civil war; had made four million bondmen freemen; had wiped slavery from the map of North America; had demonstrated the truth that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land; and that the United States is a NATION, not a league.
The brazen-mouthed, shotted cannon were voiceless; a million muskets and swords hung upon the dusty walls of silent arsenals; and war ceased from the proud altitudes of the mountains of Virginia to where the majestic Atlantic washes the shores of the Carolinas. A million soldiers in blue melted quietly into the modest garb of citizens. The myriad hum of busy shuttles, clanking machinery, and whirling wheels proclaimed the day of peace. Families and communities were restored and bound together by the indissoluble, golden ties of domestic charities. The war was over; peace had been restored; and the nation was cleansed of a plague.
But what was to be done with the millions of Negroes at the South? The war had made them free. That was all. They could leave the plantation. They had the right of locomotion; were property no longer. But what a spectacle! Here were four million human beings without clothing, shelter, homes, and, alas! most of them without names. The galling harness of slavery had been cut off of their weary bodies, and like a worn-out beast of burden they stood in their tracks scarcely able to go anywhere. Like men coming from long confinement in a dark dungeon, the first rays of freedom blinded their expectant eyes. They were almost delirious with joy. The hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows, the pain and waiting, the prayers and tears of the cruel years of slavery gave place to a long train of events that swept them out into the rapid current of a life totally different from the checkered career whence they had just emerged. It required time, patience, and extraordinary wisdom on the part of the Government to solve the problem of this people's existence—of this "Nation born in a day." Their joy was too full, their peace too profound, and their thanksgiving too sincere to attract their attention at once to the vulgar affairs of daily life. One fervent, beautiful psalm of praise rose from every Negro hut in the South, and swelled in majestic sweetness until the nation became one mighty temple canopied by the stars and stripes, and the Constitution as the common altar before whose undimmed lights a ransomed race humbly bowed.
The emancipated Negroes had no ability, certainly no disposition, to reason concerning the changes and disasters which had overtaken their former masters. The white people of the South were divided into three classes. First, those who felt that defeat was intolerable, and a residence in this country incongenial. They sought the service of the Imperial cause in war-begrimed Mexico; they went to Cuba, Australia, Egypt, and to Europe. Second, those who returned to their homes after the "affair at Appomattox," and sitting down under the portentous clouds of defeat, refused to take any part in the rehabilitation of their States. Third, those who accepted the situation and stood ready to aid in the work of reconstruction.
In the unsettled condition of affairs at the close of hostilities, as there was no legal State governments at the South, necessity and prudence suggested the temporary policy of dividing the South into military districts. A provisional military government in the conquered States was to pursue a pacific, protective, helpful policy. The people of both races were to be fed and clothed. Schools were to be established; agriculture and industry encouraged. Courts were to be established of competent jurisdiction to hear and decide cases among the people. Such a government while military in name was patriarchal in spirit. As early as the spring of 1865, before the war was over, an act was passed by Congress providing for the destitute of the South.
"An Act to Establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees.
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth class, two of the third class, three of the second class, and five of the first class. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act entitled, 'An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes,' approved July 2, 1862. And the commissioners and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the attorney general, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party, upon any breach of the conditions thereof.
"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct.
"Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act, and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act. Each of said assistant commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand and five hundred dollars, in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President, or either house of Congress. And the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required.
"Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land, within the insurrectionary States, as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation, or sale, or otherwise. And to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of said land as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year 1860, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent as aforesaid.
"Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
"Robert C. Schenck, Henry Wilson, "George S. Boutwell, James Harlan, "James S. Rollins, W. T. Willey, "Managers on part of House. Managers on part of Senate."
| "Robert C. Schenck, | Henry Wilson, |
| "George S. Boutwell, | James Harlan, |
| "James S. Rollins, | W. T. Willey, |
| "Managers on part of House. | Managers on part of Senate." |
To have subjected the late rebellious States to military rule for a stated term of years, say a decade or a generation, would have given force to the hasty statement of rebels and their sympathizers in the courts of Europe. It was charged that the United States Government fought to subjugate the Confederate States. The United States did not "begin it," and did not intend, at any time, to lay the mailed hand of military power against the throat of the rights of loyal citizens or loyal States. The sine qua non of reconstruction was loyalty to the Federal Government. But while this idea was next to the heart of the Government, the sudden and horrible taking off of Abraham Lincoln discovered many master-builders, who built not well or wisely. The early education of Andrew Johnson was not in line with the work of reconstruction. His sympathies were with the South in spite of his position and circumstances. The friends of his early political life were more potent than the friends of a sound, sensible, and loyal policy upon which to build the shattered governments of the South. And by indicating and advocating a policy at variance with the logical events of the war, he was guilty of a political crime, and did the entire nation an irreparable injury.
Congress seemed to be unequal to the task of perfecting a proper plan for reconstructing the Southern States. To couple general amnesty to the rebels with suffrage to the Negroes was a most fatal policy. It has been shown that there was but one class of white men in the South friendly to reconstruction,—numerically, small; and mentally, weak. But it was thought best to do this. To a triple element Congress committed the work of reconstruction. The "Scalawag," the "Carpet-bagger," and the Negro. Who were this trio? The scalawag was the native white man who made up the middle class of the South; the planter above, the Negro below. And between this upper and nether millstone he was destined to be ground to powder, under the old regime. A "nigger-driver," without schools, social position, or money, he was "the poor white trash" of the South. He was loyal during the war, because in the triumph of the Confederacy, with slavery as its corner-stone, he saw no hope for his condition. Those of them who fought under the rebel flag were unwilling conscripts. They had no qualifications for governing—except that they were loyal; and this was of no more use to them in this great work, than piety in the pulpit when the preacher cannot repeat the Lord's prayer without biting his tongue. The carpet-baggers ran all the way from "good to middling." Some went South with fair ability and good morals, where they lost the latter article and never found it; while many more went South to get all they could and keep all they got. The Negro could boast of numerical strength only. The scalawag managed the Negro, the latter did the voting, while the carpet-bagger held the offices. And when there were "more stalls than horses" the Negroes and scalawags occasionally got an office.
The rebels were still in a swoon.
The States were reconstructed, after a manner, and the governments went forward.
In 1868 Gen. U. S. Grant carried these States. It was like the handle on a jug, all on one side. The rebels took no part; but after a while a gigantic Ku Klux conspiracy was discovered. This organization sought to obstruct the courts, harass the Negroes, and cripple local governments. It spread terror through the South and made a political graveyard of startling dimensions. The writ of habeas corpus was suspended; arrests made, trials and convictions secured, and the penitentiary at Albany, New York, crowded with the enemies of law and order. A subsidence followed, and the scalawag-carpetbag-Negro governments began a fresh existence.
In 1872 Gen. Grant carried the Southern States again, meeting with but little resistance. In Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina there were Negro lieutenant-governors. The Negroes were learning rapidly the lesson of rotation in office, and demanded recognition. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, were represented, in part, by Negroes in the National House of Representatives, and Mississippi in the Senate as well. Both branches of the Legislatures of all the Southern States contained Negro members; while many of the most important and lucrative offices in the States were held by Negroes.
The wine cup, the gaming-table, and the parlors of strange women charmed many of these men to the neglect of important public duties. The bonded indebtedness of these States began to increase, the State paper to depreciate, the burden of taxation to grow intolerable, bad laws to find their way into the statute-books, interest in education and industry to decline, the farm Negroes to grow idle and gravitate to the infectious skirts of large cities, and the whole South went from bad to worse.
The hand of revenge reached for the shot-gun, and before its deadly presence white leaders were intimidated, driven out, or destroyed. Before 1875 came, the white element in the Republican party at the South was reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. Thus abandoned, the Negro needed the presence of the United States army while he voted, held office, and drew his salary. But even the army lacked the power to inject life into the collapsed governments at the South.
The mistake of reconstruction was twofold: on the part of the Federal Government, in committing the destinies of the Southern States to hands so feeble; and on the part of the South, in that its best men, instead of taking a lively interest in rebuilding the governments they had torn down, allowed them to be constructed with untempered mortar. Neither the South nor the Government could say: "Thou canst not say I did it: shake not thy gory locks at me." Both were culpable, and both have suffered the pangs of remorse.