[805] See “Our Women in the War,” p. 280; Ball, “Clarke County,” p. 463; Le Conte, “Autobiography,” p. 236.
[806] N. Y. Herald, June 17 and Aug. 30, 1865; N. Y. Times, Aug. 17 and Oct. 31, 1865; Mrs. Clay, “A Belle of the Fifties”; Nation, Feb. 15, 1865; oral accounts; Clayton, “White and Black under the Old Régime.”
[807] Letter concerning affairs at the South, Dec. 18, 1865, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 67. General Grant’s conclusions were undoubtedly correct, but they evidently could not be based on the information gathered in a week’s journeying through the South. This gave the Radicals an opportunity to attack his report as being based on insufficient information. But General Grant knew the men against whom he had fought, he had talked with many of the representative men of the South, and through military channels was well informed as to actual conditions at the South.
[808] Report of Carl Schurz, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. Schurz made a journey of more than two months through the southern states. Judging from the testimony which he submits, his confidence must have been confined to the officers of the Freedmen’s Bureau. As a foreigner (a German), he would not be able, even if so inclined, to ascertain anything of the sentiments of the representative people. However, his report was evidently not based entirely on the evidence submitted with it; if it had been, it would have been even more unfavorable. In McClure’s Magazine, January, 1904, Schurz has an article which is practically a rewriting of this report made nearly forty years before. He repeats some of the same stories told him then, and endeavors to reconcile his attitude in 1865-1866 with his course as a Liberal Republican in 1871-1872.
[809] Report of Benjamin C. Truman to the President, April 9, 1866, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 43, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; N. Y. Times, March 2, 1865. Truman spent two months in Alabama, and saw many prominent men whom Schurz did not see, and came in contact with thousands of other citizens. His aim was to picture conditions as they were. The newspaper correspondents, regardless of politics, gave better accounts than the volunteer officers, who had little training or education and much prejudice.
[810] See Blaine, Vol. II, p. 127.
[811] The sub-committee: Senator Harris (New York) and Senator Boutwell (Massachusetts) and Morrill (Vermont) from the House.
[812] Smith and Humphreys.
[813] J. J. Giers.
[814] M. J. Saffold. He was pardoned by President Johnson for that offence.