"Vignettes" of the Civil War

By Francis McRae Ward

 

Chapter Six

The Despots Rule In Louisiana And Mississippi

 

During the Civil War there were two separate State governments in Louisiana. General George Foster Shepley of the Union Army was acting military governor until 1864, when he was succeeded by Michael Hahn; then General N. P. Hanks set up the so-called 'loyal' State government with its capitol at New Orleans, which was the beginning of the Reconstruction period. Governor Thomas O. Moore headed the Confederate State government until the expiration of his term in January 1864, then Confederate General Henry Watkins Allen became governor, its capitol being at Shreveport. Governor Allen had commanded the Fourth Louisiana Regiment, was badly wounded at the battle of Baton Rouge, and still walking on crutches when he came to Shreveport to take over the affairs of government. He served as governor until the Confederate forces laid down their arms; then the government set up by General Hanks occupied the entire State. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Lincoln, and ten or twelve years passed before there was any peace in Louisiana and Mississippi. Ex-Confederate soldiers, and all white people of leadership, education, and refinement, were denied their right to vote. Illiterate Negroes, who knew nothing of the affairs of government, were registered as voters under the supervision of army officers, and of course, this put them into power over their former masters. Under this regime, Henry Clay Warmoth from Illinois became the first carpetbag governor of Louisiana, and Oscar Dunn, a former Negro slave, was elected lieutenant governor on Warmoth's ticket. John S. Harris and William Pitt Kellogg, both of the carpetbag variety were elected to the United States Senate. When Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in June 1868, over half of the members of the legislature were Negroes.[1]

 

John S. Harris also served as State Senator from the Concordia Senatorial District. His brother Albert B. Harris, and the Negro political boss, David Young, served in this same capacity from this same Senatorial District. There were Negroes in the Legislature from this District, in both the upper and lower Houses.[2].

 

In the governors race of 1876, between Francis T. Nichols, (democrat), and Stephen B. Packard, (republican), there were four Negroes claimed to have been elected to the House of Representatives; Anderson Tolliver and George Washington on the Packard ticket, and James Randall and William Ridgely on the Nichols ticket. In the end, only two were seated, Randall and Ridgely.[3]

 

In the year of 1868 Albert B. Harris became Sheriff of Concordia Parish, and in the 1870's four Negro Sheriffs were to follow him; James Franklin, Oren Stewart. John Young, brother of Davis Young, and James Randall. There were innumerable Justices of the Peace, Constables, Police Jurors, School Board members, Election Commissioners, Petit Jurors, and Grand Jurors, all of dark complexion. Concordia also had three Negro Clerks of Court; T. P. Jackson, E. W. Wall, and J. P. Ball--and "Old Glory was required by statute to flutter in the breezes over the Temple of Justice"[4]

 

A. J. Bryant. a Negro, was elected Sheriff of Tensas Parish in 1873. Bryant was a former slave, and native of Tensas Parish, and in 1876 he was elected to the State Senate from the Tensas Senatorial District.[5]

 

A Mulatto, by the name of H. W. Peck, was appointed Sheriff of Madison Parish May 14th, 1877, and served through May 1878, and in the year of 1874 Patrick J. Watson, a Negro, was elected Clerk of Court of Madison Parish. Both Madison and East Carroll Parishes had numerous elected Negro officials. By 1878 there were 2,339 Negro voters in Madison, and 238 white, and 2,051 of the Negro voters couldn't write their names. In Concordia Parish there were 2,637 Negro voters and 294 white with 2,450 Negro voters unable to write, and in Tensas there were 2,931 Negro voters, 318 white, with 2,464 Negro voters who couldn't write. East Carroll had 1,805 Negro voters, 179 white, with 1774 Negro voters who were unable to write.[6]

 

Reconstruction by crude and brutal methods was an attempt to destroy white civilization in the South, and there were two classes of whites to give assistance to the Negro. "The northern predator--the carpetbagger--stalked the stricken South like a jackal to filch something from the wreckage. His partner was the renegade and apostate Southerner--the scalawag--without honor, pride or patriotism, a political bastard, who deserted his own people in their hour of peril to become a scavenger, hovering like a vulture above the ruins of Negro rule."[7]. And this is the way the South was reconstructed; under the direction and supervision of these low specimens of the human race, upheld and supported by the Republican Party, and the Army of the United States. The South emerged from this severe trial or experience, financially bankrupt and ruined.[8]

 

In 1878 the political situation in the parishes along the river in northeast Louisiana had reached a deplorable state. The Democrats in Tensas Parish had selected a ticket composed of two members of the Legislature, and a Sheriff affiliated with the Republican Party, but they were all good men, and had won the confidence of the people. Alfred Fairfax, Tensas Negro political leader, resented this very much, and called a convention to meet at St. Joseph to nominate a straight-out-black ticket. The town was under strict quarantine on account of a yellow fever epidemic. Fairfax and his Party were informed that they could not enter the quarantine limits, and their reply was that they would enter the town with 500 armed men and overpower the guards. Of course, the people were very much alarmed, as the Negroes outnumbered the whites ten to one. Due to the seriousness of the affair, Captain John 0. Peck, of Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, who was in command of a company of State troops, was asked to come to Tensas Parish, and reason or remonstrate with Fairfax, as the citizens wanted to do everything possible to prevent bloodshed. Captain Peck immediately complied with the request, and reached Waterproof on Saturday evening about dark, accompanied with a few men. Fairfax lived about a mile above the town (Waterproof), and when Captain Peck reached the Fairfax home, he dismounted from his horse, and when he reached the gallery--just as he was about to knock on the door, several shots were fired, and he was instantly killed.[9]

 

Captain Peck's men fired into the house wounding three Negroes who were there with Fairfax. Immediately after this happened, they returned to Catahoula Parish with the body of Captain Peck. Captain Peck was a highly respected citizen, and he left a wife and several children.[10]

 

The morning after Captain Peck was killed, Judge C. C. Cordill, Parish Judge, and several others went to the place of disturbance, found Fairfax and some other Negroes, who were all very defiant, and bodily refused to be arrested. Judge Cordill had issued a warrant for the arrest of Fairfax, which was handed over to the Sheriff, but the force being insufficient to cope with the situation, it was decided not to issue the warrant until more help could be obtained.[11]

 

Armed Negroes, from both Parishes (Tensas and Concordia), congregated in Waterproof, and threatened to take the town over. The next day a party of about one hundred men left St. Joseph for Waterproof with shotguns and rifles. When they reached a place known as Bass Lane, about a mile north of Waterproof, they came upon a band of Negroes numbering about a thousand. Some of the men wanted to wait for reinforcements. But Judge Cordill said, that he and four others had routed a whole Company of Negro soldiers near Waterproof during the war, and he knew that they would not stand and fight. Judge Cordill ordered his men to charge at full speed, firing their guns and yelling as loud as they could. The Negroes dismounted from their mules and ponies; ran through a thick hedge, which bordered each side of the lane; hid in the cotton fields, and this was the end of the rebellion. Fairfax made his escape, and never returned.[12]

 

The South is confronted with a second Reconstruction, infinitely worse than the first because it has the backing of the communists, socialists, the National Association For Advancement Of Colored People, and liberal and left wing politicians. The Supreme Court is composed of nine men; brainwashed, and of the scalawag carpetbag variety. Their 1954 illegal "Black Monday" decision, as well as all of their other illegal decisions, not only harms the South, but harms the North. If something isn't done to curb the Supreme Court, we will be taken over by a concentrated bureaucratic government, enforced with spies and secret police.[13]

 

The Supreme Court decisions, relative to mixing Negro and white children in public schools, and Negro and white students in colleges and universities, is by judicial fiat; the Supreme Court cannot legislate. No Federal law against segregation in schools has ever been passed by Congress. The Supreme Court is making these decisions based on the Fourteenth Amendment. There isn't anything in the Fourteenth Amendment, or any other Amendment of the Constitution that mentions schools, education, or segregation.[14]

 

Senator Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, hated the South, and his greatest desire was to place Southern whites under the yoke of subjugation, and reduce them to a state of debasement and cruel punishment. The Republican Party, under the leadership of Thaddeus Stevens, was responsible for the Fourteenth Amendment being enacted by Congress.[15]

 

In the course of great events, it is sometimes strange how a few individuals with little realization perform the great drama, which guides the path of history for generations to come. Lydia Smith, a comely looking mulatto lived in a little house in Senator Steven's back yard at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She was his housekeeper and mistress. Lydia's husband was a black Negro barber, and when he died, she moved in the house with the Senator. When Stevens moved to Washington, Lydia Smith went with him. In view of all historical evidence, there is no doubt that Stevens worshipped Lydia Smith, and she gave him her passionate and complete love. Lydia was the daughter of a white man who lived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She lived heartbroken and humiliated over the circumstances surrounding her birth and childhood. She was deeply hurt, and resented the fact, that her father recognized her only as another slave. Her father had a white daughter, half-sister to Lydia, who no doubt was indulged and tenderly cared for. In anger, and with a heavy heart, weeping on his shoulder, Lydia told this story to Stevens many times. The Fourteenth Amendment was the key to unconditional surrender of the South, and Lydia held the key within her hands. Unconditional surrender, were Lydia's terms for the white South, and old Thad vowed vengeance as he held this weeping woman in his arms.[16]

 

The Fourteenth Amendment was passed by Congress June 13, 1866, after bitter minority opposition from moderate Republicans and Northern Democrats. It was then submitted to the State legislatures for ratification, and with the exception of Tennessee, every Southern State rejected it. In 1866, the same year of the rejection of the Amendment, the Radical Republicans considered the South conquered territory, and the South was placed under five military Districts with the United States Army in complete control. As mentioned in a previous chapter, under military rule, white people of refinement, education, leadership, ex-Confederate soldiers, and owners of property, were denied the right to vote. In view of the fact, the Radical Republicans considered the South conquered territory, and then placed it under military rule, why was the Fourteenth Amendment submitted for ratification to the Southern States? Certainly, it could be submitted only on the theory that the Southern States were lawfully in the Union. If the Southern States were considered cut of the Union, the Northern States alone could have ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. Upon the theory the Northern States acted upon, the Fourteenth Amendment was rejected by the Southern States, which caused its adoption to fail, and that should have been the end of the Fourteenth Amendment.[17]

 

In view of historical evidence, how could the Fourteenth Amendment be considered constitutional? Repeal the Fourteenth Amendment, and the entire framework of the laws based upon it, will blow- up and disappear with the wind.[18]

 

I do not know what the destiny of the Negro may be, but it is a settled fact that he finds himself within the orbit of the white man's civilization, pending settlement of serious and great disputes. In my opinion, the greatest tragedy of our American life today is the fact that a race of people, four or five generations removed from the Dark Continent, in an uncivilized state, are to all intents and purposes, choosing the men whom we place at the head of our government. The tug of war between the two (once) great political parties, for the Negro vote, has and is, playing a great part in making the Negro more insolent, arrogant, and overbearing. It is helping to bring about a situation, which is the dream of many Negroes who believe in the Biblical Quotation, "the last shall be first, and the first shall be last".[19]

 

There still exists a certain type of people in various localities in the South, who will never submit to this sound-growth carpetbaggery, and will fight until death to keep the races unmixed.[20]

 

HIGH LIGHTS AND SIDE LIGHTS OF WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION

 

Statement of the registered voters of the State of Louisiana in the year 1878

 

Parish	Total Voters	Total Native Born	Total Foreign Born		Total White Voters		Total Colored Voters		White Voters Who Write Their Names		White Voters Who Make Their Marks			Colored Voters Who Write Their Names	Colored Voters Who Make Their Marks
Ascension	2,472	2,426	46		740		1,232		575		165			238	1,494
Assumption	3,131	771	67		1,478		1,653		838		640			179	1,474
Avoyelles	3,309	3,221	88		1,679		1,630		1,164		515			155	1,475
Baton Rouge, East	3,199	3,006	193		1,203		1,996		1,076		127			380	1,516
Baton Rouge, West	975	949	26		353		622		302		51			76	546
Bienville	1,410	1,403	7		908		502		871		37			28	474
Bossier*
Caddo	5,478	5,160	318		1,476		3,732		1,655		91			276	3,456
Calcasieu	1,674	1,619	52		1,374		300		951		423			21	279
Caldwell	952	947	5		51.2		460		475		37			45	395
Cameron	404	31			343		121		208		135			6	55
Carroll, East	1,984	1,953	31		179		1,805		175		4			210	1,774
Carroll, West	604	599	5		335		269		270		65			29	240
Catahoula	1,662	1,641	21		997		665		834		163			48	617
Claiborne	2,352	1,428	13		1,441		911		1,4.20		21				890
Concordia	2,031	2,900	31		294		2,637		286		8			187	2,450
Desoto	1,502		31		1,034		468		967		67			22	446
Feliciana, East	1,748	1,672	76		743		1,005		732		11			44	961
Feliciana, West	1,980	1,937	43		440		1,540		422		18			113	1,427
Franklin	1,044	1,011	33		568		476		473		96			46	430
Grant	1,030	438	502		560		470		448		112			40	430
Iberia	2,956	1,302	89		1,391		1,565		938		408			197	1,368
Iberville	2,358	2,322	36		386		1,972		362		24			140	1,832
,Jackson	502	499	3		345		157		329		16			6	151
Jefferson	1,949	1,763	186		567		1,382		463		104			175	1,207
Lafayette	1,930	1,873	57		1,120		510		672		448			44	766
Lafourche	3,173	3,046	127		1,824		1,349		982		842			138	1,211
Lincoln	1,643	1,636	7		1,089		554		926		163			42	51.2
Livingston	947	913	34		791		156		628		163			18	138
Madison	2,577	2,553	24		238		2,339		238					288	2,051
Morehouse	1,983	1,953	30		646		1,337		583		63			42	1,295
Natchitoches	3,793	3,680	1.13		1,830		1,963		1,212		618			242	1,721
Orleans, first ward	2,523	1,867	656		1,984		589		1,736		248			150	389
second ward	2,955	2,145	310		2,916		786		1,940		229			185	601
third ward	5,429	4,003	1,426		3,781		1,648		3,271		510			436	1,648
fourth ward	2,272	1,711	561		1,657		615		1,573		84			234	381
fifth ward	3,323	2,453	870		2,338		985		2,105		233			459	526
sixth ward	2,026	1,624	402		1,483		543		1,300		183			256	287
seventh ward	3,519	2,894	625		1,997		1,522		1,824		173			674	848
eighth ward	1,814	1,161	653		1,498		316		1,304		194			106	210
ninth ward	2,451	1,582	869		1,873		578		1,680		193			98	480
tenth ward	2,874	1,996		887		2,236		638		2,064		172	206		432
eleventh ward	2,880	2,083		797		2,128		752		1,997		131	234		518
twelfth ward	1,359	1,078		281		1,066		293		1,007		59	55		238
thirteenth ward	967	885		82		550		417		494		56	115		302
fourteenth ward	519	396		123		280		239		255		25	49		190
fifteenth ward	1,950	1,584		366		932		1,018		797		135	169		849
sixteenth ward	627	521		106		214		413		196		18	115		298
seventeenth ward	667	949		173		374		293		339		35	66		227
Ouachita	3,012	2,919		93		893		2,119		805		88	179		1,940
Plaquemines	2,285	730		130		860		1,425		734		126	202		1,223
Point Coupes	2,770	2,699		71		816		1,954		701		115	307		1,647
Rapides	3,627	3,482		1.45		1,775		1,852		1,593		182	124		1,728
Red River	2,770	2,699		71		816		1,951,		701		115	307		1,647
Richland	1,245	616		27		643		1,232		574		69	70		532
Sabine	1,047	1,037		10		829		218		634		195	15		203
Saint Bernard	921	883		38		396		525		216		180	40		485
Saint Charles	1,332	1,315		17		197		1,135		172		25	185		950
Saint Helena	1,238	1,216		22		641		597		577		64	197		500
Saint James	2,444	2,417		27		570		1,874		440		130	101		1,773
Saint John the Baptist	1,885	1,855		30		618		1,267		487		131	14.2		1,125
Saint Landry	6,965	6,914		51		3,681		3,284		2,114		1,567	227		3,059
Saint Martin	2,303	2,267		36		1,099		1,204		693		406	84		1,120
Saint Mary	2,960	2,850		110		786		2,174		667		109	293		1,891
Saint Tammany	1,176	1,081		95		682		494		533		149	30		364
Tensas	3,249	3,209		40		318		2,931		310		8	467		2,464
Terre Bonne	3,138	3,042		96		1,361		1,777		762		599	184		1,593
Tangipahoa	1,456	1,384		72		932		524		797		134	62		463
Union	2,201	2,175		26		1,483		718		1,288		195	55		663
Vermillion	1,241	1,206		35		968		273		492		476	23		250
Vernon	723	719		4		668		55		503		165			55
Washington	779	777		2		587		192		415		1?2	27		165
Webster	1,631	1,580		51		760		871		723		37	26		845
Winn	892	887		5		771		121		595		176	11		110
Total	155,103	133,543		13,276		77,341		78,123		62,883		13,936	10,390		68,300

 

STATE OF LOUISIANA, Office of the Secretary of State:

 

I, the undersigned, secretary of state of the State of Louisiana, do hereby certify that the above is a true extract of the statement of voters returned by the assessors of the State of Louisiana, and of the registrar of voters of the city of New Orleans, of the registered voters of the State, in accordance with section 3 of act No. 101, of the general assembly of this State, approved April 30, 1877.

 

Given under my signature and the seal of the State of Louisiana, at the city of New Orleans, this 14th day of January, A. D. 1879.

 

 

(SEAL)           WILL A. STRONG

 

Secretary of State.

 

(REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE INTO ALLEGED FRAUDS AND VIOLENCE IN THE ELECTIONS OF 1878, WITH THE TESTIMONY AND DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. VOLUME I. LOUISIANA. 45TH CONGRESS. RD SESSION; REPORT N0. 855 PAGES 570 AND 571 WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1879)

 

At this same time in the North, taking the State of Indiana, for example, there were twenty file thousand Negroes who could read and write, but were not allowed to vote, or testify in court, and their children were excluded from the schools.[21]

 

Charles and Albert T. Morgan, like many others from the North, who had seen military service in the South, were looking for a chance to seek their fortunes, so they came to Yazoo County. Mississippi, immediately after the close of the war, and leased the Tokeba Plantation, on the banks of the Yazoo River, a short distance above the town, (Yazoo City).[22]

 

The Morgan brothers were natives of New York State, but grew up in Wisconsin. Both had been officers in the Union Army, Charles a brevet lieutenant colonel, and Albert a captain. Albert was ten years younger than Charles, but seemed to be the dominant one in the farming venture. They were not very successful as farmers; the first year they made a poor crop, and had trouble keeping enough labor. In 1866, if it hadn't been for the establishment of a logging and saw mill operation on the place, they wouldn't have had any income at all, but with the profits from this business they were able to pay part of their rent. In 1867 the waters of the muddy Yazoo went over its banks, most of the timber land was submerged, the saw mall operations were shut down, and the owners of the plantation served a writ of attachment on the property, which enabled them to collect the overdue rent. This venture had cost the Morgans a loss of $50.000.[23]

 

Charles left the Yazoo country, but Albert saw great opportunities in the profession of law and politics; he was reading law before he left the plantation, and in 1867 he started his practice. The bar examiners were good sympathetic Republicans from the North, and some had served in the Union Army. Nineteen ex-Federal soldiers had settled in Yazoo County, and most of them were operating farms. There was need for leadership for the Freemen in writing Mississippi's Reconstruction Constitution, so Albert banded these men together, ran on a ticket with a Negro blacksmith, and another man who had been a Union Army officer, and Morgan was elected as a delegate to the convention.[24]

 

James L. Alcorn, was born near Golconda. Illinois, November 4, 1816; reared in the State of Kentucky; received his education at Cumberland College; was deputy Sheriff of Livingston County; served in the Kentucky State Legislature, and in 1843 passed the state bar examination. He moved to Coahoma County, Mississippi, engaged in the practice of law, and became a cotton planter. He was affiliated with the Whig Party and served in both the upper and lower Houses in the Mississippi State legislature from 1852 until 1856. After the close of the war, he was again elected to the State Legislature.[25]

 

In 1867 Alcorn cast his lot with the Republicans, and was elected governor in 1869. He believed in Negro suffrage, thinking he could capitalize on it, but with the help and agitation of Southern scalawags and carpetbaggers, Mississippi turned into a state of radical revolution. He was to find out that his ideas and hopes relative to Negro suffrage didn't work, so he resigned before his term expired, to fill a seat in the United States Senate, succeeding Hiram R. Revels. Educated in Indiana, born in North Carolina, and the first Negro to sit in the United States Senate. Revels held several offices in Natchez and Vicksburg and taught school in St. Louis, before coming to Mississippi. Popular on the Alcorn ticket, was James Lynch, a Northern Negro residing in Vicksburg who became Secretary of State. [26]

 

Young Albert Morgan joined hands with the Alcorn forces, and was elected to the Mississippi State Senate, by the Negro block vote, although it cost the life of one white man, and a Negro was severely wounded at a scheduled political meeting, which resulted in a gun fight.[27]

 

Albert Morgan, had the opportunity on at least one occasion, to live up to his ideas and convictions, relative to race relationship. He met and fell in love with Carolyn Victoria Highgate, a quadroon, and native of Syracuse, New York, whose father was a free mulatto. Carolyn had moved to Mississippi, and was engaged in teaching and missionary work among the ex-slaves. According to recollections of some of the conservative Democratic leaders, she was spoken of as a woman of beauty.[28]

 

When it was known that Carolyn Highgate was to become the bride of Albert Morgan, it marked the beginning of the end of his political career, although he was a well-established leader in the Mississippi State Legislature.[29]

 

There was one other impediment standing in Albert's way; it was against the Mississippi State laws for a white person to marry a Negro, so he immediately introduced a bill for the repeal of the law, which was passed with very little, or no opposition.[30]

 

On August 3, 1870, Carolyn and Albert were married, and the ceremony was performed by a Negro preacher, who was a member of the State Legislature. They were married in Jackson, and several days after the wedding, Albert and his bride returned to their home in Yazoo City. A large crowd of Negro women called on Carolyn to pay her a visit. Carolyn noticed that their dress array was of beautiful material, although slightly faded, and Carolyn told Albert some of the white women of Yazoo City had purposely arranged the visit, and furnished the callers with the old clothes they had worn. Although polite and with courtesy, Carolyn, with some excuse, immediately got rid of the callers.[31] Carolyn said: “they would not be back, because there is no social equality except among equals."[32]

 

The Morgan Highgate wedding was a subject of National notoriety. The Jackson newspaper gave an account of a visit the Morgans made to his parents. Senator Ames[33] and his bride joined them, for a trip together touring the North. An abusive and scornful account of the Morgan-Highgate marriage was published in the hometown paper of Morgan's parents.[34]

 

The population of Yazoo City was about 2,500; there were forty-one saloons and liquor stores; the merchants kept whisky to give their customers; the town was overrun with carpetbaggers and Negroes, and violence was an everyday occurrence.[35]

 

Morgan was elected Sheriff in 1873, the best political job in Yazoo County. His defeated opponent, an ex-Union soldier by the name of Hilliard, had been appointed to the office through Morgan's help and influence. Hilliard refused to give up the office. Morgan called his deputies in, re-enforced with henchmen, and forced Hilliard out of the office. Hilliard returned with a group of armed men; a gunfight started and he was killed. The chancellor being opposed to the Radical Republican rule, ordered the arrest of Morgan, jailed him, refused him bond, and a Democrat was appointed Sheriff in his place. For safekeeping the new Sheriff transferred Morgan to the jail at Jackson and was able to keep down further trouble between the two political factions. Albert Morgan didn't stay in the Jackson jail very long, his old friend, Governor Ames, released him; restored him to office; a grand jury met, investigated the case, and found no indictment against him.[36]

 

For several months everything went on in a rather peaceful manner, but the free Negroes were not satisfied, the Sheriff's office was still a serious controversial issue, and they (the Negroes) congregated in front of the jail, all well armed.[37]

 

The white people became alarmed, ex-Confederate soldiers organized military companies to protect themselves and their families, and it was plainly seen that the 1875 election would be settled with blood and ballots.[38]

 

On September 1, 1873, the political situation reached the boiling point at a meeting of the Yazoo City Republican Club. Those in attendance, Morgan, four native white office holders, who had cast their lot with the Republican Party, and a crowd of Negro men.[39]

 

Some of the fearless element of the local Democratic leaders decided they would attend; agitation prevailed, emotion was tense, both sides were well armed, and in the middle of Morgan's speech, a gun battle started, in which Captain Mitchell, an ex-Confederate veteran, was shot. Although Captain Mitchell had fought for the Southern cause, he had joined the Radical Republicans.[40]

 

As the bullets whistled through the air, Morgan made his escape, and it was the last time he appeared in public in Yazoo City. With an indictment for attempted murder against him in Yazoo County, he resided in Jackson and Holly Springs, until the campaign period was over.[41]

 

During all this trouble near Yazoo City, in 1874 a band of Negroes marched on Satartia, led by a Scotsman dressed in a kilt and playing a bagpipe with the Negroes following. The white men of Satartia and region lay behind rail fences on each side of the road leading from Benton to Satartia, and as the defile came by they opened fire on the Scot and his Negroes, and slaughtered many of them as they retreated.[42]

 

The Mississippi elections of 1875 put the Democratic Party back into power. The defeated Republicans now turned their eyes in the direction of the national capitol for help as they had lost their political offices in the South. Angus Cameron from Wisconsin, Morgan's home State, evidently a friend, and the Negro Senator from Mississippi, Blanch K. Bruce, obtained a position for Morgan in the pension office as clerk.[43]

 

A short time after the Democratic Administration of President Grover Cleveland came into power, which was in 1885, Morgan was relieved of his job.[44]

 

In 1886, the Morgan family moved to Lawrence, Kansas--they had two sons and four daughters. Morgan went into some kind of business there, but evidently was not successful, so in 1890 he moved to Colorado, engaged in the mining business prospecting for silver and gold leaving his wife and children in Topeka. Albert resided in Colorado for over thirty years, looking for silver and gold, and there is no evidence that he ever returned to his wife.[45]

 

The girls were possessed with beauty and talent, and all went on the stage. The talent and success of one, Angela, took her to England, and in 1923 her mother, who was living in England with her, applied for a widow's pension. The four daughters and the oldest son were all musicians. The youngest son died of gunshot wounds, evidently accidental, as he was only thirteen years old.[46]

 

After the fall of Vicksburg, General Sherman burned Meridian, leaving only two buildings standing; the Jones and Ragsdale hotels. The town was rebuilt with yellow pine wooden buildings. Before the war, Meridian was a railroad center, important to the railroad systems of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and

Kentucky, and it became headquarters for carpetbaggers, southern scalawags and Negroes.[47]

 

By the early part of 1871, a scornful and abusive Republican newspaper was edited, by J. R. Smith. The local offices were held by Republicans, and overbearing half drunken Negroes pushed white women off the streets. Saloons were numerous, filled with the Negro and carpetbag element.[48]

 

A deputy sheriff from Alabama came to Meridian one day to apprehend a Negro criminal. A Northern carpetbagger who was teaching a Negro school with the help of several Negroes, assaulted the deputy sheriff, and prevented the arrest of the criminal. The schoolteacher was arrested, and was to appear in court, but became alarmed about threats and bitter feeling of the citizens, so he abandoned his school, and left town. When the Negroes found out the teacher had left town it infuriated them. A group of Negroes, with J. Aron Moore, a Negro blacksmith, recent elected Representative to the Legislature from Lauderdale County went to the State capitol to inform Governor Alcorn of the situation in Meridian, especially about the white people running the Northern school teacher out of town. Alcorn did not respond or take sides with their demand, so they returned to Meridian, called a mass meeting at which scornful speeches were made by Aron Moore and two other Negroes, namely Dill Dennis, bully of the bar rooms, and Warren Taylor, a Negro school teacher. Dennis made the most threatening speech of all, and the few white people present at the meeting, left with indignation and alarm.[49]

 

Meridian white citizens felt sure the conflict would soon turn into a race riot with blood flowing down the streets, and upon looking around, smoldering flames could be seen from a building, which at first sight made them think the riot had already begun. It was the store of Bill Sturgis, Meridian's carpetbag mayor. Every able-bodied man turned out to extinguish the flames as the fire spread from building to building. The Negroes outnumbered the whites, but emphatically refused to help them, purposely got in their way to obstruct their efforts, and they laughed in glee, and said: "Its a white mans fire, and let the white men put it out." More than half of Meridian was burned to the ground, before the flames could be checked.[50]

 

Meridian citizens firmly believed that Mayor Sturgis set fire to his own store so the blame might be placed on Southern people. They also thought he had much to do with the deplorable existing state of affairs. A mass meeting was held, and immediately after, Governor Alcorn was petitioned to remove the mayor.[51]

 

Three of the Negroes were arrested; Warren Taylor, J. Aron Moore, Bill Dennis, (the bar room bully); then taken to the courthouse, and brought before Judge Bramlette, a Republican appointee, but a capable and excellent civil officer. General William H. Patton testified on the witness stand relative to some kind of remark or statement made by Bill Dennis and Dennis emphatically said: "That's a damn lie." General Patton raised his walking cane to hit him. When he (Dennis) fired a pistol at General Patton, missed him the bullet hitting Judge Bramlette in the head, killing him instantly. White men sitting in the courtroom fired upon Dennis, and mortally wounded him. He was carried to the Sheriff's office and guarded by two men. The riot was well under way; every man that could shoot got a gun. Negroes were running in every direction in terror, and the two guards threw Bill Dennis out of the Sheriff's office balcony as they were needed in the fight and didn't have time to guard a Negro who had murdered a white man. That night Aron Moore escaped to the woods, and the next that was heard of him he was residing in Jackson.[52]

 

People from Alabama came to Meridian on horseback and train to help with the fight, Mayor Sturgis was forced to resign his office and given twenty four hours to leave the State, was furnished with armed guards to the train, who boarded the train, and remained with Sturgis as far as the County line. About twenty-five or thirty Negroes were killed in the Meridian riot.[53]

 

Delegates to the deliberative assembly of 1868 voted themselves salaries at $10 a day, and travel expenses at forty cents per mile, which was far beyond the limits, or right of propriety, for that day and time. Attending members of both factions were armed with pistols and dirks. In 1874, the people of Mississippi had reached the breaking point under the confiscatory tax system, stealing, and increasing debts. The tax levy had increased over twelve-fold, within a period of four years.[54]

 

In the summer of 1874, Governor Ames went North on a vacation leaving the affairs of State in the hands of the Negro lieutenant governor, A. K. Davis. The corruptness and extravagance that prevailed during the absence of Ames was a prelude to the close of a dark chapter in political history of Mississippi. Davis made changes among the capitol employees to accommodate his friends, and discharged Ames’ private secretary. Between June 15th to July 25th, and during a month of the autumn season when the governor was absent from the State again, Davis granted sixty-five pardons, and seventeen of these were granted without trial. Leaving the affairs of State in the hands of an ignorant and corrupt Negro was revolting to the good citizens of Mississippi.[55]

 

Not all of the Negro politicians were corrupt. There were a few who were trustworthy and loyal to their former masters and white friends. Isaiah T. Montgomery, self-educated, intelligent, and a former slave of the Jefferson Davis family, was a delegate from Bolivar County to the State constitutional convention in 1890. He made an interesting and outstanding speech against Negro suffrage, stating that illiteracy eliminated from the State electoral body would bring about conditions of peace and stability which would remove to a great extent, the political antagonism between the two races.[56]

 

Nowhere in the South had the government been reduced to the low rank of degradation, as in Vicksburg. The irresponsible and untrustworthy acts of Governor Davis, caused much opposition to the Ames regime among the best citizens of the State, including a number of Negroes of intelligence and good character. The most firm and determined stand was centered in and around Vicksburg--especially members of the Tax Payers' League, who pledged themselves to redeem the city and county from corruption and the ruins of Negro rule. With conditions growing more deplorable day-by-day the white people decided something must be done. The white Republican candidate for mayor of Vicksburg was at the time under Indictment for twenty-four offenses. The city marshal, the cotton weigher and harbor master, six of the eight school trustees, and seven of the eight aldermen, were Negroes. White County officials, only three in number, were of the carpetbag type. The Negro militia marched through the streets of Vicksburg, with loaded guns and fixed bayonets, and at night citizens were searched for arms, and demanded to tell what their business was on the streets. White renegade agitators urged the Negroes on.[57]

 

In Madison Parish Negro companies were organized by carpetbag politicians to march on Vicksburg. Perhaps thinking the conduct and actions of the Negroes and radical whites in Vicksburg were not enough to force the whites to rebel, the following speech of the Negro chancery clerk appeared in the Vicksburg papers a few weeks before the August 4th election. "The time was not far distant when miscegenated marriages would occur daily. Barriers could be broken down for the white women now see that the Negro is the coming man, he could get the daughter of one of the best families in Vicksburg, and were he in the matrimonial market he would buckle on a brace of pistols and meet the woman's father or brother who would dare interfere in his love affairs to prevent daughters and sisters from their choice in the selection of husbands whom they were anxious to have among the colored men."[58]

 

In the August elections, Dr. Richard 0'Leary, descendant of one of Vicksburg's finest and oldest families. headed the all-white ticket which was elected; the results of which was soon to end Negro and carpetbag rule in Mississippi.[59]

 

Davis and Ames appealed to President Grant for Federal troops, but they were refused, which revealed the weakness and framework of Radical rule. The atmosphere was intense, and a dark stormy cloud hovered over the city of Vicksburg. The tax burden was robbery, invalid witness certificates and County warrants were brazenly fluttered in the citizens faces, and Davenport, the Negro chancery clerk, would not permit a citizens committee to inspect his records. Davenport was unable to produce his bond, as it was found missing.[60]

 

The Negro Sheriff, Peter Crosby, was guilty of having a defective bond. He was petitioned by the Board of Supervisors of Warren County on September 23rd to perfect his bond; a grand jury was empanelled, but failed to indict him; on October 6th, the Board made another request that Crosby make a valid bond, and he replied through the radical newspaper that he would disregard the request unless it was acted upon by the Supreme Court. Of course, this was a violation of the law, which made the Board of Supervisors determined to remove the County official thieves from office.[61]

 

The grand jury met on November 17th; although its Negro members were in the majority, forty indictments were found against prominent officeholders, and ex-officeholders for embezzlement, forgery, and numerous other misdeeds. The indictments were returned to the court, but the records were stolen in order to protect the guilty offenders, Dorsey, Circuit Clerk, Davenport, Chancery Clerk. T. W. Cordoza, ex-Circuit Clerk, and at the time State Superintendent of education; all Negroes were among the guilty indicted by the grand jury.[62]

 

On the same day of the grand jury report, a meeting of the Warren County taxpayers was held and set a date for a convention to assemble, December 2, 1874. A large group of citizens attended the meeting, and ex-Union Officer John D. Beard was empowered to demand the immediate resignation of all the County officials. They refused to resign; a meeting of the taxpayers was reconvened, and five hundred men marched to the courthouse to enforce the order; none of the officials were to be found except Sheriff Crosby. Crosby assigned guards were placed around the jail with Colonel Beard in charge.[63]

 

Of course, the first thing the Negroes did was to go to Jackson and confer with Governor Ames. Ames advised Crosby to return to Vicksburg, demand reinstatement of his office, and if the demand was refused, assemble a posse, and if that didn't prove effective the State militia would be at his disposal. Colonel 0. S. Lee, and Adjutant General Packer accompanied Crosby on his return trip to Vicksburg to make plans for the reinstatement of the corrupt officials.[64]

 

A proclamation was issued on the 5th by Governor Ames relating how the Negro officials of Warren County had been forced out of office by armed men, fleeing for their lives; all of which was a violation of the fourteenth amendment. Crosby issued a circular asking for help among the Negroes throughout Warren County, and the actual significance and purpose of the circular was to organize an armed mob. On Sunday evening the Vicksburg Herald reported that couriers were riding all through Warren County asking the Negroes to assemble at certain places in preparation for the march on the city to reinstate Crosby to his office.[65]

 

(1874). Information got to the whites of Vicksburg that a boat laden with needle-guns and ammunition was due at the landing, the arms intended to be given to Negroes and carpetbaggers for the general assault on the city. A force of white Vicksburgers met the boat and by force confiscated the guns and supplies for the assault, and distributed the arms and the ammunition to the white defenders who used them against the Negroes and carpetbaggers when the uprising came. Blaine Russell saw one of the old needle-guns about 1940 still hanging in the old woodshed of Miss Eva Murch's home on Main Street. It had been used by her father as one of Vicksburg's defenders. Miss Eva Murch still resides there, now alone, and may still have the needle-gun. It was a peculiar musket with a short, sharp plunger made to be hit by the hammer to explode the cartridge, the sharp pointed plunger causing it to be called a "needle-gun. And Harry Sherard. Sr., now deceased, personally told Blaine Russell his eyewitness story of the Negro invasion on Grove Street in Vicksburg.[66]

 

At three o'clock Monday Morning December 7th, 1874, alarms were sounded, and Vicksburg's armed citizens were assembled and ready.[67]

 

The white citizens of Vicksburg organized into companies, most of whom were ex-soldiers who had seen service in both the Confederate and Union armies. About nine o'clock in the morning, the courthouse bell began to ring, which was the signal relative to the approaching Negro mob. Colonel Horace Miller led one hundred mounted men out Grove Street and met the Negroes and their leader, Andrew Owens, within the city limits. Colonel Miller ordered his men to halt, and rode up to the mob ordering them to scatter and return home. Owens stated to Captain Miller, that he was there under orders representing the Sheriff, and the only way in which he would disperse would be orders given by the Sheriff. Owens asked Captain Miller if he could see the Sheriff, who was still under guard at the courthouse. The request was granted, and after talking to Crosby he told Owens to send his men home. The reply did not satisfy the mob, stating they wanted to fight it out, so the battle started immediately, and six or seven Negroes were killed and several wounded. Another group of Negroes, congregated near the Pemberton monument, protected in one of the old entrenchments. They were driven out by Captain Hogan, (a resident of Snyder's Bluff) and a few mounted men. The next day some Negroes ambushed Oliver Brown's funeral procession, near Snyder's Bluff, and one attendant was killed.[68]

 

A short time after the Vicksburg riots, Peter Crosby resigned as Sheriff of Warren County, and an election was ordered to fill the other vacant offices. The Legislature was called in special session by Governor Ames, and a committee was appointed to investigate the riots, ending with unfavorable results for the Ames despotic government, Captain A. J. Flanagan was elected Sheriff of Warren County by the white vote.[69]

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

They Killing Of Colonel Crane, Military Mayor Of Jackson, Mississippi