USA > Texas > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Texas 1839 to 1880 > Part 12
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Resolved, that we are pleased with the court- "eous bearing of Lt. Col. Wheaton, in command at this place, and appreciate his views and feelings, so far as we have heard them ex- pressed.
Resolved, that the law abiding citizens will respect the Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure, desiring at the same time, to have good order, industry and sobriety, among the negro population, and to care for them, as we have been accustomed, until such action is taken with the final disposition of the ques- tion and determination of their status, as consistent with the constitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land.
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Resolved, that desiring in good faith, to es- tablish good order and good feeling, we desire to aid, countenance and support the United States and its officers, and to bury everything in the shape of prejudice. If we are hence- forth to live under one government, every good citizen, North and South, ought to conspire to aid in rendering that government acceptable to all.
Resolved, that as evidence of good faith upon the part of the citizens and late soldiers of the Confederacy, we hope that all public proper- ty sur rendered to, or claimed by the United States, will be promptly restored. 49
While the leaders of opinion in Harrison County did all they could to get the people of the county to fall in line with the new regime, to co-operate with it, and obey its laws, yet underneath this seeming concilia- tory attitude, there burned fierce fires of a spirit that, although smothered, could not be quenched by the troops of the Union. The people of this county felt that they had been deeply wronged. Time alone could erase this feeling. No overt act was done to indicate that the citizens of the county felt this way. They had received the ir instructions from their leaders, and so there was no attempt at evasion. Their attitude was more negative than anything else. That is, it was what they did not do, rather than what they did, that indicated how they felt. Two incidents among several, indicate that the acceptance of the new order of things was "by
49. Ibid., July 23, 1865.
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right of might" rather than of their own volition. On July 4, 1865, the military authorities stationed at Marshall staged a Fourth of July celebration. A pole had been erected upon the public square by the soldiers, and at sunrise on the 4th the United States flag was raised and a salute of thirteen guns fired. At ten o'clock the soldiers, accompanied by the band, marched through the principal streets of the town. Late in the afternoon, they again paraded the streets, and after being drawn up in front of the court house, gave three cheers, each for the United States flag, President Johnson and General Grant. The negroes were in from all parts of the county. Such a convocation had never before been witnessed in Marshall. It embraced not only men and women, but hun- . dreds of children. Impelled by curiosity, they went in mass from place to place throughout the day, behaving on the whole, with propriety. Very few white citizens were on the streets. The few that were there took no part in the celebration in spite of the fact that they were urged to do so.50
A second indication of the sullen attitude of the people of Harrison County appeared in connection with President Johnson's plan of reconstruction. A. J. Hamilton, provisional governor of Texas, ordered an election to be
50 . Ibid., July 9, 1865.
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held on January 8, 1866 to select members to a convention for the purpose of drawing up and adopting a constitu- tion for the State of Texas. Only those were allowed to vote who, on registration, could take the oath prescribed by President Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation. 51 David B. Bonfoey chief justice of Harrison County, and an appointee of Governor Hamilton, was authorized to administer the oath of amnesty to the citizens of this county . The open- ing date for the administration of the oath was August 18, 1865. However, in spite of the fact that Governor Hamilton had made this a condition precedent to the or- ganization of a state government only six, or seven hun- dred, or about one half of the voting population of this county at that time, had subscribed to the oath by Novem- ber 3.ยบ 52 This studied indifference continued, even
when the question aro se of electing someone to represent the county at the state convention. Ordinarily, a public assembly would have been called as soon as the election notice was posted by the chief justice. But in this case, it was not until the latter part of December, and only a few days before the assembling of the convention, that enough interest was manifested to call a public meeting. Only sixty or seventy voters attended this meeting, most of whom left after a few moments. Speeches were made by
51. Brown, History of Texas, II. 445.
52. Texas Republican, November 3, 1865.
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Judge Ochiltree and others. As a result of this meeting, Colonel Burke was nominated and elected to represent Harrison County at the state convention and Judge C. A. Frazer was the representative-elect from Harrison and Panola Counties. 53 The state convention, during a ses- si on which covered several weeks, framed a constitution, which was intended to restore Texas into the Union under her own constitution and laws. It also provided for an election to be held on June 4 for the adoption or rejec- .. tion of the state constitution, and for the election of state, district, and county civil officers. This elec- tion did not take place in Harrison County until the lat- ter part of June. Nothing like a representative vote was
cast. The two principal candidates for governor were Throckmorton and Pease. Throckmorton represented the conservative group, while Pease was a radical. The former received 796 votes in this county, while his opponent re- ceived only 6. Obadiah Hendrick was elected chief justice; S. R. Perry was elected sheriff. 54 The county voted by a large majority in favor of the ratification of the state cons ti tuti on.
The people of the county, back again, under their own government, felt that a very difficult problem had been solved much quicker, and with less unpleasantness ,
53. Ibid., December 29, 1865.
54. Ibid., June 30, 1866.
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than they had anticipated. At this point, there was a beginning in the healing of the wounds caused by the Civil War, and had Harrison County and other counties composing the different states in the Confederacy been spared those terrible days of reconstruction that were to follow, the breach between the North and South might have quickly dis- appeared, and the mation again would have been united in spirit. However, this was not to be. The radical leaders of congress had their own viewpoints as to the right way of reconstructing the erring states. They felt that Presi- dent Johnson's plan was tooconciliatory; that the southern states ought to be made to suffer for their errors before they should again be allowed to take their accustomed places in the council hall of the nation. Finally, the radical will prevailed and over the opposition of the President, congress in February, 1867, declared that the reconstructed state governments were null and void. A military government was soon established, and Texas, to- gether with Louisiana, was thrown into district number five, and placed under the command of General Sheridan. The amendment to the constitution giving suffrage to the negro was soon passed, and thus the stage was set for the worst days the state had experienced since its organiza- tion. General Sheridan promptly declared the state govern- ment to be provisional. A new registration was necessary to give the newly enfranchised citizens a chance to vote.
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The state was divided into fifteen registration dis- tricts. New restrictions were now imposed upon the southern white man and, this being insufficient to bar enough of them from voting to give the state government into the hands of carpet-baggers, scalawags, and negroes, secret instructions were issued by the military command er which barred most of the remaining white.
In Harrison County, negroes were appointed as registrars. This was almost a necessity, for negroes, carpet- baggers, and scalawags were about the only ones who could take the oath prescribed for a voter. The Texas Republican estimated that forty-nine-fiftieths of the white people of the county were effectually barred by the new registration law, together with the secret instructions issued by the military authorities. White men who were supposed to have felt the slightest sym- pathy for the South were subjected to the most rigid examination and oppressive restrictions, while the negroes were at once enrolled as voters.
On July 30, 1867, Governor Throckmorton, the legally elected governor of Texas, was removed by Gen- eral Sheridan, and the rejected candidate, E. M. Pease, put in his place. Sometime later, General Sheridan was replaced by General W. S. Hancock, who promptly declared against the secret instructions to registrars. Thus more people in Harrison County were enabled to register. 55
55. Hancock was removed after a few weeks.
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Registration closed in Texas at the end of the August. On the 23rd of September., the board of regis- tration for Harrison County assembled again for one week. At the end of that time, 3,285 persons had registered, 2,480 of whom were blacks. The total white vote in the county would have been about 1, 300 if all the whites had been allowed to register, so that in any event, the ne- groes, with the franchise extended to them, would exer- cise the controlling power in the county. The Texas Re- publican bewailed this face.
It will not be long, we presume, before an election will be ordered, and then will be en- acted a scene which has never been witnessed in this or any other civilized community. These 2,480 ignorant blacks will be holding public meetings, listening to speeches, traveling over the country, etc., to the sacrifice of its in- dustrial interest. And then will come the elec- tion, when two-thirds of this African population will be in town, in all probability for two day s. So largely in the ascendancy, it is to be expected that a majority of delegates to the convention, from this and all counties similarly situated, will be blacks, who will form a considerable element in that body. If this convention sanctions
negro political equality, the negroes in all counties where they are in the majority, can elect all the civil officers, county judge, dis- trict and county clerk, sheriff and magistrates, and in towns like Marshall, the municipal of fi- cers. All that will prevent permanent negro suffrage will be the resistance of the northern counties, which by consenting to it would give the power to the blacks and mean whites of the middle and the coast counties. But if they do not agree to it, congress will not accept the constitution that may be adopted, and a new re- construction act will have to be passed to fit the case. So we go. 55
56. Ibid., September 14, 1865.
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....
The editor was not far wrong when he made the pre- diction that the negroes would soon be holding neetings of their own. On the last Monday in December, 1868, Judge Caldwell, one of the associate judges of the Supreme Court of Texas under military appointment, accompanied by a negro man named Scipio McKee, attempted to hold a radical meeting in the county court house at Marshall. This meeting was broken up by a body of citizens. Judge Caldwell first attempted to get permission from the county officials to hold the meeting in the court room, but being refused the keys to this roon by deputy sheriff A. G. Adams, he, together with a body of negroes, entered the court house, and began a meeting in the lobby. All business in the court house necessarily had to be suspended, due to the noise and confusion caused by the speakers and the negroes. Judge Caldwell spoke briefly, and then McKee gave out a political hymn, which all of the negroes began to sing. At this juncture a pistol was fired, and the Judge and his listeners speedily vacated the place. On the next day Lieutenant Hawley, commander of the United States troops stationed at Marshall, arrested three prominent citizens of the county: S. R. Perry, the sheriff, his deputy, A. G. Adams, and Captain S. J. Richardson. On the following day a writ of habeas corpus was obtained, and they were brought before Judge J. B. Williamson. The papers presented in the case by Hawley consisted of state- ments made by Lieutenant Maloy of the Freedman's Bureau,
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. Judge Caldwell, and C. W. Coleman, a negro school teacher, charging the parties arraigned with disturbing the peace by breaking up a peaceable meeting with drawn revolvers. In the investigation of the case, the witnesses for the state alone were examined. The case closed by having the parties bound over for their appearance at the next term of district court; Adams and Richardson in the sum of $1,000 each, and Perry in the sum of $500.57
Newspapers in the North gave a rather distorted account of the affair. Telegrams were sent from Marshall declaring that the meeting had been broken up by an armed mob and that several negroes had been killed. Considerable alarm was felt among the conservative leaders of the United States government. 58
Colonel Wood was sent to Marshall from New Orleans to investigate the matter. He turned out to be a man of good sense, and not one to be swayed by blind prejudice. The defense of the arrested men was quickly stated. Judge Caldwell himself was to blame. He had come into a county where the negroes out numbered the whites three to one to stir up bad passions, for no worthier purpose than to make political capital. Having conducted this investigation, Colonel Wood soon returned to New Orleans, and there is no evidence that the case was ever brought to trial. 59
57. Ibid., January 4, 1968.
58. Ibid., January 25, 1868. A report copied from a Shreve- port paper seems to justify the above statement.
59. Ibid., January 25, 1868
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Since the work done by the previous state convention was not acceptable to the radicals who were now in control of congress, another one had to be called to draw up and adopt a constitution for Texas that would satisfy them, before the state could again take its accustomed place. Both the radicals and the conservatives exerted themselves to the utmost to secure control of this convention.
On the last Monday in January, 1868, radicals held a great political rally in Marshall. Early in the day, negroes from all of the neighboring plantations came pour- ing into town, and before noon, there were about a thousand in attendance. A rude platform, erected near the east end of the court house, accomodated the speakers, while the audience stood in a compact mass in the yard. Only forty or fifty whites were present. Judge Caldwell led off with a harangue which lasted about two and a half hours. He was followed by Colonel J. K. Waskom, who delivered the only conservative speech of the day. Other speakers, all imported, were General A. B. Norton, Major J. W. Flanagan, of Rusk, and George W. Whitmore of Smith County. The radical orators, one and all unqualifiedly declared them- selves in favor of universal negro suffrage. It was near dark before they had concluded, and the meeting dispersed. 60
A few days later, on February 6, the conservative
60. Ibid., February 1, 1868
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whites held their meeting. Judge George Lane was called to the chair, and W. P. Hudgins was appointed secretary . The object of the meeting having been explained, a com- mittee was appointed to nominate candidates for the con- vention. While this body was deliberating, Colonel Burke 61 addressed the meeting. He declared that in his opinion, it was the duty and interest of the people to unite on suitable candidates, go to the polls and vote for them, and at the same time vote against the convention and to endeavor to defeat by every possible means "the nefarious schemes of those, both within and without the state, who are endeavoring to destroy all that remains of constitutional liberty".
J. M. Fain, of Panola, L. D. Evans, Thomas F. Parnell, and J. M. Waskom, of Harrison County were nominated as candidates to the convention. A resolution was adopted on the basis of Colonel Burke's recommendation. 63
The election occurred in the middle of February. There was no distrubance of any kind. There was at least 3,000 negroes in town, but they were well under the control of their radical leaders. Harrison County decided by a vote of 1, 902 to 497, in favor of the convention. Of course, all radical candidates, N. U. Board, Wiley Johnson, C. E. Coleman, and Mitch Kendell, were overwhelmingly elected.
61. Now the editor of the Texas Republican
A 62. This procedure had been recommended by a conservative convention which had met in Houston a short time before this.
63. Texas Republican, February 8, 1868
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Three of the above, Johnson, Kendell and Coleman were 64
negroes.
In this election, the conservatives lost throughout the state, and a constitutional convention was according- ly called. This convention met June 1, 1868, and remained in session for several months. Even before the convention was called, the conservatives of Harrison County were busy perfecting their organization.
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We presume, said the Texas Republican, that it may be regarded as a settled fact, that a black and tan convention willbe held in this state, which in all its characteristics will prove a counterpart of similar conventions held in the other southern states, We are not left in the dark as to what we may expect. The con- stitution adopted will, as a matter of course, enfranchise the entire black population, and disfranchise a sufficient porportion of the whites, to radicalize and Africanize the state. If such a constitution prevails, the negroes will be invested not only with full political equality, with the right to vote, to hold of- fice, and to sit upon juries, but they will ex- ercise the controlling influences in the govern- ment, to be used by a set of depraved demagogues for their own selfish purposes. The party that controls them is thorougly organized. There are Loyal Leagues, a secret, oath-bound organ- ization, in every county and neighborhood in the state. The negroes are drilled so as to be used for any emergency that may arise, and the men that direct them are as cunning as they are unprincipled. In this condition of things, it behooves the intelligent conservative people of the state to organize as early as possible, and prepare to defeat the constitution which the mongrels may adopt. This is out last chance. If we fail in this, the character and prosperity of the state will be lost for a time. How long it will require to undo the infamous work accom- plished, and what evil will be inflicted upon the government and upon society is impossible
64. Ibid., February 28, 1868.
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to tell. The recent election plainly shows, that if the people will come out and vote, as they ought and doubtless will, that the mongrels and their work will be defeated. We say, therefore, organize in every county and neighborhood without delay. There is no time to lose. 65
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In response to this plea, a meeting of the conserva- tives of this county was held at the court house. Judge John T. Mills was elected chairman and J. C. Curtis, secretary . The former, briefly, but forcibly explained the objects of the meeting. He referred to the designs of the radicals as manifested by the leaders of congress, the constitutions adopted in other states by "mongrel con- ventions", the impeachment of the President, and the events that were likely to follow the consummation of the policy of the radicals in Texas. All this, he said, showed the necessity of organization, if the people of this state would save themselves from the humiliation, degradation, and ruin that had been visited upon other states. He maintained that a sufficient number of con- servatives were permitted to vote in Texas to defeat the radicals, if they would organize, and go to work with the proper spirit. "Surely, " he said, "when there is so much at stake, the people will not continue to manifest a spirit of apathy, and indifference."
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A committee of ten was appointed, by the chairman to draft a resolution expressive of the purpose of the
65. Ibid., March 7, 1868.
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meeting. R. W. Loughery, Judge T. A. Patillo, Dr. B. F. Baldwin, Dr. E. M. Johnson, Captain S. J. Richardson, E. B. Blalock, ex-Governor Clark, R. H. Cooper, J. M. Curtis, and Dr. James H. Johnson composed this committee. Blalock at his own request was excused from serving and Captain Barrett was substituted. Dr. Johnson also asked to be excused, but finally consented to serve. Lieu- tenant G. B. Lipscomb, whose name had been mentioned, peremptorily declined to serve, alleging as the principal ground, the sparseness of the meeting. This was dis- couraging, but the committee went bravely to its task, and at three o'clock reported a preamble and resolutions. On account of the small attendance it was thought advis- able not to proceed further, but to call another meeting for June 2,66 Only about forty had attended the morning session, and 125 the afternoon. In commenting upon the lack of interest the Texas Republican had the following to say :
The cause of this apathy, we are unable to divine. It was most extraordinary and to us, inexplicable. With the condition of Louisiana before us, and with a similar fate in store for Texas, unless her people "work while it is yet day", we cannot comprehend why every white in- dividual in the county does not feel that the cause of conservatism appeals directly to him.
There was a larger attendance at the meeting of June 2,
66. Idim.
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and more interest was manifested. Judge Mills was again called to the chair, with J. W. Pope as secretary . Ex- Governor Clark explained the objects of the meeting. As before, a committee, this time of fifteen, composed of F. W. Loughery, Edward Clark, S. J. Richardson, R. C. Garrett, R. H. Cooper, A. Pope, J. M. Waskom, W. T. Scott, A. G. Turney, B. H. Sartaim, William Woodson, Benjamin Long, S. H. Hendricks, Nathan Nesbitt, and M. J. Hall, was appointed and all consented to serve. At four o'clock the committee reported the following preamble and resolu- tions:
A condition of political affairs has arisen, calculated to alarm every man in whatever section he may reside who has at heart the perpetuity of Republican institutions, but more deeply concern- ing the people of the Southern States, as it threatens them with degradation and irremediatle ruin.
1. Resolved, that the citizens of each beat 67 in the oounty be requested immediately to organize conservative clubs for each beat, and that there be appointed a central executive committee to con- sist of five members, to hold its meeting at the town of Marshall, to which committee all beat clubs are requested to report their action. 2. Resolved that we are unalterably opposed to reconstruction under the policy of the present Congress, and will labor earnestly to defeat negro equality and negro supremacy .
3. That relying upon the intelligence and virtue of the American people, we will continue to struggle against radicalism, and endeavor to de- feat the accomplishment of its iniquitous aims. 4. That the term rebel is unjustly applied to the people of the South, who are and have been faithful to the principles of the constitution,
67. A division of Texas counties for voting purposes. The term has gone out of use. Precinct is the modern word for "beat".
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and is justly applicable to those only who are endeavoring to destroy it and to subvert our ad- mirable system of government .
5. That Fresident Johnson has our warmest sym- pathies in the persecution to which he has been recently subjected, and we rejoice in his tri- wrphant acquittal.
6. That the chairman of this meeting be instructed to telegraph to the chairman of the state central committee and ask him to appoint Gen. Horace Boughton as a delegate to the National Conserva- tive Convention, in addition to those already appointed, to represent this congressional dis- trict in said convention.
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7. That we are gratified to witness the presence of a number of conservative freedmen in the meet- ing, and that we recommend to the Central County Committee the organization of the conservative freedman into clubs, to aid in the putting down of the spirit of radicalism which has created between the races, a feeling of hostility injur- ious to both.
8. That five delegates be appointed to represent Harrison County at the State Conservative Conven- tion, to assemble at Bryan City on the 7th of July next. 68
The chairman made the following appoint ments:
Central committee: E. B. Gregg, A. Pope, S. J. Richardson, J. H. Van Hock, and S. R. Perry .
Delegates to the convention: R. C. Garrett, M. J. Hall, J. W. Pope, W. G. Barrett, Thomas Brownrigg, and Judge J. T. Mills .
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