Capitol Men (72 page)

10. The Eternal Fitness of Things

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 "
The whole public are tired":
Grant, vol. 26, p. 314-n.
"
This flippant utterance":
Adelbert Ames to E. Benjamin Andrews, May 24, 1895, J. W. Garner Papers, Mississippi State Archives; see also Wharton, p. 194.
"
I suggest that you take all lawful means":
Grant, vol. 26, p. 314n; Lemman, p. 123.

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 "
Taking advantage of Grant's":
Grant, vol. 26, pp. 312–13; Gillette, p. 157; Lemman, pp. 122–23.
"
I have taken steps to put all the arms":
Adelbert Ames to Blanche Butler Ames, Sept. 22, 1875, in Ames,
Chronicles,
vol. 2, p. 191; see also Lemman, pp. 125–26.
"
The paradox of law enforcement":
Zuczek,
Encyclopedia of Reconstruction,
vol. 1, p. 414.
"
A hyena in human form": Hinds County Gazette,
Oct. 13, 1875.

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 "
Election day may find our voters":
Adelbert Ames to Blanche Butler Ames, Oct. 8 and 12, 1875, Ames,
Adelbert Ames,
pp. 431–32, 433–34.
"
Domestic violence prevails":
Adelbert Ames to President Grant, Sept. 8, 1875, ibid., p. 424.

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Having noticed that many of the so-called:
Testimony of George K. Chase, "Mississippi in 1875: Report of the Select Committee to Inquire into the Mississippi Election of 1875," GPO, Washington, 1876.
"
The [Democratic] citizens expressed":
Ibid.
"
Notwithstanding the apparent injustice":
Undated clippings from
Cincinnati Commercial,
early to mid Sept. 1875, Blanche Kelso Bruce Papers, Library of Congress.

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 "
The city of Jackson was almost literally filled":
Testimony of Adelbert Ames, "Mississippi in 1875."
"
One smart nigger in some localities":
Testimony of George K. Chase, ibid.
"
Sublit had a band of ... about 100 armed men":
Ibid.
These efforts at intimidation:
Rable, p. 161; also see Testimony of Adelbert Ames, "Mississippi in 1875."
With the election over, the time had come:
Testimony of Margaret Ann Caldwell, ibid.; also see
New York Times,
Aug. 7, 1876.

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"
I have never read of such depravity":
Adelbert Ames to Blanche Butler Ames, Aug. 31, 1875, in Ames,
Adelbert Ames,
p. 419.
"
Some of our party are indignant":
Adelbert Ames to Blanche Butler Ames, Oct. 15, 1875, ibid., pp. 439–40.
Ames didn't know it but he was fortunate:
Wells, "Reconstruction and Its Destruction in Hinds County,"
Mississippi Historical Publications,;
quoted in Ames,
Adel-bertAmes,
p. 436.

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 "
What surprises me ... Mr. President":
Lynch,
Reminiscences of an Active Life,
pp. 173–75.

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In the difficult fall 1875 election:
Ibid., pp. 181–86.
"
Whose Captain was one Charles Caldwell":
Ames,
Chronicles,
pp. 335–37. These allegations were also shared with the congressional select committee investigating the 1875 election in Mississippi by Hiram Revels; see Testimony of Hiram Revels, "Mississippi in 1875."

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 "
Their object is to restore the Confederacy":
Garner, p. 402.
"
He had given the state an excellent administration":
Lynch,
Reminiscences of an Active Life,
p. 187.
"
In one phrase, hostility to the negro":
Testimony of Adelbert Ames, "Mississippi in 1875"; see also
New York Times,
May 2, 1876.

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 "
Invigorated by the free air": New York Times,
Aug. 26, 1873.

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 "
I desire to inform the members of the Senate": New Orleans Republican,
Feb. 11, 1872.
"
The period of slavery was itself so monstrous": New National Era,
Jan. 2, 1873.

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 "
As a father, I know him to be affectionate": Congressional Record,
44th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 1444–45.
"
Knocking at the door": New National Era,
Jan. 15, 1874.

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 "
I will state to the Senate that since the adjournment": Congressional Record,
43rd Cong., 1st sess., p. 775.
"
That was really, and in fact the end":
Warmoth, p. 236. Warmoth found himself the subject of a public scandal later that year when, on December 26, he stabbed the New Orleans journalist Daniel C. Byerly in a street altercation over published insults regarding Warmoth's political career in Louisiana. The killing was ruled justifiable homicide—Byerly had assaulted Warmoth with a cane—and the ex-governor was freed after being briefly held in jail. See
New York Times,
Dec. 27 and 28, 1874.
"
Let the investigation proceed": New Orleans Republican,
Feb. 7, 1873.
Both addressed that body on June 8, 1874: Congressional Record,
43rd Cong., 1st sess., appendix, pp. 426–38.

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 "
Prima facie title to admission": New York Times,
Feb. 9, 1875.

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 "
Under these circumstances": Congressional Record,
44th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 1444–45.
In an executive session of the Senate: New Orleans Times,
Feb. 17, 1876. Bruce was so angry, he initially refused to meet with Grant but was coaxed into it by colleagues. Bruce later became a leading supporter of Grant's bid for a possible third term at the 1880 Republican convention.
"
In the country the tides were changing":
Haskins, p. 222.

11. Black Thursday

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"
Fellow citizens, rights impose duties":
Elliott's remarks in
New National Era,
Mar. 19, 1874.
"
Blinded by long confinement":
DeForest,
Miss Ravenel's Conversion,
p. 348.
"
The only thing he
wouldn't
steal":
Bowers, p. 76.
"
Somewhat like the charge of communism":
Holt, p. 196.

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 "
Misgovernment works its own suicide":
Elliott's remarks in
New National Era,
Mar. 19, 1874.
"
With the courage and good sense": Charleston Courier,
quoted and remarked upon in
New York Times,
Feb. 21, 1874.

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 "
Together, then" Lamson speculates:
Lamson, Peggy, p. 199.
She hypothesizes further:
Ibid., p. 200.

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The
News & Courier
termed this maneuver: Charleston News & Courier,
Dec. 17, 1875.
"
South Carolina, noble old mother": Charlotte Observer,
quoted in
Charleston News & Courier,
Dec. 21, 1875.
Even the Republican
Daily Union-Herald
feared: Columbia Union-Herald,
quoted in
Charleston News & Courier,
Dec. 20, 1875.
"
With muskets on our shoulders":
Woody, "Franklin J. Moses Jr., Scalawag Governor of South Carolina,"
North Carolina Historical Review.
"
To Africanize the state": News & Courier,
Dec. 18, 1875; Lamson, Peggy, pp. 223–24.
"
One immediate effect":
Quoted in Allen, p. 195.

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 "
I cannot attend your annual supper": Charleston News & Courier,
Dec. 23, 1875.
"
A rumpus has begun in South Carolina":
Allen, p. 221.

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By the end of the Civil War it was:
MacDowell, "Hamburg: A Village of Dreams,"
South Carolina Magazine;
see also Williamson, p. 267.
"
If there should ever be a black monarchy":
Higginson, pp. 43–44. Rivers was such a fine physical specimen that, like Smalls, he had been sent north during the war to promote the idea of making slaves into soldiers. In New York City, however, the sight of the tall, coal-black sergeant in a federal uniform disturbed passersby, and a riot nearly ensued. Rivers himself held off the mob until police arrived.

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He came home, it was written:
Avary, p. 161.
"
One of the most malignant of the unreconstructed rebels":
Morgan, James M., pp. 362, 373.

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 "
[McKie's death] exasperated his friends": Charleston News & Courier,
July 11, 1876.
"
Those of the meanest character":
Martin, p. 210.
"
Begged for his life, but in vain":
Attorney General William Stone's report, July 12, 1876, quoted in Allen, pp. 313–18.
The rifle clubs then joined: Charleston News & Courier,
July 11, 1876, and
New York Times,
July 24, 1876.

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It condemned the cowardly killing of "negro prisoners":
See coverage of
Charleston News & Courier,
July 10, 11, and 12, 1876.
As the
Charleston Journal of Commerce
observed:
Quoted in Allen, p. 320.
"
Shame and disgust must fill the breast of every man":
Daniel Chamberlain to U.S. senator T. J. Robertson, July 13, 1876; quoted in Allen, p. 319.

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 "
We have supported Governor Chamberlain's reform measures": Charleston News & Courier,
Aug. 10, 1876; quoted in Holt, p. 200.
"
The late unwarrantable slaughter": New York Times,
July 24, 1876.
"
Remember," Cain told his followers: New York Times,
July 21, 1876.

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To Chamberlain, the Indian fighters' fate:
Daniel Chamberlain to U.S. senator T. J. Roberston, July 13, 1876, quoted in Allen, p. 319.
The debate in Congress about troop deployment:
Gillette, p. 35.

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 "
The presence of the troops was most providential": Congressional Record,
44th Cong., 2nd sess., appendix, p. 218; quoted in Packwood, p. 19.
When white congressmen seemed unable to grasp: Congressional Record,
44th Cong., 1st sess., p. 4645.

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Robert Smalls also worked to ensure that Hamburg:
Uya, p. 95; see also
Congressional Record,
44th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 4605–4607, 4641–44.
In their correspondence, Chamberlain pointed out:
Daniel Chamberlain to President Grant, July 22, 1876, quoted in Allen, p. 322.
Grant responded that he too feared:
President Grant to Daniel Chamberlain, July 26, 1876, quoted in Allen, p. 325.

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 "
Waved the bloody shirt":
Tillman, "The Struggles of '76,"Charleston Historical Society. The exact origin of the red shirt uniform used by Democrats during Reconstruction is unclear. Some scholars suspect it was inspired by the costume of the revolutionaries who rode with the famous Italian military leader of the 1860s, Giuseppe Garibaldi. See Zuczek,
Encyclopedia of Reconstruction,
vol. 2.

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"
There has been so much corruption":
Bowers, p. 498.

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Belknap also had much to fear from any further scrutiny: Nation,
Mar. 9, 1876.
"
Showed symptoms of mental agony": New York Tribune,
Mar. 6, 1876.
"
Considering the official rank of Mr. Belknap": The Nation,
Mar. 9, 1876.

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 "
The albatross of Reconstruction": Vicksburg Monitor,
undated clipping in "Mississippi in 1875: Report of the Select Committee to Inquire into the Mississippi Election of 1875," Washington GPO, 1876.
His precise, elegant manners and well-turned phrases:
Martin, p. 202.
Visiting the legislature one day:
Avary, p. 357.

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Among other steps, the expert suggested:
Tillman, "The Struggles of '76."
"
Every Democrat must feel honor bound":
Martin, p. 211.

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Gary was the descendant:
Sophie M. Fair, "Distinguished Confederate War Record of Ge. M. W. Gary," imprint of article from the
Southern Herald
and
Working Man of New York and Columbia, South Carolina,
Feb. 13, 1878, in "Martin Gary," vertical file, South Carolina Room, Charleston Public Library.
"
He goes off in conversation like a skyrocket":
Bowers, pp. 502–3.

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 "
They do not claim to be Americans": New York Times,
Oct. 13, 1876.

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 "
As a slave, he was faithful to us":
"Wade Hampton" entry in
Appleton's Cyclopedia,
compiled 1887–89; see edited
Appleton's Cyclopedia
(2001) at
Virtualology.com
.
"
He was a big, powerful, athletic man":
Williams, Alfred B.,
Hampton and His Red Shirts,
p. 89.
"
Straightout-ism, with its threat and bluster": Charleston News & Courier,
May 9, 1876.

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Several whites, including Gary, challenged Dawson to duel:
Clark, pp. 64–66. Francis Dawson engaged in a war of insults in print with both Gary and
Journal of Commerce
editor Robert Barnwell Rhett Jr., while he steadfastly refused to duel, on religious grounds. He was known to editorialize against the practice. However, for all his principled opposition to mindless bloodshed, Dawson met a violent and somewhat tawdry end in 1889. Helene Marie Burdayron, a young governess who lived in his home, had aroused his protective or perhaps amorous feelings, and when rumors reached him that she was being pursued by a neighbor, Dr. Thomas McDow, Dawson became incensed. He confronted McDow, who denied seeking the girl's favors; Dawson then allegedly rushed at McDow, who drew a gun. In a
sensational murder trial, McDow was acquitted; the court ruled that he had killed
Dawson in self-defense. See Clark, pp. 215–24.
"
An audacious, masterly somersault":
Sass, pp. 42–43.
Calling Rainey "a very light mulatto, of limited ability": Charleston News & Courier,
Sept. 14, 1876.
"
Rest assured of this":
Ullman, p. 444.