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Documents Relating to Reconstruction 
 
Documents 
 Relating to Reconstruction 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 Walteb Li. Fleming, Ph.D. 
 
 PROFESSOB OF HISTORY IN WEST VIBGINIA UNIVEBSITY 
 
 Morgantown, West Virginia 
 
 1904 
 
Copyrighted 1905. 
 
 By 
 
 WAI/TER I,. FLEMING 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 t Page. 
 
 No. 1.— The Knights of the White Camelia 5 
 
 The Constitution of the Knights of the White Camelia. . . 8 
 
 The Ritual of the Knights of the White Camelia 21 
 
 Initiation Oath of the White Brotherhood 30 
 
 Initiation Oath of the Invisible Empire [of Ku Klux 
 Klan] , 31 
 
 No. 2.— Ku Klux Klan , 3 
 
 Revised and Amended Prescript of the Order of the 
 
 A Ku Klux Order 31 
 
 No. 3. — The Union League of America , 3 
 
 Constitution of the National Council, U. L. A 6 
 
 Constitution of the Alabama State Council, U. L. A. . : . . 11 
 
 The Ritual of the Union League 17 
 
 Loyal League Catechism 28 
 
 Resolutions of Alabama Grand Council of the Union 
 
 League 
 
 Treatment of Negro Bolters 35 
 
 Nos. 4 and 5. — Public Frauds in South Carolina 3 
 
 Frauds in Supplies 4 
 
 .Public Printing Frauds 31 
 
 The Impeachment Swindle 35 
 
 Militia Frauds. , , 37 
 
 Fraudulent Pay Certificates 40 
 
Contents. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Bond and Railroad Frauds -42 
 
 A Corrupt Judiciary . . ; . , 47 
 
 Patterson's Election to the United States Senate 49 
 
 The Council of Safety 50 
 
 Constitution of the Council of Safety . . 51 
 
 A Local Ku Klux Constitution 56 
 
 The '70 Association 59 
 
 A Case of Ku Klux Discipline 60 
 
 Nos. 6 and 7. — The Freedmen's Bureau.. 3 
 
 Laws Establishing the Bureau 5 
 
 Veto Messages of the President. : 12 
 
 Official Regulations of the Bureau , . . 17 
 
 Reports of Bureau Officials 32 
 
 Confiscation: "40 Acres and a Mule" 43 
 
 Opinions in Regard to the Bureau 47 
 
 The Freedmen's Savings Bank 56 
 
 No. 8.— The "Black Codes" of 1865-1866 3 
 
 Report of the Committee Appointed by the North 
 Carolina Legislature to Prepare Laws Relating to 
 
 Freedmen 4 
 
 South Carolina: Domestic Relations of Freedmen and 
 
 Other Regulations. 16 
 
 Florida: Regulations for Freedmen 29 
 
 Louisiana: A Town Ordinance Relative to Freedmen. . . 30 
 
 Alabama: Intermarriage of Races 32 
 
West Virginia University Documents NTn T 
 
 Relating to Reconstruction. Edited 
 by Walter I/. Fleming, Associate 
 Professor of History 
 
 The Constitution and the Ritual 
 
 OP 
 
 The Knights of the White 
 Camelia 
 
 PRICE, 15 CENTS 
 
 MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA. 
 JANUARY, 1904 
 
^Documents Relating to tfye His- 
 tory of Reconstzuction 
 
 In this series of reprints Will be reproduced documents illustrating 
 the peculiar conditions, social, political and economic, that prevailed 
 in the Southern states during Reconstruction. The first numbers will 
 consist of documents relating to the Ku Klux Movement; following these 
 will be published selections concerning the Preedmen's Bureau and the 
 Union League; and finally several numbers illustrative of social and 
 economic conditions under the " carpet-bag " governments will be printed. 
 Newspaper files, public documents and pamphlets and manuscripts from 
 private collections will furnish the material that Is to be reproduced- 
 Many of the documents are at present Inaccessible to students who are 
 not in reach of large libraries, and some of them have never been pub- 
 lished. A special discount will be made on orders for class use. 
 
 One number will appear each month during the college year. The 
 following is a tentative list of titles: 1. The Constitution and the Ritual 
 of the Knights of the White Oamelia. 2. The Prescript of the Ku Klux 
 Klan ; The Revised and Amended Prescript of the Ku Klux Klan. 3. The 
 Constitution of the White League, the Council of Safety and similar 
 orders, i. Ku Klux Orders, Warnings, etc. 5. The Constitution, Ritual 
 and Catechism of the Union League. 6. Freedmen's Bureau Documents, 7 
 Schools and Churches During Reconstruction. Other titles will be added 
 to the list and substitutions will be made. Correspondence is invited in 
 regard to additions and substitutions. Address Walter L. Fleming, West 
 Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va. 
 
Constitution and Ritual [of the Knights of 
 the White Camelia] adopted at a General 
 Convention held in the city of New Orleans, 
 June 4, 1868. 
 
Copyright 1904, 
 
 by 
 
 WAI/rER L, FLEMING 
 
— 5^- 
 
 "IHE KNIGHTS GF THE WHITE CAMELIA 
 
 AFTER the destruction, by Congress of the President's work of "resto- 
 ration" in the South, the white people of that section stood listlessly 
 aside to see how the plan of "reconstruction" would work, As soon, how- 
 ever, as the purpose of Congress was clearly understood and after a short 
 experience of Reconstruction, the whites resolved in self defense to resist. 
 And resistance was necessarily secret since open Opposition of any kind 
 would he considered rebellion. The secret and successful revolution (or, 
 from the Southern point of view, conquest of revolution) that followed 
 has been called the Ku Klux Movement. In this, movement many secret 
 organizations— hundreds perhaps— took part. The, great majority of 
 these bodies were of local extent. only; several extended their operations 
 over counties or even a state; the Ku Klux Klan (the Invisible Empire) 
 planned to Include the entire South; and the Knights of the White 
 Camelia aimed to extend their organization over the entire United 
 States. The last named order had a larger membership and embraced a 
 larger territory than any other similar body. It began as a federation 
 of local organizations that sprang up in Lousisana after the war, and 
 was formally established on May 23, 1867, in New Orleans. A convention 
 of the order met in New Orleans in 1S68, framed an elaborate federal 
 organization, and on June 4, promulgated a constitution and a ritual 
 for the use of officers. The White Camelias*, as they were usually called 
 rapidly extended their rule throughout the states of the late Con- 
 federacy. 
 
 There were many reasons for this secret movement^: a "disordered 
 society and a bewildered people;" corruption and tyranny in every 
 department of government by the alien, renegade and negro; the bad 
 influence of the teachings of Northern missionaries and teachers who 
 worked among the black population, spreading what the negroes took to 
 be doctrines of social equality; threats by the dominant party of confis- 
 cation; the insolent and lawless behavior of the blacks under the control 
 of unscrupulous adventurers; the fear of negro insurrection; the opera- 
 tions of the Freedmen's Bureau and its ally and successor, the Union 
 League, a Radical secret order controlling the blacks with an iron discip- 
 line; the constant use of Federal troops to uphold the plundering rulers, 
 to disperse or influence legislatures and make arrests, and to surround 
 the polls for the purpose of encouraging the blacks and intimidating the 
 whites; frauds in elections committed by the alien rulers in order to 
 
 *Named from the white camelia or japonica, a well known flower in 
 the Gulf States. A similar order in Mississippi bore the name "White 
 Rose." Camelia is spelled as the members spelled the word. In Louisi- 
 ana the French form was used. 
 
 +See article by W. 6, Brown in the Atlantic Monthly, May, 3901, and 
 also chapter IV of Brown's Lower South. 
 
—6^ 
 
 retain control in the South; the organization of negro militia when arms 
 were refused to whites; and in general, the utter disregard of the 
 interests of the intelligent and tax-paying part of the population. With 
 a knowledge of these conditions, one may. after reading the declarations 
 of the Invisible Empire and the Knights of the White Camelia, under- 
 stand what was in the minds of the Southern men who formed the 
 secret orders which had for their purpose the destruction of the 
 Reconstruction. 
 
 The various bodies that entered into the Ku Klux movement were 
 not directly connected. In every part of the South where the condi- 
 tions described prevailed the movement took form spontaneously. The 
 White Camelia absorbed smaller orders; local bands of regulators hear- 
 ing of the White Camelia took its name; other societies took part of the 
 White Camelia membership and imitated its methods; the White 
 Brotherhood and the White League in Alabama, and the Council of 
 Safety in South Carolina arose later than the White Camelia and were, 
 modelled after it. The White Camelia was a Black Belt organization, 
 rarely having branches in white counties. Consequently, it did not 
 encroach to any great extent upon the territory of Ku Klux Klan which 
 operated principally in the" white counties. On the borders the two' 
 orders sometimes existed side by'side and cooperated in their work. No 
 circles or councils were established in districts where they were not 
 needed; and as soon as order and good government were restored in a 
 county or a state, there the White Camelia was disbanded. The stringent 
 laws enacted against such organizations had little effect in breaking it 
 up. It existed as long as the Iconditions that produced ,it existed. Its 
 secrets were well kept and the general public never knew much more 
 about it than the name. 
 
 The methods employed to enforce law and order were similar to those 
 used by the Klan but were not borrowed from it; every person knew how 
 to play upon the superstitious fears of the darkey. Silent horsemen 
 covered with white sheets, rode through the neighborhood when the 
 blacks were becoming turbulent; ghostly night riders called trembling 
 negroes from their sleep and informed them that they were just from 
 Hell, the fiery pit having frozen over to afford them passage on their 
 way to warn the negroes of the consequences of bad conduct; not having 
 had a drink since they were killed at Chickamauga or Shiloh they were 
 thirsty and a rubber or raw-hide sack under the shroud enabled the 
 ghosts to drink several gallons; effective use Was made of human skulls, 
 bags of cow bones, skeleton he ads of horses and cows with live coalsin eyes 
 and nostrils; silent night parades and night drills of cavalry companies 
 exercised a quieting effect upon the negroes for miles around, Jtn^the 
 day time a silent band of whites at the polls so disturbed the blacks that 
 few dared to "repeat," A threatening message sent to a carpet-bagger 
 who h ad become unbe ar able was sufficient to c ause him to resign or to sell 
 his offiee. In extreme cases there were whippings and killings, but such 
 instances were rare, simply because the milder methods were usually 
 effective. The former commander of the Central Circle in Perry 
 county, Alabama, says : "I have no knowledge of a single case of 
 violence by the Camelias and I was in a position to know if there were 
 
any. All we desired was to keep down lawlessness, ' and this was done 
 by the methods described above. "Its organization and discipline were,' ' 
 he states, "as perfect as human ingenuity could have made [them] ; four 
 hours would have been ample time to secure the assemblage, at any 
 central point, of a thousand resolute men who would have done the bid- 
 ding of their commander whatever it might have been been, yet in this 
 time [three years] no single act of violence was committed on the per- 
 son or property of a negro or alien by its order, or with its sanction or 
 endorsement,"* 
 
 The authority of the commander was absolute, and his bidding wa 
 done by members unknown to the other members of the circle. 'The 
 work for one community was performed by a circle from another com- 
 munity. In the Black Belt every white man of undoubted discretion, 
 was a member— judges, preachers, teachers, planters, etc. It was no 
 credit to a m an not to be a member, but very young m en were advised not 
 to join. The personnel of the membership was better than that of the Ku 
 Klux Elan, and less violence was committed. The name and disguise of 
 the Camelias were sometimes used by rascals and thieves, white and 
 black, to cover their crimes. After the, exodus of the carpet-baggers the 
 order was gradually disbanded.t 
 
 The Constitution arid the Eitual here reproduced were preserved by 
 Dr. Reid. of Marion, Alabama, who, when the order was disbanded, 
 buried his papers in the dirt floor of a smoke-house, and did not exhume 
 them until 1900. The best preserved printed copies known to be in 
 existence are those presented by Dr. Eeid to the State Historical Society 
 of Wisconsin. These have been examined for me by Mr. E. G. Thwaites, 
 and do not differ from the ones here reproduced, except in the titles 
 of officials. In the printed copies the titles of officers are not set out 
 in full but are indicated by initial letters, and in the Wisconsin copies 
 the initials are in several instances incorrect. Manuscript copies, and 
 extracts and memoranda made by members serve to correct the printed 
 editions and to furnish the fulltitles of officials. Dr. Eeid has furnished 
 me with a number of titles. The Constitution and the Eitual of the White 
 Camelia were never discovered and published in the newspapers as were 
 those of several similar orders. They are here reprinted for the first 
 time. To show the similarity of the secret orders the initiation oaths of the 
 White Brotherhood and the Invisible Empire are also reprinted. 
 
 *Statement of Dr. George P. L, Eeid, of Marion.iPerry county, Ala- 
 bama. See also Brown, Lower South, 212,215. 
 
 tl am indebted to Dr. G. P. L. Eeid, of Marion, Alabama, for much 
 information in regard to the White Camelia. Other ex-members have 
 related to me their recollections of the order and its methods of opera- 
 tion. The Ku Klux Testimony gives but little information concerning 
 this organization. But see Alabama Testimony, 9. 1282, 1283, and South' 
 Carolina Testimony, 23, 25, 102-105, 122. Coburn-Buckner Eeport (on Ala- 
 bamia'in 1874,) 882, 883, The Children of Issachar (anonymous) published 
 by Putnams, gives the popular outside conception of the White, Camelia;.* 
 Brown's -article in the Atlantic Monthly, May, 1901. reprinted in his 
 Lower Soutjb, is the best account of the Kxi Klux Movement and; the con- 
 ditions that caused it. '-'■ 
 
PREAMBLE. 
 
 Whereas, Radical legislation is subversive of the prin- 
 ciples of the Government of the United States, as originally 
 adopted by our fathers: 
 
 And whereas, our safety and our prosperity depend on the 
 preservation of those grand principles and believing that they 
 can be peacefully maintained: Therefore, we adopt the fol- 
 lowing — 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Title I. — Division of the Order. 
 
 Art. 1. This Order shall consist of a Supreme Council of 
 the United States, and of Grand, Central and Subordinate 
 Councils. 
 
 Title II. — Supreme Council. 
 
 Abt. 2. The Supreme Council shall be organized as soon 
 as five States shall have established each a Grand Council. 
 
 Art. 3. This Council shall be composed of delegates 
 from each State in which a Grand Council shall be established. 
 
 Art. 4. Bach State shall send to the Supreme Council 
 five delegates, whose appointment shall continue for one year, 
 and who shall be elected, from their own bodies, by the several 
 Grand Councils of the Order. 
 
 Art. 5. All P[ast] G[rand] C[ommanders] in good 
 standing shall be ex-offlcio members of the Grand Council, and 
 shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the mem- 
 bers of that body. 
 
 Art. 6. The Supreme Council shall hold its sessions in 
 the city of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, but may, by a 
 vote of two-thirds of its members, change its place of meeting 
 to any other city in the United States. 
 
— 9— 
 
 Akt. 7. The Supreme Council shall be the head of the 
 Order and the court of last appeal in all matters of disagree- 
 ment, except in cases hereinafter specified. It shall make all 
 laws for the general government of the Order; shall take cogni- 
 zance of all acts, and shall be the arbiter of all disputes which 
 may arise between the Grand and central councils of any 
 State, and Grand Councils and their G[rand] C[ommanders]. 
 
 Art. 8. The Officers of the Supreme Council shall be as 
 follows: 1. S[upreme C[ommander], 2. S[upreme] Lieuten- 
 ant] C[ommander], 3. S[upreme] S[entinel], 4. S[upreme] 
 Corresponding] Secretary], 5. S[upreme] Treasurer]. 
 
 Art. 9. The officers of the Supreme Council shall be 
 elected by ballot, and a majority of the votes shall be neces- 
 sary to elect. If one candidate only be nominated for any 
 office, he may be declared elected by acclamation. 
 
 Art. 10. In all elections where there shall be two or 
 more candidates put in nomination, the S[upreme] C[6m- 
 mander] shall appoint two tell«rs, who shall receive and count 
 the votes. 
 
 Art. 11. No blank or double vote, or vote cast for other 
 than the candidates regularly put in nomination shall be 
 counted. 
 
 Art. 12. The Supreme Council shall hold an annual ses- 
 sion in the city of New Orleans, or in such other place as may 
 be designated according to Article 6 of this Constitution, the 
 time to be fixed by the first Supreme Council. 
 
 Called sessions shall be held upon application, of three 
 Grand Councils; and the S[upreme] C[ommander], with the 
 concurrence of the S[upreme] Lpeutenant] C[ommander], 
 may, in all cases of emergency, convene the Supreme Council, 
 giving to the several Grand Councils due and timely notice of 
 such convocation. 
 
 Art. 13. The S[upreme] Corresponding] Secretary], 
 shall be a resident of the city in which the Supreme Council 
 shall be located. 
 
—10— 
 Art. 14. The S[upreme] Corresponding] Secretary], 
 with the concurrence of the S[upreme] L[ieutenant] C[om-' 
 mander], and the 8[upreme] S[entihel], shall have the power 
 to grant charters or dispensations, and to establish councils 
 in the several States of the Union. He may also, with the 
 concurrence of either of the above named officers, specially 
 delegate a member of the Order to establish councils in those 
 States in which there shall be no Grand Council; and the de- 
 legate so appointed shall adminster the obligation, install the 
 officers and do all acts necessary to organize such councils. 
 
 Art. 15. TheS[upreme] C[ommander] shall issue the 
 quarterly pass-word, giving notice to the G[rahd] C[ommand- 
 er] of each State, at least one month before the same is re- 
 quired to go into operation. He shall, also, select and make 
 known, in the same manner, to the G[rand] C[ommanders] of 
 the several States, a traveling pass-word, which shall not be 
 changed during the space of one year. These pass- words to be 
 transmitted in cypher enly. 
 
 Art. 16. All correspondence between Supreme, Grand 
 and central councils and between the officers thereof, shall be 
 in cypher. 
 
 Communications between central and subordinate councils 
 shall be verbal only. 
 
 Art. 17. The cypher of the order shall be axed by the 
 S[upreme] C[ommander], and transmitted to the G[rand] 
 C[ommanders] of the several States, who shall make it known 
 to the E[minent] C[ommanders] of the central councils under 
 their jurisdiction. 
 
 This cypher shall be communicated to the officers only of 
 the several Grand and central councils, and shall in no manner 
 be given to the subordinate councils. 
 
 Art. 18. The Grand Council which shall be establshed 
 
 in the State of Louisiana shall have all the powers of the 
 Supreme Council until the five Grand Councils shall have been 
 
— 11— 
 
 formed in the United States, when they shall proceed to es- 
 tablish a Supreme Council, according to the provisions of the 
 articles of this Constitution. 
 
 Title III.— Grand Councils. 
 
 Art. 19. There shall be, in each State, a Grand Council, 
 which shall be formed therein as soon as three central coun- 
 cils shall have been established within its limits. 
 
 This Council shall be composed of delegates from<the 
 several Counties or Parishes in which central councils shall 
 have been established. 
 
 Art. 20. The number of delegates which each Central 
 Council shall be entitled to send to the Grand Council shall be 
 in the ratio of one delegate for every thousand members of 
 the Order within its limits; Provided, That each central 
 council shall be entitled to send at least one delegate to the 
 Grand Council. 
 
 Art. 21. Each central council shall, at the time of the 
 election of delegates, elect alternates who, in the absence of 
 the regular delegates, shall actio their stead. 
 
 Art. 22. These delegates shall be elected by the several 
 central councils, from their own members, on the first Mon- 
 day in Eebruary of each year, and shall continue in office 
 during one year. 
 
 Art. 23. All P[ast] E[minent] C[ommanders] in the 
 State shall be ex-officio members of the Grand Council, and 
 shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the other 
 members of that body, except the right of voting. 
 
 Art. 24. The Grand Council of each State shall hold its 
 session at the metropolis of the State. 
 
 Art. 25. The Grand Council shall be the head of the 
 
 Order in the State in which it is formed. It shall have power 
 
 to issue charters for the formation of new councils within its 
 
 wn State. It shall be the first court of examination in all 
 
— 12-^- 
 
 matters of dispute between central council's' and their E[mi 
 
 nent] C[ommanders]. ■' It shall determine, without delay, all 
 
 appeals made by a member from the decision of a central 
 
 council. .-:.,.-.•, : . - 
 
 It shall regulate the financial affairs of the Order within 
 
 the State; and its orders and enactments, not inconsistent 
 with this constitution and with the laws and orders of the 
 Supreme Council, shall be binding on all central and subord- 
 inate councils of the State. 
 
 Aet. 26. The first central council established in any 
 State shall have all the powers of the Grand Council, until 
 three central councils shall have been formed in the State, 
 when they shall proceed to establish a Grand Council accord- 
 ing to the provisions of articles 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the con- 
 stitution: But no State shall be entitled to representation in 
 the Supreme Council until a Grand Council has been establish- 
 ed therein. 
 
 Aet. 27. A member of the Grand Council may be ex- 
 pelled from that body for sufficient cause, in accordance with 
 the provisions of Title VII of this constitution; and the effect 
 of such expulsion shall be to remand the expelled member for 
 duty to the central council by which he was delegated. 
 
 Aet. 28. At the first meeting of the Grand Council, it 
 shall fix the time of holding its regular sessions, which shall 
 not be oftener than once in every six months. 
 
 A called session shall be held on the. application of three 
 central councils, and the G[rand] C[ommander], with the 
 concurrence of the G[rand] L[ieutenant] C[ommander], may, 
 in case of emergency, convene the Grand Council, giving 
 timely notice of such convocation to, the several _ central coun-, 
 cils. 
 
 Aet. 29. The officers of the Grand Cquncjl shall be: 1. 
 A G[rand] C[ommander] 2. A G[rand] L[ieutenant] Com- 
 mander] 3. A G[rand] S[entinel] 4. A GJrand] Correspond- 
 ing] Secretary] 5. A G[rand] Treasurer]. ■ > - < 
 
—13— 
 
 Art. 30, The officers of the Grand Council shall be elect- 
 ed in the manner prescribed . by. articlesJS), 10 and, 11 of this 
 constitution for officers of the Supreme Council. 
 
 Art. 3L These officers may be chosen. either from the 
 body of the Grand Council or from among the. members of the* 
 several central councils of. the same State. 
 
 Art. 32. The G[rand] C[ommander] shall transmit the 
 pass-word and traveling passTWOrd to the E[minent] Com- 
 mander] of each central council, as sqonf as possible alter 
 having received it from the S[upreme] C[ommander]. 
 
 Title IV.— Central Councils- 
 
 . Art. 33. There shall, be, in ; each county or parish, a 
 central council, which shall be formed therein as soon as two 
 or more subordinate councils shall have been established. 
 
 Art; 34. This council shall be composed of the C[om- 
 mander],. L[ieutenant] C[ommander], and-G[uard] for the 
 time.beingy of tbe several subordinate councils in existence in 
 the couhty or parish. 
 
 Art. 35. The central council shall hold its sessions at the 
 seat of justice. of the county or parish. 
 
 Art. 36. The central, council shall be the head of the 
 Order in. the county or parish in which it is formed. It shall 
 have the power to. issue charters for the formation of new 
 councils within its own couhty or parish, and also in other 
 counties or parishes where no council. is organized. It shall 
 be the first court of examinatipn of ,all matters of dispute 
 between the subordinate, councils. and their C Commanders], 
 and it shall determine without delay all . appeals made by a 
 member from the decisions of a subordinate council. 
 ... ,. It shalLhave the power to collect, from subordinate coun- 
 cils within its, jurisdiction, ten per cent, of all mpneys col- 
 lected by them and shall preserve and expend fche same for the 
 good, Qt Jhe Order. 
 
Art. 37. The first council established in any county or 
 parish shall have all the powers of the central council, until 
 two councils shall have been formed therein, when they shall 
 proceed to establish a central council agreeably with the pro- 
 " visions of articles 33 and 34 of this constitution; but it shall 
 not be entitled to send delegates to the Grand Council. 
 
 Art. 38. A member of the central council may be ex- 
 pelled from that body for a sufficient cause, in accordance with 
 the provisions of Title VII of this constitution; and such 
 expulsion shall have the effect of remanding the expelled 
 member for duty to the council by which he was delegated, 
 and to vacate the office which he shall hold in said council. 
 
 Art. 39. The central council shall hold monthly meet- 
 ings, on such days as they may deem proper. 
 
 Galled meetings shall be held upon application of one sub- 
 ordinate council. The E[minent] C[ommander], with the 
 concurrence of the E[minent] L[ieutenant] C[ommander], 
 may be, in cases of emergency, convene the central council, 
 giving due notice of such convocation to the subordinate 
 councils. 
 
 Art. 40. The officers of the central council shall be: 1. 
 An E[minent] C[ommander], 2. E[minent] L[ieutenant] 
 C[ommander], 3. E[minent] S[entinel], 4. E[minent] Cor- 
 responding] Secretary], 5. E[minent] Treasurer]. 
 
 Art. 41. These officers shall be elected by the central 
 council in the same manner as is provided for officers of the 
 supreme Council, and shall hold their office during one year, 
 unless removed by a majority vote of their own body, under 
 the provisions of Title VII of this constitution 
 
 Art. 42. These officers may be chosen either from the 
 body of the central council or from among the officers of 
 Several subordinate councils of the same parish. 
 
 Art. 43. The E[minent] C|ommander] shall transmit 
 the pass-word and traveling pass-word to the C[ommander] of 
 
—15— 
 each subordinate council as soon as possible after he shall have 
 received the same from the G[rand] C[ommander], 
 Title V.— Councils. 
 
 Abt. 44. Councils may be formed when five candidates 
 have been elected and initiated for that purpose in any council. 
 
 Abt. 45. Councils may be established, in distant parts of 
 the State, by a member of the Order specially delegated for 
 that purpose by the G[randJ C[ommander] of the State; and 
 the delegate so appointed shall initiate the requisite number 
 of candidates, administer the obligations and install the 
 officers. 
 
 Art. 46. Councils only shall have the power to initiate 
 or receive members into the Order, except in cases provided 
 for in articles 12 and 45 of this constitution. 
 
 Art. 47. The officers of a council shall be: 1. A Com- 
 mander], 2. A L[ieutenant] C[ommander], 3. A Gr[uard], 
 4. A Secretary], 5. A Treasurer]. 
 
 Akt. 48. These officers shall be elected in the manner 
 prescribed for officers of the Supreme Council. 
 
 Art. 49. Elections for officers shall be held at the regular 
 meeting preceding the first Monday of January of each year, 
 and the officers elected shall remain in office during one year 
 from that day, or until their successors shall be elected and 
 installed. 
 
 Art. 50. At the first regular meeting of a council follow- 
 ing an election of officers, the P[ast] C[ommander] shall in- 
 stall the C[ommander] elect, who shall afterwards install the 
 other officers of the council. 
 
 Art. 51. All members shall be attached and shall belong 
 to the council in which they shall be initiated, until trans- 
 ferred to some other council. 
 
 Art. 52. Councils in the same county or parish shall be 
 designated by numbers, in the order in which they shall have 
 been established. 
 
—16— 
 
 Art. '53. Each council shall be divided into circles and 
 groups. Each circle shall consist of five groups and a Grand 
 Chief. Bach group shallbe composed of ten Brothers and a 
 Chief. 
 
 Art. 54. All orders from the council or its officers, to be 
 obeyed or executed by the body of its members, shall be trans- 
 mitted through the Grand Chiefs to the Chiefs of Groups 
 under their jurisdiction, who shall themselves transmit the 
 same to the members of their respective Groups.. 
 
 Art. 55. The Grand Chiefs and Chiefs shall be the com- 
 manders of their respective circles or Groups. 
 
 Art. 56. Immediately after the reception of this consti- 
 tution by the several Councils of this Order, the C[om 
 manders] shall proceed to divide- the members into circles 
 and. Groups, in the manner provided, taking care to make the 
 assignments in the manner most effective. 
 
 Art. 57. As soon as a member shall have been initiated 
 in a council; he shall be assigned to a Group and made ac- 
 quainted with the Chief from whom he shall receive his orders. 
 
 Art. 58. The C[ommander] of each council shall have 
 the power to appoint and remove the Grand Chiefs and Chiefs. 
 
 Title VI. — Qualifications and Applications for Member- 
 ship. 
 
 Art. 59. No person shall be admitted into this Order 
 who is not eighteen years of age and does not belong to the 
 White race. 
 
 Art. 60. No qualification of citizenship shall be required. 
 
 Art. 61. No one shall be approached with regard to ad- 
 mission into this Order until he shall have been duly elected 
 by the council in which it is proposed to initiate him. 
 
 Art. 62. The name of a candidate for admission shall be 
 proposed and. the vote upon his election shall be taken at one 
 meeting, at least, preceding that at which the council shall 
 initiate him. 
 
—17— 
 
 The council^ by 3, ; vote oftworthirdsi.of the members 
 present, may suspend this rule, so as to allow a candidate to 
 be initiated at the same meeting at which he shall have been 
 elected. 
 
 Art. 63. The vote upon the question of admission of 
 .candidates shall be by ballot. 
 
 Abt. 64. If one adverse vote is cast against a candidate, 
 the application made on his behalf shall be suspended until tjhe 
 next regular meeting of the council, when he shall be again 
 balloted for, separately from the other candidates; and if, at 
 this second ballot, two adverse balls shall appear against him, 
 he shall be rejected. 
 
 Abt. 65. There shall be no discussion on the question of 
 admission of a candidate, and the member voting against one 
 shall not be called upon to give any- reasons for his vote. 
 
 Abt. 66. A council may, at any time prior to the initia- 
 tion and for cause shown, reconsider the vote by which a 
 candidate was elected; and in such case, a new ballot shall be 
 taken, either at the same or at a subsequent meeting. 
 
 Abt. 67. It shall be the duty of the Secretary] of a 
 council by which a candidate shali have been finally rejected 
 to give immediate notice of such rejection to the E[minent] 
 •C[ommander] of the county or parish, who shall communicate 
 the same to all the councils under his jurisdiction. 
 
 Abt. 68. No candidate shall be initiated in any other 
 council than that to which he was proposed and by which he 
 was elected; Provided, That a candidate, who has been pro- 
 posed to, and elected by, several councils,, may be initiated in 
 any one of those electing him. 
 
 ( A.bt. 69. No person residing.in a county or parish where 
 there shall be one or several councils, of this Order, shall be 
 elected pr initiated in any other.cpunty or parish than that of 
 his residence. 
 
—18— 
 Title VII. — Charges against Officers and Members. 
 
 Art. 70. Whenever any chaTges involving removal or ex- 
 pulsion shall be made in writing against any officers of a sub- 
 ordinate council, or against any officer or member of the 
 Supreme Council, or of a Grand or central council, a committee 
 of five members shall be appointed for the purpose of investi- 
 gating the same. The committee shall hear the evidence 
 adduced, and shall report a full statement of the same to the 
 council, who shall act upon their report and render their judg- 
 ment at the meeting following that at which the report shall 
 have been presented. 
 
 Abt. 71. Pending this investigation the accused bha.ll be 
 suspended from the exercise of his rights, either as an officer 
 or as a member. 
 
 Abt. 72. The vote shall be taken upon each charge 
 separately. 
 
 Abt. 73. If a finding of guilty is voted, the vote shall im- 
 mediately be taken upon the following modes of punishment, 
 in the order hereinafter stated, viz: 
 
 1. Eemoval from office. 
 
 2. Expulsion from the Council. 
 
 3. Suspension from office. 
 
 4. Suspension from functions as a member of the Council. 
 Abt. 74. It shall require a majority of the votes cast for 
 
 a finding of guilty, a majority of three-fourths to expel, and a. 
 majority of two-thirds to suspend. 
 
 Abt. 75. All votes on questions arising under the provi- 
 sions contained in this Title shall be cast by secret ballot. 
 Title VIII. — General Provisions. 
 
 Abt. 76. The Order shall not, as a body, nominate, adopt 
 or support any candidate or set of candidates for any office of 
 honor, profit or trust under the Constitution of the United 
 States, or of any State, Parish, County or Municipal Corpora- 
 tion whatever. 
 
—19— 
 
 Art. 77. All orders and correspondence shall be dated at 
 
 M. C, and shall bear the year of the B computing from 
 
 the 23d of May, 1867, and counting said year as the first of the 
 year of the era.* 
 
 Art. 78. Each council shall have the right of establishing 
 its own By-laws and Begulations, not inconsistent with this 
 constitution. 
 
 Art. 79. The C[ommander] of each council shall report 
 to the central council, during the first week Of every quarter, 
 the condition of his council. These reports shall be consoli- 
 dated by the E[minent] Corresponding] Secretary] of the 
 central council, and a consolidated report thereof transmitted 
 to the Grand Council, whose G[rand] C Corresponding Secre- 
 tary] shall prepare and transmit a similar consolidated 
 reports to the Supreme Council. 
 
 Art. 80. The Officers of the Supreme, Grand and Central 
 Councils shall only be known to their intimate subordinates 
 and to the members of their respective councils. 
 
 Art. 81. The E[minent] C[ommanders] of the central 
 councils shall be authorized to grant a dispensation from the 
 oaths taken by members, when it shall be necessary to promote 
 the objects of the Order. 
 
 Title IX. — Amendments of Constitution and Questions 
 of Constitutionality. 
 
 Art. 82. This constitution shall not be amended unless by 
 a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Supreme Council; 
 and amendments shall not go into effect until ratified by two- 
 thirds of the Grand Councils of the order. 
 
 Art. 83. Whenever any resolution, order, by-law, decision 
 or vote of a council shall be opposed by any two of its mem- 
 bers, on the ground of its being in conflict with this constitu- 
 
 *Thus, the 20th of July. 1868, shall.be the 20th day of the 
 7th month of the 2d year of the fi. of the— 
 
mo- 
 tion, the same shall be referred jn writing to the council next 
 superior in grade,, who shall decide the question^and remand 
 it, with their decision in the premises. 
 
 The decision of a council on such a reference may also be 
 revised by a superior council oh the application of any two of 
 its members. ■•.■•!.-•■.. - , 
 
 Title X. — Ordinance. 
 
 Art. 84. For the purpose of organizing the Qrder under 
 this constitution, the several subordinate councils shall, on or 
 before the first Monday of July, 1868, proceed to the election 
 of the officers specified in article 47. 
 
 Art. 85. The officers of the subordinate councils consti- 
 tuting the several central councils shall, on the third, Monday 
 in July, 1868, meet and organize the respective central councils 
 and elect their officers and delegates to the Grand Council. 
 
 Art. 86. The officers elected by virtue of the two pre- 
 ceding articles shall remain in force until their successors, to 
 be elected at the first regular elections held under this con- 
 stitution, shall have been installed. . , 
 
 Art. 87. The first Grand Council elected under this con- 
 stitution shall meet in the city of New Orleans, on the second 
 Monday in August, 1868, and organize in the manner herein 
 provided for. 
 
 : A rt. 88, r : .Until the first.meeting of the first rand Council 
 established under this cpnstit.utapn, J and the election of the 
 first Grand officers, their respective powers and duties shall be 
 vested in the following Provisional Grand Officers and Execu- 
 tive Committee:' 
 
 1__* * Provisional G[rand] C[ommander] 
 
 2—* * Provisional G[rand]L [ieutenant] Cfommander] 
 
 3—* * Provisional,G[rand] S[entinel] 
 
 4—* * Provisional G[rand]C[orrespohding]S[ecretary] 
 "-"' '5*— * * Provisional G[rand] Treasurer] 
 ."•''■' committee ' "' 
 
 1 • * 3^* * 5 * * 7 * * 
 
 '2—*'* '''4-r-*'* ., 6—^:*' ' 8— '* * 
 
—21— 
 RITUAL. 
 
 Form of Initiation. 
 
 The candidate is introduced into the ante-room, where the 
 G[uard] shall-administer the following 
 
 Oath. 
 
 I do solemnly swear that I will true and faithful answers 
 make to all questions Which may be propounded to me, and 
 that if, in the course of the proceedings which are about to 
 take place, anything contrary to my views, feelings and prin- 
 ciples should induce me to forego the purpose of joining this 
 Association, I will always be under the most sacred obligation 
 never to reveal or cause to come to the knowledge of any one, 
 either by word, writing, sign, inference, or in any other 
 manner, what I may see, hear, understand, or suspect, within 
 this building, or in any other place, concerning this Associa- 
 tion. And if I ever do violate this Oath, I consent to become 
 an object of scorn to all men; and to deserve the lasting con- 
 tempt of all'the members of this Association. 
 
 The candidate is now blindfolded by the G[uard] and led 
 to the door of the Council Chamber. The G[uard]. shall give 
 two raps on the door. The L[ieutenant] C[ommander] shall 
 open the door, and, standing on the threshold, the following 
 dialogue shall take place between him and the G'fuard]: 
 
 Lfieutehanfc] C[omhiander]— Who comes there? Ans.— 
 G[uard]. A son of yourrace. 
 
 L[ieutenant] C[ommandeT] — "What does he wish? Ans. — 
 G[uard]. Peace and order; the observance of the Laws of 
 God; the maintenance, of the Laws and Constitution as estab- 
 lished by the Patriots of 1776. 
 
 L.[ieutenant] ,0 [ommander] —To obtain this, what must be 
 don§£ Ans.— G[uard]. , The cause of our. race must triumph- 
 • * ; L[ieu tenant] C [ommander]— And to secure its triumph 
 what must we do? Ans. — G[uard] . We must be united as are 
 the flowers that grow on the same stem, and, under all circum- 
 stances, band ourselves together as brethren. ' 
 
L[ieutenant] C[ommander]— Will he join us? Ans.— 
 <J[uard]. He is prepared to answer for himself, and under 
 oath. L[ieutenant] C[ommander]— Let him enter. 
 
 The G[uard] shall then take the candidate by the right 
 hand and conduct him into the presence of the C[ommander] 
 who shall propound the following questions, each of which 
 shall be answered in a manner satisfactory to the Council. 
 Should the candidate fail to answer any of these questions 
 satisfactorily, no further questions will be put to him, and he 
 shall immediately be made to retire blindfolded and dismissed 
 by the C[ommander]. 
 
 Previous to propounding the questions the C[ommander] 
 shall address the candidates as follows: 
 
 C[ommander]— My friends, it becomes my duty to pro- 
 pound to you certain questions which you are expected to 
 answer truthfully; and youradmission in the Order will depend 
 on your replies. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 (When several candidates are initiated together, the 
 C[ommander] will take care to use the plural number when- 
 ever necessary. The answers shall be prompted by the C[om- 
 mander]. 
 
 1. Do you belong to the white race? Ans— I do. 
 
 2. Did you ever marry any woman who did not, or does 
 not, belong to the white race? Ans. — No. 
 
 3. Do you promise never to marry any woman but one 
 who belongs to the white race? Ans. — I do. 
 
 4. Do you believe in the superiority of your race? Ans. — 
 I do. 
 
 5. Will you promise never to vote for any one for any of- 
 fice of honor, profit or trust, who does not belong to your race? 
 Ans.— I do. 
 
 6. Will you take a solemn oath never to abstain from 
 casting your vote at any election in which a candidate of the 
 
—23- 
 negro race shall be opposed to a white man attached to your 
 principles, unless or prevented by severe illness or any other 
 physical disability? Ans.— I will. 
 
 7. Are you opposed to allowing the control of the politi- 
 cal affairs of this country to go in whole or in part, iDto the 
 hands of the African race, and will you do everything in your 
 power to prevent it? A. — Yes. 
 
 8. Will you devote your intelligence, energy and influence 
 to the furtherance and propagation of the principles of our 
 
 •Order? A.— I will. 
 
 9. Will you, under all circumstances, defend and protect 
 
 -persons of the white race in their lives, rights and property, 
 against all encroachments or invasions from any inferior race, 
 and especially the African? A. — Yes. 
 
 10. Are you willing to -take an oath forever to cherish 
 these grand principles, and to unite yourself with others who, 
 like you, believing in their truth, have firmly bound them- 
 selves to stand by and defend them against all? Ans.— I am. 
 
 The C[ommander] shall then say: If you consent to join 
 •our Association, raise your right hand and I will administer to 
 j-ou the oath which we have all taken: 
 
 Oath. 
 
 I do solemnly swear, in the presence of these witnesses, 
 never to reveal, without authority, the existence of this 
 •Order, its objects, its acts, and signs of recognition; never to 
 reveal or publish, in any manner whatsoever, what I shall see or 
 ihear in this Council; never to divulge the names of the mem- 
 bers of the Order, or their acts done in connection therewith; 
 I swear to maintain and defend the social and political sup- 
 eriority of the White Eace on this Continent; always and in 
 all places to observe a marked distinction between the White 
 and African races; to vote for none but white men for 
 any office of honor, profit or trust; to devote my intelligence, 
 -energy and influence to instil these principles in the minds 
 
—24— 
 
 and hearts of others; and to protect and defend persons of the 
 White Race, in their lives, rights and property, against the 
 encroachments and aggressions of an inferior race. 
 
 I swear, moreover, to unite myself in heart, soul and body 
 with those who compose this Order; to aid, protect and de- 
 fend them in all places; to obey the orders of those, who, by 
 our statutes, will have the right of giving those orders; to 
 respond at the peril of my life, to a call, sign or cry coming 
 from a fellow-member whose rights are violated; and to do 
 everything in my power to assist him through life. And to 
 the faithful performance of this Oath, I pledge my life and 
 sacred honor. 
 
 The oath having been taken by the candidate, the C[om- 
 mander] shall now say: 
 
 Brother, by virtue of the authority to me delegated, I 
 now pronounce you a Knight of the [White Cameli*]. 
 
 The blindfold is now removed from the new Brother, and 
 the C[ommander] will instruct him in the principles of the 
 Order; and after having concluded his charge, shall add: 
 Brother, I now consign you to the L [ieutenant] C[ommander] 
 of this Council, who will instruct you as to the signs and other 
 means of recognition of this Association, and other details of 
 its organization and order.' 
 
 The L[ieutenant] C[ommander] shall now instruct the 
 new Brother as to the sign, cry, dialogue, rap, pass-words, &c, 
 &c, taking care to charge him particularly as to the circum- 
 stances and occasion of their use. He shall also inform him 
 of the mode of initiation and other details of order which he 
 is required to know. 
 
—25— 
 
 Order of Business. 
 
 The Older of Business, in the Councils of this Order, sha 
 oe as follows: 
 
 1. Initiation of Candidates. 
 
 2. Report of Committees, in the following Orders: 
 
 1. Standing Committees. 
 
 2. Special Committees. 
 ■3. Unfinished Business. 
 
 4. New Business. 
 
 5. Proposal of Candidates. 
 
 ■6. Be marks for the good of the Order. 
 
 Charge. 
 
 (This charge should, whenever practicable, be committed 
 to memory, so as to be delivered without reading from the 
 ■book. Should there be but one person initiated, the singular 
 ^should be substituted to the plural number used, whenever 
 jequired. ) 
 
 Brothers: You have been initiated into one of the most 
 important Orders, which have ever been established on this 
 -continent: an Order, which, if its principles are faithfully 
 •observed and its objects diligently carried out, is destined to 
 regenerate our unfortunate country and to relieve the White 
 Race from the humiliating condition to which it has lately 
 been reduced in this Republic. It is necessary, therefore, 
 that before taking part in the labors of this Association, you 
 should understand fully its principles and objects and the 
 duties which devolve upon you as one of its members. 
 
 As you may have already gathered from the questions 
 which were propounded to you, and which you have answered 
 so satisfactorily, and from the clauses of the Oath which you 
 have taken, our main and fundamental object is the MAIN- 
 TENANCE OF THE SUPREMACY OF THE WHITE RACE 
 in this Republic. History and physiology teach us that we 
 
— 26-- 
 belong to a race which rjature has endowed with an evident 
 superiority overall other races, and that the Maker, in thus 
 elevating us above the common standard of human creation, 
 has intended to give us over inferior races, a dominion from 
 which no human laws can permanently derogate. The ex- 
 perience of ages demonstrate that, from the origin of the 
 world, this dominion has always remained in the hands of the- 
 Caucasian Race; whilst all the other races have constantly 
 occupied a subordinate and secondary position; a fact whicrt 
 triumphantly confirms this great law of nature. Powerful 
 nations have succeeded each other on the face of the world,, 
 and have marked their passage by glorious and memorable 
 deeds; and among those who have thus left on this globe indeli- 
 ble traces of their splendor and greatness, we find none but de- 
 scended from the Caucasian stock. We see, on the contrary,, 
 that most of the countries inhabited by the other races have- 
 remained in a state of complete barbarity; whilst the small 
 number of those who have advanced beyond this savage exis- 
 tence, have, for centuries, stagnated in a semi-barbarous con- 
 dition, of which there can be no progress or improvement. 
 And it is a remarkable fact that as a race of men is more 
 remote from the Caucasian and approaches nearer to the black 
 African, the more fatally that stamp of inferiority is affixed 
 to its sons, and irrevocably dooms them to eternal imperfec- 
 tibility and degradation. 
 
 Convinced that we are of these elements of natural ethics,, 
 we know, besides, that the government of our Republic was- 
 established by white men, for white men alone, and that it 
 never was in the contemplation of its founders that it should 
 fall into the hands of an inferior and degraded race. We 
 hold, therefore, that ady attempt to wrest from the white 
 race the management of its affairs in order to transfer it to 
 control of the blaek population, is an invasion of the sacred 
 prerogatives vouchsafed tons by the Constitution, and a viola 
 
— 27i- 
 tion of the laws established by God himself; that such en- 
 croachments are subversive of the established institutions of 
 our Republic, and that no individual of the white race can 
 .submit to them without humiliation and shame. * 
 ( It, then, becomes our solemn duty, as white men, to resist 
 strenuously and persistently those attempts against our 
 natural and constitutional rights, and to do everything in our 
 power in order to maintain, in this Eepublic, the supremacy 
 of the Caucasian race, and restrain the black or African race 
 to that condition of social and political inferiority for which 
 God has destined it. This is the object for which our Order 
 was instituted; and, in carrying it out, we intend to infringe 
 no laws, to violate no rights, and to resort to no forcible 
 means, except for purposes of legitimate and necessary defense.) 
 
 As an essential condition of success, this Order proscribes^ 
 absolutely all social equality between the races. If we Were 
 to admit persons of African race on the same level with our- 
 selves, a state of personal relations would follow which would 
 unavoidably lead to political equality; for it would be a virtual 
 recognition of status, after which we could not consistently 
 deny them an equal share in the administration of our public 
 affairs. The man who is good enough to be our familiar com- 
 panion, is good enough also to participate in our political 
 government; and if we were to grant the one, there could be 
 no good reason for us not to concede the other of these two 
 privileges. 
 
 There is another reason, Brothers, for which we condemn 
 this social equality. Its toleration would soon be a fruitful 
 source of intermarriages between individuals of ihe two races; 
 and the result of this miscegenation would be gradual amalgama- 
 tion and the production of a degenerate and bastard offspring, 
 which would soon populate these States with a degraded and 
 ignoble population, incapable of moral and intellectual devel- 
 opment and unfitted to support a great and powerful country. 
 
—28— 
 We must' ir aintain the purity of the white blood, if we would 
 preserve for it that natural superiority with which God has 
 ennobled it. ■ 
 
 To avoid' these evils, therefore, we take the obligation 
 TO OBSERVE A MARKED DISTINCTION BETWEEN 
 THE TWO RACES, not only in the relations of public affairs, 
 but also in the more intimate dealings and intercourse of 
 private life which, by the frequency of their occurrence, are 
 more apt to have an influence on the attainment of the pur- 
 poses of the Order. 
 
 Now that I have laid before you the objects of this As- 
 sociation, let me charge you specially in relation to one of 
 your most important duties as one of its members. Our 
 statutes make us bound to respect sedulously the rights of the 
 colored inhabitants of this Republic, and in every instance, 
 to give to them whatever lawfully belongs to them. It is an 
 act of simple justice not to deny them any of the privileges to 
 which they are legitimately entitled; and we cannot better 
 show the inherent superiority of our race than by dealing 
 with them in that spirit of firmness, liberality and impartiali- 
 ty which characterizes all superior organizations. Besides, it 
 would be ungenerous for us to undertake to restrict them to 
 the narrowest limits as to the exercise of certain rights, with- 
 out conceding to them, at the same time, the fullest measure 
 of those which we recognize as theirs; and a fair construction 
 of a white man's duty towards them would be, not only to 
 respect and observe their acknowledged rights, but also to see 
 that these are respected and observed by others. 
 
 1'rom the brief explanation which I have just given you, 
 you must have satisfied yourselves that our Association is not 
 a political party, and has no connection with any of the or- 
 ganized parties of the day. Nor will it lend itself to the 
 personal advancement of individuals, or listen to the crav- 
 ings of any partisan spirit. It was organized in order to carry 
 
—29— 
 out certain great principles, from which it must n,ev,er swerve 
 by favoring private ambitions and political aspirations. 
 These, as well as all sentiments of private enmity, animosity 
 and other personal feelings : we must leave at the.door before 
 we enter this Council. You may meet here, congregated, to- 
 gether, men who belong to all the political organizations which 
 now divide, or may divide,, this country, you see some, whom 
 embittered feuds and irreconcilable hatred have long and 
 widely separated; they have all cast away these rankling 
 feelings to unite' cordially and zealously in the labors of our 
 great undertaking. Let their example be to you a useful 
 lesson of tbe disinterestedness and devotedness which should 
 characterize our efforts for the success of our, cause! 
 
 Brothers, I now consign you to the Lieutenant'Com- 
 mander of this Council, who will instruct you as to the signs 
 and other means of recognition of this Association and other 
 details of its organization and order. 
 
 The Lieut[enant] Commander will now instruct the new 
 Brothers as to the sign, grip, cry, dialogue, rap, pass-word, &c, 
 taking care to charge them particularly as to the circum- 
 stances and occasion of their use. He will also inform them o* 
 the mode of initiation and other details of order which they 
 are required to know 
 
—30— 
 
 Initiation Oath of the White Brotherhood. 
 
 You solemly swear in the presence of Almighty God that 
 you will never reveal the name o'f the person who initiated 
 you: and that you will never reveal what is now about to 
 come to your knowledge; and that you are not now a member 
 of the Red String Order, Union League, Heroes of America, 
 Grand Army of the Republic, or any other organization whose 
 aim and intention is to destroy the rights of the South, or of 
 the States, or of the people, or to elevate the negro to a politi- 
 cal equality with yourself; and that you are opposed to all 
 such principles: So help you God. 
 
 You further swear before Almighty God that you will be 
 true to the principles of this brotherhood, and the members 
 thereof; and that you will never reveal any of the secrets, 
 orders, acts, or edicts, and that you will never make known to 
 any person, not a member of this brotherhood, that you are a 
 member yourself, or who are members; that you will never 
 assist in initiating, or allow to be initiated, if you can prevent 
 it, any one belonging to the Red String Order, Union League, 
 Heroes of America, Grand Army of the Republic, or any 
 holding radical views or opinions; andshould any members of 
 this brotherhood; or their families be in danger, you will 
 inform them of their danger, and, if necessary, you will go to 
 their assistance; and that you will oppose all radicals and 
 negroes in all of their political designs; and that should any 
 radical or negro impose on, abuse, or injure any member of 
 this brotherhood, you - will assist in punishing him in any 
 manner the camp may direct. 
 
 You further Bwear that you will, obey 'all calls and sum- 
 mouses of the ehief of youjv camphor brotherhood," should it be 
 in your power so to do. 
 
 Given upon this your obligation, that you will never give 
 the word of distress unless you are in great need of assistance; 
 and should you hear it given by a brother, you will go to his 
 
—31— 
 or their assistance; and should any -member reveal any of the 
 secrets, acts, orders, or edicts of the brotherhood, you will 
 assist in punishing] him in any way the camp may direct or 
 approve of: So help you God.— Ku KImx Beport, South Caro- 
 lina Testimony, p. 653. 
 
 ath of the Invisible Empire. 
 
 I, before the great immaculate God of heaven and eartft, 
 iio take and subscribe to the following sacred binding oath 
 and obligation: I promise and swear that I will uphold and 
 defend the Constitution of the United States as it was 
 lianded down by cairi forefathers in its original purity. I 
 promise and swear that I will reject and oppose the princi- 
 ples of the .radical party in -all its -forms *-and forever maintain 
 and contend that intelligent white men shall govern this 
 country. I promise and pledge myself to assist, according to 
 my pecuniary circumstances, all brothers in distress. Females, 
 widows, and their households, shall ever be specially in my 
 ■care and protection. I promise and swear that I will obey 
 all] instructions given me by my chief, and should I ever 
 •divulge or cause to be divulged any secrets, signs or pass- 
 words of the Invisible-Empire, I -must meet "with the fearful 
 and just penalty of . the traitor, which is death, death, 4eath, 
 at the hands of my brethren, — Ku .Klux Beport, Hovth Caro- 
 lina Testimony:' Court Prodee'dirigs', p. '422. " 
 
-32— 
 
 West Virginia University 
 
 Announcements of the facilities and courses in the 
 following departments may be had by writing to the 
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 1. Arcs and Sciences. , 6. Military..- 
 
 2. Engineering-." 7. Music: 
 
 3. The Law. 8. Fine Arts. 
 
 4. Medicine. 9. Preparatory. 
 5 Agriculture, (including 10. Commercial. 
 
 Dairying, Borticulture, Vet- 11. The Summer School, 
 terinary Science, etc.) 
 
 D. B. PURINTON, Ph. D„ LL. D., President. 
 
 Morgantown, VA/. Y/a. 
 
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 Printing and Binding V V Those 
 who are interested in having work 
 of this sort done, are requested to 
 write tts for prices : : : 
 
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 Morgantown, - - West Va. 
 
 Ti~rr»i — n — ri ■ — ■ — ■ — i '~ i - m i i " 
 
West Virginia University Documents M'-. n 
 
 Relating to Reconstruction. Edited " 
 
 by Walter L. Fleming, Associate 
 Professor of History 
 
 REVISED and AMENDED PRESCRIPT 
 
 OF 
 
 KU KLUX KLAN 
 
 PRICE, 15 CENTS 
 
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 Morgantown, West Virginia 
 February, 1904 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 RELATING TO RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 In this series of reprints will be reproduced documents illustrating 
 the peculiar conditions, social, political and economic, that prevailed 
 in the Southern states during Reconstruction. The first numbers will 
 consist of documents relating to the KuKlux Movement; following these 
 will be published selections concerning the Freedmen's Bureau and the 
 Union League; and finally several numbers illustrative of social and 
 economic conditions under the " carpet-bag " governments will be printed. 
 Newspaper files, public documents and pamphlets and manuscripts from 
 private collections will furnish the material that is to be . reproduced. 
 Many of the documents are at present inaccessible to students who are 
 not in reach of large libraries, and some of them have never been pub- 
 lished. A special discount will be made on orders for class use. Annual 
 subscription. One Dollar. 
 
 One number will appear each month during the college year. The 
 following is a tentative list of titles: 1. The Constitution and the Ritual 
 of the Knights of the White Camella. 2. The Prescript of the Ku Klux 
 Klan ; The Revised and Amended Prescript of the Ku Klux Klan. 3. The 
 Constitution of the White League, the Council of Safety and similar 
 orders, i. Ku Klux Orders, Warnings, etc. 5. The Constitution, Ritual 
 and Catechism of the Union League. 6. Freedmen's Bureau Documents. 7 
 Schools and Churches During Reconstruction. Other titles will be added 
 to the list and substitutions will be made. Correspondence is invited in 
 regard to additions and substitutions. Address Walter L. Fleming, West 
 Virgnia University, Morgantown, W. Va. 
 
 Copyright 1904, 
 
 by 
 
 WAI.TER I, FILMING 
 
KU KLUX KLAISf. 
 
 TheKuKlux Klan was origin ateil in 1866 in Pulaski, Giles county. 
 Tennessee, by a number of young men who had served together in the 
 Confederate army. It was, at first, purely a social organization for thfe 
 purpose of affording amusement to the members who held secret meet- 
 ings, wore disguises, called their officials by fantastic titles, and 
 played pranks on the public, The initiation of new members afforded 
 much diversion : some of the ceremonies closely resembled those of the 
 well known college fraternity— Alpha Sigma Sigma— and one of the night 
 games was much like "snipe hunting." The mystery that surrounded 
 the operations of the Klan was alluring to the uninitiated and there 
 were many applications for membership, and later for the formation 
 of branch Klans or "Dens." In this way the organization spread 
 rapidly among the towns of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia. Mississippi, 
 and the Carolinas, The Pulaski Klan. or Den, was considered head- 
 auarters, but the connection between the different Dens was very loose. 
 With the spread of the order and the increase of membership its nature 
 and aims gradually changed. Many persons joined the order believing 
 that it had a serious purpose and could not forget their first impressions. 
 Some joined it foreseeing the possible use that might be made of it. The 
 Klan had not been long in existence when the mischievous members dis- 
 covered its influence over the negroes who were terribly afraid of the 
 sheeted ghosts. The need of such an organization in the disordered 
 condition of society caused the Dens to begin to exercise the duties of a 
 police patrol for regulating the conduct of impudent, thieving, and dis- 
 orderly negroes and similar "loyal" whites who belonged to a secret 
 political organization— tne Union' or Loyal League. The transition of the 
 Dens from social organizations to bands of regulators wasmade the more 
 easily because, in many parts of the South, there had been, since (lie sur- 
 render of the Confederate armies, bands of white" men that served as 
 neighborhood police or patrols keeping in check the plundering blacks 
 and the lawless wbites!\|rhese bands, absorbed into the Klan, completed 
 the change in' its objects and character, jind tbus ended its first period of 
 existence. By the spring of 1867 the Ku Klux Klan had become a wide- 
 spread, loosely organized body of regulators. 
 
— 4 — 
 
 The second period of the Klan's existence began when, in April or 
 May, 1867, in response to requests sent out by the Grand Cyclops of the 
 Pulaski Den, delegates from the Dens of several states met in convention 
 in Nashville for the purpose of consolidating the order and bringing the 
 various Dens under better discipline. The Pulaski Den had not been 
 able to exercise affective control over the other Dens, and violence and 
 disorder had resulted. The convention promulgated a constitution for 
 the order called the "PRESCRIPT OF * *'>which centralized the adminis- 
 tration and gave to the general officers the power of effective supervision 
 
 V 
 
 over the Dens. Copies were sent to the officials of the various divisions 
 who carried out the reorganization. Memphis was the headquarters of 
 the new order, but when copies of the Prescript were sent out to officials 
 there was no indication whatever of the origin on envelope or pamphlet. 
 The original Prescript contains little besides details of organization; 
 nothing concerning the objects of the order. 
 
 In 1868 there was issued a "REVISED AND AMENDED PRESCRIPT 
 OF THE ORDER OF * * *" which was printed secretly in the office of 
 the Pulaski Citizen. This document is reproduced below. It is longer 
 than the original Prescript and contains a general declaration of princi- 
 ples. The administration of the order was centralized still more and 
 absolute authority was given to the chief officer,— the Grand Wizard- 
 said to have been General N. B. Forrest. Most officers, formerly elective 
 were now made appointive. About this time, the carpetbag legislatures 
 of the Southern states began to pass laws making it a penal offense for 
 the editor of a newspaper to publish Ku Klux notices and orders, and 
 thus made it difficult to? maintain communication between the various 
 branches of the order. \The Ku Klux Klan operated principally in the 
 districts of the South where the whites were in the majority. In the hill 
 and mountain country there were "tories" who during the war committed 
 outrages upon Confederate sympathizers, and after the war continued 
 to harass the people. To exterminate these outlaws became one task of 
 the Klan. In some districts the Klan was simply an organization of the 
 Fnrrrr whitir prn ple for the pur pose of d riving the negro labor from the 
 more fertile lands which they wanted for themselves. \ lother causes of 
 the Ku Klux movement and the methods employed have been described 
 in the first number of this series.* 
 
 By 1869, the order had served its purpose and in many places its use- 
 fulness was at an end. The efforts made to destroy it had caused the 
 
 *No. 1. The Constitution and the Ritual of the Knights of the White 
 Camelia. »• 
 
more violent spirits to get control of affairs in many Dens and outrages 
 were committed. The order was used as an instrument in private Quar- 
 rels. Outlaws found that the name and disguise of the order afforded 
 them protection, and their crimes were done in its name. The best men 
 began to desert; and the Grand Wizard issued a final decree in March, 
 1869, disbanding the order and directing the destruction of all papers, 
 prescripts, and regalia belonging to the Klan, The members were 
 ordered to desist from "further meetings. Thus ended the second or 
 political period of the Klan's existence. The order was strictly obeyed* 
 where received and the destruction of Klan property was practically 
 complete. Already, after it had been made illegal to publish Ku Klux 
 notices and orders, the Klan had begun to disintegrate, each Den becom- 
 ing practically independent, and it is certain that, owing to the difficulty 
 of communication, some remote Dens never received the order of dis- 
 bandment.t 
 
 TsThe third period in the history of the Ku Klux Klan began with the 
 collapse in 1869 of the central administration. The Ku Klux movement 
 now divided. On the one hand, the lawless and violent element 
 committed many outrages, and the corresponding element in the Union 
 League used the name and disguises of the Klan to hide its midnight 
 maraudings. All outrages were attributed to the Ku Klux Klan. On 
 the other hand, the spirit of resistance to oppression which caused the 
 rise of the Klan still existed, and when the local conditions rendered it 
 necessary the local Den revived and again did its work. The methods 
 used during this period even by the best regulated Dens were harsher 
 than before. There was less scaring of negroes and warning of obnoxious 
 whites, and more beating and shooting of offenders- As long as the 
 carpet-bagger was in the land controlling the negroes, Ku Klux bands 
 were formed to protect the citizen against the results of his teachings, 
 The Ku Klux Movement went under various names; The Invisible 
 Empire, Ku Klux Klan, Constitutional Union Guards, Pale Paces, White 
 Brotherhood, White League, Knights of the White Camelia, and there 
 were scores of local orders. These organizations had no direct connection 
 with each other and even in the Klan the union" between Dens was loose, 
 and the Prescript was often used only to furnish names for the officers. 
 The spurious Dens were simply marauders, white and black, banded 
 together for plunder and outrage, and it was said were usually Radicals. 
 After the revolution lasting from 1874 to 1876 which secured the overthrow 
 
 tThe practice of issuing orders in military form was peculiar to the 
 Klan, though local orders sometimes followed its example in this respect. 
 
— 6 — 
 
 of the carpet-bag regime in the Southern states, the conditions which 
 caused the movement no longer existed and the movement collapsed.* 
 
 Of the original Prescript I know of but one copy in existence. Jt 
 was given tome by the late Ryland Randolph of Birmingham, Alabama, 
 and was reprinted in the September (1903) number of the Publications of 
 the Southern History Association. During the reconstruction period Mr. 
 Randolph was the editor of the Independent Monitor of Tuscaloosa, and 
 Grand Giant of the Province in Tuscaloosa County, Before his death 
 (1903) he gave me full information in regard to the Klan in Tennessee and 
 Alabama. The order reproduced below was written by him. "The 
 Revised and Amended Prescript" was not discovered by the various com- 
 mittees of investigation. In 1891, a copy was given to. the library of the 
 New York Southern Society by a lady in Nashville, and this copy came 
 later into the possession of Columbia University. Only one other copy is 
 known to have escaped destruction when the Klan disbanded. It was 
 reproduced in facsimile in the American Historical Magazine, January, 
 1900, The same plates are used in making this reprint. 
 
 *J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson, Ku Klux Klan. Its origin, Growth, 
 and Disbandment, Nashville, 1884. J. M. Beard, Ku Klux Sketches, 
 Philadelphia, 18T7. W. G. Brown, The Lower South in American History, 
 N, Y., 1902. The Ku Klux Report. 13 vols., Washington, 1872, gives many 
 details, true and untrue, of the Ku Klux Movement, and reproduces a 
 number of documents, Somers, Southern States Since the War, is ah 
 English traveller's account of the conditions in the South in 1870-71. Other 
 accounts are given in the Cambridge Modern History, VIII. c- 20, by 
 Theodore Clarke Smith; in Wilson's-History of the American People, V, 
 c 1; in Andrews' IT. S. in Our Own Time, and in Herbert s Solid South. 
 
REVISED AND AMENDED 
 
 PBESCBIPT 
 
 OF. THE 
 
 OEHBH 
 
 OF'THB 
 
 JgfiamMttnt guij.nm- i*(e//y Kn £ 
 
8 — 
 
 APPELLATION. 
 
 This Organization shall be styled and 
 denominated, the Order of the * * *. 
 
 CREED. 
 
 We, the Order of the * * .*, rever- 
 entially acknowledge the majesty and 
 supremacy of the Divine Being, and 
 recognize the goodness and providence 
 of the same. And we recognize our 
 relation to the United States Govern- 
 ment, the supremacy of the Constitu- 
 tion, the Constitutional Laws thereof, 
 and the Union of States thereunder. 
 
— 9 — 
 
 CHARACTER AND OBJECTS OF THE ORDER. 
 
 This fa an institution of Chivalry, Humanity, 
 Mercy, and Patriotism ; embodying in Its genius 
 and its principles all that is chivalric in conduct, 
 noble in sentiment, generous in manhood, and 
 patriotic in purpose ; its peculiar objects being 
 
 First : To protect the weak, the innocent, and 
 the defenceless, from the indignities, wrongs, and 
 outrages of the lawless, the violent,' and the 
 brutal ; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to 
 succor the suffering and unfortunate, and espe- 
 cially the widows and orphans of Confederate 
 soldiers. 
 
 Second: To protect and defend the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, and all laws passed in 
 conformity thereto,, arid to protect the States and 
 the people thereof from all invasion from any 
 source whatever. 
 
 Third : To aid and assist in the execution of 
 all constitutional laws, and to protect the people 
 from unlawful seizure, and- from trial except by 
 their peers in conformity to the lavs of the land, 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 TITLES. 
 
 Section 1. The officers of this Order shall- 
 consist of a Grand Wizard of the Empire, and 
 his ten Genii ; a Grand Dragon of the Realm, 
 
 3 
 
— 10 — 
 
 2!ec scire fas eel omnia. 
 
 and his eight Hydras ; a Grand Titan of the Do- 
 minion, and- his sir Furies; » Grand Giant of 
 the Province, and his four Goblins; a Grand'. 
 Cyclops of the Den, and his two Night-hawks ; a 
 Grand Magi, a.Grand Monk, a Grand Scribe, a 
 Grand Exchequer, a Grand Turk, and a Grand 
 Sentinel. 
 
 Sec. 2. The body politic of this. Order" shall 
 be known. and designated as. "Ghouls.". 
 
 ARTICLE II.: 
 
 TEBPITOJtY AND ITS DIVISIONS. 
 
 Section 1; The territory embraced within the 
 jurisdiction of this Order shall be coterminous 
 with the States of Maryland, Virginia, North. 
 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala- 
 bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas^ 
 Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee; all com- 
 bined constituting the .Empire. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Empire shall be divided into four 
 departments, the first to be styled the Realm,/ 
 and coterminus with the boundaries of the 
 several States ; the second to be styled the Do- 
 minion, and to be coterminous with. such, coun- 
 ties as the Grand Dragons of the several Realms 
 may assign to the charge of the Grand Titan. 
 The third to be styled the Province, and to be co» 
 terminous with the several counties ; provided', 
 the Grand Titan may, when he deems it neces- 
 sary, assign two Grand Giants to one Province,, 
 prescribing, at the same time, the jurisdiction of 
 
11 — 
 
 Amici humani generis. 
 
 each. The fourth department to be styled the 
 Den, and shall embrace such part of a Province 
 as the Grand Giant shall assign to the charge of 
 a Grand Cyclops. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 POWERS AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 
 
 GRAND WIZARD. 
 
 Section 1. The Grand "Wizard, who is the 
 supreme officer of the Empire, shall have power, 
 and he shall be required to, appoint Grand 
 Dragons for the different Realms of the Empire ; 
 and he shall have power to appoint his Genii, 
 also a Grand Scribe, and a Grand Exchequer 
 for his Department . and he shall have the sole 
 power to issue copies of this Prescript, through 
 his subalterns, for the organization and dissemi- 
 nation of the Order; and when a question of 
 paramount importance io the interests or pros- 
 perity of the Order arises, not provided for in 
 this Prescript, he shall have power to determine 
 such question, and his decision shall be final 
 until the same shall be provided for by amend- 
 ment as hereinafter provided. It shall be his 
 duty to communicate with, and receive reports 
 from, the Grand Dragons of Realms, as to the 
 condition, strength, efficiency, and progress of 
 the Order within tkeir respective Realms. And. 
 it snail further be his duty to keep, by his Grand 
 Scribe, a list of the names (without any caption' 
 or explanation whatever) of the Grand Dragons 
 of the different Realms of the Empire, and shall 
 
— 12 — 
 
 6 Quemeunque nuserum viderh, homincm sclas. 
 
 number such Realms with the Arabic numerals' 
 1, 2, 3, etc., ad fenem; and he shall direct and 
 instruct his Grand Exchequer as to the appro- 
 priation and disbursement he shall make of the 
 revenue of the Order that comes to his hands. 
 
 GRAND DEACON. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Grand Dragon, who is the chief 
 officer of the Realm, shall have power, and he 
 shall be required, to appoint and instruct a Grand* 
 Titan for each Dominion of his Realm, ( such 
 Dominion not to exceed three in number for any 
 Congressional District ) said appointments being 
 subject to the approval of the Grand Wizard of 
 the Empire; He shall have power to appoint 
 his Hydras ; also, a Grand Scribe and a Grand 
 Exchequer for his Department. 
 
 It shall be his duty to report to the Grand 
 Wizard, when required by that officer, the con- 
 dition, strength, efficiency, and progress of the 
 Order within his Realm, and to transmit, 
 through the Grand Titan, or other authorized 
 sources, to the Order, all information, intelli- 
 gence, or instruction conveyed to him by the 
 Grand Wizard for that purpose, and all such 
 other information or instruction as he may think 
 will promote the interest and utility of the Or- 
 der. He 6hall keep by his Grand Scribe, a list 
 of the names (without caption) of the Grand 
 . Titans of the different Dominions of his Realm, 
 and shall report the same to the Grand Wizard 
 when requhed, and shall number the Domiri-:' 
 
13 
 
 Magna est Veritas, et prevakbil. . 7 
 
 ion of his Realm with the. Arabic numerals 1, 2, 
 3, etc., ad finem.. And he shall direct and in- 
 struct his Grand Exchequer as. to the appropria- 
 , tion and disbursement he shall make of the reve- 
 nue of the Order that comes to his hands. 
 
 GRAND TITAN. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Grand Titan, who is the chief 
 officer of the Dominion, shall have power, and he 
 shall be required, to appoint and instruct a G rand 
 Giant for each Province of his Dominion, such 
 • appointments, however, being subject to the ap- 
 proval of the Grand Dragon of the Realm. He 
 shall have the power to appoint his Furies^ also, 
 a Grand Scribe and a Grand Exchequer for his 
 Department. It shall be his duty to report to 
 the Grand Dragon when required by that officer, 
 the condition, strength, efficiency, and progress 
 of the Order within his Dominion, and to trans- 
 mit through the Grand Giant, or other author- 
 ized channels, to the Order, all information, in- 
 telligence, instruction or directions conveyed to 
 him by the Grand Dragon for that purpose, and 
 all such other information or instruction as he 
 ■may think will enhance the interest or efficiency 
 of the Order. 
 
 He shall keep, by his Grand, Scribe, a list of 
 •the names (without caption or explanation) of 
 the Grand Giants of the different Provinces of 
 his Dominion, and shall report the same to the 
 Grand Dragon when required ; and shall num- 
 
14 — 
 
 8 Ne tenies mil peffice. 
 
 ber the Provinces of his Dominion With the Ar- 
 abic numerals I, 2, 3, etc., ad finem. And he 
 shall direct and instruct his Grand Exchequer 
 as to the appropriation and disbursement he shall 
 make of the revenue of the Order that comes to 
 his hands. 
 
 GRAND GIANT. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Grand Giant, who is the chief 
 officer of the Province, shall have power, and he 
 is required, to appoint and instruct a Grand Cy- 
 clops for each Den of his Province, such ap- 
 pointments, however, being subject to 'he ap- 
 proval of the Grand Titan of the Dominion! 
 And he shall have the further power to appoint 
 his Goblins ; also, a Grand Scribe and a Grand 
 Exchequer for his Department.' 
 
 It shall be his duty to supervise and admin- 
 ister general and special instructions in the or- 
 ganization and establishment of the Order within 
 Tiis .Province, and to report to the Grand Titan, 
 when required by that officer, the condition, 
 strength, efficiency, and progress of the Order 
 within his Province, and to transmit through the 
 Grand Cyclops, or other legitimate sources, to the 
 Order, all information, intelligence, instruction, 
 or directions conveyed to him by the Grand 
 Titan or other higher authority for that purpose, 
 and all such other information or instruction as 
 he may think would advance the purposes or 
 prosperity of the Order. He shall keep, by his 
 Grand Scribe, a list of the names (without cap- 
 
— 15 
 
 Quid faciendum f 9 
 
 tion or explanation) of the Grand Cyclops of the 
 various Dens of his Province, and shall report 
 the same to the Grand Titan when required ; and 
 shall number the Dens of his Province with the 
 Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3, etc., . ad finem. He 
 shall determine and limit the number of Dens 
 to be organized and established in his Province ; 
 and he shall direct and instruct his Grand Ex- 
 chequer as to the appropriation and disburse- 
 ment he shall make of the revenue of the Order 
 that comes to his hands. 
 
 GRAND CYCLOPS. 
 
 Sec. 5. The Grand Cyclops, who is the chief 
 officer of the Den, shall have power to appoint 
 his Night-hawks, his Grand Scribe, his Grand 
 Turk, his Grand Exchequer, and his Grand Sen- 
 tinel. And for small offenses he may punish 
 any member by fine, and may reprimand him 
 for tfie same. And he is further empowered to 
 admonish and reprimand his Den, or any of the 
 members thereof, for ar.y imprudence, irregu- 
 larity, or transgression, whenever he may think 
 that the interests, welfare, reputation or safety 
 of the Order demand it. It shall be his duty to 
 take charge of his Den under the instruction and 
 with the assistance (when practicable) of the 
 Grand Giant, and in accordance with and in con- 
 formity to the provisions of this Prescript — a 
 copy of which shall in all cases be obtained be- 
 fore the formation of a Den begins. It shall 
 
— 16 — 
 
 10 Fiut juullia rtial eaium. 
 
 further be his duty to appoint all tegular meet-' 
 ingg of his Den, and to preside- at the same; to 
 appoint irregular meetings 'when he deems it ex- 
 pedient ; to preserve order and enforce discipline 
 in his Den ; to impose fiiies for irregularities -or 
 disobedience of orders; and to receive and initi- 
 ate candidates for admission into the Order, after 
 the same shall have been pronounced competent 
 and worthy to become members, by the Investi- 
 gating Committee herein after provided for. 
 And it shall further be hie duty to make a quar- 
 terly report to the Grand Giant of the condition, 
 strength, efficiency, and progress of his Den, and 
 shall communicate to the Officers and Ghouls of 
 his Den, all information, intelligence, instruction, 
 or direction, conveyed to him by the Grand Gi- 
 ant or other higher authority for that purpose ; 
 and shall from time to time administer all such 
 other counsel, instruction or direction, as in his 
 sound discretion, -will conduce to the interests, 
 and more effectually accomplish, the real objects 
 and designs of the Order. 
 
 GRAND MAGI. 
 
 Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the Grand 
 Magi, who is the second officer in authority of 
 the Den, to assist the Grand Cycloi>s, and to obey 
 all the orders of that officer ; to preside at all 
 meetings in the Den, in the absence of the Grand 
 Cyclops ; and to discharge during his absence 
 all the duties and exercise all the powers and 
 authority of that officer. 
 
17 
 
 Dormihu aliquando jus, moriiia nunquam. 11 
 
 GRAND MONK. 
 
 Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the Grand 
 Monk, who is the third officer in authority of 
 the Den, to assist and obey all the orders of the 
 Grand Cyclops and the Grand Magi ; and, in 
 the absence of both of these officers, he shall pre- 
 side at and conduct the meetings in the Den, and 
 :shall discharge all the duties, and exercise all the 
 •powers and authority of the Grand Cyclops. 
 
 GRAND EXCHEQUER. 
 
 Sec. 8. It shall be the duty of the Grand Ex- 
 chequers of the_ different Departments to keep a 
 correct account of all the revenue of the Order 
 that comes to their hands, and of all paid out by 
 them ; and shall make no appropriation or dis- 
 bursement of the same except under the orders 
 and direction of the chief officer of their respect- 
 ive Departments. And it shall further be the 
 •duty of the Exchequers of Dens to collect the 
 initiation fees, and all fines imposed by the Grand 
 ■Cyclops, or the officer discharging his functions, 
 
 GRAND TURK. 
 
 Sec. 9. It .shall ,be the duty of the Grand 
 Turk, who is the executive officer of the Grand 
 Cyclops, to notify the Officers and Ghouls of the 
 Den, of all informal or irregular .meetings ap- 
 pointed by the Grand Cyclops, and to'obey.and 
 execute all the orders of that officer in. the con- 
 trol and government of his Den. It shall further 
 be his duty to receive and question at the -out- 
 
— 18 — 
 
 1 2 Qiueia nan movere. 
 
 poets, all candidates for admission into the Order, 
 and sliall there administer the preliminary obli- 
 gation required, and then to conduct such candi- 
 date or candidates to the Grand Cyclops, and to 
 assist him in the initiation of the game. 
 
 GRAND SCRIBE. 
 
 Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the Grand 
 Scribes of the different Departments to conduct 
 the correspondence and write the orders of the 
 Chiefs of their Departments, when required. 
 And it shall further be the duty of the Grand 
 Scribes of Dens, to keep a list of the names 
 (without any caption or explanation whatever) 
 of the Officers and Ghouls of the Den, to call the 
 roll at all meetings, and to make the quarterly 
 reports under the direction and instruction of the 
 Grand Cyclops. 
 
 GRAND SENTINEL 
 
 Sec 11. It shall be the duty of the Grand 
 Sentinel to take charge of post, and instruct the 
 Grand Guard, under the direction and orders of 
 the Grand Cyclops, and to relieve and dismiss 
 the same when directed by that officer. 
 
 THE STAFF. 
 
 Sec. 1 2. The Genii shall constitute the staff of 
 the Grand Wizard ; the Hydras, that of the 
 Giftnd Dragon ; the Furies, that of the Grand 
 Titan ; the Goblins, that of the Grand Giant ; 
 and the Wghlrhawkg, that of the Grand Cyclops. 
 
19 
 
 Quid veium tUqiie d&ens. 13 
 
 REMOVAL. 
 
 Sec. 13. For any just, reasonable and sub- 
 stantial cause, any appointee may be removed by 
 the authority that appointed him, and his place* 
 supplied by another appointment. 
 
 ARTICLE IV 
 
 ELECTION OF 0FFICE3S. 
 
 . Section 1. The Grand Wizard shall be elected 
 biennially by the Grand Dragons of Realms. 
 The first election for this office to take place on 
 the 1st Monday in May, 1870, (a Grand Wizard 
 having been created, by the original Prescript, 
 to serve three years from the 1st Monday in May, 
 1867); all subsequent elections to take place every 
 two years thereafter. And the incumbent Grand 
 Wizard shall notify the Grand Dragons of the 
 different Realms, at least six months before said 
 election, at what time and place the same will 
 be held; a majority vote of all the Grand 
 Dragons present being necessary and sufficient to 
 elect a Grand Wizard. Such election shall be 
 by ballot, and shall be held by three Commis- 
 sioners appointed by the Grand Wizard for that 
 purpose; and in the event of a tie, the Grand 
 Wizard shall have the casting-vote. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Grand Magi and the Grand Monk 
 of Dens shall be elected annually by the Ghouls 
 of Dens; and the first election for these officers 
 may take place as soon as ten Ghouls have been 
 initiated fer the formation of a Den.' All subee- 
 
— 20 — 
 
 14- Art est /i&lare artcm, 
 
 quent elections 1o take pla'oe every year, there- 
 after. 
 
 Sec.3. In the event of a vocancv in the office, 
 of Grand Wizard, by death, resignation, removal, 
 or otherwise, the senior Grand Dragon of the 
 Empire shall immediately assume and' enter 
 tipon thi) discharge of the duties of the Grand 
 Wizard, and shall exercise the powers and per- 
 form the duties of. said office until the same shall 
 be filled by election; and the said senior Grand 
 Dragon, as soon as' practicable after the happen- 
 ing of such vacaney, shall call ■ a convention o I 
 the Grand Dragons of . Realms, to be held at 
 such time and place as. iri his discretion he may 
 deem most convenient and proper. Provided, 
 'however, that the time for assembling such Con- 
 vention for the election of a Grand Wizard shall 
 in no case exceed. six months from the time *uch 
 Vacancy occurred; and in the event of a va-' 
 cancy in any other office, the same shall imme- 
 diately be filled in the manner herein before 
 mentioned. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Officers heretofore elected or ap- 
 pointed may retain their offices during the time 
 for which they have been so elected or appointed, 
 at the expiration of which time said offices shall 
 be filled as hcrein-before provided. 
 ARTICLE V 
 
 JUDICIABY. 
 
 Section 1. The Tribunal of Justiee of this 
 Order shall consist of a Court at the Head-quar- 
 
— 21 — 
 
 JVtie qaam. tula _/Wes. . 1 5 
 
 ters of the Empire, tlie Realm, the Dominion, the 
 Province, and the Den, to he appointed by the 
 Chiefs of these several Departments. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Court at the Head-quarters o? % 
 . the Empire shall consist of three Judges for the 
 trial of Grand Dragons, and the Officers and at- 
 taches belonging to the Head-quarters of the 
 Empire. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Court at the Head-quai ters of the 
 Eealm shall consist of. three Judges for the trial, 
 of Grand Titans, and the Officers and attaches- 
 belonging to the Head-quarters of the Eealm. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Court at the Head-quarters of the 
 Dominion shall consist of three Judges for the 
 trial of Grand Giants, and the Officers and at- 
 taches belonging to the Head- quarters of the 
 Dominion. 
 
 Sec. 5. The Court at the Head-quarters of the 
 Province shall consist of five Judges for the 
 trial of Grand Cyclops, the Grand Magis, Grand 
 Monks, and the Grand Exchequers of Dens, and. 
 the Officers and attaches belonging to the Head- 
 quarters of the Province. 
 
 Sec. 6. The Court at the Head-quarters of the 
 Den shall consist of seven Judges- appointed 
 from the Den for the trial of Ghouls and the. 
 officers belonging to the Head quarters of the Den. 
 Sec. 7. The Tribunal for the trial of the Grand 
 Wizard shall be composed of at least seven. Grand 
 Dragons, to be convened by. the senior Granti- 
 Dragon upon charges being preferred against (.be 
 
22 
 
 16 Fide non amis. 
 
 Grand Wizard ; which Tribunal shall be organ- 
 ized and presided over by the senior Grand 
 Dragon present; and if they find the accused 
 guilty, they shall prescribe the penalty, and the 
 senior Grand Dragon of the Empire shall cause 
 the same to be executed. 
 
 Sec. 8. The aforesaid Courts shall summon 
 the accused and "witnesses for and against him, 
 and if found guilty, they shall prescribe Ihe pen- 
 alty, and the Officers convening the Court shall 
 cause the same to be executed. Provided the ac- 
 cused shall always have the right of appeal to 
 the next Court above, whose decision shall be 
 final. 
 
 Sec. 9. The Judges constituting the aforesaid 
 Courts shall be selected with reference to their 
 intelligence, integrity, and fair-mindedness, and 
 shall render their verdict without prejudice, 
 favor, partiality, or affection, and. shall be s 
 sworn, upon the organization of the Court ; and 
 shall further be sworn to administer even-handed 
 justice. 
 
 Sec. 10. The several Courts herein provided 
 for shall be governed in their deliberations, pro- 
 ceedings, and judgments by the rules and regu- 
 lations governing, the proceedings of regular 
 Courts-martta). 
 
 A.KTICLE VI. 
 
 BEVEHUE. 
 
 Section 1. The revenue of this Order shall be 
 derived as follows; For every copy of this Pre- 
 
23 
 
 IDat Dew >r>4 yuoqws /toom, 17 f 
 
 script ifiufcd to Dens, §10 will be required; $2: 
 of "rhich shall go into the hands of the Grand, 
 Exchequer of the Grand Giant, $2 into the hands 
 of the Grand Exchequer of the Grand 'f itan, 
 $2 into the hands of the Grand Exchequer of 
 the Grand Dragon, and the. remaining $4 into 
 the hands of the Grand Exchequer of the Grand 
 "Wizard. 
 
 Sec. 2. A further source of revenue to the 
 Empire shall be ten per cent, of all the revenue i 
 of the Realms, and a tax upon Realms when the' 
 Grand Wizard shall deem it' necessary and in- 
 dispensable to levy the same. 
 
 Sec. 3. A further source of revenue to Realms 
 shall be ten per cent, of all the revenue of Do- ! 
 minions, and a tax upon Dominions when the 
 Grand Dragon shall deem it necessary and in- 
 dispensable to levy the same. 
 
 Sec. 4. A further source of revenue to Domin- 
 ions shall be ten per cent, of all the revenue of 
 Provinces, and a tax upon Provinces when the 
 Grand Giant shall deem such tax necessary and 
 indispensable. 
 
 Sec. 5. A further source of revenue to Provin- 
 ces shall be ten per cent, of all the revenue of 
 Dens, and a tax upon Dens when the Grand 
 Giant shall deem such tax necessary and indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 ■ Sec. 6. The source of revenue to Dens shall 
 be the initiation fees, fines, and a per capita tax, 
 whenever the Grand Cyclops shall deem such 
 
24 — 
 
 3 8 Ccssante causa, cessat effectfis. 
 
 tax necessary and indispensable to the interests 
 and objects of the Order. 
 
 Sec. 7. All the revenue obtained in the man- 
 ner aforesaid, shall be for the exclusive benefit of 
 the Order, and shall be appropriated to the 
 dissemination of the same and to the creation of 
 a fund to meet any disbursement that it may.be- 
 come necessary to make to accomplish the ob- 
 jects of the Order and to sec jre the protection of 
 the same. 
 
 AKTICLE VII. 
 
 ELIGIBILITY FOR MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 Section 1. No one shall be presented for ad- 
 mission into the Order until he shall have first 
 been recommended by some friend or intimate 
 who is a member, to the Investigating Commit- 
 tee, (which shall be composed of the Grand Cy- 
 clops, the Grand Magi, and the Grand Monk,) 
 and who shall have investigated his antecedents 
 and his past and present standing and connec- 
 tions ; and after such investigation, shall have 
 pronounced him competent and worthy to become 
 a member. Provided, no one shall be presented. 
 for admission into, or become a member of, this 
 Order who. shall not have attained the age of 
 eighteen ^-ears. 
 
 Sec. 2. No one shall become a member of this 
 Order unless he shall voluntarily take the follow- 
 ing oaths or obligations, and shall satisfactorily 
 answer the following interrogatories, while kneel- 
 
— 25 — ■ 
 
 Cave quid dicis, quando, et cut. 1 9, 
 
 ■ing, with his right hand raised to heaven, and 
 liis left hand resting on the Bible : 
 
 PRELIMINARY OBLIGATION. 
 
 " I solemnly swear or affirm that I will 
 
 never reveal .any thing that I may this day (or 
 night) learn concerning the Order of the * * *, 
 ,and that I will true answer make to such interrog- 
 atories as may be put to me touching my com- 
 petency for admission into the same. So help 
 me God." 
 
 INTERROGATORIES TO BE ASKED : 
 
 1st. Have you ever been rejected, upon appli- 
 cation for membership in the * * *, or have you 
 ever been expelled from the same ? 
 
 2d. Are you now, or have you ever been, a 
 member of -the Radical Republican party, or 
 either of the organizations known as the "Loyal 
 League "and the. "Grand Army of the Re- 
 public?"- 
 
 3d. Are you opposed to the principles and 
 policy of the Radical party, and to the Loyal 
 League, and the Grand Army of the Republic, 
 so far as you are informed of the character and 
 purposes of those organizations ? 
 
 1th. Did you belong to the Federal army 
 during the late war, and fight against the South 
 during the existence of the same ? 
 
 5th. Are you opposed to negro equality, both 
 social and political ? 
 
 6th. Are you in favor of a white man's gov- 
 ernment in this country ? 
 
26 
 
 20 Nemo tenetur. seipsum acctuxwe. 
 
 7th. Are you in favor of Constitutional liberty, 
 and a Government cf equitable laws instead of a 
 Government of violence and oppression? 
 
 8th. Are you in favor of maintaining the Con- 
 stitutional rights of the South? 
 
 9th. Are you in favor of the. rt-enfranchise/- 
 ment and emancipation of the white men ' of 
 the South, and the restitution of the Southern 
 people to all their rights, alike proprietary, civil, 
 and political? 
 
 10th. Do you believe in the inalienable right 
 of self-preservation of the people against the ex- 
 ercise of arbitrary and unlicensed power ? 
 
 If the foregoing interrogatories are satisfacto- 
 rily answered, and the candidate desires to go 
 further (after something of the character and na- 
 ture of the Order has thus been indicated to him) 
 and to be admitted to the benefits, mysteries, 
 secrets and purposes of the Order, he shall then 
 be required to take the following final oath or 
 obligation. But if said interrogatories are not 
 satisfactorily answered, or the candidate declines 
 to proceed further, he shall be discharged, after 
 being solemnly admonished by the initiating offi- 
 cer of the deep secresy to which the oath already 
 taken has bound him, and that the extreme pen- 
 alty of the law will follow a violation of the same. 
 
 PIJTAL OBLIGATION • 
 
 " I of my own free will and acqotd, 
 
 and irj the presence of Almighty Gp4, do sp'l- 
 eimnly swear or afnrm.'that I will never repeal to 
 
- 27 — 
 
 Deo adjut/anie, nop limendum. 21 ' 
 
 any one not a member of the Order of the * * *, 
 by any. intimation, sign, symbol, word or act, or 
 in any other manner whatever, any of the secrets, 
 sjgjis, grips, j>ass- words, or mysteries of 'the Qrder- 
 of the'"* * '*, or that I am a member of the same, 
 or that I know any one who is a member ; and 
 that I will abide by the Prescript ! and Edicts of 
 the Order of the * *■*.'■ £0 help me God. " 
 
 The initiating officer will Jlien proceed to ex- 
 plain to the new members.the character and ob- 
 jects of the Order, and introduce him to. the mys- 
 teries and secrets of the same ; and shall read to 
 him this Prescript and the Edicts thereof, or 
 present the 6ame to him for personal perusal. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 
 AMENDMENTS, 
 
 This Prescript or any part or Edicts thereof 
 shall never be changed, except by a two-thirds 
 vote of the Grand Dragons of the Realms, jn 
 convention assembled, and at which convention 
 the Grand Wizard shail preside and be entitled 
 to a vote. And upon the application of a ma- 
 jority of the Grand Dragons for that purpose, the 
 Gratid Wizard shall call and appoint the time 
 and place for said convention ; which, when as- 
 sembled, shall proceed to make such modifica- 
 tions and amendments as it may think will 
 promote . the interest,, enlarge the utility, and 
 more thoroughly effectuate the purposes of the 
 Order 
 
— 28 — 
 
 22 Syeaemm agendo. 
 
 AKTICLE IX. 
 
 ISTERDICTIOW. 
 
 The origin, mysteries, and Bitual of this Order 
 shall never be written, but ihe same shall be 
 communicated orally^ 
 
 AKTICLE X. 
 
 EDICTS. 
 
 .1. No one shall become a member of a distant 
 Den, when there is a Pen established and in ope-, 
 ration in his own immediate vicinity ; nor shall 
 any one become a member of any Den, or of this 
 Order in any way. after he shall have been once, 
 rejected, upon application for membership. 
 
 2. So Den, or officer, or member, or members, 
 thereof, shall operate beyond their prescribed 
 limits, unless invited or ordered by the proper 
 authority so to do, 
 
 3. No member shall be allowed to take any 
 intoxicating spirits. to any meeting of the Den; 
 nor shall any member be allowed to attend a 
 meeting while intoxicated; and for every ap- 
 pearance at a meeting in such condition, lie shall 
 be fined the sum of not less than one nor more 
 than five dollar's, to go into the revenue of the 
 Order. 
 
 ' J4. Any member may be expelled from the 
 Order by a majority vote of the Officers and 
 Ghouls of the Den to which lie belongs ; and if 
 after such expulsion, such member shall assume 
 any of the duties, regalia, or insignia of the Or- 
 
— 29 — 
 
 Nemo nvs impune Utcissit. 33 
 
 der, or in any way claim to be a member of the 
 same, he shall be severely punished. His obli- 
 gation of secrecy shall be as binding upon him 
 after expulsion as before, and for any revelation 
 made' by him thereafter, he shall be held ac- 
 countable in the same manner as if lie were then 
 a member. 
 
 5. Upon the expulsion of any member from 
 the Order, the Grand Cyclops, or the officer act-, 
 ing in his stead, shall immediately report the 
 same to the Grand Giant of the Province, who 
 shall cause the fact to be made known and read 
 in each Den of his Province, and shall transmit 
 the same, through the proper channels, to the 
 Grand Dragon of the Realm, who shall cause it 
 to be published to every Den in his Realm, and 
 shall notify the Grand Dragons of contiguous 
 'Realms of the same. 
 
 6. Every Grand Cyclops shall read, or cause 
 to be read, this Prescript and these Edicts to his 
 Den, at least once in even month ; and shall read 
 them 'to each new member when he is initiated, 
 or present the same to him for personal perusal. 
 
 7. The initiation fee of this Order shall be one 
 dollar, to be paid when the candidate is initiated 
 and received into the Order. 
 
 8. Dens may make such additional Edicts for 
 their control and government as they may deem 
 requisite and necessary. Provided, no Edict 
 shall be made to conflict with any of the. provi- 
 sions or Edicts of this'Prescript 
 
30 
 
 2* 
 
 Ad iiniini cminei. 
 
 9. The most profound and rigid secrecy con- 
 cerning any and everything that relates to the 
 Order, shall at. all times, be: maintained; 
 
 10. Any member who shall reveal or ^betray, 
 the secrets of this Order, shall suffer the extreme 
 penalty of the law. 
 
 ADMONITION.' 
 
 Hush! thoii art. not to utter what I anY; ^be- 
 think thee ! it was our covenant! 
 
 
 REQIS.TER. 
 I. 
 
 7. Painful, 
 
 8. Portentous;, 
 
 9. Fading, 
 „10. Melancholy, 
 
 11. Glorious, 
 
 12. Gloomy.-' 
 
 1. Dismal, 
 
 2. Mystic, 
 
 3. Stormy, 
 
 4. Peculiar, 
 
 5. Blooming, 
 
 6. Brilliant, 
 
 
 II. 
 
 I. White, II. 
 v. Purple, 
 
 Greetf, ill. Yellow, ty. Amber, 
 vi. Crimson, vil. Emerald. 
 
 l.Fcarlul, 
 2. Startling, . 
 % Wonderful 
 .4. Alarming, 
 5. Mournful,. 
 <5. Appalling, 
 
 III.\: 
 
 7. Hideous, 
 
 8. Frightful, 
 
 9. Awful, 
 
 10. Horrible; 
 
 11. Dreadful, 
 
 12. Last: 
 
 
 IV, 
 
 
 Cumberland.. 
 
 li'EWVOI. 
 
 To The lovers, of law and order, peace and jus- 
 tice^ we send greeting; and' to the shades 6i' the 
 venerated dead we affectionately dedicate 1 the, 
 Order of the * * * 
 
— 31 
 
 A KU KLUX ORDER. 
 
 [The Ku KIux order here reproduced is typical. It. was first posted on the 
 the streets of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and later reprinted in the newspapers. It was 
 at once an order and a notice to the members of the Klan, and a warning to 
 offenders. Part of the order was in cipher, the rest was sheer nonsense, 
 -calculated to alarm the carpet-bagger and cause him to leave the country. It 
 -was rarely necessary to send more than one order to an obnoxious person].* 
 
 KU KLUX, 
 
 Hollow Hell. Devil's Den, Horrible 
 Shadows. Ghostly Sepulchre. 
 Head Quarters of the Immortal Ate 
 of the K. K. K. Gloomy Mouth. Bloody 
 Moon. Black Night. Last hour, 
 Senegal Orders No. 3. 
 
 Shrouded Brotherhood! Murdered heroes! 
 
 Fling the bloody dirt that covers you to the four winds! Erect thy 
 ■Goddess on the banks of the Avernus. Mark well yourfoes! Strike with 
 the redhot spear! Prepare Charon for his task! 
 
 Enemies reform ! The skies shall be blackened ' A single Star shall 
 look down upon horrible deeds ! The night owl shall hoot a requiem o'er 
 Ghostly Corpses ! 
 
 Beware! Beware! Beware! 
 
 The Great Cyclops is angry! Hobgoblins report! Shears and lash! 
 Tar and Feathers! Hell and Fury! 
 Revenge! Eevenge! Revenge! 
 Bad men! white, black, yellow, repent! 
 
 The hour is at hand! Be ye ready! Life is short! J. H. S. Y. W!! 
 Ghosts! Ghosts!! Ghosts!!! 
 
 Drink thy tea made of distilled hell, stirred with the lightning of 
 heaven, and sweetened with the gall of thine enemies! 
 All will be well!!! 
 
 By order of the Great 
 
 BLUFUSTIN 
 G. S. K. K. K. 
 
 A true copy v 
 t Peterloo 
 
 P. S. K.K.K. 
 
—32— 
 
 ....West Virginia University...- 
 
 Announcements of the facilities and courses in the 
 following departments may be had by writing to the 
 President : 
 
 1. Arts and Sciences. 6. Military. 
 
 2. Engineering. 7. Music. 
 
 3. The Law. 8. -Fine Arts. 
 
 i. Medicine. 9. Preparatory. 
 
 5 Agriculture, (Including 10. Commercial. 
 
 Dalrylng,Hortlculture,Vet- 11. The Summer School. 
 
 terinary Science, etc.) 
 
 D. B. PURINTON. Ph. D„ LL. D., President. 
 Morgantown, W/. \/a. 
 
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 *e*,&*t*i*ti* ii i w <i f*f+*f**fm~n*ft* M m** nmw **mr* • i rrwrwr w r* 
 
West Virginia University Documents ^_ ,- 
 
 Relating to Reconstruction. Edited «5 
 
 by Walter I,. Fleming, Associate 
 Professor of History 
 
 UNION LEAGUE DOCUMENTS 
 
 PRICE, 15 CENTS 
 
 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, ONE DOLLAR 
 
 Morgantown, West Virginia 
 1904 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 RELATING TO RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 In this series of reprints will be reproduced documents illustrating 
 the peculiar conditions, social, political and economic, that prevailed 
 In the Southern states during Reconstruction. The first numbers will 
 consist of documents relating to the Ku Klux Movement; following these 
 will be published selections concerning the Freedmen's Bureau and the 
 Union League ; and finally several numbers illustrative of social and 
 economic conditions under the "carpet-bag " governments will be printed. 
 Newspaper files, public documents and pamphlets and manuscripts from 
 private collections will furnish the material that Is to be reproduced- 
 Many of the documents are at present inaccessible to students who are 
 not in reach of large libraries, and some of them have never been pub- 
 lished. A special discount will be made on orders for class use. Annual 
 subscription, one Dollar. 
 
 One number will appear each month during the college year. The 
 following is a tentative list of titles: 1. The Constitution and the Ritual 
 of the Knights of the White Camelia. 2. The Prescript of the Ku Klux 
 Klan ; The Revised and Amended Prescript of the Ku Klux Klan. 3. The 
 Constitution of the White League, the Council of Safety and similar 
 orders, i. Ku Klux Orders, Warnings, etc. 5. The Constitution, Ritual 
 _ and Catechism of the Union League. 6. Freedmen's Bureau Documents. 7 
 Schools and Churches During Reconstruction. Other titles will be added 
 to the list and substitutions will be made. Correspondence is invited in 
 regard to additions and substitutions. Address Walter L. Fleming, West 
 Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va. 
 
 Copyright 1904, 
 by 
 
 WAr/TOR I, FI/BMING 
 
TJie Uflioji League ot &nfis$ca. 
 
 In X8M when the outlook was gloomy for the Northern cause, the Union 
 , ^eague movement began. Confederate victories in the field and pemocra'fcic 
 .£ucce.sse,s in £he elections, disaffection in the cities an<J in theWgst, the Southern 
 sympathies of the ..Upper classes pf society, the hostility oj the extremists of 
 both parties to the administration,— all resulted in the. low ebb of loyalty to 
 the government and caused the formation of "Union leagues" among^hose 
 who were devoted to the Union an<J jn favpr of conquering the South. The 
 movement began among those associated in '; the work of the United States 
 Sanitary Commission. The first organization was probably in Ohio in Sep- 
 tember 186?; in December 1862, the Philadelphia Union league was organized; 
 in January 1863, the New York Union ieague Club, and sopn there were dubs 
 in every part of the North. The "I,oyal National Xeague" of Hew York, a 
 « similar organization, was absorbed by the Union ieague which also acquired 
 oontrolof the "I,oyai Publication Safety." 
 
 The members were pledged to uncompromising and unconditional loyalty 
 to the :Unjon, and to the repudiation ef any belief in states righfts. The objects 
 of the league were social as well as political; loyalty -was to be made fashion- 
 able. Supplies were sent by the .order to the soldiers in.the field; negro troops 
 were enlisted at its expense; teachers were sent -South in .the wajse of the 
 armies to educate the negroes; and negro refugees were cared for by its agents 
 in £he .camps and in the North. 
 
 After the war the Union league began immediately to agitate f. pr negrpsuf- 
 f rage and white disfranchisement in the South, and for seircral years was f ore- 
 mpst^jn demanding radical .measures of reconstruptipn. To attain its purpose 
 . the league conducted a campaign of .education, and before 1868 had distributed 
 millions pf political documents. The literature printed consisted principally 
 of accounts of "Southern Atrocities." The Philadelphia I,eague alone sent 
 out between ,1865 and 1868, 4,500,000 pampiefcs. 
 
 In .fine disputes between the. factions of JJad.icaJs in the South the ieague 
 endeavored to act as arbitrator; in 1867 several of ,the Northern city leagues 
 . sent delegates to Virginia to reconcile the hostile factions pf £he "Unionists." 
 The Southern "Unionists" who came Norfth to attend the political conven- 
 tions were entertained, their expenses paid, and their actions controlled by 
 the Union league. 
 
 As early as 1863 the league was carried South among the disaffected 
 Southern "Unionists," audit spread as the Federal armies occupied Southern 
 territory. Af-ew months after the close of the war .the order extended through- 
 out the South among the people erf the white counties of the hill and moun- 
 tain .gonutry. ,As long as the membership was entirely white, it consisted, in 
 gi*e?SQUth, pf United- States army officers, officials of the Freedmen's Bureau , 
 the Unipn element in ,the border states, and the "loyalists," so-called, in the 
 States pf .the lower .South, with the civilians who followed the Federal ar^tnies 
 to the South, and a few old Whigs. In -the mountain districts of .the South 
 .the membership in 1866 probably embraced 30 per cent. of the white population. 
 
— 4 — 
 
 The league in the South tended to become a machine controlling the 
 Radical party, while after a few years the northern leagues disbanded or be- 
 came social clubs. The eminently respectable members of the Union leagues 
 of New York, Philadelphia and other northern cities had little in common 
 with the southern leagues except radicalism. In 1866 the northern Freed 
 men's Bureau agents; preachers, and teacherswho controlled the order, began 
 to admit negroes to membership. At first there were separate negro Councils 
 as the local southern leagues were now called, but soon negro members were 
 admitted to white counc'ls controlled by the carpet baggers. Before the end 
 of 1867, all 01 the negro leaders were members and the mass of the black pop- 
 ulation organized in "Union Republican Clubs" for political control and in- 
 struction. The admission of negroes caused most of the native whites to 
 desert at once. Henceforth the order consisted of few white leaders with ' a 
 membership of blacks, principally local leaders, though every negro was con- 
 sidered an ex colore member. In every negro community there was a 
 Council of the Union Iveague; in each state there was a State* Grand Council 
 with headquarters at the State Capital, and the National Grand Council with 
 headquarters in' New York City. 
 
 During 1867 and 1868 the I^oyal league, as it was popularly called, gave to 
 the negroes an' organization and a training that made it possible for a few 
 alien leaders to control them and to vote them solidly for several years against _ 
 the native whites. But for the strong organization andiron d scipline of the 
 order, the blacks would have been unable to vote or they would have been 
 controlled and voted by the native whites, and thus the purposes of recon- 
 struction would have been defeated. 
 
 The meetings of the Councils were held once a week in negro churches 
 and school houses, around which armed guards were stationed; inflammatory 
 speeches were made by carpet baggers and negro leaders; confiscation and 
 division of property and social rights were promised; the blacks were taught 
 to avoid the Southern whites in all relations, as natural enemies, and.to look 
 to the Northern whites "alone as friends. The members went armed to the 
 meetings and were there trained in military drill often after dark, much to the 
 alarm of the whites in the community. In South Carolina the I^oyal League 
 was simply the negro militia. Military parades were frequently held. If a 
 white person became obnoxious to the league, his buildings were likely to be 
 burned. A prisoner in the dock had only to make the sign to be acquitted by 
 a negro jury or magistrate. If a negro wanted to -vote with the whites, the 
 league forced him into line by fines, threats and beatings. Societies of negro 
 women were formed under the guidance of the league, pledged to discard 
 husbands or sweethearts who voted the Democratic ticket. Negro Democrats 
 were expelled from their churches; the ministers sometimes ordered the 
 women to leave their Democratic husbands. I^ater when the control of the 
 League broke down, negro "bolters" became so numerous that they were 
 often able to expel the Republican negroes from the churches. Nominations 
 for office were made in the Councils and the members sworn to support the 
 nominee. The members were forbidden to listen to speeches made by Demo- 
 crats, or by the scalawags who, rs a rule, did not belong to the order and who 
 ran as independent candidates. By such methods a few white leaders suc- 
 ceeded in controlling absolutely the negro voters and had themselves elected 
 to such offices as they chose. 
 
The Union league was largely responsible for creating the conditions 
 that led to the Ku Klux movement, and the Klan had much to do with break- 
 ing^ up the organization of the League. The dislike of the whites to the 
 Union League was so great that the local bodies began to assume other names: 
 "Red Strings" and "Heroes of America" in North and South Carolina, 
 "Grant Rangers^' in Georgia, - "Alcorn Clubs" in Mississippi, "National 
 Guards" in Alabama, etc. 
 
 By 1870 the organization was broken up in the South, most of the Councils 
 that survived becoming simply Republican clubs. The discipline of the 
 League was greatly missed after 1870 by the Radical leaders in the South who 
 without its aid could no longer count ' upon the negro majorities. The per- 
 manent result of the work of the Union League in the South was the aliena- 
 tion of the races; this alone made it possible for outsiders to control the negro 
 vote, and draw the color line in politics. 
 
 In the North the Union League was loosely organized; in the South there 
 was an elaborate organization. There was a constitution for the National 
 Grand Council, another for the State Grand Council, and a third for subordi- 
 .nate councils. The various constitutions appear to have been used only in the 
 South. The national and state constitutions as they were in 1869, are here 
 reprinted. The Ritual here given was not used in the North, and the Cate- 
 chism was manifestly only for use among the f reedmen*. 
 
 ♦Bellows History of the Union League Club of New York; Chronicle of the 
 Philadelphia Union League; Reports of Union League Club of New York; 
 Century Magazine, vol. VI, pp. 404, 949; Gulf States Magazine, September, 
 1903; Ku Klux Report, 13 vols., passim; Herbert, Solid South; Brown, Lower 
 South, c. 4.; Lester and Wilson, Ku Klux Klan. 
 
Coiimtxxtiatt 61 the? Natfofia! Cotindl oft?. L. A: 
 
 ARTICLE l.^-SAlStil. 
 
 This organization shall be known as the "Union League 
 of AtttertCa':" 
 
 article ir.— object. 
 
 The object of this organization shall be tc» preserve liberty 
 arid the UHion of the Doited States of America ; to maintain- 
 the Cdnstitfltioh thereot'and* the stipf emacy of the laws; td 
 sustain the Government and assist in putting down its ene"- 
 mies; to protect, strengthen, and defend all loyal men, with- 
 out regard to sect, condition, or race ; and to elect honest and 
 reliable Union- men to all offices of proit or trust in National j 
 State, and local government ; and to secure eqttal civil and 
 political rights to all men under the Government. 
 
 ARTICLE IIT. — ORGANIZATION. 
 
 This organization shall consist of a national council and 
 one council for each State and Territory and for the 1 District 
 of Columbia, and of such subordinate councils as may by them 
 be established, under regulations not inconsistent with this 
 constitution. 
 
 The national council shall be composed of representatives 
 elected by the several State, Territorial, and District councils, 
 and shall have the general superintendence of the League. 
 
 The officers and executive committee, designated in the 
 fifth article of the constitution, shall be ex-officio members of 
 the national council; but without a right to vote, unless 
 elected representatives in accordance with Article 4th. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. — EATIO OF MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 The representatives from the State and Territorial coun- 
 cils shall correspond in number with the respective represen- 
 tation of the States and Territories in the two Houses of 
 Congress; and any member of the Union League of such 
 States, Territories, or District shall be eligible to the posi- 
 tion. They shall be elected annually, and shall be entitled 
 to admission into the national council upon the presentation 
 of certificates signed by the president and secretary of the 
 State or Territorial council by which they may be elected. 
 
— 7 
 
 The District council of the District of Columbia shall be 
 entitled to one representative. 
 
 ARTICLE V.— OFFICERS. 
 
 The officers of the national council shall be elected by 
 ballot anmiatHyj to serve until their successors are chosen* and 
 shall consist of a president, two vice-presidents, a recording 
 and corresponding secretary, chaplain, marshal, treasurer, 
 and sergeant-at-arms, with an executive committee, to con- 
 sist of seven members, resident in the State of Stew Yorl|, or 1 
 convenient thereto, and one member in each State, Territory, 
 and District, together with the president, vice-presidents, 
 treasurer, and secretaries as ex-officio members. And any 
 number by them designated shall constitute a quorum. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. — DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 
 
 The president shall preside at the meetings of the cotiflcil. 
 Id his absence one of the vice-presidents shall preside 1 , and at 
 other times they shall perform such duties as shall be required 
 of them. The recording secretary shallkeep a full and per- 
 fect record of the proceedings of the council, and prepare all 
 charters and dispensations. The correspondence of the coun- 
 cil shall be prepared by the corresponding or recording sec- 
 retary, and shall be over his signature or that of the presi- 
 dent. Minutes of all correspondence shall be kept by the re- 
 cording secretary, in a book procured for that purpose 
 
 The treasurer shall receive all moneys, and keep an accu- 
 rate record of the same. 
 
 ARTICLE YII.— DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS. 
 
 All disbursements of funds shall be made by the treasurer, 
 by direction of the executive committee, on orders drawn by 
 the recording secretary, and • signed by that officer and the 
 president or one of the vice-presidents. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. — EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 All questions relative to the operations and extensions of 
 the organization shall be referred to the executive committee, 
 and shall be primarily acted upon by it. 
 
 ARTICLE IX.— CHARTERS. 
 
 All charters for State and Territorial councils and for the 
 District of Columbia shall emanate from the national council. 
 The national council shall also issue charters for subordinate 
 
— 8 — 
 
 councils in localities where State, Territorial, or District 
 councils may not exist. 
 
 Charters shall be issued over the seal of the council, and 
 shall be signed by the president and recording secretary. Uo 
 charter shall be granted except in open council or by the 
 executive committee, and upon the application of nine or 
 more members of the ■ League or of a subordinate council. 
 Charters for a State, Territorial, and District councils may 
 be revoked by the national council or by the executive com- 
 mittee for cause, after due notice, and an opportunity to be 
 heard' on the question of such revocation. 
 
 State and Territorial councils, and the council of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia or their executive committees, may for cause, 
 provide for the revocation of the charter of any subordinate 
 council issued by them in accordance with the provisions of 
 this section. 
 
 ARTICLE X. — FEES. 
 
 The fee for a charter, dispensation, arid the rituals neces- 
 sary for a State, Territorial, or District council shall be twen- 
 ty-five dollars, and for a subordinate council five dollars, to be 
 paid to the treasurer of the national council. 
 
 .ARTICLE XI.— DISPENSATIONS. 
 
 Dispensations for the establishment of councils shall be 
 granted in the same manner as charters. But no person shall 
 be allowed a dispensation except upon the recommendation of 
 a subordinate council, or of at least a two-thirds vote of the 
 members present at the meeting at which the application 
 therefor may be acted upon. 
 
 ARTICLE XII.— QUALIFICATIONS FOB MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 All loyal citizens of the age of eighteen years and upwards 
 are eligible for membership of this League ; also aliens who 
 have declared their intention to become citizens. 
 
 No member of this League shall be absolved from the 
 obligation imposed in its ritual. 
 
 ARTICLE XIII.— BUSINESS DEMANDING SPECIAL ATTENTION. 
 
 All matters not provided for in this constitution, and 
 demanding at any time immediate attention, may be fully 
 acted on by the executive committee at any regular meeting, 
 or at special meetings, of which due notice shall be given. 
 
ARTICLE XIV— REPORTS OF STATE AND TERRITORIAL COUNCILS. 
 
 State and Territorial councils shall report yearly to 
 this council, These reports shall include an exact statement 
 of the number of councils, their location, membership, offi- 
 cers, and such other particulars as may be deemed important 
 to a correct and full knowledgement of the condition of the 
 League. > 
 
 The secretary of this council, and each State, Territorial, 
 and District council, shall once in each month transm^; to 
 the national council, and to each State, Territorial, and'Dis- 
 trict council, one copy of all blanks, circulars, pamphlets, and 
 publications of their respective councils issued during the 
 preceding month, to the end that all such information may 
 be generally diffused. 
 
 ARTICLE XV.— ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 The annual meeting of the national council shall be held 
 on the second Wednesday of December of each year, at which 
 time the officers in the national council shall be elected by 
 ballot, each representative having one vote, and majority of 
 all the votes cast shall be necessary to a choice. 
 
 ARTICLE XVI.— BOOKS AND BLANKS. 
 
 The national council shall provide all charters, blanks, 
 and other forms, together with the books and seals necessary 
 for the working of the order; and State, Territorial, and Dis- 
 trict councils shall be supplied therewith at the cost thereof. 
 
 ARTICLE XVII.— STATE COUNCILS. 
 
 The State and Territorial councils, and the council for the 
 District of Columbia, shall- be composed of delegates elected 
 by the subordinate councils within their jurisdiction respec- 
 tively, under such regulations as may be prescribed by said 
 councils. 
 
 ARTICLE XVIII. — ADMISSION AND TRANSFER OF MEMBERS. 
 
 State, Territorial, and District councils may make regula- 
 tions, conformable to this constitution, concerning the admis- 
 sion tp and the transfer of members from subordinate councils, 
 and upon such subjects as the national councils may allow or 
 prescribe. 
 
 ARTICLE XIX. — ELECTION OF MEMBERS. 
 
 No person shall be elected to any subordinate council 
 
except by three-fourths of all the members present and voting. 
 Each council shall provide that a certain number- of. trials 
 may be had, not exceeding three, and only. one. at the same 
 meeting. , A. person' rejected may be again proposed at the 
 expiration of three months. If again rejected, he shall not be 
 prpppsed until the. expiration of six months. 
 
 Every perso» shall be initiated in a council of his own 
 ^pwnship, district, city, or ward, or in a council nearest his 
 j^sidence,; provided there is an active working council therein. 
 A; person rejected in a regular council, or admitted in viola- 
 tion of this rule, shall not be allowed the privileges pf mem- 
 bership until his disability is removed. 
 
 The provisions of this article relative Ijp initiations arid 
 rejections snail be subject to such modification as the councils 
 of the States, Territories, and District of Columbia may res- 
 pectively prescribe. 
 
 ARTICLE XX.— EXPULSION OF MEMBERS. 
 
 Any council may expel a member for violating his obliga- 
 tion, or for disloyal or dishonorable conduct, after giving the 
 accused one week's notice and a full and fair hearing be- 
 fore the council, by a majority of the members present and 
 voting at any regular meeting. Immediately after such ex- 
 pulsion notice shall be given to the recording secretary of the 
 State council, who shall notify all the subordinate councils in 
 the State of the fact. 
 
 ARTICLE XXI.— CONFLICTING STATE ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 If two or more State organizations exist in any State, the 
 president and executive committee of the national council may 
 call a convention in such State on a basis that will secure 
 equal representation to their several subordinate councils.; 
 and hi the event of a failure of the separate organizations to 
 consolidate under this constitution, the national executive 
 committee shall determine which, if either, of the State 
 councils shall be recognised as the regular organization. 
 
 ARTICLE XXII. — ALTERATION OR AMENDMENT OF THE CON- 
 STITUTION. 
 
 This constitution may be altered or amended by a two r 
 thirds vote of all the member of the national council present 
 at its annual meeting, or by a national convention of the 
 League, to be called by the president, upon application to him 
 therefor from not less than five State "councils 
 
xi 
 
 Constitution o£ Alabama $£a,te Council. 
 
 I.— NAME. 
 
 This organisation shall be known as the "State Council 
 of the Union League of America, ,J for the State of Alabama. 
 
 II. — OBJECT. 
 
 The object of this council shall be to preserve liberty #nd 
 union of the United States of America; to maintain the Con- 
 stitution thereof and the supremacy of the laws, to sustain 
 the Government and assist in putting -down its enemies; tqpro- 
 tect, strengthen, and defend ajl loyal men, without regard to 
 sect, condition, or race; and to elect honest reliable Union 
 men to all offices of profit or trust in Rational, State, and 
 local governments; and to secure equal civil and political 
 rights to all men under tlje Government. 
 
 III.— ORGANIZATION. 
 
 This organization shall consist of one State council, and . 
 such subordinate councils as may be established by the State 
 council. 
 
 IV— STATE COUNCIL. 
 
 The State council shall be composed of representatives 
 from the several councils of the State, each of which shall be 
 entitled to such representatives as may by law be established; 
 
 Any delegate unable to attend may appoint a substitute, 
 who shall be authorized to act as such delegate at all meetings 
 of the council for the current year. Members present may 
 fill vacancies, 
 
 The State, councij shall have the general superintendence 
 of thp League throughout the State, with power to make all 
 rules, regulations and orders necessary to effect the designs of 
 the League, provided the same do not conflict with this con- 
 stitution or the constitution of the national council, 
 v.— officers. 
 +,. -The officers shall consist of a president, first and second 
 vice-presidents., recording and corresponding secretaries, 
 chaplain, treasurer^, marshal, sergeant-at-arms, and a State 
 executive, committee, who. shall hold office until their sucees- 
 
— 12 — 
 
 sors are chosen. The offices of recording and corresponding 
 secretaries-may be filled oy the same person. 
 
 VI. — DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 
 
 President. The president shall preside at the meetings 
 of the council, and perform such other duty as may be neces- 
 sary for the good of the order. 
 
 Vice Presidents. In case of the absence, illness, or other 
 disability of the president, a vice-president in the order 
 elected shall act as "president pro tem. 
 
 During the absence of the president from the general 
 office, the vice-president, in the order elected may perform the 
 duties assigned the president. 
 
 The recording secretary shall keep a perfect record of the 
 proceedings of the State council, prepare all charters and dis- 
 pensations, and perform such other duties as the executive 
 committee may direct. 
 
 The corresponding secretary, during the absence of the 
 recording secretary, shall perform the duties of- that officer. 
 
 The correspondence shall be prepared by either secretary, 
 over his proper signature, and minutes thereof shall be kept 
 by the recording secretary in a book set apart for that purpose. 
 
 The treasurer shall receive all moneys and keep an accu- 
 rate account of the same; he shall make disbursement thereof 
 on the warrant of the chairmain of the executive committee, 
 or of ah auditing committee. 
 
 The duties of the marshal, sergeant-at-arms, and chaplain 
 shall remain as prescribed in the ritual. . 
 
 VII. — EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 The executive committee shall consist of two members 
 from each judicial district in-the State, to be chosen, if possi- 
 ble by the members present from the several judicial dis- 
 tricts, together with the president, vice-president, treasurer, 
 and recording and corresponding secretaries. It shall hold 
 regular monthly meetings, of which a full record shall be kept, 
 open to the inspection of members of this State council; it 
 shall have power to appoint sub-committees of its own body; 
 to remove any officer of the State council, or any member of 
 its own body, for neglect of duty, or for malfeasance in office; 
 and to fill any vacancies thus made until the next ensuing 
 
— 13 — 
 
 meeting of the State council, and during the recess of the 
 State council, to transact all the necessary business thereof; 
 to it shall be referred all questions relative to the extension 
 and operations of the League; and such number shall consti- 
 tute a quorum as it shall provide. 
 
 VIII.— ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 The annual meeting of the State council shall be held on 
 
 the , at , unless otherwise ordered by the State 
 
 council. At this meeting all officers of the State council f nd 
 representatives to the National council shall be elected by 
 ballot. Each representative shall have one vote, and a ma- 
 jority of all the votes cast shall be necessary to a choice. 
 
 IX.— SPECrAL MEETINGS. 
 
 Special meetings may be ordered by the executive com- 
 mittee at any time. Notice thereof shall be mailed to the 
 members of the State council ten days prior to the holding of 
 such meeting. 
 
 x.— QUORUM. 
 
 members present at any meeting shall constitute a 
 
 quorum for the transaction of business; any less number may 
 adjourn from day to day. 
 
 XI. — HEADQUARTERS. 
 
 The State council shall keep an office in , where the 
 
 executive committee may meet and the routine business be 
 transacted. 
 
 XII. — REVENUE. 
 
 The executive committee shall make such provisions for 
 the procurement of necessary funds as it shall deem just and 
 equitable, and for the general welfare of the order. 
 
 XIII.— BOOKS, BLANKS, ETC. 
 
 The State council shall provide all charters, rituals, 
 blanks, &'c., necessary for the wofkihg-of the order, and all 
 councils within the State shall be'- supplied therewith at the 
 cost thereof. 
 
 XTV.— ESTABLISHING "COUNCILS. 
 
 The president shall have power to establish couflcils 
 throughout the'State;' A county deputy shall be appointed by 
 the, president of of. : the State, council, in each-county of the 
 
— 14 — 
 
 Slate, who shall be a resident of the eounty in which he gets, 
 arid whose actibto shall he coaftnedLto his own c"ounty; and the 
 executive committee shall hate power, in its discretion, upon 
 the nomination of the president, to appoint 6ne or BSore gen- 
 eral State deputies,, with authority to establish couricilSi and 
 to do such other duties pertaining to the advancement and 
 harmonious working of the League in this State as the presi- 
 dent shall deem necessary; and such State deputies may be 
 paid for their services and necessary expenses; the amount of 
 which shall be determined by the executive committee. All 
 county deputies may appoint as many assistants as the presi- 
 dent shall approve; and all deputies and their assistants may 
 be suspended by the president and removed by the executive 
 committee for inefficiency or other cause. 
 
 IV.— CHARTERS. 
 
 All charters within this State shall emanate from, the 
 State council and shall be granted only upon application of 
 eight or more members of the League, on the approval Of a 
 person duly authorized to institute such council; they shall be 
 issued over the seal of the council, and signed by the pfesi" 
 dent and recording secretary. No coun'cil shall have 
 power to initiate members until after it has received its 
 charter, nor shall any charter be issued until the charter fees 
 are paid. Charters may be revoked by the executive commit 
 tee for cause, after due notice and an opportunity to be heard 
 on the question of revocation. 
 
 VI.— CHARTER FEE. 
 
 The fee for a charter, dispensation, rituals, &c., necessary 
 for a subordinate council shall be ten dollars, which shall be 
 paid to the person establishing the council, and by him paid to 
 the treasurer of the State council. 
 
 , . XVII.— QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 All loyal citizens of the age of eighteen years and upward 
 are .; eligible for memfoerahap Siithis Leagues also aliens who 
 have declared their intention to become citizens. No-member 
 of this League shall tee absolved from the obligations imposed 
 in ; its ritual. , ; ... f , 
 
 XVIB.'— ELECTION AND INITIATION OF MEMBERS. 
 
 -' N"b perSon shall be eifected-tS'anysHfeor^inate'eouicil GS^ 
 
— 15 — 
 
 cept by three-fourths of all the members present and voting-. 
 Each council shall provide that a certain number of trials 
 may be had, not exceeding three, and only one at the same 
 meeting. A person rejected may be again proposed at the ex- 
 piration of three months. If again rejected, he shall not be 
 proposed until the expiration of six months. Candidates for 
 admission may be initiated within three months after their 
 election, and not afterwards unless- re-elected. 
 
 A person rejected in a regular council, or admitted in vio- 
 lation of this rule, shail not be allowed the privileges of mem- 
 bership until this disability is removed. 
 
 XIX.--TRANSFERS. 
 
 Members in good standing may be transferred on certifi- 
 cate from cine council to another, and no applicant by certifi- 
 cate shall be rejected, except by three-fourths of all the mem- 
 bers present and voting. 
 
 XX.— REPORTS. 
 
 Subordinate councils shall, on the first days of January, 
 April, July, and October, report to the secretary of State 
 council the number of members admitted during.the preced- 
 ing quarter, changes in officers, and such other information as 
 may be desired. Like reports shall be made to the county 
 deputy. 
 
 XXI.— CONSTITUTIONS AND BY-LAWS. 
 
 The State council, or the executive committee, shall pro- 
 vide a form of constitution and by-laws for the government of 
 subordinate councils. 
 
 XXTI. — AMENDING. CONSTITUTION. 
 
 This constitution may be altered or amended by a two-" 
 thirds yote of all the members of the State council present at 
 any regular or special meeting: Provided, all alterations or 
 amendments shall first be submitted to and ratified by the 
 national council of the national executive committee. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO DEPUTIES. 
 
 1. When you desire to establish a council of the U. L. A . 
 at any point, go there or send an assistant. Assemble nine or 
 more loyal men, explain to them the objects, and, as far as 
 you think proper, the principles of the Union League of 
 America. If they consent to become members, initiate them. 
 
— 18 — 
 
 After you have given them the secret-work, take the chair; 
 state to thein the number and names of the officers they have 
 to elect. You will then have them proceed to aD election to 
 fill the different officers from among- the men initiated. 
 
 2. After the officers are elected, you will, request 'nine or 
 more of the members to sign an application for a charter. 
 This application and the fee of ten dollars, you will forward to 
 the secretary of the State council, who will send a charter and 
 the necessary books, blanks, &c. to the president o^ the new 
 council. 
 
 3. If you are unable to attend the organization of a coun- 
 cil, you may deputize and send an assistant, being responsible 
 for his prompt report. 
 
 4. Instruct the councils that they should hold their 
 meetings once in each week, and that they should follow the 
 ceremony as nearly as possible. Advise them to enlist all 
 loyal talent in their neighborhood, and that they have speak- 
 ing whenever they can. 
 
 5. You will perceive that the success of the councils 
 which you establish will depend in great measure upon the 
 men who are its founders, and who may be elected to fill its 
 offices. They should not only be prudent, vigilant, energetic 
 and loyal, but they should be men who possess the confidence 
 of their fellow-citizens. 
 
 6. You should establish councils in each election pre- 
 cinct. These councils should not only have distinctive names, 
 but be regularly numbered. 
 
 7. It is important that each council be at once put in 
 communication with the State and national council. 
 Through these sources the members of the League will be. 
 supplied with documents. 
 
17 — 
 
 The Ritual of the Union League. 
 
 [Thomas M. Owen, Esq., Director of the Department of Archives and 
 History of Alabama, furnishes me with the Ritual here reprinted. It appears 
 to have been adopted in 1886 or 1867; it was . printed in the Nashville Union 
 and Dispatch in July , 1867, and in the Montgomery Daily Advertiser, July 19, 
 1877. A revised Ritual was published in 1870 and reprinted in the Ku Klux 
 Report, South Carolina Testimony, pp. 919,952. Col. H. A. Herbert in the 
 preparation of the chapter on Alabama in "The Solid South" '( 1889) used a 
 third form of the Ritual, which I have been unable to locate.] 
 
 FORM OF COUNCIL OFFICERS AND THEIR STATIONS. 
 
 The officers of the Council of the U. L. A. are: A PresL. 
 dent, Vice President, Assistant Yice President, Treasurer, 
 Secretary, Marshal, Herald, Sentinel and Chaplain. The P. 
 occupies the principal station in the room; V.P. and A.V.P., 
 at the opposite end and in front of the P.T. at the left hand 
 of P.; Sec. at the right hand of the P.; M. near the V.P.; H. 
 within the inner door; S. within the outer door, and the 
 Chaplain at the centre of the room, on the right. 
 
 EMBLEMS. _ 
 
 Altar, Holy Bible, Declaration of Independence; United 
 States Constitution; Flag of the Union; Censer of Incense; 
 Sword; Gavel; Ballot Box and Sickle; Shuttle; Anvil; and 
 other emblems of industry.* 
 
 OPENING A COUNCIL. 
 
 (The P. assumes the chair and gives one rap with the 
 gavel. ) P. I am about to open this council. If there are 
 any persons present not members of the Union League of 
 America, they will please retire to the ante-room. The offi- 
 cers will take their respective stations. 
 [The door is closed.] 
 
 P. Mr. Marshal, you will satisfy yourself that all present 
 
 **x 
 
 * The Ritual of 1870 reads : Altar, Holy Bible ; an American flag and as 
 many symbols of industry as may be convenient • such as a small anvil 
 shuttle or sickle. If possible, let a copy of the Declaration of Independl 
 ence and of the Constitution of the United States be displayed on the 
 altar. Let the American flag be spread on the altar with an open Bible rest- 
 ing upon it. 
 
- 18 - 
 
 afe duly qualified and report. [The M. makes a careful ex- 
 amination and reports.] t 
 
 P. I proclaim this council open for the transaction of 
 such business as may be lawfully brought before it. [Mem- 
 bers respond,] "So be it. " P. The Marshal will drape the 
 altar. The M. will then proceed to place the flag, etc , upon 
 the altar, the books being open and the sword laid across 
 them. These must so remain while the C. is in session, and 
 will be left in the care and custody of such officer as the P. 
 shall direct during the adjournment. Each 0. should pur- 
 chase these articles for its use. 
 
 ORDER OF BUSINESS. 
 
 1. Calling the roll of officers. 2. Reading the minutes 
 of preceding meeting, and approval of the same. 3. Exam- 
 ination of candidates elected by theA.ViPand M. Initiations. 
 4. Election of officers at such meetings as the same may 
 properly occur. 5. Propositions for membership, and ballot- 
 ing fox candidates. 7. Report of committee. 8. Unfinished 
 business. 9. New business and the good of the order. 
 
 INITIATION. 
 
 P. The Marshal willproeeed to the ante-room and ascer- 
 tain if there are any candidates awaiting admission into our 
 League, and instructing the Sentinel to admit no persons 
 except members, until those in waiting have passed into the 
 council room, or departed thence. The Marshal will then, 
 report the names of applicants. P. The Secretary will read 
 the list of names. [The Secretary reads them ] P. Mr. Sec- 
 retary, have the names of these gentlemen being duly pre» 
 
 f The Ritual of 1870 reads : If it be not imprudent, let a verse or more of 
 some patriotic ode be sung, after which the chaplain shall offer prayer, ia 
 the following form: 
 
 PRAYER 
 
 I*et us pray ? eternal God, Supreme Architect and Ruler 1 of the Uuiverse * 
 We humbly beseech Thy protection for the loyal people of tin United States 
 of America, and more especially for the members of this patriotic organiza- 
 tion* Wilt Thou be pleased to direct and prosper all our consultations to the 
 advancement of Thy glory and the honor and welfare of this 1 nation. Aid and 
 assist the Government in so fixing the foundations thereof that peace, happi- 
 ness, truth, liberty, jtfstifce, and brotherly love may prevail for all time. Save 
 us, we pray Thee, from foreign foes and domestic 1 traitors. Unite us in love 
 for our common country — attach us to the great principles of the Constitu- 
 tion—fill us with reverence for Thee, and may Thy Good Spirit guide, 
 strengthen, and comfort us, now and forever. Amen ? 
 
-■16 - 
 
 Sin ted in open council and balloted for and elected?' [The 
 Secretary will answer according to the facts ] The Assistant 
 Vice President, with the Marshal as a witness, will retire to 
 the ante-room ?,nd make known to the candidates the obj j ct 
 of this League, and propound to them the necessary interro- 
 gations, as provided inthe ritual. [The A.V.P. and M. retire to 
 the ante-room, when the A.V.P. makes known the following:] 
 
 OBJECT OF THE LEAGUE. 
 
 A.V.P. Gentlemen: I am directed to state to yon the 
 object of this organization. It is to preserve liberty, perpet 
 uate'the Union of the United States of America, maintain 
 the supremacy of the laws and constitution thereof against 
 enemies, foreign and domestic, to secure the ascendency of 
 American institutions on this continent,! j prot >ct,defend and 
 strengthen all loyal men and members of the Union League of 
 America in all their rights of person and property, to demand 
 the elevation and aid in the education of the labor and labor- 
 ing men of the whole country, to make our councils for the 
 prompt and proper instructions of all men in the duties of 
 American citizenship, and for the inculcation of.sentimems 
 of true charity and brotherly affection amongthe members of 
 our order. Having informed you of the purposes of our order, 
 I now expect from you a promise of secrecy before proceeding 
 farther. Have I yo^r solemn pledge to keep secret whatever 
 may transpire in your presence? Answer must be in the 
 affirmative. To the questions now propounded you will answer 
 upon your honor and under your pledge of secrecy. 1st Do 
 you fully subscribe to the principles, set forth in the Declara- 
 tion of Independence? Answer . 2d. Do you acknowl- 
 edge that your first and highest allegiance under God is due 
 to the government of the United States of America? 
 
 Answer .- 3rd. Are you willing to pledge yourself to 
 
 resist to the utmost extent of your power, all attempt to sub- 
 vert or overthrow the government of the United States? 
 Answer — '-. 4th. Will you strive to the extent of your 
 ability for the maintenance of liberty; the elevation of labor; 
 the education in the responsibilities and duties of American 
 citizenship of all the people of this country; the practice of a 
 true friendship and charity towards each and all of the order, 
 of which you are about to become a member, and for the 
 
— 20 — 
 
 election or appointment to all places of public trust of such 
 men only as are reliable supporters of these principles and 
 
 measures? Answer . 5th. Are you willing, and do you 
 
 desire to bind yourself by a solemn oath to the maintenance of 
 the principles and policy indicated in the interrogatories to 
 
 which you have now affirmatively replied? Answer . 6th. 
 
 Do you pledge your honor that you will obey all rules and 
 orders of the Union League of America which shall not con- 
 flict with your lawful rights and privileges as a loyal citizen, 
 and keep inviolate all secrets and ceremonies of the league, 
 
 when communicated to you as such? Answer . (Should 
 
 th? candid ites answer all the foregoing questions in the 
 affirmative, the A. V. P. shall report to the P. andC. asfollows:) 
 A. V.P. Mr. President, I have made the proper examination, 
 and find all the candidates worthy and willing to proceed. 
 ( Unless the report is objected to by the Marshal or other per- 
 son, the President will direct as follows:) P. The Marshal 
 will conduct the candidates to our council. (The Marshal, 
 coming to the door with candidates, makes the usual alarm.) 
 H. Who comes under the private signahof our league? M. 
 Candidates, who, having been duly elected and examined, de- 
 sire admission to our loyal band. H. Mr. President, the 
 Marshal announces candidates, who, having been duly elected 
 and examinel, desire admission to our loyal band. P. The 
 loyal and worthy are always welcome. Admit them. (The 
 door is opened, and candidates, preceded by the M., enter in 
 •double file, arm in arm, and passing around the altar are pre- 
 sented in front of the P's chair. As they enter the door the 
 P. gives three raps with the gavel, which will call up the C. 
 The President rising, the M. will introduce the candidates by 
 name. While the candidates are coming in and taking their 
 places around the altar, the P. may direct the 0. to sing a 
 verse or more of some patriotic song, "Hail Columbia," 
 "Star Spangled Banner," which may be printed on the cards 
 for the C. By a signal from the P. the members take their 
 seats during the delivery of the address.) M. Mr. Vice 
 President I have the pleasure of presenting these candidates 
 for membership in our Union League. 
 
 address. 
 V.P. Gentlemen (or Sir), We rejoice that you have come 
 
— 21 — 
 
 forward voluntarily to unite with us. The cause we advocate 
 is that of our country. Banded together for the purpose of 
 perpetuating the liberties for which our fathers fought we 
 have sworn to protect them. In time of peril to our govern- 
 ment and the Union, it became the sacred duty of all true 
 patriots to unite their efforts for the preservation of consti- 
 tutional freedom, and in thwarting the designs of traitors 
 to destroy the tree of liberty, planted by our patriotic fathers, 
 and watered by their blood. Neither domestic traitors nor 
 foreign foes must be permitted to destroy this nation, no* to 
 circumscribe the influence and progress of American institu- 
 tions on this. continent. The first grand purpose of our organ- 
 ization has been accomplished, through the combined efforts 
 of our order and the gallantry, and perseverance of our citizen 
 soldiers, to whom our grateful acknowledgments and con- 
 tinued appreciation is ever due. The legitimate fruits of this 
 triumph are yet to be secured in the complete ascendency of 
 the true principles of popular government; the establishment 
 of equal liberty; the elevation and education of the toiling 
 masses of the republic; the preservation of the national honor 
 and faith; the inculcation of a brotherly affection and true 
 charity towards all; the complete and final overthrow at the 
 ballot-box, as in' the field, of the oligarchy of political leaders, 
 - who sought to ruin when they could not rule, and through 
 whose errors and wrongs our country has been baptized in 
 blood ; the establishment here of an asylum for the distressed 
 of other lands, and of a beacon light so prominent and endur- 
 ing as to be seen by all nations for all time, and so unerring 
 as to guide all people to the certain possession of national and 
 true liberty. By means of this Loyal League these grand pur- 
 poses may be realized. We ask none of you to join us who 
 have not the noble sentiment of patriotism deeply implanted 
 in their hearts, for such only are capable of rising above the 
 level of the mere partisan, .and claiming and defending the 
 booh of freedom from its intrinsic value. . It is to! sustain the 
 government and the principles 'and policy we have, indicated, 
 that we are united, and for, this purpose you are required to 
 take a solemn obligation, which I assure you doestiot in any 
 w^y conflict with^tliq.duties'youoweto ypurseli^you'f country, 
 your farnily or your Gcb&T. With this. assurance, are' you .willing 
 to 'take sueli an obligation'?" (Answer to be in the affirmative.')' 
 
— 22 — 
 
 V.P. Candidates will please turn and approach the altar. 
 (Here the P. calls up the C. in four raps, in 'couplets, and 
 says:) IP. The Chaplain will now invoke the blessing of . 
 Almighty God tfpon our undertakings. 
 
 PKA.TBR. 
 
 Eternal God ! Supreme Architect and Euler of the Uni- 
 verse I we humbly beseech thee to protect the loyal people of 
 the United States, and especially the members of this patri- 
 otic organization. Wilt thou be pleased to direct and prosper 
 all our consultations to the advancement of Thy glory,, the 
 honor and welfare of Thy people ; and may all things be 
 ordered and settled by the co-ordinate branches of our govern- 
 ment, upon the best and surest foundations, so that peace and 
 happiness," truth, liberty and justice, may be established 
 among us for all generations. Save us, we pray Thee, from . 
 foreign foes and domestic traitors, and make us all faithful 
 and true to the noble cause of constitutional liberty which. 
 Thou hast graciously committed to our care. Be pleased to 
 guide and direct us as thou didst our forefathers. With the 
 strength of Thy Almighty arm Thou didst uphold and sustain 
 them through all their fiery trials and at the last didst crown 
 them with victory. May we be united in love for our common 
 country, imbued with sentiments of liberty, attached to the 
 principles of the constitution, filled with reverence for Thy 
 Holy Law, and may Thy good spirit, strengthen and comfort 
 us, now and forever. Amen. (Here, after darkening the 
 room, the M. lights the fire of liberty, to bnrn during ^he- 
 administration of the obligation; the members will be noti- 
 fied to join hands in a circle, around the candidates and the 
 altar— the P. stepping within the circle. When there are 
 more candidates than can reach the flag or Bible, they should 
 be divided and obligated by sections. The.P. then continues- 
 as follows:) ' .. . , r ... • 
 
 Now place your, left hand on "the, national , flag apd raisp- 
 your right toward heaven, repeating af ter' me the following 
 obligation; -.,, . '/,':...' . .. , ,.', 
 
 , OBLIGATION.' "'."; 
 
 I, (repeat your, name after mine,) do . solemnity swear (p£ 
 affirm ), ; in,the^ presence p.f God- and- these w^tne^e^ t^a't, JLv^ul 
 never- volap.ta.riiy ;hear arms against .the = United .States^ 
 
-r- 28 — 
 
 while I am a citizen thereof ; that I will support, protect and 
 defend the constitution and the government of the United 
 States and the Sag thereof, against all enemies, foreign and 
 domestic ; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the 
 same ; and that I will also defend this State against any inva- 
 sion," insurrection or rebellion, to the extent of my ability. 
 This I freely pledge without mental reservation or evasion. 
 Furthermore that I will do all in my power to elect true and 
 reliable Union men and supporters of the government, and 
 none others, to all offices of profit or trust, from the latest 
 to the highest, in ward, town,- county, State and General 
 government. And should I ever be called to fill any office, I 
 will faithfully carry out the objects and principles of this 
 League. And further, that I will protect, aid and defend* all 
 worthy members of the U. L.; and that I will never make 
 known in any way, to any person or persons not members Of 
 tbe U. Lr., any of the signs or passwords, proceedings, debates 
 or plans of this or any other G. under this organization, except 
 when engaged in admitting new members into this L. (Place 
 your right haod upon the Holy Bible.) And with my hand 
 upon the Holy Bible, Declaration of Independence and the 
 constitution of the United States of America, under the seal 
 of my sacred honor, I acknowledge myself firmly bound and 
 pledged to the faithful performance of this my solemn obliga- 
 tion. So help me God. (B>esponse by the members.) 
 
 TO THIS WE KLEDGE OURSELVES. 
 
 P. Gentlemen, around you is a band of brothers, alike 
 sacredly pledged. This eirele is never to- be broken by 
 treachery. (Response by the members:) "Never." P. 
 Brothers will you enlarge your circle to admit'new members? 
 (Response:) "We will." P. Prepare then for accessions to 
 your ranks. P. With clasped and -uplifted hands repeat 
 after me the 
 
 ; FKEEDtfAN'S PLEDGE. '. ' 
 
 ■j . 'to defend and perpetuate freedom and the Union lpledge 
 my life, my fortune and my 1 Sacred ' honor. So help me God. 
 praen follows a sotig. The mem-berg -o? the Council will now 
 take thfei-r pla-ces'befbre 'the Altar.]' ' '"■ " , ;' 
 
 ": ., ■■■"'.'■ - chahge. 
 
 The.oatbyou have now taken.j.of.$pur v pwn ,free wiu ar^q. 
 
— 24 — 
 
 accord, cannot now be violated without leaving the stain of' 
 perjury on your souls. You have declared that under God, 
 your first and highest allegiance is to the government of the 
 United States. You have taken such an oath of allegiance 
 upon the Holy Bible, Constitution and Declaration of In- 
 dependence, lying within the folds of the flag of the Union. 
 This contains the enduring records of our rights and privi- 
 leges. The symbols of industry which greet you upon the 
 altar, are to remind you of one of the main purposes of our 
 order, and to represent the foundation on which our institu- 
 tion rests. To strengthen and elevate this, is to add to the 
 grandeur and durability of the structure we uphold. The 
 flag is the ensign of our American nationality — the visible 
 emblem of the sovereignty of the Union. Its stars represent 
 the sister States ; its stripes, the thirteen original States ; its 
 colors, courage, purity and truth. The Bible contains man's 
 moral code and principles of his religious faith ; points out his 
 dependence on the Author of his being; his duty to his fellow 
 creatures ; the reward of virtue and the punishment of vice. 
 The Declaration of Independence declares as self-evident 
 truths, that all men are created equal — that they are endowed 
 by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness. It denies the despot's dogma of 
 the "Divine rights of kings," to rule over mankind. It 
 asserts that governments derive their just powers from the 
 consent of the governed, and solemnly affirms the right of the 
 American people to govern themselves as a free and indepen- 
 dent nation. The Constitution is an instrument reducing to 
 practice the precepts of the declaration. It is liberty regu- 
 lated by law— It defines and circumscribes the powers and 
 duties of the national government. It was ordained by the 
 fathers, " in order to form a more perfect Union, establish 
 justice, to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the com- 
 mon defense, promote the general welfare and secure the 
 blessing of liberty, to -themselves and their posterity." The 
 sword is a weapon of protection and defense. By. it . and. ,the 
 aid.: of Divine Providence the independence of the American 
 people was obtained. With it we may defend the rights and 
 liberties belonging to a freehand loyal people, jealous of their 
 cpuntry's glories, greatness, and grandeur. Lastly,, the light 
 you behold burning upon' the altar is emblematical'Df the 
 
— 25 — 
 
 sacred fires of liberty that burn forever in the breast of all 
 true patriots. We inculcate the spirit and arts of peace as 
 essential to national happiness and prosperity; but when 
 foreign foes or treacherous hands conspire to rob us of our 
 national inheritance, let a million gleaming swords leap from 
 their rests and turn every way to guard the temple of our 
 liberties. (Here the M. instructs the new members in the 
 signs, etc.,* When these have been imparted, the P. may 
 give a short history of the origin and history of the organiz- 
 ation. He should caution them nob to use the signs tootiften 
 or incautiously. It is enjoined on each officer to commit to 
 memory his initiatory ceremony. The council rooms should 
 be made attractive by emblems and ornaments, and by a sup- 
 ply of reading matter. If any person belonging to the order 
 cannot read, he must be instructed.) 
 
 [In the Ritual of 1870 the initiatory ceremony was changed somewhat 
 The most interesting part is given below:] 
 
 INITIATION. 
 
 Previous to initiations, it shall be the duty of the M. to inform the P. if any 
 are in attendance for initiation. 
 
 P. — Brethren ! I am about to proceed with the ceremony of initiation, 
 The S. will read the names of those entitled to admission. 
 
 This having been done — 
 
 P. These have been found worthy. The V. P. will retire and prepare the 
 candidates. i. 
 
 The V. P. retires and approaches the candidates. 
 
 V. P.— Gentlemen ! Your presence here is a token that you know the 
 objects of this association. Do you give me your word of honor, in the pres- 
 ence of God and this witness, that you will keep secret all you see and hear, 
 unless authorized to reveal the same by competent authority ? 
 
 Being answered affirmatively — 
 
 V. P. — Prepare, then, for introduction to the society of the loyal and patrio- 
 ~tic men of the nation. 
 
 The V. P, then returns to the council and announces : 
 
 V. P.— Mr. P., I find the candidates worthy and willing to proceed. 
 
 p. — The V. P. will conduct the candidates to the council. 
 
 The V. P. retires to the ante-room. Candidates range themselves behind 
 the V. P., who advances to the inner door and makes the usual alarm. 
 ' M.— Who comes here under the private signal of our League? 
 
 V. P.— Candidates who, having been duly elected and examined, desire 
 admission to our loyal band. 
 
 * [To pass yourself as a leaguer, when questioned, give the "Four Vs." as 
 follows: right hand raised to Heaven, thumb and third finger touching their 
 ends over the palm and announce "Liberty." Bringing the hand down over 
 ' the shoulder, pronounce "Lincoln." Dropping the hand open at your side, 
 pronounce "Loyal." With your hand and fingers downward in the chest, the 
 thumb thurst into the vest or waistband,across the body, pronounce "League."] 
 
M.— Mr. President the V. P„ announces candidates who, having ibeen,.di47 
 elected and examine^, desire adhiissipn to .our. loyal band ; 
 
 P.— The loyal and worthy are always welcome. Admit them. (Three 
 raps) 
 
 The M. opens the door. Candidates, led by the V. P., enterand are ar- 
 ranged in front of the altar. The council form a circle with clasped hands, <blae 
 P. standing before- the altar. 
 
 A patriotic ode may here be sung. 
 
 ~P. — Worthy-sons of America ! we bid you welcome. This circle of freedom 
 and equal rights now encircling you must never be broken by treachery. 
 
 Council respomd»-r 
 
 C— Never ! 
 
 P.— Our cause is a noble one.- It is that of our country. None need fear 
 exposure of purposes. Yet, for the more complete success of our patriotic 
 mission; you are now required to take upon yourself a serious and hinding 
 obligation, which I assure you does. not conflict in any way with the duties you 
 owe to yourself, your country, or your God. With thjs^ assurance on my part 
 are you willing to proceed ? 
 
 Being .answered in the affirmative— 
 
 Before you are the national flag and the open Bible — fit symbols of civil 
 and religious liberty. Place your left hand thereon and raise your right hand 
 towards Heaven, and repeat after me the following. 
 
 OBLIGATION : 
 
 I, (each repeating his own name,) with an uplifted hand,, in the presence 
 of GodandthesewitnesseSjdo solemnly swear, without reservation of any kind, 
 that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution.and Gpvernment of the 
 United States of America, one and indivisible, and the flag thereof, agai&st all 
 enemies, foreign and domestic.;, that I will vote only for those who advpeate 
 and support the great principles set forth by this league, to fill any office of 
 honor, profit, or trust in either the State or General Government, and if- 1 am 
 ever called to fill an office, I will faithfully carry out the principles set forth 
 by this league. And further, that I will protect and defend all worthy mem- 
 bers of the Union Xeague of America ; and that I will never, in any manner or 
 form, divulge of make known, tpanyperson,pr perspns not worthy members, 
 of this organization, any of the signs, passwords, grips, proceedings, designs , 
 debates, or. plans of t.hjs- or any pther council of this organisation, unless 
 authorized so to do by competent authority. And further that I will aid, and 
 defend the working men of the nation, and in all lawful rnethpds -endeavor to 
 secure to thera the right to labor and enjpy the full fruit of their labor; and 
 that I will not countenance or employ any one who is in any manner hostile 
 to the working men of the nation. And with my hand on the Holy Bible and 
 flag of the United States of America., I acknowledge myself firmly bound and 
 pledged to the faithful performance of this, my splenin pbljgation, so help 
 me God! 
 
 Respond by the members- 
 Hail ! worthy and true ! 
 
 P. — Take your place in this sacred circle formed to perpetuate freedpnj 
 and government. We trust every added litn^will make sjtrpnger the chain, 
 which binds us tpgether. 
 
 (Candidate is received as one of the circle. 
 
— 27 — 
 
 ^Now, joined in one harmonious band,~pledged to sustain principles at once 
 .noble and holy, raise your united hands towards Heaven, and repeat with me 
 
 THE FRfiEM^N'S PLEDGE. 
 
 To defend and perpetuate freedom and the Constitution, the supremacy of 
 law, and the inherent rights of civil and religious freedom ; and to accomplish 
 the objects of this organization, I pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred 
 "honor. 
 
 (Circle is broken and council resume their seats.) 
 
 ^.— Now take your place before the altar, while I communicate to you the 
 secret -work of our organization. 
 
 Note. — This must be communicated verbally. % 
 
 The secret-work ^having been communicated, the P. shall deliver the 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 Gentlemen:— This organization was formed during the first year of the 
 
 late rebellion. All will remember the discouragements of that year and the 
 consequent reaction of the public mind, as evidenced in the elections held in 
 
 "the autumn of 1862. Fears were justly entertained then that the enemies of our* 
 flag and country would obtain control of the lower house of our National 
 legislature, prevent the further prosecution of the war, and attempt a per- 
 manent dismemberment of our glorious Union. In this crises of our nation's 
 history eleven persons met by appointment in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and 
 formed the nucleus of the body which has since been so gloriously known as 
 the Union league of America. This was in November, 1862 ; the work of or- 
 ganization spread rapidly: and in May following the National Council met for 
 the first time, with eighteen states fully represented. From this memorable 
 •period the league has continued to gain strength, until it has extended its 
 beneficent sway over the entire Union. From Maine to Florida, and from the __ 
 Atlantic to. the Pacific, 6ur organization counts its members by millions. Our 
 first grand purpose has been happily- accomplished. Our flag floats over the 
 entire Union. But the legitimate fruits of the -war for the Union are to be 
 
 -secured in the complete ascendancy of the true principles of popular govern - 
 ment-^equal liberty, education and elevation of the workingmen. of the natiou 
 
 -a.nd.the security of all by means of elective franchise. It is as true now as in 
 the former times that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Placed as 
 sentinels on the outer wall, our councils will ever remain the guardians of 
 the -nation's liberties. To sustain these principles and this wise policy you 
 have joined our fraternity. I^et no temptation swerve you from the path of 
 wisdom and patriotism. Guard well the priceless treasure of American citi- 
 zenship, and scorn all the wiles of 'those enemies who seek to overthrow our 
 institutions founded on an OPEN BIBI^E and the flag of the Union. In joining 
 
 thfetouncfl you are only on the threshold of this Glorious Temple of liberty . 
 Before you is a p-ith lit up with the brilliant radiance of a ^hundred victories. 
 Be faithful to what has already been imparted, and ere long you shall ascend 
 
 "higher and join the society of those who, having served with honor the proba- 
 tion oi our first degree,, have been admitted to the Inner Sanctuary of the 
 
 -Union league of America - ■ 
 
 [Candidates then take their seats in the council.] I 
 
— 28 
 
 Loyal League Catechism. 
 
 [The document printed below was circulated in 1867-8 among the neg- 
 roes of the South through the Union or Loyal league, the "machine"' that 
 conducted the '-Republican Clubs" as training schools for the future voters* 
 The "Dialogue" was in the hands of every Radical who could read and the 
 negroes were drilled in its principles. It was popularly known as the "Loya 
 league Catechism." The Conservatives complained that under the franking 
 privilege of Radical congressmen, thousands of the catechisms were sent on 
 from Washington to influence the negroes against the southern whites. I am 
 indebted to Thomas M. Owen, Esq., Director of the Department af Archives 
 and History of Alabama, for an authenticated copy of the Catechism. It was 
 also printed in the Selma (Ala.) Daily Messenger, July 19, 1867, and in a Nash- 
 ville paper.] 
 
 The Position of the Republican and Democratic 
 
 Parties. 
 
 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A WHITE REPUBLICAN AND A COLORED 
 CITIZEN, PUBLISHED BY THE UNION REPUBLICAN CON- 
 GRESSIONAL COMMITTEE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 The following is a dialogue between a newly enfranchised 
 freedman and a sound Radical Republican. The new-made 
 voter is seeking light upon the subject of his political duties, 
 arid his Radical friend gives him plain facts, and demonstrates, 
 clearly with which party he and all like him should act. It 
 would be well for colored voters generally to seek out some 
 tried Radical friend and question him upon all subjects about 
 which they have no doubt. The dialogue is submitted with 
 the hope that the facts set forth therein will remove doubts 
 from the minds of many who have been unable to receive 
 proper information upon the position in which they should 
 stand at this time: 
 
 The Dialogue. 
 
 Question. With what party should the colored man 
 vote? 
 
 Answer. The Union Republican party. 
 
 Q. Why should the colored man vote with that party ? 
 
 A. Because that party has made him free and given him 
 the right to vote. 
 
 Q. Was Mr. Lincoln a Republican ? 
 
— 29 — 
 
 A. He was a Republican President. 
 
 Q. Are all the Republicans in favor of universal freedom ? 
 
 A. 'J hey are. 
 
 Q. What is the difference between Radicals and Republic-, 
 ans? 
 
 A. There is none. The word Radical was applied to the 
 Republican party by its enemies, and has been accepted by it. 
 
 Q. The Radicals and Republicans ar« then one and the 
 same party ? 
 
 A. They are, and they are all in favor of f reedom*and 
 universal justice. 
 
 Q. What is the meaning of the word Radical as applied 
 to political parties and politicians? 
 
 A. It means one who is in favor of going to the root of 
 things ; who is thoroughly in earnest ; who desires that slavery 
 •should be abolished, that every disability connected therewith 
 should be obliterated, not only from the national laws but from 
 those of every State in the Union. 
 
 Q. Is Mr. Sumner a Republican ? 
 
 A. He is and a Radical, so are Thad. Stevens, Senator 
 Wilson, Judge Kelley, Gen. Butler, Speaker Colfax, Chief 
 Justice Chase, and all other men who favor giving colored men 
 their rights. 
 
 Q. To which party do the friends of the colored men in 
 Congress belong? 
 
 A. To the Republican Party. 
 
 Q. What is a Democrat ? 
 
 A. A member of that party which before the rebellion 
 sustained every legislative act demanded by the slaveholders, 
 such as the Fugitive Slave Law, and the attempt made to force 
 slavery upon the Western Territories. 
 
 Q. What was the position of the Democratic Party dur- 
 ing the war ? 
 
 A. It opposed the war; declared Mr. Lincoln^ manage- 
 ment of it a failure; resisted every measure 'in Congress look- 
 ing to emancipation, and denounced the Government for 
 arming colored men as soldiers. 
 
 Q. What has that party done since the surrender of the 
 rebels ? 
 
— 3KT— 
 
 act for -your benefit v?toie*tt tlte RepobMcJaa Csngfcess has. 
 adopted. 
 
 Q. Is it known by any other name ? 
 
 A. It is known a&Consisirvatrve, Copperhead and rebeL 
 Under each name it is still the same enemy of freedom smA 1 
 the ligttts of man • 
 
 Q, Wotfld the Democrats matee siiaves of the colore* 
 people again if tbey could? 
 
 A. It is fair to presume they would, for they hare 
 opposed their freedoms by every means in thieir power, and, 
 have always labored to extend slavery. 
 
 Q. Would Democrats allow colored men to vote? 
 
 A. No! They have always opposed it in Congress and ins 
 the various State Legislatures^ 
 
 Q. "Who abolished slavery' in the District of Columbia ? 
 
 A. A Republican Congress and Abraham Lintodlni, a Res- 
 publlcan President. 
 
 Q. Who freed the slaves of the South ? 
 
 A. Abraham Lincoln, the Republican President, by pro- 
 clamation. 
 
 Q. Who passed the Jfreedman's Bureau Bill ? 
 
 A. A Republican Congress by more than a two-thirds- 
 vote over the veto of Andrew Johnson, the leader of the; 
 Democratic or conservative party. 
 
 Q. Who gave us the Civil Rights Bill ? 
 
 A. The same Republican Congress. 
 
 Q. What party gave us the right to vote? 
 
 A . The Republican party. 
 
 Q* What has the Democratic, Conservative or Copper- 
 head party erver done for the colored people ? 
 
 \A It has tried to keep them in slavery, and opposed 
 giving them the benefit of the ITreedman's Bureau and Civil 
 Rights Bills, and the right- to vote. 
 
 Q. Why cannot colored men support the Democratic 
 party ? 
 
 A. Because that party would disfranchise them, and, if 
 possible, return them to slavery and certainly keep them ins 
 an inferior position before the law. . 
 
 Q. With whom do the disloyal white men of the South 
 desire the .colored men to vote ? 
 
 A. With Democratic party. 
 
- 3*' — 
 
 Qv Woiirld not* the Democrats take away all the negro's 
 rights ? 
 
 A. They would. 
 
 Q. Then why d<5 they pretend to be the best friends of 
 the colored men ? 
 
 A. Because they contend that they are fitted only for 
 slavery, or an inferior position, and are happier in either 
 condition. 
 
 Q. How would it suit them to be served in the s^ame- 
 manner ? 
 
 A. They would not endure it. They call themselves a 
 superior race of beings, and claim; they are born you* rulers. 
 
 . Q. Why do they not do unto others as they would be done 
 by? 
 
 A. Because they are devoid of principle, and destitute of 
 all sense of justice where the colored man is concerned. 
 
 Q. Do all white people belong" to a party which would 
 treat us in that way ? 
 
 A. They do not. There are many who have stood up 
 nobly for your rights, and who will aid yon to the end; indeed, 
 all the Republicans are such. 
 
 Q. To what party do the people of the South belong ? 
 
 A. The larger portion belong to the Democratic party. 
 
 Q. Are the slave holders and the leaders of the rebellion 
 members of that party ? 
 
 A. They are, and would not regard you as having any 
 right if they were in power. 
 
 Q; The colored men should then vote with the Republic- 
 an or Radical Party? 
 
 A. They should, and shun the Democratic party as they 
 would the overseer's lash and the auction block. 
 
 Q. Has the Republican party ever deceived the colored 
 people ? 
 
 A. It has ndt. While the Democratic party has always 
 been opposed to their- freedom, their education, 'arid their 
 rights to vote, the Republican party has always been their 
 friend. 
 
 Q. To what party &a the leading colored men belong-? 
 
 A. Withdut exception they belong to the Republican 
 party. 
 
— 32 — 
 
 Q. What are the most prominent principles advocated by 
 the Republican party ? 
 
 .A. Equal rights before the law and at the hallot box for 
 all men without regard to race or color; that is, that every 
 man shall have the same rights and liberties as any other man. 
 
 Q. Does not the Military Reconstruction Act secure to 
 us these rights ? 
 
 A. Yes, but you may yet be deprived of them if your 
 enemies get into power. 
 
 Q. What would the people think if the colored men voted 
 with the Democratic party ? 
 
 A. The people of the North would think that they did 
 not fully understand their own rights nor the duties devolving 
 on them; and the people of the South would proudly say, "We 
 have always told you that the negro did not wish to be free." 
 
 Q. What use has been made of the money which the 
 colored people of the Southern States have paid as taxes ? 
 
 A. It has been used to establish schools for white children; 
 to pay the expenses of making and executing laws in which 
 the colored men have had no voice, and in endeavoring to have 
 the Supreme Court set aside the law which gives you the right 
 to vote. 
 
 Q. What! are the Democrats using my own money to 
 take away my rights? 
 
 A. They have always done so, and will continue to while 
 they remain in power. 
 
 Q. Can thi9 be right ? 
 
 A. It can not, but it is what you have always received, 
 and such treatment as you will continue to receive from tbe 
 Democratic party. 
 
 Q. Some people say if we vote against the white of the 
 South it will make them our enemies and we will be destroyed. 
 Is it so? 
 
 A. This will not be the case, because they will try to 
 befriend you to secure your vote. 
 
 Q. But they say we will be discharged from work if we 
 dare vote the Republican ticket. Will they do that ? 
 
 A. You should remember that your labor is worth just as 
 much to the man who employs you as his money is to you. 
 
 Q. You would advise us then to disregard these threats 
 and vote with the Republican party ? 
 
— 33 — 
 
 A. Most certainly I would. Had you not rather suffer, 
 or even starve to death, than to aid a party to re-enslave you? 
 Remember your former condition and avoid a return to chains 
 and slavery. "Give me liberty or give me death. " 
 
 Q. The white people South say the Republicans of the 
 North do not care for the colored men only so far as they can 
 use them to continue in political power. Is that true ? 
 
 A. It is not. 
 
 Q. What is the reason that several of the Northern 
 States do not give us the right to vote ? t 
 
 A. Chiefly because they have in the past been controlled 
 by the Democratic party. In the Western States where what 
 are called the "Black Laws," exist, which forbid colored 
 people to live" there, there are large bodies of whites who 
 moved originally from the slave States, and carried the hatred 
 and prejudices of slavery with them. 
 
 Q. What has the Republican party done in these States 
 about such laws ? 
 
 A. Tried to abolish them as fast as it gained power. It 
 publicly advocates their repeal. 
 
 Q. Well, I am satisfied. You have clearly "shown me my 
 duty, and I shall impart the information to my people. 
 
 A. Let me say to you further, that the Democratic party 
 will use all means to get the colored people to put it in power 
 again, but you must remember what has-been its past record, 
 and see to it that you do not trust it in the future. In order 
 that you may work to the best advantage for the success of 
 the party which has been and still is your true friend, you 
 should have an organization, or association, where you can 
 bring together your people, and such white men as belong to 
 the Republican party. You want to be so organized that you 
 will act as one man, lest your enemy gain the victory. You 
 should organize Union Leagues and Republican Clubs. Here is 
 a Constitution for a Union Republican Club. You can take 
 this and call together some of your Republican friends, have 
 them sign it, and elect the officers provided therein. Then 
 hold a meeting once in each week, talk these matters over, 
 read newspapers and documents to those who cannot read, and 
 take such measures as will result in conveying to every colored 
 man the correct view of his duties at this time. This is the 
 Constitution of which I speak: [Then follows a simple con- 
 stitution for a political club.] 
 
— 84 — 
 
 Resolutions of the Alabama 'Grand Council of the 
 iUm&n ksagpe, April, 1867. 
 
 [The Grand Council that passed these resolutions, soon after the enactment 
 of the reconstruction laws was composed almost entfir-ely of men wfco %ad«<aii»e 
 into the state after the war. There were several native -5yhi*f^, put jtfready 
 Jiie j»»tiv« Republicans jy.ere beginning to-jdestrt-tbe order on. account ,pf the 
 admission of negroes. Practically ali the members were elected %o the con- 
 stitutional convention after the close of -which they' again resolved -themselve s 
 into a Grand Council and nominated one another to office. General Meade 
 ;St3rpngJyebjectedto«h*«*ara(<*erof,|a>e nominees pjade by#he J,ea,gfl*. , Jtt 
 was a -general custom of the Radicals tor«^rJjanc$isesuches-C;©nJeder,aJ3e s 
 as were willine to accept the terms offered in the third and f ourth parigraphs 
 of the resolutions. The sixth paragraph refers to the statements of Secretary 
 of the Treasury McCulloch and the Post Master General that not enough cap- 
 able " loyalists " could be found ill jth« Sppth to fill the federal offices. Tije 
 resolutions were printed in. Jhe l}fonjgp|nery j>apers and .are also in MfiPher- 
 son's Reconstruction, 249-250.] • 
 
 &&okie&, That the Aflbama Qw$$ Council of the Union 
 League of America return ttoank* to the Cojjigfess of the 
 United StaJ*sfor its patriotic action in affording to all the 
 people an opportunity, on fair terms, to r-e-orgaaixe the gov- 
 ernment of the State, to put her destinies into the hands of 
 true Union men, and to unite her again fco he-r sister States 
 by -the only enduring bond of unswerving loyalty. 
 
 2. That we hail with joy the recurrence to the funda- 
 mental principle on wl? jch our forefathers achieved their 
 independence— "that all , men are created equal;" that we 
 welcome its renewed proclamation ,as a measure of simple 
 justice to a faithful. and patriotic class of our fellow-men, and 
 that we firmly bejjeve that there could he no lasting paciftsa- 
 tion of the -country under any system which denied to a large 
 class of our populatipn that hold upon the laws -which is,giyen 
 by the ballot. 
 
 3. That while we believe that participation in rebellion 
 is the highestcrime known to the law, and that those guilty 
 of jt hold their continued existence solely by the clemency of 
 an outraged but merciful Q-oy eminent, we are nevertheless 
 willing to imitate that government in forgiveness of (the past 
 and to welcome to the Republican Union party all who, for- 
 saking entirely the principles on which the rebellion was 
 
— «5 — 
 
 founded, wiil sincerely and earnestly unite with us In estab. 
 Joshing »wfl,?naiTitaijjing'J©r Hhe-fatuw a,g©verament of eopraS 
 ■rights and unconditional loyally. 
 
 4, .That, we. consider willingness fca^vatie to power, the 
 »em wteo pseserved wnvweiyiog &&b$v&ne& &> ttoe &wrnm$iiit 
 during the war as the best test ist sincerity da profession* tot 
 ■JHe future. 
 
 J. That if the pacification now proposed by Congress be 
 not accepted in good faith by those who staked and forfeited 
 "their lives, their fortunes, acid their saerad tumor" in a^jael- 
 lion, it will ibe iatoe duty of dongress to ettfouce that forfeiture 
 ■by the confiscation •of the lands, -at least, -of such a stiff -neefced 
 .and rebellious people. 
 
 •6. That the assertion that there axe not. enough tatelj> 
 gent loyal men in Alabama to administer the goyemnaeBt is 
 false in fact, and' maMy promulgated lay those who aim to 
 "keep treason respectable by retaining power in the hands of 
 ate friends and votaries. 
 
 Treatment of N^gr-o Bolters 
 
 Testimony of a Negro Boater: I visited this county and Bullock 
 Xee and Chambers counties [making speeches] on the democratic side— they 
 shot at me and Martin Van Buren [another bolter] twice and we didn't make 
 « speech. Up in Chambers county we were .lightly interrupted by five ccjfsred 
 menj one by the name of Bryant. We wanted to give him time to speak and 
 -Edatfe whyJie. thought ftt was right ,to have a colored society and ,a White 
 ^society; that a negro man could not keep his wife if he was a democrat; and 
 .young colored women in that society had to take a pledge not to marry a 
 democratic negro. The president of the society, his name was Treadwell, -was 
 an ex-member of the legislature. The preacher of the church, he stopped the 
 •secretary from his office .salary because he was a democrat, .and stopped 
 another man from being .deacon of the church because he was<a democrat. 
 He put it to,a vote and -silenced him 'from his membership— expelled him from 
 the church. I 'belong to the Baptist chundi and am not properly treated; I 
 have ahnost quit going to church on that account. My minister thinks that a 
 negro 1 being a democrat cannot be reality, and ought 'to "be' silenced from every- 
 thing of colored worship. I made a speech— the colored people told me that 
 if -they -had *1fheir*own way they jpould -shoot 'my head right square ,olf. Isw,as • 
 ^down to Hickory Bend where I taught a school, and Mr. Booker Nettles ad- 
 vised the colored paople to -tak-e Wiejir jduldxeu from a democratic negro 
 
— 36 — 
 
 .teacher. . Asa Biarbour, a colored man, did the samfi and made it a part of his 
 speech. I then had twenty-one pupils in my school, and the next morning I 
 hadn't but eleven left, and they came and told me the reason they had taken 
 them from me. They just broke up' my school. 
 
 Testimony of a Negro Republican: We don't, like to "have any com- 
 munion with them [negro democrats] at all.' As soon as we find one out we 
 don't have him around us. We don't have much to say to them, We Rass 
 them and have nothing to do with them because . they have left . their right 
 place. If he is with the white democrats here, of course he is against us. A 
 colored man in my estimation cannot be a sincere'democrat. This last election 
 the democrats bought in so many that they broke the republicans down. 
 They bought a great many with a drink of whiskey. 
 
 Testimony of C^sar. Shorter, democrat, formerly a slave of Gov. 
 Shorter, of Alabama: They talked about hanging me; they said they would 
 rather hang me than anything else, and I thought once or twice they would 
 get at it. They didn't let me speak. I didn't find but one colored republican 
 that day. We toted a double-barrelled shot gun and had to hide. He had to 
 he fastened up in the depot house all the niorning, because a man who toted a 
 a double-barrelled shot gun threatened to kill him.' He said (to me) "My 
 friend, you are in a damn bad place." I told him I was in a free country, and 
 I thought my behavior ought to carry me along. He said, "Damn you, you 
 had better keep your eyes open," And when night come I took to my hole, 
 and when the cars come, I got on the cars and they brought me home." — 
 House Report JVb. 26%, IS Cong., £ Session, pp. 295, 309, 336. 
 
 West Virginia University 
 
 Announcements of the facilities and courses in the fol- 
 lowing departments may be had by writing to the Pres- 
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 1. A rts and Sciences. 6. Military. 
 
 2. Eoglneerlng. 7. Music. 
 
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 i. Medicine. 9. Preparatory. 
 
 5 Agriculture, (including 10. Commercial. 
 
 Dairylng,Horticulture,Vet- 11. The Summer School 
 
 terinary Science, etc.) 
 
 D. B. PURINTON, Ph. D., LL. D., President, 
 
 MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
West Virginia University Documents 
 
 Relating to Reconstruction. Edited ^j. « 
 
 by Walter h. Fleming, Professor of ^ OS « 4^5 
 
 History.. 
 
 I. Public Frauds in South Carolina 
 
 II. The Constitution of The Council of Safety 
 
 III. Local Ku Klux Constitution 
 
 IV. The '76 Association 
 
 PRICE, 30 CENTS 
 
 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, ONE DOLLAR 
 
 Morgantown, West Virginia 
 1904 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 RELATING TO RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 In this series of reprints will be reproduced documents illustrat- 
 ing, the peculiar conjSitions, social, political and economic, that pre- 
 vailed in the Southern States during Reconstruction. Newspaper 
 flies, public documents, and pamphlets and manuscripts from, private 
 collections will furnish the mattertal that is to be reproduced. J Many 
 of the documents are at present inaccessible to students who are 
 not in reach of large libraries, and some of them have never been 
 published. 
 
 The following number have been issued: 
 
 1. The Constitution and the Ritual of the Knights of the White 
 .Camelia. 
 
 %. The Revised and Amended Prescript of Ku Klux Klan. 
 
 3. Union League Documents. 
 
 4-5. Public Frauds in South Carolina, etc. 
 
 A special discount will be made on orders for class use. Single 
 -numbers, 15 cents; double numbers, 30 cents; annual subscription, 8 
 numbers, one dollar. Address Walter L. Fleming, West Virginia 
 University, Morgantown, W. Va. 
 
 Copyright 1904, 
 
 by 
 
 WALTER L,. FLEMING. 
 
Public Frauds in South Carolina 
 
 In South Carolina during the years 1868-1876, carpetbag and 
 negro rule was at its worst. No other Southern States, except 
 Louisiana, — and on a smaller scale, Mississippi, Florida and Ar- 
 kansas — suffered as did South Carolina. The blacks formed the 
 majority of the population; in 1867, the registration of voters showed 
 46,346 whites and 78,982 blacks. The prominent whites were ^dis- 
 franchised. The convention of 1868, usually known as the "Black 
 and Tan" contained 63 illiterate blacks and 34 whites. There were no 
 Democrats and no men of character or experience, most of the 
 whites being adventurers from the North. The first reconstructed 
 legislature contained 21 Democrats and 136 Republicans; in the 
 lower House were 48 whites and 76 negroes and in the Senate, 24 
 whites and 9 negroes. The next legislatures contained a larger 
 proportion of blacks, that of 1870 having in the lower House 80 
 negroes and 44 whites and in the Senate 11 negroes and 20 whites. 
 
 From 1868, t,p 1872 the Governor was Gen. R. K. Scott,. a Federal 
 army officer from Ohio, who had come into the State with the Freed- 
 men's Bureau. " in 1872, F. J. Moses, Jr., a native scalawag was elected 
 From 1868 to 1872 Moses had been Speaker of the House and had 
 assisted to engineer most of the frauds. In 1874, D. H. Chamberlain, 
 of Massachusetts, a "reform" Republican formerly an officer of a 
 negro regiment, and later attorney general, became governor. The 
 State was bankrupt when Chamberlain came in and he could spend 
 but little money. He gave ' a" fairly decent administration, and in 
 1876 was displaced by general uprising of the -whites- who put in 
 General Wade Hampton, a well known. Confederate cavalry officer. 
 
 During the carpetbag regime the' State was plundered principally 
 by the operation of cliques of State officers and members of the 
 legislature. These cliques were known as the "Bond Ring," headed 
 by Governor Scott, the "Legislative Ring," controlled . by Speaker, 
 later Governor, Moses, and the "Printing Ring" ir\ which Moses and 
 Chamberlain ityere leading spirits; The State bonded debt increased 
 from about $1,000,000 in 1867 to mor,e than $18,000,000, in 187,2. Be- 
 sides, the burden of taxation was, heavy, increasing from $400,000 
 in i860 levied on $490,000,000 to $2,000,000 in^ 1871 levied on $184,- 
 000,000. Much land was 'forfeited for taxes,— 3'4'3,97i acres 'in one' 
 year. 
 
 After Jthe overthrow of carpetbag rule , an investigation of the 
 frauds committed was made by the State government. Only , the most 
 flagrant, cases were investigated. , There was little or no testimony 
 taken except that of Republican^, all of whom seemed perfectly 
 willing, to confers what they had done. Numerous reports were made, 
 but the principal ones related to the following subjects: (1)- Sup- 
 
plies; (2) Public Printing; (3) Pay Certificates; (4) Hardy Solomon's 
 Claim; (5) The Swindle of the Greenville and Columbia Railway 
 Company; (6) The Impeachment Swindle; (7) Blue Ridge Scrip, Vali- 
 dating Act, Financial Settlement; (8) Ku Klux and Miscellaneous; 
 (9) Penitentiary and- Orphan Asylum' F>a,uds; (10), . Sinking Fund 
 Frauds, Etc.; (11) Patterson's' Election to the tf.S. Senate. In all 
 these reports consisting principally of testimony and vouchers fill 
 93T pages. They were .. printed separately, also in the Reports and 
 Resolutions of the South Carolina Assembly, 1877, and finally in a 
 separate volume. All of these are very rare, now; It is a. tradition 
 in South Carolina that the. Republicans purchased and destroyed 
 all that could be obtained. It has been. denied that authentic records 
 of the frauds existed.* 
 
 Supplies 
 
 [Under the disguise of Supplies, the commonest frauds were' per- 
 petrated. Each State official and member of the Legislature had 
 his private bills paid by the State. Double the amount necessary to 
 pay these private bills was usually appropriated by the legislature: 
 The conspirators known as the "Legislative Ring" divided the ex- 
 cess. One senator said: "South Carolina has no right to be a state 
 unless it can take care of its statesmen." Supplies were usually 
 classified as follows; Sundries, stationery, refreshments, furniture, 
 carpeting, jewelry, and rents. See Fraud Report, 1-208.] 
 
 [Woodruff had been Clerk of the Senate.] 
 ROOMS OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, July 16th, 1877. 
 
 Josephus Woodruff, having been duly sworn, further deposes 
 and says: 
 
 Under the head of supplies was embraced anything that a 
 Senator chose to order. Orders were generally given through 
 the Clerk, and the accounts rendered ■ against the Clerk of the 
 Senate. At first these orders were moderate and included only 
 such necessary articles as stationery and postage stamps, but 
 
 •For conditions in South Carolina during Reconstruction see Pike, 
 Prostrate State; Bancroft, Negro in Politics; Allen, Chamberlain's 
 Administration; Chamberlain, Reconstruction in South Carolina, in 
 the. Atlantic Monthly, 1901; Ku Klux Report, vols. III., IV., V.; Her- 
 bert, Solid South, 85-111; Andrews, United States in Our Time, chapters 
 V, VI., VIII; Somers, Southern States, 37-61; South Carolina Women 
 in the Confededacy, 370-385. 
 
— 5 — 
 
 they generally increased until they assumed gigantic proportions. 
 The accounts were rendered and -made payable out of' the Senate 
 contingent fund. From the commencement of my official career 
 the Committee to audit and control the contingent expenses of 
 the Senate always claimed the right to order what they pleased 
 and include' in their reports,' under the names of "sundries and 
 others," their personal accounts. The practice became so gen- 
 eral as to embrace nearly every Republican and some Democratic 
 Senators and .the accounts ordered to be paid without inquiring 
 or a dissenting voice. 
 
 The reports usually read as follows: "The Committee on Con- 
 tingent Accounts and Expenses of the Senate, to whom was re- 
 ferred sundry contingent accounts against the Senate, or Clerk 
 of the Senate, have considered the same, and recommend that 
 they be paid.!'' They were generally regarded as privileged mat- 
 ters. The Senate Rule requiring all reports to lie over one day 
 for consideration was almost always suspended in ' these cases 
 and the report considered immediately. They were agreed to, 
 the accounts ordered to be paid and endorsed: "Ordered paid. 
 J. WV C. S." Certificates for the various amounts were drawn ac- 
 cordingly. Senators would leave their accounts with the Chair- 
 man of the Committee on Contingent Accounts, and when per- 
 sonal bills were settled in this way they were returned to Senators 
 receipted. The largest bills were rendered for refreshments, in- 
 cluding the best liquors and cigars, which were served to Sen- 
 ators and their friends in a- room next to the office of the Clerk 
 of the Senate. The refreshment room was kept open and was 
 accessible at all times. It was visited daily by State officials, 
 Senators and Representatives, Judges, lawyers, editors and re- 
 porters of newspapers and citizens : generally, irrespective of 
 party, who discussed matters, State and national, in the most 
 amiable manner over a sparkling glass of champagne or favorite 
 wine or choice cigars. I do not drink or smoke, and at the com- 
 mencement I stipulated with Mr. Leslie, then Chairman of the 
 Committee on Contingent Accounts, that in no event was I as 
 Clerk to be held responsible individually far these refreshments. 
 My porter, Louis Grant, was kept in constant attendance on the 
 refreshment room, generally from 12 M., when the Senate met, 
 to 2 and 3 o'clock next morning. This matter, like others, 
 
gradually assumed the largest proportions. Orders were given 
 for liquors and cigars, which were sent to the hotels and're'sl- 
 dences or boarding houses of Senators and their friends, and 
 enormous bills rendered accordingly. Of these I usually had no 
 knowledge. But -whenever I sent an order of' my own for any 
 special occasion outside I paid ior them invariably with' my own 
 funds. ; In, this way I secured the passage of many charters for 
 citizens of Charleston and elsewhere gratuitously. 
 
 : In the commencement of this business the members at first 
 gave the merchants of Columbia for goods purchased from them 
 orders to the Clerk to deduct the amount from their pay. The 
 orders soon largely exceeded their pay and the accounts were 
 then included in the repqrts of the. Committee on Contingent 
 Accounts to be paid out of the Senate contingent fund. Pay 
 certificates for accounts audited and passed were issued* to the 
 merchants for almost every description of merchandise. 
 
 Durjng Mr. Parker's term ,pf office and part of. Mr. Cardozo's 
 up %q the time of specific appropriations, certificates for station- 
 ery, which included nearly everything 1 , and for other accounts, 
 were issued to such an extent that they were sold on the street 
 at twenty and. sometimes as low as, ten and fifteen cents on the 
 dollar. 
 
 Contingent account certificates for various amounts were 
 frequently drawn to the order of the Clerk of the Senate and 
 turned over to the Chairman of the Committee on Contingent 
 Accounts for collection and distribution. As these transactions 
 became common the Senators claimed that all their expenses 
 should ibe paid by the State, or, in the language of Mr. Leslie, 
 "the State had no right to be a-. State unless it could pay and 
 take care of its statesmen*" Gratification certificates; issued 
 without any consideration but for the use of Senators* also be- 
 came frequent. But I desire to submit to the Committee checks 
 and other papers showing that, I endeavored to discharge my 
 duties as correctly as possible under the circumstances. 
 
 Testimony of Lewis Grant, porter, in charge of "refreshment' 
 room:" 
 
 A part of my duty was to attend to the refreshment room' 
 
adjoining the room occupied by the 1 Clerk of the Senate. I gen- 
 erally opened the room at 8 o'clock in the morning and kept it 
 open from 2 to 4 next morning. During that time some one 
 was constantly in the room, eating, drinking or smoking. • Sen- 
 ators, members of the House and State officers and Judges and 
 editors of influential newspapers were constant visitors; not 
 an hour in the day, and but few at night, but what some one of 
 them were there drinking and smoking. Many of , the Senators 
 and members would come to the room before breakfast, hunt- 
 ing 1 a drink or "eye-opener." I cannot estimate the amount 
 drank on an average every day, but several gallons, with a con*- 
 siderable amount of wine, porter,. ,ale i>( ^c., included. We kept 
 the best article all the time; , the Senators and members would 
 complain if any but the best of cigars' and wines and liquors were 
 furnished them. I remember many times to' have had on hand 
 what, I considered, very good • cigars and liquors, but they would 
 complain. I found it hard to keep a sufficient amount of cigars 
 on hand 4;o' 'supply their demand's, from the fact that the Sen- 
 ators and members on leaving would generally fill one or. two of 
 their' pockWs. I have seen men assembled in" bar rooms drinking 
 and carousing, but 1 never saw anything to equal the refreshment 
 room- of the Senate for drinking, smoking and talking. Sunday 
 Was ho exception to the rule. " Often, after fhey would drink 
 heavy, many of them would lie down on the sofas and sleep until 
 next morning. I remember "'often when the call of the Senate 
 was made' that the members would be in the refreshment room 
 drinking. I thought it impossible for men to drink so much 
 whiskey and attend to any business. I remember that aT large 
 majority of the' men who assembled at the room were Repub- 
 lican's-, though some Democratic Senators and some few from the 
 House were there. Senator Holtombe and Biemann and Repre- 
 sentative' Smith were on hand every (lay, '^hd often, two or three 
 times; Senator Wilson also. They also brought their friends to. 
 drink with them. The Senate refreshment room Was where the 
 members met to talk over' the Various Jobs that were under con- 
 sideration and make arrangements as to how they would vdte on 
 them.'- When some of them would leave they 1 Would put a* bottle 
 of champagne in their pockets. The room was kept open and 
 refreshments received from the time I was appointed porter. I 
 occudv t he game nnsit.inn now, but, s ince Governor Hampton took 
 
— 8 — 
 
 charge of the State House no refreshments have been served; 
 that business has been stopped. 
 
 tin one session the "supplies" amounted to $350,000:' $125,000' of 
 "which was spent in keeping up the ''refreshment room," where 
 officials and. their friends were supplied free of cost. This room was 
 kept open for 18 to 20 hours a day for six years." "Refreshments" 
 were also sent to the houses of the members and even to their coun- 
 try homes when the Legislature was not in session.] 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, 1871. 
 
 Mr. JOSEPHUS WOODRUFF, [Clerk of Senate] 
 
 Bought of GEORGE STMMERS, 
 
 Commission Merchant, 
 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealer in 
 
 CROCERIES, PROVISIONS, WINES, LIQUORS, CIGARS, &c. 
 
 Feb. 25. 1 case champagne, W. E. H.,. Senator (W. E. 
 
 Hqlcombe, sent to Columbia Hotel) .,. $ 50 . 00 
 
 Feb. 25. 1 box cigars, $10; 2 gallon whisky, $16, W. E. , 
 H., (Senator W. E. Holcombe, sent to Co- 
 lumbia Hotel) 26.00 
 
 Feb. 27. 3 dozen" ale, $10.50; 2 dozen porter, $7,. ... . 17.50 
 
 Feb. 27. Discount of draft f . 35.00 
 
 Feb. 27. 1 gallon best brandy,, $20; 1 gallon best 
 sherry, $12, for W. E. H-. (Senator W. E. 
 Holcombe, Columbia Hotel) ■. . . 32.00 1 
 
 Feb. 27. 2 boxes cigars, $12,50-$25; two demijohns, 
 $1.50, for W. E. H., (Senator W. E. Hol- 
 combe, Columbia Hotel) 26.00> 
 
 Feb. 26. 1 gallon whisky, $7; 1 box cigars, $12.50 19.50' 
 
 Feb. 28. 1 case champagne, $50; 3 boxes cigars, 
 
 $15-$45 .... 95.00; 
 
 Feb. 28., 2 gallons whisky, $8-$ 16; 1 gallon sherry, 
 
 $12, (Senator jp„ ; Blemann) 28.00' 
 
 Feb. 28. ,1 gallon brandy, $20; .jug and demijohn, $2, 
 
 (Senator D. Biemann) <;;■ 22 . 00 
 
 $3:51.50 
 
— :»— . 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C., February 15, 1873. 
 Mr. J. WOODRUFF, for Senate, 
 
 Bought of GEORGE SYMMERS, 
 Commission Merchant, 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealer in 
 
 CROCERIES, PROVISIONS, WINES, LIQUORS, CIGARS, &C; 
 
 1873 
 Jan. 29. 1 gallon whisky, $7; 1 case champagne, $45. . 52.00 
 Jan. 29. 1 y. a. cheese, $3.50; (30) 4 dozen quarts 
 
 lager, $7-$28 31.50 
 
 Jan. 30. 1 box cigars, $10; 1 case wine, $45 55 . 00 
 
 Jan. 31. 4 dozen Bass ale, $3.50-$14; matches, $50c. . 14.50 
 Feb. 1. 6 boxes cigars, $10-$60; cheese, $1.25; crack- 
 ers, $1.25 . .. .. ... 62.50 
 
 Feb. 1. 1 dozen ale, $3.50; 1 dozen porter, $3.50; 1 
 
 jar ginger, $3; (Green) 10.00 
 
 Feb. 1. % gallon c. whisky, $1.50; 1 bottle wine, $2; 
 
 ■-: : • (Hollingshead) 3.50 
 
 Feb. 1. 3 bottles wine, $6; 1 box cigars, $9; (Robert- 
 son) ..... s 15.00 
 
 Feb. 4. 4 dozen ale, $3.50-$14; 1 gallon c. whisky, $3. 17.00 
 Feb. 4. matches, 40c. ; (5) 1 gallon c. whisky, $ 3 ... . 3.40 
 Feb. 5. 1 pineapple cheese, $2.5.0; 5 pounds crackers, 
 
 $1.25 3.75 
 
 Feb. 5. 3 boxes cigars, $10-$30; (6) 1 gallon whisky, 
 
 $7 .,., 37.00 
 
 Feb. 5. 1 pineapple cheese, $2.50; 6 boxes sardines, 
 
 $1.80 .:.... 4.30 
 
 Feb. 5. 2 boxes cigars, $10 , 20.00 
 
 Feb. 7. bill of merchandise to Lee 284 . 39 
 
 Feb. 7. 1 gallon whisky, $7; 1 gallon c. whisky, $3; 
 
 1 cheese, $2.50 12 . 50 
 
 Feb. 7. 2 ^bottles champagne »••'.,. . . . .. ■„.•■■, :. . -. 7.00 
 
 Feb. 8. 1 box, 6 pounds candles, $2.40; 1 gallon c. 
 
 whisky, $3 5.40 
 
 Feb. 8. 1 pine a. cheese, $1.7.5.; 5 -pounds crackers, 
 
 $1.25 3.00 
 
 Feb. 8. 1 box cigars, $10; 3 dozen ale, $3.50-$10. 50.. 20.50 
 
— 10 — 
 
 Feb. 10. 3 gallons whisky, ,$7-21; 2 gallons sherry, $14 35.00 
 
 Feb. 10. . 2 boxes cigars, $20; 1 .gallon, whisky, $7 27.00 
 
 Feb. il. i gallon whisky, $7; pounds cheese, $1-63; , .,, 
 
 crackers, $1.25 .'".' ....'. 9.88 
 
 Feb. "11. 2 dozen porter, $;7; 3 bottles maraschino, t$4- 
 
 $12; (Robertson) 79.00 
 
 Feb. 11. 3 bottles curacoa, $12; 1 case champagne, 
 
 $45;' (Robertson) . .'.'. . !".''.'. ....'. 57 - 00 . 
 
 Feb. 12.' 1 gallon whisky, $7; 1 dozen boxes matche's, '' 
 
 40c . 7-40 
 
 Feb. 12. 1 cask, 8 dozen porter, $3.50; (Lee) . 28.00 
 
 Feb. 13. 1 gallon c. whisky, $3; 10 pounds crackers, 
 
 25c-$250 5.. 50 
 
 Feb. 13. . 6 boxes sardines, $1.80; 6 pounds cheese, 
 
 $25c-$1.50 •.'■'..'.. 3.50 
 
 Feb. 13. 3 pounds Schwitzer cheese, 40c-$1.20; (14) 
 
 ' 1 gallon whisky, $7 8.20 
 
 $861.52 
 Received payment by order 61 State Treasurer. 
 
 ■ GEO. SYMMERS. 
 
 Per Roy. 
 
 COLUMBIA, 8. C, December, 14/ 1872. ••'• 
 Mr. JOSEPHUS WOODRUFF, 
 
 Bought of GEORGE SYMMERS, 
 Commission Merchant, 
 Wholesale and' Retail Dealer in 
 CROCERIES, PROVISIONS, WINES,. LIQUORS, CIGARS, &c; 
 
 1872 
 Sept. 13. 2 barrels flour, $13-$26;'l barrel pearl grist, 
 
 $10 :..... $ 36.00 
 
 Sept.' 13. 286 pounds sugar,- 16c.-$45.76; 12 pounds 
 
 ham, $3 ... .". .-.'. . . .". .......... 48.76 
 
 Se"pt. 13. 30 pounds B strips, 22c-$6.60'; 30 pdunds 
 
 bacon, 20c.-$6 ...'.. J. 12 .60 
 
 Sept. 13. 3 pounds green tea, $2.50-$7.50; 8 bbttles 
 
 • ■«- .,:•:■'-*-. , ••»•,•,■■■ 
 
— 11 — 
 
 W. sauce, $50c.- $4 .... ^> 11.50 
 
 Sept. 13. 25' pounds coffee, -$ 3 5c«$ 8,,75; 25 pounds bet- 
 
 , , ter, 50c.-$,12.,5.0 . . . . . ., '. 21.25 
 
 Sept. 1|, "^ lbb pounds lard, 20c.-|20; 1. pound broma, 
 
 , , fl . ...... 21.00 
 
 Sept. 19., 54 pounds hams,.25c.-$ 31.50 ............. ... 13..50 
 
 Nov. 7. 1 gallon M. C, whisky, $7; 1 box cigars, $8. . 15.00 
 Nov. 14. 1 gallon M. C, whisky, $7,; 1 gallon best 
 
 . brandy, $18 ," ../....... , t ., 25.00 
 
 Nov. 14. 1 case champagne, $45; 1 case Imperial* 
 
 brandy, $30 . ..... '-., '.,.,,. (f .". - 75.00 
 
 I^ov., 14„ 5, 3 boxes cigars, $30;, 20 pounds. Jaya coffee, $2 32 .00 
 Nov." 14'. 6 pounds granulated sugaij, \\y.& ppuads B 
 
 r . „ crackers, 40c '....,.,,..,.,...,.,... . 1.40 
 
 Nov. 14. 1 dozen matches, 40c; 1 gallon demijohn, 75c 1.15 
 Nov." 15.. .5 pounds cheese, -25c-$1.25; (20) 1 gallon 
 
 alcohol, $6 ;•-••■'. 1 .2h 
 
 Nov. 20. 1 box wax candles, $60c.-$3.60; 3, boxes sar- ..,_,. 
 
 dines, 50c.-fi.50 5 . 10 
 
 Nov. .21. i boxjjcigajrs, $181; (22) l-gall#n ;1 whisky, $7. . ,25.00 
 Nov.. 25.,- 1 gallon ^.C-yhisjcy, $7; 3 bpxes cigars, $30<.:37.00 
 
 Nov. 26. 1* gallon M. C. whisky, $7; 1 gallon sherry, $7. 14.00 
 
 Nov. 28. 1 case extra Imperial champagne 45.00 
 
 Nov. 28. 1 box cigars, $10; JL gallon best brandy, $18, 
 
 (Senator B. F. Whittemore) 28.00 
 
 Nov. 28. 1 gallon sherry, $7; 6 bottles ale, $1.75, 
 
 "'"_ (Senator B. F. Whittemore) ...... ... ..... 8.75 
 
 Dec. 2. 1 gallon whisky, $7; 1 case champagne, $45. . 52.00 
 
 Dec. 2. 3 boxes cigars, $10-$30; 1 dozen matches, $40. 30.40 
 Dec. 5. 1 gallon whisky, $7; 1 gallon sherry, $7; 3 
 
 *. boxes cigars, $30 . .. . i' .• .'. I .-. .-. . .'. '" 44.00 
 
 Dec. 5.^ 1 case champagne, $45; 1 dozen matches, 40d. 45,40 
 Dec. : 5. .3 pounds. crackers, $.7 5c; 3 ^pounds cheese, 
 
 mj.i -7.5CJ . :.>..:.l...- ■-.' 1.50 
 
 Dec. : 5.. 1 gallon. CL whisky,. $3; 1 box-cigars, $10, 
 
 o.->- (Senator :J. Hollingshead) . : . . / . .-. 13.00 
 
 Dec "--'6. . .1 gallon M. C. whisky, (Senator J. Hollings- 
 
 - .., head) . . . : > ..it. . . . . . : 7: ,00 
 
 Dec. i 5. .100 .pounds crushed sugar, $20; 200 pounds 
 
 bacon, 15c.-$30, (Senator F. Arnim) 50.00 
 
— 12 — 
 
 Dec. 5. 1 barrel buckwheat, $16; 40 pounds candles, 
 
 25c.:-f 10, (Senator f! Arni'mj .7- . ..'.„. . . .. . 2« . Q0 
 
 Dec. 5. 100 pounds lard, $20; 78 pounds ham, 25c- 
 
 $19.50, (Senator F. Arntm) ! ;. . ... . i. • ■ • ■ t 39. 50 
 
 12% pounds smoked salmon, $5; 43 pounds 
 
 crackers, 20c-$8.60, (Senator F. Affflm) . .. , 13-6.0 
 2 gallons M. C. whisky, $14;' 1 gallon brandy^ ; 
 
 $18, (Senator "V?. B. Holcombei) . ;;. '.'. .'.-•,. 3&\. 00 
 1 box cigars, (Senator W. E . Hplcombe) ."...'" lO'.OO 
 1 quart oysters, 50c; (7) 1 gallon M. C. 
 
 whisky, $7 ...-.". .'. . .'. . . :. .V. . ... V( . - ...'"' 7*1 6t> 
 
 1 gallon sherry, $7; 1 box cigar's, $10. .-. . 17-00 
 
 1 gallon sherry, $7; 1 gallon M. C. whisky, $7. ( 14.00 
 1 box cigars, $10; 1 [ gallon^ whisky, $7; 1 
 gallon C. whisky, $3, (Senator J. Hollings- 
 
 heaid) .... 20.00 
 
 1 bottle brandy, $4; (12) 2 gallons whisky, 
 
 $7-$14 : ... 18.00 
 
 Dec 12. 1 gallon sherry, $7; 1 box cigars, $10; " 
 
 matches, 40c. .... . 17 .00 
 
 Dec-13. 1 gallon sherry, 7; 1 gallon whisky, $7. . . . . ._ ,14-00 
 
 Dec. 13. 1 dozen ale, $ 3 .5 ; 1 dozen champagne, $22.5026.00 
 
 Dec. 
 
 5. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 6. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 6/ 
 
 Dec. 
 
 6. 
 
 Dec 
 
 7.- 
 
 Dec. 
 
 io; 
 
 Dec. 
 
 ni ; 
 
 Dec. 
 
 ii. 
 
 $99.56 
 
 [On the original bill only the, initials of the person supplied 
 were given. The full names were given by Hardy Solomon, who 
 sold the supplies. ~ Note- the dates of this bill and the one following. 
 Evidently, here is fraudulent duplication'.] 
 
 March 13. Sundries, for W. G. (Gurney) $ 25.25 
 
 March 14. 1 cask porter, for R. (Lieutenant Governor 
 
 A. J. Ransier) i 36.00 
 
 March 14. 1 cask ale, .for .R. (Lieutenant Governor 
 
 . •• i >. A. J. Ransier) . . .\ ......;.... .■.-■. ...... 36.00 
 
 March 14. 500 cigars for R. (Lieutenant Governor 
 
 A. J. Ransier) 100.00 
 
 March 14. 6 cases champagne, for R. (Lieutenant Gov- 
 
 -r ernor A. J. Ransier) . . . : v ....> i ....!. . 240.00 
 
— 13 — 
 
 March , 14. 1000 cigars, for R. (Lieutenant Governor 
 
 A. J. Ransier) 200 . 00 
 
 March 16. 1 case champagne, for R. (Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor A. J. Ransier) . , , . -40 . 00 
 
 March 16. 1 case brandy 40 . 00 
 
 March 18. 1 case brandy 40 . 00 
 
 March 18. 1 box cigars ..... 20 . 00 
 
 March 28. 1 gallon r. whicky (A. J. Ransier) ....... ; ,, 7.00 
 
 March 28. 1 box cigars (A. J. Ransier) 20.00 
 
 March 13. 1 bottle b cherries 2O0 . 00 
 
 $806.25 
 Credit by settlement . . . . .,. $806.25 
 
 March 14. 500 cigars (A. J. Ranier) $ 100 .00 
 
 March 14.. 6 eases champagne (A.; J. Ransier) 240.00 
 
 March 14. . 1000 cigars (P) 80.00 
 
 March 14. 500 cigars (R. K. Scott) . 100 . 00 
 
 March 14. 2 cases brandy (R, K. Scott) 80 . 00 
 
 March 16. 1 case champagne (R. K. Scott) 40.00 
 
 March 16. 2 cases brandy » 80.00 
 
 March 16. 2 gallons sherry (J. L. Neagle) ....,, • 20.00 
 
 March 18. 1 case brandy (J. L. Neagle) 40.00 
 
 March 18. 4 cases champagne (J. L. Neagle) 160.00 
 
 March 18. 2 boxes cigars 40 . 00 
 
 March 18. 500 cigars (A. J. Ransier) 100 .00 
 
 March 18. 1 case brandy (A. J. Ransier) . v ..,. ...... 40.00 
 
 March 28- 1 gallpn.r. whisky (A. J. Ransier) ....... 7.00 
 
 March 28. 1 box cigars 20 . 00 
 
 March 28. 1 bottle b. cherries 2 ; 00 
 
 $1641.00 
 
— 14 — 
 
 [An order from the Clerk of the House to a merchant to send 
 supplies to a member of the Legislature*] 
 
 2 bbzes cigars, ("good). 
 ' 1 box wine. 
 
 % dozen dried tongues. 
 
 3 hams. 
 
 f 2 worth of oranges. 
 
 Send to S. J. Lee, at Aiken, by Express. 
 
 HARDY SOLOMON, 
 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealer in 
 
 FAMILY GROCERIES 
 
 Also 
 
 FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC LIQUORS OF THE 
 
 BEST BRANDS CONSTANTLY ON HAND. 
 
 MAIN STREET. 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C-, Mwch 7, 1874. 
 
 THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 Bought of HARDY SOLOMON. 
 
 To sundries supplied to Senate,, per order % 689. 00 
 
 To amount of account previously rendered 561 . 0.0 
 
 $1250.00 
 Received pay certificates in settlement. 
 
 R. J. DONALDSON. 
 
 [Fine liquors were purchased in Philadelphia and New York.] 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, November 22, 1873. 
 
 THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, j 
 
 Bought of M. KUHN & BRO., 
 
 IMPORTERS OF WINES, BRANDIES, GINS, &e., &c. 
 
 No. 305 RACE STREET. 
 
 To amount before rendered $1686 .00 
 
— 15 — 
 
 Extract from report of Committee: 
 
 We find that there has been paid out within four years for 
 furniture alone over two hundred thousand dollars, and of this 
 amount Mr. Berry and Mr. Fagan, furniture dealers, testify that 
 at the present time there is at the State House only seventeen 
 thousand seven hundred and fifteen dollars' worth, appraised at 
 the prices charged for it, a list of which was sworn to by them 
 and is attached to their' evidence. This includes $325 worth of 
 furniture purchased by Attorney General Melton and paid for 
 by him out of his contingent fund, and at this time is in the 
 Attorney General's office. Mr. Berry says he furnished a large 
 number of Committee rooms outside of the State House, as well 
 as bed rooms. He remembers furnishing the rooms occupied by 
 W. J. Whipper.T. Hurley, T. B. Johnson, J. B. Green and others, 
 and some of the rooms he furnished as often as three times. He 
 also furnished rooms at Mrs. Randall's for Speaker Moses. 
 Traded furniture to members for pay certificates, and furnished 
 almost all the offices in the State Houses every session! In 
 continuation he states that he furnished at least forty bed rooms, 
 but does not know who occupied them all or what became of the 
 furniture. He was paid for it in legislative pay certificates. 
 
 [Jones had been Clerk of the House.] 
 
 A. 0. Jones, being recalled says:, 
 
 The estimates for appropriations and -the. disbursements of 
 the contingent fund of the House were regulated, by the Commit- 
 tees, on Ways and Means and Contingent Accounts and Expenses'. 
 I had no control over the- matter. I kept the records filed, what- 
 ever voueherrS. were left with me,,, and, issued pay certificates in 
 payment of accounts passed by th£ House, or upon the order of 
 the Speaker, or upon- the ordersf.of, ,the Chairmen of Committees 
 when, approved by the, Speaker. .The supplies furnished under the 
 head of "Legislative- Expenses," "Sundries" and "Stationery'' in- 
 cluded refreshments , for Cpmmittee rooms, ( groceries blocks 
 hors"esV carriages, ary gooas, carpers, mrniture of every descrip- 
 tion and miscellaneous articles of merchandise for the personal 
 use of the members. Four-fifths of the orders were given through 
 
— 16 — 
 
 the Sergeant-at-Arms, the most extravagant of which were, per- 
 haps, for renting or furnishing rooms outside of the State House 
 as "Committee rooms" and, for refreshments,. furnished the var- 
 ious Committees. I considered the expenditures wantonly ex- 
 travagant, but found it useless to remonstrate. A great many of 
 the names used in the accounts were probably "myths." Those 
 which I knew to be. otherwise were mostly merchants of the city 
 of Columbia, who, perhaps, furnished supplies of -some kind, for 
 which they rendered accounts, but, .made enormous additions to 
 their prices to cover loss by reason of the uncertainty of having 
 the pay certificates- which they received from the House paid at 
 the Treasury. Had I ventured to place any impediment in the 
 way of the issue of these certificates, I would have been com- 
 pelled to resign. At the session of 1873-74 I incurred the en^ 
 mity of many members because of, my refusal to allow my name 
 to be used or to commit my self personally to favor the passage 
 of a Bill which was introduced for the payment of a large number 
 of these questionable accounts. 
 
 Testimony of John Williams, Sergeant-a,t r arms: 
 It was a part of my duty, under a resolution of the House, 
 to purchase supplies for the House of Representatives by order 
 of the Speaker. I purchased supplies while P. J. Moses, Jr., was 
 Speaker. I purchased in that way a lot of furniture from M. H. 
 Berry, Committee room furniture, consisting of chairs, tables, 
 washstands. While Moses was Speaker I purchased some bed- 
 room sets and delivered them at the buildings of Mr. Greenfield, 
 at the corner over' Mr. Muller's store. I furnisned eight rooms. 
 Two of them were occupied by Gen. W. J. Whipper; two others 
 by W. H. Jones, from Georgetown; two others by Benjamin Byas; 
 two others by S. J. Lee. There were eight rooms or more; they 
 had the whole building occupied. James A. Bowley had a room 
 there. I delivered those bed-room sets to the parties named 
 while Moses was Speaker, and furnished their rooms with car- 
 pets also and all conveniences generally. I do not know what be- 
 came of the furniture. . : ; . I know that he furnished a great many 
 stoves to the Committee rooms and to individual members, who 
 claimed that they used their rooms for Committee purposes. I 
 don't know what became of the stoves; when I would call on the 
 
— 17 — 
 
 members for them they would tell me it was none of my business, 
 and when we would meet again the same rooms woulid be re- 
 furnished- with stoves, carpets and furniture. I cannot under- 
 take to explain the 1 accounts of Mr. M. H. Berry, a dealer in 
 furniture. I know that large quantities of furniture were furn- 
 ished by Mr. Berry each session; that as soon as the General As- 
 sembly adjourned the furniture disappeared, and that I was 
 compelled, under the order of the Speaker .or some Committee 
 Chairman, to refurnish all the rooms as soon as the Legislature 
 met. These rooms were outside of the Capitol building. I know 
 that Sperry, a member from Georgetown county, obtained an or- 
 der for furniture. I was told that it was my business to furnish 
 the rooms; that after that I had nothing more to do with them 
 or the furniture in them; consequently 'it was, in my opinion, 
 stolen by parties who had charge of it. 
 
 [Leslie was a negro Senator. Similar private bills for 18 Sen- 
 ators and 15 Representatives were regularly paid.] 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C., December 11, 1869. 
 
 Hon. C. P. LESLIE, 
 
 Bought of M. H. BERRY, 
 
 •Manufacturer and Dealer in 
 
 ALL KINDS OF FURNITURE,. CHAIRS, MATTRESSES, 
 
 CHILDREN'S CARRIAGES, WAGONS, &c 
 
 Plain Street, Next Door to J. & T. R. Agnew. 
 
 Aug. 23. To marble top bureau, $40; saloon table, 
 
 $2.50 ...... I 42.50 
 
 Aug. 23. To walnut towel rack, $2; hanging pictures, $2 4.00 
 
 Aug. 30. To hanging pictures , , 2.00 
 
 Sept. 14. To hanging 12 pictures 3.00 
 
 Oct, 16. To. 6 brace arm walnut chairs, $7 42.00 
 
 Oct. 16. To 2 walnut tete-a-tetes, $35 .70 . 00 
 
Nov. 13. Tq fine walnut chamber suit... 235.00 
 
 Nbvl 20. To 1 cotton mattress . , ,.,.... ,20,00 
 
 Nov. 10. To 1 cot. and mattress ,-8 .00 
 
 Dec. 11. To 4 djpuble spring mattresses, $33 .... . 132, 00 
 
 $686.00 
 Credit by cash $100.00 
 
 $586,00 
 
 [Hayne was a white Senator.] 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, February £, 1873. 
 J. WOODRUFF, (for C. D. Hayne), 
 
 Bought of J. H. KINARD, 
 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealer in 
 
 DRY GOODS, MILLINERY, CARPETINGS, 
 
 OIL CLOTHS, FANCY GOODS, &c. . . 
 
 (First Door South Columbia Hotel.) 
 
 Jan. 21. 2 honeycomb quits, $1.50 $ 3.00 
 
 Jan. 27. 1 honeycomb quilt ....". 2 . 50 
 
 Jan. 27. 1 honeycomb colored, quilt 4.00 
 
 Jan. 27. 2 pair blankets, $10 . 20 . 00 
 
 Jan. 27. 1 shawl 10.50 
 
 Jan. 27. 1 dozen doilies , ,1.25 
 
 Jan. 27. % dozen towels, $3.50 . . 1.75 
 
 Jan. 27. % dozen towels, $4.50 2.25 
 
 Jan. 27. 1 tablecloth 2.50 
 
 Jan. 27. 5 damask, $1.25 6.25 
 
 Jan. 27. 2% yards wine cloth, $1.50 '. : 3.75 
 
 Jan. 27. 2% yards wine cloth, $1.27 4.38 
 
 Jan. 27. 27% yards longcloth, 25c 6.88 
 
 Jan. 27. 26 yards curtain damask, $1.50 39 . 00 
 
 Jan. 27. 2 hassocks, $2 4.00 
 
 Jan. 27. 1 rug 2.50 
 
 Jan. 27. 12 yards pillow casing^5c^^^^^^^^^^^^^^3 .00 
 
— 19 — 
 
 Jain. 27. 40 yards shirting, 62%c. 25.00 
 
 Jan. 27. 2 pair window shades, $6 12 .00 
 
 Jan. 30. Making 8 pair sheets, 50c 4.0O 
 
 Jan. 30. Making 6 pair pillow cases, 50c. ........... 3 .00 
 
 Jan. 31. 33% yards Brussels carpet, $2 66 . 50 
 
 Jan. 31. 1 piece binding and flax 1 . 00 
 
 Jan. 31. Making 33% yards, 12%c, 4.18 
 
 Jan. 31. 19 yards Brussels, $2 . 38 . 00 
 
 Jan. 31. Making 19 yards, 12%c. . ... 2.37 
 
 Jan. 31. Thread ; .50 
 
 Jan. 31. 15 yards ingrain carpet, $1.50 22.50 
 
 Jan. 31. Making 15 yars, 10c 1.50 
 
 Jan. 31. 12 yards three-ply carpeting, $2 . 24.00 
 
 Jan. 31. Making 12 yards, 10c 1.20 
 
 Jan. 31. 16 yards ingrain carpeting, $1.25 . 20.00 
 
 Jan. 31. Making 16 yards, 10c 1 . 60 
 
 Jan. 31. Flax .... .50 
 
 Jan. 31. 14 yards three-ply carpeting, $2 28.00 
 
 Jan. 31. Making 14 yards, 10c ., 1 . 40 
 
 Jan. 31. 1 piece binding .50 
 
 $375.26 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, , 18 . ... 
 
 JOHN WILLIAMS, Sergeant-at-Arms, 
 
 Bought of J. H. & M. L. KINARD, 
 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 
 
 DRY GOODS, CARPETING, OIL CLOTHS, WINDOW SHADES 
 
 AND FANCY GOODS. . . 
 
 First Door South of Columbia Hqtel. 
 
 1870 
 
 Nov. 26. 1 comb and brush $ 2.75 
 
 Nov. 29. % dozen towels, $6 3 .00 
 
 Nov/ 29. 3 L. C. handkerchiefs, 25c.-75c, and 3 at 
 
 3*r%c.-$l . 13 . . . . ..... • • • 1 • 88 
 
 Nov. 29. 5 yards brown homespun, 10c. ............. . ~ .50 
 
Dec. 
 
 1. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 1. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 1. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 2. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 2. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 2. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 5. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 12. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 13. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 14. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 3. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 3. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 3. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 3. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 3. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 3. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 16. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 16. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 19. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 5. 
 
 — 20 — 
 
 % dozen towels, $6 . 3 . 00 
 
 4 hair brushes, $1 ............. .'.".'.' 4. 66 
 
 4 dressing combs, 75c. .. . . ,v. 3 .,00 
 
 1 bottle extract ............. ''.'. ......... - 1.25 
 
 1 bottle cologne ...;.......,....... 2.50 
 
 1 valise 9.00 
 
 50 yards cocoa matting, $1:25 .'.,.' 62 , 50 
 
 100 yards cocoa matting, $1.25 . . 125.00 
 
 3 wood boxes, $1 3 . 00 
 
 1 dozen linen collars 3.00 
 
 1 pair suspenders .75 
 
 1 stereoscope 1.50 
 
 1 portemonnaie .... 2 . 00 
 
 Matting, tacks and hammer 1.25 
 
 1 skirt, $5.50; 1 shawl, $7; 1 set, $6. 18.50 
 
 1 set 12.00 
 
 1 pair gloves, $2.50; 2 hair brushes, $l-$2. . . 4.50 
 
 2 combs, 75c:-$1.50 ........ , 1.50 
 
 1 job lot soap, $1.75; 1 boulevard, $4.50.... 6.25 
 
 1 pair blankets 12.00 
 
 1 pair corsets 3.00 
 
 $287.63 
 
 [Most of .the furniture purchased ' was sent to private houses.] 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, January 13, ".1872. 
 STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 Bought of M. H. BERRY, 
 
 Manufacturer and Dealer in 
 ALL KINDS OF FURNITURE, CHAIRS, MATTREESES, CHIL- 
 DREN'S CARRIAGES, WAGONS, &c. 
 Main Street, next door to R. & W. C. Swaffield. 
 
 1870 
 
 Dec. 21. % dozen best crimson plush sofas $ 1,200 
 
 Dec. 21. l-12dozen best crimson plush sofas, large 200 
 
 Dec. 21. 1-12 dozen large Gothic chairs, plush 100 
 
 Dec. 21. 2-12 dozen small Gothic chairs, plush 160 
 
Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dee. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 20. 
 
 — 21 — 
 
 12 dozen best leather seat walnut chairs :.'. . .'. 2,500 
 
 8 dozen best cane seat walnut chairs' ......... 1,440 
 
 1-12 dozen extra silk rep lounge : . . 125 
 
 1-12 dozen extra silk rep chair . . 75 
 
 1-3 dozen extra silk rep high back arm 500 
 
 1-12 1-12 dozen self-back washstands, large... 75 
 
 1-12 dozen shelf commode to match . 50 
 
 1 dozen marble washstands . 600 
 
 1 dozen marble commodes to mach .......... 500 
 
 1 dozen- hat rack and umbrella stands ........ 4 360 
 
 5 2-3 dozen best walnut desks, extra locks 3,560 
 
 1 dozen library book cases " 1,075 
 
 1-12 dozen large library book cases, extra .... 175 
 
 1-3 dozen oval library tables, carved legs 1,250 
 
 Vt dozen office desks 250 
 
 Vt dozen wardrobes 300 
 
 1% dozen cane seat swivel office chairs 200 
 
 1 dozen French lounges, green reps 720 
 
 1-6 dozen striped best silk reps 250 
 
 % dozen folding chairs ".- .. . 100 
 
 Upholstering 1 Speaker's desk 100 
 
 Fitting up Committee rooms ..".-. 1,500 
 
 $17,465 
 
 [Only a few extracts of this bill are given.] 
 
 NEW YORK, December 6, 1871. 
 
 STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, (For State House), 
 
 Bought of NICOL & DAVIDSON, 
 New York, 686 Broadway. Paris, Rue D'Hauteville, 35 
 
 Successor to 
 TS.V, Haughwout & Co., 
 
 China, Glass, Plated Ware, Bronzes, Mirrors, Clocks, Chandeliers. 
 
 1 large carved walnut time-piece for Hall of Rep's $ 600 . 00 
 
 1 large carved walnut time-piece, for rotunda . 600 v 00 
 
— 22 — 
 
 52- cuspadores, „richly decorated and marked House of 
 
 Representatives;,..... ..-..,,..,.,. », ...-..„...■..* . 468.00 
 
 3 tulip toilet sets, 11 pieces,, green, and marked HoHse -. .,-.- 
 
 of Representatives -«.. .,,....-. 236.25 
 
 1 fine black Belgian marble clock with best French naoye- . , . • > 
 
 ; - ment, No. 6629 . r ........... ^ ...... ... 112.50 
 
 1 fine black Belgian marble clock with best Fxeneh move- - -...■■ 
 
 ment, No. 6624 . .•,„,«. .-.>•■*.•■• ........ .-. . 105.00 
 
 1 fine black Belgian marble clock with, best French move- 
 
 , ment, No. 6626. .... 135. 00 
 
 1 fine black Belgian marble clock with best Fre,neh move- 
 ment, ' No. 6630 .,,..... 135.0,0 
 
 1 fine black Belgian marble clock with best French move- 
 ment and figure,, No. 6956 .... , . ....... 210 . 00 
 
 1 fine black Belgian marble clock with best French move- 
 ment, Speaker's room, No. 7295 .., 187.50 
 
 99 cuspadores richly decorated and marked House of . 
 
 Representatives . . ... . . -.,. ..... ... . . . . . , 891.00 
 
 3 -pitchers, maroon, N. 388, marked House of Repre- 
 sentatives 33.75 
 
 6 cuspadores, maroon, Speaker's room, china . . 54.00 
 
 3 toilet sets, eleven pieces, and jars, green, and marked 
 
 House of Representatives . . .• 236.25 
 
 22 cuspadores, richly decorated, and marked House of 
 
 Representatives . 198.00 
 
 21 cuspadores, richly decorated, marked House of Rep- 
 resentatives 189 . 00 
 
 5 walnut and gilt mantel mirrors for Committe rooms. .2,137.50 
 1 walnut and gilt mantel mirror for Speaker's room, 
 
 carved, with palmetto, shield and eagle 960.00 
 
 Total $28,486.03 
 
 Hon. [Senator] Lawrence Cain, deposeth on oath as follows: 
 
 When the ninety thousand dollar furniture claim of J. B. 
 Dennis was before the House of Representatives he took me into 
 the Speaker's room one day and told me there was a little margin 
 in it, and if I would support it and use my influence for it he 
 would give me one hundred and fifty dollars. I went on until 
 
— 23 — 
 
 the next, session and Deanisi bad giyen me nothing, and one day 
 I met him near the State House and reminded him that he nad 
 not done, aft he promised me, and said: "L.ook here, I am hard 
 up, and if you will give me fifty dollars will call it square." I 
 jgot into his buggy with him, and ,we.rode up to the Carolina 
 National Bank and he got the fifty dollars and gave it to me. 
 
 [The furniture bills amounted to about $40,000; the legislature 
 appropriated $92,000. The surplus was divided as shown below.] 
 
 Testimony of General John B. Dennis, who purchased the 
 furniture: 
 
 Witness says he does not remember exactly how the certi- 
 ficates were divided out, but remembers that Jervey, the step- 
 father of the Levy-Jervey resolution, had twenty-one hundred 
 dollars, representing that he was to divide it between himself, 
 T. A. Davis, W. C, Glover, J. J. .Hardy, P. P. Hedges, Abram 
 Smith, J. W- Lloyd, J. A. Bowley and Orlando Levy, all members 
 from Charleston County, except Bowley^, 
 
 Humbert, of Darlington, received a certificate of, he thinks, 
 an even thousand . dollars, which he represented that he was to 
 divide, with himself, Alfred Hart, S. J. Keith, S. Sanders, J. 
 Long, Prank Adamson, John F. Herndon, Hastings Gantt, R. 
 Tarleton and Fortune Giles. 
 
 Asbury L. Singleton, of Sumter, received a certificate for 
 eleven hundred and fifty dollars, representing that it was to be 
 divided between himself, E. Cain, H. C. Corwin, E. Ferguson, R. 
 Gaither, S.. Garey, A. S. Holmes, Barney Humphries, S. Milton, 
 William Littlefi^ld, J, p. Singleton, Alfred Moore, E- M. Sumter 
 and Jared Warley. . 
 
 H. Hunter; of Charleston, demanded and repeiyed for himself 
 a certificate for seven hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 B. Byas, received for himself, as Chairman of the Committee, 
 a certificate or certificates amounting to the sum of twelve thous- 
 and, three hundred, and nineteen dollars and fifty cents. 
 
 J. .H. Whjlte received a certificate for two hundred and fifty 
 dollars for himself. 
 
 W : H- Gardiner received a certificate for fiften hundred dol- 
 lars for himself. 
 
— 24 — 
 
 B. G. Yocum received a certificate for himself- for one thous- 
 and five hundred dollars. 
 
 !.-:..W,. J. Whjpper received a certificate for himself for three 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 ■ A. O. Jones received a certificate for himself for one thousand 
 dollars.- . . , ; - ,: , , j ... . 
 
 W. H. Jones received a certificate for himself for sixteen 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 . . Joe Crews received" a certificate for himself for three thous- 
 and dollars*. ,. 
 
 Lawrence Cain received a certificate for himself for five 
 (hundred dollars; which witness says, "he' bought of Cain after- 
 wards." 
 
 P. J. O'Connell received a certificate for one thousand dollars. 
 He (O'Connell) was known : at that time as the Captain of a 
 band of legislators calling themselves the forty thieves. 
 
 B. A.'Merland received a certificate for one hundred dollars. 
 
 C. J. Andell received a certificate for five hundred dollars. 
 B. F. Berry received a certificate for one hundred dollars. 
 
 J. D. Boston received a certificate for two hundred and fifty 
 dollars. 
 
 William Dannerly received a certificate for fifty dollars. 
 
 Michell Goggins received a certificate for one hundred dollars. 
 S. J. Keith received a certificate for one hundred dollars. 
 
 William Kennedy received a certificate for one hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 From report of the Committee: 
 
 We know of no better method of illustrating the reckless ex- 
 penditure of money for this class of supplies than by referring to 
 the accounts rendered, some of which will be found appended to 
 the evidence, and we call attention to accounts designated Ex- 
 hibits W 2 and W 3 in Woodruff's evidence where it is shown 
 that on March 4th, 1872, Solomon furnished the Senate $1,631 
 worth of wines and liquors, and on the 7th day of same month 
 $1,852.75 worth, aggregating $3,483.75. This amount was pur- 
 chased for the" Senate within three days. Large amounts were 
 furnished the House at the same time, and to the Senate during 
 same week/ by other parties, all of which is shown by the vouch- 
 ers. We also call attention to accounts in the evidence r>f a o 
 
Jones, designated as numbers 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32, where it 
 is shown that Mr. Solomon alone furnished the House with 
 $5,877.15 worth of wines and liquors .within two months. Mr. 
 Solomon says he' had no difficulty in making collections while 
 they did business with him. Thus it clearly appears that bills 
 contracted for the gratification of our ''statesmen" were promptly- 
 paid, while the vilest criminals were pardoned to keep them from 
 starving and turned loose upon an outraged people. The un- 
 fortunate inmates of the Lunatic Asylum were at the same .time 
 suffering from want of proper food and clothing; the free schools 
 were closed and teachers unpaid. 
 
 From report of the Committee: 
 
 We insert a literal copy of one of the bills found among the 
 vouchers of the Clerk of the Senate: 
 
 COLUMBIA Feb. 22th 1872 
 Gov. A. J. RANSIEER 
 
 To JOE TAYLOR Dr. 
 
 For licuors and segars and other Articulars ■ . . ...$280. 00 
 
 Recuieved paymen JOE TAYLOR 
 
 [Literature was regularly supplied to the few who desired read- 
 ing matter.] 
 
 J. WOODRUFF, For CD. H., (Senator C. D. Hayne), 
 
 To BRYAN & McCARTER, Dr. 
 
 1 Jack Hinton $ .75 
 
 1 Arthur O'Leary 75 
 
 1 Charles. O'Malley 75 
 
 1 After Dark . , .75. 
 
 1 Stolen Mask, 25c; 1 Queen's, Revenge, 75c,. 1.00 
 
 1 Hide and Seek, 75c; 1 Lights Afoot, 50c. . . 1.25 
 
 1 Mad Minktor, 50c; 1 Dead Secret, 50c 1 . 00 
 
 1 Man and Wife . .-> .... ._.\. ,..-,> • • • * "1 ■ 00 
 
 1 Vicar of Bullhampton , 1.25 
 
 1 Phineas Phin '...'.....' ."*.'.' 1.25 
 
 1 Wardens ,...;. 75 
 
 1 Dictionary i ;..:....-. 6.83- 
 
 $17.33 
 
— 26 — 
 
 IGold pens and pocket knives .-were .purchased in - «Ju3n.€itieB' r for 
 the use of the members; of the Legislature.] 
 
 COLUMBIA,, S. C., December., 1872 4: 
 Mr. A: O-l JONES,. Cle* House Representatives, 
 Bought of ISAAC SULZBAtiHER, 
 Dealer in ■ 
 
 WATCHES, JEWELRY, SILVERWARE, SPECTACLES, ETC. 
 
 Main Street, next to Columbia. HoteJ,., . . 
 To 20 gold rubber pens, |10 $200.00 
 
 CHARLESTON, S. fc,' January 2.i, lS'Vl';' 
 STATE OP SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 Bought of AUGUSTUS H. HAYDEN,"' 
 Importer and Dealer in . . 
 WATCHES, JEWELRY, MILITARY GOODS, HOUSE FURNISH- 
 ING AND FANCY ARTICLES. 
 272 King Street, Corner of Hasel. 
 
 5 call bells , ,.*..;■ $1,12,00 
 
 (Note. — The above has been raised from. $12 to $112 by in- 
 serting the figure 1.) 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, December, 1871. 
 Mr. JOSEF WOODRUFF, 
 
 Bought Df ISAAC SULBACHER, 
 
 Dealer in 
 
 WATCHES, JEWELRY, SILVERWARE, SPECTACLES. ETC. 
 
 Main Street, next to Columbia Hotel. 
 
 To 30 gold pens $3og;:vu: 
 
 To 8 dozen knives, at $48 ., . .384 /DO ' 
 
 $684.00 
 
•27 — 
 
 Extracts from report of the Committee: 
 
 We, append statements of prices paid for articles by our 
 legislators in 18.69-70 and 187J.-72.. The/contrast will show a 
 rapid development, of taste cultivated, at the expense, of principle. 
 
 1869-70 
 
 $5 clocks 
 
 40 cent spittons. 
 
 $4 benches. 
 
 Straw beds! 
 
 $1 chair's. 
 
 $4 pine tables! 
 25c bat'pegs. 
 $8- desk's. 
 $10 office desks. 
 50c>eoat hooks. 
 Ghe'ap' matting 
 Clay, pipes. ■ 
 
 Cheap whisky. 
 $4 looking glasses. 
 $2 window curtains. 
 .<■ 
 
 $5 cornices. 
 
 1871-72 
 
 $600 clocks. 
 •$8,cuspadores'. 
 
 $200 crimson plush sofas. 
 
 Sponge mattresses and ■ orien- 
 tal pillows. 
 
 $60 crimson plush Gothic 
 chairs. 
 
 $80 library tables. 
 
 $30 hat racks. 
 
 $50 desks. 
 
 $80 to $-175 office desks. 
 
 $100 wardrobes. 
 
 Body Brussels carpeting. 
 
 Finest Havana cigars. 
 
 Champagne. 
 
 $600 mirrors. 
 
 $600 brocatel curtains, 1am- 
 • brequins, &c. 
 
 $80 walnut and gilt cornices. 
 
 Extract from- report of the Committee. 
 
 We feel that this rep'ort would be incomplete if we ; failed to 
 present to the General Assembly the list of articles bought and 
 paid for .by the State -for the use of her- "stateesmen."- •-. It; has 
 been . accurately copied from the various accounts, turned over to 
 your Committee .by- the- Clerk-si of the Senate- and House of Rep- 
 resentatives. 
 
 REFRESHMENTS, WINES AND LIQUORS. 
 
 •Heidsick- chamg'agnie;' green sea! "do\, vin v imperial do., Ver- 
 zeriaydo., Moet and Chandon do.,'scuppernomg, sparkling Moselle, 
 
— 28 — 
 
 Catawba, Chateau la Rose claret, . Chateau La Fitte claret, im- 
 perial pale sherry, best Medeira, port arid malaga wines, black- 
 berry wine, finest otard-du-puy brandy, finest "French cognac do., 
 Baker, cabinet, rye, Bourbon, nectar and corn whiskies, Holland 
 gin, -Jamaica rum, cases of Hostetter's Indian, Kerr's, Russian, 
 boker, St. Domingo and wine bitters, Congress water, best bot- 
 tled ale, lager and porter, sarsaparilla, Curacoa, maraschino, ale 
 by the cask. 
 
 CIGARS AND TOBACCO. ■•■"'' 
 
 Imported Brevas, P'artagas, Espanolas, Espanola Londres, 
 Conchas', Live Indian, Pantillo, Espanola Conchas, finest' plug 
 tobacco, finest cut chewing tobacco, Durham and best smoking 
 tobacco. 
 
 REFRESHMENTS, GROCERIES AND DELICACIES. 
 
 Best Westphalia hams, Bologna sausages, bacon strips, dia- 
 mond hams, Java and Rio coffee, pineapple, Edam, Switzer and 
 English cheese, gilt edge butter, sardines, smoked .and canned 
 salmon, smoked beef and buffalo tongues, canned oysters and 
 lobsters, fresh Norfolk oysters, deviled ' ham, black and green 
 teas, French chocolate, olive oil, catsups, Worcester and: pepper 
 sauces, imported mushrooms, preserved ginger) Guava jelly, 
 pickles, brandy cherries and peaches, lemon syrup, assorted ex- 
 tracts, sea foam, citron, assorted nuts, lemons, oranges, wax and 
 adamantine candles, Colgate, fancy and toilet soaps, starch, table 
 and Liverpool salt, kerosene oil, bacon, sides and -.shoulders, 
 English mustard, vinegar, mackeerel, concentrated lye, Orleans 
 and fancy syrups and molasses, assorted English crackers and 
 biscuits, condensed milk, parlor matches, Irish potatoes, leaf 
 lard, assorted pepper, sugar, flour and pearl grist... 
 
 FURNITURE, , - 
 
 Finest walnut office chairs, > office desks, continental chairs, 
 washstands, hat racks, marble top washstands, wardrobes, li- 
 brary tables, marble- top sideboards, bookcases, -hair seat rock- 
 ing chairs, large and small easy chairs, marble top bureaus, sa- 
 loon tables, bedsteads, opera chairs, leather seat chairs, cane 
 seat chairs, stuffed back chairs, stuffed back arm chairs, com- 
 modes, umbrella. .stands, large library books. cases, small library 
 book cases, oval library, tables with carved legs, red rep. lounges, 
 green rep lounges, finest plush velw^i *aaM mtmtmm ataaat atataut 
 
fancy rep tete-a-tetes, large and small Gothic chairs, Prescott 
 arm tihairs, extra large striped rep Prescott arm chairs, green 
 rep French lounges, large shelf-back marble top washstands, 
 counter desks, hat stands, marble top tables, crimson plush sofas, 
 large looking glasses, superior refrigerators, large willow chairs, 
 towel racks, folding chairs, fine coffin, fine cradle, bed lounges, 
 fancy fire screens, extra large and heavy cotton mattreesses, extra 
 large and heavy feather beds, extra large and heavy feather 
 bolsters, extra large and heavy feather pillows, double spring 
 mattresses, cot and mattresses, sponge pillows, sponge bolsters, 
 sponge mattresses, gilt mantel mirrors. 
 FURNISHINGS. 
 
 Finest English tapestry Brussels carpeting, English body 
 Brussels carpeting, three-ply ingrain carpeting, English velvet 
 rugs, English velvet door mats, English thread door mats, Eng- 
 lish oilcloths, English velvet hassocks, cocoa mats, cocoa matting, 
 rich heavy cornices, satin delaine curtains, lambrequins, window 
 shades and fixtures, large cords and tassels, gimps, brocatel cur- 
 tains and trimmings, gold bound shades and spring rollers, 
 white and checked mattings, dry goods, finest French velvets, 
 extra fine large gray hair cloth, silk damask, linen damask table- 
 cloth, linen damask wire cloth, Irish linens, billiard tablecloths, 
 linen towels, woolen ' blankets, linen d'oylies, linen napkins, im- 
 ported flannels, imported insertions, imported edgings, finest 
 dress goods — all kinds, honeycomb quilts, Marseilles quilts, 
 shawls, linen sheeting, linen pillow casing, linen shirting, cot- 
 ton shirting, sheeting, cotton pillow casing, imported kid gloves, 
 ladies' satchels, men's white and brown hosiery, linen cambric 
 handkerchiefs, ladies' hoods, cambrics, ribbons of all qualities, 
 fine plaid goods,. extra long bath towels, pieces of crepe, scissors, 
 skirt braids and pins, baize, spool cotton, prints, tooth brushes, 
 hair brushes, heavy combs, flax, buttons, whale-bone, ginghams, 
 hooks and eyes, boulevard skirts, bustles, extra long stockings, 
 chingnons, palpitators, garters, chemises, under vests, parasols, 
 sun umbrellas. 
 
 CLOTHING. 
 
 In general assortment and variety. 
 
 JEWELRY AND FANCY GOODS. 
 
 flpHboawtaikifMieAatifaaiil^ rich sets gold jewelry, diamond 
 
— 30 — 
 
 rings, diamond pins, gold lockets, gold charms, gold finger rings, 
 gold neck-laces, gold' pencil cases, gold pens, gold' breastpins, 
 ivory-handled knives and forks,, pen and pocket knives, tea 
 spoons, table spoons, table forks, call bells, extra fine table 
 castors, rich toilet sets, pocket pistols,' Japanned tea trays, cuckoo 
 clocks, extra fine Belgian marble mantel clocks, French China 
 vases, French artificial flowers, " ladies' fine work boxes, finest 
 colognes, French extracts, bottles Florida water, gold and rubber 
 pens and holders, pocket books, stereoscopes and Views, writing 
 desks, ladies' portemonnaies, French mantel clocks, key rings, 
 tape measures, feather dusting brushes, plated spoons, baskets, 
 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, latest and most expensive 
 library works, drop lights, sixiiy^four light chandeliers, twenty- 
 seven light chandeliers, six light chandeliers, five light chande- 
 liers, four light chandeliers, four light bracket chandeliers; fine 
 cornices with gilt eagles, fine shields with coat of arms. 
 
 CROCKERY AND GLASSWARE. 
 Champagne glasses, salt cellars, cup plates, decanters, tum- 
 blers, ornamental, cuspadores, extra fine punch mugs, fancy 
 granite chamber sets, fancy lamps, wash basins, soap boxes and 
 trays, French China coffee cups, French dinner sets, French 
 China cups and saucers, French China candlesticks, fine glass 
 globes, all sizes, decorated spittoons, decorated tulip toilet sets, 
 decorated tulip oval pitchers, rich cut goblets with monograms. 
 
 PRINTING MATTER, &c. 
 , Warrants of arrest, recognizances, summonses, election 
 tickets, contracts, articles of agreement, lodge circulars, visiting 
 cards, diaries, Morocco memorandum books, perpetual calendars, 
 packages finest initial note paper, reams Juniata paper, scrap 
 books, envelopes, ink, mucilage, wall paper* bordering, lead' pen- 
 cils,.. ^ruling pens, .paper weights, letter clips, bill files,, rubber 
 bandi 8 -. paper cutters, sponge cups, envelope openers, inkstands, 
 ink.-yents, slate . pencils, rulers, ■ magic ivory, leather and black 
 
 pencils. , •■:.,■■■■ 
 
 STOCK, &c. 
 Fine horses, mules, carriages, buggies and harness. 
 
 SUNDRIES. 
 Egg coal, cords oak wood, cords lightwood^ndirons^enders, 
 shovel : and . tongs, grate hasimts. j«3fa5?i 
 
—31 — 
 
 tea pots, sauce pans,' cooking stoves and utensils, tin buckets, 
 tin cases, blacking, blacking brushes, jugs, bags, demijohns, lead 
 pipes, lanterns, brooms, fruit jars and elastics, kegs, wash tubs, 
 wash boards, cork screws, slop pails, dusters and dust pans,, foot 
 tubs, manilla paper, hand saws, files, axes, water coolers, gran- 
 ite chambers, bed pans, coffee mills, axe helves, stove polish. 
 
 _ Public Printing 
 
 LThe "Printing Ring" was composed principally of State officials, 
 headed by Governor Scott, Treasurer Parker, Attorney General 
 Chamberlain, and a few members of the Legislature. The two 
 printing companies — the South Carolina and the Republican — and. 
 the Republican newspapers were owned or controlled by the Ring. 
 But those members not in the Ring sold their votes to it for high 
 prices. Fraud Report, 213-383.] 
 
 [Cost of public printing: Comparative Statistics.] 
 
 Extracts from report of Committee: 
 
 Session of 1868-69 , $ 21,124.00 
 
 Session of 1869-70 45,000 . 00 
 
 Session of 1870-71 152,465.00 
 
 Session of 1871-72 173,000 . 00 
 
 Session of 1872-73 ,". . . . . .;. .'. . 450,000 .00 
 
 Session of 1873-74 .. 385,000 .00 
 
 Session of 1874-75 50,000 •; 00 
 
 Session of 1875-76 50,000 . 00 
 
 Total cost from 1868 to 187.6. .$1,326,589.00 
 Total cost from 1790 to 1868. . 609,000.00 
 
 Showing an excess of cost for printing during eight 
 years of Republican administration over the 
 seventy-eight . previous years of $717,589 .00 
 
 Average cost of printing under Republican admin- 
 istration per year • .$165,823 . 00 
 
 Average cost of printing under old regime per year. . 7,807 .00 
 
— 32 — 
 
 Cast of printing under Hampton administration one 
 
 year 6.178..00 
 
 Amounts appropriated session of 1872-73, Repub- ' 
 
 lican administration $450,000 . 00 
 
 Total for twenty-five years, "old regime." (1840- 
 
 1866) .".'. $278,251.00 
 
 Excess of cost of printing for one year of Republican 
 administration over that of the old regime for 
 
 twenty-five years $171,749. 00 
 
 Total for fifteen months under Republican ad- 
 ministration $835,000 . 00 
 
 Cost of printing for seventy-eight years under old 
 
 regime. 
 
 $226,600.00 
 
 Excess of cost of printing under Republican adminis- 
 tration for fifteen months over that of old 
 regime for seventy-eight years, as above $226,000.00 
 
 Cost of printing per month under Republican admin- 
 istration $ 55,666.00 
 
 Cost per month under Hampton administration. .... 514.80 
 
 [The persons named below were not In the "Printing Ring" and 
 their support had to be purchased. Woodruff, Clerk of the Senate, 
 furnished the cancelled checks to the Investigating Committee. This 
 list is only one of many.] ' 
 
 Governor F. J. Moses $20,000 . 00 
 
 J. L. Neagle 40,000 . 00 
 
 Melton & Chamberlain 10,000 . 00 
 
 F. L. Cardozo, tTreasurer) 12,500 . 00 
 
 Senator B. F. Whittemore 5,000 . 00 
 
 Senator R .Smalls 5,000 .00 
 
 Senator Y. J. P. Owens 5,000 .00 
 
 Senator W. B. Nash 5,000 . 00 
 
 Senator S. A. Smalls 2,500 . 00 
 
 Senator S. E. Gaillard 500.00 
 
 Senator -W. R. Jervey 300 . 00 
 
 Senator J. L. Jamison 200 .00 
 
— 33 — 
 
 Senator B. E. Dickson 200 . 00 
 
 Senator H. J. Maxwell 1,000. 00 
 
 Senator W. H. Jones k . . -. 500 . 00 
 
 Senator J. H. White \ ....... i . 150,000 
 
 President R. H. Gleaves > 300.00 
 
 Senator J. M. Smith . , . 300.00 
 
 Senator W. E. Holcombe .* 250 . 00 
 
 Senator W. E. Johnston 500 . 00 
 
 Senator A. J. Ransier . . . . 500 . 00 
 
 Judge R. B. Carpenter (loan) . 1?000 . 00 
 
 Senator H. C. Corwin . . . 300.00 
 
 Senator George F. Mclntyre , 200. 00 
 
 Senator C. Smith w 500 : 00 
 
 Senator J. L. Jamison' (second check) 100.00 
 
 Senator John Lee ;. 100 . 00 
 
 Senator S. Ford 50.00 
 
 Senator J. Lee (Second check) 100 . 00 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, October 16, 1877. . 
 
 Personally appeared F. J. Moses, who, on oath, deposes and 
 says : 
 
 When, as Governor, I approved the large Printing Bill for 
 the Republican Printing Company, during the session of 1872-73, 
 I received from Mr. Woodruff the sum of fifteen thousand dol- 
 lars, I think'. The money was paid in a check drawn by LeGrand 
 Benedict in favor of Hardy Solomon, and the sum of money was 
 turned over to Messrs. Seibels & Ezell as the first payment on 
 the purchase of the Preston mansion. 
 
 From the testimony of Woodruff: 
 
 Mr. [Senator] Leslie told me that the friends in the Senate 
 thought, as the [public printing] was a matter of Senate patron- 
 age, they should have a percentage of the profits from the print- 
 ing. In order to carry out the wishes of the friends, Mr. Leslie 
 proposed that pay certificates for various amounts, ranging from 
 three to five thousand dollars, for current printing be drawn, 
 and one-third or one-fourth of the amount realized be given to 
 the Chairman or some member of the Committee on Printing 
 for division amongst the friends, including some fifteen or six- 
 ten Senators. 
 
— 34 — 
 
 [Extracts from Woodruff's diary,] 
 My Dear Josephus: 
 
 This is the most interesting feature of the legislative session. 
 [A printing bill.] Shove it through the HoiSse in the same 
 happy way, and there will be a Christmas turkey and trimmjiigs 1 
 for both you and Yours, truly, 
 
 F. W. DAWSON. 
 
 Saturday, February' 8, 1873. 
 • Paid Sulzbacher $160. Gave Jamison check for $l60. j If> 
 we are voted $50,000 for permanent printing we can get along: 
 The friends ought not press us too closelyl ' Moses, Chamberlain, 
 
 Neagle and are. a hard set — all dead beats. Received 
 
 consignment of champagne and sherry from Charleston. Will 
 send some to Senator Maxwell. The bill amounts to $321. Good 
 gracious! 
 
 [Besides public advertising, each Republican newspaper was sup- 
 ported by subscriptions as shown below.] 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, January 7th, 1873. 
 Mr. J. WOODRUFF, [Clerk of Senate.] 
 
 To "THE DAILY HERALD," Drl . 
 . Corner of Main and Gervais Street. 
 Jan. 7. For subscription - to January. 7th, 1874, for. i 
 
 thirty-three Senators, at $7 . , :.....$ 231 . 00 
 
 Jan. 7. For subscription to January 7th, 187'4, for 
 one hundred and twenty-fbiir Repre- 
 sentatives, at $7 868 . 00 
 
 $1,099'. 00 
 
■35 — 
 
 The Impeachment Swindle 
 
 [Legislative investigation had; shown that Governor Scott, Treas- 
 urer Parker and Attorney Chamberlain had illegally issued several 
 millions of State bonds. Impeachment proceedings were begun against 
 Scott with a view, not of convicting him, but of forcing; him to dis- 
 tribute larger sums of money among the Legislators. John J. Pat- 1 
 terson, later United States Senator, led in the impeachment -move- 
 ment. W. J. Whipper, a negro, was leader in the. House. Fraud 
 Report, 583-607.] 
 
 Testimony of Treasurer Parker: 
 
 Governor Scott expressed himself to me daily, and frequently 
 several times daily, almost up to the day of voting upon the 
 resolution of Impeachment in his case, that he should prove 
 victorious, and that too without the use of a single dollar. But 
 as 'the time drew near for a vote he grew exceedingly anxious 
 about the matter; his fears were greatly aroused, and he became 
 almost frantically excited) and I liave the best reason in the 
 world to believe that John J. Patterson used" every means lo 
 alarm him, and Tie (Patterson) told him unless he paid a large 
 sum or money to the members of the Legislature he would be 
 surely impeached. I know from his (Patterson's) statements 
 to me that he so informed him, and he frequently said to me 
 that he knew such would be the result unless Scott paid for it. 
 Governor Scott's statements to' me were finally to the same 
 effect, and he also said that he knew Patterson was doing all 
 in his power to alarm him and increase his anxiety, and that 
 Patterson begged him (Scott) to place money in his hands to 
 buy those who were determined to vote for his impeachment. 
 He finally succeeded' in obtaining from Governor Scott his sig- 
 nature to three warrants or orders, on the Governor's printed 
 forms or blanks, upon what was known as the "Armed Force 
 Fund/': leaving the amounts to be filled in by him, Patterson. 
 Both Governor Scott and Patterson informed me of this trans- 
 action and agreement almost immediately* probably within ■ a 
 half hour after it was made, each coming to -my- office and teH- 
 
 or insisted that they should be paid 
 
--36 =*- 
 
 when presented, and he said: "I don't know what amount he 
 will want, I hope not a very large amount, but I suppose the 
 scoundrel will make it as , large as he can,", and he denounced 
 him roundly even after entering into the arrangement with him, 
 for be believed, and so did. I, that he (Patterson) had done all 
 in his power to put up the impeachment job against him. I Al- 
 ways advised the Governor not to pay a dollar to the Legislature, 
 and said that I did not believe it necessary to do so, but he said 
 at last that he "knew better; that the Legislature and those 
 who had urged them on were determined to do it unless they 
 got the money; that it was a job for that purpose;" and added, 
 "while I hate to do it, (denouncing Patterson, Bowen, Whitte- 
 more and the Legislature generally) , I will not suffer impeach- 
 ment if it takes every dollar there is in the State Treasury." I 
 consented to pay the warrants. I thought at the time it would 
 be a great calamity to have the Governor impeached as could 
 occur — a. much greater calamity than the expenditure of the 
 money could be. The Governor was exceedingly severe upon 
 Patterson, whom he denounced as one of the chief conspirators 
 against him, and whom he was well satisfied had advised mem- 
 bers of the Legislature to 'vpte' - for impeachment unless they 
 were paid not to do it. I was perfectly satisfied at the time, 
 by the conduct of Patterson, that Governor Scott's fears were 
 well grounded. I had not a doubt of it, as I said before I con- 
 sented to pay the warrants. They were hilled out by Patterson 
 6r his agent; I don't know who, after leaving Governor Scott's 
 hands, before coming into mine, and when they did come into 
 my possession as State Treasurer, for the respective amounts 
 of $10,600, $25,545 and $12,500, making a total of $48,645, 
 were paid. 
 
 Testimony of Speaker, late Governor, Moses: 
 
 Scott and his friends begged that I would devise a plan by 
 which he. (Whipper) could be. ruled off the. floor and the House 
 brought to a vote on the resolution of impeachment, as they felt 
 that they had secured votes enough to defeat the measure. After 
 searching the authorities I resolved on a plan by which the de- 
 sired end could be achieved, . but T pnmmimtnntori «+ t« «« «~- 
 save perhaps- a very few, — rnot . 
 
— 37 — 
 
 that I would 'carry out.his purpose. I sentior S. J- Lee, -a mem- 
 ber of the House, and gave him a memorandum an paper" of -.the 
 consecutive points I wished him to make,, on which I. wasto 
 rule as Speaker, and told him how to meet any objections that 
 were made. The points were made as I wished, and I made the 
 rulings on them, (in accordance with parliamentary law) .by 
 which Whipger was forced to. yield the floor and the House was 
 brought to ,a„ vote and the scheme for impeachment was de- 
 feated. For the part- I took in saving him from impeachment 
 I was to. receive from. Scott $15,000, which sum was not paid in 
 accordance with his promise, but afterwards indirectly reached 
 me in a kind of settlement of the matter to which Scott agreed, 
 and which is recounted ■ in another portion of my statement. 
 From conversations I have held with members of the House and 
 with Scott, Parker, Neagle, Patterson and Worthington, I have 
 always been perfectly satisfied that Scott defeated the plan of 
 impeachment by a free use of .money, which was raised on the 
 armed force warrants, familiarly known as the "Mooney, Leg- 
 gett and Wilson" warrants, and by which the votes of the mem- 
 bers were purchased. Patterson and Worthington were the prin- 
 cipal lobbyists for Scott, and each of them asked me to send 
 them whatever men I thought could be purchased to cast their 
 vote against impeachment. 
 
 Militia Frauds 
 
 [Governor Scott enrolled 96,000 negroes* practically all the negro 
 voters, into militia regiments. The enrollment cost $200,000. The two or 
 three wHite companies were ordered to disband. The Secretary of 
 War furnlsh«d 10,000 Springfield muskets 'to arm this militia. The 
 object was to carry the campaign of .1870, . and no secret was made 
 of the .fact. Fourteen regiments were placed on a war footing. 
 Scott spent $374,000 State funds in securing his election, most of it 
 going to agents who posed as militia officers. Fraud Report, 667-738.] 
 
 Testimony ot h. T. L.evln, an official in the Adjutant ueneral's 
 office: 
 
 The entire militia, as organized and armed, was .composed 
 of eoiored men, with, the ..exception of a few white officers., dur- 
 i ng the year I&70 there was' organised fourteen full regiments, 
 
— S'8 — 
 
 of nearly one thousand men to each regiment. There was; is- 
 sued, , to the above :regiments seven thousand rifl'ie mvfskets 
 (breech-loading) with; the necessary equipments, consisting of 
 bayonets, scabbards, cartridge boxes, &c, also a 'large - tfumbe? 
 of Winchester rifles, including ammunition. The enrollment of 
 the militia was accomplished at a large expanse to the • State. 
 The real object of the- enrollment was to give employment to 
 the different «local leaders, while they were, in reality, organizing 
 the party for the coming campaign. The number of enrolled 
 militia was ninety-six thousand, 58,000 between the ages of 18 
 and 30, and 38,000 between the ages of 3'0 and 45V At one 
 time .there were two or three white- companies armed by the 
 Governor, but the colored militia became so much dissatisfied, 
 on account of these few white companies receiving arms that 
 Governor Scott issued an order calling in the arms in their hands. 
 At least two-thirds of the amount paid on account of the militia 
 was a huge fraud upon the State, and for no consideration, ex- 
 cept for political services rendered. 
 
 [Moses, the Speaker of the. House, also acted as Adjutant and 
 Inspector General of South Carolina. Springfield muskets received 
 from Washington -were made into breechloaders. The changes cost 
 in all $180,750 — the guns were not worth $40,000 — but the State paid 
 $250,000 for the changes. In addition 1,000 Winchester rifles were 
 purchased at $38 each. All of these arms went to the negroes and 
 had disappeared by 1876.] 
 
 Testimony of F. J. Moses, Jr.: 
 
 I entered into a contract with one Pond to change five 
 thousand muskets to breech-loaders, of; the Remington pattern, 
 for nine dollars for each gun so changed, and with the Roberts 
 Breech-Loading Company to change five thousand muskets to 
 breech breech-loaders of the 'Roberts pattern, and to pay them 
 $8.85 for each gun so changed. For each arm changed and 
 altered I was to receive one dollar as a royalty, aggregating 
 $10-,000-on the entire transaction. Under- the contract the money 
 was to be paid by H. H. Kimpton, the Financial Agent of the 
 State; Kimpton^ informed me that it would be some time be- 
 fore the money would-be- paid, and offered me seven thousand 
 dollars in cash for the royalty. 
 
— 39p — 
 
 paid me the money. I have no means of knowing whether he 
 paid me in the State's money or not. but Always supposed he did. 
 
 ; John B. Hubbard says: 
 As Chief Constable I was ordered by Governor Scott to ap'-- 
 point certain Deputy Constables on my force as Captains dyer' 
 the. State Guards or militia stationed and under full pay in sev- 
 eral counties in the State. Captain Mann was in charge at Ab- 
 beville and J. Ward Hay ward at Edgefield. I think Captain 
 Jackson was in command a portion of the time. They Were all 
 Northern men and brought here by Governor Scott. I was or- 
 dered to assist the militia organization every way possible. The 
 object was to have an active and efficient corps of organizers in 
 the 'field. I knew that the militia was organized and armed for 
 political purposes. It was understood that by arming the colored' 
 militia. and keeping some., of the most influential officers under, 
 pay that a full vote would be brought out for the Republicans 
 and the Democracy or many of the weak-kneed Democrats in- 
 timidated. At the time 1 th'fr militia was orgpriized, there was, 
 comparatively speaking, but little lawlessness. The militia be- 
 ing organized and armed caused an increase of crime and blood- 
 shed in most of the counties in proportion to their numbers and 
 the T nuTnhier nf ftrms and amouiit of ammunition furnished them. 
 
 IORKVILLE, S. C, June 25th, 1870. 
 Captain JOHN B. HUBBARD, Chief Constable,. Columbia, S. C. 
 
 DEAR CAPTAIN: I am visiting some of the Leagues and 
 intend to try and get mt6 the convention and be elected to the-. 
 Legislature. The Democrats are quiet now, but playing possum-. 
 Some of them say they intend 'to; organize all over-. the: State- 
 against Scott's militia. I have it from good authority that the 
 whites -are r receiving - guns through the merchants and are sec- 
 retly organizing:" "We can- carrythe county if we get constables 
 enough by encouraging the militia and f righitenwig r the poor white 
 men. I am going into the campaign for Scott- I hear Hannibal 
 White-and some of the colored: men are opposed to him?-: Will 
 keep you posted. - ■ 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 - J. W- ANDERSON, . 
 ■ Deputy Constable 
 
— 40 '- 
 
 Pay Certificates 
 
 [Pay Certificates were simply orders on the Treasurer given by 
 the. President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House, or by both 
 together, for the .salaries of members, . .porters, pages,, etc, , Certi- 
 ficates were issued hot only to members, but to political friends of 
 members. Most of them were issu'ed'to fictitious persons'and ^cashed 
 by the members. In one session 8 porters were employed and' cer- 
 tificates issued to 238; 10 messengers were in actual service and cer- 
 tificates issued to 140 at one session and 212 at another; S laborers 
 were employed and 159 certificates, were issued; 5 to 10 pages,, and. 
 124 certificates. During one session pay certificates amounted to 
 $1,168,255, all of which except $200,000 was robbery. Moses, the' 
 Speaker of the House, testified that he had issued $30,000 in • pay 
 certifiactes to John J. Patterson, later United' States Senator, who 
 was not a member of the Legislature, and that Patterson., had given 
 him $10,000. When these certificates could not be cashed at the 
 State Treasury, the County Treasurers, were ordered to cash them 
 and turn them in as cash to the State.* — -Fraud Report, 389-519.] 
 
 Woodruff,- Clerk: of the Senate, wrote; the pay certificates, and 
 issued them for the Senate, while Jones, Clerk of the House, dis- 
 tribute the House quota. 
 
 Testimony of. Woodruff: 
 
 I did not regard myself as responsible for the issue of pay 
 certificates. Their steady increase induced the Clerks to seek 
 legal advice. It was held that the Clerk's signature was a mere 
 attestation of the genuineness of the signature of the presiding 
 officers; that their duty- was to obey orders. Acting under this 
 advice, I drew certificates, whenever ordered by pjsoper authority, 
 without question. It was also urged that it was a race between 
 a bond ring composed of a limited number and. the Legislature, 
 as to who should have the most from, the receipts of taxes and 
 sale of bonds, and that the greatest good could be accomplished 
 by distributing the money to the greatest number — the members 
 
 of the General Assembly Previous to the session of 
 
 1873-74 the number and pay of officers; attachees, clerks and 
 laborers was limited only by the pleasure of the presiding officers 
 and members of the General Assembly, and the issue of pay cer- 
 tificates unlimited. Nearly every* one who told a case of distress 
 from Ku Kluxlsm or of suffering on account of their politics was 
 given a pay certificate. In addition to this, the Senate con- 
 
— 41 — 
 
 tingent account swelled to an enormous amount through the sys- 
 tem then inaugurated of furnishing liquors, wines, cigars, groc- 
 eries, jewelry, and .'almost every conceivable article, under the 
 
 head of stationery and sundries.. I .knew that , a large 
 
 .number of the certificates issued were in fictitious names and 
 drawn for the benefit of State officials, as well as for the presiding 
 
 officers and members of the two houses The issue of 
 
 joint certificates, in amounts ranging from five hundred Jo five 
 thousand dollars, and given to State officials, presiding officers 
 and members of the two houses as gratification, was resorted 
 to as the best method of harmonizing "the friends," as the 
 leaders were then called. ..... When joint certificates , were 
 
 drawn in fictitious names. I often suggested that the name used 
 should have the initials reversed of the real name of the party 
 
 for whom such certificate was issued It was often the 
 
 case that pay certificates of this class were issued not only for 
 unnecessary articles in the usual course of legislation, but fre- 
 quently as a bonus or gratification to some Senator for his per- 
 sonal use. 
 
 [When a member wanted extra pay certificates he furnished a 
 list of bogus names to the' Speaker, who then ordered the Clerk to 
 make out certificates for the persons named. A fictitious endorse- 
 ment was then forged' and the certificates cashed.] 
 
 DEAR JONES — Please fix the within for our friend Hurley. 
 
 "Sincerely', 
 "MOSES." " 
 Hurley writes: 
 "Frank, these are the cusses; make an order to A. O. Jones. 
 
 "T.. H." 
 Charles Rede, Messenger. 
 "John B. Turner, Clerk. 
 "Amos Baimis, -Clerk. 
 "David D. Cooper, Messenger. 
 Andrew Smith* Messenger. 
 "Elias Woodrow, Clerk." 
 
 DEAR OSCEOLA — Please make; put a certificate for my pet. 
 
 "Sincerely yours, 
 
 "F. J. M." 
 
— 42 — 
 
 [A pay certificate.] , 
 
 Nq, 0304 B. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, March 13, 1872. 
 
 The State Treasurer will pay to the order of Mr. Andrews 
 six hundred and forty-two dollars for pay as clerk in the House 
 of Representatives for 107 days. 
 
 $642. F. J. MOSES, JR., 
 
 Speaker House of Representatives. 
 
 Attest: 
 A. O. JONES, Clerk, 
 
 (Endorsed: County Treasurer, Sumter, please pay and turn 
 in as cash; N. G. Parker, State Treasurer, per John L. Little, 
 Clerk. F. J. Moses, Jr., and the figures 1880.) 
 
 Bond and Railroad Frauds 
 
 [In 1868, the State endorsed the bonds of the Blue Ridge Rail- 
 road for $4,000,000 an'd the Greenville and Columbia for $2,000,000. 
 The State owned a. controlling interest in the roads, and the "Bond 
 Ring" consisting of Gov. Scott and other officials and John J. Pat- 
 terson bought at a secret sale for $59,669.50 the State's share valued 
 at $433,906.00. And the matter was so arranged that H. H. Kimpton, 
 the State financial agent in New York, paid for the State's share 
 for the "Bond Ring," in State funds. Thus the State not only lost 
 its railroad property, but paid in cash for the privilege of losing. 
 The next thing done was to bribe the Legislature to release the 
 roads from all liability for the $6,000,000 in bonds. Fraud Report, 
 563-576, 613-647.] 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, 
 GREENVILLE AND COLUMBIA RAILROAD COMPANY, 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, March 4, 1872. 
 Hon. NILES G. PARKER, State Treasurer, South Carolina: 
 
 Please deliver to H. H. Kimpton "revenue bond scrip" due 
 the Blue Ridge Railroad Company according to Act passed March 
 2, 1872, amounting to one hundred and fourteen thousand two 
 hundred and fifty dollars, at par, upon the following conditions: 
 That forty-two thousand and eight hundred and fifty-seven dol- 
 lars of said scrip, at par, is to be used for paying the expenses 
 
of. passing through the House of Representatives Bills styled 
 "A Bill relating to the bonds of the State of South Carolina" and 
 "Bill to authorize the Financial Board to settle the accounts of 
 the Financial Agents." Now, if these above named Bills, are 
 passed and become laws, this order for forty-two thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-seven dollars in scrip, at par, is ito be paid 
 said Kinipton; and if not passed, then this order for that amount 
 to be void and the scrip is not to be delivered. Also, that sev- 
 enty-one thousand four hundred and' fourteen dollars of scrip, 
 at par, you shall deliver to said Kimpton if said Bills, become 
 laws,' and provided that he shall pay the sum of fifty thousand 
 dollars; the proceeds of said scrip at seventy cents on the dollar, 
 in paying' the- expenses already incurred in passing through the 
 Senate the Bill known as* "Bill to relieve the State of all liability 
 on account of guaranty of Blue Ridge Railroad bonds, &c," 
 passed March 2, 1872, which said expenses said Kimpton 
 has contracted to pay; and if said Kimpton fails or refuses to 
 pay said amounts in defraying said expenses, (when required 
 by me) , then ^this order to be void. If said conditions are com- 
 plied with and the amount of scrip delivered to said Kimpton, 
 he is not to be held liable for or to account for its value. The 
 above tw6 suing of $42,589 and $71,414 in scrip, at par, make 
 up the amount of scrip first mentioned in this order. 
 
 JOHN J. PATTERSON, 
 President Blue Ridge Railroad Co., in S. C. 
 
 Niles G.. Parker, [formerly Treasurer] being sworn, says: 
 
 At the, time the settlement was made with the .Financial 
 Board and Kimpton; he (Kimpton) received a" due bill- for about 
 $39,000 from, the Financial Board as the balance. of commission 
 due him». This, (according to our agreement, would be divided 
 equally between Chamberlain, Kimpton and myself; and just be^ 
 fore Chajmberlain addressed, his communication to the public in 
 the Summer of 187,4 concerning the charges made against him 
 with reference to the public debt and other matters connected 
 with,, Governor Scott's administration, he promised me by the 
 side of his sick bed in his own house that if I would permit that 
 letter which he, had prepared to go before the puhliCf, without 
 contradiction and he should bet nominated and elected as Gov- 
 
— 44- 
 
 ernor I should be paid my share of the $11 39,09m)', a.s expressed 
 in said due hill, and that too at an early day. 
 
 Testimony of Senator W. B. Nash: 
 
 Afterwards I saw Leslie in one of these rooms and he handed 
 me a smaller package, about the shape of a brick, which - 1: took 
 and carried home, and on examination found that it contained 
 about five thousand dollars in money. I will . not be positive,, 
 but I think that .the sum of. $30,000 was to be distributed among 
 the members of the Senate Committee on Finance, and there was 
 some feeling afterwards about some rumors that Owens and 
 Whittemore had got more than other Senators.. At. the meeting 
 alluded to, when the bundles were produced,- I think some one 
 was absent who was of the. party interested and who was ex- 
 pected, hut cannot remember which one it was. I have one of 
 the Blue Ridge scrip now for $5,000 which waa given me in 
 connection with these matters, in addition to the $5,0000 testified 
 to above. I was supporting these Bills because I thought, after 
 hearing arguments of these men, that it was right,, and I merely 
 took the money because I thought I might as well have, it and 
 invest it here as for them to carry it off out of the State. 
 
 Niles G. Parker, [formerly Treasurer] on oath, deposes as 
 follows: I know that Kimpton [formerly State Financial Agent] 
 used the proceeds of bonds belonging to the State to secure the 
 passage of other Bills which he was interested in, to-wit, the 
 Sterling Loan Bill, the Bill to authorize the Financial Agent to 
 pledge bonds for State loans, the Sinking Fund Bill, the Bill 
 for the payment of interest in gold, and the Bill to issue bonds 
 for the relief of the Treasury. I know- he paid out of the pro- 
 ceeds of the sale of State bonds the money for a share and a 
 half, as it was called, of Greenville and Columbia Railroad stock, 
 — a share, including assessment of $4,000, immediately payable,' 
 being $'24,000. This was for J. L. Neagle, Comptroller General. 
 He also paid for one share of like value for Joseph Crews, mem- 
 ber of the Legislature. He was Chairman, I think, of the Com- 
 mittee on Railroads in the House of Representatives. He also 
 paid for one quarter share, being $6,000 for F^ L. Cardozo. 
 
— 45-, 
 
 This Kimpton subsequently took for himself, . as he did Crew's. 
 He also paid for two, or two-and-a-half, shares for George W. 
 Waterman, for Governor Scott, of like value. He paid for two 
 shares of like value. for himself, and, so' far as I know, and be- 
 lieve, he paid for one-half share for D. H. Chamberlain, of the 
 value of $12,000. 
 
 [General] John -B. Dennis, [a carpetbagger] being duly- 
 sworn, was asked if he ever knew of Patterson paying any money 
 to Speaker Moses to influence or secure legislation. Says, that 
 at the commencement of the session of 1870-71 it was common 
 talk that Patterson had paid Speaker Moses $25,000' to have him 
 appoint his Committees in the interest of the measures that he; 
 (Patterson), Kimpton and what was known as the ring were 
 interested in. Moses never denied it when spoken ' to about it 
 by Hurley, and Patterson always laughed about it as a high 
 price for Prank Moses. One night this, — he thinks it was the 
 Greenville Consolidation Bill, — Frost and Bosemon were fight- 
 ing it hard, making one dilatory motion after another, until it 
 seemed as if they never could be got : out of the way. The 
 Speaker was recognizing either of them that would call his 
 attention, to the exclusion of any one else or every one else, 
 so that they (Frost and Rosemon) really thought that the 
 Speaker was with them and in favor of defeating the Bill. At 
 this time, when the case for him seemed hopeless, Patterson 
 came to witness and said: "Go ask that damned scoundrel 
 (meaning Speaker Moses) how much he wants." He went and 
 asked the speaker as requested by Patterson, and the Speaker 
 replied: "Ten thousand dollars over and above everything," 
 meaning $10,000 over or besides the $25,000 before spoken of, 
 which he had received for the appointment of the Committees. 
 He carried the message to Patterson, and' Patterson said "Tell 
 him all right; he shall have it." 
 
 Testimony of ex-Speaker and ex-Governor Moses: 
 
 That at the first session of the House of Representatives, 
 
 during which W. J. Whipper was Chairman of the Committee 
 
 either on Railroads or on Ways and Means, the corporation of 
 
 the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, (consisting of John J. 
 
— if— 
 
 Patterson, John C. Neagle, R. K. Scott', N.'tK Parker, p. H. 
 Chamberlain and' Reuben Tomlinson and 'bthers) were' very- 
 anxious to obtain control of the House Committee^,' as also' they - 
 were to pass certain Bills through the House. ' First one, t&eA. 
 the other of them' consulted with me about' the matter, (I re- 
 member John J. Patterson and J. L. Neagle principally) , arid 
 finally they offered me $25,000 if I would assist them as Speaker 
 in passing -their Bills, and also give them' the roll of the House 
 and let them make up the Committees just -as they desired. Most 
 of them talked with, me about the matter, but as welt as I can 
 remember Kimpton was the first -spokesman whom they selected 
 to make me the offer. I announced the Committes as they' made 
 them up, and I also assisted them in passing their Bills. At 
 that time I owed Kimpton $13,000- borrowed money, to secure 
 the repayment of which I had given him. a mortgage on a tract 
 of land I owned in- Clarendon county, and when I made the ahovft 
 named arrangement with the railroad company Kimpton claimed 
 I should be willing to take" the mortgage I had given him dollar 
 for dollar as a part of the $25,000. I consented: to this,- and the 
 mortgage was delivered to me, duly canceled, and the rest of 
 the money was paid me. I. do not remember who paid me- in 
 person, but the money came to me on account of- the agreement 
 I have narrated, and was neither paid to me by Patterson, or 
 Kimpton, or Parker, or Neagle. I remember that Neagle was 
 a prominent, party in consulting .with me as=to the appointment 
 of the Committees. I remember that it was while the- Bill to; 
 which I refer above was hanging in the balance in the House 
 of Representatives, one night, Patterson sent Dennis up to the 
 Speaker's, stand with a message to me, saying that if I would 
 push the Bill through that night he (Patterson) would pay, me 
 individually $10,000. I either sent back word to him, or told 
 him in person, that he must reduce the promise, to writing. He 
 did put it in writing, and it was entrusted to Joseph Crews as 
 my friend and held by him until the Bill was passed. 
 
-.47- 
 
 The Judiciary 
 
 [The Printing King sometimes needed decisions of the Court. 
 These, -extracts, from the diary of Woodruff, who had charge of 
 "conscience" money will show how the decisions were obtained.] 
 
 . Thursday, July 2, 1874. 
 Saw Wright. He wanted me to raise him $2,500, and said 
 he would give me the decision by 6 o'clock if I would get that 
 amount for him. He suggested I should try ex-Governor Scott, 
 but it was no go. Scott said he did not want the mandamus 
 unless it could be issued, for legislative expenses as well as for 
 Frazee, Rose and the printing company. "Went back and told 
 Judge Wright so. Wright asked me to telegraph for Jones, and 
 I did so, but failed to bring him. Very much troubled about 
 mandamus. ■ 
 
 Friday, July 3, 1874. 
 Met Judge Wright again today, and told him I was unable 
 to raise the money. He urged me to another trial. Found it 
 was nothing but a strike of the Judge to get money in advance 
 of the decision, but if the Judge can't trust us we ought not to 
 trust him. Cardozo thought it was a monstrous thing for a 
 Court to act so, but it's hard to beat such a monstrosity as 
 Cardozo. I believe he is in concert with Wright to get our 
 money and then file an opinion against us. Governor Moses 
 wanted $50 for 4th of July, but I could not raise it for him. 
 
 Tuesday, July 7, 1874- 
 Met Judge Wright in street car today and had a short in- 
 terview. Could not give him any assurance of money. Feel in- 
 different as to whether Mandamus is granted or not. 
 
 .; i' •■>■ •'■■ 
 
 , Thursday, July 9, 1874. 
 
 Met Judge Wright this morning. He said he had the decision 
 
 in his pocket and would let me have it on my giving him the 
 
 money.. Told him I was. not able to make the ripple. He thought 
 
 if T went to Columbia it mieht. be done. There may be some 
 
-48- 
 
 game up, and if so I must try to steer clear. I know Cardozo 
 wants, or appears to want to catch Judge Wright. He will not 
 do it with my assistance; 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, August, 1878. 
 
 P. J. Moses, being recalled, says: 
 
 In the case of William Whaley vs. Bank of Charleston, it 
 was known that there was a disagreement between Judge Moses 
 and Judge Willard; consequently it became very important to 
 secure Judge Wright, so as to have a majority of the Court'.' D. 
 H. Chamberlain, one of the attorneys for Whaley, came to nle 
 and requested that I would see Judge Wright and ascertain how 
 much would be demanded for his concurrence with the Chief 
 Justice. I neglected to do so at the time. Within a day or two 
 Chamberlain wrote me a note, of which the following is a copy: 
 
 S. W. MELTON. MELTON & CHAMBERLAIN, 
 
 D. H. CHAMBERLAIN. Law Office, 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C, April 6, 1874. 
 DEAR GOVERNOR. Please arrange that matter at 2,000 
 or 3,000 as may be necessary. Let me know exactly what is 
 needed after your interview and I will be on hand. I will call 
 at your office 11:30 a. m. Don't delay the matter. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN. 
 
 I immediately called on Judge Wright in reference to the 
 matter, and he asked a few days within which to determine; 
 finally he agreed to concur with the Chief Justice on payment 
 of $2,500 by Chamberlain. I delivered his message to Chamber- 
 lain, whereupon he gave two several notes, payable to myself, 
 that were to be paid Wright, one for 1,500 and one for. $1,000. 
 I collected the amounts of the notes, less the discount, and then 
 borrowed the entire sum from Wright. I discounted one of the 
 notes to C. C. Puffer, and the other to J. S. Fillebrown or T. B. 
 Johnston from Sumter. Puffer discounted the larger note. I 
 turned the letter from Chamberlain over to T. C. Dunn, ; who 
 was opposing Chamberlain, in the presence of John B. Dennis and 
 Thomas S. Cavender, and took 
 
— 49 — 
 
 Patterson's Election to the United States Senate 
 
 [Ah example of the methods used by John J. Patterson to se- 
 cure election to the United States Senate.] 
 
 Testimony of Abram Dannerly: 
 
 Patterson said he was a candidate for the United State Sen- 
 ate and hoped I -would vote for him. I told him I hadfo't made 
 up my mind. He told me that if I voted for him I wouldn't re- 
 gret it; that he would give me some money if I voted for him, 
 as he saw I was needy. He said he had $50,00 or $60,000 to 
 spend on the election, and that if I didn't believe it to go to 
 Worthington, who was his agent. Jamison was standing about 
 ten steps off and called to him, and said something to Patterson, 
 and then Patterson called me up, and we then went to Hardy 
 Solomon's Bank 'and saw a man named Jacobs, and Patterson 
 got fifty dollars from him and gave it to me. Jamison and myself 
 then left the bank, but before leaving Jamison counted the money 
 and each of us took half of it. I was boarding with J. L. Jami- 
 son, and we went up to Patterson's rooms, over Pine's, that 
 night, and Patterson and ^Vqrthing were there and Patterson 
 told me that if I would vote for him I would get four hundred 
 dollars, and he told me then, and afterwards at different times, 
 to electioneer and get as many to vote for him as I could, as he 
 heard I was pretty good at electioneering, and told me to tell 
 the members that he would pay them. He did not name any 
 particular amount that he would pay. On the morning of the 
 election I saw General Worthington at Pine's, and he said that 
 I must be sure to vote for Patterson, and get all I could to vote 
 for him, and that he would see that I got the four hundred 
 dollars. After the election, the day after, General Worthington 
 handed me twenty-five dollars in the State House, on the lower 
 floor, near the statute of Washington. I was very angry about it, 
 and .Jpld him then, and afterwards, that what I got didn't 
 amount to anything. About two weeks after the election I and 
 Robert Tarleton, from Colleton went to Patterson's house to see 
 him, as Tarleton said Patterson owed him some money, too, 
 for voting for him. We saw Patterson and told him that we had 
 
— 50 — 
 
 come for what he had promised, and he said that Mackey and 
 Whittemofe and some one else was there and he was busy, but 
 offered us some liquor and cigars and went up stairs, saying he 
 would see its again. I have never met him but once since, and 
 fieither Patterson nor Worthington ever paid me any more money 
 on the election. — Fraud Report* 910. His 
 
 (Signed.) ABRAM X DANNBRLY. 
 
 mark. 
 
 Council of Safety 
 
 After the electioris ! of 1870 'in South Carolina; a conference of 
 leading men, members of the Union Reform party, feeling-: that the 
 White people were in imminent danger from outrage by the blacks, 
 drew up a, plan of organization for protection in case of. an out- 
 break of the negroes. This plan or constitution was published at 
 the CoMmbia Phoenix office, and was distributed throughout about 
 two-thirds of the counties of the State by E. W. Seibels, the secre- 
 tary and treasurer of the Union Reform party. A copy of ,the plan 
 was secured by the Charleston Daily Republican and reprinted in its 
 columns. It was also copied in the Columbia Daily Union. Both 
 of these were radical papers. A pamphlet copy was put in evidence 
 before the Ku KIu'x Committee by Seibels. Ex-SdVernor J. L. Orr 
 expressed the opinion that there was a widespread organization 
 based on. this constitution, but Seibels maintained that in only three 
 counties — Lexington, Sumter and Orangeburg — had he. heard of 
 councils formed according to the plan set out by him. He Sent, 
 he said, several copies of the pamphlet to some leading man In each 
 of twenty counties. Seibels denied, that the proposed, order had any 
 political object; it was only for protection. of the whites. ,, 
 
 An organization formed, under the constitution of the Council 
 of Safety would resemble somewhat both the order of the Khiglit's 
 of the White Cam'elia and the organization' of the Union Reform 
 party of South : Carolina in 1870. In both of the latter bodies the 
 subordinate divisions were called councils; the, plan of the, Council 
 of Safety was drawn up by the executive committtee of the. Union 
 Reform party at, a session held after, the defeat of their party in 
 the fall of i870; tihe' administration of the Council of Safety bears, 
 a marked resemblance to that of the White Camelia; and finally-,, 
 the Council of Safety was originated and extended .by officials of 
 the IJnfpn Reform party, which was then dissolved.* 
 
 •The text of the constiution is found in the Ku Klux Report, 
 .South Carolina Testimony, Z3-25. See also pp. 2, 3, 102-105, 12^ saoi' 
 
— 51 — 
 
 Constitution of The Council of Safety 
 
 I.— NAME, 
 
 Council of Safety. 
 
 it— 9BJECTS. , 
 
 The ' objects of this organization are, first,' to preserve the 
 peace, enforce the laws, and protect and defend" the person's and 
 property of -the good people of this State; and, second,*t6 labor 
 Sor the restoration of constitutional liberty, as taught by our 
 forefathers, and to reform abuses in the Government* State 'and 
 National. 
 
 IIL^HOW EFFECTED. 
 
 Its operations shall he two-fold: 
 
 1. Political, social, and moral, under I the forms of estab- 
 lished laws. 
 
 2. ' Physical, according to the recognized principles of the 
 law of sei£-defense': ' ■' ' ' ; ' ' ' 
 
 IV.— OF COUNCILS. 
 
 1. There shall be in every county, (the city of Charleston 
 lor 'this purpose being considered a county) one council in each 
 Seat-district, composed of approved white men above the age 
 of eighteen (18) years. They shall be known by the letters of 
 the alphabet. 
 
 2. Each council shall be . subdivided into four or more sub- 
 councils, to consist of (as' near as may be) of not less than ten 
 men each, reference being had in .such subdivisions to the pro- 
 tection' of .neighborhoods. 
 
 3. After the first organization of a" council of not less than 
 teii counselors, members shall only be admitted by a vote of 
 two-thirds' of those present, at a council meeting, after having 
 been proposed by one counselor and recommended by another. 
 A person once rejected shall not again be proposed for member- 
 ship without one month's notice at a regular meeting, and by a 
 two-thirds vote of those present at a regular meeting. 
 
 . ,4. Befqre his introduction, an applicant for membership 
 
 snail give the follpw^ng pledge, in the presence of five counselors: 
 
 "I pledge you my honor as a man Oiat^-I, shall neyer repeal 
 
 anything that I now know, or that hereafter may come to my 
 
— 52 — 
 
 knowledge, respecting the council or the organization of which 
 it may become a part, unless I shall become a member thereof, 
 and be permitted to do so By the If ules, regulations, and usages 
 of the councils; so help me Almighty God." 
 
 5. Having taken such pledge, he shall be introduced by the 
 five attesting counselors and be received by the council standing, 
 and at the dictation of the superior officer present shall repeat 
 the following pledge: ., ... . ,,> n 
 
 "In the presence of Almighty God, and these gentlemen, I 
 renew my .pledge of secrecy to this council and its associates; and 
 further promise and affirm that I , will be true and faithful to 
 the Council of Safety, its subordinates and counselors, and obey 
 all its rules and regulations, orders and edicts, coming to my 
 knowledge, and consistent with the articles of the constitution 
 (II. and III.) as read in my hearing, while I continue a member 
 thereof; so help me Almighty God." 
 
 . He shall then he enrolled by a member, and in all proceedings 
 of the council shall be known and designated by his number. The 
 number of a counselor shall never be changed. 
 
 6. A counselor shall, remain a member until honorably or 
 dishonorably discharged by vote of a majority of his. council, or 
 the order of the executive board. 
 
 v.— Officers. 
 
 1. The officers of a council shall be a chief counselor, a first 
 assistant chief, and a second assistant chief, (who shall take 
 precedence in the order in which they are named,) a scribe 
 and bursar, who shall hold office during good- behavior, but sub- 
 ject to removal by a majority of the council, at a regular meet- 
 ing, upon cause shown, and after a month's notice to the der 
 linquent. But the executive board may at any time suspend any 
 officer until he may be tried. 
 
 2. The chief counselor shall preside over the council when 
 assembled, and enforce the rules and preserve order with the 
 aid of the assistant chiefs. 
 
 3. The assistant chiefs shall aid the chief in enforcing the 
 rules and preserving orders; and in his absence preside In the 
 order of their precedence. ' : 
 
— 53 — 
 
 4. If neither chief nor assistant chief be present, at. any 
 meeting, a chief pro tempore will be chosen by the counselors 
 present, who shall discharge the duties of the, pffice. 
 
 5. The scribe shall keep a record of all that may be. written, 
 and extend all orders, notices, or summonses. , 
 
 6. The bursar shall receive and disburse all funds, as may- 
 be directed by the council, and keep a true account of the same. 
 
 7. Each sub-council shall elect a sub-chief ,' who shall dis- 
 charge the duties of chief counselor in his sub-council when as- 
 sembled, and at the council meetings assist in preserving order 
 and enforcing the rules. He shall also extend all orders, notices, 
 and summonses to his sub-council when required. 
 
 VI.— OF GENERAL, COUNCILS; 
 
 '1. Tliere shall be a general council in each county, to con- 
 sist of two delegates from each Council, which shall meet 
 monthly, or oh the order of the chief at the county-seat, or 
 lather convenient place, to consider and determine all matters 
 pertaining to the safety of the county within the scope of this 
 constitution and under the rules that may be adopted. 
 
 2. The general council shall continue in office for one year; 
 but delegates shall, be subject to the instructions of their respec- 
 tive councils from time to time, and may be removed by them 
 for cause, after a hearing. 
 
 3. The general council shall appoint a general chief and 
 two assistants, a scribe, and bursar, whose .precedence and 
 duties shall be as prescribed for similar officers of councils. 
 
 4. All communications to and from the supreme council 
 and the councils shall pass through the chief, or other presiding 
 officer of the 1 general council. 
 
 5. The general council; or, upon emergency, the chief, or 
 other presiding officer thereof,, may assemble any or all the 
 councils under its jurisdiction, and direct their operations. ' 
 
 6. The^geideVar couisctiis 'ShaTI be numbered and so designated 
 in alphabetical' r order. : ' " ft 
 
 VII.— OF GRAND COUNCILS. 
 
 1. There may be assembled from time to time, at the re- 
 quest of a general council or upon emergency by the council, at 
 some convenient place in each congressional district, a grand 
 
— 54 — 
 
 council,' to consist of two delegates from ea»h general in such 
 'Congressional district; to consider and determine such, matters 
 as appertain to the general safety of the territory within their 
 ^jurisdiction! 
 
 2. They shall appoint such officers as are provided for gen- 
 eral councils, who shall exercise within their respective spheres 
 similar duties and authority, to hold office until such, grand coun- 
 cil shall be dissolved by its own action or by the, direction of the 
 Supreme council. 
 
 VIII.— THE SUPREME COUNCIL. ' 
 
 1. The supreme' council shall consist of (2) delegates from 
 each general council, to hold office for one year, but subject to 
 removal for cause by the supreme council, or by the general 
 council by which they are delegated. Said delegate shall be sub- 
 ject to instructions from their, , respective, general council, from 
 time to time. 
 
 2. The supreme council shall eject a supreme chief and two 
 assistants, who shall exercise in the supreme council all the duties 
 pertaining to the like offices in the general and other councils, 
 and shall have the right to assume the same duties over any and 
 all the councils assembled on any emergency in the order of 
 their precedence. The supreme council shall also elect, a scribe 
 and bursar, who shall discharge the duties proper to their re- 
 spective offices for the supreme council. 
 
 These, officers shall continue in office for one year, and un- 
 til their successors shall be appointed,, but shall be liable to be 
 jremoved for cause by a vote of a majority : pt- the supreme coun- 
 cil, after a month's notice, and may in like manner be sus- 
 pended from office after charges made, pending the hearing. 
 
 3. There shall be an executive, board chosen by the, supreme 
 council, to consist of the officers and,: ten members .thereof, who 
 shall exercise .all the general and^ ordinary powers of that body 
 in the intervals of its meetings, and may convene the same, or 
 the general or other councils, whenever they may deem it ex- 
 pedient. 
 
 4.,, , The supreme cjiief may, ,, upqn, a sudden emergency, ex- 
 ercise, alone, any of the powers of the executive board, but shall 
 in such case, immediately assemble the board and; submit such 
 action for their approval. 
 
— 56 — 
 
 5. The supreme council, alone shall have power to deter- 
 mine from time to time the political action to be pursued by the 
 council, so far as* that action may concern the State at large,. but 
 the same shall be concurred in by a majority of the general 
 council before it shall become binding on the counsellors; but 
 no council or counselors shall pursue a course .in opposition t:o 
 any action proposed by the supreme pending its consideration 
 by the general councils. r Changes , in the constitution jShali be 
 made only in like manner, by the proposal of the supreme coun- 
 cil and the concurrence of the general councils. 
 
 6. The supreme council shall prescribe the, general rules 
 for the government of all the 'Councils; from time to time, and 
 shall take such measures as the public safety may require. It 
 may call assemblages of any or all of the councils at such time 
 and place as it may deem proper, and shall have to disperse or 
 control the' action of assemblages of councils whenever the public 
 safety may require. It shall prescribe as often as necessary, a 
 countersign and response, and other means whereby a counsellor 
 may distinguish his fellows by day or by night, and also a' gen- 
 eral system of alarms. Any of these may be temporarily changed, 
 if necessary, by any of the councils, but such change and the 
 reason which justify it shall be immediately communicated to 
 the executive board for its action. 
 
 7. Each general council shall have the power to adopt any 
 regulations for its own management, or take such action within 
 the limits of its own jurisdiction, not affecting the good people 
 of other counties, which t l\ may deem proper, provided, that the 
 same be not in conflict with this constitution, or the powers and 
 authority herein delegated elsewhere. 
 
 IX.— OF FUNDS, 
 
 1. The councils shall contribute to the general 'fund five 
 cents per ,manth for. each member* to be.-sent through the bursar 
 of the general^, councils to the bursar of the supreme council. 
 Aiy^cpu^cU failing, po comply, with .this article may be , disbanded 
 by the.supreme council. 
 
 ■ Z*P The county fund shall -be regulated and disposed' of by 
 the general' councils'. 
 
— 56 — 
 MEETING OP SUPREME COUNCIL. 
 
 1. The first meeting of the supreme council shall be called 
 whenever twenty general councils may communicate with the 
 person from whom this constitution is obtained, and,, when con- 
 vened by a notice from him, may organize and appoint the times 
 and places of future meetings. 
 
 2. Each general council will communicate with the person 
 indicated as soon as organized. 
 
 A Local Ku Ku Klux Constitution 
 
 The following document is probably the constitution of a local 
 body formed in imitation of the genuine Ku Klux order. Numerous 
 bodies were so farmed,, having no connection with the original so- 
 ciety. It was. claimed,, and it is possible, that this document was a 
 forgery by the Radicals. When the Ku Klux Committee was making 
 Investigations, numerous forged documents were offered to them. 
 From internal' evidence I am led to believe that this paper is ah 
 imperfect transcript- of the constitution of one of the numberless 
 lpcal secret societies of the time. Compare the Revised and Amended 
 Presqript of Ku Klux Klan in No. 2 of this series and the original 
 Prescript in the Southern History Association Publications, Septem- 
 ber, 1903. The text of the constitution here reprinted is found in 
 the Ku Klux Report, North Carolina Testimony, 414, and South 
 Carolina Testimony, 1686. 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Article I. This organization shall be known as the — Order, 
 
 No — of the Ku Klux Klan of the State of South Carolina. 
 
 Article II. The officers shall consist of a cyclops and .a 
 scribe, both of whom shall be elected by a majority vote of the 
 order, and to hold their office during good behavior. 
 
 Article III., Section 1. It shall be the duty of the C. to pre- 
 side in the order, enforce a due observance of the constitution 
 and by-laws, and an exact compliance to the rules and usages 
 of the order; to see that all the members perform their respective 
 duties; to appoint all committees before the order; inspect, the 
 arms and dress of each member on special occasions; to call 
 meetings when necessary; draw upon members for all sums 
 needed to carry on the order. 
 
— 57 — 
 
 Section 2. The S. shall keep a record of the proceedings of 
 the order,- write communications notify other Klans when their 
 assistance is needed; give notice when any member has to suffer 
 the penalty for violating his oath; see that all books, papers or 
 other property belonging to his office, are placed beyond the 
 reach of any one not a member of the order. He shall perform 
 such other duties as may be required of him by the C. 
 
 Article IV., Section 1. No person shall be initiated into this 
 order under eighteen years of age; 
 
 Section 2. No person of color shall be admitted into this 
 order. 
 
 Section 3. No person shall be admitted into this order who 
 does not sustain a good moral character, and who is in any 
 way incapacitated to perform the duties of a Ku Klux. 
 
 Section 4. The name of a person proposed for membership 
 must be proposed by the committee appointed by the chief, verb- 
 ally, stating age, residence, and occupation; state if he was a 
 soldlar in the late war, his rank, whether in the Federal or Con- 
 federate service, and his command. 
 
 Article V., Section 1. Any member who shall offend against 
 these articles, or the by-laws shall be subject to be fined and 
 reprimanded by the C, as two-thirds of the members present at 
 any regular meeting may determine. 
 
 Section 2. Every member shall be entitled to a fair trial for 
 any offense involving reprimand or criminal punishment. 
 
 BY-LAWS, 
 
 Article I., Section 1. This order shall meet at . 
 
 Section 2. Five members shall constitute a quorum, provided 
 the C. or S. be present. 
 
 Section 3. The C. shall have power to appoint such mem- 
 bers of the order to attend the sick, the needy, and those dis- 
 tressed, and those suffering from radical misrule, as the case 
 may require. 
 
 Section 4. No person shall be appointed on a committee 
 unless the person is present at the time of appointment. Mem- 
 bers of committees neglecting to report shall be fined 30 cents. 
 
Article II., Section 1. Every, member,,', on being • admitter, 
 shall sign the constitution and by-laws and pay the initiation fee. 
 
 Section 2. A brother of the Klan wishing to become a mem- 
 ber of this order, shall present his application with the proper 
 papers of transfer from the order of which he r was a member 
 formerly, shall be admitted to the order Only by^ a unanimous 
 vote of the members present. ,.- 
 
 Articles III., Section 1. The initiation fee->shall' be — ■ '-:"• 
 
 . Article^ J,Y,, Section 1. Every member. ; who shall refuse or 
 neglect to pay his fine or dues shall be dealt with as the chief 
 thinks proper. 
 
 Section 2. Sickness or absence from the country or being 
 engaged in any important business shall be a., yalid,, excuse for 
 any neglect' of duty. " , ,, 
 
 Article "W> Section-: 1. Each member shall provide himself 
 with a pistol, Ku- KIux gown and signal instruments. 
 
 Section 2. When charges have been preferred against a 
 member in proper manner, or any matters of grievance between 
 brother JKu, ; Klux are brought' before the order, they shall be 
 referred to a committee of three or , more members, who shall 
 examine the parties and determine the matters iri question, re- 
 porting their decision to the order-. If the parties interested de- 
 sire, two-thirds of the members present voting! in favor of the 
 report, it shalj be earried, j - '' 
 
 Article "VI., Section 1. It is the duty of every member who 
 has evidence that another has Violated Article II. to prefer the 
 charges and specify the. offense to the order. •-- 
 
 Section 2. The charge' for violating Article II. shall be 're- 
 ferred to a committee of five or more members, Who 'shall as soon 
 as practicable, summon the parties and investigate the matter. 
 
 Section 3. If the committee agree that the charges are sus- 
 tained, > that the member on trfal has intentionally violated his 
 oath, Article II., they shall report the fact to the order. 
 
 Section 4. If the committee agree- that the charges are not 
 sustained, that the member is not guilty of violating his oath or 
 Article, II., they;shall report to that effect to the order and the 
 charges shall be dismissed. 
 
— 59 — 
 
 Section 5. When the committee report that the charges are 
 sustained, and the unanimous vote of the members is given 
 thereof, the offending person shall be sentenced to death by the 
 chief. 
 
 Section 6. The person, through the cyclops of the order of 
 which he is' a member, can make application for pardon to the 
 Great Grand CyclODs. of Nashville, Tennessee, in which case ex- 
 ecution of the sentence can be stayed until pardoning power is 
 heard from. # 
 
 Article VII., Section X. Any member who shall betray or 
 divulge any of the matters of the order shall suffer death. 
 
 Article VIII, Section 1.. The following shall be the rules of 
 any order to any matter herein not: provided for; shall be man- 
 aged in strict accordance with. the Ku Klux rules. 
 
 Section 2. When the chief takes his position on the right, 
 the scribe, wit]} the members forming a half-circle around them, 
 and at the s,pund of the signal instrument there shall be pro- 
 found' silence. 
 
 Section 3. Before proceeding to business, the scribe shall 
 call the roll and note the absentees. 
 
 Section 4. Business shall be taken up in the following order:. 
 
 1. Reading the minutes. 
 
 2. Excuse of members at preceding meeting. 
 
 3. Report of committee of candidates for membership. 
 
 4. Collection of dues. 
 
 5. Are any of the order sick or suffering? 
 
 6. Report of committees. 
 
 7. New Business. 
 
 The '76 Association 
 
 [The preamble of the constitution will show that the '76 As- 
 sociation was similar in purpose and spirit to the other secret so- 
 cieties of the Ku Klux, period. This society seems never to have 
 spread byond Louisiana. Some of the prominent members were: 
 Braxton Bragg, Cadmus Wilcox, Dabney H. Maury, Dr. Alfred Holt, 
 S. :B. Buckner, Win; M. Randolph, Rev. B. M .Palmer, and R. Morrison. 
 These names a^e takejvfrom the membership lists for 18&9, the year 
 of the foundation ofthg order.. The constitution was printed in New 
 Orleans.] ' , 
 
— 60 — 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 •J. To oppose by all 5 peaceful a'ritf lawful means in our power, 
 the usurpations of the Radical Party. 
 
 To uphold the principles of the United States Constitution as 
 established and interpreted by its framers. 
 
 -■' To vindicate the history of the South from the malignant and 
 systematic assaults and aspersions of the 1 Press, Pulpits, and 
 Politicians of the Radical Party. 
 
 To place before the world the true' position of the South 
 during the recent war, and her conditions at the present time. 
 
 To form a nucleus around which the true men of the South 
 may rallyin contending for these great ends. 
 
 To promote the material interests of the South. 
 
 And, further, as an auxiliary to this association, to establish 
 and maintain in the City of New Orleans, a newspaper which 
 shall be devoted to the advancement, advocacy, and dissemination 
 of the principles. 
 
 We, the undersigned do form ourselves into an association, 
 and adopt the following [Constitution of the '76 Association^ a 
 simple society constitution']. 
 
 A Case of Extreme Discipline 
 
 There came a parcel of gentlemen to my house one night — 
 or men. They went up to the door and ran against it. My wife 
 was sick. I was lying on a pallet with my feet to the door. They 
 ran against it and hallooed to me, "Open the door quick, quick, 
 quick." I threw the door open immediately — right wide open. 
 Two little children were lying with me. I said, "Come in, gen- 
 tlemen." One of them says, "Do we look like gentlemen?" I 
 says, "You look like men of some description; walk in." One 
 says, "Come out here; are you ready to die?" I told him I was 
 not prepared to die. "Well," he said," you time is short; com- 
 mence praying." I told him I was not a praying man much, and 
 hardly ever prayed; only a few times; never did pray much. He 
 says, "You ought to pray; your time is short, and now com- 
 mence to pray." I told him I was not a praying man. One of 
 them held a pistol to my head and said, "Get down and pray." 
 
— 61 — 
 
 I was on the steps, with one foot on the ground. They led me 
 off to a pine tree. There was three or four of them behind me, 
 it appeared, and one on each side, and one in front. The gen- 
 tleman who questioned me was the onfy man I could see. , All 
 the time I could not see the others. Every time I could get 
 to look around they would touch me with a pistol on the other 
 side. They would just touch me on the side of the head with 
 a pistol, so I had to keep my head square in front. The next 
 question was, "Who did you vote for?" I told them I vo,ted for 
 Mr. Turner-— Claudius Turner, a gentleman In the neighbor- 
 hood. They said, "What did you vote for him for?" I said, 
 "I thought a good deal of him; he was a neighbor.'" I told them 
 I disremembered who was on the ticket besides, but they had 
 several, and I voted the ticket. "What did you do that for?" they 
 said. Says I, "Because I thought it was right." "They said, "You 
 thought it was right? It was right wrong." I said, "I never do 
 anything hardly if I think it is wrong; if it was wrong I 
 did not know it. That was my opinion at the time,^ and I 
 thought every-' man ought to vote according to his notion." He 
 said, "If you had taken the advise of your friends you would 
 have been better off." I told him I had.' Says I, "You may be 
 a friend to me, but I can't tell who you are." Says he, "Can't 
 you recognize anybody here?" I told him I could hot; " In the 
 condition you are in now I dan't tell who you are." One of 
 them had a very large set of teeth; I suppose they were three- 
 quarters of an inch long; they came right straight down. He 
 came up to me and sort of nodded. He had on speckled horns and 
 calico stuff, and had a face on. He said, "Have you got a chisel 
 here I could get?" I told him I hadn't, but I reckoned I could 
 knock one out, and I sort of laughed. He said, "What in hell are 
 you laughing at? It is no laughing time." I told him it sort 
 of tickled me, and I thought I would laugh. I did not say any- 
 thing then for a good while. "Old man," says one, "have you 
 got a rope here, or plow-line, or something of the sort?" Itold 
 him, "Yes; I had one hanging on the crib." He said, "Let us 
 have itf' One of them says, "String him up to this pine tree, and 
 we will get all out of him. Get up, one of you, and let us pull 
 him up, and he will tell the truth." I says, "I can't tell you 
 anything more than I have told. There is nothing I can tell 
 you but what I have told you that you asked me." One man 
 
— «2 — 
 
 questioned me all this time. One would come up and say„ 
 "Let's' hang him a while,., and he will te.ll us the truth;" and-, 
 another then came up and. said, "Old man, we are just from hell;' 
 some of us have been dead ever since the Revolutionary war."* 
 Another one said, "We have heard your conversation -£p*» the* 
 last six months. I came up from under your kitchen floor 
 just this night, and ,1 have heard yqu^cjonvesation a good while/' 
 I was not scared, and said, "You have been through a right, 
 smart experience," ""Yes," he said; "we have been through con- 
 siderable experience." One, of them says, "We have, just come- 
 from hell." I said, "If I. had been there I would not want to go 
 back." One says, "Have you heard a wild goose holler lately?" 
 I said, "I heard one the other night." Said he, "That is one of 
 us coming over and looking down to see what you (.have, been, 
 doing this time-" I said, "You must fly then," He says, "When, 
 we start we can go a long ways." And then said, "How far 
 is it to Osheville.?" I said, "About sixty miles." He said, "How 
 for to Spartanburgh?" I says, "Ten miles.", He says, "We have* 
 got to go to Spartanburg to-night, and from there to Asheville:- 
 before daylight;" it. was then about 2 o'clock. I says, "You 
 have a long trip," and laughed. He says, "What in hell are; 
 you laughing at?" "Why," said I, "by your going, such a trip." 
 He says, "This is no laughing time." I says, "If . anything 
 tickles me I always^ laugh, no matter how it ( is." Then they, 
 made me get down on my knees and , told me to. pray,,. I told 
 them I was not a praying man, and didn't feel like it, an4 could, 
 not pray. t Another put a pistol tp my head and says, "Get down." 
 I got down on one knee. I said, "I can't pray." One of them, 
 said, "Let us shoot him." Some six or seven of. them pointed, 
 pistols at me, and I thought they were, going to shoot. They- 
 said, "Commence praying; your time is short." I said, "I can't, 
 pray." They let me stand on my knee some time; one said, 
 something to the rest, and they went off to the others; one- 
 spoke to. the others in some kind of Dutch talk — I could ,not un- 
 derstand it — and they all consulted together, and , came back 
 to me and said, "Old man, which would you rather have; six,. 
 hundered lashes over your shirt, or five hundred lashes with- 
 out your shirt, or to be shot or hanged?" Says L "Gentlemen, 
 I have no choice; if you are going to do either one,,, either one. 
 will do me; do it, now and make an end of me. But what have* 
 
— 63 — 
 
 I done?" "You have done a d — d sight," one said. I said, "I 
 don't know what it is! I do not trouble anybody.' You can't 
 bring anything against me by my neighbors. There' is a heap 
 of neighbors around me, and they all know me, and they can 
 bring nothing against me. I was always said to be a good boy 
 by Dr. Vernon that raised me." He says, "^ho says so but you?" 
 I says, "Anybody will say so." One ojf them says, "fle, has got a 
 d — d good influence. Didn't you bribe anybody to go your 
 way?" Says I, "No,, sir." "How did you Vote?" I told' him I 
 voted for Mr. Turner. I did not say anybody else but Mr. 
 Turner all the time. He said several times; "Who else?" I 
 never said anybody but Mr. Turner. He' says to me, "Have you 
 given advise to anybody to vote your Way?" I said, "No, sir; I 
 will tell you what I have done. I was with the parties the 
 same day of the election, and I asked the boys how they were 
 going to vote, and I said to them, won't you vote for Mr. Turner? 
 and ain't you going to vote for Mr. Turner? but I could not 
 make them do it." Heisays, "Y^otf have .'had/ a good influence; 
 we must corree't'you aiittleV'J I'told. tiim i'did flot- tiink that 
 was any harm at all. He says, "We consider that it is." I 
 thought they were not going to trouble me all this time. I 
 .thought it did not look -so. I still kept in good spirits and 
 laughed occasionally., They all _left me but .two-jv-on^, by my 
 side and' another in front. They ' all got together again and 
 consulted, and one says, "Let's go." I was standing, and one 
 says, "Come, old man, come with us." I did not know what 
 they were going to do with me. They went on with me thirty 
 or forty steps from the house where we were standing, close 
 to the house. Right in the road one says, "Jerk me a limb 
 off that tree-" -One- ran -and jerked a limb off— a pretty heavy 
 one, with two prongs to it. He says, Pull joff your jshirt,',' "What 
 for? says I. "Pull off your shirt," he says; "don't"you ask me 
 anything." I didn't pull it off. "If you don't pull it off," says 
 he, "I will shoot you in a minute. I will shoot a hole through 
 you big enough for a rat to go through." I just turned it 
 over my head. I had on only my drawers and my shirt. Then 
 they hit me thirteen of the hardest cuts I ever got. I never 
 had such cuts. They hit me right around the waist and by my 
 hip, and cut a piece out about as wide as my two fingers in one 
 place. I did not say a word while they were whipping, only 
 
— 64 — 
 
 sort of grunted a little. t As quick as they got through they said, 
 "Go to your bed. We will have this country right before we get 
 through; go to your bed," and they started away. One of them 
 says, "Look here, what are you . going to say when anybody 
 asks you about this?" "What can I say, sir?" He says, "Wha,t 
 are you* going to say? I says, "I will have i'p say something." 
 "Are you going to tell that wehave been here?" I says, "What 
 else can I say?" "Can't you tell a lie," says he, "and say no- 
 body has been here?" Say L "That would not be right." Can't 
 you do it?" I told him I could do it. He said, "Just let us hear 
 of this thing, and when we come back we will not leave a 
 piece of you." that was the end of it. They left then, and 
 got on their horses ,and went away. — Ku Klux Report, South 
 Carolina, Testimony, 411!. 
 
 West Virginia University 
 
 Announcements of the facilities and courses in the following 
 departments may be had by writing to the President: 
 
 \. Arts and Sciences. 6. Military. 
 
 2. Engineering. 7. Music. 
 
 3. "rhel«aw. 8: Fine Arts. 
 
 4. Medicine. 9. Preparatory. 
 
 5. Agriculture (including 10. Commercial. 
 
 e^n^Icie'nct'e^.)"- ** "" The ^^ *"*■ 
 
 D. B. PURINTON, Ph. D., LL. D., President 
 
 MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
West Virginia University Documents 
 
 Relating to Reconstruction. Edited ^j /• a 
 
 by Walter I,. Fleming, Professor of lNOS.OOty 
 
 History. 
 
 I. Freedmen's Bureau Documents 
 II. The Freedmen's Savings Bank 
 
 PRIGE 30 CENTS 
 
 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, ONE DOLLAR 
 
 Morgantown, West Virginia 
 1904 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 RELATING TO RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 Edited by Walter I,. Fleming, Ph. D., 
 Professor of History in West Virginia University 
 
 The following numbers have been issued : 
 No, 1. The Constitution and Ritual of the Knights of the White Catnelia. Single 
 
 number, 32 pages; price, 15 cents. 
 No. 2. The Revised and Amended Prescript of Ku Klux Klan. Single number, 
 
 82 pages , price, 15 cents. 
 No. 3. Union league Documents. Single number, 32 pages, price 15 cents. 
 
 Nos. 4 & 5. (1) Public Frauds in Sonth Carolina. 
 
 (2) The Constitution of the Council of Safety. 
 
 (3) A Local Ku Klux Klan Constitution. 
 (5) The '76 Association. 
 
 Double number, 64 pages; price, 30 cents. 
 
 Nos. 6 & 7. (1) Freedmen's Bureau Documents. 
 (2) Freedmen's Savings Bank 
 
 Double number, 64 pages; price 30 cents. 
 
 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, EIGHT NUMBERS, ONE DOLLAR 
 
The Freedmen's Bureau 
 
 The Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands was 
 created by an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1865. On July 16, 
 1866, a supplementary act passed over the President's veto extended 
 the Bureau for two years. July 6, 1868, a third act extended it for 
 one more year in the unreconstructed states. A fourth act, on July 
 25, 1868, provided for the discontinuance of the Bureau after January 
 1, 1869, except as to the educational and bounty divisions. Finally, 
 on June 10, 1872, an act abolished the Bureau after June 30, 1872, and 
 turned its affairs over to the Secretary of War for settlement. 
 
 From 1861 to 1865 the Federal government had to provide in some 
 way for the numerous blacks who crowded into the Union lines. The 
 policies pursued were various and conflicting. Some commanders 
 put the refugee negroes to work on fortifications or about the 
 camps; others concentrated them in camps or colonies under the 
 supervision of army officers, usually chaplains; all of them gave sup- 
 plies to the negroes. The Treasury Department had control of prop- 
 erty confiscated under the acts of Congress, and its agents employed 
 freedmen to cultivate the plantations; many colonies of blacks were 
 thus established. Numerous Freedmen's Aid Societies in the North 
 cooperated with the government in looking after the negroes in the 
 camps and colonies. There was in the War Department an unofficial 
 "Department of Negro Affairs," which also attended to matters re- 
 lating to negroes. Neither the War Department nor the Treasury 
 was responsible for all that pertained to the blacks; first one and 
 then the other seemed to be in control. Practically all of the camps, 
 plantations, colonies, and communities failed because of incompetent 
 and corrupt agents in charge. 
 
 The Freedmen's Bureau Act transferred the entire control of the 
 blacks to a bureau of the War Department. It was to attend to all 
 maters relating to white Union refugees, confiscated property, and 
 negroes. At the' head of the Bureau was the Commissioner, General 
 O. O. Howard, with an assistant commissioner in each state. In prac- 
 tice, the Bureau was independent of, or rather superior to, the mili- 
 tary and provisional civil administration in the South; it was in real- 
 ity a complete government with almost despotic powers over the 
 4,000,000 blacks of the South; it removed them entirely from the con- 
 trol of the civil government and subordinated the civil government 
 to itself. Its principal legal activities were in relief work, education, 
 regulation of labor, and administration of justice. 
 
 In the relief work it spent about $2,000,000 for hospitals and dis- 
 pensary service among the Freedmen; about $4,500,000 was expended 
 
— 4 — 
 
 for food and clothes, 21,000,000 rations being distributed; something 
 more than $1,500,000 was expended in transporting 30,000 negroes, 
 4,000 white refugees, 4,000 teachers and missionaries, and 2,000 offi- 
 cials. Upon negro education the Bureau expended about $5,200,000, 
 principally in aid of the schools established by benevolent societies 
 from the North. The whole field of labor legislation was covered. The 
 Bureau regulated contracts, wages, hours, rations, clothing, and quar- 
 ters'; it classified laborers and forbade certain kinds of work; it re- 
 quired medical attendance for laborers and education of negro chil- 
 dren; certain methods of renting were forbidden. In all that related 
 to labor the Bureau was supreme. The Bureau courts had jurisdiction 
 over all cases that arose among the blacks or between black and 
 whites. / They enforced the regulation of the Bureau, supervised the 
 civil courts from which cases relating to negroes were often removed 
 and the decisions of which were often set aside. Civil officials 
 obnoxious to the Bureau were removed by military authority. 
 
 The income of the Bureau was derived from the sale of confiscated 
 Confederate and private property, from fees, rents, taxes, bounty 
 funds, gifts from individuals and associations, and from appropria- 
 tions by Congress. The aggregate expenditure that may be ac- 
 counted for was about $20,000,000; in addition there were immense 
 sums that were never carried on the books — -probably $20,000,000 
 more — in Confederate property, gifts, fees, and bounty funds. Nearly 
 1,000,000 acres of land belonging to private individuals had to be 
 restored, but not before much of it had been given, leased or sold 
 to freedmen. 
 
 As to the necessity for the Bureau opinions do not agree; it is 
 generally agreed that it was not well administered and that the re- 
 sults of its work were too often not good. It was based on sus- 
 picion of the good faith of the whites and the presumption that 
 whites and blacks were enemies. The higher officials were generally 
 good men, some of the best being General Wager Swayne in Ala- 
 bama, General J. S. Fullerton in Louisiana and District of Columbia, 
 and General Schpfield in Virginia. Others who stirred up strife be- 
 tween the races were Whittlesey of North Carolina, Chaplain T. W. 
 Conway of Louisiana, T. W. Osborne of Florida, Scott in North 
 Carolina, Fiske hi Tennessee and Kentucky, and Sheridan in Louisi- 
 ana. The superintendents and agents were generally inferior 
 men — the hangers-on of the armies. The success or failure of the 
 Bureau in a community depended on character of the agent in charge. 
 
 Much the most important work accomplished by the Bureau was 
 to relieve the destitute whites, Union and Confederate, in the poorer 
 counties. In the white districts the destitution was general and 
 much suffering was relieved. In the great majority of the black 
 communities there was at the end of the war no destitution, and had 
 the negroes stayed at home and worked there would have been little 
 want, but the distribution of rations caused them to crowd into the 
 towns, and much suffering and disease resulted. In the later years 
 of the Bureau rations were used simply as a means of organizing a. 
 
— 5— 
 
 black political party. The labor regulations were, as a rule, good 
 in theory but absurd in practice and the planters were forced to 
 neglect or evade them, or cease to plant. The Bureau finally stopped 
 trying to regulate labor. Extravagant claims were made for Bureau 
 schools, but in fact its principal work was to aid the schools es- 
 tablished by the benevolent societies from the North or by in- 
 dividuals. The 2,000 schools claimed were often only Sunday Schools 
 and few of any kind were wholly controlled by the Bureau. The 
 education given the negro was not suited to his needs, and the 
 doctrines of social and political equality taught in some of the schools 
 aroused the opposition of the whites. The principal negro colleges 
 of the South have developed from some of the stronger church 
 schools aided by the Bureau. The abuses 'in the administration of 
 justice were flagrant, and the petty oppression practiced maie the 
 Bureau hated by the whites. The negroes, as often as the whites, 
 were cheated and blacked-mailed by the agents, who were often 
 purchased by the planters. The effect on the state government was 
 to weaken and in places practically to destroy its administration. 
 
 Prom the begining the Bureau entered politics and used its in- 
 fluence to build up a radical party. The Bureau officials in their 
 political activities formed the white membership of the Union League 
 and carried into execution the Reconstruction Acts. With the or- 
 ganization of the carpetbag government most Bureau officials se- 
 cured office, and the institution was discontinued. (1) 
 
 (1) The only good account of the Bureau is by Paul S. 
 Pierce, The Freedmen's Bureau, published by the University 
 of Iowa. See also Garner's Beconstruction in Mississippi, c, 
 and the articles referred to in Poole's Index. The govern- 
 ment publications contain the official re^jprts and regula- 
 tions. The Ku Klux Report and the various other reports 
 on conditions in the South contain much that relates to the 
 institution. 
 
 The Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company (Freedmen's Savings 
 Bank) was a private institution but conducted principally by officials 
 of the Bureau. "Well conducted it would have proven of great bene- 
 fit to the negroes; but the management was corrupt and inefficient 
 and the enterprise failed after a few years, many of the depositors 
 losing their savings. (2) 
 
 (2) On the Freedmen's Savings Bank see Williams, His- 
 tory of the Negro Race, Hoffman's Race Traits and Tenden- 
 cies, Fred Douglas, Autobiography, and the United States 
 Government Documents. 
 
— 6 — ^ 
 
 i. Laws Establishing The Bureau 
 First Freedmen's Bureau Act 
 
 Appuoved March 3, 1865. 
 
 AN ACT to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and 
 refugees. 
 
 [1] * * * there is hereby established in the War Depart- 
 ment, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one 
 year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned 
 Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the 
 supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the 
 control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from 
 rebel states, or from any district of country within the territory 
 embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and 
 regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and 
 approved by the President. The said bureau shall be. under the 
 management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by 
 the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
 * * * the commissioner, and all persons appointed under 
 this act, shall before entering upon their duties, take the ["Iron- 
 clad" test oath, prescribed by Act of July 2, 1862]. * * * 
 
 Sec. 2. * * * the Secretary of War may direct such is- 
 sues of provisions, clothing and fuel as he may deem needful 
 for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute 
 and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and chil- 
 dren, under such rules and regulations as he may direct. 
 
 Sec. 3. * * * the President may, by and with the advice 
 and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for 
 each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding 
 ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, 
 aid in the execution of the provisions of this act; * * * [sal- 
 ary of civilian officials fixed, but] any military officer may be de- 
 tailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of 
 pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the com- 
 mencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report 
 of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to 
 the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and 
 shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by 
 the President or either house of Congress; and the assistant 
 commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings 
 
— 7 — 
 
 to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from 
 time to time may be required. 
 
 Sec. 4. * * * the commissioner, under the direction of the 
 President, shall have authority to set apart, for the use of loyal 
 refugees and freedmen, such tracts of lands within the insur- 
 rectionary states as shall have been abandoned, or to which the 
 United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or 
 otherwise; and to every male citizen, whether refugee or f reed- 
 man, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty 
 acres of such land, and the person to whom it was so assigned 
 shall be protected in the tise and enjoyment of the land for the 
 term of three years at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum 
 upon the value of such land as it was appraised by the sta£e au- 
 thorities in the year eighteen hundred and sixty for the purpose 
 of taxation; and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the 
 rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in 
 said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner 
 may by regulation prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any 
 time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned 
 may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the 
 United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the 
 land as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the 
 annual rent aforesaid. 
 
 Sec. 5. * * * all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with 
 the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. — Statutes-at-Large, 
 XIII., 507; Congressional Globe; McPherson, Reconstruction, 40. 
 
 Supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Act 
 
 Passed Over President's Veto, July 16, 1866. 
 
 AN ACT to continue in force and to amend "An act to establish a 
 
 Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees," and for 
 
 other purposes. 
 
 [1] * * * the act to establish a Bureau for the relief 
 of Freedmen and Refugees, approved March third, eighteen hun- 
 dred sixty-five, shall continue in force for the term of two years 
 from and after the passage of this act. 
 
 Sec. 2. * * * the supervision and care of said bureau 
 shall extend to all loyal refugees and freedmen, so far as the same 
 may be necessary to enable them as speedily as practicable to be- 
 come self-supporting citizens of the United States, and to aid 
 them in making the freedom conferred by the proclamation of 
 the Commander-in-Chief, by emancipation under the laws of the 
 States, and by constitutional amendment, available to them and 
 beneficial to the Republic. 
 
 Sec. 3. * * * the President shall, by and with the con- 
 sent of the Senate, appoint two assistant commissioners, in addi- 
 tion to those authorized by the act [of March 3, 1865] * * * 
 
— 8— 
 
 and. each of the assistant commoissioners of the bureau shall have 
 charge of the district containing such refugees or freedmen, to be 
 assigned him by the Commissioner, with the approval of the Presi- 
 dent. And the Commissioner shall, under the direction of the 
 President, and so far as the same shall be, in his judgment, 
 necessary for the efficient and economical administration of the 
 affairs of the bureau, appoint such agents, clerks and as- 
 sistants as may be required for the proper conduct of the bureau. 
 Military officers or enlisted men may be detailed for service and 
 assigned to duty under this act; and the President may, if in his 
 judgment safe and judicious so to do, detail from the Army all 
 the officers and agents of the bureau; but no officer so assigned 
 shall have increase of pay or allowance. * * * And it shall 
 be the duty of the Commissioner, when it can be done consistently 
 with the public interest, to appoint, as assistant commissioners, 
 agents, and clerks, such men as have proved their loyalty by 
 faithful service in the armies of the Union during the rebellion. 
 And all persons appointed to service under this act and the act 
 [of March 3, 1865] shall be so far deemed in the military serv- 
 ice of the United States as to be under the military jurisdiction 
 and entitled to the military protection of the Government while 
 in the discharge of the duties of their office. 
 
 Sec. 4 * * * the officers of the Veteran Reserve Corps 
 or of the volunteer service, now on duty in the Freedmen's Bureau 
 as assistant commissioners, agents, medical officers, or in other 
 capacities, whose regiments or corps have been or may hereafter 
 be mustered out of service, may be retained upon such duty as 
 officers of said bureau, * * * and the Secretary of War 
 shall have power to fill vacancies until other officers can be de- 
 tailed in their places without the detriment to the public service. 
 
 Sec. 5. * * * the second section of the Act [of March 3, 
 1865] shall be deemed to authorize the Secretary of War to is- 
 sue such medical stores or other supplies and transportation and 
 afford such medical or other aid as may be needful for the pur- 
 poses named in said section: Provided, That no person shall be 
 deemed "destitute," "suffering," or "dependent upon the Gov- 
 ernment for support," within the meaning of this act, who is able 
 to find employment, and could, by proper industry and exertion, 
 avoid such destitution, suffering, or dependency. 
 
 Sec. 6. * * ' * Whereas, [certain lands conficated under 
 the acts of Congress or sold for taxes by the United States tax 
 commissioners] were in part sold [in 1863] by the said tax com- 
 missioners to "heads of families of the African race," * * * 
 and whereas, under the said instructions, the said tax commis- 
 sioners did also set apart as "school farms" certain parcels of 
 land * * * Therefore. * * * the sales made to 
 "heads of families of the African race," under the in- 
 structions of President Lincoln to the United States direct tax 
 commissioners for South Carolina, are hereby confirmed and es- 
 
— 9 — 
 
 tablished; and all leases which have been made to such "heads 
 of families" by said direct tax commissioners, shall be changed 
 into certificates of sale in all cases wherein the lease provides 
 for such substitution; and all the lands now remaining unsold, 
 which come within the same designation, * * * shall be 
 disposed of according to said instructions. 
 
 Sec. 7. * * * all other lands [acquired in similar man- 
 ner by the United States in South Carolina] shall be disposed of 
 in parcels of twenty acres, at one dollar and fifty cents per acre, 
 to such persons, and to such only, as have acquired and are now 
 occupying lands under and agreeable to the provisions of General 
 Sherman's special field order, dated at Savanah, Georgia, January 
 sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and the remaining 
 lands, if any, shall be disposed of in like manner to such persons 
 as had acquired lands agreeably to the said order of General 
 Sherman but who have been dispossessed by the restoration of 
 the same to former owners: Provided, That the lands sold in 
 compliance with the provisions of this and the preceding section 
 shall not be alienated by their purchasers within six years from 
 and after the passage of this act. 
 
 Sec. 8. [Certain confiscated lands to be sold and the proceeds 
 applied to education.] 
 
 Sec. 9. * * * That the assistant commissioners for 
 South Carolina and Georgia are hereby authorized to examine all 
 claims to lands in their respective States which are claimed un- 
 der the provisions of General Sherman's special field order, and 
 to give each person having a valid claim a warrant upon the 
 direct tax commissioners for South Caro'lna for twenty acres of 
 land; and the said direct tax commissioners shall issue to every 
 person, or to his or her heirs, but in no case to any assigns, pre- 
 senting such warrant, a lease of twenty acres of land, as provided 
 for in section seven, for the term of six years; but at any time 
 thereafter, upon the payment of a sum not exceeding one dollar 
 and fifty cents per acre, the person holding such lease shall be 
 entitled to a certificate of sale of said tract of twenty acres from 
 the direct tax commissioner or such officer as may be authorized 
 to issue the same; but no warrant shall be held valid longer than 
 two years after the issue of the same. 
 
 Sec.10. [Provides for surveys of confiscated lands.] 
 
 Sec. 11. * * * restoration of lands occupied by f reed- 
 men under General Sherman's field order * * * shall not 
 be made until after the crops of the present year shall have been 
 gathered by the occupants of said lands, nor until a fair compen- 
 sation shall have been made to them by the former owners of 
 such lands, or their legal representatives, for all improvements 
 or betterments erected or constructed thereon, and after due no- 
 tice c#the same being done shall have been given by the assistant 
 commissioner. 
 
 Sec. 12. * * * the Commissioner shall have power to 
 
—10— 
 
 seize, hold, use , lease, or sell all buildings, and tenements, and 
 any lands appertaining to the same, * * * formerly held 
 under color of title by the late so-called Confederate States, and 
 not heretofore disposed of by the United States, and any build- 
 ings or lands held in trust for the same by any person or persons, 
 and to use the same or appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom 
 to the education of the freed people; and whenever the bureau 
 shall cease to exist, such of said so-called Confederate States as 
 shall have made provision for the education of their citizens 
 without distinction of color shall receive the sum remaining un- 
 expended of such sales or rentals, which shall be distributed 
 among said States for educational purposes in proportion to their 
 population. 
 
 Sec. 13. * * * the Commissioner of this bureau shall at 
 all times co-operate with private benevolent associations of citi- 
 zens in ai dof freedmen, and with agents and teachers, duly ac- 
 credited and appointed by them, and shall hire or provide by 
 lease, buildings for purposes of education whenever such associa- 
 tions shall, without cost to the Government, provide suitable 
 teachers and means of instruction; and he shall furnish such pro- 
 tection as may be required for. the safe conduct of such schools. 
 
 Sec. 14. * * * in every State or district where the or- 
 dinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by 
 the rebellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and in 
 every State or district whose constitutional relations to the Gov- 
 ernment have been practically discontinued by the rebellion, and 
 until such State shall have been restored in suchTrelations, and 
 shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States, 
 the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and 
 give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey 
 real and personal property, and to have full and equal benefit 
 of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty, personal 
 security, and the acquisition, enjoyment, and disposition of estate, 
 real and personal, including the constitutional right to bear arms, 
 shall be secured to and enjoy by all the citizens of such State or 
 district without respect to race or color, or previous condition 
 of slavery. And whenever in either of said States or districts 
 the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted 
 by the rebellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and 
 until such State shall have been restored to its constitutional rela- 
 tions to the Government, and shall be duly represented in the 
 Congress of the United States, the President shall, through the 
 Commissioner and the officers of the bureau, and under such 
 rules and regulations as the President, through the Secretary of 
 War, shall prescribe, extend military protection and have military 
 jurisdiction over all cases and questions concerning the free en- 
 joyment of such immunities and rights; and no penalty or pun- 
 ishment for any violation of law shall be imposed or permitted 
 because of race, or color, or previous condition of slavery 
 
— 11 — 
 
 other or greater than the penalty of punishment to which the 
 white persons may be liable by law for the like offense. But 
 the jurisdiction conferred by this section upon the officers of the 
 bureau shall not exist in any State where the ordinary course of 
 judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the rebellion, 
 and shall cease in every State when the courts of the State and 
 the United States are not disturbed in the peaceable course of 
 justice, and such State shall be fully restored in its constitutional 
 relations to the Government, and shall be duly represented in the 
 Congress of the United States. 
 
 Sec. 15. * * * all officers, agents, and employes 
 of this bureau, before entering upon the duties of their office, 
 shall take the ["ironclad" test oath of July 2, 1862]. — Statutes- 
 at-Large, XIV., 173; Congressional Globe, 39 Cong., 1 S«ss'., Pt. 
 5, Appendix, 366; McPherson, Reconstruction, 149. 
 
-12- 
 
 2. Veto Messages of the President 
 
 Message of President Johnson to the Senate 
 
 February 19, 1866. 
 
 * * * I share with Congress the strongest desire to secure 
 to the freedmen the full enjoyment of their freedom and property 
 and their entire independence and equality in making contracts for 
 their labor, but the bill before me contains provisions which in 
 my opinion are not warranted by the Constitution and are not 
 well suited to accomplish the end in view. 
 
 * * * The agent who is thus to exercise the office of a mili- 
 tary judge may be a stranger, entirely ignorant of the laws of the 
 place, and exposed to the errors of judgment to which all men are 
 liable. The exercise of power over which there is no legal suj 
 pervision by so vast a number of agents as is contemplated by 
 the bill must, by the very nature of man, be attended by acts of 
 caprice, injustice, and passion. * * * 
 
 The trials having their origin under this bill are to take place 
 without the intervention of a jury and without any fixed rules 
 of law or evidence. * * * No previous presentment is re- 
 quired nor any indictment charging the commission of a crime 
 against the laws; but the trial must proceed on charges and speci- 
 fications. The punishment will be, not what title law declares, but 
 such as a court-martial may think proper; and from these arbitary 
 tribunals there lies no appeal, no writ of error to any of the courts 
 in which the Constitution of the United States vests exclusively 
 the judicial power of the country. * * * 
 
 I cannot reconcile a system of military juristiction of this 
 kind with the words of the Constitution which declare that "no 
 person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise in- 
 famous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of the grand 
 jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in 
 the militia when in actual service in time of war or public 
 danger," and that "in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall 
 enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury 
 of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been com- 
 mitted." The safeguards which the experience and wisdom of 
 ages taught our fathers to establish as securities for the protec- 
 tion of the innocent, the punishment of the guilty, and the equal 
 administration of justice are to be set aside, and for the sake of 
 
— 13 — 
 
 a more vigorous interposition in behalf of justice we are to take 
 risks of the many acts of injustice that would necessarily follow 
 from an almost countless number of agents established in every 
 parish and county in nearly a third of the States in the Union, 
 over whose decisions there is to be no supervision or control by 
 the Federal courts. The power that would be thus placed in the 
 hands of the President is such as in times of peace ought never 
 to be intrusted to any one man. 
 
 If it be asked whether the creation of such a tribunal within 
 a State is warranted as a measure of war, the question immedi- 
 ately presents itself whether we are still engaged in war. * * 
 * At present there is no part of our country in which the au- 
 
 thority of the United States is disputed. Offenses that may be 
 committed by individuals should not work a forfeiture*of the 
 rights of whole communities. The country'^nas returned, or is 
 returning, to a state of peace and industry, and the rebellion is 
 in fact at an end. The measure, therefore, seems to be as in- 
 consistent with the actual conditions of the country as it is at 
 variance with the Constitution of the United States. * * * I 
 am not, therefore, able to discern in the condition of the country 
 anything to justify an apprehension that the poyers and agencies 
 of the Preedmen's Bureau, which were effective for the protection 
 of freemen and refugees (luring the actual continuance of hos- 
 tilities and of African servitude, will now, in a time of peace and 
 after the abolition of slavery, prove inadequate to the same 
 proper end. If I am correct in these views, there can be no 
 necessity'for the enlargement of the powers of the Bureau, for 
 which provision is made in the bill. * * * 
 
 The Congress of the United States has never heretofore 
 thought itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the limits 
 of the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our disabled 
 soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools for any class 
 of our own people, not even for the orphans of those who have 
 fallen in defense of the Union, but has left the care of education 
 to the much more competent and efficient control of the States, 
 of communities, of private associations, and of individuals. It 
 has never deemed itself authorized to expend the public money 
 for the rent or purchase of homes for the thousands, not to say 
 millions, of the white race who are honestly toiling from day to 
 day for their subsistence. A system for the support of indigent 
 persons in the United States was never contemplated by the au- 
 thors of the Constitution; nor can any good reason be advanced 
 why, as a permanent establishment, it should be founded for one 
 class or color of our people more than another. Pending the war 
 many refugees and freedmen received support from the Govern- 
 ment, but it was never intended that they should thence forth be 
 feds, clothed, educated, and sheltered by the United States. The 
 idea on which the slaves were assisted to freedom was that on 
 becoming free they would be a self-sustaining population. Any 
 
— 14 — 
 
 legislation that should imply that they are not expected to at- 
 tain a self-sustaining condition must have a tendency injurous 
 alike to their character and their prospects. * * * 
 
 The fifth section of the bill proposes to take away land from 
 its former owners without any legal proceedings being first had, 
 contrary to the Constitution which declares that no person shall 
 "be deprived of life, liberty, or property with out due process of 
 law." 
 
 * * * It will tend to keep the mind of the freedman in a 
 state of uncertain expectation and restlessness, while to those 
 among whom he lives it will be a source of constant and vague ap- 
 prehension. * * * 
 
 He is in a portion of the country where his labor cannot be 
 spared. Competition for his services from planters, from those 
 who are constructing or repairing railroads, and from capitalists 
 in his vicinity or from other States will enable him to command 
 almost his own terms. He also possesses a perfect right to change 
 his place of abode, and if, therefore, he does not find in one com- 
 munity or State a mode of life suited to his desire or proper re- 
 muneration for his labor, he can move to another where his labor 
 is more esteemed and better rewarded. In truth, however, each 
 State, induced by its own wants and interests, will do what is 
 necessary and proper to retain within its borders all the labor 
 that is needed for the development of its resources. The laws 
 that regulate supply and demand will maintain their force, and 
 the wages of the laborer will be regulated thereby. There is no 
 danger that the exceedingly great demand for labor" will not 
 operate in favor of the laborer. 
 
 Neither is sufficient consideration given to the ability of the 
 freedmen to protect and take care of themselves. It is no more 
 than justice to them to believe that as they have received their 
 freedom with moderation and forbearance, so they will distinguish 
 themselves by their industry and thrift, and soon show the world 
 that in a condition of freedom they are self-sustaining, capable of 
 selecting their own employment and their own places of abode, 
 of insisting for themselves on a proper remuneration, and of 
 establishing and maintaining their own asylums and schools. It 
 is earnestly hoped that instead of wasting away they will by their 
 own efforts establish for themselves a condition of respectability 
 and prosperity. It is certain that they can attain to that condi- 
 tion only through their own merits and exertions. 
 
 In this connection the query presents itself whether the system 
 proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete operation, 
 practically transfer the entire care, support, and control of 4,000,- 
 000 emancipated slaves to agents, overseers, or task masters, who, 
 appointed at "Washington, are to be located in every county and 
 parish throughout the United States containing freedmen and 
 refugees. Such a system would inevitably tend to a concentra- 
 tion of power in the Executive, which would enable him, if so 
 
—15 — 
 
 disposed, to control the action of this numerous class and use 
 them for the attainment of his own political ends. 
 
 I cannot but add another very grave objection to this bill. 
 The Constitution imperatively declares, in connection with taxa- 
 tion, that each State shall have at least one Representative, and 
 fixes the rule for the number to which, in future times each State 
 shall be entitled. It also provides that the Senate of the United 
 States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, and 
 adds with peculiar force "that no State without its consent, shall 
 be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate." * * * At 
 the time, however, of the consideration and passing of this 
 bill there was no Senator or Representative in Congress from the 
 eleven States which are to be mainly affected by its provisions. 
 The very fact that reports were and are made against tl*e good 
 disposition • of the people of that portion of the country is an 
 additional reason why they need and should have representatives 
 of their own in Congress to explain their condition, reply to ac- 
 cusation, and assist by their local knowledge in the perfecting of 
 measures immediately affecting themselves. * * * 
 
 It is plain that an indefinite or permanent exclusion of any 
 part of the country from representation must be attained by a 
 spirit of .disquiet and complaint. It is unwise and dangerous to 
 pursue a course of measures which will unite a very large sec- 
 tion of the country against another section of the country, how- 
 ever much the latter may predominate. Under the political ed- 
 ucation of the American people the idea is inherent and in- 
 eradicable that the consent of the majority of the whole people 
 is necessary to secure a willing acquiescence in legislation.^-Mes- 
 sages and Papers of the President, VI, 3 9 8. 
 
 Message of President Johnson to the House of Rep- 
 resentatives 
 
 July 16, 1866. 
 
 * * * The only ground upon which this kind of legislation 
 can be justified in that of the war-making power. The act of which 
 this bill is intended as amendatory was passed during the existence 
 of war. By its own provisions it is to terminate within one year 
 from the cessation of hostilities and the declaration of peace. It 
 is therefore yet in existence, and it is likely to continue in force 
 as long as the freedmen may require the benefit of its provisions. 
 It will certainly remain in operation as a law until some months 
 subsequent to the meeting of the next session of Congress; when, 
 if experience shall make evident the necessity of additiqnal leg- 
 islation, the two Houses will have ample time to mature and pass 
 the requisite measures. 
 
 * * * Now, however, war has substantially ceased; the or- 
 dinary course of judicial proceedings is no longer interrupted; the 
 
— 16 — 
 
 courts, both State and Federal, are in full, complete, and success- 
 ful operation, and through them every preson, regardless of race 
 and color, is entitled to and can be heard. The protection granted 
 to the white citizen is already conferred by law upon the freed- 
 men; strong and stringent guards, by way of penalties and punish- 
 ments, are thrown around his person and property, and it is 
 believed that ample protection will be afforded him by due pro- 
 cess of law, without resort to the dangerous expedient of "mili- 
 tary tribunal," now that the war has been brought to a close. 
 The necessity no longer existing for such tribunals which had 
 their origin in the war, grave objections to their continuance must 
 present themselves to the minds of all reflecting and dispassionate 
 men. 
 
 * * * By the laws of the United States and of the differ- 
 ent States competent courts, Federal and State, have been estab- 
 lished and are now in full practical operation. By means of these 
 civil tribunals ample redress is afforded for all private wrongs, 
 whether to the person or the property of the citizen, without re- 
 gard to race or color. I feel assured that it will be better to trust 
 the rights, privileges and immunities of the citizens to tribunals 
 thus established, and presided over by competent and impartial 
 judges, bound by fixed rules of law and evidence, and where the 
 right of trial by jury is guaranteed and secured, than to the caprice 
 or judgment of an officer if the Bureau, who it is possible, may be 
 entirely ignorant of the principles that underlie the just adminis- 
 tration of the law. There is a danger, tod, that conflict of juris- 
 diction will frequently arise between the civil courts and these 
 military tribunals, each having concurrent jurisdiction over the 
 person and the cause of action — the one judicature administered 
 and controlled by civil law, the other by the military. 
 
 Recent developments in regard to the practical operations of 
 the Bureau in many of the States show that in numerous in- 
 stances it is used by its agents as a means of promoting their 
 individual advantage, and that the freedmen are employed for 
 the advanvcement of the personal ends of ,the officers instead of 
 their own improvement and welfare, thus confirming the fears 
 originally entertained by many that the continuation of such a 
 Bureau for any unnnecessary length of time would inevitably 
 result in fraud, corruption, and oppression. — Messages and Papers 
 of the President, VI, 422. 
 
-17- 
 
 3. Official Regulations 
 Sherman's Special Field Orders 
 
 Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, 
 
 In the Field, Savannah, Ga., Jan. 16, 1865. 
 I. The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields 
 along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the 
 country bordering the St. John's river, Florida, are reserved and 
 set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free *y the 
 acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United 
 States. 
 
 II. At Beaufort, Hilton Head, Savannah, Fernandina, St. Au- 
 gustine, and Jacksonville, the blacks may remain in their chosen 
 or accustomed vocations, but on the islands, and in the settlements 
 hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless 
 mili'tary officers and soldiers, detailed for duty, will be permitted 
 to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will 
 be left to the freed people themselves, subject only to the United 
 States military authority and the acts of Congress. By the laws 
 of war and orders of the President of the United States the negro 
 is free, and must be dealt with as such. He cannot be subjected 
 to conscription or forced military service, save by the written 
 orders of the highest military authority of the department, under 
 such regulations as the President or Congress may prescribe. 
 Domestic servants, blacksmith, carpenters, and other mechanics, 
 will be free to select their own work and residence, but the 
 young and able-bodied negroes must be encouraged to enlist as 
 soldiers in the service of the United States, to contribute their 
 share towards maintaining their own freedom, and securing their 
 rights as citizens of the United States. 
 
 Negroes so enlisted will be organized into companies, bat- 
 talions and regiments, under the orders of the United States mili- 
 tary authorities, and will be paid, fed, and clothed according to 
 law. The bounties paid on enlistment may, with the consent of 
 the recruit, go to assist his family settlement in procuring agri- 
 cultural implements, seed, tools, boots, clothing and other ar- 
 ticles necessary for their livelihood. 
 
 III. Whenever theree respectable negroes, heads of families, 
 shall desire to settle on lands, and shall have selectd for that pur- 
 pose an island or a locality clearly defined, within the limits above 
 designated, the inspector of settlements and plantations will him- 
 self, or by such subordinate officer as he may appoint, give them 
 a license to settle such island or district, and afford them such 
 assistance as he can to enable them to establish a peaceable agri- 
 
— 18 — 
 
 cultural settlement. The three parties named will subdivide the 
 land, under the supervision of the inspector, among themselves 
 and such others as may choose to settle near them, so that each 
 family shall have a plot of not more than forty (40) acres of 
 tillable ground, and when it borders on some water channel, with 
 not more than 800 feet water front, in the possession of which 
 land the military authorities will afford them protection until 
 such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall 
 regulate their title. The quartermaster may, on the requisition 
 of the inspector of settlements and plantations, place at the dis- 
 posal of the inspector one or more of the captured steamers, to 
 ply between the settlements and one or more of the commercial 
 points heretofore named in orders, to afford the settlers the op- 
 portunity to supply their necessary wants, and to sell the products 
 of their land and labor. 
 
 IV. Whenever a negro has enlisted in the military service of 
 the United States he may locate his family in an yone of the settle- 
 ments at pleasure, and acquire a homestead and all other rights 
 and privileges of a settler, as though present in person. In like 
 manner negroes may settle their families and engage on board 
 the gunboats, or in fishing, or in the nevigation of the inland 
 waters, without losing any claim to land or other advantages 
 derived from this system. But no one, unless an actual settler 
 as above defined or unless absent on government service, will be 
 entitled to claim any right to land or property in any settlement, 
 by virtue of these orders. 
 
 V. In order to carry out this system of settlement, a general 
 officer will be detailed as inspector of settlements and plantations, 
 whose duty it shall be to visit the settlement, to regulate their 
 police and general management, and who will furnish personally 
 to each head of a family, subject to the approval of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, a possessory title in writing, giving as 
 near as possible the description of boundaries, and who shall ad- 
 just all claims or conflicts that may arise under the same, sub- 
 ject to the like approval, treating such titles altogether as pos- 
 sessory. The same general officer will also be charged with the 
 enlistment and organization of the negro recruits, and protecting 
 their interests while absent from their settlements, and will be 
 governed by the rules and regulations prescribed by the War De- 
 partment for such purposes. 
 
 VI. Brigadier General R. Saxton is hereby appointed inspector 
 of settlements and plantations, and will at once enter on the per- 
 formance of his duties. No change is intended or desired in the 
 settlement now on Beaufort island, nor will any rights to prop- 
 erty heretofore acquired be affected thereby. 
 By order of Major General W. T. Sherman. 
 
 L. M. DAYTON, 
 Assistant Adjutant General. 
 Ho. Ex. Doc No. 11, 39 Cong., 1 
 
—19— 
 
 Labor Regulations for Mobile, Alabama 
 
 May, 1865, 
 Laborers will be allowed and encouraged to make voluntary 
 contracts either with their former masters, or any other person 
 wishing to employ them. These contracts will be submitted to 
 the Superintendent of Freedmen, and if found by him to be fair 
 and honest, will be by him approved and registered. A register 
 of unemployed persons is kept at the Freedmen's Bureau, and 
 any .person wishing laborers can obtain them on applying there, 
 at the following rates per month: 
 
 Male hands, first class $10.00 
 
 Male hands, second class , 8 . Q0 
 
 Male hands, third class 6 . *0 
 
 Female hands, first class 10.00 
 
 Female hands, second class 8.00 
 
 Female hands, third class 6.00 
 
 Boys under 14 years of age 3.00 
 
 Girls under 14 years of age 2.00 
 
 Colored persons showing that they have trades which will 
 support them, will be allowed to work at the following rates per 
 day: 
 
 Male and Female hands, first class $2.50 
 
 Male and Female hands, second class 2.00 
 
 Male and Female hands, third class 1.50 
 
 Mechanics will always receive not less than $5 per month in 
 addition to first class rates. 
 
 These "classes" will be determined by merit and on agree- 
 ment between "the employer and employee. The money wages 
 will be paid quarterly, as follows: On the 1st day of July, 1st 
 day of October, 1865, and the final payment on or before the 
 date of expiration of contract. 
 
 All contracts will be for, from not less than three months 
 to the balance of this year, and must secure to the laborer, in 
 addition to the pay, just treatment, wholesome food, comfortable 
 clothing, quarters, fuel and medical attendance. 
 
 No contract will be considered binding, nor the person be 
 recognized as employed, unless said contract is registered and 
 signed by both parties at the Freedmen's Bureau; this being done, 
 a certificate of employment will be given. The same certificate 
 will be furnished officers' colored servants presenting the certi- 
 ficate of the officer employing them. And to colored employees 
 in the different departments of the army, provided their name 
 is on the copy of the roll required by General Field Orders No. 28, 
 Army amd Division West Mississippi. 
 
 The laborers must understand that it is for their own interest 
 to do their work faithfully, and that the Government, while it 
 will protect and sustain them against ill-treatment, will not 
 
— 20 — 
 
 countenance idleness and vagrancy, nor support these who are 
 capable of earning an honest living by industry. When they have 
 once selected, they must fulfill their contract, and will not be 
 allowed to leave their place of employment (except in cases when 
 they are permitted so to do by the Superintendent), and if they 
 do so leave without cause and without permission, they 
 will forfeit all wages earned to the time of abandonment, and 
 be otherwise punished as the nature, of the case may require. 
 Wages for the time lost will be deducted in case of sickness, and 
 both wages and rations where the sickness is feigned for 'pur- 
 poses of idleness, proof of which will be the certificate of the 
 Medical Officer in attendance, and in cases of feigned sickness, or 
 refusal to work according to contract, when able to do so, such 
 offender will be reported to the Superintendent, and put , upon 
 forced labor on the public works without pay. 
 
 A reasonable time having been given for voluntary contracts 
 to be made, any colored person found without a certificate of 
 employment will be furnished work by the Superintendent, who, 
 supplying the different Departments of the Army with the num- 
 ber required, will organize the remainder, and the aged, infirm 
 and helpless, into Home Colonies, and put them on plantations. 
 
 Employers and their agents will be held to rigid accountabil- 
 ity for their conduct toward the laborers, and any cruelty, in- 
 humanity or neglect of duty will be summarily punished. 
 
 Officers of the different Staff Departments requiring colored 
 laborers will apply at the Freedmen's Bureau, and no "pressing" 
 of colored persons or their property will be allowed, without 
 authority from that office. — Montgomery Daily Mail, May 12, 
 1865. 
 
 Rules and Regulations for the Assistant Commissioners 
 May 30, 1865. 
 Bureau of Refugees, Preedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 
 
 Washington, May 30, 1865.. 
 
 I. The headquarters of the Assistant Commissioners will, for 
 the present, be established as follows, viz: For Virginia, at 
 Richmond, Va. ; lor North Carolina, at Raleigh, N. C. ; for South 
 Carolina and Georgia, at Beaufort, S. O; for Alabama, at Mont- 
 gomery, Ala.; for Kentucky and Tennessee, at Nashville, Tenn. ; 
 for Missouri, and Arkansas,, at St. Louis, Mo. ; for Mississippi, at 
 Vicksburg, Miss. ; for Louisiana, at New Orleans, La. ; for Florida, 
 at Jacksonville, Fla. 
 
 II. Assistant Commissioners, not already at their posts, will 
 make all haste to establish their headquarters, acquaint them- 
 selves with their fields, and do all in their power to quicken and 
 direct the industry of refugees and freedmen, that they and their 
 communities may do all that can be done for the season, already 
 so far advanced, to prevent starvation and suffering, and promote 
 
— 21 — 
 
 good order and prosperity. Their attention is invited to Circular 
 No. 2, from this Bureau, indicative of the objects to be attained. 
 
 III. Relief establishments will be discontinued as speedily 
 as the cessation of hostilities and the return of industrial pur- 
 suits will permit. Great discrimination will be observed in ad- 
 ministering relief, so as to include none that are not absolutely 
 necessitous and destitute. 
 
 VI. Every effort will be made to render the people self-sup- 
 porting. Government supplies will only be temporarily issued to 
 enable destitute persons speedily to support themselves, and exact 
 accounts must be kept with each individual or community, and 
 heid as a lien upon their crops. The ration for the destitute will 
 be that already provided in General Orders No. 30, War Depart- 
 ment, series 1864. The commissioners are especially to r%mem- 
 ber that their duties are to enforce, with reference to these 
 classes, the laws of the United States. 
 
 V. Loyal refugees, who have been driven from their homes 
 will, on their return, be protected from abuse, and the calamities 
 of their situation relieved as far as possible. If destitute, they 
 will be aided with transportation, and food when deemed ex- 
 pedient, while in transitu, returning to their former homes. 
 
 VI. Simple good faith, for which we hope on all hands from 
 those concerned in the passing away of slavery, will especially 
 relieve the Assistant Commissioners in the discharge of their 
 duties toward the freedmen, as well as promote the general wel- 
 fare. The Assistant Commissioners will everywhere declare and 
 protect their freedom, as set forth in the proclamations of the 
 President and the laws of Congress. 
 
 VII. In all places where there is an interruption of civil law, 
 or in which local courts, by reason of old codes, in violation of 
 the freedom guaranteed by the proclamation of the President and 
 laws of Congress, disregard the negro's right to justice before 
 the laws in not allowing him to give testimony, the control of 
 all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen being committed 
 to this bureau, the Assistant Commissioners will adjudicate, either 
 themselves or through officers of their appointment, all difficulties 
 arising between negroes themselves, or between negroes and whi^s 
 or Indians, except those in military service, so far as recogniz- 
 able by military authority, and not taken cognizance of by the 
 other tribunals, civil or military, of the United States. 
 
 VIII. Negroes must be free to choose their own employers, 
 and be paid for their labor. Agreements should be free, bona 
 fide acts, approved by proper officers, and their inviolability en- 
 forced on both parties. The old system of overseers, tending to 
 compulsory unpaid labor and acts of cruelty and oppression, is 
 prohibited. The unity of families, and all the rights of the family 
 relation, will be carefully guarded. In places where the local 
 statutes make no provisions for the marriage of persons of color, 
 the Assistant Commissioners are authorized to designate officers 
 
— 22 — 
 
 who shall keep a record of marriages, which may be soleminzed 
 by any ordained minister of the gospel, who shall make a return 
 of the same, with such items as may be required for registration 
 at places designated by the Assistant Commissioner. Registra- 
 tions already made by the United States officers- will be carefully 
 preserved. 
 
 IX. Assistant Commissioners will instruct their receiving 
 and disbursing officers to make requisitions upon all officers, 
 civil or military, in charge of funds, abandoned lands, &c, within 
 their respective territories, to turn over the same in accordance 
 with the orders of the President. They will direct their medical 
 officers to ascertain the facts and necessities connected with the 
 medical treatment and sanitary condition of refugees and freed- 
 men. They will instruct their teachers to collect the facts in 
 reference to the progress of the work of education, and aid it 
 with as few changes as possible to the close of the present sea- 
 son. During the school vacation of the hot months, special at- 
 tention will be given to the provision for the next year. 
 
 X. Assistant Commissioners will aid refugees and freedmen 
 in securing titles to land according to law. This may be done for 
 them as individuals or by encouraging joint companies. 
 
 XI. This bureau being in the War Department, all rules and 
 regulations governing officers under accountability for property 
 apply as set forth in the revised regulations of the army. All 
 other persons in the service of the bureau are also subject to 
 military jurisdiction. 
 
 XII. Assistant Commissioners will require regular and com- 
 plete reports from their subordinates, and will themselves report 
 quarterly, as directed by law, and correspond frequently with this 
 bureau, directing to the Commissioner in person. 
 
 O. O. HOWARD, 
 Major General, Commissioner Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, &c. 
 Approved June 2, 1865. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 11, 39 Cong., 1 
 Sp. Sess. 
 
 Instructions to Assistant Commissioners & Other Officers 
 July 12, 1865. 
 
 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. 
 
 Washington, July 12, 1865. 
 
 Bach Assistant Commissioner will be careful, in the estab- 
 lishment of sub-districts, to have the office of his agent at some 
 point easy of access for the people of the sub-district. 
 
 He will have at least one agent, either a citizen, militafy 
 officer, or enlisted man, in each sub-district. This agent must 
 be thoroughly instructed in his duties. He will be furnished with 
 the proper blanks for contracts, and will institute methods 
 adequate to meet the wants of his district in accordance with the 
 rules of this bureau. No fixed rates of wages will be prescribed 
 
— 23 — 
 
 for a district, but in order to regulate fair wages in given in- 
 dividual cases the agent should have in mind minimum rates for 
 his own guidance. By careful inquiry as to the hire of an able- 
 bodied man when the pay went to the master, he will have an 
 approximate test of the value of labor. He must of course con- 
 sider the entire change of circumstances, and be sure that the 
 laborer has due protection against avarice and extortion. Wages 
 had better be secured by a Hen on the crops or land. Employers 
 are desired to enter into written agreements with employes, set- 
 ting forth stated wages, or securing an interest in the land or 
 crop, or both. All such agreements will be approved by the near- 
 est agent, and a duplicate filed in his office. In case there should 
 be no agent within reach, the nearest postmaster will forward 
 the duplicate of contracts direct to the Assistant Commissioner 
 for the State. 
 
 Attention is specially called to section 4 of the law establish- 
 ing the bureau, with regard to setting apart land to "every male 
 citizen, whether refugee or freedman," &c, and the same arrange- 
 ment is recommended, when it can be effected, between private 
 parties. Already many farmers have rented lands to freedmen 
 and refugees. This course is a recognition of the general prin- 
 ciple in the law. 
 
 In order to enforce the fulfilment of contracts on both con- 
 tracting parties, the Commissioner of the bureau lays down no 
 general rule, the Assistant Commissioner must use the privileges 
 and authority he already has. Provost courts, military commis- 
 sions, local courts, where the freedmen and refugees have equal 
 rights with other people, are open to his use. In the great ma- 
 jority of cases his own arbitrament, or that of his agent, or the 
 settlement by referees, will be sufficient. 
 
 No Assistant Commissioner, or agent, is authorized to tolerate 
 compulsory unpaid labor, except for the legal punishment of 
 crime. Suffering' may result to some extent, but suffering is pre- 
 ferred to slavery, and is to some degree the necessary conse- 
 quence of events. 
 
 In all actions the officer should never forget that no substi- 
 tute for slavery, like apprenticeship without proper consent, or 
 peonage, (i. e., either holding the people by debt, or confining 
 them, without consent, to the land by any system,) will be toler-; 
 ated. 
 
 The Assistant Commissioner will designate one or more of 
 his agents to act as the general superintendent of schools (one 
 for each State) for refugees and freedmen. This officer will work 
 as much as possible in conjunction with State officers who may 
 have school matters in charge. If a general system can be 
 adopted for a State, it is well; but if not, he will at least take 
 cognizance of all that is being done to educate refugees and 
 freedmen, secure proper protection to schools and teachers, pro- 
 mote method and efficiency, correspond with the benevolent 
 
— 24 — 
 
 agencies which are supplying his field, and aid the Assistant 
 Commissioner in making his required reports. 
 
 Surgeon C. W. Hornor, chief medical officer ot the bureau, 
 will have the general supervision of medical matters connected 
 with refugees and freedmen. 
 
 The Assistant Commissioners will instruct their medical offi- 
 cers, as they have instructed other officers, to make the medical 
 department self-supporting as far as possible. ' 
 
 All public addresses of a character calculated to create dis- 
 content are reprehensible; but the Assistant Commissioner and 
 his agents must explain, by constant recapitulation, the prin- 
 ciples, laws, and regulations of this bureau to all parties con- 
 cerned. It is recommended to the Assistant Commissioners to i 
 draw up in writing a careful summary to be publicly and privately 
 read by agents throughout their respective districts. 
 
 O. O. HOWARD, 
 Major General, Commissioner. 
 
 Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 11, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Instructions to Bureau Agents in Louisiana 
 
 Headquarters Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned 
 Lands, State of Louisiana, 
 
 New Orleans, Dec. 4, 1865. 
 The following rules for the interpretation of contracts between 
 employers and freedmen are announced: 
 
 I. Bank forms will be distributed from, this office for the 
 purpose of securing uniformity in contracts and to indicate the 
 matters concerning which the parties shall contract. Beyond this 
 the bargains must be entirely voluntary and unconstrained. 
 
 Laborers shall choose their employers, and it is their privilege, 
 as well as their duty, to obtain the best terms they can for their 
 services. \ 
 
 All contracts for labor should be made in triplicate, and 
 should be approved by the agent of this bureau for the parish in 
 which the parties reside; one copy to the retained by the em- 
 ployer, and the other two copies sent to this office — one to be for- 
 warded to Washington. 
 
 Contracts made otherwise than as thus prescribed will not be 
 regarded as binding by the Bureau, nor as meriting its interfer- 
 ence to enforce them, unless for the protection of the laborer. 
 
 II. As far as practicable, all the members of the same family 
 should contract conjointly for their labor, so that the number of 
 useful hands and the number of infirm who have to be supported 
 may be regarded in fixing the rate of pay. The labor of minor 
 children to be contracted for by their parents or guardian, and, 
 in the absence of either, by the agent of this bureau. 
 
 III. The monthly wages must be a just compensation for the 
 labor required to be performed. 
 
—2 5— 
 
 IV. Twenty-six days, of ten hours each in summer, and 
 nine hours in winter, between the hours of daylight and dark, 
 shall be considered a month. 
 
 V. Any work in excess of this will be considered as extra 
 labor, and six hours will be considered as an equivalent for a 
 day's work, and fractional parts of the six hours will be paid 
 for at the same rate. 
 
 VI. Laborers working extra time will be allowed a half 
 ration extra for each and every six hour's labor performed. 
 
 VII. In addition to the monthly wages paid to laborers, 
 good and wholesome rations, comfortable clothing and quarters, 
 medical attendance and just treatment, and the opportunity for 
 instruction of children will be furnished free of charge; but the 
 rations, clothing and quarters, fuel, and all other ppvileges 
 granted by the employer, are part of the consideration which he 
 pays for the services of the laborer, and are as really and fully 
 wages as the money contracted to be paid, and are always taken 
 into the account in fixing the amount of money wages to be paid. 
 
 VIII. The Sabbath day being set apart for the worship of 
 God, no laborer will be required to perform any work on that day, 
 except works of necessity or mercy. 
 
 IX. The ration furnished to laborers shall be as follows: 
 One peck of cornmeal and five pounds of pork or bacon per week, 
 and the money value of this ration will be taken into the account 
 in fixing the rate of wages to be paid. 
 
 X. The allowance of clothing will be two summer and one 
 winter suit for each laborer or member of the family, or clothing 
 may be commuted at the rate of three dollars per month for first- 
 class hands, two and one-half dollars per month for second and 
 third-class hands, and one and one-half dollars per month for 
 children, at the option of the laborer. 
 
 XI. Quarters shall be such as to protect the laborer and his 
 family from the inclemency of the weather, and must contain 
 accommodations for cooking, and, in addition, one-half acre of 
 land, contiguous to the houses, will be set apart for each family 
 for garden purposes. 
 
 XII. Should the contracting parties prefer it, the laborers 
 can engage to furnish their own food and clothing, their wages 
 to be regulated accordingly. These supplies may be purchased 
 from the employer, who must, if he undertakes to supply his 
 hands, in all cases, keep a regular book account for each hand, 
 and sell at usual market rates, which accounts must be open at 
 all times to the inspection of the agents of this bureau. This 
 mode of contract is recommended to the freedmen. Should they 
 desire to contract for a certain portion of the crop, they can do 
 so, and, the employer, in all contracts of this kind, will be required 
 tQi comply with section XVII of this circular, and also to pay over 
 to the agent of this bureau one-twentieth of the value of the 
 laborer's share of said crop monthly, or whenever demanded, for 
 
— 26 — 
 
 school purposes; this estimate to he based on the average pro- 
 duction of the land under cultivation. 
 
 XIII. Five per cent, of the monthly wages of the laborers 
 will be retained in the hands of the employer, and paid over, 
 when demanded to the agent authorized to receive it, to be used 
 for the purpose of sustaining schools for the education of the 
 children of the freedmen, and for no other purpose; and if not 
 demanded for the purpose designated during the year, the amount 
 so retained will be paid over to the laborer at the settlement of 
 his account. One-half of the balance of the monthly wages will 
 be paid to the laborer on the last day of each month, and the 
 remaining one-half will be retained by the employer until the 
 contract is fulfilled, when it will be paid over 'to the laborer. 
 
 XIV. Should the laborer refuse to do the work contracted 
 for, or should he leave the plantation or place on which, or em- 
 ployer for whom, he has engaged to work, for the purpose of 
 avoiding labor, without just cause or provocation, which will be 
 deter-mined by the agent of the bureau for the parish in which he 
 resides, upon application — and failure to make application for 
 redress by the laborer will be considered as prima facie evidence 
 against him — he shall forfeit all wages that may be due him at 
 the time of leaving to his employer; and should he refuse after 
 having voluntarily entered into an agreement to labor, or fail to 
 comply With, and be governed by, such ordinary and reasonable 
 rules as may be adopted by his employer for the systematic carry- 
 ing on of his business, or fail in any way to be a good and faith- 
 ful laborer, according to his contract, or be wanting in due re- 
 spect and obedience to his employer or his family, in the per- 
 formance of his or their duties, he may be discharged, and obliged 
 to remove his family from the premises of his employer, by ap- 
 plication to the agent of this bureau for the parish in which he 
 resides. For failure to be at the appointed place of labor at the 
 usual hour of commencing work, unless in case of sickness, the 
 employer may deduct twice the amount of money wages for the 
 time lost, to compensate for clothing and rations, as well as lost 
 time. 
 
 XV. Planters and others employing labor will, when the 
 nature of their business requires that work be performed at 
 night and on Sundays, during -certain periods, distinctly specify 
 in the contract that the employes agree to do such work at such 
 times as it may be required — the consideration for which must be 
 distinctly stated in the agreement. 
 
 XVI. No restraints or disabilities shall be imposed upon 
 freedmen that are not imposed upon white men. They are 
 amenable to the same laws, and can only be restrained in the 
 free exercise of their rights and privileges by reason of a viola- 
 tion of the laws. of the land, as made and provided for the gov- 
 ernment of white men. 
 
 XVII. Should the agent deem it necessary, he will require 
 
— 27 — 
 
 the employer to give security that the requisite amount of pro- 
 vision to furnish the laborers with the specified ration shall be 
 on hand on the plantation from month to month, for issue or sale 
 to the laborers and their families, as the terms of their contract 
 may require. The rations and clothing specified in the order will 
 be the minimum that will be regarded by the bureau as suffi- 
 cient food and comfortable clothing. 
 
 XVIII. Employers can adopt rules for systematizing the 
 work on their plantations or elsewhere, which rules and regula- 
 tions shall be read in the presence of the laborers previous to 
 contracting, and which, if assented to, shall be made part of the 
 agreement, and be binding upon both parties. And the parties 
 may agree upon a system of fines for violation of these rules, 
 which fines shall constitute a fund to be distributed anlong the 
 laborers who have not been delinquent; and in case there are none 
 such, to be paid over to the agent of this bureau, to be applied 
 to the support of the freedmen's school. 
 
 XIX. All crops and property on any plantation where labor- 
 ers are employed will be held to be covered by a lien against all 
 other creditors to the 'extent of the wages due employes, and 
 such lien will follow such crops and property in any and all hands 
 until such labor is fully paid and satisfied. 
 
 XX. For the purpose of reimbursing to the United States 
 some portion of the expenses of this system, and of supporting 
 the aged, infirm, and helpless, the following tax will be collected: 
 
 From each planter, for every hand employed by him between 
 the ages of eighteen and fifty, one dollar per annum. 
 
 This sum will be payable and collected on the first day of 
 June next, and will be paid over to the superintendent of freed- 
 men for disbursement. 
 
 By order of Brevet Major General A. Baird, United States 
 volunteers, assistant commissioner, Bureau of Refugees, Freed- 
 men and Abandoned Lands, State of Louisiana. — Ho. Ex. Doc. 
 No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Bureau Courts in Alabama 
 
 Office Assistant Commissioner, State of Alabama, 
 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 
 
 Montgomenry, Ala., Aug. 4, 1865. 
 * * * The code under which the local courts of this State 
 are at present acting excludes the testimony of the persons con- 
 templated in this order. Exclusive jurisdiction, therefore, in the 
 cases above enumerated within this State, is vested in the assist- 
 ant commissioner of this bureau.. That officer is unwilling to 
 establish throughout Alabama courts conducted by persons for- 
 eign to her citizenship and strangers to her laws; and fair ad- 
 ministration of justice can be otherwise served. Therefore, until 
 further orders, the judicial officers and magistrates holding office 
 
by appointment of the provisional governor of Alabama are here- 
 by designated as the agents of this bureau for the administration 
 of justice in the cases above mentioned. They will take for their 
 method of procedure the laws now in force in this State, except 
 so far as those laws make a distinction on account of color. The 
 counties adjoining the Tennessee river being temporarily attached 
 to another, are exempt from the operation of the order. Bach 
 officer on assuming jurisdiction will signify to the assistant com- 
 missioner his acceptance of the same. He will receive the sup- 
 port of the military authorities whenever needful. Process will 
 be in the same name and form as under the existing provisional 
 government. In addition. to the usual costs, they will assess in 
 civil cases a proper charge for adjudication, and in criminal cases 
 which are not flagrant, fines. Prom this fund they will be re- 
 imbursed in proportion to their salaries. They will allow to 
 juries and executive officers the same fees as in other cases. 
 Further instructions will be sent them from this office. 
 
 Failure to signify acceptance, or evident denial of justice, 
 wili be followed by revocation of the appointment herein con- 
 ferred, and the substitution of martial law in the district where 
 it shall occur. All good citizens are invited to give to this order 
 the prevalence and support that is indispensable to the public 
 peace and the security of property and life. 
 
 By order of Brigadier General Wager Swayne. 
 
 CHARLES A. MILLER, 
 Major and A. A. A. G. 
 
 — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Instructions to Agents in Virginia 
 
 Richmond, Va.„ Sept. 19, 1865. 
 Reports having been received at these headquarters that the 
 freedmen in some parts of the State refuse to enter into just and 
 reasonable contracts for labor, on account of the belief that the 
 United States government will distribute lands among them, su- 
 perintendents and agents of this bureau will take the earliest 
 opportunity to explain to the freedmen that no lands will be given 
 them by the government; that the government has but a very 
 small quantity of land in the State — only enough to provide 
 homes for a few families, and that this can only be secured by 
 purchase or lease. They will also explain to them the advantages 
 of at once entering into contracts for labor for the coming year, 
 and that the system of contracts is in no way connected with 
 ' slavery, but is the system adopted by free laborers everywhere. 
 It is believed that the renting of small tracts of land by the farmer 
 to his laborers would be mutually beneficial. The laborer's in- 
 terest in his crops and improvements would attach him to the 
 plantation, counteract any temptation to break his contract, and 
 
—29 — 
 
 by furnishing employment for the more dependent members of 
 his family, increase their contentment and their comforts. 
 
 The plan of renting lands on shares to the freedmen has been 
 successfully tried in some parts of the State, and is believed to 
 be worthy of a more extended trial. Superintendents will counsel 
 with and assist both parties in making either of the above ar- 
 rangements. 
 
 O. BROWN, 
 Colonel and Assistant Commissioner. 
 
 — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Bureau Circulars M 
 
 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 
 Headquarters Assistant Commissioner, State of Virginia, 
 
 Richmond, Va., Oct. 21, 1865. 
 
 Complaints having been made to these headquarters that 
 the freedmen, learning that they are to be dispossessed 
 at the expiration of their lease owing to the restoration of the 
 land to its former owner, are destroying the fencing, wood and 
 timber on the land, you will therefore use such means as you 
 may command for the protection of the fencing, wood and timber 
 on the farms in your districts. 
 
 By order of Colonel O. Brown, Assistant Commissioner. — Ho. 
 Ex. T>ocT No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Some dissatisfaction in the article of wages exists with a 
 late circular issued, just prior to Christmas, from the headquar- 
 ters of the Freedmen's Bureau in this State. This circular, while 
 not expressly commanding any schedule of wages, suggests a 
 tariff in such manner as, to the minds of the freed people, will 
 doubtless be taken as equivalent to an order to that effect. These 
 suggestions mentioned from $180 to $156 per annum for males, 
 and from $96 to $120 for females, according to the scene of labor, 
 the southwestern portion of the State ranking higher; food and 
 lodging, in all cases, superadded. Now, it is claimed that these 
 rates are fully one hundred per cent, too great, that being the 
 amount of advance on former wages, when the full labor of each 
 hand could be secured. Should contracts not be made voluntarily 
 by the 10th of this present month, it is further declared that freed 
 people will have such arrangements made for them, in case ability 
 otherwise to support themselves cannot be made apparent. 
 While on this subject, it is curious to remark how men of every 
 class here, civilian or official, and of every diversity of opinion on 
 other matters regarding the blacks, unite in considering it a 
 necessity they should be enforced to make contracts. The bureau 
 circulars on the topic always take this view, and the matter is 
 viewed from the same standpoint by the State law commission. — 
 From a Georgia correspondent of the National Intelligencer,, 
 
— 30 — 
 
 (Dated Augusta, Ga., January 6, 1866). — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 
 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 * * * Every just encouragement will be rendered the 
 planter to assist him to adapt himself to the new condition of 
 labor. It is essential for his success to accord to the negro all 
 the rights of a freedman, and to meet him in the true spirit of 
 justice and kindness; then there will be no difficulty to control 
 the labor. The day of the lash and corporeal punishment is past, 
 and must give way to law and moral power, man must learn to 
 govern himself before he can expect to govern others; let every 
 one practically realize that slavery is dead, past resurrection, and 
 adverse to the spirit of the age and the decrees of a free people; 
 therefore, let no man be deceived. — From Circular No. 1, Oct. 12, 
 1865, of General E. M. Gregory, Assistant Commissioner for Texas, 
 Galveston. — Ho Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Instructions from a Bureau Educator 
 
 Vicksburg, Miss., Oct. 24, 1865. 
 . The opposition to the education of the colored people, so gen- 
 erally manifested by the white population of this State, is very 
 much to be regretted, and it ought to be met by the officers of 
 the Freedmen's Bureau with all appropriate measures. This op- 
 position appears in so many forms that it is impossible to give 
 instruction that will suit every case in detail, but some general 
 principles may be set forth that ought to guide sub-commissioners 
 in this part of their duty. This is the object of the present cir- 
 cular. 
 
 It is natural that a master race should despise those who have 
 been degraded by bondage. This contempt is coupled with hatred 
 of escaping slaves. We see these feelings now operating against 
 those whom you are appointed to protect. You may meet them 
 by argument. Take pains to show the people that it is neither 
 right nor wise to oppose the efforts that are made to elevate the 
 freedmen. They have to care for themselves hereafter; and to 
 prevent them from gaining knowledge, by means of which, to pro- 
 tect themselves from imposition and fraud, is a wrong which no 
 one will defend in argument, and no one will practice, except 
 such as desire to cheat, oppress, and misuse them. You can also 
 show that it is unwise to repress the efforts of the colored peo- 
 ple to rise. It is for the safety and interest of the whole com- 
 munity to' have the laboring population, that is and must be free, 
 well informed. The colored people certainly will not consider 
 them to be friends who oppose their being taught, who throw dif- 
 ficulties in the way of their obtaining school-rooms, who deprive 
 them of the use of places which have heretofore been accorded 
 to them. They cannot feel attached to people who act upon the 
 monstrous proposition that negroes may be justly deprived of 
 property and privileges which a white man can legally enjoy. 
 
— 31 — 
 
 There are places where the white fear, or profess to fear a 
 probable negro Insurrection, and they object to schools as likely 
 to produce that evil. Such persons should be told that opposi- 
 tion may lead to violence, while kind treatment cannot. If 
 negroes are treated as if they have no rights which white men are 
 bound to respect, what wise man will answer for the conse- 
 quences? Despair is often neither gentle nor wise, and it may 
 drive the colored people into vagrancy and robbery. Let the 
 negroes have the simple rights of humanity, and there is no 
 danger. Most likely only those neighborhoods fear insurrection 
 where there is already the determination to oppress the colored 
 people, and conscience awakens fear of probable opposition. 
 Press upon white communities the wisdom of conceding^ once 
 to the colored people the use of rooms for schools which they 
 have assisted to build, finish, or furnish. The legal title may be 
 in the white trustees; law may give the negroes no remedy when 
 deprived of an equitable share in the use of the property; but it 
 will be wise to give them, frankly whatever white men in their 
 places might justly claim. To refuse will not conduce to peace, 
 nor promote industry, nor make the buildings claimed secure. 
 
 You may also call the attention of the white people to the 
 fact that the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau stand as disin- 
 terested persons between the parties- in this matter. While you 
 do not partake of the prejudices of the whites, you are equally 
 free from a corrupt bias towards the blacks, because you have 
 no material interest connected with them. Show that you have 
 no selfish reason for upholding their rights, but only do it con- 
 scientiously as a matter of official duty, accordant with simple 
 right. You have not to spend your lives and make your places 
 in this community, and the character of the laborers cannot 
 affect your interests. But the interests of the people of this 
 State are to be seriously affected by it. Your disinterested posi- 
 tion ought to give you power in inculcating right ideas. 
 
 You will examine all cases in which schools are oppressed and 
 the colored people complain of being deprived of rights in build- 
 ings, and apply such remedy as may be in your power. Report 
 all such cases, whatever may be your action, to the acting assist- 
 ant commissioner of your district for the information of this 
 office. . 
 
 By order of Colonel Samuel Thomas, Assistant Commissioner 
 for the State of Mississippi. JOSEPH WARREN, 
 
 Chaplain, State Superintendent of Education. 
 
 — Ho. Ex. Doc No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
-32- 
 
 4» Official Reports 
 
 Report of General Grant to President Johnson 
 
 * * * I did not give the operations of the Freedmen's 
 Bureau that attention I would have done if more time had been 
 at my disposal. Conversations on the subject, however, with offi- 
 cers connected with the bureau lead me to think that in some of 
 the States its affairs have not been conducted with good judgment 
 or economy, and that the belief, widely spread among the freed- 
 men of the Southern States, that the lands of their former owners 
 will, at least in part, be divided among them, has come from the 
 agents of this bureau. This belief is seriously interfering with 
 the willingness of the freedmen to make contracts for the coming 
 year. In some form the Freedmen's Bureau is an absolute neces- 
 sity until civil law is established and enforced, securing to the 
 freedmen their rights and full protection. At present, however, 
 it is independent of the military establishment of the country, 
 and seems to be operated by the different agents of the bureau 
 according to their individual notions. Everywhere General 
 Howard, the able head of the bureau, made friends by the just 
 and fair .instructions and advice he gave; but the complaint in 
 South Carolina was, that when he left things went on as before. 
 Many, perhaps a majority, of the agents of the Freedmen's Bu- 
 reau advise the freedmen that by their own industry they must 
 expect to live. To this end they endeavor to secure employment 
 for them, and to see that both contracting parties comply with 
 their engagements. In some instances, I am sorry to say, the 
 freedmen's mind does not seen to be disabused of the idea that 
 a freedman has the right to live without care or provision for 
 the future. The effect of the belief in division of lands is idle- 
 ness and accumulation in camps, towns, and cities. In such cases 
 I think it will be found that vice and disease will tend to the ex- 
 termination, or great reduction of the colored race. It cannot be 
 expected that the opinions held by men at the South for years 
 can be changed in a day; and therefore the freedmen require for 
 a few years not only laws to protect them, but the fostering care 
 of those who will give them good counssel, and on whom they 
 can rely. 
 
 The Freedmen's Bureau, being separated from the military 
 establishment of the country, requires all the expense of a separate 
 organization. One does not necessarily know what the other is 
 doing, or what orders they are acting under. It seems to me 
 
— 33 — 
 
 this could be corrected by regarding every officer on duty with 
 troops in the Southern States as agents of the Freedmen's Bu- 
 reau, and then have all orders from the head of the bureau sent 
 through department commanders. This would create a responsi- 
 bility that would secure uniformity of action throughout all the 
 South; would insure the order and instructions from the head of 
 the bureau being carried out; and would relieve from duty and 
 pay a large number of employes of the Government. — Sen. Ex. 
 Doc. No. 2, 39 Cong., 1 Sess.; McPherson, Hist, of Recon., 68. 
 
 Testimony of Chaplan T. W. Conway, Ex-assisstant 
 
 Commissioner For Louisiana 
 
 I should expect in Louisiana, as in the whole southern coun- 
 try, that the withdrawal of the Freedmen's Bureau would be fol- 
 lowed by a condition of anarchy and bloodshed, and I say that 
 much in the light of as large an experience upon the subject as 
 any man in the country. I have been in the army since the 19th 
 of April, 1861; I have been over the whole country, almost from" 
 Baltimore to the Gulf. I was one of the first who held any offP"~ 
 cial position in regard to the freedmen, and I am pained at the 
 conviction I have in my own mind that if the Freedmen's Bureau 
 is withdrawn the result will be fearful in the extreme. What it 
 has already done and is now doing in shielding these people, only 
 incites the bitterness of their foes. They will be murdered by 
 .wholesale, and they in their turn will defend themselves. It will 
 not be persecution merely; it will be slaughter; and I doubt 
 whether the world has ever known the like. These southern 
 rebels, when the power is once in their hands, will stop at nothing 
 short of extermination. Governor Wells himself told me that he 
 expected in ten years to see the whole colored race exterminated 
 and that conviction is shared very largely among the white peo- 
 ple of the south. It has been threatened by leading men there 
 that they would exterminate the freedmen. They have said so 
 in my hearing. In reply I said that they could not drive the 
 freedmen out of the nation, because, in the first place, they would 
 not go; and for another reason, that they had no authority to 
 drive them out; and for a third reason, that they were wanted 
 in the south as laborers. To that they replied, that, if necessary, 
 they would get their laborers from Europe; that white laborers 
 would be more agreeable to them; that the negro must be gotten 
 rid of in some way, and that, too, as speedily as possible. I have 
 heard it so many times, and from so many different quarters, that 
 I believe it is a fixed determination, and that they are looking 
 anxiously to the extermination of the whole negro race from the 
 coumtry. There is an agent here now, with letters from the 
 governor of Louisiana to parties in New York, with a view of 
 entering at once upon negotiations to secure laborers from various 
 parts of Europe. There are other parties endeavoring to get 
 
— 34 — 
 
 coolies into the south, and in various places there are immense 
 efforts to obtain white labor to supplant that of the negro. It is 
 a part of the immense and desperate programme which they have 
 adopted and expect to carry out within the next ten years. It 
 is the same determination to which I referred in my report. I 
 said the negro race would be exterminated unless protected by 
 the strong arm of the government; no weak arm will do. The 
 strongest arm of the government is needed to shield them. The 
 wicked work has already commenced, and it could be shown that 
 the policy pursued by the government is construed by the rebels 
 as not being opposed to it. — Report of Joint Com. on Reconst., 
 (1866), Ft. IV, 82. 
 
 Report of Gen. J. S. Fullerton of Louisiana 
 
 December 2, 1865. 
 * * * I thought it to be of the utmost importance that the 
 freedmen should work during the coming year, not only for their 
 -own benefit, but for the good of the planters and the country at 
 large. It is also necessary that they should do so in order to give 
 the denial to the prophecy of those friends of slavery who continu- 
 ally insist that the negro will not work if free. The result has prov- 
 ed that the address was timely. I ordered that it should be read on 
 each plantation in the State, and that printed copies of the same, 
 should also be left thereon.. Many of the freedmen having been 
 thus plainly informed of what is expected of them, soon showed 
 a disposition to work under contracts for the next year, and the' 
 planters, acting under the belief that the evil complained of 
 would, in a great measure no longer exist, at once commenced to 
 engage their services. The scarcity of labor and the large profits 
 that can be made on the crops of Louisiana have caused a great 
 demand for labor in that State. All of the able-bodied freedmen, 
 if they will consent to work can obtain employment at good 
 wages, and there will still be room for many more laborers. 
 Many planters called on me during the last week of my stay in 
 the State to obtain information as to how and where they could 
 obtain hands, and offered for them good inducements. I could 
 direct them where to go for this purpose, but some went to Texas 
 and some to Mississippi. 
 
 In my administration of freedmen's affairs in Louisiana I 
 acted upon the broad democratic idea that there should be the 
 same code of laws for all; that every exceptional law or regula- 
 tion for the black man is but a recognition of the spirit of slavery. 
 The steps that I took were necessary to annihilate the distinction 
 of that caste which sprung from slavery. Laws of the State made 
 to govern the white man, while the freedman was in a state of 
 slavery, surely could not be too hard upon him when freed and 
 admitted to the benefits and penalties of the same. But there 
 were men who had such a tender regard for the freedmen, that 
 
—35 — 
 
 while they were willing that they should accept the benefits of 
 State laws, cried down as an outrage any attempt to render him 
 liable to the penalties of the same. Thus when I attempted to- 
 show officially that the freedmen could be arrested as vagrants, 
 or apprenticed, in accordance with the laws that were equally 
 binding upon all free persons, these men were ready to express 
 great indignation at the wickedness and enormity of such pro- 
 ceedings. The idea was constantly held out to the freedmen that 
 they were a privileged people, to be pampered and petted by the 
 government, and the effect was most pernicious. It not onljr 
 gave them expectations that could not be realized, but prevented 
 them from securing civil rights that the laws of the State con- 
 ferred upon them. It also appeared to me that there was mot a, 
 sufficient effort made in this State to harmonize capital and labor. 
 The acts of a few local agents of the bureau were such as to de- 
 stroy the confidence that should exist between these planters who 
 were endeavoring to give free labor an impartial trial, and the 
 freedmen who worked in their fields. These acts were done- 
 through a mistake notion of kindness to the blacks. * * * 
 
 * * * I believe that the freedmen of Louisiana are in a bet- 
 ter condition that those in any other State embraced within the- 
 operations of this bureau. There is not among them an able-bodied 
 man who cannot get employment and good wages. The planters 
 of the State are very desirous of restoring their fortunes by cul- 
 tivating the fields. Large profits can be made on the staple 
 crops, and for this reason they can give good wages. The freed- 
 men generally know this fact, and will not, therefore, work for 
 a pittance. More than a majority of them obtained employment 
 last year when but a small portion of the fields were cultivated, 
 and we have but to consider the fact that the most of the 
 planters now desire to raise sugar and cotton to form a judgment 
 of the demand for labor for the coming year. Before the war 
 four hundred thousand (400,000) hogsheads of sugar and an 
 equal number of barrels of molasses were made in Louisiana. 
 This year's crop of cane will not yield over twelve thousand! 
 (12,000) hogsheads of sugar and fourteen thousand (14,000) 
 barrels of molasses. Then nine-tenths of the arable land of 
 Louisiana were under cultivation in cane, cotton, and corn; this, 
 year there has not been over one-fifth. It was impossible for me 
 to arrive at anything like the proportion of acres that will be 
 planted the next season, but as there is nothing now to fear from 
 the accidents of war, there will be a large increase over the pro- 
 portion of last year. 
 
 There is a growing disposition on the part of the planters to» 
 act justly and fairly toward the freedmen, and to secure to them 
 the exercise of their legal rights. This may be because they 
 know that their former slaves are now free, and that it will be 
 impossible again to reduce them to slavery in any shape or form; 
 that they are the only sugar and cotton workers that they can at 
 
— 3 6 — 
 
 present procure, and that it is necessary to secure for them such 
 rights in order to make them willing and competent workers. 
 'They are also showing a disposition to accord the freedmen those 
 opportunities of educating their children which they have not 
 "heretofore possessed; for it is becoming evident to them that free 
 labor nourishes best in those places where schools abound. The 
 -enmity against the black race in the south comes principally from 
 the poor whites. For those of them who do work fear the com- 
 petition of black labor, and nearly all of them, having before 
 them the fear of "negro equality," do what they can to oppose 
 their freedom, and the working of the free labor system. But 
 the war has not left enough of this class in Louisiana to exert 
 ■any considerable influence. 
 
 It is not true that there are great numbers of freedmen being 
 murdered by the whites in Louisiana. During the month that 
 I remained in the State but one case of this kind was presented 
 to the bureau, so far as I now recollect. This was the case of a 
 freedman who had been shot and wounded by a white man, and 
 the offender when arrested claimed that the freedman had first 
 Hred at him. That there are many cases of outrage that are never 
 heard of is most true, but from all that I have learned, I do not 
 believe that society in this respect is more demoralized at present 
 in Louisiana than in some States further north, as represented 
 "by the public press. By telling only the bad acts that have been 
 committed, and giving these as an index of society, any large 
 ■community could be pictured as barbarous. 
 
 These remarks are not made as in any manner apologizing 
 for that class of whites who have sunk so low in the scale of 
 humanity as to maltreat the black man because he has been 
 made free, and because they hate a nigger. But I cannot make an 
 impartial report of facts unless I show both sides of the picture. 
 We must look at the matter as it exists, and not give ear to one 
 .-set of complaints only, nor allow our preconceived opinions and 
 prejudices to blind us and prevent us from correctly exercising 
 our judgment. 
 
 Free labor will be a success in Louisiana. The only concern 
 the planters at present appear to have on this question is, "will 
 the freedman fulfill his contract for work if we fully and fairly 
 •carry out our part of the agreement." They will not work next 
 year as well as we may desire, but better than we have a right 
 to expect. Men who have been suddenly freed, entertaining some 
 false notions of freedom, and in some cases acting Under bad 
 counsel of both friends and enemies, are not apt to be at once 
 •energetic workers. Gradually the planters and freedmen begin 
 to understand that for the present each is dependent upon the 
 other. The planter must have their labor, and the freedmen 
 must have the planter's wages, until they can procure property 
 of their own. I speak advisedly when I say that in five years 
 from now, unless some new element of discord intervenes, the 
 
— 37 — 
 
 freedmen will work as well and will be in as prosperous condi- 
 tion as any person can desire; and the rich and beautiful planta- 
 tions of Louisiana will be far better cultivated and more' pro- 
 fitable than ever in the past. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 
 1 Sess. 
 
 Report of General Wager Swayne, Assistant Commiss- 
 ioner for Alabama 
 
 January 31, 1866. 
 * * * On [January 15, 1866] the legislature reassembled. 
 The palpable failure, when it last adjourned, of the attempt to de- 
 part from the standard of "equal rights before the laws," so*long- 
 established here, and the wonderful abatement of doubt and dread 
 which the freedmen themselves effected during the holidays by 
 going quietly to work, had wrought a marked change in the public 
 mind. The governor had no hesitation in vetoing the objection- 
 able measures, declaring that he would set his seal to no bill 
 which did not deal alike with all men whose circumstances were 
 the same. The vetoes were sustained in both houses. A bill has 
 been introduced, and will pass, applying this qualification to-all 
 laws in force, and repealing all inconsistent with it; and as the 
 legislature long ago directed the governor to appoint a commis- 
 sion to codify the criminal laws, it is supposed their report, which 
 is next week to be presented, will be in consonance with this 
 view. Indeed, I trust the extended discussion this proposition 
 has had in this State has given it such a footing that it can never 
 be dislodged. 
 
 One of the governor's veto messages, however, requires 
 especial notice. In returning the labor contract bill, he states 
 that in his opinion no remedy is necessary for violation of con- 
 tracts beyond that of damages, which the common law affords. 
 As to freedmen this is practically no remedy at all, except where 
 unpaid wages have accrued. Indeed, it points to an abandonment 
 of the contract system. 
 
 This statement is worthy of profound consideration. It did 
 not emanate from me, yet I may now say that I concur in it. I 
 found the contract system established here, practically and in 
 orders. The planters liked it, and so vigorously demanded con- 
 tracts that there was danger they would not undertake to plant 
 at all without them. Idleness was extremely prevalent, and con- 
 tracts might answer to restrain this disposition. "Labor regula- 
 tions" were therefore issued from this office. But it has all the 
 while been my opinion that the freedmen would be found to be 
 best govgrned by the same measures as are most effectual with 
 ours&lves, and only injured by artificial regulations. The true 
 incentives to labor in the free States are hunger and cold, and 
 it was only injurious expectations of parcelling out at Christmas 
 
—3 8— 
 
 that made freedmen evade these, in some measure, until Christ- 
 mas came. This artificial barrier removed, normal relations were 
 immediately established. The true security of labor, also in the 
 free States, is -that whenever the laborer finds himself illtreated, 
 or his wages insufficient or unsafe, he can quit without having to 
 account to anybody. This is more and better than all laws. And 
 the demand for labor will, I think, keep the freedom secure here 
 in this particular-. It certainly makes him so now. 
 
 Contracts imply bargaining and litigation, and at neither of 
 these is the freedman a match for his employer; nor do I think 
 he can be made so, except through an ever present competition, 
 to which he can appeal. Undoubtedly his credulity will be some- 
 what used to victimize him just now; but, besides the statement 
 that he who has but one thing to dispose of soon learns to do 
 it to the best advantage, and that even ourselves were obliged to 
 meet this same experience in our boyhood, certain untilled planta- 
 tions on all sides give emphatic warning that Nemesis does not 
 overlook the matter. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Report of General Clinton B. Fisk, of Kentucky 
 and Tennessee 
 
 January and February, 1866. 
 I have the honor to report progresss in Kentucky. My 
 "circular" and "address to the freedmen" were both well re- 
 ceived by a large majority of the people. There are some of the 
 meanest unsubjugated and unreconstructed rascally rebellious 
 revolutionists in Kentucky that curse the soil of the country. 
 They claim now that although the amendment to the Constitu- 
 tion forever abolihing and prohibiting slavery has been ratified, 
 and proclamation thereof duly made, yet Congress must legislate 
 to carry the amendment into effect, and therefore slavery is not 
 dead in Kentucky. Others cling to the old barbarism with tena- 
 city, claiming that the government must pay Kentucky for her 
 emancipated slaves. There are few public journals in the State 
 which afford great comfort to the malcontents, but the majority 
 of the people of Kentucky hail the dawn of universal liberty, and 
 welcome the agency of the bureau in adjusting the new relations 
 arising from the total abolition of slavery. I have succeeded in 
 obtaining the services of many first-class judicious popular citi- 
 zens to act as superintendents at the important points. The 
 "Blue Grass" region is in the best of hands. General Hay, at 
 Hopkinsville, was a bad failure. He has been removed. I have 
 consulted General Palmer in the appointment of every agent. I 
 return to Kentucky on the 10th instant, by invitation of the 
 governor, and shall meet the principal planters of the State at 
 Frankfort, in convention, on the 11th. I hope to do good unto 
 them, and make the bureau a blessing to all Kentucky. * * * 
 
— 39 — 
 
 * * * For narrating at a freedmen's commission anniver- 
 sary meeting in Cincinnati, on the 18th ultimo, what I had my- 
 self seen of brutalities in the "Blue Grass," I have been de- 
 nounced in the Kentucky legislature as a liar and slanderer. A 
 committee has been appointed to investigate the matter. I have 
 furnished them the name of witnesses, and requested that their 
 powers be enlarged, and they authorized to investigate the condi- 
 tion of the freedmen throughout the State; but I have good rea- 
 son for believing that the committee will simply make a report 
 that General Pisk is a great liar, and should be removed from 
 office, etc. It is well to remember that a more select number of 
 vindictive, pro-slavery, rebellious legislators cannot be found than 
 a majority of the Kentucky legislature. The President of the 
 United States was denounced in the Senate as a worse traitor 
 than Jefferson Davis, and that, too, before the bureau tempest 
 had reached them. 
 
 The entire opposition is political, a warfare waged against 
 loyalty, freedom, and justice. 
 
 Report from General Tillson, of Georgia 
 
 * * * The fact is becoming more and more evident that 
 hereafter labor and not cotton is to be king. Please mark the pre- 
 diction. If the government will only continue to stand by the freed 
 people in their just rights simply, then, by the operations of laws 
 infinitely more potential and certain in their execution that those 
 of Congress, the negro is to.be master of the situation, and those 
 who in times past practiced cruelty upon him, or who now hate,, 
 despise, and defame him, are to be a financially ruined people-. 
 To-day the men who have been cruel to their slaves cannot hire 
 freed people to work for them at any price. Fortunes in the fu- 
 ture are for those only whom the freed people can trust and for 
 whom they will work — not for the proud and haughty owner of 
 land merely. Land, good land, will be plenty, a drug in the mar- 
 ket; labor will be the difficut thing to obtain, and the friends of 
 the freed people, especially the northern man, can alone command 
 it. Bntre nous, I think I see the end, and I predict that Provi- 
 dence is not done dealing with this people. I believe their hate, 
 cruelty, and malice are yet to bear more and very bitter fruit, 
 and that by natural and irresistible laws the old-time southener 
 is to became entirely harmless in his impotent rage, or extinct. 
 But we shall see. 
 
 Pray keep the President posted, and do not let him be de- 
 ceived by these selfish falsehoods about the price of labor. I can 
 prove that I am right, out of the mouths of the best men in this 
 State. Not to sustain my action will do me no harm. I could 
 simply resign, and I should feel it my duty to do. If the govern- 
 ment is to be disgraced, some other instrument must be found; but 
 it would do immense mischief to the freed people. — From a letter 
 
— 40 — 
 
 of General Tillson, Assistant Commissioner of Georgia, to Gen. 
 O. O. Howard, Jan. 23, 1866, referring to complaints about the 
 obstruction of the Bureau in labor contracts. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 
 70, 39 Cong.,, 154 Sess. 
 
 Report of General T. W. Osborne, of Florida 
 
 December 31, 1865. 
 
 The belief among the colored people that lands and stock 
 were to be divided among them by the government has been 
 gradually giving way, though reluctantly and the final disappoint- 
 ment to them will not be very great. Yet they have generally 
 declined to make contracts for the ensuing year till after New 
 Year's. I learn that in the last few days many have made con- 
 tracts, and the prospects are favorable for the future. The high 
 price of cotton is inducing planters to offer good wages for the 
 next year's labor. Average wages will be twelve dollars a month 
 for first-class hands, and these graded according to the capacity 
 of the employes for labor. I have reason to believe that com- 
 paratively few freed people will be on public charity next year. 
 
 Self-interest among the planters is doing much for these 
 laborers. The people at large show a spirit of dislike or hatred to 
 the freedmen that is hard to account for. The feeling among the 
 little planters, lawyers, the members of the present legislature, 
 the croakers and other small fry, is contemptible. While the 
 substantial planters have a degree of consideration for the former 
 slaves that could hardly be expected. They are paying quite well 
 for this year, and offering good wages, quarters, and rations for 
 the next, with the privilege of the laborer to keep his family with 
 him at little expense. The little men quite generally attempt to 
 hire single men, or reject those who have families from the planta- 
 tion. The competition for labor in this State will compel these 
 matters to remedy themselves. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong. 
 1 Sess. 
 
 Report of Bureau Agent, in Prince William County, 
 
 Virginia 
 
 * * * I have the honor to report, * * * that there 
 is a good understanding between whites and blacks generally, 
 but the feeling of the blacks is that of distrust of the whites, and 
 that of the whites is "you are my niggers by right; you ought to 
 be my slaves, and then you would be happy; but see what a con- 
 dition you are in now. You have no master ~£o look after you/ 
 
 etc., etc. But if these d d Yankees ever leave us, we will see 
 
 what will then be." The blacks look to us to protect them from 
 outrage, and are industrious, contented, and self-supporting. 
 
 The whites fear us and hurrah for the "President's policy," 
 which, they say, will restore them "as they were" and "leave 
 
— 41 — 
 
 them to manage the nigger," instead of us, who "don't under- 
 stand him." I have no particular suggestions to make. Things 
 are going on as well as could reasonably be exxpected, taking all 
 things into account. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Report of an Assistant Superintendant, in Virginia 
 
 February 28, 1866. 
 
 * * * I have the honor to report: * * * 
 
 I have associated with me a worthy magistrate, who I believe 
 means to be just. We do not disagree. The third member (Siosen 
 "by the freedmen declined, from prudential reasons, to sit- I dis- 
 courage litigation, the tendency being to widen the breach Between 
 whites and blacks. It is one of. the unpardonable sins for a 
 "niggar" to complain to the "Yankees," and terrible threats are 
 muttered against him. The people are poor, and can ill afford 
 to pay costs. The principal claims for the blacks are for labor 
 between the date of "Lee's surrender and Christmas." Where 
 they were fed and clothed, well treated, and felt they could leave 
 at any time, I have allowed them but little, unless something has 
 been said in regard to competent wages, for said peirod. I allow 
 
 witnesses nothing, and generally make the costs of a suit $2.50. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The purpose of a majority of the whites is to keep the freedmen 
 intimidated, and they succeed; but few of the latter who come 
 to me for redress dare convey my summons to the defendant. The 
 customary reply to a request to act as messenger is, "He shoot 
 me, sartain sure." After leaving the employ of any one of the 
 whites, the freedman, in many instances, dare not return for his 
 tumble wardrobe or stock of house-keeping articles. The women 
 are more courageous than the men. Many of the farmers pursue 
 a suicidal policy in Jiis intimidation, and, ere long, will be left 
 without a single laborer, and then say the "nigger won't work." 
 There is quite a mania among the negroes of the interior to hang 
 around the oyster-beds and fisheries, and to cut wood and "maul" 
 rails in the Dismal swamp; consequently, on Saturday night and 
 Sunday, Suffolk is full^pf them. I believe, in proportion to the 
 whites, they are two to one. Here they are a helpless and selfish 
 set; as a class, they are like the man who, after being aided to 
 get out of the mire, asks his deliverer to clean the mud from his 
 clothes. I cannot induce them to make the least effort in the 
 matter of schools, although anxious to send their children, pro- 
 vided they are not required to contribute a cent. I had great 
 difficulty in finding one of them unselfish enough to board, at 
 any price, a colored teacher recently arrived. They do not want 
 the trouble. 
 
 * * * 
 
 On the Holy-Neck Chapel road, about twelve miles from Suf- 
 
—42 — 
 
 folk, the Society of Friends have a colored school, of from 50 
 to 108 scholars, with two teachers. In my next monthly report 
 report I hope to add to the list one of about the same number 
 here. The Friends, in opposition to the African Methodist So- 
 ciety, insisted on the right of patronage to this school. Things 
 are somewhat delayed; but I trust Miss Snicely will soon have 
 all requisites for a successful school on hand, and enable me to 
 give an encouraging account of the rising generation of freedmen 
 in this town. I can learn of no other schools in the country; but 
 there are other localities where they can be started under favor- 
 able auspices, and I propose calling the attention of the Friends 
 to the subject. 
 
 I have many aggravated reports from Gates county, North 
 Carolina. No doubt there should be an energetic, courageous 
 officer at Gatesville, aided by a small force. I have recently re- 
 ported some cases to the authorities at Raleigh. * * * 
 
 Report on Colonization 
 
 The colonization of freed people by themselves, in large 
 numbers, so far as the experiment has been tried in Florida has 
 proved a failure. General Ely's colony, the only one of any 
 magnitude brought to the State within the year, through want 
 of discipline and general mismanagement, barely held together 
 for the period of three months. No effort was spared by the 
 Bureau to give the scheme a thorough trial. Soon after the 
 colony arrived at New Smyrna, the point of its desination, rations 
 were furnished, and a competent bureau officer placed in charge. 
 Already the predatory disposition of the men had filled the sur- 
 rounding country with alarm; no cattle or hogs were secure for 
 miles around; and the colony seemed in a fair way for a speedy 
 relapse into a state of barbarism. So long as the government 
 would supply rations there was little or no disposition to work; 
 and it was only after the utter impracticability of the scheme be- 
 came manifest that the colony was permitted to dissipate itself 
 through the ajacent country, the able men and women, for the 
 most part obtaining good contracts for plantation labor in the 
 counties of Marion, Sumpter and Orange. Many of the old, in- 
 firm and children were left on the original site of the colony. 
 These continued a charge upon the bureau until a recent date. 
 Few of them now remain, and those are mostly settlers, who 
 have industrously cultivated their lands from the beginning. — 
 Extract from the report of John T. Sprague, Assistant Commis- 
 sioner for Florida, cited in the Howard Investigation. — Ho. Rept. 
 No. 121, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 486. 
 
-43— 
 
 5. Confiscation: "Forty Acres and a Mule'* 
 
 Views of the Ku Klux Committee 
 
 There has been much exaggeration of the action of the Gov- 
 ernment in confiscating rebel property. The proposition to seize- 
 the lands of leading rebels and divide them among the landless 
 poor had at one time some support, and there is no doubt that in 
 1865 a general impression existed at the South that such a policy 
 might be adopted. This arose from the order of General Sher- 
 man relative to the lands of the "Sea Islands" and the coast within 
 tide-water, and from the statements of rebel leaders and news- 
 papers, as the war drew to a close, that it was the purpose of the- 
 United States Government to divide lands and goods among the 
 negroes. These statements were made to stimulate the flagging 
 spirit of the people. The negroes heard and were inclined to be- 
 lieve them, by their sense of justice, which suggested that as their 
 labor had produced the greater part of the property, they should 
 have a portion. Hence the idea was wide-spread and common 
 among them that each head of a family would have "forty acres, 
 and a mule." 
 
 When the policy of the Government became settled, and the- 
 whites saw that their property was not taken, but many estates 
 which had been abandoned by their owners and seized by the- 
 government were returned in better condition than they would, 
 have been had they been left wild and uncultivated, the subject^ 
 became a jest, and the freedmen were joked out of their fancy, 
 and this the more readily after sharpers had swindled some of 
 them by selling tokens — "pre-emption rights" — for their home- 
 steads, in the form of tri-colored stakes, to stake them off with. — 
 Ku Klux Rept., (Majority), 217. 
 
 Instructions to Bureau Officials 
 
 Whereas a large amount of land in the State of Virginia, and. 
 in other States that have been in insurrection, has been abandoned 
 by disloyal owners and is now being cultivated by freedmen; and. 
 whereas the owners of such lands are attempting to obtain pos- 
 session of them, and thus deprive the freedmen of the fruits of 
 their industry, it is ordered that all abandoned lands in said. 
 States now under cultivation by the freedmen be retained in their 
 possession until the crops now growing shall be secured for their 
 benefit, unless full and just compensation be made for their 
 labor and its products and for expenditures. 
 
— 44 — 
 
 The above order will not be so construed as to relieve dis- 
 3oyalty; and the application for the restoration of their lands, by 
 this class of persons, will in no case be entertained by any mili- 
 tary authority. — Howard's Circular, May 22, 1865. — Ho. Ex. Doc. 
 :No. 11, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It is constantly reported to the Commissioner and his agents 
 that the freedmen have been deceived as to the intention of the 
 .government. 
 
 It is said that the lands will be taken from the present holders 
 and be divided among them next Christmas or New Y«ar. The 
 impression, wherever it exists, is wrong. All officers and agents 
 •of this bureau are hereby directed to take every possible means 
 to remove so erroneous and injurious an impression. They will, 
 further, endeavor to overcome other false reports that have been 
 industriously spread abroad with a purpose to unsettle labor and 
 give rise to disorder and suffering. Every proper means will be 
 taken to secure fair written agreements or contracts for the com- 
 ing year, and the freedmen instructed that it is for their best in- 
 terests to look to the property-holders for employment. 
 
 The Commissioner deprecates hostile action, and wishes every 
 possible exertion made to produce kind feeling and mutual con- 
 fidence between the blacks and the whites. — Howard's Instruc- 
 tions, Nov. 11, 1865. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 * * * Unfortunately, there is a widespread belief among 
 the freed people of this State that at Christmas there is to be 
 a distribution of property among them, and under this impression 
 they are refusing to make contracts for the coming year. All 
 officers and agents of this bureau are directed, and other officers 
 of the army throughout the State are earnestly requested, to ex- 
 
 -ert themselves to convince the fred people that they are utterly 
 mistaken, and that no such distribution will take place at Christ- 
 mas, or at any other time, and to induce them to enter into con- 
 tracts now, that they may not, at the end of the year, be in a con- 
 dition to entail severe suffering on themselves, their families, and 
 upon the community. — Circular No. 2, Oct. 3, 1865, of Gen Davis 
 
 'Tillson, Assistant Commissioner for Georgia. — Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 
 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Sale of Painted Sticks to Freedmen 
 
 I can tell you from what I know and have seen myself, and 
 also from what negroes have told me, that they have been prom- 
 ised lands and mules — forty acres of land and a mule * * * 
 Many an old negro has come to me and asked me about that 
 
 thing. I can illustrate it by one little thing that I saw on a visit 
 once to Gainesville, Sumter county. At a barbecue there I saw 
 a man who was making a speech to the negroes, telling them what 
 
 .good he had done for them; that he had been to Washington City 
 
— 45— 
 
 and had procured from one of the Departments here certain pegs. 
 I saw the pegs. He had about two dozen on his arm; they were 
 painted red and blue . He said that those pegs he had obtained 
 from here at a great expense to himself; that they had been made 
 by the Government for the purpose of staking out the negroes' 
 forty acres. He told the negroes that all he wanted was to have 
 the expenses paid to him, which was about a dollar a peg. He 
 told them that they could stick one peg down at a corner, then 
 walk so far one way and stick another down, then walk so far an- 
 other way and stick another dawn, till they had got the four pegs 
 down; and that, when the four pegs were down, the negroes'' 
 forty acres would be included in that area; and all he had to say 
 to them was, that they could stick those pegs anywhere they 
 pleased — on anybody's land they wanted to, but not to interfere 
 with each other; and he would advise them, in selecting the forty 
 acres, to take half woodland and half clear; that nobody would 
 dare to interfere with those pegs. — John G. Pierce in Ku Klux 
 Report, Alabama Testimony, 319. 
 
 Deed for land, given with painted sticks 
 
 Office of the Bureau of Freedmen and Abandoned Land. 
 
 Granby, Alabama, 9 Jan., 1866. 
 
 Know all men by these presents, that a naught is a naught, 
 and a figure is a figure; all for the white man, and none for the 
 nigure. And whereas Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
 ness, so also have I lifted this d d old nigger out of four rol- 
 
 lars and six bits. Amen. Selah! 
 
 Given under my hand and seal at the Corner Grocery in 
 Granby, some time between the birth of Christ and the death of 
 the Devil. NIX-CUM-ROUSB. 
 
 — Children of Issachar, p. 22. 
 
6. Opinion in Regard to the Bureau 
 
 Testimony of a Friend of the Bureau 
 
 I will state to you the process through, which my mind went 
 upon the subject of the Freedman's Bureau. At first I was very 
 much averse to the Freedmen's Bureau. I thought it was a bad 
 piece of machinery, and calculated to do a great deal of wrong. 
 My feelings and political convictions were the same then as now. 
 But now, from close observation, I am satisfied that the Freed- 
 man's Bureau did a great deal of good; that is to say, it brought 
 men face to face with the difficulties that surrounded them, and 
 made them solve them in a manner they would never otherwise 
 have adopted. I have witnessed that in the improvement of the 
 feeling of the whole community, which has been revolutionized 
 on the subject of the employment of laborers and the treatment 
 of laborers, and mainly through the instrumentality of the Freed- 
 men's Bureau. At first I thought it was a great evil — an unmiti- 
 gated evil. I am satisfied now that it did a great deal of good, 
 whether it did harm or not. Perhaps it did harm also, because 
 there is always some evil in everything. But whether it is wisest 
 and best for the Government, with the strong hand, to reach down 
 into these states and correct these evils, or leave them to correct 
 themselves, I confess is a problem about which my mind hesi- 
 tates. When I witness the state of things that exists in some por- 
 tions of this State, I sometimes think it would probable be bet- 
 ter that it should be corrected by the strong hand. The truth 
 about it is as I understand the situation in some counties, the 
 better class of men are overawed, and are really powerless; they 
 are made really, to foster the very things they despise and would 
 put down. — Ku Klux Report, Georgia Testimony, 527. 
 
 Governor Patton to the People of Alabama 
 
 We all know of the great destitution in our State which fol- 
 lowed the close of the war. The crop of 1865, from well-known 
 causes, was lamentably short, and this naturally prolonged the 
 destitution through the year 1866. There was so much suffering 
 that it became a matter of absolute necessity to adopt some plan 
 of relief. It is but simple justice to say that in our extreme 
 destitution we found most timely relief at the hands of the Gen- 
 eral Government. In the course of the years 1866 and 1867 sup- 
 plies were furnished from that source to the value of more than 
 
— 47— 
 
 a million of dollars. In addition to this relief, large and generous 
 donations in money and provisions were made by individuals and 
 charitable associations. These donations were placed at the dis- 
 posal of the governor, and distributed according to his best dis- 
 cretion. — Extracts from Patton's address to the people of Ala- 
 bama, July 10, 1868, Ku Klux Report, 216. 
 
 Testimony of Daniel Taylor 
 
 Question. Was there not a failure of crops for three years 
 after the war, and a great deal of destitution among the negroes? 
 
 Answer. Yes, sir; but the negroes that would go and settle 
 down on plantations and work and stay there always had plenty 
 to eat. The white man who employed them felt bound lo keep 
 them in plenty to eat and good clothes to wear when they would 
 stay with them; but if a man was trying to make a negro work, 
 and talked a little short to the negro, he would pick up and go 
 somewhere else, very often when a man had made preparations 
 to go on; and when they left it would sometimes leave him a little 
 scanty. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Q. Did not the Freedmen's Bureau feed a great many white 
 people? 
 
 A. Yes, sir; and caused them to do without a great deal of 
 labor that they could have got before that. The negroes would 
 quit and go off for this Bureau when they should have had a 
 dependence in the country. They depended upon the Bureau for 
 rations. 
 
 Q. Were there not many cases where the employers cheated 
 the negroes out of their labor? 
 
 A. That has been said, but I do think the case was that the 
 negroes cheated the others out of their work. In my honest 
 opinion, the truth is, the negroes cheated the farmers out of their 
 labor. The planters had nothing ±o pay them with. The negroes 
 generally hired for a part of the crop, and then fed themselves. 
 The negroes were to pay for their provisions out of their part of 
 the crop and they did not go on making their crop, so that their 
 part of the crop was not sufficient to pay the owner the amount 
 that was due him for the land and stock and the advance. None 
 of the farmers, or few of them, are making anything now. I 
 think they are every day losing ground ;that is my experience; 
 not getting pay for their lands or stock either. — Ku Klux Report, 
 Alabama Testimony, 1132. 
 
 Testimony of General Wright of Augusta 
 
 [The negroes] were taken possession of by a class of men who 
 went down there connected in some way with the Freedmen's 
 Bureau; they swarmed all over the country. The white people 
 were sore, intensely sore, at the results of the war, at losing 
 
— 48 — 
 
 their slaves, and they shrank back and had nothing to say to the 
 negroes. That course of conduct on their part enabled these men 
 to go on and obtain the confidence of the negroes; they made the 
 negroes believe that unless they banded themselves together and 
 stood up for their rights, the white people would put them back 
 into slavery. But the reign of that class of people in our State 
 is over — past and gone. Those men came there and fastened 
 themselves upon every community, and when the election for 
 members of the legislature came on they were themselves elected. 
 -I can giv you an instance right there, within a stone's throw of 
 where I live, of a man by the name of Captain Richardson, who 
 went down there is the Bureau. He lived in Augusta, and was; 
 elected a member of the legislature from the county of Hancock, 
 way up in the interior of the State; he perhaps never was in that 
 county in his life. There was a man by the name of J. Mason 
 Rice, who came out in the Bureau, and lived in Augusta; he was 
 elected a representative of the county of Columbia. A man of 
 the name of Sherman came down there, not in the Bureau, but 
 as a developer. He bought a piece of land near Augusta, and 
 worked it for a while, and then had to give it up. He ran for 
 the place of senator in the district composed of Wilkes, Jackson, 
 and Columbia. Wilkes is the county in which Toombs lives. This 
 man ran for senator, and was elected there. There was Rice, 
 elected as a member from Hancock county, and he never was in 
 that county; and Sherman was elected as senator from Wilkes, 
 Lincoln, and Columbia counties, and so far as I know, he has 
 never been in either one of them. A man by the name of Clai- 
 born, a Baltimore negro, came down to Augusta with the Bu- 
 reau, and was elected a member of the legislature from Burke 
 county. He served until a few months before the close of the 
 legislature, when he was killed by a negro in the capital. 
 
 Question. Does your law require the representative to live 
 in the county he claims to represent? 
 
 Answer. Yes, sir; but the Republicans had a majority there, 
 and they permitted any one to take his seat who had the returns; 
 and when they really did not get a majority of the votes, Mr. 
 Hulburt, who was the head man of the registration, fixed up the 
 votes, cooked them up for them, and they were admitted. We 
 were entirely powerless there. 
 
 Question. That class of men control the votes of the colored 
 people? 
 
 Answer. Implicitly. ■ 
 
 Question. Was any such thing as promises of land and other 
 property ever made to the negro? 
 
 Answer. The negroes said so. Up to the latter part of 1868 
 the negroes believed that by voting they were going to get. a div- 
 ision of the land and stock of the country, These carpet-baggers, 
 would go down there and actually sell stakes to them. That is. 
 almost too improbable for belief; but these rascals would go. 
 
— 49 — 
 
 down there and sell painted stakes to these negroes, and tell them 
 that all they had to do was to put down the stakes on their own- 
 er's farms, and forty acres of land would be theirs after election. 
 You could see them all over the country. The negroes said they 
 gave a dollar apiece for those stakes. They were very ignorant, 
 or they would not have believed such things; but they did believe 
 it, and, I have no doubt, implicitly. 
 
 Question. That belief has passed away? 
 Answer. Yes, sir. 
 
 Question. And the scepter has departed from them? 
 
 Answer. Yes, sir; the colored people understand this thing 
 now; the negroes and the whites are in thorough understanding 
 with each other. The negroes vote now with their old owners; 
 they did so at the last election. Their owners would fix up their 
 teams and wagons, haul them to the place of election, and supply 
 them with tickets to vote. The negroes are now tired of the 
 carpet-baggers. — Ku Klux Report, Georgia Testimony, 272. 
 
 Testimony of Mr. Sayre 
 
 When the agents first came there, after the occupation of 
 the country by General Smith's army, * * * they estab- 
 
 lished a Freedman's Bureau. They notified everybody that they 
 must employ their freedmen, and that all their contracts must 
 \>e submitted to the inspection of the Freedmen's Bureau; that 
 no man would be allowed to employ freedmen unless their con- 
 tracts were submitted to an approved by that Bureau. * * * 
 they listened to every sort of tale that any dissatisfied negro might 
 choose to tell; they would send out and arrest white men, bring 
 them in under guard, try them, and put them in jail. They got 
 liold of alpntations * * * what they call refuges for freed- 
 men. It was announced that if the freedmen got dissatisfied they 
 could enter there, and be fed and clothed, and taken care of. In 
 that way a large number of negroes were enticed away from plan- 
 tations where they had been living, and they flocked to these 
 places. Hundreds of them died from neglect. The' impression 
 was produced upon the negro that the white man who had been 
 his master was his enemy, and that these men were his peculiar 
 iriends; that they had nothing to expect from them and through 
 their old masters. They then commenced the establishmen of 
 these Loyal Leagues, into which they got almost every negro 
 in the country. They would send their agents * * * from 
 plantation to plantation, until I expect there was hardly a negro 
 in the whole country who did not belong to the League. In that 
 way a want of confidence was produced between the negro and* 
 the white man, and a feeling of confidence between the negro and 
 the agents of this Bureau. It has been a very troublesome thing 
 to counteract that; but it has been so far counteracted now that 
 the negro has confidence in the white man in everything but 
 
— 50 — 
 
 politics; I do not think he has much confidence in the white man 
 about politics yet, but I think that feeling is done away with to 
 a great extent.. They would tell all sorts of tales before elec- 
 tions; they would send regular orders to the League members 
 on the plantations to go and vote. I have been told that order 
 extended to negroes from fifteen years and upwards. Negroes 
 themselves have told me that they voted the Republican ticket 
 for the reason that they were informed by those men that, if 
 they did not do it, they would be put back into slavery, and their 
 wives made to work on the road. It had such an effect that a 
 gentleman in Montgomery told me that some of his own former 
 slaves came back to him after the election and said, "Well, 
 massa, what house must I go into? I understand that the Demo- 
 crats have succeeded, and that we are slaves again." 
 * * * 
 
 Question. Speaking of the distrust between the two races in 
 Alabama, you say it commenced after the organization of the 
 Freedmen's Bureau there, did you not? 
 
 Answer. Yes.sir. 
 
 Q. Were the negroes and whites in perfect accord and har- 
 mony before the organization of the Preedmen's Bureau? 
 
 A. I think they were; I never heard of any trouble between 
 them. 
 
 Q. Did they agree politically before that?* 
 
 A. I do not speak politically at all. 
 
 Q. Well, I want to know about that. 
 
 A. I do not think the negroes had any politics until the 
 Freedmen's Bureau was established there. 
 
 Q. Do you think the negroes would have acted with the 
 Democratic party, if the Freedmen's Bureau had not been es- 
 tablished there? 
 
 A. I think they would have acted with whatever party the 
 whites acted with; my own idea is that as many of the whites in 
 1865 would have acted with the Republican party as with the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 Q. Do you mean that the establishment of the Freedmen's 
 Bureau made white people turn Democratic? 
 
 A. It had a tendency to drive them off from the Republican 
 party, and for the reason that the Freedm,en's Bureau was sup- 
 posed to be one of the means of that party for the purpose of 
 creating distrust between the negroes and the white people. — 
 Ku Klux Report, Alabama Testimony, 357, 371. 
 
 ' Testimony of General W. H. Forney 
 
 I will state to you another reason why I think it [Ku Klux 
 Klan] originated. Immediately after the surrender, and when the 
 Bureau was established through our country, it was right difficult 
 for some men to realize the fact that their slaves did not belong 
 
— 51 — 
 
 to them. A colored man would work for them, but when the 
 negro would say something they did not like, probable the white 
 man would slap him as usual. The negro would report that to 
 the officer of the Bureau, and he would immediately have the- 
 man seized, carry him up there and the matter would undergo an 
 investigation; probably they would send him some fifteen or 
 twenty miles. Now the class of negroes that did that were gen- 
 erally very bad, lazy, indolent ones. I am inclined to think that 
 a good many persons thought they would band together and be- 
 a kind of patrol for that class. I think that was about the ori- 
 ginal cause of the patrol, where the Bureau-men would invariably, 
 or nearly invariably, believe the colored man, when you probably 
 never could tell the real truth, or how the thing originated. I 
 know that in my county the Bureau-men, or military men, would 
 have some of the best citizens taken up on some tale of a negro; 
 that they would send for them some fifteen or twenty miles. 
 The negro would perhaps say that he had not settled with him. 
 for his work; that would have to undergo a regular settlement. 
 Sometimes this officer would make a man pay something, and 
 again they would discharge him. I think that this thing was 
 started pretty much to frighten that class of negroes. — Ku Klux 
 Report, Alabama Testimony, 477. 
 
 Views of the Minority of the Ku Klux Committee 
 
 The enormous oppressions, extortions, and the flagrant mis- 
 rule of the local governments set up and maintained over these 
 people are not by any means the only grievances which they have 
 been compelled to submit to; even while the Federal Government 
 was administering their affairs through direct agencies from 
 Washington, they were oppressed and plundered by the Freed- 
 men's Bureau agencies, by the cotton thieves, and the military, 
 to an extent only exceeded by the carpet-bag local government 
 which superseded them. 
 
 First, as to the Freedmen's Bureau and its operations. By 
 this act, four millions of negroes became the pupils, wards, 
 servitors, and pliant tools of a political and extremely partisan 
 agency, inimical and deadly hostile to the peace, order, and best 
 interests of southern society. Under the workings of the recon- 
 struction and Freedmen's Bureau acts the foundations of social 
 and political order were uprooted and overturned; the former 
 master became the slave, and the former slave became the mas- 
 ter, the elector, the law-maker, and the ostensible ruler. The- 
 agents of the Freedmen's Bureau were, as we have shown before, 
 generally of a class of fanatics without character or* responsibility,, 
 and were selected as fit instruments to execute the partisan and. 
 unconstitutional behests of a most unscrupulous head. Thus, the 
 negroes were organized into secret political societies known as. 
 Loyal Leagues, in which organizations they were taught that their 
 
— 52 — 
 
 former owners were tlieir worst enemies, and that to act with 
 them, politically or religiously, would certainly result in their 
 re-enslavement. A regulation of this Bureau required all agree- 
 ments for service between whites and blacks to be signed and 
 witnessed in the presence of, and left in the custody of the agent. 
 It was a common practice, after a planter or farmer had con- 
 tracted in the required form with the freedmen for the year, had 
 his crops planted and in process of cultivation, that his negro 
 laborers would suddenly strike for higher wages. Nothing but 
 the intervention of the Bureau agent could induce them to return, 
 and that inducement could only be effected by the planter or 
 farmer paying to the agent from ten to twenty dollars per head. 
 This sum was simply a perquisite of the agent, and when paid, 
 the negro always returned to his labors, though not receiving a 
 cent of additional compensation. It was frequently the case that 
 the same planter or farmer would have to compensate the Bureau 
 agent from two or three times during one year, or lose his crops. 
 This system of ingenious blackmailing produced no litttle irrita- 
 tion, and frequently total bankruptcy of the planter. These Bu- 
 reau agents had authority to order the arrest, and imprisonment 
 of any citizen on the single statement of any vicious negro; and 
 if any resistance was made to the mandates of the Bureau agent, 
 the post commandant, or military governor, was always ready to 
 enforce it with a file of bayonets. Many of the agents of the 
 agents of the Bureau were preachers, and had been selected as 
 being the most devout, zealous, and loyal of that religious sect 
 known as the Northern Methodist Church. 
 
 The negroes were told in the Leagues that, although they 
 had been married according to the plantation custom for forty or 
 fifty years, as freedmen they must procure a license from the 
 [Bureau] court and be remarried. This injunction was most 
 scrupulously obeyed, and by this means the missionaries and 
 preachers made large sums of money, which was thus frequently 
 extorted from old, poor, and ignorant negroes, who had grand- 
 children and great-grandchildren. — Ku Klux Report, (Minority), 
 p. 441. 
 
 Correspondence from the N. Y. Tribune 
 
 Captain Glavis's district includes the counties of Johnston, 
 "Wilson, Wayne, Greene, Sampson, and Lenoir. He has his head- 
 quarters at Goldsboro, and visits each county at least once a 
 week. There is no civil law, and he has to act as judge, jury, 
 magistrate, sheriff, and everything else in these six counties. 
 There is a certain day called "court day" fixed for each county. 
 Yesterday was court day in Wilson county, and at the captain's 
 invitation I accompanied him. After breakfast the captain, with 
 the assistance of two clerks, began his court. There were about 
 five hundred people of all colors and classes waiting for a hear- 
 
— 53 — 
 
 ing. They come in, state their cases, and are disposed of in quick 
 order; it taking all day, however, to get through. It is hardly 
 possible to give you a full idea of the nature of the business these 
 people transacted. The negroes generally come to get hired out, 
 or bound out if under age, to make complaint against their former 
 masters for wages retained, for rations, and the settlement of 
 all disputes. Rations are rarely given except in very urgent 
 cases; and no negro can make complaint to the Bureau unless 
 he or she had made some contract for support for the ensuing 
 year. This is a good rule, and compels the unwilling and lazy 
 to work. Thus, you see, all the stuff about the Freedmen's Bu- 
 reau being a refuge for indolent negroes is so much falsehood. 
 All contracts for labor are made through the bureau, or else they 
 are not valid in case of a disagreement between the parties. »Con- 
 sequently there are always a large number of planters constantly 
 beseiging the bureau for laborers. Yesterday Captain Glavis 
 signed no less than forty contracts between planters and negroes. 
 The contracts are printed in blank, and set forth the duties and 
 requirements of each party. The most important one is that the 
 employer shall do all in his power to promote the establishment 
 of schools for the employe's children. Quite a number of chil- 
 dren are bound out also. When a man wants a child bound to 
 him he is rigidly examined by the captain, and must show that 
 he is a citizen of good character, and must promise to treat the 
 child while with him as it should be, and when it becomes free 
 must give it clothing, a Bible, and a sum of money. Most of the 
 complaints yesterday were made by negroes against their former 
 masters for wages. It they have a contract the captain hears the 
 case and give the complainant an order to the person complained 
 of, requiring said person to settle with said complainant, or ap- 
 pear on next court day to show reason for refusal. In case of a 
 non-settlement both parties appear, their evidence is taken, and 
 the captain decides to the best of his ability. Some cases are 
 so complicated, and the parties concerned so unprincipled, that it 
 requires the wit of a Philadelphia lawyer to arrange wages. A 
 couple of negroes brought complaint against an old planter, a 
 former master, for wages. Planter was ordered for trial, the 
 case was heard, and it was clearly proven that the negroes were 
 entitled to their wages. The planter, when he found that he had 
 lost the case and would have to pay, presented to the captain a 
 long list of charges for various things obtained from him by the 
 negroes. The list was read over to the negroes, and the latter 
 objected to portions of it. For instance, they were charged for 
 two pair of pantaloons when they redeived only one pair; for 
 four pair of shoes instead of two; for twenty pounds of bacon 
 instead of ten, and a large doctor's bill. The unreconstructed 
 and high-toned planter was sure this bill of charges would bal- 
 ance accounts with the "infernal niggers"; but the captain asked 
 him to take off his hat, hold up his right hand, and swear before 
 
— 54— 
 
 Almighty God that every item charged was correct. Planter hesi- 
 tated — he was old and tottering — and commenced to deign to ask 
 his "niggers" if "they were sure it was only one pair instead of 
 two pairs they received," and so on. He wouldn't swear to the 
 list of charges, and the case was dismissed, the planter being 
 ordered to pay the negroes their wages, and also to pay a fine 
 for an attempt to swindle. This is a type of the thousands of 
 cases that come before the bureau. It will give you an idea of 
 the immense amount of work that is to be performed by the per- 
 sons in charge of the bureaus. — New York Tribune, Feb. 3, 1866, 
 reprinted in Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 
 (1866), Pt. II., 194. 
 
 Opinion of John Minor Botts, of Virginia 
 
 I think that one of the great difficulties in Virginia, in regard 
 to the colored people, arises from the organization of the Freed- 
 men's Bureau — not that the Freedmen's Bureau is not in itself 
 a proper, and perhaps in some localities an idispensible institu- 
 tion, but that it stands very greatly in need of reformation. * 
 * * in it administration, and in its offices. I have heard of a 
 great many difficulties and outrages which have proceeded * * * 
 if the truth had been represented to me, from the ignorance and 
 fanaticism of persons connected with the Freedmen's Bureau, who 
 do not understand anything of the true relation of the original 
 master to the slave, and who have, in many instances, held out 
 promises and inducements which can never be realized to the 
 nnegroes, which have made them entirely indifferent to work, and 
 sometime illbehaved. On the other hand, there are many persons 
 connected with the Freedmen's Bureau who have conducted them- 
 selves with great propriety; and where that has been so there 
 has been no trouble between the whites and blacks that I know 
 of. — Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, (1866), 
 Pt. II., 123. 
 
 Opinion of General John Tarbell, U. S. Army 
 
 In respect to the freedom of speech sometimes indulged by 
 people in the south, ' I may say that they think they have well 
 grounded complaints against the Freedmen's Bureau; and I do 
 not think their criticism upon that bureau are in every instance 
 dictated by motives of disloyalty. I do not mean to say what 
 proportion of the officers of that bureau are incompetent or cor- 
 rupt,- but that there are many such I have no doubt. In such 
 districts there has been a good deal of complaint, and to a casual 
 observer their comments might be ascribed, perhaps, to motives 
 of disloyalty; but a more careful attention to the subject satis- 
 fied me that their complaints were well grounded in a great many 
 cases, for indistricts where they had upright, intelligent, and im- 
 
—55— 
 
 partial officers of the bureau, the people expressed entire satis- 
 faction. They stated to me that where they had such officers, 
 and where they had soldiers who were under good discipline, 
 they were entirely welcome, and indeed they were glad to have 
 thir presence — in some cases approving the action of bureau offi- 
 cers in punishing white men for the ill-treatment of colored peo- 
 ple, saying that the officers were perfectly right. In other dis- 
 tricts, I am satisfied that it often occurred that bureau officers, 
 wanting in good sense, would show a decided partiality for the 
 colored people, without regard to justice. I am satisfied, also, 
 there were districts where the planters would insure the favor 
 of the bureau officers to them by paying them money; and while 
 they were glad to have their favor, still they would condemn such 
 officers and in such districts there was dissatisfaction. — Report of 
 Joint Committee on Reconstruction, (1866), Pt. III., 156. 
 
 Opinion of James D. B. De Bow, Editor of 
 De Bow's Review 
 
 I think if the whole regulation of the negroes, or freedmen, 
 were left to the people of the communities in which they live, it 
 will be administered for the best interest of the negroes as well 
 as of the white men. I think there is a kindly feeling on the part 
 of the planters towards the freedmen. They are not held at all 
 responsible for anything that has happened. They are looked 
 upon as the innocent cause. In talking with a number of planters, 
 I remember some of them telling me they were succeeding very 
 well with their freedmen, having got a preacher to preach to them 
 and a teacher to teach them, believing it was for the interest of 
 the planter to make the negro feel reconciled; for, to lose his 
 services as a laborer for even a few months would be very dis- 
 astrous. The sentiment prevailing is, that it is for the interest 
 of the employer to teach the negro, to educate his children, to 
 provide a preacher for him, and to attend to his physical wants. 
 And I may say I have not seen an exception to that feeling in the 
 south. Leave the people to themselves, and they will manage 
 very well. The Freedmen's Bureau, or any agency to interfere 
 between the freedman and his former master, is only productive 
 of mischief. There are constant appeals from one to the other 
 and continual annoyances. It has a tendency to create dissatis- 
 faction and disaffection on the part of the labor, and is in every 
 respect in its result most unfavorable to tne system of industry 
 that is now being organized under the new order of things in the 
 south. I do not think there is any difference of opinion upon this 
 subject. — Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, (1866), 
 Pt. IV., 134. 
 
E>6- 
 
 7. Freedmen's Savings Bank 
 
 Information printed on the covers of Freedmen's 
 Savings Bank Book. 
 
 A man who saves ten cents a day every day for ten years, 
 will have, if he puts it at interest at six per cent. — 
 
 In 1 year he will have $ 36.99 
 
 In 2 years he will have 76.20 
 
 In 3 years he will have 117 . 81 
 
 In 4 years he will have 161 . 94 
 
 In 5 years he will have 208.74 
 
 In 6 years he will have 258 . 42 
 
 In 7 years he will have. 311.13 
 
 In 8 years he "will have 367.03 
 
 In 9 years he will have 426.37 
 
 In 10 years he will have 489.31 
 
 "I consider the Freedmen's Saving and Trust Company to be 
 greatly needed by the colored people, and have welcomed it as 
 an auxiliary to the Freedmen's Bureau." — Maj. Gen. O. O. 
 Howard. 
 
 'Tis' little by little the bee fills her cell; 
 
 And little by little a man sinks a well; 
 
 'Tis little by little a bird builds her nest; 
 
 By littles a forest in verdure is drest; 
 
 'Tis little by little great volumes are made; 
 
 By littles a mountain or levels are made; 
 
 'Tis little by little an ocean is filled; 
 
 And little by little a city we build; , 
 
 'Tis little by little an ant gets her store; 
 
 Every little we add to a little makes more; 
 
 Step by step we walk miles, and we sew stitch by stitch; 
 
 Word by word we read books, cent by cent we grow rich. 
 
 This is a benevolent institution. All profits go to the de- 
 positors, or to educational purposes for the freedmen and their 
 descendants. 
 
 The whole institution is under the charter of Congress, and 
 received the commendation and countenance of the President, 
 Abraham Lincoln. One of the last official acts of his valued life 
 was the signing of the bill which gave legal existence to this bank. 
 — Ho. Misc. Doc. No. 16, 43 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 83, 8'5. 
 
— 57 — 
 
 Benefits of the Freedmen's Savings Bank 
 
 The Savings and Trust Company for freedmen, chartered by 
 Congress last winter and placed under your advisement, has gone 
 into successful operation in nearly all the States south, and 
 promises to do much to instruct and elevate the financial notions 
 of the freedmen. The trustees and friends of the institution be- 
 lieve that the industry of these four millions furnishes a solid 
 basis for its operations. Pauperism can be brought to -a close; 
 the freedmen made self-supporting and prosperous, paying for 
 their educational and Christian institutions, and helping to bear 
 the burdens of government by inducing habits of saving in what 
 they earn. That which savings banks have done for the wotking 
 men of the north it is presumed they are capable of doing for. 
 these laborers. I was privately and publicly told that the freed- 
 men welcomed the institution. They understand our explanations 
 of its meaning, and the more intelligent see and appreciate fully 
 its benefits. . Calls were made upon me at all large towns for 
 branches of the bank. In fifteen of the more central places, viz., 
 Washington, Mobile, Richmond, Norfolk, Newbern, Wilmington, 
 Charleston, Beaufort, Savannah, New Orleans, Vicksburg, Hunts- 
 ville, Nashville, Memphis, and Louisville, such branches were es- 
 tablished. Most of these begin to make returns. — Prom Report, 
 January 1, 1866, of J. WL Alvord, Inspector of Bureau Schools. — 
 Ho. Ex. Doc. No. 70, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
 Investigation of the Bank by Congress 
 
 Unanimous Report, May 19; 1876. 
 
 As a befitting introduction to their report your committee 
 offer the following brief account of the origin, structure, and 
 early history of the institution commonly known as the Freed- 
 man's Bank, from which it is believed that if not originally con- 
 ceived in fraud it will be easy to discern how naturally it degen- 
 erated into a monstrous swindle and justifies a suspicion that it 
 was, almost from the start, merely a scheme of selfishness under 
 the guise of philanthropy, and to its confiding victims an incor- 
 porate body of false pretenses. While the civil war was still in 
 progress it had occurred to some of the generals of the Federal 
 armies that depositories for receiving and keeping the pay and 
 bounties of the colored Union soldiers would be a convenient and 
 necessary provision for their benefit, and accordingly military 
 savings banks were established at Norfolk, Va., and at Beaufort, 
 S. C. They seemed to have been well-timed and suitable to the 
 object in view, as the colored soldiers eagerly availed themselves 
 for depositing therein such portions of their pay and bounties as 
 
—58 — 
 
 they did not need for their own immediate use, and large sums 
 were found to have accumulated in them when hostilities ceased. 
 From some cause or other, hut doubtless by the death of many, 
 the dispersion of the survivors, and the prevailing ignorance of 
 the class of depositors, this money remained ' uncalled for, and 
 (allowing for some peculation) for the most part a profitless 
 incumbrance to the stakeholders. To utilize this fund and to 
 collect and turn to profit the large sums still due and to be paid 
 by the Government seemed to have led to the conception of the 
 idea of a Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, ostensibly for 
 the benefit of "persons lately held in slavery," but, as the sequel 
 proves, for their spoliation and robbery. The Freedman's 
 Bureau, so redolent of evil under specious guise, and an adept 
 in the ways and means of squandering money, readily supplied 
 the personal agencies for the undertaking. Of these the chief 
 and founder of the so-called Freedmen's Bank was one John W. 
 Alvord, an attache of the bureau, and superintendent of its edu- 
 cational department. This man, who had been anything but a 
 success, abounding in pious platitudes about the good of mankind 
 in general, but with a keen eye to the main chance at the same 
 time, having proved a failure in both lay and clerical pursuits in 
 other sections, now turned his benevolent regards to the confid- 
 ing and ignorant black element of the South. He got up the 
 charter for the bank, a charter so singular in its array of high and 
 eminent names for corporators, for its business organization, 
 whereby nine out of fifty trustees were constituted a quorum, 
 and so utterly and. entirely without safeguards or protection for 
 those who were to become its patrons and depositors that it is 
 hard to believe that its author, whatever might have been his 
 other deficiencies, did not thoroughly understand how to organize 
 cunning against simplicity and make it pay for the pleasure of 
 being cheated. As no intentional injustice is designed by your 
 committee in their search for and exposure of the men who are 
 responsible for the outrages perpetrated upon the colored people 
 by the bank, we desire to say right here that many of the dis- 
 tinguished and eminently worthy gentlemen who figure in the 
 charter never gave the use of their names and never accepted or 
 undertook to execute the trust it created. They were thrust in for 
 appearance sake and to make the delusion attractive and com- 
 plete. Some who really believed in the good professions of the 
 projectors of the scheme and its adaptability to promote the wel- 
 fare of those for whose benefit it was apparently intended, and 
 who at first took seats at the board of trustees, quickly vacated 
 them in disgust, and the whole management soon devolved, as 
 was manifestly the intention that it should do, upon a cabal in 
 Washington, consisting of a small minority of the acting trustees. 
 Theoretically the design and the structure of the bank were 
 admirable. The pecuniary benefit of the freedmen, and the 
 moral and social advantages which attend upon material pros- 
 
— 59 — 
 
 perity, were the avowed objects. The various benefits of this 
 beneficent scheme were so divided and allotted out to boards and 
 committees as seemingly to insure efficiency and fidelity in the 
 officers and agents, and proper guarantees to depositors. But 
 the human instrumentalities on which the system depended for 
 its successful operation were lamentably defective. As before 
 said, the law lent no efficacy to the moral obligations assumed 
 by the trustees, officers, and agents, and the whole concern in- 
 evitably became as a "whited sepulcher," "fair on the outside, 
 but within, full of dead .men's bones," rottenness, and corrup- 
 tion. The inspectors provided by the by-laws were of little or 
 no value, either through the connivance and ignorance of the 
 inspectors or the indifference of the trustees to their reports, 
 
 * * * The committee of examination * * * were still 
 more careless and inefficient, while the board of trustees, as a 
 supervising and administrative body, intrusted with the fullest 
 power of general control over the management, proved utterly 
 faithless to the trust reposed in them. Everything was left to 
 the actuary and finance committee. Such was the practical work- 
 ing of the machine. * * * 
 
 * * * But they, the depositors, were of small account 
 
 * * * compared' with the personal interest of the political 
 jobbers, real-estate pools, and fancy-stock speculators, who were 
 organizing a raid upon the freedmen's money and resorted to 
 an amendment of the charter to facilitate their operations. The 
 District [of Columbia] government, too, came in to hasten and 
 profit by the work of spoliation thus inaugurated. Its treasury 
 was wholly unequal to the task of sustaining the magnificent 
 expenditures of the board of public works, presided over by H. D. 
 Cooke, and controlled by Mr. A. R. Shepherd. Some exchequer 
 must be found to advance upon the depreciated bonds and worth- 
 less auditor's certificates of the District, or the contracts must 
 fail, and the speculators of the pool and of Shepherd and his 
 friends in out-of-the-way and unimproved town lots come to 
 grief. This mass of putridity, the District government, now 
 abhorred of all men, and abandoned and repudiated even by the 
 political authors of its being, was represented in the bank by no 
 less than five of its high officers, viz, H. D. Cooke, George W. 
 Balloch, Wm. S. Huntington, D. L. Baton, and Z. B. Richards, 
 all of whom were in one way or other concerned in speculations 
 more or less dependent for a successful issue on sustaining the 
 contractors under the board of public works, and a free use of 
 the funds of the Freedman's Bank. They were high in power, 
 too, with the dominant influence in Congress, as the legislation 
 they asked or sanctioned and obtained, fully demonstrated. Thus 
 it was that without consulting the wishes or regarding the inter- 
 ests of those most concerned — the depositors — the vaults of the 
 bank were literally thrown open to unscrupulous greed and 
 rapacity. The toilsome savings of the poor negroes, hoarded and 
 
—60,— 
 
 laid by for a rainy day, through the carelessness and dishonest 
 connivance of their self -constituted guardians, melted away — 
 vanished into thin air in the form of millions of so-Called assets, 
 on which by no possible contingency can fifty cents on the dollar 
 be ever realized to the unfortunate victims of heartless duplicity 
 and misplaced confidence. The wolves literally became the pas- 
 tors of the flock, and, without compunction or remorse, devoured 
 the younglings committed to their care. In the foregoing nar- 
 rative your committee have necessarily, though somewhat inci- 
 dentally, touched upon and pointed out the prime, but remote 
 and indirect, causes of the failure of .the Preedman's Bank^— 
 which was the utter and complete omission to provide in the law 
 of its organization any safeguards for the protection of the de- 
 positors, who were encouraged and invited to trust their millions 
 to its keeping. 
 
 * * * Your committee call attention to the books of the 
 bank. Their condition, indicates a settled purpose, running 
 through a series of years, to muddle and confuse accounts so as 
 to make them unintelligible. But whether through design or 
 not, such is the result. If nothing more than an occasional mis- 
 take or slight "irregularity" occurred, it might be set down, 
 perhaps, to the inexperience of the book-keepers or the want of 
 clerical force to write up the books properly without imputing 
 very great harm to any one. But it is far otherwise. The books 
 are mutilated and defaced — leaves cut out in some places and 
 firmly pasted together in others — without proper indexes to guide 
 and direct the searcher into their hidden mysteries— abounding 
 in false entries and forced balances, altogether exhibiting a 
 labyrinth of winding and never-ending perplexity and contradict 
 tions that defy the scrutiny of the sharpest experts. * * * 
 And now, taking a retrospective glance over the events of the 
 last ten years, in which this Preedman's Bank looms up con- 
 spicuously, we are led to believe that no race or kindred among 
 all the generations of men have so thoroughly sounded the depths 
 of the philosophy expressed in the prayer, save me from my 
 friends, as those "persons lately held in slavery" at the South, a 
 people over whom more crocodile tears have been shed, on whom 
 more imposition practiced, and for whom less real sympathy 
 felt by their professed friends, than any other known to history— 
 a people almost literally stabbed under the fifth rib with a hug 
 and a salutation "How is it with thee to-day, my brother?" In 
 regard to this bank, the grossest deception was practiced upon 
 them. They were told it was a Government institution, and its 
 solvency: and safety guaranteed by the United States. Mission- 
 aries, of whom the chief was Alvord, perambulated the South 
 mixing religion, politics, education, and teaching the blacks how 
 "to toil and to save," and then trust their hard-earned savings 
 to Alvord and his associates to invest them, not until, however, 
 they had levied toll for their services in bestowing such inesti- 
 mable benefits, and for their, disinterested labors and sacrifices. 
 
—61 — 
 
 Full of gratitude to the Government for his emancipation, the 
 negro was easily approached by, and gave unheeding to, any 
 adventurer who declared himself his friend and professed a desire 
 to aid his moral, intellectual, and social elevation, provided he 
 belonged to the party of the administration. He believed and 
 was deceived, trusted and was betrayed^ Taught, to his ruin and 
 that of the whites among whom he lives and moves and has his 
 being, and between whom and himself there must be mutual trust 
 and confidence before prosperity can be restored to his section, 
 to hate and. distrust the "old master classes," he is now derided 
 by his old friends for his credulity, * * * and told that 
 those who dragged him out of slavery have by that one act can- 
 celed every obligation to deal with him on principles of common 
 honesty. Upon no one of the originators and trustees (>f the 
 bank did so great responsibility rest as upon John W. Alvord, 
 but yet he permitted «all the misdoings described in this report 
 to go on from year to year without any vigorous protest or effort 
 to correct them, and, so far from giving warnings to those who 
 had so trusted the concern through his persuasion, he helped to 
 keep up the delusion by praising it, enlarging upon its benefits, 
 giving assurances of its stability, and soliciting increase of de- 
 positors and deposits. * * * 
 
 Ho. Rept. No. 502, 44th Cong., 1st Sess. 
 
 An Act to Incorporate the Freedmen's Savings 
 and Trust Company 
 
 March 3, 1865. 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Peter 
 Cooper, William C. Bryant, A. A. Low, S. B. Chittenden, Charles 
 H. Marshall, William A. Booth, Garritt Smith, William A. Hall, 
 William Allen, John Jay, Abraham Baldwin, A. S. Barnes, Hiram 
 Barney, Seth B. Hunt, Samuel Holmes, Charles Collins, R. R. 
 Graves,- Walter- S. Griffith, A. H. -WalliSi D.-Sr-Gregopy-,— J-.- W. 
 Alvord, George Whipple, A. S. Hatch, B. A, Lambert, W- C. 
 Lambert, Roe Lockwoad, R. H. Manning, R. W. Ropes, Albert 
 WjjodruJL _and_.IkQmas -Denny,. nf_Ne.w.. York ;~ John. M — Forbes, 
 William Claflin, S. G. Howe, George L. Stearns, Edward Atkinson, 
 
 A. A. Lawrence, and John M. S. Williams, of Massachusetts; 
 Edward Harris and Thomas Davis, of Rhode Island; Stephen 
 Colwell, J. Wheaton Smith, Francis E. Cope, Thomas Webster, 
 
 B. S. Hunt, and Henry Samuel, of Pennsylvania; Edward Har- 
 wood, Adam Poe, Levi Coffin, J. M. Walden, of Ohio, and their 
 successors, are constituted a body corporate in the city of 
 Washington, in the District of Columbia, by the name of the 
 
 "Free7lmen''S'^aTings _ and - T"rust" Company, and" by that nafne'may 
 be sued in any court of the United States. * * * 
 
— 62 — 
 
 Sec. 5. * * * the general business and object of the 
 corporation hereby created shall be, to receive on deposit such 
 sums of money as may, from time to time, be offered therefor, 
 by or on behalf of persons heretofore held in slavery in the 
 United States, or their descendants, and investing the same in 
 the stocks, bonds, Treasury notes, or other securities of the 
 United States. 
 
 Sec. 11. * * * in the case of the death of any depositor, 
 whose deposit shall not be held upon any trust created pursuant 
 to the provisions hereinbefore 'contained, or where it may prove 
 impossible to execute such trust, it shall be the duty of the cor- 
 poration to make diligent efforts to ascertain and discover 
 whether such deceased depositor has left a husband, wife, or 
 children surviving, and the corporation shall keep a record of 
 the effects so made, and of the results thereof; and in case no 
 person lawfully entitled thereto shall be discovered, or shall ap- 
 pear, or claim the funds remaining to "the credit of such de- 
 positor before the expiration of two years from the death of such 
 depositor, it shall be lawful for the corporation to hold and invest 
 such funds as a separate trust fund, to be applied, with the ac- 
 cumulations thereof, to the education and improvement of persons 
 heretofore held in slavery, or their descendants, being inhabitants 
 of the United States, in such manner and through such agencies 
 as the board of trustees shall deem best calculated to effect that 
 object: Provided, That if any depositor be not heard from 
 within five years from that date of his last deposit, the trustees 
 shall advertise the same in some paper of general circulation in 
 the state where the depositor was last heard from; and if, within 
 two years thereafter such depositor shall not appear, nor a hus- 
 band, wife, or child of such depositor, to claim his deposits, they 
 shall be used by the board of trustees as hereinbefore provided 
 for in section * * * Ho. Mis. Doc. No. 16, 43 Cong., 2 
 
 s. p. 85. 
 
 Table Showing the Relative Business of the Company for Each 
 
 Fiscal Year. 
 
 For year ending Mch. 1 
 
 Total amount 
 of deposits 
 
 Total amount 
 of drafts 
 
 Balance due 
 Depositors 
 
 1866 
 1867 
 1868 
 1869 
 1870 
 1871 
 
 $ 305,167.00 
 
 1,624,853.33 
 
 3,582,378.36 
 
 7,257,798.63 
 
 12,605,781.95 
 
 19,952,647.36 
 
 $ 105,883.58 
 
 1,258,515.00 
 
 2,944,079.36 
 
 6,184,333.32 
 
 10,948,775.2,0 
 
 17,497,111.25 
 
 199,283.42 
 
 366,338.33 
 
 638,299.00 
 
 1,073,465.31 
 
 1,657,006.75 
 
 2,455,836.11 
 
 — Ho. Misc. Doc. No. 16. 43 Cong., 2 Sess. p. 91. 
 
-63- 
 
 Amount of Deposit at the Various Branches of the Freed man's 
 Savings and Trust Company. 
 
 February 14, 1874, date of failure of Bank. 
 
 Branches. 
 
 Deposits. 
 
 Branches. 
 
 Deposits. 
 
 
 .$ 21,584 
 
 Montgomery, Ala.. . 
 
 .$ 29,743 
 
 
 28,404 
 
 
 22,195 
 
 
 96,882 
 
 
 78,525 
 
 
 303,947 
 
 New Berne, N. C. . . 
 
 40,621 
 
 
 55,592 
 
 New Orleans, La. . . 
 
 240,006 
 
 Charleston, S. C. . . 
 
 . . 255,345 
 
 New York, N. Y.. . 
 
 344,071 
 
 Columbus, Miss. . , 
 
 18,857 
 
 Norfolk, Va 
 
 126,337 
 
 
 19,823 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. . . 
 
 84,657 
 
 Huntsville, Ala. . . , 
 
 35,963 
 
 Raleigh, N. C 
 
 &6.703 
 
 Jacksonville, Fla. . 
 
 22,022 
 
 
 166,000 
 
 Lexington, Ky. . . . 
 
 34,193 
 
 
 153,425 
 
 Little Rock, Ark. . . 
 
 17,728 
 
 Shreveport, La. . . . 
 
 30,312 
 
 Louisville, Ky 
 
 137,094 
 
 
 58,397 
 
 
 19,967 
 
 Tallahassee, Fla. . . 
 
 40,207 
 
 
 54,342 
 
 
 ,. 104,348 
 
 Memphis, Tenn. . . . 
 
 96,755 
 
 Washington, D. C. . 
 
 384,789 
 
 Mobile, Ala 
 
 95,144 
 
 Wilmington, N. C. . 
 
 45,223 
 
 Total $3,299,201 
 
 — Ho. Misc. Doc. 16, 43 Cong., 2 Sess. p. 61. 
 
West Virginia University 
 
 Announcements , of the facilities and courses in the following 
 departments may be had by-writing" to the President: 
 
 JL Arts and Sciences. 
 
 2. Engineering. 
 
 3. Thel.aw. 
 
 4. Medicine. 
 
 5. Agriculture including 
 Dairying, Horticulture, Vet- 
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West Virginia University Documents 
 
 Relating to Reconstruction. Edited 
 
 by Walter L. Fleming, Professor of No. 8 
 
 History. 
 
 LAWS RELATING TO FREEDMEN 
 
 1865-6 
 
 PRICE, 20 CENTS. 
 
 Morgantown, West Virginia 
 1904 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 RELATING TO RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 Edited by Walter I,. Fleming, Ph. D., 
 Professor of History in West Virginia Tniversity 
 
 The following numbers have been issued : 
 
 No. 1. The Constitution and Ritual of the Knights of the White Camelia. Single 
 number, 32 Pages. (Out of print.) 
 
 No. 2. The Revised and Amended Prescript of Ku Klux Klan. Single number 
 32 pages; price, 15 cents. 
 
 No. 3. Union league Documents. Single number, 36 pages; price, 15 cents. 
 
 Nos. 4 & 5. (I) Public Frauds in South Carolina. 
 
 (2) The Constitution of the Council of Safety. 
 
 (3) A I,ocal Ku Klux Klan Constitution . 
 
 (5) The '76 Association. 
 
 Double number, 64 pages; price, 30 cents 
 
 Nos. 6 & 7. (I) Freedmen's Bureau Documents. 
 
 (2) Freedmen's Savings Bank. 
 
 Double number, 64 pages; price 30 cents 
 
 .No. 8. I,aws Relating to Freedmen. 1865-1866. 
 
 Single number, 32 pages; price, 20 cents 
 
 ANNUAI, SUBSCRIPTION, EIGHT NUMBERS, ONE DOUAR 
 
The "Black Codes" of 1 865-1 866 
 
 The so-called "Black Laws" were passed during the fall and 
 winter of 1865-1866 by the legislatures of the former Confederate 
 States. The purpose of these laws was to incorporate into the 
 social order the three and a half millions of blacks, lately slaves, 
 now free, ignorant, helpless, brutal, demoralized and dangerous. 
 For these people no laws existed. Those on the statute books ap- 
 plied only to whites or to free negroes under a slavery regime. 
 The most important provisions of the laws relating to freedmen were 
 as follows: Definition of persons of color, citizenship conferred on 
 the negro, right to hold property and to testify in court, regulations 
 concerning apprenticeship, contracts, marriages, family relations. 
 In general the object of the laws was to force the negro to have a 
 home and employment, to compel him to fulfill contracts, to protect 
 him in person and property, to give him a standing in court and a 
 legal position in the social order, to regulate morals and conduct, 
 to strengthen family relations, to protect the whites from lawless 
 blacks, to provide for the orphans, the sick, the aged and the poor, 
 and, with some exceptions, to extend to the blacks the laws relating 
 to the whites. These exceptions were more or less stringent 
 regulations -believed to be necessary for the proper control of 
 the demoralized negroes. Some of these laws provided heavier 
 penalties for blacks, others inflicted heavier penalties upon whites. 
 The principle was that the races were unlike and unequal, and 
 needed, in some matters, different legislation. Many of the laws 
 were modeled upon the regulations of the Freedmen's Bureau, but 
 from a different point of view. 
 
 Northern politicians severely criticised this legislation, and it has 
 been put forward as an excuse for the radical measures of the 
 Thirty-ninth Congress. As a matter of fact, the radical leaders had 
 matured their plans before the passage of the laws, but the latter 
 served as a convenient issue in the campaign. The criticisms were 
 as follows: the laws were "framed with malignant cunning" for 
 the purpose of re-enslaving the blacks; they were intended as "an 
 easy way back to slavery,' etc. It was assumed that the southern 
 whites and the blacks were necessarily hostile to each other and 
 that the former would execute justly no laws that related to the 
 latter. The spirit and the purpose of the laws- were entirely mis- 
 understood. 
 
 None of these laws containing distinctions made on account of color 
 was ever enforced ,and during the next two years they were re- 
 pealed.* Only the most stringent of the laws are here printed. 
 
 •The best accounts of these laws are: Burgess, Reconstruction, pp. 42-45; Garner, 
 Reconstruction in Mississippi, pp. 109 121; fchodes, History of the United States, 
 vol. 4', pp. 555-556. Partisan and incorrect accounts which will show the nature 
 ol the agitation against the laws are found in Blaine. Twenty Years in Congress, 
 vol. 2, pp, 93-107, and McCall, Thaddeus Stevens, pp. 250-255; Cox, Three Decades 
 of Federal legislation. Comparisons of the "Black I«aws" with similar legisla- 
 tion of the northern and southern states are found in Herbert, Solid South, pp. 
 31-36, and Garner, Mississippi, p. 119. 
 
NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 Report of the Committee Appointed to Prepare Laws 
 Relating to Freedmen, January 22, 1866. 
 
 * * The committee are aware that the great and radical 
 changes occasioned hy emancipation, in the fixed habits and cus- 
 toms of the people, cannot he truly estimated at once; and there- 
 fore they forbear, as much as possible, to speculate by legislative 
 anticipation, for such changes as may even probably become neces- 
 sary in the course of time. They deem it the more prudent course 
 to proceed now by new laws only so far as the way appears to be 
 clear. They prefer to let the common law apply its flexible rules 
 for human conduct to the new state of things, rather than frame 
 for it rigid and perhaps misconceived legislation. 
 ■"> The general assembly will perceive that we have omitted all 
 such punishments as the involuntary hiring out of persons of color, 
 and also of whipping them, except in cases where white persons are 
 thus punished. 
 
 __ Public whipping is a species of punishment which ought rarely 
 to be inflicted on any one whom it is the purpose of the law to 
 reclaim from crime. The culprit thus punished becomes utterly 
 degraded in public esteem; and it would be wonderful if he did not 
 become so in his own. A freeman thus degraded, loses all incentive 
 to virtue; and so far as his example can extend as a parent or other- 
 wise, he inculcates all his vices in those around him. 
 
 jTt may be said, with perfect truth, that there are comparatively 
 few of the slaves lately freed who are honest; but this vice now so 
 prevalent among them may be traced to other and more probable 
 causes than any natural depravity peculiar to the negro race, which 
 by some physiologists, are declared to be naturally destitute of moral 
 principles in a greater degree than any other people yet known. 
 TJie committee have not regulated their code by this doctrine., And 
 It-it were true, there is but the greater necessity for correcting the 
 natural obliquity by proper cjvil institutions wisely administered. 
 That the race is not beyond the reach of a proper moral training, is 
 evident from the many examples among them of sobriety, industry, 
 and honesty. If it owed its depravity to the vicious nature peculiar 
 to the race, we ought to be able by this time to trace some steps of 
 improvement in the mixture of its blood with that of other races 
 of men. 
 
 The committee have not discovered, nor has it been maintained, 
 that the mixed-blooded slave has been elevated in the moral virtues 
 of the white race as he advanced toward it in color. It may not be 
 
amiss to remark that the punishment by hiring is rather of modern 
 date. The first enactment to this effect was in 1831, and its constitu- 
 tionality was seriously questioned by eminent lawyers, though 
 settled by an able court. 
 
 \ Your honorable body will perceive, also, that we recommend that 
 the courts should be carefully opened to the negro race, for protect- 
 ing their persons and property, and all the rights of freemen, by 
 being heard as witnesses whenever their rights are in controversy. 
 
 The enactment recommended allows their evidence in civil cases 
 only where the rights of person or property of persons of color would 
 be precluded by the judgment or decrees made in those cases. And 
 in criminal cases, only where the violence, fraud, or injuay charged 
 to have been done by or on them is put directly in issue./ 
 
 If the testimony is to be admitted at all, it ought to be extended 
 to such cases. The effect of thus limiting it will not deny ttoem any 
 advantages, but, on the contrary, will secure to them the most 
 perfect protection that human evidence can afford. Beyond the 
 accomplishment of this object we have not felt ourselves authorized 
 to go. The result of allowing it to this extent will be, that when-v 
 colored persons are parties they may call to the witness stand the V) 
 whole population of the land not rendered incompetent by want of l 
 understanding, interest, or religious unbelief; while in cases where I 
 white persons alone are parties, white persons only will be competent / 
 witnesses. -J 
 
 The committee will proceed to give some of the reasons which 
 have induced them to recommend the reception of the evidence of 
 negroes, as provided in Section II: 
 
 First. The present helpless and unprotected condition of the 
 race demand it. 
 
 Their condition of personal security is greatly changed. Prior 
 to emancipation they were grouped on farms which they seldom left, 
 and were overlooked by their masters or overseers, surrounded by 
 families of white children. 
 
 They were not only watched by the whites to preserve .the dis- 
 cipline necessary for servitude, and to prevent spoliations, but were 
 cared for and protected as property. It was the slave-holder's 
 interest to prevent, and when committed, to punish, any injuries 
 done to the persons of their slaves. " The interest of one slave-holder 
 was the interest of all; so that their security was guaranteed by 
 the common interest of the wealthiest and most powerful men in 
 the country, and of course, of all their kindred and adherents, 
 among whom, generally, were their poorest white neighbors. Thus 
 the person of the slave (without reckoning the feelings of humanity 
 which have generally characterized the slave-holders of this State) 
 became the subject of general protection by every class of white 
 men, and any outrage on his person was a general cause for common 
 vindication. With this shield of security, the white aggressor was 
 checked in his violence; and if not, his detection was almost sure. 
 These sources of personal security are all removed by emancipation, 
 
and without the capacity to bear evidence, he stands in numerous 
 cases utterly defenceless, except by opposing force to force against 
 every species of outrage offered to himself or t» his family, 
 whether in his presence alone, or under the eye of other colored 
 persons. If he should submit to the violence, and suffer the most 
 grievous wrongs, there is no one who can be heard in his behalf; 
 and he could expect, from his submission, nothing less than a repe- 
 tition of his unredressed wrongs. 
 
 If he should oppose force to force in the justest cause, what- 
 ever might be the result, his mouth and the mouths of all colored 
 witnesses would be closed. 
 
 It is a truth not less obvious than established by all experience, 
 that breaches of the peace always decrease in proportion to the 
 facility and impartiality with which the violator is brought to 
 justice. Citizens will not readily avenge themselves when the 
 sword of the law is at hand to do for them; but when the law is 
 powerless, from whatever cause, the hand of private violence will 
 be sure to come to the aid of self-defence. It is, therefore, clear 
 that by protecting the person of the negro, we shall most certainly 
 protect the person of the white man. If the former may be out- 
 raged in his own domicile or secret places, or along the highway 
 in open day with impunity, because he may be incompetent to testify 
 to the wrong, he will turn from the door of the codrt-house and 
 seek his redress elsewhere, and in a way, too, that will likewise 
 shut the mouth of him who may witness the act. Let no one sup- 
 pose such a result improbable, if the great and just law-giver of 
 the Jews has himself set. the example to an enslaved people. 
 
 Secondly. That admission of such evidence is necessary to 
 secure the colored people in their rights of property. 
 
 While in slavery they had no property. What was set apart 
 for their use belonged to their masters, and was under his protec- 
 tion. In their new state they enter on the broad ground of citizen- 
 ship, and become actors in all the departments of social life. They 
 are allowed to trade with the white man in every article of prop- 
 erty; to possess and cultivate lands, and, by all wise means, should 
 be encouraged to habits of industry and a desire for honest acquisi- 
 tion. 
 
 The protection of a man's honest gains should ever be, after 
 the protection of his person, the next great policy of a wise Common- 
 wealth. If the property which a negro shall own, his cattle, his 
 money, may all be carried off, yea, his very house robbed of its 
 furniture, and his person of his valuables, by abandoned white 
 men, and he shall be unable to bring the robbers to justice because 
 the witnesses are colored, can the race feel any ardent disposition 
 to labor for themselves? On the contrary, will they not feel doubly 
 tempted by such want of security for their own property to become 
 depredators themselves, especially when they reflect that it is the 
 white man's policy which thus exposes them to licentious white 
 men? But, besides such glaring cases of public wrongs which will 
 
go unredressed by excluding their evidence, there are many of a 
 more private nature which depraved white men would perpetrate 
 on them or procure to be done by their negro associates, as their 
 instruments. Already the wicked white man and corrupt dependent 
 negro have banded together in lawless thefts and frauds on indus- 
 trious and peaceful citizens, both white and black; and the white 
 associate, if negro evidence shall be excluded, will stand secure in 
 .his villainy behind his colored friend- 
 
 The calamity to public virtue and private rights would be incal- 
 culable if those who were injured could not testify against the per- 
 petrator of the crime. How shocked would every citizen of North 
 Carolina feel if the legislature should enact that no person assaulted 
 and beaten, no one whose property was stolen, no one robbed, and 
 no one ravished, should bear evidence of the crime? The exclusion 
 of negro evidence places that race in just such a condition. , 
 
 The committee are of opinion that the protection of person ana- 
 property imperiously demands that the evidence of colored per- 
 sons be admitted for that purpose, unless it should be excluded upon 
 some ground of public policy still higher than such as favors its 
 introduction. We have heard of but one that is plausible, and that 
 is the general falsity of such evidence. No one pretends that it is,, 
 universally false. It is urged, however, that, for the greater part, 
 the evidence is not reliable, and, if universally believed, would pro- 
 duce far more wrong than right. 
 
 We are fully aware of a lamentable prevalence of this vice among 
 the race. It is a natural offspring of their recent slavery and degra- 
 dation. Forced to an involuntary servitude, and required to do 
 many things against their will, without any apparent profit to them- 
 selves, it was natural for them to disobey if they found temporary 
 ease in disobedience; and to avoid correction, it was equally natural 
 for them to endeavor to escape it by falsehood. The vice of lyings 
 is and ever has been common to all people in slavery. Universal 
 and unvarying truth is the highest and purest of all virtues; and if 
 the most veracious persons only were competent witnesses, there 
 would be many cases of the highest interest to the public without a 
 single witness. Such a rule, however, has never marked the policy 
 of justice in its investigation of facts. 
 
 It has been said that in a by-gone age the rules of evidence with 
 us were framed rather to exclude falsehood than to admit truth; 
 but even when these rules were administered in this spirit all per- 
 sons above seven years old, of sufficient understanding, not re- 
 ligiously insensible to the obligations of an oath, nor parties directly 
 interested in the cause, were competent witnesses, unless they had 
 been rendered infamous by conviction of some infamous crime, and 
 judgment rendered thereon. These were English rules of the com- 
 mon law; and so long as they prevailed there was no nation on the 
 earth whose inhabitants were excluded as witnesses from English 
 courts., t it mattered not what was their color, crime, or religion. 
 It is probable that at a very ea,rly period after the introduction of 
 
8 
 
 African slavery into this State the slave was forbidden to testify 
 against a white person, and it is probable also that the exclusion 
 was soon extended to free persons of color. Slaves were not al- 
 lowed to bear testimony against free persons of color until 1821. 
 
 The policy of excluding such testimony was founded on- two con- 
 siderations: First, the entire and absolute dependence of a 
 slave on his master, and their social relation which rendered him 
 unfit to bear witness for or against his master, or for or against 
 any person to whom his master extended his favor or dislike. Be- 
 sides this, the settled policy was to humble the slave and extinguish 
 in him the pride of independence. This latter policy was extended 
 in 1821 to the free negro, who, it was alleged, was greatly corrupt- 
 ing the slave by claiming superior privileges over him. 
 
 Emancipation having destroyed the distinction, all legislation 
 concerning the colored race must be the same. 
 
 The rules regulating the admissibility of the evidence of white 
 persons, with a few exceptions, remain with us as they were a cen- 
 tury since. But all at once the slave has disappeared, and upwards 
 of 300,000 free persons of color are added to the population; these, 
 with those before existing, constitute one-third of our entire people. 
 Shall they be admitted to the witness stand? If it ever was, it is 
 certainly not now our policy to degrade them. On the contrary, 
 our true policy is to elevate them in every way consistent with the 
 safety and good government of the community. They must be edu- 
 cated out of their ignorance, and reformed out of their vicious habits. 
 
 If the admission of their evidence will not seriously endanger 
 the administration of our laws, our manifest policy is to allow it; 
 for nothing, in our opinion, tends more to inculcate a regard for 
 truth than the almost unavoidable detection of falsehood, which 
 occurs in judicial investigations before a jury, where the parties 
 and witnesses are known, and their manner and conduct are scrutin- 
 ized in the ordeal of trial. 
 
 If it be true that either the negro race or the negro in our midst, 
 civilized as he is beyond his native condition, be so mendacious 
 that he cannot be safely heard in our court of justice, it seems to 
 us that it is one of your highest duties to exclude them as wit- 
 nesses in all cases whatsoever, as well those in which they are the 
 sole parties as those wherein one of the parties is a white man, 
 and, above all things, not to allow persons of color to be convicted 
 of capital felonies and deprived- of life on such unreliable evidence. 
 If to this suggestion it may be truly replied that he can be trusted 
 when his own color is on trial, then it follows^ that he yet loves 
 truth better than falsehood, unless he is seduced by his prejudices 
 against the white man. Now, if this be so, this general character- 
 istic of the race will soon develop itself, and thenceforth receive its 
 just estimate at the hands of a white judge and a white jury. It is 
 just to truth, however, for us to admit that neither during the won- 
 derful and enduring conflict of arms, popularly announced in their 
 very midst to be in behalf of their freedom, they did not exhibit, 
 
nor since its termination nave they exhibited, any decided marks 
 of prejudice against their late masters. 
 
 It must be conceded by the opponents of s«ch evidence that if 
 strong prejudices be sufficient to exclude the testimony of wit- 
 nesses, all experience teaches that public prosecutors, near kindred, 
 and personal enemies, ought to be set aside as incompetent; and, 
 if general corruption be also sufficient cause for exclusion, the man 
 whose character for truth on oath is proved by all his acquaintances 
 to be bad, ought no more to be heard in the ascertainment of facts - 
 than a negro. Yet in all these cases the witness is heard, subject 
 to so many "grains of allowance" on account of his established and 
 admitted infirmity as a jury may judge to be the proper measure. 
 It is settled by our highest judicial tribunal' that the testimony of 
 a witness who commits a perjury, apparent to the jury in fjhe very 
 case in which he is examined, must nevertheless be weighed by the 
 jury for what it is worth. 
 
 By the laws of all civilized Europe, regulating the competency of 
 witnesses, none are excluded by reason of character, race, color, or 
 religion. We ourselves admit the semi-barbarian of every continent 
 and island; of every nation and tongue; of every religion — 
 Christian, heathen, and pagan; and of every color and race, unless 
 he may fall under the ethnological varieties of the human species 
 denominated Negroes and Indians. 
 
 We are not prepared to admit, nor indeed do we believe, that 
 the colored man in North Carolina is entitled to less credit on his 
 Christian oath than the colored Musselman, or heathen of Asia or 
 Egypt, or of other parts of Africa, is when sworn on his Koran or 
 other symbols of religious reverence. And when we consider the 
 many thousands in the State who are in full fellowship as Chris- 
 tians, though we are quite sensible of the general demoralization 
 which pervades them as a class," we feel little dread for the conse- 
 quences which may attend the admissibility of their evidence as 
 reported. 
 
 In offering our reasons for allowing the evidence, we have con- 
 ceded the general demoralization of the colored population; but we 
 should do great injustice to many of them if we should close this 
 report without excepting from the stigma hundreds who, throughout 
 their lives have conducted themselves in a manner altogether be- 
 coming the best of citizens, and deserving the very highest praise. 
 These are lights, indeed, to all others; and the consideration of 
 respect in which they are held ought to stimulate and encourage 
 others of their race to practice the virtues of honesty and truth, 
 which have served to distinguish the few. 
 
 The committee hitherto have argued that if the proposed evidence 
 be admitted, subject to the rules long established among us and 
 derived from out English ancestors, the administration of justice 
 will have little to apprehend from the depravity or prejudice of the 
 witness. * * * Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 26, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 52. 
 
10 
 
 MISSISSIP PI^ 
 AN ACT to regulate the relation of master and apprentice, as relates 
 to freedmen, fre"e negroes, and mulattoes. J 
 
 [Approved November 22, 18G5.] 
 
 Section 1. It shall be the duty of all sheriffs, justices of the peace, 
 and other civil officers of the several counties in this State, to report 
 to the probate courts of their respective counties semi-annually, at 
 the January and July terms of said courts, all freedmen, free ne- 
 groes, and mulattoes, under the age of eighteen, in their respective 
 counties, beats, or districts, who are orphans, or whose parent or 
 parents have not the means or who refuse to provide for and sup- 
 port said minors; and thereupon it shall be the duty of said probate 
 court to order the clerk of said court to apprentice said minors to 
 some competent and suitable person on such terms as the court may 
 direct, having a particular care to the interest of said minor: 
 Provided, that the former owner of said minors shall have the pref- 
 erence when, in the opinion of the court, he or she shall be a suit- 
 able person for that purpose. 
 
 Sec. 2 . * * * The said court shall be fully satisfied that the 
 person or persons to whom said minor shall be apprenticed shall be 
 a suitable person to have the charge and care of said minor, and 
 fully- to protect the interest of said minor: (The said court shall 
 require the said master or mistress to execute bond and security, 
 payable to the State of Mississippi, conditioned that he or she shall 
 furnish said minor with sufficient food and clouiing; to treat said 
 minor humanely; furnish medical attention in case of sickness; 
 teach, or cause to be taught, him or her to read and write, if under 
 fifteen years old, and will conform to any law that may be here- 
 after passed for the regulation of the duties and relation of master 
 and apprentice: Provided, that said apprentice shall be bound by 
 indenture, in case of males, until they are twenty-ones.years old, and 
 in case of females until they are eighteen years old. J 
 
 Sec. 3. * * * In the management and control of said appren- 
 tices, said master or mistress shall have the power to inflict such 
 moderate corporal chastisement as a father or guardian is allowed 
 to inflict on his or her child or ward at common law: Provided, 
 that in no case shall cruel or inhuman punishment be inflictedy 
 
 Section 4. * * * If any apprentice shall leave the employment 
 ■>t his or her master or mistress, without his or her consent, said 
 master or mistress may pursue and recapture said apprentice, and 
 ybring him or her before any justice of the peace of the county, 
 whose duty it shall be to remand said apprentice to the service of 
 his or her master or mistress; and in the event of a refusal on the 
 part of said apprentice so to return, then said justice shall commit 
 said apprentice to the jail of said county, on failure to give bond, 
 to the next term of the county court; and it shall be the duty of 
 said court at the first term thereafter to investigate said case, and 
 if the court shall be of opinion that said apprentice left the employ- 
 
11 
 
 ment of his or her master or mistress without good cause, to order 
 him or her to be punished, as provided for the punishment of hired 
 freedmen, as may be from time to time provided for by law for 
 desertion, until he or she shall agree to return to the service of his 
 or her master or mistress: Provided, that the court may grant 
 continuances as in other cases: And provided further, that if the 
 court shall believe that said apprentice had good cause to quit his 
 said master or mistress, the court shall discharge said apprentice 
 from said indenture, and also enter, a judgment against the master 
 or mistress for not more than one hundred dollars, for the use and 
 benefit of said apprentice, to be collected on execution as in other 
 cases. 1 
 
 Sec. 5. * * * if any. person entice away any apprentice from 
 his or her master or mistress, or shall knowingly employ an appren- 
 tice, or furnish him or her food or clothing without the written con- 
 sent of his or her master or mistress, or shall sell or give said ap- 
 prentice ardent spirits without such consent, said person so offending 
 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof 
 before the county court, be punished as provided for the punishment 
 of persons enticing from their employer hired freedmen, free negroes 
 or mulattoes. J 
 
 Sec. 6. ] * * *' it shall be the duty of all civil officers of their 
 respective counties to report any minors within their respective 
 counties to said probate court who are subject to be apprenticed 
 under the provisions of this act, from time to time as the facts may 
 come to their knowledge, and it shall be the duty of said court from 
 time to time as said minors shall be reported to them, or otherwise 
 come to their knowledge, to apprentice said minors, as hereinbefore 
 -provided. 
 
 Sec. 9. * * * it shall be lawful for any freedman, free negro, • 
 or mulatto, having a minor child or children, to apprentice the said 
 minor child or children, as provided for by this act./ > 
 
 Sec. 10. * * * in all cases where the age of the freedman, free 
 negro, or mulatto cannot be ascertained by record testimony, the 
 judge of the county court shall fix the age. — Laws of Mississippi/ 
 
 (1865) ,p.86. ; — 
 
 AN ACT to amend the vagrant iaws of the State. 
 [Approved November 24, 1865.] 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Missis? 
 sippi, That all rogues and vagabonds, idle and dissipated persons, 
 beggars, jugglers, or persons practicing unlawful games or plays, 
 runaways, common drunkards, common night-walkers, pilferers, 
 lewd, wanton, or lascivious persons, in speech or behavior, common 
 railers and brawlers, persons who neglect their calling or em- 
 ployment, misspend what they earn, or do not provide for the sup- 
 port of themselves or their families, or dependents, and all other 
 idle and disorderly persons, including all who neglect all lawful 
 business, habitually misspend "their time by frequenting houses of 
 ill-fame, gaming-houses, or tippling shops, shall be deemed and con- 
 
12 
 
 sidered vagrants, under the -provisions of this act,, and upon convlo 
 tion thereof shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, with 
 all accruing costs, and be imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, 
 not exceeding ten days. 
 
 Sec. 2. * * * all freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes in this 
 State, over the age of eighteen years, found on the second Monday 
 in January, 1866, or thereafter, with no lawful employment or busi- 
 ness, or found unlawfully assembling themselves together, either 
 in the day or night time, and all white persons assembling them- 
 selves with freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes, or usually associat- 
 ing with freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes, on terms of equality, 
 or living in adultery or fornication with a freed woman, freed negro 
 or mulatto, shall be deemed vagrants, and on conviction thereof 
 shall be fined in a sum not exceeding, in the case of a freedman, 
 free negro or mulatto, fifty dollars, and a white man two hundred 
 dollars, and imprisonment at the discretion of the court, the f re& 
 negro not exceeding ten days, and the white man not exceeding six 
 months. 
 
 Sec. 3. * * * all justices of the peace, mayors, and aldermen 
 of incorporated towns, counties, and cities of the several counties 
 in this State shall have jurisdiction to try all questions of vagrancy 
 in their respective towns, counties, and cities, ■ and it is hereby 
 made their duty, whenever they shall ascertain that any person or 
 persons in their respective towns, counties and cities are violating 
 any of the provisions of this act, to have said party or parties ar- 
 rested, and brought before them, and immediately investigate said 
 charge, and, on conviction, punish said party or parties, as provided 
 for herein. And it is hereby made the duty of all sheriffs, con- 
 stables, town constables, and all such like officers, and city marshals, 
 to report to some officer having jurisdiction all violations of any of 
 the provisions of this act, and in case any officer shall fail or neglect 
 any duty herein it shall be the duty of the county court to fine said 
 officer, upon conviction, not exceeding one hundred dollars, to be 
 paid into the county treasury for county purposes. 
 
 Sec. 4. * * * keepers of gaming-houses, houses of prostitution, 
 prostitutes, public or private, and all persons who derive their chief 
 support in the employments that militate against good morals, or 
 against law, shall be deemed and held to be vagrants. 
 
 Sec. 5. * * . * All fines and forfeitures collected under the 
 provisions of. this act shall be paid into the county treasury for 
 general county purposes, and in case of any freedman, free negro or 
 mulatto shall fail for five days after the imposition of any fine or 
 forfeiture upon him or her for violation of any of the provisions 
 of this act to pay the same, that it shall be, and is hereby, made the 
 duty of the sheriff of the proper county to hire out said freedman, 
 free negro or mulatto, to any person who will, for the shortest period 
 of service, pay said fine and forfeiture and all costs: Provided, a 
 preference shall be given to the employer, if there be one, in which 
 case the employer shall be entitled to. deduct and retain the amount 
 
13 
 
 so paid from the wages of such freedman, free negro or mulatto, 
 then due or to become due; and in case said freedman, free negro 
 or mulatto cannot hire out, he or she may be dealt with as a 
 pauper. 
 
 Sec. G. * * * the same duties and liabilities existing among 
 white persons of this State shall attach to freedmen, free negroes 
 or mulattoes, to support their indigent families and all colored 
 paupers; and that in order to secure a support for such indigent 
 freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes, it shall be lawful, and is 
 hereby made the duty of the county police of each county in this 
 State, to levy a poll or capitation tax on each and every freedman, 
 free negro, or mulatto, between the ages of eighteen and sixty years, 
 not to exceed the sum of one dollar annually to each person so 
 taxed, which tax, when collected, shall be paid into the *eounty 
 treasurer's hands ,and constitute a fund to be called the Preedman's 
 Pauper Fund, which shall be applied by the commissioners of the 
 poor for the maintenance of the poor of the freedmen, free negroes 
 and mulattoes of this State, under such regulations as may be estab- 
 lished by the boards of county police in the respective counties of 
 this State. 
 
 Sec. 7. * * * if any freedman, free negro, or mulatto shall 
 fail or refuse to pay any tax levied according to the provisions of 
 the sixth section of this act, it shall be prima facie evidence of 
 vagrancy, and it shall be the duty of the sheriff to arrest such freed- 
 man, free negro, or mulatto, or such person refusing or neglecting 
 to pay such tax, and proceed at once to hire for the shortest time 
 such delinquent taxpayer to any one who will pay the said tax, with 
 accruing costs, giving preference to the employer, if there be one. 
 
 Sec. 8. * * * any person feeling himself or herself aggrieved 
 by judgment of any justice of the peace, mayor, or alderman in 
 cases arising under this act, may within five days appeal to the 
 next term of the county court of the proper county, upon giving 
 bond and security in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars nor 
 more than one hundred and fifty dollars, conditioned to appear and 
 prosecute said appeal, and abide by the judgment of the county 
 court; and said appeal shall be tried de novo in the county court, 
 and the decision of the said court shall be final. — Laws of Mississippi 
 (1865), p. 90. 
 
 AN- ACT to confer civil rights on freedmen, and for other purposes. 
 [Approved November 25, 18G5.] 
 Section 1. Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Missis- 
 sippi, That all freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes may sue and 
 be sued, implead and be impleaded, in all the courts of law and 
 equity of this State, and may acquire personal property, and choses 
 in action, by descent or purchase, and may dispose of the same in 
 the same manner and to the same extent that white persons may: 
 Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not be so construed 
 as to allow any freedman, free negro or mulatto to rent or lease any 
 
14 
 
 lands or tenements except in incorporated cities or towns, in which 
 places the corporate authorities shall control the same. \ 
 
 Sec. 2. * * * all freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes may 
 intermarry with each other, in the same manner and under the 
 same regulations that are provided by law for white persons: 
 Provided, that the clerk of probate shall keep separate records of the 
 same. 
 
 Sec. 3. * * * all freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes who do 
 now and have herebefore lived and cohabited together as husband 
 and wife shall be taken and held in law as legally married, and the 
 issue shall be taken and held as legitimate for all purposes; and it 
 shall not be lawful for any f reedman, free negro or mulatto to 
 intermarry with any white person; nor for any white person to 
 intermarry with any f reedman, free negro or mulatto; and any 
 person who shall so intermarry shall be deemed guilty of felony, 
 and on conviction thereof shall be confined in the State penitentiary 
 for life; and those shall be deemed freedmen, free negroes and 
 mulattoes who are of pure negro blood, and those descended from 
 a negro to the third generation, inclusive, though one ancestor in 
 each generation may have been a white person. 
 
 Sec. 4. * * * in addition to cases in which freedmen, free 
 negroes and mulattoes are now by law competent witnesses, freed- 
 men, free negroes or mulattoes shall be competent in civil cases, 
 when a party or parties to the suit, either plaintiff or plaintiffs,defend- 
 ant or defendants; also in cases where freedmen, free negroes and 
 mulattoes is or are either plaintiff or plaintiffs, defendant or defend- 
 ants. They shall also be competent witnesses in all criminal prosecu- 
 tions where the crime charged is alleged to have been committed 
 by a white person upon or against the person or property of a 
 f reedman, free negro or mulatto: Provided, that in all cases said 
 witnesses shall be examined in open court, on the stand; except, 
 however, they may be examined before the grand jury, and shall in 
 all cases be subject to the rules and tests of the common law as to 
 competency and credibility. 
 
 Sec. 5. * * * every freedman, free negro and mulatto shall, 
 on the second Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-six, and annually thereafter, have a lawful home or em- 
 ployment, and sliall have written evidence thereof as follows, to- 
 wit: if living in any incorporated city, town, or village, a license 
 from the mayor thereof; and if living outside of an incorporated 
 city, town, or village, from the member of the board of police of 
 his beat, authorizing him or her to do irregular and job work; or a 
 written contract, as provided in Section 6 in this act; which license 
 may be revoked for cause at any time by the authority granting the 
 same. 
 
 Sec. 6. * * * all contracts for labor made with freedmen, 
 free negroes and mulattoes for a longer period than one month shall 
 be in writing, and a duplicate, attested and read to said freedman, 
 free negro or mulatto by a beat, city or county officer, or two dis- 
 
15 
 
 interested white persons of the county in which the labor is to be 
 performed, of which each party shall have one; and said contracts 
 shall be taken and held as entire contracts, and if the laborer shall 
 quit the service of the employer before the expiration of his term 
 of service, without good cause, he shall forfeit his wages for that 
 year up to the time of quitting. 
 
 Sec. 7. * * * every civil officer shall, and every person may, 
 arrest and carry back to his or her legal employer any freedman, 
 free negro, or mulatto who shall have quit the service of his or her 
 employer before the expiration of his or her term of service without 
 good cause; and said officer and person shall be entitled to receive 
 for arresting and carrying back every deserting employe aforesaid 
 the sum of five dollars, and ten cents per mile from the place of 
 arrest to the place of delivery; and -the same shall be paid) by the 
 employer, and held as a setoff for so much against the wages of 
 said deserting employe: Provided, that said arrested party, after 
 being so returned, may appeal to the justice of the peace or member 
 of the board of police of the county, who, on notice to the alleged 
 employer, shall try summarily whether said appellant is legally 
 employed by the alleged employer, and has good cause to quit said 
 employer. Either party shall have the right of appeal to the county 
 court, pending which the alleged deserter shall be remanded to the 
 alleged employer or otherwise disposed of, as shall be right and 
 just; and the decision of the county court shall be final. 
 
 Sec. 8. * * * upon affidavit made by the employer of any 
 freedman, free negro or mulatto, or other credible person, before 
 any justice of the peace of member of the board of police, that any 
 freedman, free negro or mulatto legally employed by said employer 
 has illegally deserted said employment, such justice of the peace or 
 member of the board of police shall issue his warrant or warrants, 
 returnable before himself, or other such officer, to any sheriff, con- 
 stable or special deputy, commanding him to arrest said deserter, 
 and return him or her to said employer, and the like proceedings 
 shall be had as provided in the preceding section; and it shall be 
 lawful for any officer to whom such warrant shall be directed to 
 execute said warrant in any county in this State; and that said 
 warrant may be transmitted without endorsement to any like officer 
 of another county, to be executed and returned as aforesaid; and 
 the said employer shall pay the costs of said warrants and arrest 
 and return, which shall be set off for so much against the wages of 
 said deserter. 
 
 Sec. 9. * * * if any person shall persuade or attempt to per- 
 suade, entice, or cause any freedman, free negro or mulatto to de- 
 sert from the legal employment of any person before the expiration 
 of his or her term of service, or shall knowingly employ any such 
 deserting freedman, - free negro or mulatto, or shall knowingly give 
 or sell to any such deserting freedman, free negro or mulatto, any 
 food, raiment, or other thing, he or she shall be guilty of a mis- 
 demeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty- 
 
16 
 
 five dollars and not more than two hundred dollars and costs; and 
 if the said fine and costs shall not be immediately paid, the court 
 Shall sentence said convict to not exceeding two months' imprison- 
 ment in the county jail, and he or she shall moreover be liable to 
 the party injured in damages: Provided, if any person shall, or 
 shall attempt to, persuade, entice, or cause any freedman, free negro 
 or mulatto to desert from any legal employment of .any person, 
 with the view to employ said freedman, free negro or mulatto with- 
 out the limits of this State, such person, on conviction, shall be 
 fined n6t less than fifty dollars, and not more than five hundred 
 dollars and costs; and if said fine and costs shall not be immediately 
 paid, the court shall sentence said convict to not exceeding six 
 months' imprisonment in the county jail. 
 
 Sec. 10. * * * it shall be lawful for any freedman, free negro, 
 or mulatto, to charge any white person, freedman, free negro or 
 mulatto by affidavit, with any criminal offense against liis or her 
 person or property, and upon such affidavit the proper process shall 
 be issued and executed as if said affidavit was made by a white 
 person, and it shall be lawful for any freedman, free negro, or 
 mulatto, in any action, suit or controversy pending, or about to be 
 instituted in any court of law or equity in this State, to make all 
 needful and lawful affidavits as shall be necessary for the institu- 
 tion, prosecution or defense of such suit or controversy. 
 . Sec. 11: * * * the penal laws of this State, in all cases not 
 otherwise specially provided for, shall apply and extend to all freed- 
 men, free negroes and mulattoes. — Laws of Mississippi (1865), p. 83. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA 
 AN ACT to Establish and Regulate the Domestic Relations of Per- 
 sons of Color, and to Amend the Law in Relation to Paupers 
 and Vagrancy. 
 
 [December 21, 1805.] 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, now 
 met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the 
 same, as follows: 
 
 HUSBAND AND WIFE. 
 
 I. ' The relation of husband and wife amongst persons of color is 
 established. 
 
 II. Those who now live as such are declared to be husband and 
 wife. 
 
 III. In case of one man having two or more reputed wives, or 
 one woman two or more reputed husbands, the man shall, by the 
 first day of April next, select one of his reputed wives, or the woman 
 one of her reputed husbands; and the ceremony of marriage between 
 this man or woman, and the person so selected, shall be performed. 
 
 IV. Every colored child, heretofore born, is declared to be the 
 
17 
 
 legitimate child of its mother, and also of his colored father, if he is 
 acknowledged by such a father. 
 
 V. Persons of color desirous hereafter to become husband and 
 wife, should have the contract of marriage duly solemnized. 
 
 VI. A Clergyman, the District Judge, a Magistrate, or any judi- 
 cial officer, may solemnize marriages. 
 
 ' VII. Cohabitation, with reputation or recognition of the parties, 
 shall be evidence of marriage in cases criminal and civil. ' 
 
 VIII. One who is a pauper or a charge to the public shall not be 
 competent to contract marriage. Marriage between a white person 
 and a person of color shall be illegal and void. 
 
 IX. The marriage of an apprentice shall not, without the consent 
 of the master, be lawful. 
 
 X. A husband shall not, for any cause, abandon or turji away 
 his wife, nor a wife her husband. Either of them tha't abandons 
 or turns away the other may be prosecuted for a misdemeanor; and, 
 upon conviction thereof, before a District Judge, may be punished 
 by a fine and corporal punishment, duly apportioned to the cir- 
 cumstances of aggravation or mitigation. A husband not disabled, 
 who has been thus convicted of having abandoned or turned away 
 his wife, or who has been shown to fail in maintaining his wife and 
 children, may be bound to service by the District Judge from year 
 to year, and so much of the profits of his labor as may be requisite, 
 be applied to the maintenance of his wife and children; the distribu- 
 tion between them being made according to. their respective merits 
 and necessities. In like manner, a wife not disabled, who has been 
 thus convicted, may be bound, and the proceeds of her labor applied 
 to the maintenance of her children. In either case, any surplus 
 profit shall go to the person bound. At the end of any year for 
 which he was bound, the husband shall be discharged upon condition 
 of his afterwards maintaining his wife and children. A like right 
 a wife shall have, at the end of the year for which she was bound, 
 on condition of her making future exertions to maintain her family. 
 
 XI. Whenever a husband shall be convicted of having abandoned 
 or turned away his wife, she shall be competent to make a contract 
 for service; and until he shall return to her or receive her back, 
 she shall have all the rights, and be subject to all the liabilities, of 
 an unmarried woman, except the right to contract marriage. When 
 either husband or wife has abandoned the other in any district, and 
 that other remains there, if upon the warrant or summons against 
 the one charged of misdemeanor, under the section next preceding, 
 there be a return by a sheriff or constable, under oath, that the 
 accused has left the district, or absconds, so that there cannot be 
 personal service, the prosecution may proceed as if the accused had 
 been arrested, and, upon conviction, all the other consequences shall 
 follow, except punishment, and that shall be reserved until the ac- 
 cused, may be brought in to court, when an opportunity shall be 
 given for disproving the truth of the return and setting aside the 
 conviction. 
 
18 
 
 PARENT AND CHILD. 
 
 XII. The relation of parent and child, amongst persons of color, 
 is recognized, confers all the rights and remedies, civil and criminal, 
 and imposes all the duties that are incident thereto by law, unless 
 the same are modified by this act, or some legislation connected 
 herewith. 
 
 XIII. The father shall support and maintain his children under 
 fifteen years of age, whether they be born of one of his reputed 
 wives or of any other woman. 
 
 GUARDIAN AND WARD. 
 
 XIV. The relation of guardian and ward, as it now exists in 
 this State," with all the rights and duties incident thereto, is ex- 
 tended to persons of color, with the modifications made by this act. 
 
 MASTER AND APPRENTICE. 
 
 XV. A child, over the age of two years, born of a colored parent, 
 may be bound by the father, if he be living in the district, or in 
 case of his death or absence from the district, by the mother, as an 
 apprentice to any respectable white or colored person who is com- 
 petent to make a contract; a male until he shall attain the age of 
 twenty-one years, and a female until she shall attain the age of 
 eighteen. 
 
 XVI. Illegitimate children, within the ages above specified, may 
 be bound by the mother. 
 
 XVII. Colored children, between the ages mentioned, who have 
 neither father nor mother living in the district in which they are 
 found, or whose parents are paupers, or unable to afford to them 
 maintenance, or whose parents are not teaching them habits of in- 
 dustry and honesty, or are persons of notoriously bad character, or 
 are vagrants, or have been, either of them, convicted of an infamous 
 offense, may be bound as apprentices by the District Judge, or one 
 of the Magistrates, for the aforesaid term. 
 
 XVIII. Males of the age of twelve years, and females of the age 
 of ten years, shall sign the indenture of apprenticeship, and be 
 bound thereby. 
 
 XIX. When the apprentice is under these ages, and in all cases 
 of compulsory apprenticeship, where the infant refuses consent, his 
 signature shall not be necessary to the validity of the^apprentice- 
 ship. The master's obligation of apprenticeship, in all cases of 
 compulsory apprenticeship, and cases where the father or mother 
 does not bind the child, shall be executed in the presence of the 
 District Judge, or one of the Magistrates, certified by him, and filed 
 in the office of the Clerk of the District Court. 
 
 XX. The indenture of voluntary apprenticeship shall be under 
 seal, and be signed by -the master, the parent and the apprentice, 
 
19 
 
 attested^ by two credible witnesses, and approved by the District 
 Judge, or one of the Magistrates. \ 
 
 XXI. All instruments of apprenticeship shall be executed in 
 duplicate, one of which shall be retained by the master, and the 
 other be filed in the office of the Clerk of the District Court. For 
 the approval of an instrument of an apprenticeship, thus executed 
 in duplicate, the master shall pay an aid of three dollars to the 
 Magistrate, or District Judge, as the case may be. 
 
 XXII. The master or mistress shall teach the apprentice the 
 business of husbandry, or some other useful trade or business, which 
 shall be specified in the instrument of apprenticeship; shall furnish 
 him wholesome food and suitable clothing; teach him habits of 
 industry, honesty and morality; govern and treat him with human- 
 ity; and if there be a school within a convenient distance, in which 
 colored children are taught, shall send him to school at least six 
 weeks in every year of his apprenticeship, after he shall be of the 
 age of ten years; Provided, that the teacher of such school shall 
 have the license of the District Judge to establish the same. 
 
 XXIII. The master shall have authority to inflict moderate chas- 
 tisement and impose reasonable restraint upon his apprentice, and 
 to recapture him if he depart from his service. 
 
 XXIV. The master shall receive to his own use the profits of the 
 labor of his apprentice. The relation of master and apprentice 
 shall be dissolved by the death of the master, except where the ap- 
 prentice is engaged in husbandry, and may be dissolved by order of 
 the District Judge, when both parties consent, or it shall appear 
 to be seriously detrimental to either party. In the excepted case, 
 it shall terminate at the end of the year in which the master died. 
 
 XXV. In cases of the habitual violation or neglect of the duties, 
 herein imposed on the master, and- whenever the apprentice is in. 
 danger of moral contamination by the vicious conduct of the master, 
 the relation of master and apprentice may be dissolved by the order 
 of the District Judge; and any person shall have the right to com- 
 plain to the District Judge that the master does not exercise proper 
 discipline over his apprentice, to the injury of his neighbors; and 
 if, upon investigation, it shall be so found, the relation between the 
 parties shall be dissolved. 
 
 XXVI. In case of alleged violation of duty, or of misconduct on 
 the part of the master or apprentice, either party may make com- 
 plaint to a Magistrate, who shall summon the parties before him, 
 inquire into the causes of complaint, and make such order as shall 
 be meet, not extending to the dissolution of the relation of the 
 parties; and if the master be found to be in default, he shall be- 
 fined not exceeding twenty dollars and costs; and if the apprentice 
 be in default, he may be corrected in such manner as the Magistrate 
 shall order. A frivolous complaint made by either party shall be 
 regarded as a default. 
 
 XXVII. In cases in which the District Judge shall order the- 
 apprentice to be discharged for immoderate correction, or unlawful 
 
20 
 
 restraint of the apprentice ,the master shall he liable to indictment, 
 and, on conviction, to ,flne and imprisonment, at the discretion of 
 the Court, not exceeding a fine of fifty dollars, and imprisonment of 
 thirty days; and, also, to an action for damages, by the apprentice. 
 
 XXVIII. All orders made by a Magistrate touching the relation 
 of master and apprentice shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of 
 the District Court. 
 
 XXIX. A mechanic, artisan or shop-keeper, or other person who 
 is required to have a license, shall not receive any colored apprentice 
 without having first obtained such license. 
 
 XXX. At the expiration of his term of service ,the apprentice 
 shall have the right to recover from his master a sum not exceeding 
 sixty, dollars. , • 
 
 CONTRACTS FOB SERVICE. 
 
 XXXV. All persons of color who may contract for service or labor 
 shall be known as servants, and those with whom they contract 
 shall be known as masters. 
 
 XXXVI. Contracts between masters and servants, for one month 
 or more, shall be in writing, be attested by one white witness, and 
 "be approved by the Judge of the District Court, or by a Magistrate. 
 
 XXXVII. The period of service shall be expressed in the con- 
 tract; but if it be not expressed, it shall be until the twenty-fifth 
 ■day of December next after the commencement of the service. 
 
 XXXVIII. If the rate of wages be not stipulated by the parties 
 to the contract, it shall be fixed by the District Judge, or a Magis- 
 trate, on application by one of the parties, and notice to the other. 
 
 XXXIX. A person of color, who has no parent living in the dis- 
 trict, and is ten years of age, and is not an apprentice, may make a 
 valid contract for labor or service for one year or less. 
 
 XL. Contracts between masters and servants may be set aside 
 for fraud or unfairness, notwithstanding they have been approved. 
 
 XLI. Written contracts between masters and servants shall be 
 presented for approval within twenty days after their execution. 
 
 XLII. Contracts for one month or more shall not be binding on 
 the servant, unless they are in writing, and have been presented for 
 approval within the time aforesaid. 
 
 XLIII. For any neglect of the duty to make a contract as herein 
 (directed, or the evasion of that duty by the repeated employment of 
 the same persons for periods less than one month, the" party offend- 
 ing shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable, on conviction, 
 to pay a sum not exceeding fifty dollars, and not less than five 
 •dollars, for each person so employed. No written contract shall be 
 required when the servant voluntarily receives no remuneration 
 -except food, and clothing. 
 
 XLIV. For the approval of contracts, the following sums, to be 
 called aids, shall be paid to the District Judge, or the Magistrate, 
 as the case may be, in cash, when the contract is approved; Pro- 
 
21 
 
 vided, no aid shall be paid for any servant under twelve years of 
 age: 
 
 For a contract of month or less, for each servant. .$0 25 
 For a contract not exceeding three months and 
 
 more than one month, for each servant 50 
 
 For a contract not exceeding six months and 
 
 more than three months, for each servant 75 
 
 For a contract for one year, or any time more 
 
 than six months, for each servant 1 00 
 
 For a contract for more than one year, for each 
 year or part of a year over one year, for each 
 
 servant 1 00 
 
 One-half of which aids shall be paid by the master, and one-half by 
 the servant. # 
 
 REGULATIONS OF LABOR ON FARMS. 
 
 XLV. On farms or in outdoor service, the hours of labor, except 
 on Sunday, shall be from sunrise to sunset, with a reasonable 
 interval for breakfast and dinner. Servants shall rise at the dawn 
 in the morning, feed, water and care for the animals on the farm, 
 do the usual and needful work about the premises, prepare their 
 meals for the day, if required by the master, and begin the farm 
 work or other work by sunrise. The servant shall be careful of all 
 the animals and property of his master, and especially of the ani- 
 mals and implements used by him; shall protect the same from 
 injury by other persons, and shall be answerable for all property 
 lost, destroyed or injured by his negligence, dishonesty or bad 
 faith. 
 
 XLVI. All lost time, not caused by' the act of the master, and all 
 losses occasioned by neglect of the duties hereinbefore described, 
 may be deducted from the wages of the servant; and food, nursing 
 and other necessaries for the servant, whilst he is absent from 
 work on account of sickness or other cau?e, may also be deducted 
 from his wages. Servants shall be quiet and orderly in their quar- 
 ters, at their work, and on the premises; shall extinguish their 
 lights and fires, and retire to rest at seasonable hours. Work at 
 night, and outdoor work in inclement weather, shall not be exacted, 
 unless in case of necessity. Servants shall not be kept at home on 
 Sunday, unless to take care of the premises, or animals thereupon, 
 or for work of daily necessity, or on unusual occasions; and in such 
 cases, only so many shall be* kept at home as are necessary for 
 these purposes. Sunday work shall be done by the servants in turn, 
 except in cases of sickness or other disability, when it may be 
 assigned to them out of their regular turn. Absentees on Sunday 
 shall return to their homes by sunset. 
 
 XLVII. The master may give to his servant a task at work 
 about the business Of the farm which shall be reasonable. If the 
 servant complain of the task, the District Judge, or a Magistrate, 
 
22 
 
 shall have power to reduce or increase it. Failure to do a task shall 
 be deemed evidence of . indolence, but a single failure shall not be 
 conclusive. When the servant has entered into a contract, he may 
 be required to rat himself as a full hand, three-fourths, half, or 
 one-fourth hand, and according to this rate, inserted in the contract, 
 shall be the task, and of course the wages. / 
 
 XLVIII. Visitors or other persons shall not be invited or allowed 
 by the servant to come or remain upon the premises of the master 
 without his express permission. 
 
 XLIX. Servants shall not be absent from the premises without 
 the permission of the master. 
 
 EIGHTS OP MASTER AS BETWEEN HIMSELF AND SERVANT. 
 
 L. When the servant shall depart from the service of the master 
 without good cause, he shall forfeit the wages due him. The servant 
 shall obey all lawful orders of the master or his agent, and shall be 
 honest, truthful, sober, civil and diligent in his business. The 
 master may moderately correct servants who have made contracts, 
 and are under eighteen years of age. He shall not be liable to pay 
 for any additional or extraordinary services or labor of his servant, 
 the same being necessary, unless by express agreement. 
 
 CAUSES OF DISCHARGE OF SERVANT. 
 
 LI. The master may discharge his servant for wilful disobedience 
 of the lawful order of himself or his agent; habitual negligence or 
 indolence in business, drunkenness, gross moral or legal misconduct, 
 want of respect and civility to himself, his family, guests or agents; 
 or for prolonged absence from the premises, or absence on two or 
 more occasions without permission. 
 
 LII. For any acts or things herein declared to be causes for the 
 discharge of a servant, or for any breach of contract or duty by him, 
 instead of discharging the servant, the master may complain to the 
 District Judge, or one of the Magistrates, who shall have power, on 
 being satisfied of the misconduct complained of, to inflict, or cause 
 to be inflicted, on the servant, suitable corporal punishment, or 
 impose upon him such pecuniary fine as may be thought fit, and 
 immediately to remand him to his work; which fine shall be de- 
 ducted from his wages, if not otherwise paid. 
 
 LIU. If a master has made a valid contract with a servant, the 
 District Judge or Magistrate may ccmpel such servant to observe 
 his contract, by ordering infliction of the punishment, or imposition 
 of the fine hereinbefore authorized. 
 
 BIGHTS OF MASTER AS TO THIRD PERSONS. 
 
 LIV. The master shall not be liable for the voluntary trespasses, 
 torts or misdemeanors of his servants. He shall not be liable for 
 
23 
 
 any contract of a servant, unless made by his authority; nor for the 
 acts of the servant, unless they shall be done wtihin the scope of 
 the authority intrusted to him by the master, or in the course of 
 his employment for the master; in which excepted Cases the master 
 shall be answerable for the fraud, negligence or want of skill of his 
 servant. The master's right of self-defense shall embrace his serv- 
 ant. It shall be his duty to protect his servant from violence by 
 others, in his presence, and he may render him aid and assistance 
 in obtaining redress for injury to his rights of person or property. 
 
 LV. Any person who shall deprive a master of the service of his 
 servant, by enticing him away, or by harboring and detaining him, 
 knowing him to be a servant, or by beating, confining, disabling, or 
 otherwise injuring him, shall be liable, on conviction thereof, to a 
 fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, and not less than twenty 
 dollars, and to imprisonment or hard labor, at the discretion *oi the 
 Court, not exceeding sixty days; and, also, to an action by the 
 master to recover damages for loss of services. 
 
 LVI. The master may command his servant to aid him in the 
 defense of his own person, family, premises or property; or of the 
 personal property of any servant on the premises of his master; 
 and it shall be the duty of the servant promptly to obey such com- 
 mand. 
 
 LiVII. The master shall not be bound to furnish medicine or 
 medical assistance for his servant, without his express engagement. 
 
 LVIII. A master may give the character of one who has been in 
 his service to a person who may make inquiry of him; which shall 
 be a privileged communication, unless it be falsely and maliciously 
 given. And no servant shall have the power to make a new con- 
 tract, without the production of the discharge of his former master, 
 District Judge or Magistrate. 
 
 LIX. Any person who shall wilfully misrepresent the character 
 of a servant, whether he has been in his service or not, either for 
 moral qualities, or for skill or experience in any employment or 
 service, shall be liable to an action for damages by any one who has 
 been aggrieved thereby. 
 
 LX, Upon the conviction of any master of larceny or felony, the 
 District Judge shall have the right, upon the demand of any white 
 freeholder, to annul the contract between such convict and his col- 
 ored servants. If any white freeholder shall complain to the Dis- 
 trict Judge that any master so manages and controls his colored 
 servants as to make them a nuisance to the neighborhood, the 
 Judge shall order an issue to be made up and tried before a jury, 
 and if said issue is found in favor of the complainant, the District 
 Judge shall annul the contract between such master and his colored 
 servant or servants, and in each of the cases above provided for, he 
 shall not approve any subsequent contract between such person and 
 any colored servant for two years thereafter. 
 
24 
 
 BIGHTS OP SERVANT AS BETWEEN HIMSELF AND MASTER. 
 
 LXI. The servant may depart from the master's service for an 
 insufficient supply of wholesome food; for an unauthorized battery 
 upon his own person, or one of his family, not committed in defense 
 of the person, family, guests or agents of the master, not to prevent 
 a crime or aggravated misdemeanor;, invasion by the master of the 
 conjugal rights of the servant; or his failure to pay wages when, 
 due; and may recover wages due for services rendered to the time 
 of his departure. 
 
 LXII. The contract for service shall not be terminated by the 
 death of the master, without the assent of the servant. Wages due 
 to white laborers and to white and colored servants shall rank as 
 rent does, in case of the insufficiency of the master's property to pay 
 all debts and demands against him, but not more than one year's, 
 wages shall be so preferred. When wrongfully discharged from 
 service, the servant may recover wages for the whole period of serv- 
 ice according to the contract. If his wages have not been paid to 
 the day of his discharge, he may regard his contract rescinded by 
 the discharge, and recover wages up to that time. 
 
 LXIII. The master shall receive into his employment the servant, 
 with whom he has made a contract, but any of the causes which 
 may justify him in discharging a servant shall justify him in refus- 
 ing to receive him. 
 
 LXIV. The master shall, upon the discharge, or at the expiration 
 of his term of service, furnish the servant with a certificate of dis- 
 charge, and at the request of the servant, give him a certificate of 
 character. 
 
 MUTUAL RIGHTS OP MASTER AND SERVANT. 
 
 LXV. Whenever a master discharges a servant, the servant may 
 make immediate complaint to a District Judge or Magistrate, and 
 whenever a servant departs from his master's service, the master 
 may make like complaint. In either case, the District Judge or- 
 Magistrate, shall, by summons or warrant, have the parties brought 
 before himj hear them and their witnesses, and decide as the suffi- 
 ciency of the cause of his discharge or departure. This decision 
 shall not affect or prejudice any further action on either side, but 
 it may avail to restore the relation of master and servant between 
 the parties, if that be ordered. If the servant be decided to have- 
 been unlawfully discharged, and should desire to return to service 
 under his contract, the master shall be compelled to receive him, 
 under the penalty of twenty dollars, in case of his refusal. If the 
 master desire the return of the servant who has been decided to 
 have departed, without sufficient cause, the servant may be com- 
 pelled, by fine and corporal punishment, to return to the service of" 
 the master, and perform his duties under the contract. 
 
25 
 
 RIGHTS OF SERVANTS AS TO THIRD PERSONS. 
 
 LXVI. The servant shall not be liable for contracts made by the 
 express authority of his master. 
 
 LXVII. A servant shall not be liable, civilly or criminally, for 
 any act done by the command of his master, in defense of the 
 master's person, family, guests, agents, servants, premises or prop- 
 erty. He shall not be liable, in any action ex delicto, for any tort 
 committed on the premises of the master by his express command. 
 
 HOUSE SERVANTS AND OTHERS NOT IN HUSBANDRY. 
 
 LXVIII. The rules and regulations prescribed for master and 
 servant apply to persons in service as household servants, confer- 
 ring the same rights and imposing the same duties, with the follow- 
 ing modifications: 
 
 LXIX. Servants and apprentices employed as house servants in 
 the various duties of the household, and in all the domestic duties 
 of the family, shall, at all hours of the day and night, and in all 
 days of the week, promptly answer all calls and obey and execute all 
 lawful orders and commands of the family in whose service they 
 are employed. 
 
 LXX. It is the duty of this class of servants to be especially civil 
 and polite to their masters, their families and guests, and they shall 
 receive gentle and kind treatment. 
 
 FOR ALL SERVANTS. 
 
 LXXI. In all contracts between master and servant for service, 
 the foregoing regulations shall be stipulations, unless it shall be 
 otherwise provided in the contract, and the following form shall be 
 a sufficient contract, unless some special agreement be made between 
 the parties: 
 
 FORM OF CONTRACT. 
 
 I (name of servant) do hereby agree with (name of mas.ter) to 
 be his (here insert the words "household servant" or "servant in 
 husbandry," as the case may be), from the date hereof, at the wages 
 of (here insert the wages, to be paid by the year or month) ; and 
 in consideration thereof^ I (name of master) agree to receive the 
 said (name of servant) as such servant, and to pay him the said 
 
 wages, this :day of 186 
 
 A. B. 
 Witness: E. F. C. D. 
 
 I approve the above contract this day of 18G. . . . 
 
 G. H. (Judge of the District Court, or Magistrate.) 
 After the words "servant in husbandry" may be inserted, if it be 
 required/the words "to be rated as full hand, three-fourths hand, 
 half hand, or one-fourth hand," as the case may be. 
 
26 
 
 MECHANICS, ARTISANS AND SHOPKEEPERS. 
 
 LXXII. No person of color shall pursue or practice the art,, 
 trade or business of an artisan, mechanic or shopkeeper, or any 
 other trade, employment or business (besides that of husbandry, or 
 that of a servant under a contract for service or labor >, on his own 
 account and for his own benefit, or in partnership with a white 
 person, or as agent or servant of any person, until he shall have 
 obtained a license therefor from the Judge of the District Court; 
 which license shall be good for one year only. This license the 
 Judge may grant upon petition of the applicant, and upon being 
 satisfied of his skill and fitness, and of his good moral character, 
 and upon payment, by the applicant, to the Clerk of the District 
 Court, of one hundred dollars, if a shopkeeper or peddler, to be paid 
 annually, and ten dollars, if a mechanic, artisan or to engage in 
 any other trade, also to be paid annually; Provided, however, that 
 upon complaint being made and proved to the District Judge, of 
 an abuse of such license, he shall revoke the same; and provided, 
 also, that no person of color shall practice any mechanical art or 
 trade unless he shows that he has served an apprenticeship in such 
 trade or art, or is now practicing such trade or art. 
 
 LXXIII. For violation of the prohibition contained in the section 
 next preceding, the offender, upon conviction thereof before the 
 Judge of the District Court, shall pay, for each offense, a fine of 
 double the amount of such license; one-half of which shall go to 
 the informer, who shall be a competent witness. 
 
 EVICTION OF PERSONS OF COLOR. 
 
 LXXV. Where, upon any farm or lands, there now are persons 
 of color, who were formerly the slaves of the owner, lessee or occu- 
 pant of the said farm or lands, who may have been there on the 
 tenth day of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and have 
 been on said land for six months previous; and who are helpless, 
 either from old age, infancy, disease or other cause; and who are 
 unable, of themselves, and have no parent or other relative able to 
 maintain them, and to provide other homes or quarters, it shall not 
 be lawful for the present, or any subsequent owner, lessee or occu- 
 pant, before the first day of January, in the year eighteen hundred 
 and sixty-seven, to evict or drive from the houses which now are, 
 or hereafter shall be, lawfully occupied by such helpless persons of 
 color, such helpless persons, or any of them, by rendering such 
 houses uninhabitable, or by any other means; and upon conviction 
 of having done so, every such owner, lessee, occupant, agent or 
 other person, shall be fined not exceeding fifty dollars, nor less than 
 five dollars, for each person of color so evicted, and may be im- 
 prisoned, at the discretion of the Judge of the District Court, not 
 exceeding one month. 
 
 LXXVI. But the owner, lessee, or occupant of such farm or lands 
 
27 
 
 shall, nevertheless, have authority to preserve order and good con : 
 duct in the houses so occupied as aforesaid, and to prevent visitors; 
 and other persons from sojourning therein; and for insolence to 
 himself or family ,for theft or trespass committed by such persons 
 of color, or any one of them, upon the premises, or for violation by 
 them of his regulations for the preservation of order and good con- 
 duct, the prevention of visitors and sojourners therein, the owner, 
 lessee, or occupant, may complain to the Judge of the District Court, 
 or a Magistrate, who, upon finding the complaint well founded, 
 may, according to the case, cause the immediate eviction of some 
 or all of such persons of color, and their removal from the premises. 
 After the period aforesaid, they may be ejected, as is hereinafter 
 provided in case of intruders. 
 
 LXXVII. It shall be the duty of the Judge of the District Court,, 
 or of any Magistrate, on complaint made to him, that persons of 
 color have intruded into any house or upon any premises, a* tres- 
 passers or otherwise, or that they unlawfully remained therein with- 
 out permission of the owner, on ascertaining the complaint to be 
 ,well founded, to cause such persons to be immediately removed! 
 therefrom; and in case of the return of such persons, without lawful 
 permission, the party so offending may be subjected to such fine 
 and corporal punishment as the Magistrate or District Judge may 
 see proper to impose. 
 
 LXXVIII. During the term of service, the house occupied by 
 any servant is the master's; and, on the expiration of the term of 
 service or the discharge of a servant, he shall no longer remain on 
 the premises of the master; and it shall be the duty of the Judge of 
 the District Court or a Magistrate, on complaint of any person 
 interested and due proof made, to cause such servant to be immedi- 
 ately removed from such premises. 
 
 LXXIX. Leases of a house or land to a person of color shall be- 
 in writing. If there be no written lease, or the term of lease shall 
 have expired, the person of color in possession shall be a tenant at 
 will, and shall not be entitled to notice; and on complaint by any 
 person interested to the Judge of the District Court, or a Magistrate, 
 such person of color shall be instantly ejected by order or warrant, 
 unless he produce a written lease authorizing his possession, or 
 prove that such writing existed and was lost. 
 
 PAUPEBS. 
 
 LXXXI. When a person of color shall be unable to earn his sup- 
 port, and is likely to become a charge to the public, the father and', 
 grandfathers, mother and grandmothers, child and grandchild, 
 brother and sister of such person, shall, each according to his ability, 
 contribute monthly, for the support of such poor relative, such sum 
 as the District Judge, or one of the Magistrates, upon complaint to 
 him, shall deem necessary and proper; and on failure to pay such 
 sum, the same shall be collected by summary order or' process. 
 
LXXXII. In each Judicial District, except the Judicial District 
 of Charleston, in which there shall be one Board for the District of 
 Charleston, and one for the Election District of Berkeley, there 
 shall he established a Board, to be known as the "Board of Relief" 
 of Indigent Persons of Color," which shall consist of a Chairman 
 and not less than three, nor more than seven other members, all of 
 whom shall be Magistrates of the district, and be selected by the 
 District Judge. 
 
 LXXXV. A District Court Fund shall be established in each dis- 
 trict to be composed of aids paid for the approval of contracts 
 between master and servant, and of instruments of apprenticeship, 
 and for licenses granted by the District Judge, all fines, penalties 
 and forfeitures collected under order or process from the District 
 Court, or a Magistrate of the district, fees for appeal from the Dis- 
 trict Judge, wages of convicts, and taxes collected under the order 
 of the Board of Relief of Indigent Persons of Color. 
 
 LXXXVI. If the District Court Fund, after the payment of the 
 sums with whicji it is charged, on account of the salary of the 
 Judge of the District Court, Superintendent of Convicts, Jurors and« 
 other expenses o fthe Court, and of convicts, shall be insufficient to 
 support indigent persons of color who may be proper charges on 
 the public, the Board aforesaid shall have power to impose for that 
 purpose, whenever it may be required, a tax of one dollar on each 
 male person of color between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, 
 and fifty cents on each unmarried female person of color between 
 the ages of eighteen and forty-five; to be collected in each precinct 
 by a Magistrate thereof; Provided ,that the said imposition of a tax 
 shall be approved in writing by the Judge of the District Court, and 
 that his approval shall appear in the Journals of that Court. 
 
 XCII. The Board of Relief of Indigent Persons of Color shall 
 determine the sum necessary for the support of each indigent person 
 of color, who shall be deemed a proper charge on the public, the 
 sum required by each precinct, the sum which shall be paid to each 
 Magistrate to be disbursed by him, when reports from occupants as 
 .aforesaid shall be required, and when a tax shall be imposed. It 
 shall direct the Magistrates respectively in the performance of the 
 duties required of them in reference to paupers and the District 
 Court Fund, and it shall report to the District Court all delinquencies 
 and delinquents. 
 
 XCIV. On satisfactory information to the District Judge, or a 
 Magistrate, that a person of color has removed from another dis- 
 trict, and is likely to become a charge to the district into which he 
 has removed, the District Judge, or the Magistrate, shall proceed 
 against such person as a vagrant, and, on conviction, he shall be 
 punished as such; Provided, however, that persons of color who 
 were removed by their former masters from other districts, within 
 the last five years, shall be allowed twelve months to return to the 
 districts from which they were removed; and those who have been 
 
29 
 
 separated from their families or relatives shall be allowed to return 
 to them within twelve months. 
 
 VAGllANOY AND IDLENESS. 
 
 XCV. These are public grievances, and must be punished as 
 crimes. 
 
 XCVI. All persons who have not some fixed and known place of 
 abode, and some lawful and reputable employment; those who have 
 not some visible and known means of a fair, honest and reputable 
 livelihood; all common prostitutes; those who are found wandering 
 from place to place, vending, bartering or peddling any articles or 
 commodities, without a license from a District Judge, or other proper 
 authorities; all common gamblers, persons who lead idle or dis- 
 orderly lives, or keep or frequent disorderly or disreputable tonuses 
 or places; those who, not having sufficient means of support, are able 
 to work and do not work; those who (whether or not they own 
 lands, or are lessees or mechanics), do not provide a reasonable 
 and proper maintenance for themselves and families; those who 
 are engaged in representing, publicly or privately, for fee or reward, 
 without license, any tragedy, interlude, comedy, farce, play or other 
 similar entertainment, exhibition of the circus, sleight-of-hand, wax 
 works and the like; those who, for private gain, without license, 
 give any concert or musical entertainment of any description; 
 fortune-tellers, sturdy beggars, common drunkards; those who hunt 
 game of any description, or fish on the land of others, or frequent 
 the premises, contrary to the will of the occupants, shall be deemed 
 vagrants, and be liable to the punishment hereinafter prescribed. 
 
 XCVII. Upon information, on oath, of another, or upon his own 
 knowledge, the District Judge, or a Magistrate, shall issue a war- 
 rant for the arrest of any person of color known or believed to be a 
 vagrant, within the meaning of this act. The Magistrate may pro- 
 ceed to try, with the assistance of five freeholders, or calling to his 
 aid another Magistrate, the two may proceed to try, with the assist- 
 ance of three freeholders, as is provided by the act of seventeen 
 hundred and eighty-seyen, concerning vagrants; or the Magistrate 
 may commit the accused to be tried before the District Court. ' On 
 conviction, the defendant shall be liable to imprisonment, and to 
 hard labor, one or both, as shall be fixed by the verdict, not exceed- 
 ing twelve months. — The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, vol. 
 XIII. (Dec, 1861 to Dec, 1866), pp. 269-285. 
 
 FLORIDA 
 
 AN ACT prescribing additional penalties for the commission of 
 ■ offenses against the State, and for other purposes. 
 [Approved January 15, 1866.] 
 
 Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, that if any person or persons shall 
 assault a white female, with intent to commit a rape, or be acces- 
 \ sory thereto, he or they shall, upon conviction thereof, suffer death. 
 
30 
 
 / Sec. 12. * * * it shall not be lawful for any negro, mulatto, 
 ;or other person of color, to own, use, or keep In his possession, or 
 under his control, any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, firearms, or am- 
 munition of any kind, unless he first obtain a license to do so from 
 the Judge of Probate of the county in which he may be a resident 
 for the time being; and the said Judge of Probate is hereby author- 
 ized to issue such license upon the recommendation of two respect- 
 able citizens of the county, certifying to the peaceful and orderly 
 character of the applicant; and any negro, mulatto, or other person 
 of color so off ending, shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
 and upon conviction thereof shall forfeit to the use of the informer 
 all such firearms and ammunition, and, in addition thereto, shall be 
 sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not 
 exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury. 
 
 Sec. 14. * * * if any negro, mulatto, or other person of color 
 . shall intrude himself into any religious or other public assembly of 
 : white persons, or into any railroad car or other public vehicle set 
 apart for the exclusive accommodation of white people, he shall be 
 deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall 
 be sentenced to stand in the pillory one hour, or be whipped not 
 exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury; 
 nor shall it be lawful for any white person to intrude himself into 
 any religious or other public assembly of colored persons, or into 
 any railroad or other public vehicle set apart for the exclusive accom- 
 modation of persons of color, under the same penalties. — Sen. Ex. 
 Doc. No. 6, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 17/ h 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 ORDINANCE relative to the police of recently emancipated negroes 
 or freedmen within the corporate limits of the town of Opelou- 
 sas. 
 
 , [July 3, 1865.] 
 
 Whereas, the relations formerly subsisting between master and 
 slave have become changed by the action of the controlling authori- 
 ties; and .whereas, it is necessary to provide for the proper police 
 and government of the recently emancipated negroes or freedmen in 
 their new relations to the municipal authorities: 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it therefore ordained by the board of police of the 
 town of Opelousas, that no negro or freedman shall be allowed to 
 come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special per- 
 mission from his employers, specifying the object of his visit and 
 the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same. Whoever 
 shall violate this provision shall suffer imprisonment and two days' 
 work on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and 
 fifty cents. 
 
 Sec. 2. Be it further ordained, that every negro freedman who 
 shall be found on the streets of Opelousas after 10 o'clock at night 
 without a written pass or permit from his employer shall be im- 
 
31 
 
 prisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets, or 
 pay a fine of five dollars. 
 
 Sec. 3. No negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep 
 & house within the limits of the town under any circumstances, 
 and any one thus offending shall be ejected and compelled to find an 
 •employer or leave the town within twenty-four hours. The lessor 
 •or furnisher of the house leased or kept as above shall pay a fine 
 •of ten dollars for each offense. 
 
 Sec. 4. No negro or freedman shall reside within the limits of the 
 town of Opelousas who is not in the regular service of some white 
 person or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the con- 
 duct of said freedman; but said employer or former owner may per- 
 mit said freedman to hire his time by special permission in waiting, 
 -which permission shall not extend over twenty-four hours at any 
 one time. Any one violating the provisions of this section shall be 
 imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the public streets. 
 
 Sec. 5. No public meetings or congregations of negroes or freed- 
 men shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Opelousas 
 under any circumstances or for any purpose without the permission 
 •of the mayor or president of the board. This prohibition is not in- 
 tended, however, to prevent the freedmen from attending the usual 
 church services conducted by established ministers of religion. 
 Every freedman violating this law shall be imprisoned and made to 
 work five days on the public streets. 
 
 Sec. 6. No negro or freedman shall be permitted to preach, exhort, 
 or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a 
 special permission from the mayor or president of the board of 
 police, under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' 
 work on the public streets. 
 
 Sec. 7. No freedman who is not in the military service shall be 
 allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons, within the limits 
 of the town of Opelousas without the special permission of his em- 
 ployer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the 
 board of police. Any one thus offending shall forfeit his weapons 
 and shall be imprisoned and made to work for five days on the 
 public streets or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work. 
 
 Sec. 8. No freedman shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles 
 of merchandise or traffic within the limits of Opelousas without 
 permission in writing from his employer or the mayor or president 
 of the board, under the penalty of the forfeiture of said articles and 
 imprisonment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of 
 said work. 
 
 Sec. 9. Any freedman found drunk within the limits of the town 
 shall be imprisoned and made to labor five days on the public streets 
 or pay five dollars in lieu of said work. 
 
 Sgc.jiflO. Any freedman not residing in Opelousas who shall be 
 found within the corporate limits after the hour of 3 p. m. on Sun- 
 day without a special permission from his employer or the mayor 
 
32 
 
 shall be arrested and imprisoned and made to work two days on the 
 public streets, or pay two dollars in lieu of said work. 
 
 Sec. 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freed- 
 women, or both sexes. 
 
 Sec. 12. It shall be the special duty of the mayor or president of 
 the board to see that all the provisions of this ordinance are faith- 
 fully executed. 
 
 Sec. 13. Be it further ordained, that this ordinance to take effect 
 from and after its first publication. — Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 2. 39th Gong., 
 1st Sess., p. 92. 
 
 ALABAMA 
 
 Sec. 61. Marriages Between White Persons and Negroes. If any 
 white person and any negro, or the descendant of any negro, to the 
 third generation, inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation 
 be a white person, intermarry, or live in adultery or fornication 
 with each other, each of them must, on conviction, be imprisoned 
 in the penitentiary, or sentenced to hard labor for the county, for 
 not less than two, nor more than seven years. 
 
 Sec. 62. Same; Officer Issuing License, or Performing Marriage 
 Ceremony. Any Probate Judge, who issues a license for the mar- 
 riage of any persons who are prohibited by the last preceding sec- 
 tion from intermarrying, knowing that they are within the pro- 
 visions of that section; and any justice of the peace .minister of the 
 gospel or other person by law authorized to solemnize the rites of 
 matrimony, who performs a marriage ceremony for such persons, 
 knowing that they are within the provisions of said section, must, 
 each, on conviction, be fined not less than one hundred, nor more 
 than one thousand dollars; and may also be imprisoned in the 
 county jail, or sentenced to hard labor for the county, for not less 
 than six months. — Penal Code of Alabama (1866), p. 31. 
 
 West Virginia University 
 
 Announcements of the facilities and courses in the following' 
 departments may be had by writing to the President: 
 
 1. Arts ant* Sciences. 6. Military. 
 
 2. Engineering. 7. Music. 
 
 3. The I<aw. 8. Fine Arts. 
 
 . 4, Medicine. 9. Preparatory. 
 
 5. Agriculture including 10. Commercial. 
 
 Dairying, Horticulture, Vet- 11. The Summer School, 
 erinary Science, etc. 
 
 D. B. PURINTON, Ph. D., LL. D., President 
 
 MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
INDEX 
 
 The figures in black face type refer to Document numbers and the light face 
 figures to pages; where there are double numbers the first figure only is used. 
 
 Alabama, Freedmen's Bureau, 
 6:27, 37, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50; Ku 
 Klux Klan, 8:3; Intermarriage 
 of Whites and Blacks, 8:32; 
 Labor Regulations at Mobile, 
 6:1,9; Union League Resolu- 
 tions,3:34; White Camelia, 1:6, 
 7; White League and White 
 Brotherhood, 1:6. 
 
 Alcorn Clubs, 3:5. 
 
 Apprenticeship, 8:10, 8. 
 
 Association, The 76, 4:59-60. 
 
 Black and Tan Convention in 
 South Carolina, 4:3. 
 
 Black Belt, 1:6, 7; 3:4. 
 
 "Black Codes," see "Black Laws." 
 
 "Black Laws," Alabama, 8:32; a 
 Town Ordinance Regulating 
 Preedmen, 8:30; Certain Crimes 
 of Freedmen, 8:29; Civil Rights 
 of Freedmen, 8:13; Criticism of 
 8:3;. Domestic Relations of 
 Freedmen, 8:16; Florida, 8:29-30; 
 Intermarriage of Races, 8:32; 
 Louisiana, 8:30-32; Master and 
 Apprentice Act, 8-10; Missis- 
 sippi, 8:10-16; North Carolina, 
 8:4-10; Purpose, 8:3; Report of 
 Committee of North Carolina 
 Legislature,8:4; Sketch of, 8:3; 
 South Carolina, 8:16-29; 'Va- 
 grancy Act, 8:11. 
 
 Bond and Railroad Frauds, 4:42. 
 
 Botts, John Minor, opinion of 
 Freedmens Bureau in Virginia, 
 0:54. 
 
 Bureau Courts, 6:21, 27, 52. 
 
 Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees 
 and " Abandoned Lands, see 
 Freedmen's Bureau. 
 
 Carpetbag Rule in South Caro- 
 lina, 4:3-49. 
 
 Children of Freedmen Legitimate, 
 8:16. 
 
 Christian Negroes, 8:9. 
 
 Churches, Intrusion of Negroes 
 Into, 8:30. 
 
 Civil Rights of Freedmen, 8:13. 
 
 Colonization of Negroes, 6:42. 
 
 Confiscation, 6:3, 4, 43; As a 
 Cause of the Ku Klux Move- 
 ment, 1:5; 3:4; Negroes Believe 
 in, 6:43. 
 
 Contracts with Freedman, 8:14, 
 20, 25. 
 
 Constitution, of the Knights of 
 the White Camelia, 1:8-20; of 
 the United States, 1:8, 21, 26; 
 3:19, 23, 24, 26, 27. 
 
 Constitutional Union Guards, 2:5. 
 
 Conway, T. W., on Freedmen's 
 Bureau in Louisiana, 6:33. 
 
 Council of Safety, 1:6; Constitu- 
 tion of, 4:51-56; Sketch of, 4:50. 
 
 Courts Should Be Opened' to 
 Negro, 8:5. 
 
 DeBow, J. D. B., Opinion of the 
 
 Freedmen's Bureau, 6:55. 
 Department of Negro Affairs, 6:3. 
 Deserting Employment, 8:15. 
 Discharge of Servants, 8:22. 
 
 Economic Causes of the Ku Klux 
 Movement, 2:4. 
 
 Education, by the Freedmen's 
 Bureau, 6:3-5, 22, 23, 30. 
 
 Elections, 1:5, 22, 23; 3:4. 
 
 Equality of Races, 1:5; Denied by 
 Ku Klux Klan, 2:25; Denied by 
 White Camelia, 1:21-29; Taught 
 by Freedmen's Bureau, 6:5; 
 Taught by Union League, 3:4.. 
 
 Eviction of Persons of Color, 8:26. 
 
 Evidence, Rules of, 8:7. 
 
 Family Relations of the Freed- 
 men, 8:14, 16. 
 
 Federal Troops in the Southern 
 States, 1:5; 3:3. 
 
 Fees for Contracts, 8:21. 
 
 Fisk, General Clinton B., on 
 Freedmen's Bureau in Ken- 
 tucky, 6:38. 
 
Florida, Freedmen's Bureau, 6:40, 
 
 42. ' 
 Forrest, General N. B., 2:4. 
 "Forty Acres of Land and a 
 
 Mule," 0:17, 43. 
 Freedmen, see Negroes, and 
 
 Freedmen's Bureau. 
 Freedmen's Aid Societies, 6:3-5. 
 Freedmen's Bureau, a Cause of 
 
 the Ku. .Klux Movement, 1:5; 
 
 6:00; Laws Establishing, 6:6-11; 
 
 Officials in Union League, 3:4; 
 
 Official Regulations, 6:17-31; 
 
 Opinions of the Bureau, 6:46- 
 
 55; Reports of the Bureau, 
 
 6:46-55; Reports of Officials, 
 
 6:32-42; Sketch of, .6:3-5; Veto 
 
 Messages of the President, 
 
 6:12-16. 
 Freedmen, Civil Rights of, 8:4- 
 
 10; Legislation Relating to, sen 
 
 "Black. Laws." 
 Freedmen's Savings and Trust 
 
 Company, 6:5, 56. 
 Freedmen's Savings Bank, Act of 
 
 Incorporation, 6:61; Amount of 
 
 Deposits, 6:63; Benefits, 6:57; 
 
 Depositor's Bank Book, 6:56; 
 
 Investigation of by Congress, 
 
 6:57. 
 Fullerton, General J. S., on Freed- 
 men's Bureau in Louisiana, 
 
 6:34. 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic, 
 1:30 2:25. 
 
 Grant, General, Report to Presi- 
 dent Johnson, 6:33. 
 
 Grant Rangers, 3:5. 
 
 Guardian and Ward, 8:18. 
 
 Heroes of America, 1:30; 3:5. 
 Hiring Out Persons of Color,8:4. 
 Honesty of the Freedmen, 8:4. 
 House Servants, 8:25. 
 
 Husband and Wife, Relation of, 
 8:16. 
 
 Impeachment Swindle in South 
 
 Carolina, 4:35. 
 Intermarriage, Opposed by White 
 
 Camelia, 1:27. 
 Invisible Empire, 1:5; Oath, 1:31; 
 
 see Ku Klux Klan. 
 
 "Jim Crow" Car Law, 8:30. 
 Johnson, Veto Messages, 6:12-16. 
 
 Kentucky, Freedmen's Bureau, 
 6:38. 
 
 Knights of the White Camelia, 
 1:5; see also White Camelia. 
 
 Ku Klux Committee, Views of 
 Minority on Freedmen's Bu- 
 reau, 6:51. 
 
 Ku Klux Klan, 1:5, 6, 7; a Case 
 of Ku Klux Discipline, 4:60; a 
 Local Constitution, 4:56; Char- 
 acter and Objects of the Or- 
 ders, 2:9; Degenerates, 2:5; Dis- 
 banded, 2:5; Edicts, 2:28;. Elec- 
 tion of Officers, 2:19; Extent .of , 
 2:3, lOj Initiation Ceremonies, 
 2:3; Its Judiciary, 2:21; Its 
 Revenues,. 2:22; Membership, 
 2:24; Oath, 1:31; 2:19, 20; Op- 
 erates in White Counties, 2:4; 
 Orders, 2:4, 31; Powers and 
 Duties . of Officials, 2:11-18; 
 Prescript of, 2:4; Questions to 
 Be Answered by Candidates; 
 2:25; Register, 2:30; Revised 
 and Amended Prescript of, 2:4, 
 7-30; Sketch of, 2:3-6; Titles of 
 Officials, 2:9. 
 
 Ku Klux Movement, Causes, 1:5; 
 2:3; 3:5. See also Ku Klux 
 Klan, Council of Safety, White 
 Camelia, '76 Association. 
 
 Labor Regulations, 8:21; of 
 Freedmen's Bureau, 0:19-31. 
 
 Laws Against the Ku Klux Move- 
 ment, 1:6; 2:4. 
 
 Legislation Relating to Freed- 
 men, see "Black Laws." 
 
 License to Freedmen to Carry 
 Weapons, 8:30. 
 
 Louisiana Association, the '76, 
 4:59-60; "Black Laws," 8:30-32; 
 Freedmen's Bureau in, 6:24, 33, 
 34; White Camelia Begins in, 
 1:5. 
 
 Loyal League, see Union League. 
 
 Loyal League Catechism, 3:28-33. 
 
 Loyal National League, 3:3. 
 
 Loyal Publication Society, 3:3. 
 
 Marriages, Among Freedmen, 
 8:14, 16; Between Whites and 
 Blacks, 8:32. 
 
 Master and Apprentice, 8:10, 18. 
 
 Mechanics, Artisans and Shop- 
 keepers, 8:26. 
 
 Missionaries and Teachers from 
 the North, 1:5; 3:3; 6:52. 
 
 Mississippi "Biack Laws," 8:10-16. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Mulattoes, see Freedmen and Ne- 
 groes. 
 
 National Guards, 8:5. 
 Negro Churches and Politics, 3:4, 
 35. 
 
 Neg-ro Democrats, Treatment, 3:4, 
 
 35. 
 Neg-ro Militia, 1:5; 3:4; 4:37. 
 Negro Preachers, 8:31. 
 Negro Women, Political Influence, 
 
 3:4, 35. 
 
 Negroes, Demoralized and Dan- 
 gerous, 1:5; in the Elections, 
 1:5; 2:3; 3:4. 
 
 North Carolina "Black Daws," 
 8:4. 
 
 Ohio, Union Deague in, 3:3. 
 Opelousas, Ordinance of the Town 
 
 of, 8:30. 
 Order, a Specimen Order of Ku 
 
 Klux Klan, 2:31. 
 Osborne, General T. W., on the 
 
 Freedmen's Bureau in Florida, 
 
 6:40. 
 
 Painted Sticks Sold to Negroes, 
 
 6:43-46, 48. 
 Pale Faces, 2:5. 
 Patterson, Senator from South 
 
 Carolina, 4:49. 
 Patton, Governor, of Alabama, on 
 
 the Freedmen's Bureau, 6:46. 
 Parent and Child, 8:18'. 
 Passes Required from Freedmen, 
 
 8:30,31. 
 Paupers, Negro, 8:27. 
 Pay Certificates, 4:40. 
 Persuading a Freedman to De- 
 sert Employment, S:16. 
 Preamble of '76 Association, 4:60. 
 Prescript of Ku Klux Klan, 2:3; 
 
 Revised and Amended, 2:3, 7-30. 
 Printing Frauds, 4:31. 
 Property Rights of Freedmen, 
 
 8:6. 
 Public Frauds in South Carolina, 
 
 4:3-49. 
 Public Meetings of Negroes, 8:31. 
 
 Rape, Penalty for, S:29. 
 Red Strings, 1:30; 3:5. 
 Refreshments, Wines 
 
 Liquors, 4:27. 
 Refugees, 1:5; 2:3. 
 
 and 
 
 Revolution Against Reconstruc- 
 tion, 1:5; 2:3-5. 
 
 Rights of Masters, 8:22-24. 
 
 Rights of Servants, 8:24, 25. 
 
 Ritual of the Knights of the 
 White Camelia, 1:21-29. 
 
 Sayre, of Alabama, Opinion of 
 the Freedmen's Bureau, 0:49. 
 
 Servants, Duties of, 8:21; in Hus- 
 bandry, 8:25. 
 
 Sherman's Special Field Orders 
 No. 15, 6:17. 
 
 Slave Marriages VSlid, 8:14. 
 
 South Carolina, "Black Laws,'' 
 8:16-29; Bond and Railroad 
 Frauds, 4:42; Carpetbag Rule, 
 4:3-49; Corrupt Judiciary, 4:47; 
 Election of Patterson- to U. S. 
 Senate,4:49; Frauds in Supplies, 
 4:4; Impeachment Swindle, 
 4:35; Local Ku Klux Klan, 4:56; 
 Militia Frauds, 4:37; Pay Cer- 
 tificates, 4:40; Printing Frauds, 
 4:31; Public Frauds, 4:3-49; the 
 Council of Safety, 4:50-56. 
 
 "Southern Atrocities," 3:3; 6:33, 
 38. 
 
 Southern Unionists in the Union 
 League, 3:3. 
 
 Supplies for the South Carolina 
 Legislature, 4:s. 
 
 Swayne, General Wagner, on 
 Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama, 
 6:37. 
 
 Tarbell, General, Opinion of the 
 
 Freedmen's Bureau, 6:54. 
 Teachers and Missionaries from 
 
 The North, 1:5; 3:3; 6:3, 4, 5. 
 Tennessee, Freedmen's Bureau, 
 
 6:38. 
 Testimony of Freedmen, 8:5, 14. 
 Tillson, General, on Freedmen's 
 
 Bureau in Georgia, 6:39. 
 "Tories," a Cause of Ku Klux 
 
 Movement, 2:4; Members of the 
 
 Union League, 3:3, 4. 
 
 Union League; a Cause of the Ku 
 Klux Movement, 1:5; 2:3, 25; 
 3:5; Black Membership, 3:4; 
 Campaign Literature, 3:3; Cate- 
 chism, 3:28-33; Constitution of 
 a State Council, 3:11-16; Con- 
 stitution of National Council, 
 3:6-10; in the North, 3:3-5, 27; 
 
Methods, 3:4, 28, 35; Origin, 3:3, 
 27; Principles, 3:3; 4:19-27; 
 Resolutions of Alabama Grand 
 Council, 3:34; Ritual, 3:17-27; 
 Sketch, of, 3:3-5; Treatment of 
 Negro Democrats, 3:4, 35. 
 
 Union League Dialogue, 3:28-33. 
 
 Union League in Alabama, 6:49. 
 
 Union Republican Clubs, 3:4, 33. 
 
 United States Sanitary Commis- 
 sion, 3:3. 
 
 Vagrancy, 8:29; Defined, 8:11; 
 Punished, 8:12, 13. 
 
 Veto Messages of President John- 
 son, 6:12-16. * 
 
 Virginia, Preedmen's Bureau, 
 6:28, 29, 40, 41, 43, 54. 
 
 Weapons, Not Permitted- to 
 
 Freedmen, 8:30, 31. 
 Whipping as a Punishment, 8:4, 
 
 30. 
 
 White Brotherhood, 1-6; 8:5; 
 Oath, 1:30. 
 
 White Camelia, Knights of, 1:5; 
 Cause and Origin of, 1:5; Cen- 
 tral Council, 1:13; Constitution, 
 1:8-20; Councils, 1:15; Degen- 
 erates, 1:7; Disbanded, 1:7; Ex- 
 tent of.lt 5; Fundamental Ob- 
 ject, 1:25; Grand Councils, 1:11; 
 Initiation Oath, 1:21, 23; Mem- 
 bership, 1:7, 16; Methods, 1:6; 
 Opposes Social and Political 
 Equality of Negro, 1:23, 25; 
 Principles, 1:21-25; Recognizes 
 Rights of Negro, 1:28; Ritual, 
 1:21-29; Supreme Council, 1:8; 
 Titles of Officials, 1:8, 9, 12, 14, 
 15, 16, 20. 
 
 White League, 1:6; 2:5. 
 
 White Rose, Order of, 1:5. 
 
 Wright, General, of Georgia, 
 Opinion of Freedmen's Bureau, 
 6:47. 
 
DOCUMENTS RELATING TO RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 Edited by 
 
 Walter L. Fleming, Ph.D. 
 
 . Professor of History in West Virginia University. 
 
 CLOTH, 12MO. PRICE «:y50 NET 
 
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