USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 20
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338. General Smith's Raid .- Cooperating with Sherman's expedition was a cavalry raid into North Mississippi under General William Sooy Smith, with seven thousand mounted men. His force was to unite with Sherman's at Meridian, but got only as far as West Point, Mississippi, where it was confronted by a cavalry force under General Forrest. Gen- eral Lee's division of cavalry was sent from near Meridian to unite with General Forrest to meet this force, but the enemy, followed by Forrest, retreated before his arrival. This expedition, like Sherman's, destroyed the railroads and stripped the country of almost everything; it carried off over 3,000 mules and as many negroes.
339. Other Engagements .- General Lee's division of cav- alry was then sent with what infantry had been left in Mis-
* Records of the Rebellion, Series I., Vol. XXIV., Part IF., pp. 526, 530, and .537.
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sissippi to reinforce Joseph E. Johnston's army in Georgia. General Lee himself was put in command of the depart- ments of Mississippi, Alabama, East Louisiana and West Mississippi. The only troops left in the State were For- rest's cavalry in 'North Mississippi and a small brigade under Wirt Adams near Jackson. Forrest's command gave the enemy much annoyance in West Tennessee, and in June a large force of cavalry and infantry was sent into North Mississippi from Memphis to defeat him. Forrest met this force at Brice's Cross-Roads, June 10th, and com- pletely routed it, gaining one of the most signal victories of the war for the forces engaged. Another force, number- ing about 15,000 men, under A. J. Smith was sent against General Forrest in the following month. Several engage- ments were fought near Pontotoc and Tupelo (July 16th to 19th), ending in a most bloody battle at Harrisburg, near Tupelo. It was a drawn battle, the Confederates under Generals Stephen D. Lee and Forrest losing nearly 1,000 men. The enemy retreated to Memphis.
The war came to a close in the spring of 1865. General Robert E. Lee in Virginia surrendered his army April 9th, General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his, April 26th, General Richard Taylor, in Mississippi, May 4th, and Gen- eral E. Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi, May 26, 1865. Two months after General Lee's surrender there was not a Confederate soldier under arms from Maryland to Mexico.
340. Effects of the Blockade .- Throughout the war Fed- eral ships guarded the Confederate seaports to prevent the people of the South from sending their cotton to foreign markets and from receiving articles of food and clothing and military supplies from other countries. In spite of the gallant efforts of a few vessels belonging to the Confed- eracy, the ports could not be opened. By "running the blockade " swift ships sometimes passed the Federal vessels
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and entered Southern ports, but little relief came from this source, as the articles thus brought in were sold at prices too high for the majority of the people. The patriotic women of Mississippi again brought their old spinning wheels and looms into use and thus supplied the scarcity of clothing for themselves and their families at home and for the brave soldiers in the camp. The cultivation of cot- ton was almost entirely abandoned and attention was directed to the raising of articles of food. A few months after the establishment of the blockade flour and salt became very scarce and coffee could hardly be found in the State. Bolted meal and other substitutes for flour were soon intro- duced, parched corn and many other substitutes for coffee were also used; but the lack of salt was less easily sup- plied, though the dirt floors of old smoke-houses and the salt water of the gulf helped to furnish the suffering people with this necessary article.
341. Freeing of the Slaves .- In September, 1862, Presi- dent Lincoln issued a proclamation threatening that unless the Southern States returned to the Union within one hun- dred days he would declare that the slaves should be for- ever free. These States disregarded the proclamation and on the first day of January, 1863, Mr. Lincoln issued a second proclamation declaring that the slaves in the seceded States were free. The South disregarded this proclamation also, for being out of the Union they were not bound by the proclamations of President Lincoln. But when the South was forced back into the Union at the end of the war it was generally believed that the institution of slavery was dead. With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment there was no longer any doubt on this subject.
342. Assassination of President Lincoln .- As the war drew to a close President Lincoln was shot (April 14, 1865) by J. Wilkes Booth, and died a few hours afterward. This
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unfortunate act was very much regretted by the Southern people, who had hoped that Mr. Lincoln would not deal harshly with them after the surrender. He was succeeded by Vice-President Andrew Johnson, who, the people of the South had reason to believe, would be less liberal towards them.
Summary
1. General Charles Clark was inaugurated governor of the State in January, 1864.
2. General Sherman was defeated at Jackson by General John- ston, who was finally forced to retreat before the superior force of the enemy. After taking Brandon, General Sherman returned to Vicksburg.
3. Several engagements then followed between the small in- fantry forces of the Union army, which made numerous raids throughout the State, and the cavalry forces under command of Generals Stephen D. Lee and N. B. Forrest. In these small engagements the Confederates were generally successful.
4. In February, 1864, General Sherman made a raid from Vicksburg to Meridian, being opposed along the way by a cavalry force under General Stephen D. Lee. The Union forces in this raid succeeded, however, in destroying much valuable property.
5. A Federal raid under the command of General Smith was stopped at West Point by General Forrest.
6. In the battles at Brice's. Cross-Roads, General Forrest gained a signal victory over a Union force. At Harrisburg a drawn battle was then fought, in which Generals Stephen D. Lee and Forrest lost nearly a thousand men. The enemy retreated to Memphis.
7. The war closed with the surrender of Generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Richard Taylor, and E. Kirby Smith.
8. By blockading the southern coast the Federal government prevented trade with foreign nations. This led to much suffering among the people of Mississippi.
9. When the war closed slavery was dead. The Thirteenth Amendment was then adopted, giving legal force to Lincoln's emancipation proclamation of January 1, 1863.
10. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (April, 1865) at the close of the war, and Andrew Johnson became President of the United States.
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EPOCH VIII UNDER FEDERAL RULE (1865-1870)
CHAPTER XXXV
EFFORTS AT ORGANIZATION* (1865-1867)
343. Transition from War to Peace .- As the spring of 1865 approached, it became evident to the most hopeful that the- collapse of the Confederacy was near at hand. People had grown tired of the conflict in which there were so few prospects of success. Many hoped that the end would come in time for the returning soldiers to plant a crop, and thus keep away the starvation which threatened their families. General Lee surrendered April 9th, but as most of the Mississippi troops were in the army of General Taylor, which surrendered a month later, they were obliged to remain at the front until the planting season had well- nigh passed. On the 6th of May General Taylor sur- rendered to General Canby near Meridian. The soldiers were advised to accept the situation in good faith, cheerfully submit to the authority of the United States, obey its laws, aid in restoring peace, and cultivate friendly relations with those with whom they had so long contested. Having taken an oath not to take up arms against the United States, these ragged and hungry veterans of a lost cause returned to their homes to begin the work of restoration.
344. The Situation in 1865 .- The desolation which met the returning soldiers was enough to fill the stoutest heart
* Fuller accounts of the events of this period will be found in Garner's History of Secession, Reconstruction and -Revolution in Mississippi; Cox's Three Decades of Federal Legislation; Good- speed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II .; Mayes' Life, Times and Speeches of L. Q. C. Lamar.
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with despair. The country was almost entirely stripped of live-stock ; bridges and fences were gone; tools and farming implements were wanting; there was no credit system; the labor system was deranged by the emancipation of the slaves; and the freedmen gathered about the towns and military camps, refusing to labor. A Northern traveler, who attended a meeting of three hundred persons at Aber- deen, declared that at least one-third of them had a leg or arm missing. Another estimated that one-third of the bread-winners of the State had been sacrificed in the con- test. Long lines of fortifications and piles of rub- bish could be seen in many towns. Instead of fields of wav- ing grain, only small patches of sickly looking corn could be seen here and there, little cot- SOUTHERN SCENE AT END OF THE WAR ton having been
planted. The railroads presented a sad picture. Miles of track were destroyed, cross-ties were rotten, railway sta- tions and warehouses were burned, water tanks were gone, ditches were filled up, road-beds were grown up with weeds and bushes. On some of the roads all the bridges and tres- tles were gone. The Mississippi Central Railroad had only eight passenger coaches left, and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad only eleven. The present Illinois Central Rail- road, the best equipped railroad in the Confederacy, had only three station-houses left standing. Nearly all the
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State institutions had fallen into decay. County court- houses and jails were in no better condition. It was esti- mated that not one county jail in ten would hold a des- perate criminal twenty-four hours.
345. The Period of Anxious Uncertainty .- Added to the terrible desolation of the country and the impoverishment of the people was a feeling of uncertainty as to the kind of treatment they would receive from the hands of their victorious enemy. President Johnson declared that treason must be made odious and traitors punished. This was in- tended as a threat against the ex-Confederates. Governor Clark, who had been a refugee from Jackson since the occupation of that town by the Federal troops, in 1863, issued a proclamation from Meridian the day after Taylor's surrender, in which he directed the legislature to assemble at Jackson on the 18th of May to provide for a State con- vention. The proclamation enjoined all county officers to be watchful in the preservation of order and the pro- tection of property. "Let all citizens," said he, " fearlessly adhere to the fortunes of the State, assist the returning soldiers to obtain civil employment, and meet facts with fortitude and common sense." The legislature met, pur- suant to the call of the governor, but was in session only about one hour, when the report came that General Osband, of the Federal army, had received orders to arrest the members. It was hastily dissolved, and the members hur- ried away from the capital in great confusion. In its brief session, provision had been made for the appointment of a committee to proceed to Washington and confer with the President in regard to the situation.
Shortly after, a Federal officer demanded that Governor Clark give up his office and surrender the archives of the State. The governor said : " I comply with your demands only because I am forced to do so, and I protest in the name
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of freedom and justice against this act of lawless usurpation on the part of the President of the United States." Governor Clark was then arrested and sent to Fort Pulaski, Savannah, where he was imprisoned. The State was then without a government of any kind. The governor was in prison charged with treason, and the legislature was forbidden to meet. The President had not officially announced the end of the war, and martial law reigned throughout the State. What would come next no one could tell.
346. Reconstruction Plan of the President .- President Johnson denied the constitutional right of secession, and maintained that the States which had joined the Confed- eracy were still in the Union, though their governments were at that time under the control of people who resisted the Federal constitution. He held, therefore, that these States could resume their former positions as soon as resistance ceased, and their governments had passed into the hands of officers who were loyal to the Union.
347. The Commission to Washington .- Ex-Chief Justice W. L. Sharkey and Hon. William Yerger were appointed by Governor Clark to go to Washington to see the Presi- dent. The President refused to receive them as commis- sioners from Mississippi, but received them cordially as private individuals. They represented to him the terrible condition of the country, the desire of the people to be restored to their rights under the constitution, and their intention to abide by the laws of the United States in good faith. This appeared satisfactory to the President, who told them that the people of Mississippi must change their constitution so as to abolish slavery, and then he would recognize their government.
348. Judge Sharkey Appointed Provisional Governor .- The President then selected Judge Sharkey to carry out his plan of reconstruction in Mississippi. It is doubtful whether
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a better selection could have been made. He was a Whig in politics and a strong Union man in his sympathies. He had refused to accept a seat in President Fillmore's Cabinet, preferring to remain on the bench. No name lives more. gloriously in the annals of Mississippi than that of William . L. Sharkey.
He at once issued a proclamation informing the people of his appointment and asking their cooperation in his efforts to carry out the President's wishes. He reappointed by proclamation all who were holding office at the time of the surrender, except such as showed continued signs of disloyalty. Sheriffs were directed to hold an election in each county on the 7th of August for delegates to a State convention. The trustees of the State University were directed to meet at Oxford and reorganize that institution, which had been closed since 1861. The unprecedented amount of lawlessness and crime in the State at this time induced him to organize the militia to detect criminals.
349. Conflicts Between the Military and Civil Authorities. Governor Sharkey's powers were vaguely defined. In some respects he was a United States officer ; in others a State officer. It was hard to tell whether he or General Slocum, the military commander of the district, was the real governor. Prisoners were daily taken out of the custody of civil magistrates and tried before military com- missions, who disregarded the ancient writ of habeas corpus whenever they chose to do so. Nearly every important town was garrisoned by colored troops, who were under little or no discipline, and who plundered and even murdered inoffensive white citizens. The governor appealed to the President to remove these and put white troops in their stead. He stated to the President that there was strong prejudice against colored troops, and that unnecessary conflicts between them and the whites often
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resulted. At first the President refused to comply with his request, but in 1866 they were nearly all withdrawn.
350. The Freedmen's Bureau in Mississippi .- In the latter part of the war, lands belonging to many Confederate soldiers were seized as abandoned and leased to freedmen who had flocked to the towns, and who were, to a large extent, in a destitute condition. It thus happened that in 1865 nearly sixty thousand acres of land in Mississippi were held by the Freedmen's Bureau, which had been established by Congress to provide for the freedmen. Several large colonies were established on the Mississippi River. Colonel Samuel L. Thomas, of the Federal army, was commissioner of the bureau in Mississippi. In every town of importance agents were stationed, a majority of whom belonged to the worst class of adventurers. They became political emissaries among the freedmen and did much to disturb the harmony and good feeling which had hitherto existed between the races. Many of the colored people had accom- panied their masters to the war, and others had remained at home, protecting the families of their absent masters, and caring for the old plantation with a zeal that was admirable. After they were made free, they were still attached to their former masters, until they were made to believe by the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau that the people among whom they had lived so long were not their friends, and that their best interests lay in their attach- ment to the strangers from other sections.
351. The Convention of 1865 .- The Mississippi Conven- vention, which met in Jackson August 14, 1865, was the first in the Southern States to be held in accordance with the President's plan of reconstruction. It consisted of one hundred delegates, most of whom were old-line Whigs, who had opposed the secession movement in 1860. It was a body of as able and conservative men as had ever met
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in the State. Governor Sharkey laid before them a dispatch from the President in which he expressed the confident hope that they would change the old constitution so as to recognize the abolition of slavery. After a long and spirited debate, a resolution was adopted declaring that, as the institution of slavery had been destroyed in Mississippi, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except in punish- ment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed, shall hereafter exist in the State. Thus perished the institution of slavery in Mississippi, killed in the house of its friends.
The Ordinance of Secession was declared null and void, and the other ordinances passed by the convention of 1861 were repealed. All legislative acts that had been passed since January 9, 1861, with two or three exceptions, were ratified and confirmed. An ordinance was adopted, making it the duty of the legislature at the next session to provide by law for the protection and security of the persons and property of freedmen, and to guard them and the State against the evils that might arise from their sudden emancipation. The convention adjourned August 24th, af- ter a session of ten days. With the passage of these acts the people of Mississippi hoped that the State would be restored at once to its former position in the Union.
352. Civil and Political Rights for Freedmen .- The free- dom of the negro now being an established fact, it remained to extend to him the civil and political rights incident to that freedom. As the testimony of freedmen was not at that time allowed in the courts, the United States military authorities had adopted the practice of removing all cases in which freedmen were involved from the civil courts to military tribunals under the control of the Freedmen's Bureau. In September, Governor Sharkey, by proclama- tion, extended to them the right to testify in all cases in
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which the rights of freedmen were involved. Shortly after- wards the legislature conferred upon them the right to hold real estate and to sue in the courts. In 1869 they were made jurors by Governor Ames.
353. General Humphreys Elected Governor .- October 2d the general State election occurred. The two leading can- didates for governor were Benjamin G. Humphreys, a late brigadier-general in the Confederate army, and Judge Fisher, of the High Court of Errors and Appeals. General Humphreys was elected, chiefly on account of his record as a soldier. Governor Humphreys was born in 1808 and was reared in Claiborne county, Mississippi. He was educated at the Military Academy at West Point. At the beginning of the war he left his plantation, in Sunflower county, and promptly entered the Confederate army in command of a large company of volunteers which he raised. His ability as a military officer led to his promotion from captain to colonel and then to brigadier-general.
On the Ist of November the President restored to the people of the State the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and shortly afterwards released Governor Clark from prison. By June, 1866, all colored troops had been removed from the State and white soldiers sent to take their places.
In his inaugural address (October 17, 1866) Governor Humphreys declared that he had always insisted that no State could constitutionally secede from the Union. He also declared that the people of Mississippi would accept the results of the war in good faith, and that they were anxious to renew their allegiance to the United States.
354. Higher Institutions of Learning .- As soon as the war was over Governor Humphreys took steps to reor- ganize the University of Mississippi, which had been closed since the fall of 1861. - In October, 1865, work was resumed
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with a faculty of five professors, the Rev. John N. Waddel being chairman. The enrollment of the first year was 193, the greater part of which was composed of youths and young men who had served in the Confederate army.
The trustees of Mississippi College had unwisely tried to run that institution in spite of the war. The school was thus involved in a debt of $7,000, which greatly hindered its work for several years (until 1872). In 1867 Presi- dent Urner was succeeded by Dr. Walter Hillman.
355. The Legislature of 1865 .- The legislature, chosen on October 2d, met at Jackson on October 16th. A great and delicate task was to be performed. It was unfortunate that not one of the able men who sat in the August convention was a member of this legislature. It is. difficult to under- stand the demoralized condition of the State at this time. Thousands of the freedmen were vagrants. Offences, such as stealing and robbing and burning houses, were of daily occurrence. It devolved upon the legislature to secure to the freedmen the political and civil rights to which they were now entitled, and at the same time to restrain them in their bad habits and compel them to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities of the new position to which they had been suddenly raised. The legislature made its first error by refusing to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment after the convention had almost unanimously decreed the abolition of slavery. A stringent law was enacted to regulate the relation of master and apprentice, as it related to freedmen. Another required all freedmen to have employment by the Ist of January. Another prohibited them from renting and leasing land except in incorporated towns and cities. These measures have come down to us under the name of the "Black Code" of 1865. Although they were largely copied from the statutes of the Northern States, the
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United States military authorities refused to allow their enforcement, and in the following year they were repealed.
The legislature at this session appropriated twenty thousand dollars for the defence of Jefferson Davis, and appointed two commissioners-Giles M. Hillyer and Robert Lowry-to go to Washington and urge that he be released from imprisonment. Notwithstanding the efforts of the commissioners, Mr. Davis was allowed to languish in a Federal prison until May 14, 1867, when he was released on bail. He was never tried before the courts, his case being finally dismissed without trial. The legislature also set aside twenty per cent of the entire revenues of the State for the support of disabled Confederate soldiers and the widows of deceased soldiers, and elected Governor Sharkey and James L. Alcorn to the United States Senate.
Summary
1. At the conclusion of the War between the States Mississippi was in a desolate condition, but her citizens returned from the war fully determined to accept the situation and to devote their energies to the restoration of peace and the development of the State.
2. Governor Clark called a session of the legislature, which had scarcely assembled in Jackson and appointed a committee to confer with the President, when it was suddenly dissolved because of an order to arrest its members. The arrest and imprisonment of the governor, which followed, left the State without a government of any kind.
3. The President appointed Judge Sharkey provisional gov- ernor of Mississippi and promised to recognize the government of the State as soon as its citizens would change their constitu- tion so as to abolish slavery.
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