Reconstruction

by Brooks D. Simpson

  U. S. GRANT.

  KLAN TERRORISM:

  NORTH CAROLINA, MAY 1870

  Albion W. Tourgée to Joseph C. Abbott

  Greensboro, May 24, 1870.

  My Dear General,

  It is my mournful duty to inform you that our friend John W. Stephens, State Senator from Caswell, is dead. He was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the Grand Jury room of the Court House on Saturday or Saturday night last. The circumstances attending his murder have not yet fully come to light there. So far as I can learn, I judge these to have been the circumstances: He was one of the Justices of the Peace in that township, and was accustomed to hold court in that room on Saturdays. It is evident that he was set upon by someone while holding this court, or immediately after its close, and disabled by a sudden attack, otherwise there would have been a very sharp resistance, as he was a man, and always went armed to the teeth. He was stabbed five or six times, and then hanged on a hook in the Grand Jury room, where he was found on Sunday morning. Another brave, honest Republican citizen has met his fate at the hands of these fiends. Warned of his danger, and fully cognizant of the terrible risk which surrounded him, he still manfully refused to quit the field. Against the advice of his friends, against the entreaties of his family, he constantly refused to leave those who had stood by him in the day of his disgrace and peril. He was accustomed to say that 3,000 poor, ignorant, colored Republican voters in that county had stood by him and elected him, at the risk of persecution and starvation, and that he had no idea of abandoning them to the Ku-Klux. He was determined to stay with them, and either put an end to these outrages, or die with the other victims of Rebel hate and national apathy. Nearly six months ago I declared my belief that before the election in August next the Ku-Klux would have killed more men in the State than there would be members to be elected to the Legislature. A good beginning has been made toward the fulfillment of this prophecy.

  The following counties have already filled, or nearly so, their respective “quotas:” Jones County, quota full, excess 1; Orange County, quota full, excess, 1; Caswell County, quota full, excess, 2; Alamance County, quota full, excess, 1; Chatham County, quota nearly full. Or, to state the matter differently, there have been twelve murders in five counties of the district during the past eighteen months by bands of disguised villains. In addition to this, from the best information I can derive, I am of the opinion that in this district alone there have been 1,000 outrages of a less serious nature perpetrated by the same masked fiends. Of course this estimate is not made from any absolute record, nor is it possible to ascertain with accuracy the entire number of beatings and other outrages which have been perpetrated. The uselessness, the utter futility of complaint from the lack of ability in the laws to punish is fully known to all. The danger of making such complaint is also well understood. It is therefore not unfrequently by accident that the outrage is found out, and unquestionably it is frequently absolutely concealed. Thus, a respectable, hard working white carpenter was working for a neighbor, when accidentally his shirt was torn, and disclosed his back scarred and beaten. The poor fellow begged for the sake of his wife and children that nothing might be said about it, as the Ku-Klux had threatened to kill him if he disclosed how he had been outraged. Hundreds of cases have come to my notice and that of my solicitor, in which we have hardly ascertained the names of the parties suffering violence.

  Men and women come scarred, mangled, and bruised, and say: “The Ku-Klux came to my house last night and beat me almost to death, and my old woman right smart, and shot into the house, ‘bust’ the door down, and told me they would kill me if I made complaint,” and the bloody mangled forms attest the truth of their declarations. On being asked if any one knew any of the party it will be ascertained that there was no recognition, or only the most uncertain and doubtful one. In such cases as these nothing can be done by the court. We have not been accustomed to enter them on record. A man of the best standing in Chatham told me that he could count up 200 and upward in that county. In Alamance County, a citizen in conversation one evening enumerated upward of 50 cases which had occurred within his own knowledge, and in one section of the county. He gave it as his opinion that there had been 200 cases in that county. I have no idea that he exceeded the proper estimate. That was six months ago, and I am satisfied that another hundred would not cover the work done in that time.

  These crimes have been of every character imaginable. Perhaps the most usual has been the dragging of men and women from their beds, and beating their naked bodies with hickory switches, or as witnesses in an examination the other day said, “sticks” between a “switch” and a “club.” From 50 to 100 blows is the usual allowance, sometimes 200 and 300 blows are administered. Occasionally an instrument of torture is owned. Thus in one case two women, one 74 years old, were taken out, stripped naked, and beaten with a paddle, with several holes bored through it. The paddle was about 30 inches long, 3 or 4 inches wide, and 1/4 of an inch thick, of Oak. Their bodies were so bruised and beaten that they were sickening to behold. They were white women and of good character until the younger was seduced, and swore her child to its father. Previous to that and so far as others were concerned her character was good.

  Again, there is sometimes a fiendish malignity and cunning displayed in the form and character of the outrages. For instance, a colored man was placed astride of a log, and an iron staple driven through his person into the log. In another case, after a band of them had in turn violated a young negro girl, she was forced into bed with a colored man, their bodies were bound together face to face, and the fire from the hearth piled upon them. The K.K.K. rode off and left them, with shouts of laughter. Of course the bed was soon in flames, and somehow they managed to crawl out, though terribly burned and scarred. The house was burned.

  I could give other incidents of cruelty, such as hanging up a boy of nine years old until he was nearly dead, to make him tell where his father was hidden, and beating an old negress of 103 years old with garden partings because she would not own that she was afraid of the Ku-Klux. But it is unnecessary to go into further detail. In this district I estimate their offenses as follows, in the past ten months: Twelve murders, 9 rapes, 11 arsons, 7 mutilations, ascertained and most of them on record. In some no identification could be made.

  Four thousand or 5,000 houses have been broken open, and property or persons taken out. In all cases all arms are taken and destroyed. Seven hundred or 800 persons have been beaten or otherwise maltreated. These of course are partly persons living in the houses which were broken into.

  And yet the Government sleeps. The poor disarmed nurses of the Republican party—those men by whose ballots the Republican party holds power—who took their lives in their hands when they cast their ballots for U. S. Grant and other officials—all of us who happen to be beyond the pale of the governmental regard—must be sacrificed, murdered, scourged, mangled, because some contemptible party scheme might be foiled by doing us justice. I could stand it very well to fight for Uncle Sam, and was never known to refuse an invitation on such an occasion, but this lying down, tied hand and foot with the shackles of the law, to be killed by the very dregs of the rebellion, the scum of the earth, and not allowed either the consolation of fighting or the satisfaction that our “fall” will be noted by the Government, and protection given to others thereby, is somewhat too hard. I am ashamed of the nation that will let its citizens be slain by scores, and scourged by thousands, and offer no remedy or protection. I am ashamed of a State which has not sufficient strength to protect its own officers in the discharge of their duties, nor guarantee the safety of any man’s domicile throughout its length and breadth. I am ashamed of a party which, with the reins of power in its hands, has not nerve or decision enough to arm its own adherents, or to protect them from assassinations at the hands of their opponents. A General who in time of war would permit 2,000 or 3,000 of his men to be bushwhacked and destroyed by private treachery even in an enemy’s country withou
t any one being punished for it would be worthy of universal execration, and would get it, too. How much more worthy of detestation is a Government which in time of peace will permit such wholesale slaughter of its citizens? It is simple cowardice, inertness, and wholesale demoralization. The wholesale slaughter of the war has dulled our Nation’s sense of horror at the shedding of blood, and the habit of regarding the South as simply a laboratory, where every demagogue may carry on his reconstructionary experiments at will, and not as an integral party of the Nation itself, has led our Government to shut its eyes to the atrocities of these times. Unless these evils are speedily remedied, I tell you, General, the Republican Party has signed its death warrant. It is a party of cowards or idiots—I don’t care which alternative is chosen. The remedy is in our hands, and we are afraid or too dull to bestir ourselves and use it.

  But you will tell me that Congress is ready and willing to act if it only knew what to do. Like the old Irish woman it wrings its hands and cries, “O Lawk, O Lawk, if I only knew which way.” And yet this same Congress has the control of the militia and can organize its own force in every county in the United States, and arm more or less of it. This same Congress has the undoubted right to guarantee and provide a republican government, and protect every citizen in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as well as the power conferred by the XVth Amendment. And yet we suffer and die in peace and murderers walk abroad with the blood yet fresh upon their garments, unharmed, unquestioned and unchecked. Fifty thousand dollars given to good detectives would secure, if well used, a complete knowledge of all this gigantic organization of murderers. In connection with an organized and armed militia, it would result in the apprehension of any number of these thugs en masque and with blood on their hands. What then is the remedy?

  First: Let Congress give to the U.S. Courts, or to Courts of the States under its own laws, cognizance of this class of crimes, as crimes against the Nation, and let it provide that this legislation be enforced. Why not, for instance, make going armed and masked or disguised, or masked or disguised in the night time, an act of insurrection or sedition? Second: Organize militia, National—State militia is a nuisance—and arm as many as may be necessary in each county to enforce its laws. Third: Put detectives at work to get hold of this whole organization. Its ultimate aim is unquestionably to revolutionize the Government. If we have not pluck enough for this, why then let us just offer our throats to the knife, emasculate ourselves, and be a nation of self-subjugated slaves at once.

  And now, Abbott, I have but one thing to say to you. I have very little doubt that I shall be one of the next victims. My steps have been dogged for months, and only a good opportunity has been wanting to secure to me the fate which Stephens has just met, and I speak earnestly upon this matter. I feel that I have a right to do so, and a right to be heard as well, and with this conviction I say to you plainly that any member of Congress who, especially if from the South, does not support, advocate, and urge immediate, active, and thorough measures to put an end to these outrages, and make citizenship a privilege, is a coward, a traitor, or a fool. The time for action has come, and the man who has now only speeches to make over some Constitutional scarecrow, deserves to be damned.

  Yours respectfully,

  A. W. Tourgee

  “INHUMAN AND BRUTAL OUTRAGES”:

  SOUTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER 1870

  Robert K. Scott to Ulysses S. Grant

  We have just passed through an Election which for rancour and virulence on the part of the opposition has never been excelled in any civilized community—The Republican Administration has been charged with every crime in the catalogue, and although these charges have been deliberately made and circulated throughout the entire State by nearly if not all of the outspoken champions of the Reform Party, yet no attempt has been made to substantiate a single one of them or to furnish a single particle of proof—The people of the State have had these charges before them, and by an overwhelming majority even in counties where the white population are largely in the ascendency, have decided that there was no foundation whatever for them: and by their votes have shown that the whole tissue of falsehoods was only devised for political capital—Unusual quietness characterised the day of Election throughout the State, and but little disturbance was experienced in any quarter which may be attributable to the presence of detachments of United States troops at the localities where they were most apprehended—In the upper or more northern counties where the white population predominated, fears were entertained that intruders from North Carolina and Georgia would interfere and cause trouble; but it appears from subsequent events that the programme was changed to an attack upon the ballot boxes and, by destroying them, to vitiate the Election. Reliable information has reached this Department that an organized force has appeared at Laurens Court House, assailed the State Constabulary driving them from their position, and killing and wounding several of them, together with a number of private citizens. These desperados seized upon the arms on deposit belonging to the State and drove many of the peaceful inhabitants from their homes creating a general reign of terror and lawlessness. Colored men and women have been dragged from their homes at the dead hour of night and most cruelly and brutally scourged for the sole reason that they dared to exercise their own opinions upon political subjects—For four years the National Government conducted a war for the perpetuity of the Union and the establishment and preservation of the Liberty of the people and those who were its opponents throughout that desperate struggle are the same class of men who now resist its policy and defy the constituted authorities, in their efforts to conform the State Government to the new order of things. In the struggle for National existence the United States Government made citizens of four millions of human beings, who had previously been kept in ignorance and poverty, and thus assumed the responsibility of their education and protection; & and if the state is powerless to secure these people their natural rights the duty clearly devolves upon the National Government to throw around them its arms of protection and the shield of its authority. The Republican party at the recent Election carried nearly every county in the State; even those where the white population were largely in the majority. The respectable portion of the community desire peace and tranquility, and are willing to abide the results of the late war; but this portion of the community is powerless to prevent the inhuman and brutal outrages that are continually being perpetrated in the name and by the authority of those calling themselves democrats. I have within a few moments witnessed in my own office a spectacle that has chilled my blood with horror. Four peaceable and unoffending citizens of Spartanburg county were at the dead hour of night dragged from their homes and lashed on their bare backs until the flayed flesh hung dripping in shreds, and seams were gaping in their mangled bodies large enough to lay my finger in. After this torture they were subjected to nameless indignities too gross and disgusting to be even remotely alluded to, when these fiends in human shape, exhausted by their own atrocities desisted from further torture. A humane gentleman brought these victims of political hate, to this city and quite a number of persons examined their wounds in my office. United States Senator Robertson and Col Patterson vice President of the Greenville & Columbia R. R. were present and will fully corroborate my statement. From the information of these gentlemen your Excellency will also learn the condition of things in this State and the necessities of the occasion, and will perceive the absolute necessity of military assistance on the part of the General Government. Our state militia are but imperfectly drilled, and are necessarily employed in their daily avocations as laborers, and it would be impracticable to continue them continuously in service, so as to be constantly prepared to arrest and punish the attempts at violence and crime while their opponents are largely composed of those who were engaged in the Confederate Armies, accustomed to the use of fire-arms, thoroughly drilled and armed with the most improved weapons, and would consequently possess many advantages over their antagonists.
Humanity therefore as well as every sound principle of policy would dictate that regular troops should be employed in this service.

  October 22, 1870

  “THEIR EVIL EXAMPLE”:

  NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 1871

  Horace Greeley and Robert Brown Elliott:

  Exchange on Amnesty

  AMNESTY—PERSONAL SECURITY.

  THE VOTES already taken indicate a decided majority in the House for a sweeping measure of Amnesty, while the deliberations in caucus indicate an equally decisive preponderance of those who insist on the efficient protection of life and liberty at the South. These majorities are very differently constituted, but they are both essentially right. It is expedient that the disabilities imposed for complicity in the Rebellion of six to ten years ago should be removed; it is essential that the rebels of 1871 shall be suppressed and their outrages punished. There is no conflict between these two propositions. Men who are now deporting themselves as good citizens should not be denied the common rights of citizens because they were wrong long ago; while men who do wrong now should be made to desist at whatever cost. A wise and strong government may well overlook bygone errors, while it is imperatively bound to give present protection and security to its loyal and peaceful supporters.

  Mr. Elliott, one of South Carolina’s new representatives, asserted on Tuesday that the Ku-Klux disturbers of the South are “the very class of men whom it is proposed to relieve of their political disabilities.” In the absence of proof, probabilities are entitled to weight; and Mr. E.’s naked assertion does not suffice to prove that the midnight riders and raiders in masks and multiform disguises by whom the South is now disturbed are the ex-colonels, ex-legislators and ex-magistrates of the old slave-holding regime who are alone excluded from office by existing disabilities. If Mr. E. had asserted that pears and water­melons are generally stolen by clergymen and deacons fifty to eighty years old, his mistake would not be more obvious than it now is.