The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.

Confederate States in 1865 Part 1: Alabama through Florida

SOUTHERN STATES - CONFEDERATE – 1864

PREFACE. The present volume of the Annual Cyclopedia for the year 1865 embraces the final military operations of the war in the United States, the disbandment of the armies, the reduction of the fleets, and the peaceful occupation of the Southern States. The change in the administration of the Federal Government by the shocking death of President Lincoln, and the accession of vice-President Johnson, are described in its pages, together with the various measures to reestablish the State governments and to restore the authority of the Federal Government in all parts of the Union. The debates in Congress during the year on the relations of the Southern States to the Union, the recognition of the Louisiana government, the admission of a Senator from Virginia, etc., present the preliminary views of that body on one of the most important questions of the time. The views of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, as expressed in their public addresses, have been included, as also their messages to Congress, the report of the Lieutenant-General, and the public documents of the Government. The achievement of emancipation by the almost universal assent of the country; measures taken by the Federal Government relative to the freedmen; those adopted by the Conventions and Legislatures of the Southern States to raise them to a position of civil rights; and the successful adaptation of the former master and servant to the new mode of life—forming one of the most interesting chapters of human history—are presented in this volume. No less interesting was the sudden change in the aspect of the country on the disappearance of military lines; the unobstructed passage back and forth to the North and South; the reunion of belligerents as "one people, one country, one destiny." This has not been overlooked in these pages. The details of the internal affairs of the country embrace the disappearance of the armies among the citizens; the resumption of commercial intercourse; the commerce of the country; the finances of the Federal Government and its banking system; the acts of State Legislatures; the results of elections; the progress of educational and charitable institutions under the care of the State governments; the debts and resources of the States; and all those political movements, the results of which are to transfer the public power from one to another portion of its citizens. The relations of the United States to foreign nations, as developed in its Diplomatic Intercourse, are fully presented; and also the civil, military, and commercial history of all the States of Europe and South America, and the more important kingdoms of Asia, with some countries of Africa, is fully brought up. The progress and peculiar features and mode of treatment of those scourges known as the Asiatic Cholera, the Cattle Disease, and the disease of Swine, with the latest investigations, have been carefully described. The advance in Astronomy, Chemistry, and many other branches of science, with the new applications to useful purposes which have been developed, have not been overlooked. Geographical explorations have been earnestly continued in all quarters of the globe, and the discoveries' which have followed have been fully presented. The record of Literature is not less interesting than that of any previous year. The titles of all important works of the various classes to which they belong, are stated in detail. A notice of the principal religious denominations of the country 6tates their branches, membership, views on civil affairs, and the progress of their distinctive opinions. The number of distinguished men who closed their career has been large. A brief tribute is paid to their memory. All important documents, messages, orders, despatches, and letters from official persons, have been inserted entire.

ALABAMA. At the commencement of the year 1865, the determination to prosecute the war with all the resources at command, had not been

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* The meteorological returns for 1864 wore not received In season to be used In this article, but will be given, with those for 1860, in the volume.

Page 10 weakened in the minds of the people of southern Alabama. Their views of the measures demanded at the time, to promote the success of their cause, were expressed in a series of resolutions adopted at a large and enthusiastic meeting assembled in the theatre at Mobile, on February 19th. These resolutions declared an unalterable purpose to sustain the civil and military authorities in their efforts to achieve independence of the United States; that the battle-cry henceforth should be, " Victory or death;" that there was no middle ground between treachery and patriotism; that they still had an abiding confidence in their ability to achieve independence; that the government should immediately place one hundred thousand negroes in the field; that reconstruction was no longer an open question; that an order reinstating General Joseph E. Johnston in command of the Army of the Tennessee would effect more to restore confidence, increase the army, and secure the successful defence of the State, than any other order that could be issued from the war department.

Meanwhile the preparation of the Federal Government for an irresistible attack upon the important places yet remaining unoccupied in the State, were pushed forward. A combined military and naval expedition against Mobile was in progress at New Orleans, to be commanded by Major-General Edward R. S. Canby and Rear-Admiral Henry K. Thatcher; and a cavalry expedition, under Major-General J. H. Wilson, was ready to cooperate by a southern march from Eastport, Tennessee, the headquarters of Major-General Thomas. As early as March 3d, the Governor of the State, T. H. Watts, appealed to the people by proclamation, to come forward voluntarily to the conflict, or the State could not be successfully defended against the impending dangers. The militia of the State, under an act of the Congress at Richmond, had been divided into two classes. The first class was composed of boys between sixteen and seventeen years of age, and men between fifty and sixty years. The second class consisted of those of intervening ages, and had, by the acts of Congress, been reduced to a very few, so that united with the Confederate troops they were insufficient for defence. The first class was estimated at thirty thousand in number, of whom about four thousand were boys; under the operation of the State laws this class could not, without their consent, be ordered beyond the limits of their respective counties. To them the Governor now made an appeal, lie urged as motives for action, the rejection of all peace propositions by the authorities of the United States. He said: "We must either become the slaves of Yankee masters, degrading us to equality with the negroes, subjecting us and our children and our children's children to a slavery worse than Egyptian bondage, or we must, with the help of God and our own strong arms and brave hearts, establish our freedom and independence."

He also urged that a common fortune would befall all alike, if they were overcome, saying: "It matters not now what were your opinions at the time Alabama seceded from the United States. We are all now placed on the same footing. All have, in some form, participated in the war. We have sent to the bloody field of battle our sons, our fathers, or our brothers; we have equipped them for the conflict; we have sustained them by our acts; we have encouraged them by all the powers of language, by our smiles and our tears, to fight for all that freemen prize or freemen hope. We have all taken part in electing to the presidency, to the governorship, to Congress, and to our State Legislatures, those who have sworn to support the Constitution and the cause of the Confederate States. In every form in which mankind can be bound in law and morals, we have all been, and are still, involved in maintaining the Confederate States as 'free, sovereign, and independent.' Our lives, our property, protection to our wives and children, our liberty and honor are staked on the result of the war. Common weal or common woe awaits us all. The fate of the traitor and the tory ever will be, as it ever has been, to deserve and receive the execration of the living and the curses of posterity."

The Federal military movements, portended nothing less than the complete subjugation of the State. On the 20th of March General Canby and Admiral Thatcher were below Mobile with an irresistible force, and on the same day the advance of General Wilson began, and the whole force was on the way from Chickasaw on the 22d. The success of these expeditions has been described elsewhere (see Army Operations), but the desolations of war which followed the footsteps of the cavalry, were thus subsequently related by the Provisional Governor Parsons, to an audience in New York city.

It will be in your recollection, ladies and gentlemen, that during the last of March and in April, the rebellion suddenly collapsed. At that time public attention in the North was doubtless turned mainly to the operations around Richmond, and to those which attended the movements of the vast armies of General Sherman. But it also happened that General Wilson, with a large force of cavalry, some seventeen thousand, I believe, in number, commenced a movement from the Tennessee River and a point in the northwest of the State of Alabama, diagonally across the State. He penetrated to the centre, and then radiated from Selma in every direction, through one of the most productive regions of the South.

That little city of about ten thousand inhabitants its defences were carried by assault on one of the first Sunday evenings in last April, sun about an hour high. Before another sun rose, every house in the city was sacked, except two; every woman was robbed of her watch, her ear-rings, her finger-rings, her jewelry of all descriptions, and the whole city given up for the time to (be possession of the soldiers, t was a severe discipline to this people. It was thought necessary by the commanding General to subdue the spirit of the rebellion.

For one week the forces under General Wilson occupied the little town, and night after night, and day after day, one public building after another— first the arsenal, then the foundry, each of which covered eight or nine acres of ground, and was conducted Page 11 upon a scale commensurate with the demand that the military supplies for the war created—railroad depots, machine shops connected with them— every thing of that description which had been in any degree subservient to the cause of the rebellion, was laid in ashes. Out of some sixty odd brick stores in the city, forty-nine, I think, were consumed. On the line of march, you were scarcely out of sight of some indication of its terrible consequences.

Indeed, after three weeks had elapsed, it was with difficulty you could travel the road from Plantersville to' that city, so offensive was the atmosphere in consequence of decaying horses and mules that lay along the roadside. Every description of ruin, except the interred dead of the human family, met the eye. I witnessed it myself. The fact is, that no description can equal the reality. When the Federal forces left the little town—which is built on a bluff on the Alabama River—they crossed at night on a pontoon bridge, and their way was lighted by burning warehouses standing on the shore.

The expedition of General Wilson which terminated in the interior of Georgia, was in many respects a most remarkable one. Consisting entirely of cavalry, it captured during its progress no loss than six strongly fortified towns. The surrender of the armies of Lee and Johnston was followed by that of General Taylor, by which all opposition to the Federal forces ceased, and the State became entirely subject to their military control. The war suddenly ended, the authority of the United States was again recognized, and a restoration to their position of citizens became the object of the people.

On May 29th the proclamation of President Johnston was issued, granting amnesty and pardon to all citizens of the Southern States who^ had been engaged in the rebellion, with certain exceptions. This amnesty and pardon was accompanied with the restoration of all rights of property except as to slaves, and in cases where loyal proceedings for confiscation had been commenced, but on the condition of taking an amnesty oath. (See United States.) This measure restored a. large mass of the people to peaceful citizenship in the United States. None of the political institutions of Alabama were recognized as existing until they had been changed to suit the views of the conquerors. To accomplish this object a person was selected in each Southern State, and authorized by the President to set on foot a series of measures which should result in a reconstructed State Government. On June 21st, the President issued his proclamation appointing Lewis E. Parsons a Provisional Governor for the State of Alabama, and recognizing a portion of the previous institutions of the State. The authority by which this appointment was made and the plan of proceedings were thus stated in the Proclamation:

Whereas, The fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States declares that the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion and domestic violence; and, whereas, the President of the United States is, by the Constitution, made Commander-in-chief of the army and navy, as well as chief civil executive officer of the United States, and is bound by solemn oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed: and, whereas, the rebellion which has been waged by a portion of the people of the United States against the properly constituted authorities of the Government there of in the most violent and revolting form, but whose organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcome, has, in its revolutionary progress, deprived the people of the State of Alabama of all civil government; and, whereas, it becomes necessary and proper to carry out and enforce the obligations of the United States to the people of Alabama in securing them in the enjoyment of a republican form of government:

Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon me by the Constitution of the United States, and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people of said State to organize a State government, whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquillity restored, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States and Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, do hereby appoint Lewis E. Parsons, of Alabama, Provisional Governor of the State of Alabama, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of said State who are loyal to the United States, and no others, for the purpose of altering and amending the Constitution thereof and with authority to exercise within the limits of said State, all the powers necessary and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of Alabama to restore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federal Government, and to present such a republican form of State government as will entitle the State to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and its people to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence. Provided, that in any election that may be held hereafter for choosing delegates to any State Convention, as aforesaid, no person shall be qualified as an elector or shall be eligible as a member of such convention, unless he shall have previously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the President's proclamation of May 29, a. d. 1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the State of Alabama, in force immediately before the 11th of January, a. d. 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance of secession. And the said convention, when convened, or the legislature that may be thereafter assembled, will prescribe the qualification of electors and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the Constitution and laws of the State— a power the people of the several States composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Government to the present time. And I do hereby direct:

First. That the military commander of the department, and all officers and persons in the military and naval service, aid and assist the said Provisional Government in carrying into effect this proclamation; and they are enjoined to abstain from in any way hindering, impeding, or discouraging loyal people from the organization of a State Government as herein authorized.

Second. That the Secretary of State proceed to put in force all laws of the United States, the administration whereof belongs to the State department, applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid.

Third. That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed to nominate for appointment assessors of taxes and collectors of customs and of internal revenue, and such other officers of the Treasury Department as are authorized by law, and put in execution the revenue laws of the United States within the geographical limits aforesaid. In making appointments the preference Page 12 shall be given to qualified loyal persons residing within the districts where their respective duties are to be performed. But if suitable residents of districts shall not be found, then persons residing in other States or districts shall be appointed.

Fourth. That the Postmaster-General proceed to establish post-offices and post-routes, and put into execution the postal laws of the United States within said State, giving to loyal residents the preference of appointment; but, if suitable residents are not found, then to appoint agents, etc., from other States.

Fifth. That the district judge for the judicial district in which Alabama is included, proceed to hold courts within said State, in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress, and the Attorney-General will instruct the proper officers to libel and bring to judgment, confiscation, and sale property subject to confiscation, and enforce the administration of justice within said State in all matters within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the Federal courts.

Sixth. That the Secretary of the Navy take possession of all public property belonging to the Navy Department within said geographical limits, and put in operation all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having application to said State.

Seventh. That the Secretary of the Interior put in force the laws relating to the Interior Department applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

                                                       ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:

          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

The Governor thus appointed immediately entered upon his duties. After an investigation of the condition and views of the people, he issued a proclamation stating the plan of proceedings for the reorganization of the State. He described the condition of the State before the war, its population, wealth, and improvements, and said:

"In the prosecution of the war, for the last four years, into which Alabama was precipitated, about 122,000 of her sons have been carried to the field of battle, 85,000 of whom will never return; and it is probable an equal or larger number are permanently injured by wounds or disease while in the service. A very large proportion of our material wealth has been exhausted. Our fields are laid waste, our towns and cities, our railroads and bridges, pur schools and colleges, many of our private dwellings and public edifices are in ruins. Silence and desolation reign where once stood the comfortable home which resounded with the joyous laugh of childhood and innocence.

"The State has contracted a large war debt during this period, and has on hand as near as can now be ascertained about $ in Confederate Treasury notes, which are utterly worthless, and about $ in good funds.

"Untold sufferings have been, and are still endured by thousands of our women and children, and the aged and helpless of our land.

"There is no longer a slave in Alabama. It is thus made manifest to the world that the right of secession for the purpose of establishing a separate Confederacy, based on the idea of African slavery, has been fully and effectually tried, and is a failure.

"Yet, amid all the ruin, suffering, and death which have resulted from it, every political right which the State possessed under the Federal Constitution is hers to-day, with the single exception relating to slavery."

He then urged the importance of sustaining the measures proposed by President Johnson, and ordained the following regulations for that purpose:

Now, for the purpose of carrying into execution the commands of the President, and to enable the loyal people of Alabama to secure to themselves the benefits of civil government, I do hereby declare and ordain:

1. That the Justices of the Peace and Constables in each county of this State, the members of the Commissioners Court (except the Judges of Probate), the County Treasurer, the Tax Collector and Assessor, the Coroner and the several municipal officers of each incorporated city or town in this State, who were respectively in office and ready to discharge the duties thereof, on the 22d of May, 1865, are hereby appointed to fill those offices during the continuance of this provisional government. And as it is necessary that the persons who fill these several offices should he loyal to the United States, the power is hereby reserved to remove any person for disloyalty or for improper conduct in office, or neglect of its duties; and I earnestly request all loyal citizens to give me prompt information in regard to any officer who is objectionable on any of these grounds.

The Judges of Probate and Sheriffs, who were in office on the 22d of May, 1865, will take the oath as herein required of other officers, and continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices until others are appointed.

2. Each of these persons thus appointed to office must take and subscribe the oath of Amnesty, as prescribed by the President's proclamation, of the 29th day of May, 1865, and immediately transmit the same to this office. At the end of said oath, and after the word "slave," he must add these words, "and I will faithfully discharge the duties of my office to the best of my ability." Each of these officers must also give bond, and security payable to the State of Alabama, as required by the laws of Alabama on the 11th day of January, 1861. If any person acts in the discharge of the duties of any of the aforesaid offices without having complied with the foregoing regulations on his part, he will be punished. This oath of amnesty and of office may be taken before any commissioned officer in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States: and the Judge of Probate in each county in this State, on the 22d of May, 1865, may also administer it, unless another Judge of Probate shall have been appointed by me in the mean time, and approve and file the bond which is hereby required to be given. But no one can hold any of these offices who is exempted by the proclamation of the President from the benefit of amnesty, unless he has been specially pardoned.

3. The appointment of Judge of Probate and Sheriff in each county will be made specially, as soon as suitable persons are properly recommended, and when appointed they will take the oath of amnesty prescribed in the foregoing section, and give bond and security as required by the law of Alabama on the 11th of January, 1861. And vacancies in any of the county offices will be promptly filled when it is made known and a proper person recommended.

4. If the loyal citizens of the State find it necessary to have other officers appointed, viz.: Clerks of the Circuit Courts, Solicitors, Judges of the Circuit Courts, Chancellors and Judges of the Supreme Page 13 Court, when that necessity is satisfactorily established, the appointments will be made.

5. An election for delegates to a convention of the loyal citizens of Alabama, will be held in each county in the State on Monday, the 3lst day of August next, in the manner provided by the laws of Alabama on the 11th day of January, 1861; but no person can vote in said election, or be a candidate for election, who is not a legal voter as the law was on that day; and if he is excepted from the benefit of amnesty, under the President's Proclamation of the 29th of May, 1865, he must have obtained a pardon.

6. Every person must vote in the county of his residence, and before he is allowed to do so, must take and subscribe the oath of amnesty prescribed in the President's Proclamation of the 29th of May, 1865, before some one of the officers hereinafter appointed for that purpose in the county where he offers to vote; and any person offering to vote in violation of these rules or the laws of Alabama on the 11th of January, 1861, will be punished.

7. There will be elected in each county of the State, on said day, as many delegates to said Convention as said county was entitled to representatives in the House of Representatives on the 11th day of January, 1861; and the delegates so elected will receive a certificate of election from the sheriff of the county, and will assemble in Convention at the Capitol in Montgomery, on the 10th day of September, 1865, at 12 M.

8. From and after this day, the civil and criminal laws of Alabama, as they stood on the 11th day of January, 1861, except that portion which relates to slaves, are hereby declared to be in full force and operation; and all proceedings for the punishment of offences against them, will be turned over to the proper civil officers, together with the custody of the person charged, and the civil authorities will proceed in all cases according to law. Suits in civil cases now pending, whether an original measure, or final process, before any officer acting under military authority, will also be turned over to the proper civil officer, and will be governed in all things by the laws of the State aforesaid.

9. All unlawful means to punish offenders are hereby strictly prohibited. No "vigilance committee" or other organization, for the punishment of supposed offenders, not authorized by the laws of the State, will be permitted, and if any such are attempted, the person or persons so offending, will be promptly arrested and punished. The lovers of law and order throughout the State are appealed to and solemnly urged to aid, by all lawful means, in sustaining the cause of law and order. If the people of the State will do this willingly and promptly, we shall be able to restore peace and security to every home in our beloved State; but if offenders become too strong, the military power of the United States will aid us. Henceforth that power will act in aid of, and in subordination to the civil authority of the State.

10. The oath which is required to be taken by those who desire to vote for Delegates to the Convention, may be administered by the Judge of Probate of the county where the voter lives, or by any Justice of the Peace in said county and by officers specially thereunto appointed. Blanks will be furnished these officers by the Judge of Probate, to whom they will be sent on application, where they cannot be printed. One copy of said oath will be given to the voter and another will be kept by the officer before whom it is taken, which must be filed with the Judge of Probate and endorsed by the Judge of Probate, with affiant's name, and numbered from one up, and preserved by him as a part of the records of his office. The Judge of Probate must make out a certified list of names numbered to correspond with the affidavit, and transmit it to this office by some one of the Delegates to the Convention. It is important the lists should all be here on the 10th day of September next, when the Convention meets. The several officers will also transmit their accounts for these services at the same time, and if the list of voters, made in a proper manner, accompanies them, the accounts will be promptly laid before the Convention for adjustment.

11. There are no slaves now in Alabama. The slave code is a dead letter. They who were once slaves are now free, and must be governed by the laws of Alabama as free men. It is the dictate of wisdom, and we owe it to ourselves and them, to pro. duce the best possible results for both races, from the new order of things.

12. All good citizens are respectfully and earnestly urged to set the example or engaging cheerfully, hopefully, and energetically, in the prosecution of industrial pursuits. In so doing, they will exert a good influence upon those who arc despondent and cast down by the calamities which have befallen us.

13. The idle, the evil-disposed, and the vicious, if any such there be within the limits of our State, must distinctly understand that all violations of law will be promptly punished. The Sheriffs of the several counties are nearby required to keep in readiness a sufficient force of deputies or assistants to enable them to execute all legal process and arrest all offenders promptly, and they will be held strictly accountable for any neglect of duty in this respect. Rights of person and property must be respected—law and order must be preserved. If seriously impeded in the execution of these orders, Sheriffs will immediately report to me, that prompt and effectual measures may be taken to repress violence and assert the supremacy of the laws.

    Done at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 20th day of July, A. D., 1865.

                                 LEWIS E. PARSONS,

Provisional Governor of Alabama.

This proclamation renewed the powers of the persons holding the township offices in the State; called a State Constitutional Convention to assemble on September 10th, and reordained the civil and criminal laws, except those relating to slaves as they existed previous to the adoption of the Secession Ordinance of 1861, and prescribed other incidental regulations.

These measures were well received by the people of the State, and a disposition was promptly and generally manifested to cooperate with the Provisional Governor. Candidates for members of the Convention wore soon nominated, and in a quiet and orderly manner elected on the appointed day. The vote given was large, but many who were qualified electors did not act.

The Convention duly assembled at Montgomery on September 10, and after the roll was called Provisional Governor Parsons administered the oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the union thereof, and to support all proclamations relative to the emancipation of slaves. He then declared the Convention authorized to make a permanent organization. This was done by the election of ex-Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick unanimously as chairman, and W. H. Ogbourne as secretary. A resolution was then adopted that a committee of one member from each judicial district should be appointed by the President to report such amendments to the Constitution as might restore the State to her proper relations with the Federal Government; and also a similar committee to report relative to the act of secession, and further relative to the manner Page 14 in which certain acts adopted during the war might he ratified without infringing upon the Constitution of the United States. Other committees were appointed relative to the State debt, &c.

On the 19th the Convention passed an ordinance providing for an election on the first Monday of November, of a Governor, members of the Legislature, and all county officers except Judges of Probate, and for an election of municipal officers in the cities of Mobile and Montgomery on subsequent days. It also authorized and requested the Provisional Governor to issue writs of election for members of Congress, and further provided that the General Assembly so elected should meet at the capital on the third Monday of November. An interesting debate arose on this ordinance relative to the power of the Convention to fix the time of electing members of Congress. The Constitution of the United States requires the Senators to be elected by the Legislature of a State. The day of election for members of the House is also to be fixed by the Legislature and not by a Convention. Three opinions prevailed in the Convention; one, that the Convention was a legislative body within the meaning of the Constitution, and authorized to act as a Legislature in this instance; another, that only the Legislature, i. the General Assembly, could appoint the time, and a third opinion that the office of Representative being vacant, the Governor, under the code of Alabama, should order a special election.

The question was one of importance, and was strongly debated, because it was apparent that there was hardly sufficient time to obtain a Legislature to fix the time and get the representatives elected and in Washington on the day of the meeting in Congress, the first Monday in December.

It was finally disposed of by authorizing and requesting the Governor to issue writs as above stated.

In relation to the institution of slavery, a majority of the committee to whom the subject was referred, reported the following ordinance:

Be it ordained by the people of the Stale of Alabama, in Convention assembled. That as the institution of slavery has been destroyed in the State of Alabama, hereafter there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall be duly convicted.

And be it further ordained. That the Constitution be amended by striking out all provisions in relation to slaves and slavery.

And be it further ordained. That it shall be the duty of the Legislature, at its next session, to pass such laws as will protect the freedmen of this State in the full enjoyment of all their rights of person and property, and guard them and the State against any evils that may arise from their sudden emancipation.

To this ordinance a substitute was reported by the minority of the committee, consisting of an ordinance in favor of supporting the President's proclamation and the laws of Congress abolishing slavery until they were declared void by the Supreme Court of the United States The debate which ensued is thus summarily reported:

Mr. Coleman, of Choctaw County, contended that on our action depended the right of the property of the people. The proclamation of the President and the act of Congress had destroyed slavery, but to make it complete required our ratification, and, before doing so, the validity and constitutionality of the proclamation and 'act of Congress should be tested before the Supreme Court of the United States. He recognized the right of the United States to pass laws for the punishment of crime, but as a State could not commit treason—the commission of that 'offence being confined to individuals, who were alone responsible—and they could not be deprived of their property except on trial and conviction, those who had not been guilty of treason, could not be deprived of their property, although in slaves. Congress had no right to seize the property of an offender, after death, when it should revert to his heirs. He believed that the acts of some men in their haste to get back into the Union, would cause us to lose the respect of the conservative men of the North. To admit the right of the Federal head by proclamation to nullify the Constitution of a State, was to concede the loss of a republic and the sovereignty of the States. The present course proposed by the majority report was one of expediency, and he was not prepared to sacrifice rights, honor, and property to it, although there was a great anxiety to get members elected to Congress. He denied that the President's Proclamation demanded of the State the abolition of slavery as a test of loyalty, although the bayonet had done its work; that a State could not forfeit its rights, but citizens might. This was the loyal State of Alabama, and must be so regarded, yet were it not through force no member would vote to abolish slavery. We had no guarantee that the sacrifice would be accepted or that our members of Congress would be admitted; nothing would satisfy the Radicals of the North. He contended that on this great principle of State rights the North was as deeply interested as the South, and that the precedent of yielding as proposed by the majority report was too dangerous. We should accept the freeing of the slaves by the act of the Federal Executive and the bayonet, and it was not the free and voluntary act of the people of Alabama. He believed that when the country returned to its reason, those who had lost their property and who had not participated in the rebellion, would be compensated, but the ordinance proposed put an estoppel on all reclamations. Judge Foster, of Calhoun County, replied as follows: The war had settled two questions forever, one that of secession, the other of slavery. They had been settled by a power whose decision was binding and final and from which there was no appeal—the power of the sword. Disputes between individuals could be settled by events, but they have no power to adjust differences between States and nations. They must be adjusted by compromise and negotiation or submitted to the arbitrament of the sword. The decisions of the Supreme Court were not respected or obeyed even by political parties. In McEndrick's case the court decided the United States Bank to be constitutional, yet the United States Bank was destroyed mainly on the ground of its unconstitutionality. The decision had no power to preserve the Constitution. So in the Dred Scott case, the decision gave the South all they claimed on the slavery question. It had no practical effect, only to exasperate the Republican party. The State of Georgia at an earlier period, set at defiance the mandate oi the Supreme Court.

The substitute offered by Mr. White proposed to await the action of the Supreme Court. It was immaterial what that action was, so far as it secured us

Page 15 any practical benefit. If we went no further than this substitute proposed, the convention have assembled prematurely, and we ought to adjourn.

The first ordinance reported by the committee asserted a fact, apparent to every one, that the institution of slavery had been destroyed, not deciding when or how, whether constitutionally or unconstitutionally. Gentlemen could select their own ground. First, the act of Congress and the President's Proclamation; second, by the military power of the Government of the United States—the occupation of our country by armed soldiers—the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the practical severing of the tie between master and slave. The ordinance also asserted the proposition that we would not revive slavery. This was an impossibility. The Government of the United States in every department was unalterably determined that slavery should no longer exist. The edict had gone forth, and we were powerless to resist it. We were a subjugated people, and our conquerors could dictate their own terms. We could not resist the power of the Government. The overpowering force of public opinion at the North, backed by a million of bayonets, and the universal sentiments of the civilized world, were against us. We had tried this in the way of our strength and failed.

We could not reduce the negroes to slavery if the United States would withdraw their forces and stand aloof. We were exhausted, and the attempt would lead to a reenactment of the bloody scenes of St. Domingo. The Assembly of France abolished slavery in that island—no insurrection followed. Afterwards the Assembly repealed the law, the planters attempted to subject the negro again to slavery, and then the insurrection broke out in all its force. Such would be the case now, and after scenes of horror, and carnage, and blood, one race or the other would be exterminated and Alabama a desert.

The country needed repose. The people had made up their minds that slavery was gone, and were accommodating themselves to the new order of things. It was wrong to awaken delusive hopes that could never be satisfied. Our wisest course was in good faith to accept the situation and restore our relations with the Federal Union—reorganize our State Government, that law and order might again prevail in the land. By industry and energy our national prosperity may be restored, our fields ripen again with the richest harvest, commerce and manufactures revive: our cities rebuilt and schools crowded with scholars; peace, and order, and happiness over our land, and Alabama again become a great State in this great nation.

The substitute was rejected by a vote of yeas 66; nays 17. The ordinance reported by the majority of the committee was then adopted, yeas 89; nays 8.

On September 22d the Convention adopted the following ordinance relative to the acts of the State Legislature during the war:

An ORDINANCE ratifying certain laws of the State passed since the 11th day of January, 1861.

Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in Contention assembled, That all the laws enacted by any Legislature since the 11th of January, 1861, that have not since been repealed, and which are not in conflict with the Constitution of the United States and laws made in pursuance thereof, or of the Constitution of this State, be and the same are hereby ratified, and declared to be valid from their respective dates; and shall remain in full force and effect until repealed according to law: except, however, all such laws as authorized the issue of Bonds, Treasury Notes, and Change Bills by the State; and all laws which authorized the payment of all debts to the State, for moneys loaned to individuals or corporations in Confederate money or bonds, and the payment of dues and taxes to the State in Confederate Bonds and State Treasury Notes, and all laws in relation to taxation.

Be it further ordained. That in computing the time necessary to create the bar of the statutes of limitations and non-claims, the time elapsing between the 11th day of January, 1861, and the passage of this ordinance, shall not be estimated.

This ordinance excepts from ratification all laws authorizing the creation of any debt by bonds or treasury note, or change bills, or authorizing payment to be made to the State of taxes and other dues in Confederate or State Treasury notes or change bills passed since January 11th, 1861.

During its consideration a motion was made to except from such ratification all laws authorizing executors, guardians, and trustees to make sale of property, and receive Confederate notes or other currency issued during the war for the same, and all laws authorizing persons acting in such fiduciary capacity to invest funds in Confederate or State securities. The ground taken was that the estate of the orphan had been lost by such investments, and that the guardian or executor should not have invested the estate in such uncertain and doubtful security, and one dependent not only upon success in the war, but upon the popular will to pay so large a debt, even if successful, and because it enabled the guardian or other trustee to retain the funds for speculative purposes while money was good, and at last to invest in these securities when they had become of little value. The answer was that the guardian, executor, or trustee, was invited or encouraged to make such investment by the State law, under which he he held his appointment; that the whole property of the country and every thing it contained was dependent upon the successful maintenance of the struggle; that there was often a necessity to sell such property in order to support those who were dependent upon it for means to live upon, having often no other resource; that, besides, to disturb the laws on that subject would be to ruin many persons who had acted fairly and in good faith, and that in many cases innocent persons who were security for such trustees, executors, or guardians would be impoverished by it, and in order to protect one set of persons another class must be injured. The latter argument prevailed, and those laws were not excepted from the general ratification.

A still more earnest discussion arose upon an amendment to except from the ratification laws authorizing payment to be made to the State in the currency existing during the war, of loans made by the State to corporations and individuals prior to the war. The object of this was to invalidate a payment of $225,000 due to the State from the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad Company, for money loaned to them out of funds in the possession of the State for purposes of internal improvement, and of which the State was trustee for such purposes. This loan was made in specie funds before the war, and the debt is not yet due, but in 1864 the Company Page 16 by some arrangement between it and the then Governor paid the debt in Confederate notes.

As the State was only a trustee as to this fund and hound to act in good faith, and as the debt was paid in currency nearly worthless at the time and before the debt was, in fact, due, it was considered inequitable and unjust to ratify it, and the amendment was adopted.

There was also a discussion on the general policy as affecting the whole ordinance. It was shown to be necessary in order to prevent a flood of litigation, uncertainty as to rights and property, and consequent derangement and trouble in every department of business.

On the same day the Provisional Governor, in answer to a request of the Convention, sent in a message, calling their attention to the importance of making some provision for the payment of the interest due on the State debt; also for the support of the destitute poor, etc. He stated, that when the war closed the State was furnishing meal and salt to 38,772, the individual members of which numbered in the aggregate 139,042. Forty thousand rations had been given by the Federal Government for the inhabitants of Cherokee County alone.

The condition of the State finances on September 1st, he thus reported:

Balance In the Treasury 30th September. 1864. $8,718,959 71

Receipts from 2llth September, 1864, to 24th May, 1865 (including $064, 7669S transferred from Military Department) 8,778,188 57 7,490,149 29

Disbursements to 24th May, 1865 $698,858 78

Balance In the Treasury, 24th May, 1865. 791,294 60

This balance Is in the following described funds, to wit: Cheek on Bank of Mobile, payable in Confederate Treasury Notes 11,440 00

Certificate of Deposit, same Bank, payable in Confederate Notes 1,880 00

Confederate and State Treasury Notes in Treasury 517.889 50

State Treasury Note Change Bills 250,004, 05

Notes of State Bank and Branches 858 00

Bank Notes 424 00

Silver 837 45

Gold on hand $497 84

On deposit in Northern Bank .89 06 532 89 8791,345 89

Excess in Confederate Treasury Notes 20 S9 $791,294 00

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.

Receipts from 20th of July to date $1,766 00

Disbursements to date $1,612 86

Balance in Treasury of Prov. Government... 263 14

The committee to whom was referred the ordinance of secession, to consider what action was necessary for its abrogation, made a majority and minority report, as follows:

An ORDINANCE to be entitled an ordinance declaring the Ordinance of Secession null and void.

Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in Convention assembled, That an ordinance adopted by a former Convention of the State of Alabama, of the 11th day of January, a. d. 1861, entitled "An ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of Alabama and other States united under the compact styled the Constitution of the United States of America," be and the same is hereby declared null and void.

The minority made the following report:

The minority of the second special committee to whom were referred sundry ordinances and resolutions declaring the so-called ordinance of secession null and void, not being able to agree with the majority, respectfully report the following ordinance, viz.:

Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in Convention assembled, That the so-called ordinance passed by a former Convention of the people of Alabama on twelfth day of January, 1861, entitled "An ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of Alabama and other States united under the compact styled the Constitution of the United States of America,'' was unauthorized, and is hereby declared to have been and is null and void; and ask that the same may be adopted in lieu of the ordinance reported by the majority.

The report of the majority was, that the ordinance of secession should be declared "null and void." That of the minority was, that the ordinance of secession was "unauthorized, and is hereby declared to have been and is null and void."

The 25th was devoted to the consideration of the reports.

Mr. Clarke, of Lawrence County, urged that the Convention of 1861 represented only a minority of the people as shown by the popular vote in the election of delegates; that a majority of several thousand voted for the Union and for cooperation; that the Convention refused to submit the question to the people, by whom it would have been voted down; and, therefore, that the people were misrepresented, and that the ordinance of secession was not authorized by them.

He further contended that the report of the majority of the committee left the question of the right of secession without final disposition. That report admitted only that the ordinance of secession was now void, but not that it was unconstitutional and void from the beginning; that if the majority so intended by their report, then they should so state it, fully and fairly, us it is stated in the minority report.

In favor of the majority report, the general scope of the argument was, that there was no real difference between the two reports other than in the use of the term "unauthorized " by the minority of the committee. The majority declare the ordinance of secession null and void; this satisfied the most ultra union men in Mississippi and was understood to be satisfactory ut "Washington; it can mean nothing less than that the ordinance was and is void from the beginning. The words null and void mean of no effect, empty, having no force or validity. If a deed is pronounced null and void, it is the same as to declare that it never had any legal validity, and no rights accrued, or duties were imposed by or under it.

In reference to the authority of the Convention, it was shown that as early as the session of the Legislature of 1859-'60 joint resolutions were adopted requiring the Governor, in the Page 17 event of the success of the Republican party in the fall of 1860, to appoint a day for election of delegates to a Convention, which body it was provided, should "consider, determine, and do what the interest, honor, and dignity of the State should require." It was shown that the Convention met under the most regular sanction of law, and were unrestricted in the power conferred: the people voted with the understanding that the Convention might and probably would determine on secession at once as the proper remedy; and the authority conferred under the question submitted to the people in its resolution by the Legislature was ample to do what a Convention as a body should determine to be wise and expedient.

The term "unauthorized" was further objected to as implying, first, that the wrongs of the South were not such as to warrant the action of the Convention, whereas that question was submitted distinctly to that Convention; and secondly, that it seemed to deny the right of the people to secede as a revolutionary right —a right inalienable, and that belongs to all people, everywhere, and often the only remedy of those who deem themselves oppressed, a right vindicated by our ancestors in the revolution of 1776. It was said the term might imply an assent to the doctrine of passive obedience, which held no place in this country, and had no sympathy in the Convention. That word was further objected to as implying a usurpation of power by the Convention of 1861, and those who supported the action of that body. It was said, "we thereby impliedly should leave the memory of our dead, who died for their country, or as they deemed for their country, to be branded as traitors and rebels, and turn over the living survivors, so far as we are concerned, to the gibbet."

The minority report was rejected by a vote of 69 to 21. After this a variety of amendments were offered, and much spirited discussion ensued upon the majority report. The amendments were, one after another, voted down, and the majority report finally adopted unanimously.

The following ordinance was also adopted on the same day:

An ORDINANCE, to be entitled, "An Ordinance declaring null and void certain ordinances and proceedings of a Convention of the State of Alabama, adopted in January and March, a. d. 1861."

Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in, Convention assembled, That all ordinances resolutions, und other proceedings of a Convention of the people of the State of Alabama, begun and held on the 7th of January, 1861, and on the 4th of March, 1861, together with so much of the Constitution adopted by said Convention for the State of Alabama as conflicts with the Constitution of the United States, are hereby null and void.

An ordinance was also passed authorizing the Provisional Governor to act until a successor had been duly elected by the people and installed.

The following ordinance relative to the State debt contracted during the war was adopted yeas, 60; days, 19:

An ORDINANCE declaring the War Debt void, and for other purposes.

Be it ordained, &c., That all debts created by the State of Alabama in aid of the late war, directly or indirectly, are hereby declared void, and the General Assembly of the State shall have no authority, and are hereby forbidden to ratify the same, or to assume, or to provide for the payment of the same or any part thereof.

And be it further ordained. That the General Assembly of the State shall have no authority, and they are hereby forbidden to assume, or make any provision, for the payment of any portion of the debt contracted or incurred, directly or indirectly, by the Confederate States or by its agents, or by its authority.

Ordinances were passed declaring void the laws of the State forbidding free colored mariners to leave their ship on arriving within the State; requiring judicial officers to act as agents of the Freedmen's Bureau as to negro cases; legalizing former marriages of freedmen where they live together, making the children legitimate, and requiring the father to support the family; requiring a license to marry; authorizing county commissioners to make provision for indigent, infirm, and helpless freedmen; also an ordinance confirming decrees in courts of record during the war, and judicial sales; and confirming private contracts, but allowing parole proof as to the real value of the consideration; authorizing executors and administrators to compromise for property sold upon the real value, etc. The entire Constitution of the State was revised and amended by the Convention, and many important ordinances of a local nature adopted. The Governor was also requested to reorganize and call out one or more companies of militia to repress disorder and preserve the public peace.

On September 30th the Convention adjourned. The submission of their proceedings to a vote of the people was refused in consequence of the delay such an election would cause. The number of persons who had taken the registration oath previous to September 22d, was 65,825.

The election for Governor, Members of Congress, and the State Legislature, took place immediately. For Governor, Robert M. Patton was elected. The vote was as follows: Patton, 21,422; M. J. Bulger, 15,234; W. R. Smith, 8,194. Total, 44,850. The total vote of the State at the Presidential election in 1860 was 89,572.

The Legislature assembled on November 20th, and was organized by the choice of Walter H. Crenshaw President of the Senate, and T. B. Cooper Speaker of the House. A message from the Provisional Governor was delivered on the 23d. lie called the attention of the members to the Constitutional amendment proposed by the Congress of the United States, and to their duty respecting the freedmen, as prescribed in the State Constitution adopted by the Convention, in these words: "To pass such laws as will protect the freedmen of this Page 18 State in the full enjoyment of all their rights of person and property, and to guard them and the State against any evil that may arise from their sudden emancipation."

Respecting the proceedings of the Convention he said: Recognizing; the fact that slavery and the right of secession had been destroyed by the result of the war, without consuming precious time in useless regrets, or worse than useless criminations, they declared the one forever prohibited, except as a punishment for crime, and quietly yielded the other, notwithstanding one-half of the entire property of the State was invested in the former, and many of them had been educated in the belief that "State Rights" included the latter.

Let us indulge the hope that the wisdom of their action may be more and more apparent as each successive year rolls round, and that our children's children for many generations to come will sit in this pleasant land of ours beneath their own roof trees, around their own firesides, in the midst of unnumbered blessings, and call them blessed who had the wisdom and firmness under such trying circumstances, while surrounded bv the ruin which attends, and the exhaustion which follows four years of fierce and relentless war, to lay anew the foundations of government, and upon the broadest principles of liberty to all consistent with public good.

He stated that the corn and small grain crops throughout the State were not more than one fifth of the usual amount, and that by his estimates there were 250,000 inhabitants in the State who must be furnished with food until they could raise it for themselves. The causes of the small crop were a want of the necessary labor and a severe drouth which prevailed over most of the productive lands.

The entire debt of the State is as follows, except the interest on the University and Common School funds. This the State has assumed in perpetuity, and the annual interest is $134,307.80:

Outstanding State Bonds Issued for the capital of the State Bank and branches, viz.:

Due In New York In 1868 $1,889,000 00

Five per cent, interest payable May 1st and November 1st, due In New York In 1866 52,000 00

Five per cent interest payable May 1st and November 1st, due In New York in 1872.... 168,000 00

Five per cent, interest payable May 1st and November 1st, due in London In 1866 648,000 00

Five per cent. Interest payable January 1st and July 1st, due in London In 1871 658,000 00

Six per cent, interest payable June 1st

Total $8,445,000 00

The annual interest on the bonds payable In New York Is $105,450 00 The annual interest on the bonds payable in London is 80,870 18

The Interest on the bonds due in New York was paid up to and including the dividend due November 1st, 1861; and there has since accrued instalments of interest, In all amounting to. 121,800 00 Of which there has been paid at Bank of Mobile, 58,400 00

Leaving due and unpaid $868,400 00

The bonds due in New York in 1863 were authorized to be extended by an act passed at the called session of 1861. The new bonds were issued, and some of them given in exchange for those in 1863.

The interest on the bonds due in London was paid up to and including the dividend due January 1, 1865, and there has since accrued as follows: On June 1,1865 $45,023 24

On July 1,1866 17,670 06

Due and unpaid in London .' $26,609 17

And there will be due on January 1, 1866 17,670 06

RECAPITULATION.

Due and unpaid on bonds in New York $369,400 on

Due and unpaid on bonds in London 62,600 17 $431,090 17

 Due in London on January 1,1866 17,670 06

Total amount $448,770 18

Measures to preserve and increase the efficiency of the school system were recommended. The institutions for deaf mutes and the insane have continued in successful operation. The battle flags of the volunteer regiments were deposited in the capitol, and when Montgomery was occupied by Federal troops they were undisturbed. The Governor recommended their preservation, saying:

"We should preserve these sacred souvenirs of the courage and endurance of those who went forth to battle under their folds, and who manfully upheld them with their life-blood. They were our sons and brothers. Alas 1 that so many of them shall never return to us again. Shall we ever forget them? We cannot. We must be more or less than men if we could.

"The brave and generous people with whom they fought do not expect it. They do not wish us to return to the Union emasculated, divested of all manhood and natural feeling. They are proud to know that the survivors of the bloody fields on which they fought are willing, as true knights and brave men, to accept the result of the battle, and to rally once more round the Flag of our Fathers. They feel it will not be less secure in the future because our hands and hearts are united with theirs in its support."

Among the officers chosen by the Legislature at this session, were three judges of the Supreme Court, A. J. Walker, Wm. M. Byrd, and Thomas J. Judge; John W. A. Sanford, Attorney General; S. K. McSpadden, Chancellor Northern Division; N. W. Cocke, Southern Division; J. Q. Loomis, Middle Division. The Provisional Governor, Lewis E. Parsons, and George S. Houston were elected Senators to the Federal Congress.

The amendment to the Federal Constitution prohibiting the existence of slavery was adopted in the House by a large vote. The principal resolution was as follows:

Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama in General Assembly convened, That the foregoing amendment to the Constitution of the United States be, and the same is hereby ratified, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

To this joint resolution, Mr. Williams, of Jackson County, offered the following amendment:

Resolved further, That any attempt by Congress to legislate upon the political status of the former slaves or their civil relations, would be contrary to the Constitution Page 19 of the United States, as it now is or as it would be by the proposed amendment, and the exercise of such power is protested against by the State of Alabama.

Mr. Bethea introduced the following as a substitute for the amendment offered by Mr. "Williams, which was accepted:

Be it further Resolved, That this amendment to the Constitution of the United States is adopted by the Legislature of Alabama, with the understanding that it does not confer upon Congress the power to legislate upon the political status of freedmen in this State.

The propriety of adopting this amendment was discussed by several members, and the question being taken, by yeas and nays, it was adopted—yeas, 75; nays, 15.

An act was passed to provide for the more effectual distribution of food to the destitute families in the State, and also the following act to protect freedmen in their rights of person and property:

Be it enacted, &e., That all freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes, shall have the right to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in all the different and various courts of this State, to the same extent that white persons now have by law; and they shall be competent to testify only in open court, and only in cases in which freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes are parties, either plaintiff or defendant, and in civil and criminal cases for injuries in the persons and property of freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes, and in all cases, civil or criminal, in which under this act a freedman, free negro or mulatto is a witness against a white person, or a white person against a freedman, free negro or mulatto, the parties shall be competent witnesses, and neither interest in the question in suit, nor marriage, shall disqualify any witness from testifying in open court.

An act concerning apprentices was adopted, which authorizes the probate courts of each county to apprentice all freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes under the age of eighteen years, who were orphans, or whose parent or parents have not the means, or who refuse to provide for and support such minors. The act contains provisions for the protection of both master and apprentice, and allows any freedman, free negro or mulatto having a minor child or children to apprentice the same. An act was also passed to regulate contracts with freedmen, and to enforce the same. It grants the right to contract to all freedmen; requires all contracts for a longer period than one month to be in writing and subscribed in presence of two white citizens. It prescribes penalties in damages for the non-performance of the contract, and makes every freedman who runs away or abandons the service he agreed to perform, without good cause, guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable on conviction, to forfeit his wages and become subject to the vagrant laws. A large number of acts respecting local affairs were introduced and considered or adopted, and about the 15th of December the Legislature took a recess to January loth, 1866.

On December 13th, the newly elected Governor, Robert Patton, was inaugurated. In his address he traced the progress of Alabama from 1819 to 1861, to show, "that as a peaceful and quiet member of the Federal Union, we had grown from an infant State, to one of greatness, wealth, and power. Our growth was gradual, healthful, vigorous, and substantial." On the 11th of January, 1861, "we were brought to a sudden and violent halt in our proud and rapid march on the high road to prosperity and happiness." "My judgment did not approve of either the doctrine or act of secession." "But while firmly entertaining this opinion, I deemed it a duty as a citizen of Alabama, to yield a peaceful obedience to what had been done." The act of secession, he states, caused from 35,000 to 45,000 of her brave sons to perish in the service, and the "loss in actual and substantial wealth of at least $500,000,0001" "I think we may all profit much by contrasting the prosperity and happiness which our country enjoyed at the beginning of the recent war, with its present crippled and almost ruined condition."

The Governor then reviews and commends the President's policy, which has been unhesitatingly accepted by the people of Alabama. He says: "We may rightfully claim, therefore, that our State is fully entitled to be placed in that position in the Union where she will stand as the political equal of any other State under the Federal Constitution."

With reference to emancipation, he said: "The extinction of slavery is one of the inevitable results of the war." "We will not only extend to the freedman all his legitimate rights, but will throw around him such effective safeguards as will secure him in their full and complete enjoyment." "At the same time it must be understood that, politically and socially, ours is a white man's government. In the future, as has been the case in the past, the State affairs of Alabama must be guided and controlled by the superior intelligence of the white man. The negro must also be made to realize that freedom does not mean idleness or vagrancy. Emancipation has not left him where he can live without work."

On December 18th the Secretary of State, at Washington, sent the following despatch to the Provisional Governor, Parsons:

Sir:—The time has arrived, in the judgment of the President of the United States, when the care and conduct of the proper affairs of the State of Alabama may be remitted to the constitutional authorities chosen by the people thereof, without danger to the peace and safety of the United States.

By direction of the President of the United States, therefore, you are relieved from the trust which was heretofore reposed in you as Provisional Governor of the State of Alabama, whenever the Governor elect shall have accepted and become qualified to discharge the duties of the executive office. You will transfer the papers and property of the State now in your custody to his Excellency the Governor elect.

It gives me especial pleasure to convey to you the President's acknowledgment of the fidelity, the loyalty, and the discretion which have marked your administration.

You will please give me a reply, specifying the day on which this communication is received.

Page 20

I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient servant,

                                                                 WM. H. SEWARD.

On the same day the Secretary addressed the following despatch to the newly inaugurated Governor, Patton:

Department of State, "Washington. Dec 18,1865.

Sir:—By direction of the President, I have the honor herewith to transmit to you a copy of a communication which has been addressed to his Excellency Lew is E. Parsons, late Provisional Governor of Alabama, whereby he has been relieved of the trust heretofore reposed in him, and directed to deliver into your Excellency's possession the papers and property relating to that trust.

I have the honor to tender you the cooperation of the Government of the United States whenever it may be found necessary in effecting the early restoration and the permanent prosperity and welfare of the State over which you have been called to preside.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

                                                         WM. H. SEWARD.

At the close of hostilities and the recognition of emancipation by the white inhabitants, the freedmen, in large numbers, left the plantations and resorted to the cities. Of this class a meeting was held in the neighborhood of Mobile, on Sunday, August 13th, of which the "Advertiser" of that city gave the following report:

Nine hundred of them assembled to consider their condition, their rights and duties under the new state of existence upon which they have been so suddenly launched. Our informant was surprised at the hard, practical sense and moderation of tone with which the spokesmen of the meeting urged their views. After long talk and careful deliberation, this meeting resolved, by a vote of seven hundred voices to two hundred, that they had made a-practical trial for three months of the freedom which the war has bequeathed to them; that its realities were far from being so flattering as their imagination had painted it; that they had discovered that the prejudices of color were by no means confined to the people of the South, but, on the contrary, that it was stronger and more marked against them in the strangers from the North, than in the home people of the South, among whom they had been reared; that negroes, no more than white men, can live without work, or be comfortable without homes; that their northern deliverers from bondage had not, as they had expected and been taught to expect, undertaken to provide for their happy existence in their new state of freedom, and that "their old masters had ceased to take any interest in them or have a care for them; and finally, that their " last state was worse than the first," and it was their deliberate conclusion that their true happiness and wellbeing required them to return to the homes which they had abandoned in a moment of excitement, and go to work again under their old masters. And so the resolutions were passed, and at last accounts the wanderers were packing up their little stock of movable goods, preparatory to the execution of their sensible purposes.

Near the close of the year, on November 22d, a Convention of colored persons was held at Mobile, at which the following series of resolutions was adopted:

Whereas, Under the providence of a gracious God, the colored people of the United States are permitted to enjoy the inestimable boon of liberty, and now have the privilege of demonstrating what they can do as a people; and

Whereas, The unprecedented privilege is now granted us of peaceably assembling in convention in this city of Mobile, and conferring and deliberating upon matters involving our common interests; there, fore

Resolved, That we shall ever inculcate the truth that our freedom is the gift of God, and that we are under the highest obligations to Him so to improve our new privilege as that His gift shall not be in vain.

Resolved, That we shall labor to foster in the hearts of our people sentiments of peace, friendship, and good will toward all men—especially toward our white fellow-citizens, among whom our lot is cost: and while we would relinquish none of the rights of our common manhood, we will studiously, according to our best knowledge and ability, so conduct ourselves as to be profitable to them and to ourselves.

Resolved, That we know and admit the fact, that labor, faithfully and judiciously performed, is the only just foundation of wealth, and that it will continue to be our purpose and effort to work industriously and honestly for the support of our families and the prosperity of the community in which we live.

Resolved, That we will perform faithful labor for every man who will pay us just wages; nor do we either expect or desire to receive any man's property without giving him a just equivalent.

Resolved, That we feel that our new condition of freedom not only presents new motives to industry, but also imposes new obligations upon us to cultivate all the virtues of good citizenship, and that, therefore, it is our purpose to fulfil all the duties of our new positions according to the ability which God has given us.

Resolved, That we recognize civil government as an ordinance of God, and that it shall be a matter of conscience with us to obey the laws, and to discountenance in every way all violation and all contemplated violation of law.

Resolved, That the assertion made in certain quarters, that there is a plot among our people to rise in insurrection, is utterly without foundation, inconsistent with our history as a people, and the farthest from our desires and possible intentions.

Resolved, That we feel in our hearts the glow of gratitude and the purpose of unfaltering fidelity to the Government of the United States, and shall ever regard as pledged to its support our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Resolved, That we regard the education of our children and youth as vital to the preservation of our liberties, and true religion as the foundation of all real virtue, and shall use our utmost endeavors to promote these blessings in our common country.

The principles upon which the Freedmen's Bureau was organized are stated under the proceedings of Congress. The plan of its operations in each State is described under the title Freedmen.

During the existence of the Confederate Government, the Protestant Episcopal Church South was organized, and the prayer for the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority in the Book of Common Prayer was changed to one Tor the Confederate authorities. Upon the restoration of the United States authorities, the prayer for the President was omitted altogether by the recommendation of Bishop Wilmer. Whereupon Major-General Woods issued an order, of which the following is an extract:

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to the directions of Major-General Thomas, commanding the Military Division of the Tennessee, that said Richard Wilmer, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the diocese of Alabama, and the Protestant Episcopal Clergy of said diocese be, and they are hereby suspended from their functions, and forbidden to preach or perform divine service.

Page 21

Bishop Wilmer urged the following reason for his recommendation to the" clergy:

Now the Church in this country has established a form of prayer for the President and all in Civil Authority, the language of that prayer was selected with careful reference to the subject of the prayer—all in Civil Authority—and she desires for that authority, prosperity and long continuance. No one can reasonably be expected to desire a long continuance of military rule. Therefore the prayer is altogether inappropriate and inapplicable to the present condition of things, when no civil authority exists in the exercise of its functions. Hence, as I remarked in the circular, we may yield a true allegiance to, and sincerely pray for grace, wisdom, and understanding, in behalf of a government founded on force, while at the same time we could not, in good conscience, ask for its continuance, prosperity, &c.

In reply to this the order stated, that at the time when the recommendation was issued, there was a President of the United States, a Cabinet, Judges of the Supreme Court, etc., and that since then a civil government and other civil officers for the State of Alabama had been appointed, but the prayer had not been restored. The prayer, it was further stated, was not a prayer for the continuance of military rule, but simply for the temporal and spiritual weal of the persons in whose behalf it was offered. One of the closing paragraphs of the order was the following:

The advice of the bishop to omit this prayer, and its omission by the clergy, is not only a violation of the canons of the Church, but shows a factious and disloyal spirit, and is a marked insult to every loyal citizen within the department. Such men are unsafe public teachers, and not to be trusted in places of power and influence over public opinion.

The order was subsequently set aside by President Johnson.

Immediately upon the cessation of hostilities the work of repairing the railroads was begun with much energy. All public institutions prepared to meet the changed order of affairs.

ARKANSAS. The reorganization of the State of Arkansas took place in 1864. The proceedings were based on the amnesty proclamation issued by President Lincoln (see Annual Cyclopedia, 1864—Arkansas). The reorganization was recognized and sustained by the Executive Department of the Federal Government. The members elected to the 38th Congress were not admitted at the second session which commenced December, 1864. The Legislature, consisting, however, of less than the full number of members, assembled in March, 1865. On April 14th it adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to slavery, by a unanimous vote. The State Convention which assembled in 1864, amended the Constitution, thereby abolishing slavery in the State, and repudiating the debt contracted to aid in carrying on the war against the United States. Thus the three most important measures required by the Federal Government for the restoration of the State to the Union, have been adopted.

The Legislature at the same session in April, also passed an act, disfranchising all citizens who had aided the Confederate cause subsequent to April 18th, 1804, at which time the present State Government was reorganized. The law was greatly discussed during the year, especially as the time approached for the Congressional elections in October. Those who opposed the act of the Legislature, urged as objections that it prescribed qualifications for voters different from those required by the State Constitution. They said the Legislature had no power to make such a change. "In our form of government all power is in the people; they meet in Convention and make the supreme law, not to be changed, save by a particular mode of procedure, which, it is admitted, has not been done in this instance. The Legislature, as the representative of all the power of the people, may do almost any thing, except that they cannot add to or take from any of the specifications in the Constitution. Any attempt to do this, is null and void; for the people agreed and declared that it so should be, when they formed and adopted the charter of their rights." It was further urged, that to require every voter to make oath that he had not aided the Confederacy since April, 1864, violated those portions of the letter and spirit of the Federal and State Constitutions, being the supreme law, which declared:

That no person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.

Nor be compelled to give evidence against himself.

That no man shall be put to answer any criminal charge but by presentment, indictment, or impeachment.

That no free man shall be deprived of his freehold, liberties, or privileged but by the judgment of his peers or the laws of the land.

Therefore, that the act in question, so far as it attempted to deprive a man of his privileges, without judicial conviction of crime, was contrary to the foregoing provisions; and if the Legislature exceeded its powers in the enactment of the law, it was no part of "the law of the land."

Meanwhile the State Government continued to extend its operations to many counties which had been previously occupied by Southern soldiers until their disappearance on the cessation of active hostilities. The Governor, Murphy, then issued a proclamation to the people, urging them to assemble and renew their local organizations in the counties thus far disaffected. This address was favorably received, and the State Government was soon acquiesced in throughout the State. After the disbanding of the Southern forces outrages soon ceased, and at the end of two months, or early in July, the judicial districts were organized in nearly every county. Some of the courts had been in session, and most of them were prepared to meet regularly. Taxes were as quietly collected as before the war, and civil process could be executed in every part of the State. Hundreds of persons had returned from the South to the places of their former residence, and the pursuits of peace were resumed as rapidly as could be expected. As the time for the election of members of Congress approached, the Governor issued an address to the people, urging them to elect persons who could take the oath required by Congress. Three members were chosen, viz.: William Ryers, G. H. Kyle, and James M. Johnson, who subsequently appeared at "Washington and presented their credentials.

In October, the Secretary of State, Robert J. T. White, reported to the President the peaceful and orderly condition of affairs which existed, and the following despatch was sent to the Governor:

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, October 30, 1865.

To Governor Murphy, Little Rock, Ark.:

There will be no interference with your present organization of State government. I have learned from E. W. Gantt, Esq., and other sources, that nil is working well, and you will proceed and resume the former relations with the Federal Government, and all the aid in the power of the Government will be given in restoring the State to its former relations.

                                                  ANDREW JOHNSON,

                                              President of the United States.

Page 29 The number of slaves in Arkansas in 1860, was 111,115. They were generally under the supervision of the Freedmen's Bureau, aided by the commander of the Department, Major-General Reynolds. An inspector of that Bureau reported in July, "that in the Little Rock district about four thousand freedmen are employed under orders from the War Department; that first-class men received from twenty-five to fifty dollars per month, and first-class women from fifteen to eighteen, one-half of which was paid every two months, and the balance at the end of the year; that two thousand of them were employed by the forty-three lessees of abandoned plantations at these rates; that very harmonious relations existed between the freedmen and their employers; that the negroes were generally contented; that the lessees complained that the rate of wages was higher than was paid anywhere else in the Mississippi valley, and so high that their cotton would cost them from twenty to twenty-five cents per pound before being ready for market, and that they would not make any thing on the crop; that there were about one thousand freedmen at work for citizens of Little Rock; that large numbers were working for themselves, at remunerative wages; that the colored people are building two school-houses in the place; that there was abundant work for all who were able to labor; that fair wages were generally paid; and finally, that the condition of the freed people in Arkansas was probably better than in any other section of the country." Great destitution, however, prevailed throughout the State. In the month of May, the Federal Government issued 75,097 rations to refugees, and 46,845 to freedmen. As late as December 9th, the Governor addressed the following letters to two charitable agents, in which he thus stated the extent of the destitution:

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Little Rock, December 9,1865.

Mrs. H. W. Cobb, Sec. A. U. Commission:

Dear Madam: Yours of October 2Vth was received last mail. We fool deeply grateful for the benevolent interest evinced for our suffering population. The desolations of war in our State are beyond description. Suffering and poverty are, perhaps, more general in this than the other rebel States, from the fact that during the entire war an internal and bloody strife existed between the Union element and their rebel neighbors, resulting in the exile of nearly all the loyal families who could escape, stripped of all their property, and thrown helpless on the charity of the benevolent. A great many of these families have returned, others are striving to get back to their old and once happy homes, ignorant or regardless of the destitution that will meet them there. Besides the utter desolation that marked the track of war and battle, guerrilla bands and scouting parties have pillaged almost every neighborhood north of the Arkansas River, also in the country south of the river, tying near the Indian boundary. It would be safe to say that two-thirds of the counties in the State arc in destitute circumstances, and many will Buffer for food and clothing this winter and spring, unless relieved by the noble kindness of the people of the Northern States.

                    ISAAC MURPHY, Governor of Arkansas.

Executive. Office, Little Rock, December 9,1863.

Reverend J. H. Leard:

Dear Sir: Understanding that you leave in the morning on a mission of charity in behalf of the destitute in Arkansas, I feel constrained to throw in my mite of encouragement and approbation of your praiseworthy services. The confession comes from me with reluctance— but, still, come it must—that there are thousands suffering in Arkansas for want of food and raiment, and who, unless speedily relieved, will, in many instances, during the winter, die from the effects of hunger and cold. These people reside generally in the western part of the State, and are chiefly the widows and orphans of Union soldiers, or the helpless connections and dependents of the aged and infirm, who have been reduced by robbery or exhausted in means and strength while flying from their enemies.

By next harvest, with the blessing of God, I trust our people will be able to spare of the first-fruits for a thank-offering and bless the hands reached out to help them. This is designed to be sent by —— who intends to start for your city in the morning. He is acquainted with the wants of the people, and worthy of all confidence. For full particulars * I respectfully refer you to him.

           With high respects, yours,

               ISAAC MURPHY, Governor of Arkansas.

An Emigrant Aid Society was formed at the capital to induce white settlers to occupy lands in the State. Arkansas has an area of 52,198 square miles, and extends in the great valley of the Mississippi from the line of 33 to 86J degrees of north latitude, and is adapted alike to agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing. The Mississippi, along the eastern boundary, receives the water of six navigable rivers—the land is very fertile and adapted to almost all growths, from the apples and cereals of the Northwest to the cotton which is the great staple in the valleys of the Arkansas, Red, and Ouachita Rivers. Prices range from one to five dollars an acre, many large plantations having been subdivided with a view to sale since the abolition of slavery. There is plenty of wood and timber, oak, cedar, hickory, black walnut and yellow pine; in short, every material element of prosperity.

FLORIDA. This State was so far removed from the scenes of war, that no event of general importance took place previous to the measures for its reorganization under the Federal Government. On July 13,1865, President Johnson issued his proclamation appointing William Marvin Provisional Governor of Florida. This proclamation was similar in all respects except the date, name of the State and Provisional Governor, with the one issued relative to Alabama, to which the reader is referred. The Governor soon commenced his duties, and on August 2d delivered an address to the people of Jacksonville. He proposed to make known the plan of the President, and to call their attention to those subjects most essential to their welfare. Confiscation, he said, had been practised on both sides; but, by the failure of the rebellion, all property confiscated by the officers of the Confederacy would now revert to the original owners. Pardon was now offered, with a few exceptions, to all. These exceptions were presumed to be persons of superior intelligence, and with ability to make some effort to secure par don; persons of greater responsibility and obligations to the State. For himself, he should take pleasure in recommending to the President all who were truly penitent, and gave good evidence of a determination to be good citizens in the future. The decrees of confiscation of houses and lands, which had been entered upon by the Federal authorities in the absence of the owners and without their appearing, would be opened when these owners had been embraced in the amnesty proclamation. They would be allowed to appear and have a full hearing on their merits, and might plead their pardons, if such plea should be deemed admissible in their cases. With the fall of the Confederacy, the black man's bondage has been brought to an end, and he can never be enslaved hero again. He had no authority to resuscitate the civil authorities, or to appoint any one to an office beyond what was necessary to the calling of the State Convention. His business was to assist them to inaugurate a State Government. He appealed to them to lay aside all revengeful feeling, and to enter with ardor and good faith upon the new order of affairs. On the next day the Governor issued the following proclamation to that people, stating the details of the plan upon which he intended to proceed: Page 360

The civil authorities in this State having engaged in an organized rebellion against the Government of the United States, have, with the overthrow of the rebellion, ceased to exist, and the State, though in the Union, is without a civil government.

The Constitution of the United States declares that the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence. In order to fulfil this guarantee and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people of this State to organize a State government, whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquillity insured, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and property, the President of the United States has appointed me Provisional Governor of the State, and mode it my duty, at the earliest practicable moment, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of the State who are loyal to the United States, and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending the constitution of the State, and with authority to exercise within the limits of the State all the powers necessary and proper to enable the loyal people of the State to restore it to its constitutional relations to the Federal Government, and to present such a republican form of State government as will entitle the State to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and its people to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence.

In the performance of the duty thus enjoined upon mc by the President, I shall, as soon as the people of the State have had the opportunity to qualify themselves to become voters, appoint an election, to be held in the different counties in the State, of delegates to a State convention to be convened at a time and place to be hereafter named.

The persons qualified to vote at such election of delegates and the persons eligible as members of such convention will be such persons as shall have previously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty as set forth in the President's Proclamation of May 29, a. d. 1865, and as are also qualified as prescribed by th" constitution and laws of the State in force immediately before the 11th day of January, 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance of secession. Where the person is excepted from the benefits of the amnesty proclamation, he must also have been previously specially pardoned by the President before he can become a qualified voter or eligible as a member of the convention. This interpretation of the two proclamations of the President I received from himself in person, and also from the Attorney-General.

The oath referred to may be administered by and taken and subscribed before any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in the service of the United States, or any civil or military officer of a loyal State or Territory, who by the laws thereof is qualified to administer oaths. The officer administering the oath is authorized and required, on request, to give to the person taking it certified copies thereof.

In order to give to the well-disposed people of this State time and opportunity to qualify themselves to be voters for delegates to the convention, the election will not be held until a reasonable time has elapsed for them to take and subscribe the oath required, and to procure the special pardon where such pardon is a prerequisite qualification. The election will be held immediately thereafter, and no allowance will be made for unreasonable delays in applying for pardons.

Applications for pardon should be in writing, and addressed to the President of the United States, and state the ground on which a special pardon is considered as necessary. The application should have attached to it the original oath or affirmation contained in the proclamation of amnesty. In most cases the application for pardon will not be acted upon by the President until it has received the recommendation of the Provisional Governor. It will save time, therefore, to seek his recommendation in the first instance. The application should then be sent to the office of the Attorney-General.

I have been informed by the military authorities that a considerable number of posts have already been established in the State, and others soon will be, with officers attached, authorized to administer the oath required and to give certified copies thereof, be as thereby to give every facility for taking the oath, with little or no inconvenience or expense to the applicant.

In the mean time, and until the establishment of a State government, it is left to the military authorities to preserve peace and order, and protect the rights of persons and property.

An understanding has been had with the commander of the department whereby persons occupying the offices of judges of probate may continue to take proof of wills and issue letters testamentary and of administration, and clerks of circuit courts may take the proof or acknowledgment of deeds and mortgages and record the same as heretofore, and all persons occupying ministerial offices may continue to perform such duties and offices as are essential and convenient to the transaction of business. If any doubt should hereafter arise concerning the validity of their acts, such doubt can be removed by a legislative act of confirmation.

By the operations and results of the war slavery has ceased to exist in this State. It cannot be revived. Every voter for delegates to the convention in taking the amnesty oath takes a solemn oath to support the freedom of the former slave. The freedom intended is the full, ample, and complete freedom of a citizen of the United States. This does not necessarily include the privilege of voting. But it does include the idea or full constitutional guarantees of future possession and quiet enjoyment. The question of his voting is an open question—a proper subject for discussion—and is to be decided as a question of sound policy by the convention to be called. Upon the establishment of a republican form of State government under a constitution which guarantees and secures liberty to all the inhabitants alike without distinction of color, there will no longer exist any impediment in the way of restoring the State to its proper constitutional relations to the Government of the United States, whereby its people will be entitled to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence.

Dated at Jacksonville, Florida, this 3d day of August, 1865.

                                           WILLIAM MARVIN,

                                                       Provisional Governor.

The Governor then visited various parts of the State, delivering addresses to the people, and urging them to cooperation; and on August 23d he issued a further proclamation, prescribing such rules and regulations as were deemed necessary and proper for convening a convention, and appointed a day for the election of members for the convention, as follows:

Whereas, by the proclamation of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, dated 13th of July, a. d. 1865, I have been appointed Provisional Governor of the State of Florida, with instructions to prescribe, at the earliest practicable period, such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention of the people, composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people who are loyal to the United States, and no others; and also, with all the power, necessary and proper, to enable such loyal people of said State to restore it to its constitutional relation to the Federal Government, and to present such a Republican form of Government as will entitle the State to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and its people to the Page 361 protection of the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence:

Now, therefore, I, William Marvin, Provisional Governor of the State of Florida, as aforesaid, do, by virtue of the power in me vested, as aforesaid, proclaim and declare:

1. That an election for delegates to a convention will be held on Tuesday, the 10th day of October, A. d. 1865, at the different precincts at which elections are directed and authorized by law to be held for members of the Legislature.

2. That the thirty-nine counties in this State shall be authorized and entitled to elect delegates to the said convention severally as follows, to wit: Escambia two, Santa Rosa two, Walton two, Holmes one, Washington one, Jackson three, Calhoun one. Franklin one, Liberty one, Gadsden three, Wakulla one, Leon four, Jefferson three, Madison two, Taylor one, Lafayette one, Hamilton two, Suwanee one, Columbia two, Baker one, Bradford one, Nassau one, St. John's one, Duval one, Clay one, Putnam one, Alachua two, Marion two, Levy one, Hernando one, Hillsborough one, Manatee one, Polk one, Orange one, Volusia one, Brevard one, Sumter one, Monroe one, and Dade one.

3. Every free white male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and who shall Be, at the time of offering to vote, a citizen of the United States, and who shall have resided and had his home in this State for one year next preceding the election, and for six months in the county in which he may offer to vote, and who shall have taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the President's proclamation of amnesty, of the 29th day of May, 1865, and if he comes within the exceptions contained in said proclamation, shall have taken said oath, and have been specially pardoned by the President, shall be entitled to vote in the county where he resides, and shall he eligible as a member of said convention, and none others. Where the person offering to vote comes within the exceptions contained in the amnesty proclamation, and shall have taken the amnesty oath, and shall have made application to the President for a special pardon, through the Provisional Governor, and shall have been recommended by him for such pardon, the inspectors or judges of the election may, in most instances, properly presume that such pardon has been granted, though owing to the want of mail facilities it may not have been received by the party at the time of the election.

Free white soldiers, seamen, and marines, in the army or navy of the United States, who were qualified, by their residence, to vote in said State, at the time of their respective enlistments, and who shall have taken and subscribed the amnesty oath, shall be entitled to vote in the county where they respectively reside; but no soldier, seaman, or marine, not a resident in the State at the time of his enlistment, shall be allowed to vote.

4. The amnesty oath may be taken and subscribed before any commissioned officer—civil, military, or naval—in the service of the United States, or any civil or military officer of a loyal State or Territory, who, by the laws thereof, is qualified to administer oaths. The officer administering the oath is authorized and required, on request, to give to the person taking it certified copies thereof. It is administered to all persons applying at the different military posts in this State, without fee. The taking of the oath does not, of itself, operate as a pardon in cases where the party is excepted from the general amnesty and needs a special pardon.

5. That the Judges of Probate in the several counties, provided they shall have respectively taken the amnesty oath, or in case of the inability or absence of any judge in any county, or his neglect or refusal to act, then the Clerk of the Circuit Court, provided he shall have taken the amnesty oath, shall distribute the poll books and appoint, for the different election precincts in their several counties, three inspectors or judges of the election, who shall have taken the amnesty oath, to hold said election, who shall conduct the same, as near as may be, in conformity with the laws of this State as they existed prior to January 10, 1861. The inspectors of the different precincts shall, as soon as possible after the election, count the votes and make and sign a certificate of the result of the election at said precinct, and one of them, to be determined by lot, if not otherwise agreed upon, shall convey and deliver, without unnecessary delay, the said certificate, the poll book and ballots, to the Judge of Probate of the county or to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, whichever of them may have appointed said inspectors. The judge or clerk receiving said certificates, poll books, and ballots shall, thereupon, without unnecessary delay, call to his assistance two respectable inhabitants, having the qualification of voters, and shall publicly count the votes and compare with the poll books. They shall make and sign certificates or the result of the election in their county, and furnish to each person elected one of said certificates. The judge or clerk shall also transmit by mail, prepaying the postage, properly enveloped and addressed to the Provisional Governor, at Tallahassee, one of said certificates, together with the ballots and poll books of the several precincts, or he shall convey the said certificate, poll books, and ballots, properly enveloped and addressed as aforesaid, to the nearest military post, and deliver the same to the commander to be forwarded to this office.

The counties in which there is neither a qualified Judge of Probate nor a qualified Clerk of the Circuit Court, or in which they may neglect or refuse to act, the qualified voters are hereby authorized to assemble at the county Bite, and in Dade County, at Indian Key, and elect the judges of election, who shall ha.ve taken the amnesty oath, and who shall hold the election, count the votes, and give to the person elected a certificate of his election. One of them, to be agreed on or determined by lot, shall also send by mail, or convey to the nearest military post as aforesaid, a duplicate certificate of the election and the poll books and ballots, to be forwarded to this office as aforesaid.

No person shall act as an inspector or judge of the election who shall not have previously taken the amnesty oath, and no other oath shall be exacted of said judges or inspectors, but their personal honor will be considered as pledged for the faithful and honest performance of their duties.

6. The commander of the Military Department of the State has, in the absence of mail facilities, generously ordered the officers and soldiers under his command to aid and assist in the distribution of the poll books and this proclamation, and in receiving the returns of the election and forwarding them to this office.

7. That the delegates who shall be elected as aforesaid shall assemble in convention, at the city of Tallahassee at twelve o'clock, on Wednesday, the 25th day of October, a. d. 1865, and elect a President and other necessary officers, and proceed to the discharge of their duties. The convention will be the judge of the election of their respective members. The commandant of the Military Department of the State has issued a general order directing that a United States transport steamer shall leave Key West on Wednesday, the 18th of October, and touch at Tampa, Manatee, and Cedar Keys, on her way to St. Mark's; and that another steamer shall leave Pensacola on Saturday, the 21st, bound for the same port, touching at Appalachicola; and another shall leave Enterprise, on the St. John's River, on Friday, the 20th, bound to Jacksonville, touching at the various points on the river; and another shall leave Fernandina on Friday, the 20th, and St. Augustine on Saturday, the 21st, bound to Jacksonville. These steamers will convey the delegates elected free of charge, except for their lodging and meals. Page 362

8. A constitution, republican in form, having been made, altered, or amended, and adapted to the new order of things, the1 convention will provide, by a schedule, for the election of a Governor and General Assembly, and for the reorganization of a permanent State government.

9. By the operations and results of the war slavery has ceased to exist in the State. It cannot be revived. Every voter for delegates to the convention, in taking the amnesty oath, takes a solemn oath to support the freedom of the former slave. The freedom intended is the full, ample, and complete freedom of a citizen of the United States. This does not necessarily include the privilege of voting; but it does include the idea of full constitutional guarantees of future possession and quiet enjoyment. The question of his voting is an open question—a proper subject for discussion—and is to be decided as a question of sound policy by the convention to be called.

10. Upon the establishment of a republican form of State government, under a constitution which guarantees and secures liberty to all the inhabitants alike, without distinction of color, there will no longer exist any impediment in the way of restoring the State to its proper constitutional relations to the Government of the United States, whereby its people will be entitled to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence.

Given at Tallahassee, Florida, this 23d day of August, 1865.

                  WILLIAM MARVIN, Provisional Governor.

Samuel J. Douglas, Private Secretary.

The members of the Convention, thus called, were duly elected on October 10th, and assembled at Tallahassee on the 25th. The Convention was organized by the election of E. D. Tracy, of Nassau County, as president, with other officers. The Provisional Governor, Marvin, in his message to that body, stated that the former slave had become free, and in the reestablishment of the State Government it was necessary to recognize that fact, and to frame the Constitution accordingly. It was expected they would declare in the Constitution that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, shall exist. He recommended that the Constitution should define, with as much accuracy as possible, what the civil rights and political privileges of the emancipated negro should be. He said: "It may be difficult to define, with any degree of accuracy, wherein freedom in society and under an organized government consists. But I think it may be said, in general terms, to consist chiefly, in the right to be protected, by constitutional law, in the enjoyment of life, in the acquisition by honest industry of property, in its possession and transmission to heirs, in a right to personal security and locomotion, and, generally, in a right to improve one's intellectual, moral, and religious condition, and to pursue happiness according to one's own ideas of happiness, not interfering with the exercise of the same right on the part of others. Rut freedom does not necessarily include the idea of a participation in the affairs of Government. The privilege of voting at elections, the capacity to hold office, or to sit on juries, are not essential rights of freedom. They are privileges conferred or duties enjoined upon certain persons or classes of persons by the supreme power of the State, for and on account of the public good; and the persons or classes of persons upon whom these privileges are conferred on these duties enjoined, may be increased or diminished, within reasonable limits, without impairing rights of freedom, according as that power may determine. Persons may be free, without the capacity to hold office, to sit on a jury, or to vote at elections. The English people are free, and yet not one-tenth of the adult male population are entitled by law to vote at elections or to sit on juries. In our own State, foreigners are not entitled to vote or to sit on juries until they have been naturalized, yet they are free; women and children are not entitled to vote, or hold office, or sit on a jury, yet they are free." He also recommended the adoption of the Federal Constitutional amendment relative to slavery; that negroes should be admitted to testify in courts of justice, and that the Convention should adopt suitable measures to guard the two races against discriminations to be made between them by the courts or the Legislature in any matter touching their rights. He further recommended the passage of an ordinance declaring that the ordinance called the Ordinance of Secession, passed by a convention of the people on the 10th day of January, 1861, was and is null and void; and an additional ordinance annulling or ratifying such other ordinances, acts of the Legislature, and judicial proceedings, as the interest of the State might require.

The Convention, in the progress of its business, adopted the following ordinance relative to secession:

Whereas, the people of the State of Florida are anxious in good faith to restore the State to her former peaceful relations with the United States; therefore,

Be it ordained by the people of the State of Florida, in convention assembled, That the ordinance adopted by the convention of the people on the 10th day of January, 1861, known as the Secession Ordinance, be and the same is hereby annulled.

On the passage of the ordinance, an amendment was moved to substitute the words "is null and void " in place of "annulled." The motion failed to pass, and the vote on the passage of the ordinance was unanimous.

The following ordinance in relation to slavery was also adopted:

Whereas, slavery has been destroyed in this State by the Government of the United States; therefore,

Be it ordained by the people of the State of Florida, in convention assembled, That neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall in future exist in this State, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been convicted bv the Courts of the States; and all the inhabitants of the State, without distinction of color, are free, and shall enjoy the rights of person and property without distinction of color.

In the preamble the words "by the Government of the United States " were added as an amendment to the report of the committee, on the motion of a member, who "wished the world to know that the abolition of slavery by the people of Florida was not a voluntary Page 363 on their part, but a compulsory measure adopted in obedience to the commands of the President, after slavery had been destroyed by the military power of the Government." This amendment was adopted, by a vote of 20 yeas to 14 nays.

The following ordinance repudiating the State debt was also adopted. The vote was—yeas 83; nays 9. Its adoption was understood to be the desire of the Federal Government, otherwise it would not have been passed by the Convention:

Be it ordained by the people of Florida, in contention assembled, That all State Treasury notes issued, and all other liabilities contracted by the State of Florida, on or after the 10th day of January, a. d. 1861, to the 2oth day of October, A. D. 1865. except such liabilities as are' provided for by this Constitution, be and are declared void, and the General Assembly shall have no power to provide for the payment bf the same, or any part thereof.

The following ordinance, defining the position of the freedmen in the courts of justice, was adopted—yeas 26; nays 19: Be it ordained by the people of Florida, in contention assembled, That, in all criminal proceedings founded upon injury to a colored person, and in all cases affecting the rights or remedies of colored persons, no person shall be incompetent to testify as a witness on account of color. In all other cases, the testimony of colored persons shall be excluded, unless made competent by future legislation. The jury shall judge of the credibility of the testimony.

The Convention further ordered that the election of Governor and other executive officers, Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts, Solicitors, Representatives in Congress, and members of the Legislature, should be held on November 29th, and that the Legislature should assemble on the third Monday of December. On November 10th Governor Marvin sent the following despatch to President Johnson:

                                 TALLAHASSEE, Fla., November 18,1865

The Convention has annulled the ordinance of secession, abolished slavery, and declared that all the inhabitants of the State, without distinction of color, are free; and that no person shall be incompetent to testify as a witness on account of color in any matter wherein a colored person is concerned. It has repudiated the State debt contracted in' support of the rebellion, amended the constitution in other respects, and adjourned.

                   WILLIAM MARVIN, Provisional Governor.

During the sessions of the Convention the Governor had reported its progress to the authorities at Washington, and received' the following reply:

WASHINGTON. November 1, 1865.

Your letter of October 7 was received and submitted to the President. He is gratified with the favorable progress toward reorganization in Florida, and directs me to say that he regards the ratification by the Legislature of the Congressional amendment of the Constitution of the United States as indispensable to a successful restoration of the true loyal relations between Florida and the other States, and equally indispensable to the return of peace and harmony throughout the republic.

                                          WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

These measures had been ably opposed during their consideration by the Convention, but their ultimate adoption was satisfactory to the people.

The election, which was held on November 29, resulted in the choice of David S. Walker as Governor, and W. W. J. Kelley as Lieutenant-Governor; Secretary of State, B. F. Allen; Attorney-General, J. B. Galbraith; Comptroller, L. G. Pyles; Treasurer, O. H. Austen; Representative in Congress, Ferdinand McLeod; Judge of Suwanee Circuit, T. T. Long; Judge of Eastern Circuit, E. A. Putnam. Members of the Legislature were also chosen. The entire vote polled was less than 4,000. In 1860 the vote of the State at the Presidential election was 14,347.

The Legislature was organized on December 18th. Provisional Governor Marvin delivered an address, in which he recommended the passage of laws which should secure to freedmen their rights of person and of property, give them an easy and cheap remedy for the collection of wages, and protect them against imposition. At the same time he urged that measures should be devised for obliging the negro to fulfil his contracts, and prevent him from leaving his employer at a time when his services were most needed. On December 21st the newly elected governor, Walker, was duly inaugurated. In his address he recommended the adoption of measures similar to those urged by Provisional Governor Marvin. He opposed the granting of suffrage to the negroes as a measure to which neither an honest nor conscientious consent could be given. ( The Legislature elected as Senators to Congress Governor Marvin and Wilkinson McCall. On January 18th the following despatch was sent from President Johnson to Governor Marvin:

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, January 18, 1886.

To His Excellency William Marvin, Provisional Governor of the State of Florida, Tallahassee:

Sir: the time has arrived when, in the judgment of the President of the United States, the care and conduct of the proper affairs of the State of Florida may be remitted to the constitutional authorities chosen by the people thereof, without danger to the peace and safety of the United States.

By direction of the President, therefore, you are relieved from the trust which was heretofore reposed in you as Provisional Governor of the State of Florida. Whenever the Governor elect shall have become qualified to discharge the duties of the Executive office, you will transfer the papers and property of the State, now in your custody, to his Excellency Governor Walker. It gives me especial pleasure to convey to you the President's acknowledgments of the fidelity, loyalty, and discretion which have marked your administration.

You will please give me a reply, specifying the day on which this communication is received.

I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient servant,

                                                   W. HUNTER,

                                                      Acting Secretary.

Department or State, Washington, January 18,1866.

To His Excellency D. S. Walker, Governor of the Stats of Florida, Tallahassee:

Sir: By direction of the President, I have the honor herewith to transmit to you a copy of a communication which has been addressed to his Excellency Page 364 William Marvin, late Provisional Governor of the State of Florida, whereby he has been relieved of the trust heretofore imposed in him, and directed to deliver into your Excellency's possession the papers and property relating to that trust.

I have the honor to tender to you the cooperation of the Government of the United States whenever it may be found necessary in effecting the early restoration and1 the permanent prosperity and welfare of the State over which you have been called to preside.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,

                                                    W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary.

On transferring the office to Governor Walker, Provisional Governor Marvin thus described the condition of affairs:

It is not intended that the militia or volunteer troops shall appear under arms before they have received special orders from myself or the Constitutional Governor, unless in some unforeseen case of justifiable necessity. The admirable disposition made of the white troops of the United States by the General in command will secure the peace and quiet of the State, if the civil authorities do their duty, as I have no doubt they will. The colored troops have nearly all been removed from the interior of the State to the seaboard, and I am assured that the remainder will be just as soon as the interest of the public service will permit it.

He represented the State Government as entering on its new career under great difficulty and embarrassment. The people were greatly impoverished by the war and poorly prepared to pay taxes. The State Treasury was empty. Taxes upon the lands of the State were due to the United States Treasury nearly to the amount of $77,520. The labor of the State was disorganized and demoralized, and the whole fabric of society more or less disturbed by the constant friction and irritation produced by the new state of affairs. Martial law continued to exist for the higher crimes, and might at any time be extended. He recommended that the Treasury should be replenished by taxation, and that a temporary loan should be obtained for immediate necessities. He further said: "We need to look calmly, dispassionately, and earnestly at our real and true condition, and realize it in all its force, and then we ought patiently, enduringly, and faithfully to labor to improve it."


Source: The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.