Huntsville, Alabama - Early History of Huntsville, Alabama, 1804-1870 (part 3 of 3)

In describing the problems confronting the South for the solution of which, as to Alabama, a convention was held, Mr. Fleming, in his "Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama"

(page 27) says: "With Lincoln as president, the abolitionists would soon control the Supreme Court, and then slavery would be abolished in the Federal district and the territories. There would soon be a majority of free states large enough to alter the Constitution and to destroy slavery in the states. The state of society with four million negroes turned loose, would be too horrible to contemplate, and the only safety for Alabama lay in secession, which was within her right as a sovereign state. The Federal Government was established for the protection and not the destruction of rights ; it had only the powers delegated by the states and hence had not the power of coercion. Alabama was devoted to the Union but could not consent to become a degraded member of it. The State in seceding ought to consult the other Southern States ; but first, she must decide for herself, and co-operate afterwards. The convention, the governor said, would not be a place for the timid or the rash. Men of wisdom and experience were needed ; men who could determine what the honor of the State and security of the people demanded, and who had the moral courage to carry out the dictates of their honest judgment."

The delegates to the convention were composed of "secessionists," who wanted Alabama to withdraw from the Union without regard to the action of the other states ; "co-operationj(sts," who were not in entire accord ; some wanted co-operation of the Southern States with the Union in order to force their rights from the central government ; while others of them wanted the Southern States to come to an agreement within the Union and then secede, and form a Confederacy ; still others wanted the cotton states to have a clear understanding among themselves before seceding.

The secessionists were in the majority and controlled the convention. North Alabama voted with the minority, the "co-operationists." Three of the minority leaders, seven in number, were from Huntsville : Nicholas Davis, Jeremiah Clemens, and David P. Lewis ; all of whom afterwards became doubtful of the fortunes of war and "went over to the enemy."

When the convention settled down to business, practically the only question presenting itself was, "How to secede ?" The first resolution which was unanimously adopted was "that the

Madison's delegates, like those from other North Alabama counties, opposed the majority and were styled "obstructionists." Among the most prominent of these was Davis, who threatened armed resistance by North Alabama to the measures adopted in the convention, and insisted on a submission of the measures to a popular vote, for ratification. Mr. Davis later changed his views, probably realizing that his former remarks were hasty and improvident, declaring that he and all North Alabama would cheerfully stand by the State in the coming conflict. Jeremiah Clemens was at first an "obstructionist," but later became less conciliatory toward the Union and opposed sending a commission to treat with the government at Washington. Upon the secession of the State and the forming of the Republic of Alabama, Clemens was placed in command of its troops.

Huntsville and Madison county freely and without resentment accepted the will of the State, and busied themselves about making ready for the changed conditions. Loyalty to the "Republic of Alabama" was universal and pronounced, even on the part of all those leaders who had opposed unconditional secession.

After the adoption of the ordinances of secession, the leaders of the victorious majority stepped aside and handed over to the minority leaders, to a great extent, the reins of authority ; for the sake of harmony, entrusting to them the work of organizing the new government. Alabama sent nine delegates to the Provisional Congress, three of whom, R. H. Walker, David P. Lewis and Dr. Thomas Fearn, all anti-secessionists, were from Huntsville.

Following close upon the heels of these proceedings by the State, war with the North became imminent. So intense was the feeling that no middle ground could be occupied ; one was either for, or against the State and loyal to its interests.

There were to be found among the mountains of North Alabama and southern and eastern Tennessee, many "tories," parties afraid to declare themselves for either side. Usually they leant toward the side of power. So great did the disaffection among the mountain people become that during the early part of 18G1 a propaganda was put out, by them, for the forming of the free State of "Nick-a-Jack." The name chosen being that of an Indian village in Jackson county, Alabama. - The tories promoting this scheme had as their object the establishment of a new State to be carved out of Alabama and Tennessee, in much the same fashion as West Virginia was formed from Virginia by the tories and Union sympathizers of that State. The government was to be neutral, neither a member of the Confederacy, nor of the Union ; a sort of city of refuge for themselves and other cowardly scamps. The plans met with no general support and failure resulted. Throughout the war and during Reconstruction this same breed of vultures preyed upon the people of this section. Vampires they were, gorging their lusts, passions, and prejudices.

Conditions During The War

Montgomery having been selected as the first capital of the Confederate States of America, all Alabama was astir with war-like preparations and activities. Huntsville became the seat of things generally for North Alabama. Here, during the early part of 1861, four thousand Confederate soldiers were stationed, awaiting supplies and equipment. They remained here several months before they could be armed for the field. ^

Devotion and loyalty to the South's cause, and a firm belief that it was right and just in the eyes of God and man were manifest on all sides. The energies of the entire community were rendered in a supreme effort, continuing throughout the four years of bloodshed, to uphold the honor of the State and the South.

The women of the South, fittingly denominated the "Women of the Confederacy ;" from the first, gave untiringly, lavishly, and cheerfully of their very best for the success of the Confederacy. Their labors were consecrated upon the altars of love and devotion. Thrughout those four years of untold and indescribable hardships and privations, they suffered and endured, without murmur, as only women can suffer and endure. They yielded to the sword of the enemy, without protest and without reproach, their loved ones ; and when the war was ended and their battle-scarred heroes returned home, foot-sore and weary, broken in health and spirit, these same noble women by their own heroic example of fortitude and unselfish devotion sustained them in their determination and endeavor to reclaim their own, this beloved Southland, and save the shattered remnants of its glory and its grandeur from the rapacious maw of those goths and vandals, the Carpet-bagger and the Scalawag.

During the early years of the war there was organized at Huntsville a "Ladies' Humane Society," whose object was to make endurable the life of the Confederate soldier at the front. Every month throughout the war, this society sent large boxes of clothing and supplies, and tokens of love and affection, to the men in the ranks from North Alabama.* Much, if not all, the clothing, including the uniform worn by the Confederate soldiers from Huntsville, and throughout the entire South as well, were made by the hands of the women of the Confederacy. Verily did they sustain the armies of the Confederacy and make it possible to keep them in the field those awful four years.

Religious organizations at Huntsville contributed, both spiritually and substantially, to the Confederate cause. When companies departed for the front, special religious services were held and divine blessings were invoked upon them and the Confederate States of America. Sectarianism was merged into a solidified Christian body and thus they labored throughout the war.

In the early part of 1861 the Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian Churches dismantled their spires of bells, and sent them to Holly Springs, Mississippi, where they were smelted and cast into cannon, to be known as the "Bell Battery of Huntsville." Though given to the Confederate States of America at such noble sacrifice, this battery served only a very limited time, as it was captured by the Federals on April 11, 1862, in a raid on Huntsville.''

Conditions Resulting From Federal Raid In 1862

Huntsville did not fall into the hands of the Federals until April 11, 1862, when General O. M. Mitchell raided North Alabama.'' Probably the greatest destruction and loss of property, throughout all Alabama during the war was effected when the Federals took possession of Huntsville. Here they captured and confiscated practically all the rolling stock of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, which had been collected

4 civil War Jiiul Reconstructiou in Alabama, page 244. B Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 224. 6 Civil War and Reconstructiou in Alabama, page 62.

at Huntsville pending removal to a more secure place. This irreparable loss was caused through the treachery of a telegraph operator. The railroad shops located here were completely demolished. Upon evacuating Huntsville the Federals burned all bridges along the system throughout North Alabama, tore up the tracks, heated the rails and cured them around trees so as to render them unfit for further use, and burned and wrecked all other property belonging to the road. By the end of the war the company had lost all its tangible property, and in addition thereto $1,195,166.79 invested in securities of the Confederate States of America.'^ A considerable portion of this loss was upon the citizens of Huntsville and Madison county, who were heavy investers in the company. As a concomitant of this raid, many of Huntsville's most prominent and beloved citizens were made prisoners and taken North, as a sort of hostage, where they were confined. A Federal army post was established at Huntsville upon the withdrawal of the raiders.

As a result of this raid, conditions in and about Huntsville became very unsettled, being filled with explosive possibilities. This unrest was especially prevalent among the class known as "tories." Their inherent cowardice made of them a ready prey to their fears and apprehensions. In 1862 Clement Comer Clay stated, "Huntsville is the center of disaffection."

The community was filled with deserters from the Confederate ranks ; some coming from the commissioned ranks, "tories," "renegades," and "traitors" abounded. These unprincipled wastrels often acted as spies and aided and abetted the Federal troops in their carnival of pillage and outrage against the defenseless ones of the community. Much of the carnage and vandalism visited upon the community was at the hands of these dastardly wretches themselves, under the protection or with the connivance of the federal troops. Many were the instances of murder, rapine and arson committed by these utlaws, under the guise of federal authority or while wearing the uniform of the federal soldier.^

From accounts of these despicable characters, it would seem that their lust for blood was oftentimes indulged just to make a "Roman holiday." One of the most atrocious of crimes on record occurred when "twenty federals or disguised tories, led by a tory from Madison county, killed an old man, his son, a nephew and his son and murdered a fifth person by throwing him into the Tennessee river. When he caught hold of the branches on the bank, they beat and shot him until dead." Death was the penalty paid by one enrolling men into the Confederate ranks. One such ofificer was forced to wade into the river, where he was shot to death from the bank. Bloody violence was done almost daily. Overseers who had concealed stock from the raiders were hung. A Confederate officer was robbed of several thousand dollars and then driven from the county.^

These marauding outlaws facetiously styled themselves "Destroying Angels."" Again, in 1863, Huntsville was invaded by federal troops under General Stanley. Large quantities of stores and supplies were seized and carried off. Other than this, however, no outrages were committed or violence inflicted upon the inhabitants.^^

Not only were the inhabitants of the town and county terrorized and preyed upon by these vultures, but the merest detail of life and commercial activity was circumscribed by the martial law, enforced by the federal troops stationed at the army post here. All business was regulated and supervised at their sweet will ; all stores and supplies were in their hands and at their mercy. Prices (to those loyal to the Confederacy) on all articles of clothing, and food were raised to heights hitherto unknown. Even the necessaries of life could be purchased only for cash with federal currency. The brutality of this last measure - whereby only federal currency was recognized as a medium of exchange - can scarcely be imagined, so broad and disastrous was its effect. The suffering and hardships produced thereby cannot be described. Suffice it to say, this measure served to make all things practically prohibitive to those loyal to the South. The people had no federal currency and little enough Confederate currency.

After the establishment of the federal army post here in 1862 Colonel Horner was made provost-marshal at Huntsville. During- his regime many outrages were perpetrated by him upon private citizens, non-combatants. He it was that summoned before him, as such marshal. Dr. Thos. Fearn, and Reverends Banister and Ross to answer certain questions propounded by him ; upon their refusal - the very thing he most desired - they were to be banished from the county. This, and many other such acts of wanton abuse were heaped upon the heads of the defenseless citizens at the suggestion and upon the advice of Jeremiah Clemens and Judge Lane, as history has already recorded. ^^

Under the supervision of the altruistic ( ?) government at the North, the federal troops in this vicinity confiscated the elegant home and properties of Ex-Governor Reuben Chapman, in 1863, to the use of a negro regiment, and banished Governer Chapman from the county, after confining him in prison for a time. The house was finally burned. Toward the latter part of the war and during the miserable years following thereafter, this plantation was used as a camp for refugee negroes. It is estimated that before August, 1864, several hundred negroes were received and there supported in profligate idleness by the federal government. Chaplain Stokes was in command of the Camp.i*

It was no uncommon thing for federal officers to desert, while stationed in the South. The possibilities of wealth and aggrandizement were the prime causes for such action. The business most generally taken up by them, was speculating in cotton. Though others directed their efforts toward obtaining monopolies of the business interests of the town and public utilities. One striking instance of the tempting influence of this speculative fever was to be found at Huntsville, where a former beef contractor for the federal army, having grown rich in cotton speculations, owned and controlled nearly all of the commercial interests of the town, including both hotels, the water works and gas plant. Needless to say exorbitant charges were

As the years rolled past conditions grew infinitely worse. The continued presence of the federal troops only rendered the situation more desperate and depraved. Huntsville became, as it were, a haven of refuge for the worst class of man known to history, though present with us throughout the ages - the "deserter." These traitors to the Confederate cause who flocked here, were infinitely more destitute of principle and unmerciful in their depredations on the community than any federal soldier ever dared to be.

Prominent Deserters And Tories

This same title may be found at page 124 of Fleming's Civil War and Reconstruction. This alone does not excite our curiosity. However, it is with an increasing interest that we read the text of that subdivision, and great is the humiliation and chagrin when we find that four out of the five men in all Alabama, whose conduct was such as to cause their names to be enrolled under this caption, were from Huntsville.

"General Jeremith Clemens, who had been in command of the militia of Alabama with the rank of Major-General, became disgruntled and went over to the enemy. In the secession convention, Clemens had declared that 'he walked deliberately into rebellion,' and was prepared for its consequences. He first opposed, then voted for, the ordinance of secession, and afterwards accepted the office of commander of the militia under the 'Republic of Alabama.' For a year Clemens was loyal to the 'rebellion,' but in 1862 he had seen the light and wished to go to Washington as the representative of North Alabama to learn from President Lincoln in what way the controversy might be ended. The Washington administration, by that time, had little faith in any following he might have, and when Clemens with John Bell started for Washington, Stanton advised them to stay at home and use their influence for the Union." This former United States Senator from Alabama - 1849-1853, now a despised deserter, spent much of his time within the safety of the Union lines about Nashville, from where he harassed and persecuted the people of this section, his former neighbors and friends, those who had honored and respected him. He finally went North where he was known as the "Arch Traitor," and died at Philadelphia a few years after the war.

"Georg-e W. Lane, also of Madison county, was a prominent man who cast his lot with the federals. Lane never recognized secession, and was an outspoken Unionist from the beginning. He was appointed federal judge by Lincoln and died in 1864. In April, 1861, Clemens wrote to the Confederate Secretary of War that the acceptance of a United States judgeship by Lane was treason and the North Alabama men would gladly hang him. General O. M. Mitchell seemed to think that the negroes were the only truly loyal, but he recommended in May, 1862, that when a military government should be established in Alabama, George W. Lane, the United States district judge appointed by Lincoln, be appointed military governor. Lane's faded United States flag still flew from the staflF to which he had nailed it at the beginning of the war, and his appointment as governor, Mitchell thought, would give the greatest satisfaction to Huntsville and all North Alabama.

"David P. Lewis, of Madison county, a member of the secession convention of 1861, voted against secession, but signed the ordinance, and was elected to the Provisional Congress by the convention, and in 1863 was appointed circuit judge by the governor. This position he held for a few months and then deserted to the federals. During the remainder of the war he lived quietly at Nashville."

"Another prominent citizen of Madison county. Judge D. C. Humphreys, joined the federals late in the war. Humphreys had been in the Confederate army and resigned. He was arrested by General Roddy on the charge of disloyalty. It is not known that he was ever tried or put into prison, but in January, 1865, Hon. Clement Comer Clay, and other prominent citizens of Huntsville, of Southern sympathies, all old men, were arrested and carried to prison at Nashville, as hostages for the safety of Humphreys, who had been released by order of the Confederate War Department, as soon as the rumor of his arrest reached Richmond. Later Humphreys became a member of the first Carpet-bag Legislature of Alabama, and finally judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.^''

He was known at the North as the "Crazy Man." After the close of the war he returned to Alabama to garner the spoils of Reconstruction and became the contending man for the provisional governorship of Alabama under the "Carpet-bag" administration."

Conditions Toward Close Of The War

As the power and strength of the Confederacy waned, disaffection among a certain element in this part of the State became marked, and manifested itself from time to time in various ways. This hostility toward the Confederacy did not go unapplauded or unaided by the federal government. The fomentation of internal strife and discord was by no means a small part of the duties to be performed by the officer in command of a Union army post in the South.

Their efforts were augmented by the energies of the "Arch Traitor," Clemens, and the "Crazy Man," Humphreys and Judge Lane, who figured as advisers to their friends and former fellow citizens in recommending submission. During the early part of 1864 Union meetings were being held in those parts of North Alabama subjugated by federal troops. These meetings were encouraged and protected by the Union officers in command. On march 5th of this year a thinly attended reconstruction meeting was held in Huntsville, at which Clemens presided. Orthodox, anti-Confederate and strong Union speeches were made by both the "Arch Traitor" and the "Crazy Man." The latter of whom submitted some elaborate plans for immediate return to the Union, calling upon the governor to hold a convention to consider a return to the Union."

Early in 1865 peace meetings were held throughout Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Commissioners were sent to Washington and tories and deserters organized. This peace party expected to gain the August elections and elect as governor J. C. Bradley, of Huntsville.^** The local chapter of this peace society was known as the "Union or Loyal League."^''

The character of warfare, conducted in these parts, grew infinitely worse and less considerate of non-combatants, as the endurance of the South and the superior fighting qualities of the Confederates gave way - respectively - to superior resources and numbers. In some instances, notably the treatment of Captain F. B. Gurley, of this county, the ordinary rules of comity and warfare were not reco2:nized. Honorable victory on the field of battle was not enous^h. The South must be crushed and her leaders humiliated and made to pay the penalty. No amount of persecution was sufficient to satiate the inordinate thirst for reven<^e of some of the federal commanders. Mr. Fleming: tells us in his graphic way of the treatment accorded that gallant and fearless cavalry commander, Captain F. B. Gurley, who yet lives in this county, a short distance from the town which bears his name : "In a skirmish in North Alabama, General R. L. McCook was shot by Captain Gurley of Russell's Fourth Alabama Cavalry." The opposing forces consisted of regular enlisted and commissioned soldiers and officers, on both sides, not free hooters and 'bush-whackers,' but duly accredited commands. Shortly after the Confederates engaged the federals, the latter were routed and General McCook attempted his escape in a carriage. In the hand-tohand engagement which ensued during the running fight the occupant of the carriage, though unknown at the time, was wounded by a shot fired by Captain Gurley as he passed the conveyance in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. The report was spread through the federal ranks that Captain Gurley had slipped upon the ambulance train bearing the wounded from the engagement and had fired upon and killed General McCook, while he lay helpless upon a stretcher in one of the wagons. Continuing, Fleming says : "The federals spread the report among the soldiers that he had been murdered, and as the federal commander reported, 'many of the soldiers spread themselves over the country and burned all the property of the rebels in the vicinty, and shot a rebel lieutenant who was on furlough.' Even the house of the family who had ministered to General McCook in his last moments was burned to the ground. The old men and boys for miles around were arrested. The officer who was shot was at home on a furlough and sick. General Dodge's command committed many depredations in retaliation for the death of McCook. A year later Captain Gurley was captured and sentenced to be hanged. The Confederate authorities threatened retaliation, and he was then treated as a prisoner of war. After the close of the war he was again arrested and kept in jail and in irons for many months at Nashville and Huntsville. At last he was liberated."-"

No men, except the aged and infirm were left in the country. The population was composed chiefly of women and children. The people suffered fearfully, and many of them had to leave the country in order to live.

As the Germans are accused of doing in the present European war, the federals made it a rule to hold a community responsible for all attacks upon Union troops by the Confederate soldiers. As for instance, - and by no means an uncommon one - in 18f)4 General M. L. Smith ordered the arrest of "five of the best rebels," in the vicinity of a Confederate attack on one of the companies, even going so far as to arrest five more near the place where a Union sympathizer had been assaulted. ^^

Freedman'S Bureau

The Freedman's Bureau, ostensibly a labor and employment bureau, was established at Huntsville some time during the early part of 1865. At first these bureaus were conducted by the federal military authorities, but after the war their management was entrusted to "loyal Union men," "Carpet-baggers." These institutions, if properly conducted, might have been of inestimable worth to the nation as a whole, serving in a large measure to readjust the shattered economic conditions at the South. But such was not their purpose, and as a consequence their presence threatened the very existence of civilization at the South, and for a time substituted Ethiopian for Caucasian supremacy. These, and many other such influences, created a pressing necessity for some sort of social regulator. And out of these conditions logically resulted the "Invisible Empire" whose mandates were executed by the Ku-Klux-Klan.

The veteran who wore the gray, after Lee's surrender, returned to his former home, neither ashamed nor afraid for the course so lately and vigorously pursued. He accepted the fortunes of war with heroic resignation and yielded his weapons of destruction without protest or shame, and returned to the pursuits of civil life with that same determination and indomitable will and energy which had made of him such a formidable foe. He was in no wise daunted or abashed to find, upon his return, all his former slaves supported and protected in dangerous idleness, and incited to insulting behavior by the bureau ; his plantation grievously suffering from protracted neglect, but worst of all, his house burned and no hand to

The former slaves, dazed and bewildered as they were by sudden emancipation from work and the necessity therefor as a means of support, to a f reedman ; a process of evolution wholly beyond their comprehension ; deserted the plantation and flocked to the bureau or refugee camps ; where they received, without charge, from the government, food, clothing, shelter and medical attention - from which the mortality was great. Thus supported in idleness and encouraged to laziness, the negro became a prey to all sorts of vagaries. They were lead to believe that when the war was over each would receive, at the hands of the federal government "forty acres and a mule," the property of the former master. Even to this day, there may, in rare instances, be found an old ex-slave who is still holding to the idle dream that this dispensation is yet to come.

There was usually great dispute between the slaves as to who was to get the forty acres upon which was situated the "big house" - the plantation home of the master.

So firmly had these fancies and the inclination to continue idle fastened themselves upon the subject, that even the bureau and military authorities became alarmed. To forestall the further spread of such demoralizing tendencies, the federal authorities, in 1865, issued an order requiring all negroes at Huntsville to go to work, or to be forced to do so by the troops.

In justice to the ex-slave, be it said, this dilemma was probably not wholly his own blame ; for the bureau controlled every phase of life and activity in the community, and complete charge was taken of the negroes. Servitors by nature and training, they naturally looked to the "master" for direction. The activities of the bureau, instead of being an aid to useful employment of the ex-slave's time, were its worst hindrance, as we shall see.

Primarily, the conditions of labor under the old relation of "master and slave" did not exist. A new order of things was to be faced. Its solution was by no means an easy problem ; for during the four years of war practically all commercial and agricultural activities had been suspended at the South. The men were off on the field of battle. The financial resources of the community were exhausted. Federal currency was unknown, or nearly so. Confederate currency was little more than a mythical term to most of the inhabitants, and it was not

Labor could only be employed under the supervision of the bureau. Wage scales were established and enforced by the federal authorities. Such a scale was put in force at Huntsville in 1864 by the "Freedman's Home Colony" :

In addition to these minimum wages to be paid by the planter, he was required to take care of the young children of the family hired by him ; to furnish without charge a separate house for each family, with an acre of ground for a garden, and without charge, medical attention for the entire family, and schooling for the children ; to sell food and clothing to the employee at cost, and lastly, to pay for full time unless the laborer was sick or refused to work.^^

In view of the depleted economic and financial condition of the South, to hold that the ex-slave could only be employed on such terms and at such exorbitant wages to be paid in United States currency, was grossly unfair to both employer and employee. Such restrictions rendered employment practically prohibitive. So we are not surprised to learn that in 1864 only two hundred and five of all the ex-slave population of the county had obtained employment.

These labor contracts had to be in writing and receive the sanction of the bureau or military authorities, and witnessed by a "friend of the freedman." Either party breaking the contract was subject to trial by the provost-marshal or a military commission. The property of the employer was liable to seizure for wages.

So long as these institutions were administered by the military authorities no charge was made the freedman for preparing the labor contracts, and the negro thought the bureau his best friend. Later, at the close of the war, the bureaus were turned over to the civil authorities and "carpet-baggers" were

22 Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, page 41G. The Freedman's Home Colony" was supplanted in 1805 by the "Freedman's Bureau." The pur])ose and the work of the two were identical.

put in charge. Then a fee of $3.00 was charged the negro for each contract. This produced among them a revulsion of feeling. They became suspicious and distrustful of the bureau.

So strong and vindictive did this hate of the "carpet-bag" agents of the bureau become among the negroes in Madison county, that on March 12, 186G, some negroes of Huntsville and vicinity, tarred and feathered one of the bureau agents who had been charging them $1.50 for each contract.-* The bureau authorities even went so far as to try title to and settle disputes over property, between slaves and their former masters. Many instances might be cited, but for present purposes, one such happening at Huntsville will suffice :

General Thomas ordered a military commission to arrogate to itself authority to settle a dispute over the home of a widowed white lady, as between her and her former slave, with the result that she was turned out, and the negro given possession of the property.-^

On the slightest pretext the bureau authorities intervened. Many are the instances of persecution and injustice heaped upon the Southern whites by these alien and rapacious agents. Their prejudices were strongly against the whites and in favor of the blacks. There was, however, no purpose of bettering the condition of the negro, but solely to punish the whites. As they conceived it, retribution and revenge could be more smartly inflicted by forcing the former master to receive his ex-slave as a social equal and a political superior, than by any other means.

It was of common occurrence that prominent citizens, members of the proudest and most unyielding of all races, were arrested, placed in chains, in some instances, and dragged before the bureau agent, and there in the presence of their former slaves, humiliated, insulted and abused, all, all for the amusement of the agents, and the damning effect it would have over the negroes. Even they were protected and incited to heap opprobrium on their former friends, their old masters. Nor were their outrages alone confined to this form of torture of the whites and protection of the blacks. The latter were shielded from all harm and permitted and incited to villanies and crimes with the approval of the authorities, provided, of course, these acts of wantonness were against Southern whites. Even the law itself was not permitted to take its course with negro criminals, as for instance : "In 1866, two constables arrested a negro charged with house burning in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Col. D. C. Rugg, the bureau agent at Huntsville, raised a force of forty negroes and went to the rescue of the negro criminal." Coming up with the officers as they were about to board the train with the criminal, he said, "If you attempt to put that negro on the train, blood will be shed. I am acting under the orders of the Military Department. These men - the negroes - are not going to let you take that prisoner away, and blood will be shed if you attempt it."-® All this, in order that the culprit might be taken before the bureau agent and acquitted after a mock trial.

In conjunction with the Freedman's Bureau, schools for freedmen were operated. Shortly before the close of the war three of these schools were established at the refugee camps in the county. Two of them were in Huntsville ; one being on Ex-Governor Chapman's plantation, which was confiscated to the use of negro troops early in 1862, as above mentioned. After the war, schools for the freedmen became very numerous. Another was opened at Huntsville by the "Pittsburgh Freedmen's Aid Commission." All these schools were taught by Northern whites.^'' From this time forward, all sorts and kinds of missionary, educational and benevolent societies and commissions, financed at the North, and projected and authorized by Congress, began to operate throughout the South. The meagre success and good accomplished by these institutions, but demonstrated the fallacy of wisdom, theoretically applied, at long range, and sense at short taw.

There was the wildest desire among the blacks, both old and young, to learn to read and write. The older ones wanted to learn to read the Bible. Little or no progress along purely educational lines was made by the pupil ; which fact justly discouraged and dampened the ardor of the more conscientious of their white teachers. The number of negroes learning to read in these schools was practically negligible.

In these schools, as a rule, reading and writing were not the essentials taught ; but on the contrary, distrust and bitter hatred of the former master was hammered into the ignorant, gullible subject. The ex-slave was made to believe that it was a special charge upon his dignity, as a freedman to upbraid, shun, insult and de,2:rade Southern whites at all times and to lose no opportunity of making himself offensive to his former master in particular. The excuse given the negro for these incendiary teachings was that the former master wanted to re-enslave them and was their worst enemy. Assurances were repeatedly offered, that the bureau authorities were back of them and would protect them in any sort of villainy.

The former master returned to his home after the war, with love and compassion in his heart for the faithful old negro, who had protected and cared for his wife and family during his absence on the field of battle. Harm him ! Such was not remotely in the thoughts of the Southern white. The dream of the former master to reward, protect and support these faithful negroes, was blasted and could have no enlarged application, so imbued had they become with the false doctrine received in the schools. Much of the strife between the whites and the blacks, after the war, was fomented in these so-called schools ; and schools they were, not of education, however, but of vice, hate and crime.

In November, 1866, Brevet-Colonel J. B. Collis, of the Volunteer Reserve Corps, was put in command of the bureau at Huntsville.^^ Under his leadership the bureau branched out into politics, local and State, and was organized into some sort of a political "league." The membership consisted chiefly of negroes. Its purpose was to foist into position and power the "carpet-baggers," "deserters," and "scalawags," and scum of the earth generally, with which Huntsville was infested. The leagues held secret meetings, and pledged themselves and their membership to mutual protection. ^^ The negroes were especially suspicious and distrustful of Southern whites who had become "deserters and scalawags." Their respect for these moral perverts was no greater than that held for them by the men who wore the gray. One notable instance of this distrust is to be found, when the league at Huntsville refused admittance to one of its meetings in the court house, to a notorious "scalawag" of this community, who had formerly been a respected member of society. Little wonder that even the negroes were unwilling to align themselves with him, when we remember that he had represented Madison county in the Secession Convention of 1861, and was chosen to succeed Dr. Thomas

Fearn in the Confederate Provisional Congress, and had commanded a battalion in the war for a short while ; only for a short while, however, as his loyalty to his State and his people was of equally short duration. He went over to the enemy and after the war, embraced with alacrity the "carpet-bag" government and its principles and returned among his people to aid in the oppressions of reconstruction, and garner his share of its rich harvest.^''

Freedman'S Banks

Allied with the Freedman's Bureau were savings banks, authorized by act of Congress and styled "The Freedman's Savings & Trust Company." This act received Mr. Lincoln's approval on March 5, 1865. The main office of the bank was at Washington. During the early part of the Reconstruction period three branches were established in Alabama, at, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery. Throughout the South many of the bureau agents were placed in charge of the branches. The fact that Lincoln had approved the plan and that it had the sanction of the federal government, made the banks at once popular among the negroes.

A pass book was issued each negro depositor upon which was printed the rules and regulations governing. Also they were decorated with catchy, high sounding phrases, as: "Step by step we walk miles and we sew stitch by stitch. Word by word we read books, and cent by cent we grow rich,"

Six per cent interest was paid time depositors. This benefit was featured by printed matter on the pass book, illustrating how a saving of ten cents a day would amount to $489.31 at the end of ten years.

Only those negroes in and around Huntsville became depositors. Those in more remote sections of the county lived in ignorance of the existence of the bank. The Huntsville and Mobile branches were the largest and most prominent in the State. The amount of business done by the local branch, - as shown by the following table, - during the first three years of its existence, is surprising.

The interest paid on long time deposits in 18G8 - the first year - was $38.02. In May, 1869, the total deposits amounted to $17,603.29. The statement of the condition of the bank on March 31, 1870, reveals:

Though the system continued to prosper, and its business increased, in 1874 it failed, through the fraud of its managers and employees ; entailing upon the negroes of the South a total loss of $3,299,201.00, and upon those at Huntsville a loss of $35,963.00. Lafayette Robinson, a negro, was cashier of the local branch when the system failed.

Through the collapse of this monumental fraud, the work of the federal government in gaining the trust and confidence of the negro race was largely undone. He believed the Freedman's Bureau had cheated him; and he became suspicious of all offers or efforts to aid him coming from the North, thereafter."

Reconstruction

To no Southern reader of this chapter does the term here used, as the caption of this sub-division, convey the idea, that, beneficent processes of the orderly rebuilding of its material resources and the re-assembling and adjustment of its social and governmental functions, were now in operation in the South. To him the term is the perfect personification of all that is infamous, re-destruction rather than re-construction proper.

After the close of the war, and mihtary discipline was relaxed, conditions became unspeakably depraved. Huntsville and her citizens suffered "depredation, robbery, murder, arson and rapine" at the hands of marauding hordes of "tories," "scalawags" and federal and Confederate "deserters." The county was overrun with this scum of humanity, the flotsom and jetsam of ignominy itself. For a great while the local traffic in whiskey was enormous. The streets were crowded with the drunken and debauched, and lawlessness stalked abroad unbridled. These conditions were accentuated by the presence, in large numbers, of ladies of easy virtue ; who by their indecent demeanor in all places, and especially public thoroughfares, lent an air of degredation to the entire community.

There can be little doubt that lawlessness had reached dangerous proportions, when we learn that the Provisional Governor Parsons, a "loyal" Union man, deemed it necessary to invest the mayor of Huntsville with special and extraordinary powers to suppress violence. These deplorable conditions were not confined to the town alone but existed throughout the county.

Former citizens of the county, who had become "tories" during the war and through fear had left the country, now returned to vent their hate and avenge their own self-imposed dishonor, upon the defenseless, who had lain down the weapons of war and taken up those of peace. Their lust for blood and insatiable desire for revenge knew no bounds and recognized no ties. Confederate veterans now pursuing the arts of peace, were deliberately shot and killed while seated with the remnants of their families around their firesides, and while at work in the fields.^^

These general conditions and special influences co-operated to make the seven years of reconstruction infinitely and inestimably more harsh, cruel and inhuman than the four years of bloody war itself. In addition thereto there was another specific factor more potent than all these and wider in scope which threatened the very existence of civilization at the South; the Reconstruction Acts, passed by Congress, aided by Constitutional Amednment.

The administration of these acts was largely entrusted to the illiterate and unknowing "carpet-bagger," who was aided in his persecutions by that most unprincipled of all men, the

"scalawag," a coward by nature and a thug and grafter by preferment. These latter poisoned the already hostile mind of the "carpet-bagger." The author is wanting in ability to define either the genus "carpet-bagger," or "scalawag." This task has been undertaken by many worthy scribes but with less success than attended the efforts of Ryland Randolph, editor of the (Tuscaloosa) Independent Monitor; who, upon the appearance at Tuscaloosa of the "carpet-bagger," Lakin, (accompanied by the "scalawag," Cloud), to take his seat as president of the University ; published in his paper of September 1. 1868, a warning from the Ku-Klux to both these men ; which consisted of a wood cut depicting two men hanging from the limb of a tree; one holding in his hand a carpet-bag with "Ohio" on it - the native state of Lakin - the other without even this meagre possession, representing the "scalawag," Cloud, and entitled, "A Prospective Scene in the City of Oaks, 4th of March, 1869." This cut was followed by this inscription :

"Hang curs, hang! * * * Their complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast good fate, to their hanging. * * If they be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.

"The above cut represents the fate in store for those great pests of Southern Society - the 'carpet-bagger and scalawag' - if found in Dixie's land after the break of day on the 4th of March, next.

"The genus 'carpet-bagger' is a man with a lank head of dry hair, a lank stomach, and long legs, club knees, and splay feet, dried legs and lank jaws, with eyes like a fish and mouth like a shark. Add to this a habit of sneaking and dodging about in unknown places, habiting with negroes in dark dens and back streets, a look like a hound and the smell of a polecat. "Words are wanting to do full justice to the genus, 'scalawag.' He is a cur with a contracted head, downward look, slinking and uneasy gait; sleeps in the woods like old Crossland, at the bare idea of a Ku-Klux raid. 'Our 'scalawag' is the local leper of the community. Unlike the 'carpet-bagger,' he is native, which is so much the worse. Once he was respected in his circles ; his head was level ; he would look his neighbor in the face. Now, possessed of the itch of office and the salt rheum of radicalism, he is a mangy dog, slinking through the alleys, hunting the governor's office, defiling with tobacco juice the steps of the capitol, stretching his lazy carcass in the sun, on the square or on the bench of the mayor's court. He waiteth for the troubling of the political waters, to the end that he may step in and be healed of the itch by the ointment of office. For office he 'bums,' as a toper 'bums' for the satisfying dram. For office yet in prospective, he hath bartered respectability; hath abandoned business and ceased to labor with his hands, but employs his feet kicking out boot heels against lamp-post and corner curb, while discussing the question of office."'^

If either of the types here depicted is even remotely true to life there can be little wonder that neither was in good standing at the South, nor at the North for that matter, for there were many level heads and honest minds and hearts there who did not believe in the re-destruction policies of "re-construction."

Ku-Klux-Klan And Cause Therefor

We have already learned that the bureau at Huntsville had projected "Union or Loyal Leagues," among the negroes for political purposes. As these leagues became stronger, after the ballot was given the negro, many negroes were elected to office through its influence. The higher and more important offices were preempted by the "carpet-baggers" and held at the hands of the "Black Man's Party." Of the two it was little less offensive, and less dangerous to society that a negro should be in authority.

These leagues having become strong in membership and powerful in politics, under the protection of the Union troops garrisoned here, became very disorderly and obnoxious. The conduct of the members was offensive to the last degree.

Upon emancipation from slavery every negro man acquired a dog and a gun. The dog, as evidence of the owning of property, and the gun, of freedom. As slaves, they were usually not permitted to have dogs about the quarters. Nor were they allowed to have firearms, owing to the danger of violence among themselves, and for the further good and sufficient reason that as slaves they had no use for them.

It is interesting to surmise whether or not the desire on the part of the negro of today to own a dog and a gun, is the progeny of this primal instinct.

The league meetings were held at night. Going to and from the meetings the negroes would march through the streets, armed, in military formation, and execute drills about the court house. The meeting over, they would loiter about the streets, acting boisterously ; using abusive and obscene language, disss Civil War and Reconstruction iu Alabama, page 612.

charging firearms and making threats of violence against the whites ; taking particular care to make themselves most offensive to those they especially disliked. In short, the "carpetbaggers" contrived every conceivable means of intimidating the Southern whites into submission to negro domination and social equality. But little did he, in his narrow and poisoned brain, comprehend the spirit of the man he sought to subjugate and crush.

More or less encouragement was given these disreputable bodies and their policies, by the waning opposition of a certain element of the whites ; who were beginning to organize themselves into "loyal" bands, proclaiming the North ; renouncing and denouncing the Confederacy and all it had stood and fought for.

Nicholas Davis presided at one of these "unconditional union mass meetings," held at Moulton, in Lawrence county. This meeting was very thinly attended and represented no considerable portion of the sentiment of North Alabama, though eleven counties sent delegates. A little later such a meeting was held at Huntsville, with no better attendance.

Prior to the election of 1868, the Ku-Klux, were not active, locally. Though from time to time individual corrections were administered by small bands of Ku-Klux.

With the result of the election of 1868, came a realization of the enormity of the danger to the white man and his social institutions, and the extent of his dilemma. After this election Huntsville and surrounding country had well organized Klans of Ku-Klux.

The Ghouls, or privates of the Klans in Madison county, when in active service, in addition to the regulation disguise and mask, wore red flannel trousers with white stripes down the sides, and around the waist a brace of revolvers.

Prior to the election of 1868, few deeds of violence were committed by the Klan ; for, up to that time, the superstitious blacks and the timid and credulous "carpet-baggers" were easily subdued and held in check by mere threats of violence or warnings from the Klan. But, later when the detestable and more knowing "scalawag" began to get in his work, the warnings from the Klan were less effective. The "carpetbagger" was encouraged to stand his ground, and the negro was relieved of his superstition, in a large measure, by the slowly percolating realization that the Klan was not composed of spirits, "hants," but flesh and blood.

The negroes at first believed that the Ku-Klux were the outraged "spirits" of their departed masters, returning to "hant" them for their erring ways. They believed that "Hell froze over" to allow these spirits to pass on their way back to earth. This superstitious belief was the chief asset of the Ku-Klux as is shown by the following posted warning from the Klan:

The childlike credulity of the black man was not only taken advantage of by the Southern whites, but by the Northern whites, as well. His ostensible new friend capitalized his friendship to the detriment and financial loss of the negro. The fraudulent schemes devised by sharpers from the North to separate the negro from his money, were novel, numerous and varied. The most pretentious and lucrative of all these frauds was the sale of four painted sticks. The negro was told by the faker from the North - (in whom, hailing from these parts, till the Freedman's Bank failed in 1874, he had the utmost faith and trust and believed implicitly), that the land upon which these sticks were set up, wheresoever it might be, became his, ipso facto. A document purporting to be a deed accompanied each set of sticks, which read in part as follows :

"Know all men by these presents : That a naught is a naught ; and a figure is a figure ; all for the white man and none for the nigure. And, whereas, Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also have I lifted this d d old

After the spring of 1868, the newspapers frequently carried Klan warnings and threats. Printed warnings were posted in prominent places. These public documents dealt with conditions and obnoxious persons, generally. Individuals, who by their conduct and associations had become undesirable and were deemed a menace to the peace and welfare of the community, received notices and warnings in person, and some times by posting on their premises in conspicuous places. These offenders were given a limited and fixed time to depart. Failing to take heed, they were captured and severely thrashed and ordered, and in some instances, made to leave. Be it said, however, it was not often necessary to administer a thrashing; for as a general thing the first notice received by an individual, signed "Ku-Klux-Klan" was obeyed without undue loss of time and without argument. These warnings were frequently ludicrously misspelled and always written in a disguised hand.

The Klan at Huntsville, deeming I. D. Sibley an undesirable citizen, sent the following warning, written mostly in "plain English," to him, which explains itself :

"Mr. Sibley, you had better leave here. You are a thief and you know it. If you do not leave in ten days we will cut your throat. We ain't after the negroes; but we intend for you

This notice to a "carpet-bagger" illustrates the view-point of the South with clearness ; namely, the negro himself was not primarily to blame for his misbehavior, but the "carpetbagger" and "scalawag" were. It was the latter that the South held responsible for the continued disordered state of affairs ; and to the adjustment of these conditions, set about ridding society of these pests. Under the administration of State and local affairs by the "carpet-baggers," they and the negroes became more and more aggressive. A good portion of the best land in the county was in possession of negroes, who asserted false claims to it. The activities of the Ku-Klux became more strenuous and purposeful as the oppression of the "carpet-bag" regime grew. During this time, additional troops were sent to Huntsville to suppress the Ku-Klux, but to no avail. Later, martial law was declared over Madison county. Even this did not seriously impede the work of the Klan as a social regulator. It had inaugurated an "Invisible Empire," which had grown in strength until its decrees were far more potent and its power more dreaded than that of the visible commonwealth which it either dominated or terrorized. It is said, too, no doubt with truth, that many of the federal soldiers, stationed here, looked leniently upon the activities of the Klan, so evidently inaugurated in sheer self-defense and decency, by an oppressed and downtrodden people.

During the reconstruction period there were elected, from iHuntsville, three State senators, "carpet-baggers," Spencer, Hinds and Sibley. The self-interest which governed the activities of these unworthy solons, and the manner in which they were willing- to wreck the county to further their political ends, is revealed very clearly and unmistakably by their opposition as senators to any les^islation which might emasculate the Ku-Klux-Klan of power. Though the Ku-Klux had them marked, and they dreaded the power of the Klan, they desired the existence rather than the extinction of the Klan. For the reasons, as stated by them, in moments of rare candor, that the continued strife between the whites and blacks enabled them to make effective speeches against the former and thereby obtain the negro vote.

The most famous parade and "riot" of the Ku-Klux-Klan occurred at Huntsville just before the presidential election of 1868. A body of Ku-Klux 1,500 strong rode into the city and paraded the streets. Both men and horses were disguised with masks and sheets. All of their evolutions were executed with the greatest precision, skill and silence. The negroes were in a frenzy of fear. One of them fired a shot ; immediately a riot was on. The negroes fired at themselves and the unmasked whites indiscriminately. The unmasked whites returned the fire. The Ku-Klux fired not a shot, but formed a line and looked on silently. Several negroes were wounded. Judge Thurlow, a "scalawag" of Limestone county, was accidently shot and killed by a stray bullet from a negro's pistol. The whites who participated received only slight wounds. The military authorities arrested some of the Ghouls, who were released later. This was known throughout the North as one of the greatest "outrages" committed by the Ku-Klux.

By the year 1870, the mission of the Klan had been accomplished in a large measure. So nearly re-adjusted and normal had conditions become, that the need of its protection practically had ceased.

In 1871 Congress appointed a sub-committed, composed of a joint committee from both houses, to investigate the Ku- Klux-Klan and its activities in Alabama. A meeting of the committee was held at Huntsville, October 6th to 16th, 1871. Senators Pratt and Price, and Representatives Beck, Buckley and Blair, formed the committee. For practical and political purposes the committee was composed of three Republicans and one Democrat, as Blair and Beck were seldom ever present at the same time. Many of Huntsville's most prominent citizens were called before this inquisitorial body for examina- tion. Among those summoned were Ex-Governor Reuben Chapman, P. M. Dox, and William Richardson. After the committee had completed its labors and reported to Congress, the following "official" table of crimes alleged to have been committeed by the Ku-Klux Klan, was published :

According to this report, Madison's Ku-Klux committed ten more crimes than those of any other county. However, a further comparison reveals that the excess lies in the whippings and not in the killings.

This brings us to a close of our consideration of the Ku- Klu-Klan, locally, without having explained its enlarged objects and purposes, and the spirit of the moving cause for its being.

Judge Albion W. Tourgee, a "carpet-bagger," in his book, "A Fool's Errand," renders us his views on the Ku-Klux- Klan, which are intensely interesting and enlightening. Speaking to the subject, he says:

"Yet it was a magnificent sentiment that underlay it all, an unfaltering determination, an invincible defiance to all that had the seeming of compulsion or tyranny. One can but regard with pride and sympathy the indomitable men who, being conquered in war, yet resisted every effort of the conquerer to change their laws, their customs, or even the personnel of their ruHng class, and this, too, not only with unyielding stubbornness, but with success. One can but admire the arrogant boldness with which they charged the nation which had overpowered them, even in the teeth of her legislators, with perfidy, malice, and a spirit of unworthy and contemptible revenge. How they laughed to scorn the Reconstruction Acts of which the wise men boasted ! How boldly they declared the conflict to be irrepressible and that white and black could not and should not live together as co-ordinate ruling elements !

"And then the organization itself, so complete and yet so portable and elastic ! So perfect in disguise that, of the thousands of victims, scarce a score could identify one of their persecutors ! In it we may recognize the elements that go to make up a grand and kingly people. They felt themselves insulted and oppressed. No matter whether they were or not, be the fact one way or another, it does not affect their conduct. If the Reconstruction which the wise men ordained was unjust; if the North was the aggressor and wrongful assailant of the South in war ; if to degrade and humiliate her enemy the terms of the surrender were falsified and new and irritating conditions imposed ; if the outcasts of Northern life were sent or went thither to encourage or induce the former slave to act against his former master - if all this were true, it would be no more an excuse or justification for the course pursued than would the honest belief that these facts were true by the masses who formed the rank and file of this grotesquely uniformed body of partisan cavalry. In any case, it must be counted as the desperate eflfort of a proud, brave, and determined people to secure and hold what they deemed to be their rights."

Judge Tourgee had that breadth of view which permits him to appreciate and respect the objects of the Ku-Klux Klan, though failing to comprehend the necessities for its existence. Even he might have come to know of these and have applauded its work, had he retained his residence at the South sufficiently long.

The war over, the Confederate soldier returned home to find his labor system, the primary leverage of rehabilitation, not demoralized but utterly destroyed. Impoverished to the last degree, broken in health, with head bowed in unutterable dejection, he looked out upon the vast sea of his desolation. For a moment he stood dazed ; reeled, recovered himself, girded up his loins, put on the armor of peace, and double-quicked into action, with that indomitable determination that had made of him such a formidable foe.

A splendid new empire was builded with marvelous rapidity out of the hot ashes of the old, as a harmonious part of the common whole our reunited and beloved nation. Happy and at peace with itself and the world, this new South has become strong and trusted in the councils of the nation. The halls of Congress again resound with the fervid eloquence and forceful logic of her statesmen. Along the Potomac and the Tennessee

Nothing contained in this volume must be taken as indicating the author's approval of slavery. Far from it. He has spoken of things as he found them, where he found them and when he found them. The South was not the original importer of the slave, but became a slave section naturally and logically. It was not to be expected that a factor which had become so deeply embedded in its economic life could be eliminated in the twinkling of an eye.

Before the war began, the index finger of fate - the "signs of the times" - pointed inexorably toward a final and just solution of this diflficult problem. However, if the slave gave much, he received in return liberally of the best. No savage race the world has ever known, had conferred upon it so speedily, the blessings of civilization and Christianity, as that portion of this African people which thus came into immediate and continuous contact with the splendid civilization of the Old South.

"The North thinks Reconstruction was the salvation of the South and is the cause of its present progressiveness, but, in destroying all that was old. Reconstruction probably removed some abuses ; from the new order of things some permanent good must have resulted. But the credit for neither can rightfully be claimed until it can be shown that those results were impossible under the regime destroyed."