USA > Alabama > Madison County > Huntsville > Early history of Huntsville, Alabama 1804 to 1870 > Part 10
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It was no uncommon thing for federal officers to desert, while stationed in the South. The possibilities of wealth and aggrandizement were the prime causes for such action. The business most generally taken up by them, was speculating in cotton. Though others directed their efforts toward obtaining monopolies of the business interests of the town and public util- ities. One striking instance of the tempting influence of this speculative fever was to be found at Huntsville, where a former beef contractor for the federal army, having grown rich in cot- ton speculations, owned and controlled nearly all of the com- mercial interests of the town, including both hotels, the water works and gas plant. Needless to say exorbitant charges were
12 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 180.
13 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 64.
14 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 421.
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exacted for all things, by this free booter, whose sole purpose was to loot the community of its last farthing.15
As the years rolled past conditions grew infinitely worse. The continued presence of the federal troops only rendered the situation more desperate and depraved. Huntsville became, as it were, a haven of refuge for the worst class of man known to history, though present with us throughout the ages-the "deserter." These traitors to the Confederate cause who flocked here, were infinitely more destitute of principle and unmerciful in their depredations on the community than any federal soldier ever dared to be.
PROMINENT DESERTERS AND TORIES
This same title may be found at page 124 of Fleming's Civil War and Reconstruction. This alone does not excite our curiosity. However, it is with an increasing interest that we read the text of that subdivision, and great is the humiliation and chagrin when we find that four out of the five men in all Alabama, whose conduct was such as to cause their names to be enrolled under this caption, were from Huntsville.
The author yields to the superior abilities of Mr. Fleming, and here quotes the text of his work dealing with these four men :
"General Jeremith Clemens, who had been in command of the militia of Alabama with the rank of Major-General, became disgruntled and went over to the enemy. In the secession convention, Clemens had declared that 'he walked deliberately into rebellion,' and was prepared for its consequences. He first opposed, then voted for, the ordinance of secession, and afterwards accepted the office of commander of the militia under the 'Republic of Alabama.' For a year Clemens was loyal to the 'rebellion,' but in 1862 he had seen the light and wished to go to Washington as the representative of North Alabama to learn from President Lincoln in what way the controversy might be ended. The Washington administration, by that time, had little faith in any following he might have, and when Clemens with John Bell started for Washington, Stanton advised them to stay at home and use their influence for the Union." This former United States Senator from Alabama-1849-1853, now a despised deserter, spent much of his time within the safety of the Union lines about Nashville,
15 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 194.
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from where he harassed and persecuted the people of this section, his former neighbors and friends, those who had hon- ored and respected him. He finally went North where he was known as the "Arch Traitor," and died at Philadelphia a few years after the war.
"George W. Lane, also of Madison county, was a prominent man who cast his lot with the federals. Lane never recognized secession, and was an outspoken Unionist from the beginning. He was appointed federal judge by Lincoln and died in 1864. In April, 1861, Clemens wrote to the Confederate Secretary of War that the acceptance of a United States judgeship by Lane was treason and the North Alabama men would gladly hang him. General O. M. Mitchell seemed to think that the negroes were the only truly loyal, but he recommended in May, 1862, that when a military government should be established in Alabama, George W. Lane, the United States district judge appointed by Lincoln, be appointed military governor. Lane's faded United States flag still flew from the staff to which he had nailed it at the beginning of the war, and his appointment as governor, Mitchell thought, would give the greatest satis- faction to Huntsville and all North Alabama.
"David P. Lewis, of Madison county, a member of the seces- sion convention of 1861, voted against secession, but signed the ordinance, and was elected to the Provisional Congress by the convention, and in 1863 was appointed circuit judge by the governor. This position he held for a few months and then deserted to the federals. During the remainder of the war he lived quietly at Nashville."
"Another prominent citizen of Madison county, Judge D. C. Humphreys, joined the federals late in the war. Humphreys had been in the Confederate army and resigned. He was ar- rested by General Roddy on the charge of disloyalty. It is not known that he was ever tried or put into prison, but in January, 1865, Hon. Clement Comer Clay, and other prominent citizens of Huntsville, of Southern sympathies, all old men, were ar- rested and carried to prison at Nashville, as hostages for the safety of Humphreys, who had been released by order of the Confederate War Department, as soon as the rumor of his arrest reached Richmond. Later Humphreys became a mem- ber of the first Carpet-bag Legislature of Alabama, and finally judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.16
16 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 404.
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He was known at the North as the "Crazy Man." After the close of the war he returned to Alabama to garner the spoils of Reconstruction and became the contending man for the pro- visional governorship of Alabama under the "Carpet-bag" ad- ministration."
CONDITIONS TOWARD CLOSE OF THE WAR
As the power and strength of the Confederacy waned, dis- affection among a certain element in this part of the State became marked, and manifested itself from time to time in various ways. This hostility toward the Confederacy did not go unapplauded or unaided by the federal government. The fomentation of internal strife and discord was by no means a small part of the duties to be performed by the officer in com- mand of a Union army post in the South.
Their efforts were augmented by the energies of the "Arch Traitor," Clemens, and the "Crazy Man," Humphreys and Judge Lane, who figured as advisers to their friends and for- mer fellow citizens in recommending submission. During the early part of 1864 Union meetings were being held in those parts of North Alabama subjugated by federal troops. These meetings were encouraged and protected by the Union officers in command. On march 5th of this year a thinly attended reconstruction meeting was held in Huntsville, at which Clem- ens presided. Orthodox, anti-Confederate and strong Union speeches were made by both the "Arch Traitor" and the "Crazy Man." The latter of whom submitted some elaborate plans for immediate return to the Union, calling upon the governor to hold a convention to consider a return to the Union.17
Early in 1865 peace meetings were held throughout Ala- bama, Georgia and Mississippi. Commissioners were sent to Washington and tories and deserters organized. This peace party expected to gain the August elections and elect as gov- ernor J. C. Bradley, of Huntsville.18 The local chapter of this peace society was known as the "Union or Loyal League."19
The character of warfare, conducted in these parts, grew infinitely worse and less considerate of non-combatants, as the endurance of the South and the superior fighting qualities of the Confederates gave way-respectively-to superior re- sources and numbers. In some instances, notably the treatment
17 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, pages 143-145.
18 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 146.
19 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 556.
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of Captain F. B. Gurley, of this county, the ordinary rules of comity and warfare were not recognized. Honorable victory on the field of battle was not enough. The South must be crushed and her leaders humiliated and made to pay the pen- alty. No amount of persecution was sufficient to satiate the inordinate thirst for revenge of some of the federal command- ers. Mr. Fleming tells us in his graphic way of the treatment accorded that gallant and fearless cavalry commander, Captain F. B. Gurley, who yet lives in this county, a short distance from the town which bears his name: "In a skirmish in North Alabama, General R. L. McCook was shot by Captain Gurley of Russell's Fourth Alabama Cavalry." The opposing forces consisted of regular enlisted and commissioned soldiers and officers, on both sides, not free booters and 'bush-whackers,' but duly accredited commands. Shortly after the Confederates engaged the federals, the latter were routed and General McCook attempted his escape in a carriage. In the hand-to- hand engagement which ensued during the running fight the occupant of the carriage, though unknown at the time, was wounded by a shot fired by Captain Gurley as he passed the conveyance in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. The report was spread through the federal ranks that Captain Gurley had slipped upon the ambulance train bearing the wounded from the engagement and had fired upon and killed General McCook, while he lay helpless upon a stretcher in one of the wagons. Continuing, Fleming says: "The federals spread the report among the soldiers that he had been murdered, and as the fed- eral commander reported, 'many of the soldiers spread them- selves over the country and burned all the property of the rebels in the vicinty, and shot a rebel lieutenant who was on furlough.' Even the house of the family who had ministered to General McCook in his last moments was burned to the ground. The old men and boys for miles around were arrested. The officer who was shot was at home on a furlough and sick. General Dodge's command committed many depredations in retaliation for the death of McCook. A year later Captain Gurley was captured and sentenced to be hanged. The Confed- erate authorities threatened retaliation, and he was then treated as a prisoner of war. After the close of the war he was again arrested and kept in jail and in irons for many months at Nash- ville and Huntsville. At last he was liberated."20
20 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 65-66.
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No men, except the aged and infirm were left in the country. The population was composed chiefly of women and children. The people suffered fearfully, and many of them had to leave the country in order to live.
As the Germans are accused of doing in the present Euro- pean war, the federals made it a rule to hold a community re- sponsibie for all attacks upon Union troops by the Confederate soldiers. As for instance,-and by no means an uncommon one -in 1864 General M. L. Smith ordered the arrest of "five of the best rebels," in the vicinity of a Confederate attack on one of the companies, even going so far as to arrest five more near the place where a Union sympathizer had been assaulted.21
FREEDMAN'S BUREAU
The Freedman's Bureau, ostensibly a labor and employment bureau, was established at Huntsville some time during the early part of 1865. At first these bureaus were conducted by the federal military authorities, but after the war their manage- ment was entrusted to "loyal Union men," "Carpet-baggers." These institutions, if properly conducted, might have been of inestimable worth to the nation as a whole, serving in a large measure to readjust the shattered economic conditions at the South. But such was not their purpose, and as a consequence their presence threatened the very existence of civilization at the South, and for a time substituted Ethiopian for Caucasian supremacy. These, and many other such influences, created a pressing necessity for some sort of social regulator. And out of these conditions logically resulted the "Invisible Empire" whose mandates were executed by the Ku-Klux-Klan.
The veteran who wore the gray, after Lee's surrender, returned to his former home, neither ashamed nor afraid for the course so lately and vigorously pursued. He accepted the fortunes of war with heroic resignation and yielded his weap- ons of destruction without protest or shame, and returned to the pursuits of civil life with that same determination and in- domitable will and energy which had made of him such a formidable foe. He was in no wise daunted or abashed to find, upon his return, all his former slaves supported and protected in dangerous idleness, and incited to insulting behavior by the bureau ; his plantation grievously suffering from protracted neglect, but worst of all, his house burned and no hand to
21 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 66.
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assist in the erection of another. Stripped of every vestige of property and personal effects.
The former slaves, dazed and bewildered as they were by sudden emancipation from work and the necessity therefor as a means of support, to a freedman; a process of evolution wholly beyond their comprehension; deserted the plantation and flocked to the bureau or refugee camps; where they re- ceived, without charge, from the government, food, clothing, shelter and medical attention-from which the mortality was great. Thus supported in idleness and encouraged to laziness, the negro became a prey to all sorts of vagaries. They were lead to believe that when the war was over each would receive, at the hands of the federal government "forty acres and a mule," the property of the former master. Even to this day, there may, in rare instances, be found an old ex-slave who is still holding to the idle dream that this dispensation is yet to come.
There was usually great dispute between the slaves as to who was to get the forty acres upon which was situated the "big house"-the plantation home of the master.
So firmly had these fancies and the inclination to continue idle fastened themselves upon the subject, that even the bureau and military authorities became alarmed. To forestall the further spread of such demoralizing tendencies, the federal authorities, in 1865, issued an order requiring all negroes at Huntsville to go to work, or to be forced to do so by the troops.
In justice to the ex-slave, be it said, this dilemma was prob- ably not wholly his own blame ; for the bureau controlled every phase of life and activity in the community, and complete charge was taken of the negroes. Servitors by nature and training, they naturally looked to the "master" for direction. The activities of the bureau, instead of being an aid to useful employment of the ex-slave's time, were its worst hindrance, as we shall see.
Primarily, the conditions of labor under the old relation of "master and slave" did not exist. A new order of things was to be faced. Its solution was by no means an easy problem ; for during the four years of war practically all commercial and agricultural activities had been suspended at the South. The men were off on the field of battle. The financial resources of the community were exhausted. Federal currency was un- known, or nearly so. Confederate currency was little more than a mythical term to most of the inhabitants, and it was not
-
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legal tender in those sections controlled by Union forces, as was Huntsville.
Labor could only be employed under the supervision of the bureau. Wage scales were established and enforced by the federal authorities. Such a scale was put in force at Hunts- ville in 1864 by the "Freedman's Home Colony":
"No. 1 Hands, male 18-40 years of age, minimum wage per month $25.00. No. 2 Hands, male 14-18 years of age, mini- mum wage per month $20.00. No 3 Hands, male 12-14 years of age, minimum wage per month $15.00. Corresponding classes of women $18.00, $14.00 and $10.00 per month, respec- tively."22
In addition to these minimum wages to be paid by the planter, he was required to take care of the young children of the family hired by him; to furnish without charge a separate house for each family, with an acre of ground for a garden, and without charge, medical attention for the entire family, and schooling for the children; to sell food and clothing to the employee at cost, and lastly, to pay for full time unless the laborer was sick or refused to work.23
In view of the depleted economic and financial condition of the South, to hold that the ex-slave could only be employed on such terms and at such exorbitant wages to be paid in United States currency, was grossly unfair to both employer and employee. Such restrictions rendered employment practically prohibitive. So we are not surprised to learn that in 1864 only two hundred and five of all the ex-slave population of the county had obtained employment.
These labor contracts had to be in writing and receive the sanction of the bureau or military authorities, and witnessed by a "friend of the freedman." Either party breaking the contract was subject to trial by the provost-marshal or a mili- tary commission. The property of the employer was liable to seizure for wages.
So long as these institutions were administered by the mili- tary authorities no charge was made the freedman for prepar- ing the labor contracts, and the negro thought the bureau his best friend. Later, at the close of the war, the bureaus were turned over to the civil authorities and "carpet-baggers" were
22 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 416. The Freed- man's Home Colony" was supplanted in 1865 by the "Freedman's Bureau." The purpose and the work of the two were identical.
23 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 423.
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put in charge. Then a fee of $2.00 was charged the negro for each contract. This produced among them a revulsion of feel- ing. They became suspicious and distrustful of the bureau.
So strong and vindictive did this hate of the "carpet-bag" agents of the bureau become among the negroes in Madison county, that on March 12, 1866, some negroes of Huntsville and vicinity, tarred and feathered one of the bureau agents who had been charging them $1.50 for each contract.24 The bureau authorities even went so far as to try title to and settle disputes over property, between slaves and their former masters. Many instances might be cited, but for present purposes, one such happening at Huntsville will suffice :
General Thomas ordered a military commission to arrogate to itself authority to settle a dispute over the home of a wid- owed white lady, as between her and her former slave, with the result that she was turned out, and the negro given possession of the property.25
On the slightest pretext the bureau authorities intervened. Many are the instances of persecution and injustice heaped upon the Southern whites by these alien and rapacious agents. Their prejudices were strongly against the whites and in favor of the blacks. There was, however, no purpose of bettering the condition of the negro, but solely to punish the whites. As they conceived it, retribution and revenge could be more smart- ly inflicted by forcing the former master to receive his ex-slave as a social equal and a political superior, than by any other means.
It was of common occurrence that prominent citizens, mem- bers of the proudest and most unyielding of all races, were arrested, placed in chains, in some instances, and dragged before the bureau agent, and there in the presence of their former slaves, humiliated, insulted and abused, all, all for the amusement of the agents, and the damning effect it would have over the negroes. Even they were protected and incited to heap opprobrium on their former friends, their old masters. Nor were their outrages alone confined to this form of torture of the whites and protection of the blacks. The latter were shielded from all harm and permitted and incited to villanies and crimes with the approval of the authorities, provided, of course, these acts of wantonness were against Southern whites. Even the law itself was not permitted to take its course with
24 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 435.
25 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 416.
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negro criminals, as for instance: "In 1866, two constables arrested a negro charged with house burning in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Col. D. C. Rugg, the bureau agent at Huntsville, raised a force of forty negroes and went to the rescue of the negro criminal." Coming up with the officers as they were about to board the train with the criminal, he said, "If you attempt to put that negro on the train, blood will be shed. I am acting under the orders of the Military Department. These men-the negroes-are not going to let you take that prisoner away, and blood will be shed if you attempt it."26 All this, in order that the culprit might be taken before the bureau agent and acquitted after a mock trial.
In conjunction with the Freedman's Bureau, schools for freedmen were operated. Shortly before the close of the war three of these schools were established at the refugee camps in the county. Two of them were in Huntsville; one being on Ex-Governor Chapman's plantation, which was confiscated to the use of negro troops early in 1862, as above mentioned. After the war, schools for the freedmen became very numerous. Another was opened at Huntsville by the "Pittsburgh Freed- men's Aid Commission." All these schools were taught by Northern whites.27 From this time forward, all sorts and kinds of missionary, educational and benevolent societies and com- missions, financed at the North, and projected and authorized by Congress, began to operate throughout the South. The meagre success and good accomplished by these institutions, but demonstrated the fallacy of wisdom, theoretically applied, at long range, and sense at short taw.
There was the wildest desire among the blacks, both old and young, to learn to read and write. The older ones wanted to learn to read the Bible. Little or no progress along purely educational lines was made by the pupil; which fact justly discouraged and dampened the ardor of the more conscientious of their white teachers. The number of negroes learning to read in these schools was practically negligible.
In these schools, as a rule, reading and writing were not the essentials taught ; but on the contrary, distrust and bitter hatred of the former master was hammered into the ignorant, gullible subject. The ex-slave was made to believe that it was a special charge upon his dignity, as a freedman to upbraid, shun,
26 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 441.
27 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, pages 458-460.
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insult and degrade Southern whites at all times and to lose no opportunity of making himself offensive to his former master in particular. The excuse given the negro for these incendiary teachings was that the former master wanted to re-enslave them and was their worst enemy. Assurances were repeatedly offered, that the bureau authorities were back of them and would protect them in any sort of villainy.
The former master returned to his home after the war, with love and compassion in his heart for the faithful old negro, who had protected and cared for his wife and family during his absence on the field of battle. Harm him! Such was not remotely in the thoughts of the Southern white. The dream of the former master to reward, protect and support these faithful negroes, was blasted and could have no enlarged appli- cation, so imbued had they become with the false doctrine re- ceived in the schools. Much of the strife between the whites and the blacks, after the war, was fomented in these so-called schools ; and schools they were, not of education, however, but of vice, hate and crime.
In November, 1866, Brevet-Colonel J. B. Collis, of the Vol- unteer Reserve Corps, was put in command of the bureau at Huntsville.28 Under his leadership the bureau branched out into politics, local and State, and was organized into some sort of a political "league." The membership consisted chiefly of negroes. Its purpose was to foist into position and power the "carpet-baggers," "deserters," and "scalawags," and scum of the earth generally, with which Huntsville was infested. The leagues held secret meetings, and pledged themselves and their membership to mutual protection.29 The negroes were especially suspicious and distrustful of Southern whites who had become "deserters and scalawags." Their respect for these moral perverts was no greater than that held for them by the men who wore the gray. One notable instance of this distrust is to be found, when the league at Huntsville refused admit- tance to one of its meetings in the court house, to a notorious "scalawag" of this community, who had formerly been a re- spected member of society. Little wonder that even the negroes were unwilling to align themselves with him, when we remem- ber that he had represented Madison county in the Secession Convention of 1861, and was chosen to succeed Dr. Thomas
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