USA > Mississippi > Hinds County > History of Hinds County, Mississippi, 1821-1922 > Part 3
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lina ordinance should take effect immediately or on the 4th of March, and the same four votes were cast to give the advice 'immediately.' (R. Davis, Recollections, 390. Also see Mayes' Lamar, p. 87).
"When the legislature convened at Jackson, November 26, the message of the governor was immediately delivered. Besides the members and all State officials, hundreds of citizens of Hinds County were present, the galleries of the old Capitol and all available standing room being packed with eager, anxious spectators. He declared they had be- fore them 'the greatest and most solemn question that ever engaged the attention of any legislative body on this con- tinent,' one that involved 'the destiny, for weal or for woe, of this age, and all generations that come after us, for an indefinite number of generations, the end of which no prophet can foretell * That Mississippi may be en- abled to speak on this grave subject in her sovereign ca- pacity I recommend that a convention be called, to meet at an early date.' He argued at length the doctrine of a reserved right of secession by the States of the Union, and declared that this was the great saving principle to which alone the Southern States could look and live. In after years he said he hoped, after the Republican party had passed away, to come back "under the benign influences of a reunited government.' 'If we falter now,' he said in con- clusion, 'we or our sons must pay the penalty in future years, of bloody, if not fruitless, efforts to retrieve the fallen fortunes of the State, which if finally unsuccessful must leave our fair land blighted-cursed with Black Re- publican politics and the freed negro's morals, to become a cesspool of vice, crime and infamy. Can we hesitate, when one bold resolve, bravely executed, makes powerless the aggressor, and one united effort makes safe our homes ? May the God of our fathers put it into the hearts of our people to make it.' Among the members of the legislature a written plan of a Confederacy was freely circulated and published in the Mississippian of December 4th. This be- gan with the following instructions: 'The States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida are believed to be
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ready to go out of the Union. To these states, let com- missioners be appointed now by the State.'
"On November 28th the legislature passed the Con- vention bill, reported by Charles Clark in the house. It provided that an election of delegates to a convention should be held in each county, Thursday, December 20th, each county to have as many delegates as it had represen- tatives in the legislature. Originally the bill would have allowed any 'citizen' to be a delegate, but the senate insert- ed an amendment requiring one year's residence in the State. The delegates elected were to meet at the Capitol, Monday, January 7, 1861, and 'proceed to consider the then existing relations between the government 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.'
"On the following day resolutions were adopted re- questing the governor to appoint Commissioners 'to visit each of the slave-holding States,' to inform them of the action of the Mississippi legislature, 'express the earnest hope of Mississippi that those States will co-operate with her in the adoption of efficient measures for their common defence and safety,' and appeal to the governors to call the legislature into extra session where that had not been done. Another resolution requested the State officers to prepare a device for a coat of arms for the State of Mississippi; to be ready by the 7th of January. Delay was not to the taste of the legislature. Senator Buck's resolve that it would not be proper to take final action without consultation with the sister slave-holding States, was lost, 27 to 3. The resolu- tions adopted by a large majority, after reciting the grounds for complaint, said, 'That in the opinion of those who now constitute the State legislature, the secession of each aggrieved State is the proper remedy for these in- juries.' The legislature adjourned November 30.
"The governor appointed the following commissioners, who visited the other States, and addressed the legislatures
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and people : Henry Dickinson, to Delaware; A. H. Handy, to Maryland; Walker Brooke and Fulton Anderson, to Vir- ginia; Jacob Thompson, to North Carolina; G. S. Gaines, to Florida; W. L. Harris and Thomas W. White, to Georgia ; W. S. Featherston, to Kentucky; Thomas J. Wharton, of Hinds County, to Tennessee; Joseph W. Matthews, to Ala- bama; Daniel R. Russell, to Missouri; George R. Fall, to Arkansas; Wirt Adams, of Hinds County, to Louisiana ; H. H. Miller, to Texas; C. E. Hooker, of Hinds County, to . South Carolina. Mississippi was herself visited by like commissioners. Colonel Armistead, from South Carolina, and E. W. Pettus, brother of the governor, from Alabama, attended the January convention."
The decisive step taken by the governor of Mississippi at Jackson stirred the people throughout the State. Hinds County and the capital city became the Mecca for all the determined secessionists of the State. The anti-seces- sionists, however, had a following in the county, since Foote had lived here and had built up a strong party. But irrespective of partisanship, there was a wholly unselfish and sincere effort in the county made by such able leaders as Judge W. L. Sharkey to hold the Union together, to which policy Jefferson Davis clung until it was clearly mani- fest that all reason had fled the councils of both the North and the South and that it was now a bitter and deep-seated contention over constitutional guarantees that separated the people. As for the question of freeing the slaves, there were, we repeat, numerous abolitionists in Mississippi and throughout the South, but the voices of these were quelled for the time being at least by the cotton growers who consti- tuted the gentry of the State. And who honestly doubts that the reformer of New England would not have been crushed for some time to come had the sterile soil of New England been a rich one adapted to the production of such profitable staples as cotton and tobacco? By what pro- cesses of economic development involving self-interest the New Englander became an abolitionist en masse would make interesting history, when we consider that there was a time not far back that rabid spirits among them tarred
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and feathered and often mobbed their neighbors for per- nicious interference in such public questions as the preven- tion of slavery. As for the institution itself, there remains to be written a truthful history of the Africans' develop- ment and improvement from a savage during the period of slavery in the Southern States. It is a long distance to go from a life in the open, engaged in the art of trapping a lizard or snaring a snake for sustaining a purely animal existence, to the altar and hearthstone and the hand that guided the feet of this infant race and shielded it when unable to stand alone, should not be forgotten by the his- torian.
Returning to my subject, secession in the State of Mississippi was, in addition to its underlying seriousness, accompanied with an outward display of romantic fervor that savored of the days of chivalry. As has been observed by the writer in a former article, the history of the world has furnished no more remarkable occasion than this presented, nor groups upon its page a no more unusual body than that which gathered in the Representative Hall of the old State Capitol of Mississippi on the morning of January 7, 1861.
The convention brought a group of brilliant men to the State capital, every section of the commonwealth being represented. Immediately after convening, it appointed a committee to draft an ordinance of secession, from its ablest leaders, and young L. Q. C. Lamar was made chair- man. When the ordinance had been read and approved, intense excitement prevailed, in the midst of which a large, blue silk flag, containing a single white star, was brought into the convention. The emblem had been made, evidently for the present occasion, by Mrs. Homer Smythe, of Hinds County.
The Irish comedian, McCarthy, who was filling an en- gagement at the Jackson theatre, on witnessing the thrilling scene, returned to his room and wrote the first three verses of the famous song entitled, "The Bonnie Blue Flag." These verses were printed by Col. J. L. Power in a city
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paper and next day set to music and a week later were heard in New Orleans, soon finding their way throughout the country, gaining additional ver- ses in other Southern States. The same conven- tion that passed the ordinance of secession made immediate preparation for war. Jefferson Davis was placed in com- mand of the army of Mississippi. In the personnel of the secession convention, Hinds county furnished Wiley P. Harris, W. P. Anderson and B. S. Smart.
The history of Hinds County during the four years of the War for Southern Independence is closely inter- woven with the history of the city of Jackson, which is largely similar to that of many of the war-swept cities of Virginia and of many other Southern States during this crisis. The city was partially burned twice, and the surrounding country laid waste during Grant's second invasion of the State in 1863 when Vicks- burg was besieged and captured. The county as well as the city was in a state of constant excitement and action for much of the time throughout the war and every re- source it commanded was generously expended in main- taining the Confederacy. It was during this crisis in the history of the county that its women manifested a spirit that has given them' a secure place in the history of the southern woman, for nowhere in the South were they more efficient and helpful and responsive to pub-
ยท lic duty than in Hinds County, Mississippi, and throughout the State as well. The economic interests of the country were largely in their keeping; the crops were planted, tended, gathered and sold largely under their di- rection throughout the war, during which time they devel- oped a genius for economy and conservation unequalled in the history of the women of any nation. And when one considers under what trying and perplexing conditions she met her heavy responsibilities, the war often at her very door-sill, and the slaves left in her care being rendered restless and disloyal by the invading foe, the poise she maintained as a whole can be accounted for in no other way
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but that she had drunk deeply of the divine fountains that nourished her civilization.
The military organizations of the county during the Civil War which had grown to be strong and it is admitted prideful, consisted of such famous companies as the Burt Rifles, Raymond Fencibles, Company A of Withers' Artil- lery, Brown Rebels, Mississippi College Rifles, Downing Rifles and Raymond Minute Men. As each of these com- panies joined their regiments, parades, public speak- ing, and the presentation of Company flags occurred frequently in the city of Jackson and throughout the coun- ty. Besides this quota of splendid young troops, officered by such commanders as E. R. Burt, Edward Fontaine, James C. Campbell and Joseph F. Sessions ; William H. Taylor and Cuddy Thomas; Samuel J. Ridley and W. T. Ratliff ; Albert G. Brown, John F. Rimes and Robert Y. Brown; Johnson W. Welborn and William H. Lewis; Thomas A. Mellon and William E. Ratliff; and Skilt B. McCowan, all of Hinds County, the county also gave to the Confederacy General Wirt Adam's and General Richard Griffith.
Many of the Hinds County troops served in Virginia during the war, General Griffith being mortally wounded at the battle of Seven Pines near Richmond. His portrait has not only been placed in the Mississippi Hall of Fame, but hangs in the portrait gallery in Richmond.
During the year 1863 when the resources of the Con- federacy were well-nigh exhausted, Hinds County became an almost solid battleground. In the path Sherman made through it from the south in Grant's second advance on Vicksburg lie a succession of battlefields than which no more historic ground can be found in America. The broken uplands lying between Jackson and Vicksburg in Hinds and Warren counties were the scene of action after the de- structive march northward from Bruinsburg and Port Gibson The battle near Raymond, the burning of Jackson, the battles of Champion Hill and Baker's creek, the one of Big Black bridge, and the stubborn resistance of Vicksburg, form the memorable campaign that wrecked the Confederacy in the
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lower South. In the invasion of Sherman, whose methods of warfare were similar in some respects to those of Ger- many in the great World War, the county was devastated, its homes burned, its food-stuffs and live-stock consumed or destroyed.
It is said by a reliable authority that when General Grant viewed the wrecked country from the front porch of a captured residence, he exclaimed in aghast and sympa- thetic tones, "What were the people of this beautiful coun- try thinking of to go to war?" When hostilities ceased Hinds County was exhausted of every resource, with a burned capital on its hands for restoration, and her wide plantations, on which were empty barns and few horses and mules, wholly unprovided with reliable labor. To add to the gloomy condition, a despotic military government was instituted by Congress in the Southern States, from which Mississippi suffered, perhaps, as much as any, State in the Union, much of the misfortune and catastrophe having Hinds county for the stage.
CHAPTER III
A brief resume of the political events of the years directly following the War for Southern Independence will be given here as a reflex of what was taking place in this county and throughout the State.
At the outset on the cessation of hostilities Abraham Lincoln said, and it is safe to think it would have been his policy, "Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to re- storing the proper political relations between those States and the Union." How far he might have yielded to the demands of the extremists of his own party is a matter for conjecture. A close study of his life seemingly reveals a certain weakness when contending with the strong, deep- ly prejudiced forces of his party.
In the articles of capitulation Jefferson Davis had sug- gested certain plans and stipulations through Johnston, which had been agreed to by Sherman. These were im-
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mediately rejected by the United States government. In this plan of reconstruction the oath of allegiance and elec- tion of United States senators and congressmen were con- sidered all that was necessary for restoration in the Union, leaving the State government and its congressional repre- sentatives free to settle as they thought best all questions about which the people had gone to war. Charles Sumner, one of the most rabid and prejudiced partisans in the sen- ate, advanced a theory that the seceding States had by their own act lost the position of statehood and had become nothing more than conquered territory, and congress henceforth had power to do with it as it willed, and to gov- ern it by military form of government as long as it chose.
This was in keeping with the policy of Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania in which the theory was advanced that the State should be regarded as conquered individual provinces. To this influence was due the rejection of the delegation that Mississippi sent to Congress. The mild and constructive policy of President Johnson and William H. Seward was traceable to Lincoln, while a close study of the policies of Sumner and Stevens reveals a desire and determination on the part of the jealous Puritan to crush the Cavalier South. It was part of a feud centuries old trans- planted to a new social atmosphere.
The theory of the Mississippi legislature in 1866 was that the moment the military and all forcible combinations against the laws and authority; of the United States were overcome and Federal supremacy reinstated and law and civil tribunals replaced, the work of preserving the Union was accomplished and the States restored to their proper places and relation in it.
On June 13, 1865, President Johnson appointed Judge William L. Sharkey of Hinds county provisional gov- ernor of Mississippi, who immediately issued a proclamation to the people in which he called a convention for framing a suitable constitution for the State to meet the new condi- tions arising out of the prohibition of slavery. Hinds County sent to this convention William Yerger, Amos R.
.
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Johnston and George L. Potter. The reconstruction policy of President Johnson, as it applied to Mississippi, may be found in the Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, Sharkey's Administration, vol. II, page 653, and Humphrey's Admin- istration, vol. I, page 893.
As bitter as their recent failure had been to establish Southern Independence, the people as a whole accepted the result calmly, asking only to be allowed to resume Statehood with as little friction as possible. General Grant was right after his Southern tour in saying that the people were anxious to set up self-government in the Union. He was mistaken in affirming that the people cared for military protection as it existed. Had it been one of honest pur- pose and intent, it would have proved highly beneficial, but . its presence caused nearly all the evils arising during the period of reconstruction.
The State's affairs were in a ferment and every loyal citizen was deeply concerned as to its future position. With the benefits obtained by President Johnson's policy under Sharkey's administration, Mississippi made another at- tempt to establish a government by electing Benjamin G. Humphreys governor with a full list of State officials. This constituted an honest and capable effort on the part of the State to reorganize State government in the Union and the people believed that they were once more a part of the national government, even though the delegation to Con- gress had not been recognized. The Humphreys adminis- tration, however, though permitted for a short time to exist, after military government was established, was not empowered with legislation. The military, now commanded by Gen. E. O. C. Ord, in the Fourth District, embracing Hinds County, was in full control of the State. The opin- ion of Justice Tarbell, Welburn vs. Mayrant, 48 Miss., 653, was: "By no refinement of reason can we escape the fact that there existed in the State in 1868 a pure, undisguised military government and the military force was not kept there simply as a police force, but was sent there to govern as well."
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"General Ord had two general duties-to preserve order and to provide for the registering of voters under the new law and an election on the question of a constitutional convention. The election held and convention ordered, General Ord, after nine months' service, asked for transfer, and was succeeded by General Alvin C. Gillem, who took command of the District embracing Hinds County, January 8, 1868. The United States troops in the State at that time were the 24th and 34th Infantry and two companies of Cavalry, posted at Vicksburg, Meridian, Jackson, Natchez, Grenada, Columbus, Holly Springs, Corinth, Du- rant, Brookhaven and Lauderdale. Four more companies were brought in for fear of disorder at the elections. Gen- eral Gillem, it is thought, greatly relaxed the rigor of mili- tary rule, though he made more appointments to civil of- fice than did his predecessor. The constitutional convention of 1868 assembled at Jackson January 9, 1868, with 17 ne- groes among the delegates. The delegates from Hinds County were Henry Mayson (negro), E. A. Peyton, Charles Caldwell (negro), and John Parsons. It was, as might have been expected, a crude and revolutionary assemblage, anxious to do so many things that it continued in session 115 days. The constitution it framed was submitted to popular vote June 22, 1868, the first time such a thing had been done in Mississippi. Meanwhile the Democratic party was reorganized, and all its strength put into the campaign against the constitution, and for the election of a governor to succeed Humphreys."
The returned Confederate soldiers bore the changed con- ditions with remarkable fortitude tinged in hopeless moods with a dull apathy. But when the safety of the white civi- lization of the South was menaced, an organization known as the famous Ku Klux Klan was formed to protect society and its sacred institutions during a lawless and turbulent military reign, during which every effort was made to de- stroy the white race in the South. When the rock-beds of their civilization were assailed, pledged not to take up arms against the Union, there was no other alternative but for the Confederate soldiers to become a law unto themselves.
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The Klan that operated in Hinds County was organized at the State capital and drew its membership from all classes of the best citizens of the county. It is a mistake to think the Ku Klux Klan disbanded because irregularities, as deeply as they deplored such, were committed in their name. As long as the white civilization and its sacred in- stitutions were in danger of annihilation, the organization performed its functions and so soon as law and order was restored and a civil government instituted, they with every respect and confidence for this power, quietly disbanded, feeling that there was no need of a remedy when the disease had passed.
"June 4, 1868, Gen. Gillem was succeeded in command of the Fourth District, by order of the president, by Gen. Irwin McDowell, who, unlike Ord and Gillem, had never been on duty in the State. On the charge of opposition to the Reconstruction acts, he removed Gov. Humphreys from office. Lieut .- Col. Adelbert Ames, of the 24th Infantry, (brevet major-general), was appointed provisional gover- nor, the function first exercised by Judge Sharkey. Other changes were made, State officers being supplanted by of- ficers of the regiments of the State garrison. (See Ames Prov. Adm).
"Another day to the election date was added by Mc- Dowell. Before he was able to announce the result, how- ever, he was removed from command and Gillem reinstat- ed, a step which met with popular approval.
"Gillem announced on July 10 the result of the June , election. It showed that the constitution had been rejected.
"Two days before the returns were completed, the Com- mittee of Five, of the constitutional convention, reported to the Reconstruction committee of congress that election commissioners had been unable to discharge their duties in some counties ; in others there was a reign of terror for the purpose of intimidation, and that a sort of boycott had been proclaimed to compel negroes to refrain from voting the Republican ticket. There is no doubt of the truth, to some extent, of all these allegations. Not more than half
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the colored vote was cast. The Committee of Five re- quested Gen. Gillem to investigate its charges, and upon his refusal to do so, the committee took rooms at the capi- tol, and with closed doors took testimony to support its posi- tion. After four months the chairman of the committee on November 3 issued a proclamation declaring the consti- tution adopted by a majority of the legal votes cast, and the Republican State ticket elected at the same time. The elections in Copiah, Carroll, Chickasaw, DeSoto, Lafayette, Rankin and Yalobusha counties were declared to be illegal and void on account of threats, intimidations, frauds and violence. He also claimed that two Republicans had been elected to the 40th congress, and impeached the title of a number of members of the legislature declared elected by Gen. Gillem.
"Meanwhile the committee had asked congress to sup- port this conclusion. The House passed a bill July 24, to re-assemble the convention to frame a new constitution, but it was rejected by the senate. A Republican State convention was convened at Jackson, November 25, which memorialized congress to the same effect, renewed the charges of fraud, and adopted an address declaring that a large party in Mississippi, in 'defiance of the authority, and regardless of the wishes of congress, had rejected in con- tempt all terms of restoration, and had assumed the right to dictate the terms under which they would condescend to be re-admitted to the Union.' Similar conventions were held in nearly every county. A committee of six per- sons from the state at large, and two from each congres- sional district, were sent to Washington to urge the adop- tion of this policy. There was a hearing before the Re- construction committee. Gov. Sharkey testified that the election was fair so far as he knew, that many negroes voted voluntarily with the Democrats, that there was good feeling between the races, and that if again submitted, with the proscriptive features omitted, the constitution would be adopted. Gen. Gillem had the same view of the constitution, and denied that he had opposed the reconstruc- tion measure, as charged against him. J. W. C. Watson
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