LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 418 859 7 Hollinger pH 8 J MiU Run F03-2193 F 291 .B91 Copy 1 A LETTER TO Hon. CHARLES SUMNER, OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, EXPOSING THE BULLOCK-BLODGETT RING IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO Meat the Bingham Amendment. J/ ^, Washinston, D. C. GIBSON BROTHERS, PRINTERS. 1870. rz9/ ^ Hon. CuAELES Sumner, U. S. S.: Dear Sir — Permit me to address you upon a subject of great importance to the colored people of Georgia to the Ke- publican party of that State, and, in my judgment, to the Kepublican party of the nation. As I address you upon a subject of such vast importance, you will permit me to allude to my anti-slavery and Repub- lican record, to show that I have a right to speak upon that subject. I am a native of the State of Maine ; my father was an anti-slavery man ; and from my earliest boyhood I sympa- thized with his views. At school I was known as an earnest advocate of the anti-slavery cause, and an outspoken friend of the negro. At a time when it was very unpopular to do so, I demanded that young Burns, a negro boy from Liberia, a schoolmate of mine, who was being educated at Kent's Hill, Maine, should have the same rights that white students had, and, through my instrumentality, he was elected a member of the literary society of that school. I threw my first vote for John C. Fremont, for President, in 1856. I entered the army at the commencement of the war as captain in the 8th Maine infantry, and served three years. I went with the expedition that captured the Port Royal islands in South Carolina. I was, I believe, the first officer of a white regiment who tendered his services to General Rufus Saxton to assist in organizing the colored regiments raised by him in South Carolina, and I served seventeen months on his staff. The following letter, given to me by that distinguished officer and well-known friend of the colored race, will show his opinion of me : Hbadqcartbrs Department of the South, Chief Qdahtermaster's Office, Atlanta, Ga., 1869. General U. S. Grant, President of (he United States : Sir — I would respectfully recommend to your favorable consideration Colonel J. E. Bryant, of Augusta, Georgia, for the position of postmaster of that city. To a brilliant war record in the Union army Colonel Bryant has added, since its close, a no less important service in the cause of reconstruction, as one of the elec- tors for the State of Georgia, chairman of the State Republican Committee, and an influential member of the State legislature. As a man of excellent business capacity, active and intelligent, upright and honest, the Government funds will be safe in his keeping. In my judgment, no better selection could be made for the position desired. I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, RUFUS SAXTON, Brevet Brig. Geri'l a7ul Quartermaster, U. S. A. I assisted to organize. the first colored regiment raised by him, and I assisted Jim Montgomery to raise the second colored regiment. In the spring of 1865 I was appointed colonel, and ordered t«» raise a colored regiment, which I should have done but for the order of the Secretary of War stopping the enlistment of colored troops. In May, 1865, I was sent by General Saxton to Augusta, Ga., and reached that city immediately after it was occupied by our troops. I was instructed to exercise jurisdiction over the freedmen of that city and vicinity, and I attended to my duties in such a manner that I succeeded in gaining the love of the colored people and the hatred of the white people. In January, 1866, 1 established a paper in Augusta — the Loyal Georgian — to advocate the cause of the colored people, and commenced to organize them into an association — the Georgia Equal Rights Association, of which I was elected president. I suf- fered more than I can tell during that year in my eiforts to continue the publication of that paper, and advocate the cause so dear to me. I spent my own money freely, and appealed to Northern friends to assist me. Perhaps you will remember having signed the following letter : Washington, D. C, July 27, 18C6. P'ew men at the North can appreciate the importance of maintaining in the in- surrectionary districts of our country papers in which the freedmen have confi- dence, because they find them faithful in their report of facts and opinions. It is of the utmost importance. Such a paper is the Loyal Georgian. I have read every number of it, and know its value. In one or two years the freedmen and white Unionists of Georgia will be able to support it, but it must have aid meanwhile, and I beg the friends of peace and union to sustain it by generous contributions. WILLIAM D. KELLEY. I concur in the above. JUSTIN S. MORRILL. I wish the paper great success. CHARLES SUMNER. In the fall of 1866 I was a member of the Southern Loy- alists' Convention, held in Philadelphia, and, as a member of the committee on resolutions, was one of the minority that urged the adoption of a resolution favoring the reconstruc- tion of the rebel States by Congress, and the granting of po- litical rights to the negro. Hon, Thomas J. Durante of Louisiana, now of this city, was a member of the committee, and will, I have no doubt, bear witness to what I have said. In the winter and spring of 1866 and 1867, I was in this city, urging upon Congressmen the importance of giving po- litical rights to the negro. I was a member of the Southern Loyalists' Association, and united with them in urging Con- gressional action in favor of the negro. After the passage of the reconstruction acts, I assisted in organizing the Repub- lican party of Georgia. In regard to my services in the cause of reconstruction, I respectfully refer you to a letter recently addressed by me to Hon. H. Hamlin, a copy of which I hand you herewith. The Loyal Georgian was sus- pended in January, 1869, for reasons over which I had no control, but the Georgia Republican, the Loyal Georgian with a new name, was issued by me in July last. The pa- per advocates equal rights, free schools, temperance. The equal political and legal rights of citizens of the United States, except those who have been convicted of crime, or are otherwise rightfully disqualified. The enactment of State laws for the inauguration and sup- port of a system of common schools. The elevation of labor, and the passage of such laws as will protect the toiling masses of society in their just and legal rights. State aid to important works of internal improvement. It is charged that I am a Democrat ; in fact, that I have " gone back" on my past record. The charge is false. It is true that as a member of the General Assembly of Georgia I have sometimes voted with Democrats. ^' Old Thad. Ste- vens" sometimes voted with Democrats when he was a mem- ber of Congress. So did Generals Logan, Banks, Schenck and Garfield, John A. Bingham and Mr. Farnsworth, and other distinguished Republicans, vote with members of that party on an important proposition only a few days since. Are they Democrats, and was Mr. Stevens a Democrat ? VILLAINY EXPOSED. I did much to make Mi*. Bullock Governor of Georgia. He was a Northern man by birth, and professed to be a Union man. I fully trusted him. Soon after his election I had reason to doubt his Eepublicanism^ on account of the appointments made by him. I believed that he intended to betray the Union men of the State, because he appointed many ex-rebels and Democrats to office. Subsequent events have convinced me that my fears were correct. Ex-rebels and Democrats have been appointed to important offices, when old Union men and Republicans, natives of the State, were applicants for the same positions. But you may ask why he has been so radical in Washington. I answer, to get control of the General Assembly for selfish purposes. It was for that reason that he urged Congress to require the '' iron-clad" oath in the reorganization of the legislature, and for the same reason he urged Congress to require a harsher oath than was required in the organization of the legislature of Virginia, of Mississippi, or of Texas. I do not believe that he wanted to control the legislature for the good of the Republican party, or to assist colored men ; but that he might cover up financial operations, and elect Foster Blodgett to the United States Senate. I call your attention, respectfully, to the following state- ment of Hon. N. L. Angier, the treasurer of Georgia. Dr. Angier is a native of New Hampshire, but has lived in Georgia thirty years. He earnestly opposed secession, and when the war commenced left Georgia with his family, although his wife was a Southern woman, and although he was obliged to leave a large property in Georgia. He did not return until the close of the war. Since our party was organized, he has been an earnest Republican. He was a member of the constitutional convention ; was the regular Republican candidate for treasurer, and received the vote of every Republican member of the legislature. He is a man of large wealth, and no man in Georgia has a better reputa- tion for truth^ honor and integrity. STATEMENT OF MR. ANGIER. Governor Bullock'' s Financial Operations. — The foUowinS drafts were drawn by Governor Bullock on the Fourth Na- tional Bank, New York, the amounts not reported by him or paid into the State treasury, but used by him without any appropriation, and in direct violation of law : No. New York, October 29, 1868. Fourth National Bank of the city of New York, pay to the order of C. Burk seventeen thousand dollars. RUFUS B. BULLOCK, Governor of Georgia. No. New York, December 3, 1868. Fourth National Bank of the city of New York, pay to the order of R. B. Bul- lock eight thousand dollars. Charge account of State. RUFUS BULLOCK, Governor of Georgia. December 12, 1868. Pay to the order of H. F. Kimball ten thousand dollars, and charge the same to the account of the State of Georgia. To the Fourth National Bank, New York. RUFUS B. BULLOCK, Governor. The house adopted a report — 86 to 37 — in reference to the above illegal proceedings, in which it states: "No emer- gency existed which demanded of Governor Bullock this extraordinary departure from the law. His Excellency acted in direct violation of the known will of the legislature." Besides the above $35,000 illegally drawn and used by him without warrant or appropriation, in open defiance of law, after being fully put upon his notice by the General Assembly by a vote of over two to one, the Governor went directly to New York and drew the following draft : $20,000. New York, March 27, 1869. At sight, pay to the order of H. F. Kimball twenty thousand dollars, value received, and charge the same to the account of the State of Georgia. RUFUS B. BULLOCK, Governor. To the Fourth National Bank, New York. None of which has ever found its way into the State treas- ury, thus assuming arbitrary powers, wilfully overriding both the constitution and the laws. He has paid attorneys over fifteen thousand dollars, nine thousand of which was paid in less than thirty days, as retainers, hoping to buy influence. On the 21st of November, 1868, the cashier of the Georgia National Bank presented the Governor's draft on the Fourth National Bank of New York for $25,000, and voluntarily states that it was to cover Governor Bullock's individual indebtedness to this bank. The General Assembly appropriated as the salary of the attorney general $2,000 ; the Governor has paid him over $6,000. He has paid out of the State treasury nearly two thousand dollars to light Kimball's Opera House, when the building had not been used for State purposes over six times at night, none of the State offices being kept open nights. He has paid under a pretence as guard of Executive Man- sion, at Milledgeville, $1,400 a year, when responsible parties in that city propose to take special care of the buildings and grounds solely for the use of the grounds. In 1868, he paid eight executive clerks, besides his two secretaries, when the law allowed only the two secretaries. Last year the legislature restricted him to one clerk, besides his two secretaries ; he has drawn his warrants for five, besides his secretaries. The appropriations for 1868 were only for the latter half of the year 1868. Still, for the public printing of 1869, he, in violation of the law, drew ten thousand back on 1868, notwithstanding the house, by a vote of over three to one, 9 directed him to ehcarge it as an advance on the printing fund of 1869. This he did that he might save his $25,000 print- ing fund to silence the mouths of the press. By a false construction of the 23d section of the appropri- ation bill, he has drawn warrants for over one hundred thou- sand dollars, mostly of the class that have heretofore been drawn on the contingent fund. This is independent of the contingent fund of $20,000, which, all but a few dollars, he exhausted in less than six months, mostly for incidental expenses of executive department. He drew warrants for $6,000 for arresting three fugitives, and they all absconded shortly after the warrants were drawn. From $50 to $200 has heretofore been the rewards for fugitives. As an evidence of his interest in the Kimball Opera House, a portion of which is temporarily used as a State house,, he labored to secure the influence of the State treasurer in favor of paying said Kimball $25,000 yearly rent for only a por- tion of the least valuable part of a building that could not have cost Kimball over $100,000, reserving to himself all the first-story front on the main street^ most the entire base- ment, and a large number of rooms in the upper two stories. The acknowledged purpose of the Bullock ring is to sell this house to the State for $400,000, that could not have cost Kimball over $150,000, with all its fixtures. The law requires the net earnings of the Western and Atlantic railroad (which road belongs to the State) to be paid into the State treasury monthly. The payment for the month of September is the last that has been received. Gov- ernor Bullock is the chief officer of the road. Former ad- ministrations paid into the State treasury, of net earnings, from $30,000 to $50,000 monthly. The road is a main trunk road, and said, by the best of judges, to be doing more busi- ness now than it ever did before. Captain Jones, who had been State treasurer eight years, in his report of July 1, 1867, puts the net earnings at $50,000 per month through the year. The Macon and Western railroad, which is one of three roads fed from this State trunk, and but little over 10 half as long as the State trunk, pays of net earnings about $30,000 a month. The other two in about the same propor- tion. Certain amounts are known to have been paid and loaned to individuals^ not for any service in behalf of the road, but as is believed to purchase influence and adherents. The recipients are mostly Democrats^ or so claim, who sus- tain Bullock, but abuse President Grant and the Republican members of Congress and their policy. There are many other illegal transactions which we have not space to mention. N. L. ANGIER. Treasurer of State. Washington, D. C, February 9, 1870. ATTEMPT TO ELECT FOSTER BLODGETT TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1867. Foster Blodgett was a candidate for the United States Senate when Messrs. Hill and Miller were elected in 1868, but he was defeated because he was under indictment for perjury in the United States district court at Savannah. The facts are these : Mr. Blodgett was an officer in the rebel army, and in 1865 was appointed postmaster at Augusta, Ga., and took the "iron-clad" oath. The grandjury that in- dicted him was composed entirely of Union men, all of whom took the "iron-clad" oath, and all, or nearly all, of whom were Northern men, some of whom I know to be Republi- cans. Mr. Blodgett has thus far prevented a trial. Col. John Milledge, late the United States district attorney for Geor- gia, told me that Blodgett and his friends made every effort to induce him to enter a nol. pros, in his case, but that the proof was so strong against him that he could not do so, and that because he did not_, Blodgett and his friends were now bitterly opposed to him. I call your attention, respectfully, to the following affidavits : THE BLODGETT CASE. The following affidavits were made to be read before Hon. M. J. Saffold, late supervisor of internal revenue, in a case before him, wherein Mr. Blodgett was a witness. The origi- 11 nals are on file in the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The affidavits are made by men of good character, well known to the people of Augusta. Some of them gave testimony before the grand jury that found the bill of indict- ment : State of Georgia, Richmond county: Personally appeared Alexander Phillip, -who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that on or about the seventeenth (17) day of April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, (1861,) he, as a justice of the peace, was requested by Foster Blodgett to preside at an election to be held for officers of a company styled the " Blodgett Volunteers," about entering the service of the Confederate States ; that at said election he, Foster Blodgett, was elected captain ; that said company left Augusta, in said county, on or about the twenty-eighth (28th) day of April in said year, with orders to organize with the Third (3d) Georgia regi- ment in Virginia. At the election for officers of the said regiment said Foster Blodgett was a candidate for major, and used great energy to be elected, but was, however, defeated. He, the said Foster Blodgett, with his company, remained with said regiment at Portsmouth, Va., until the latter part of August or begin- ning of September of said year, when his company was transferred and ordered to report at Richmond. I asked him the reason for desiring the transfer. He in- formed me that he "thought the colonel (A. R. Wright) was a coward, and would not be willing to go into a fight ; that, for his part, he wished the war carried on vigorously, and the damned Yankees driven out of the South." I saw but little of Captain Blodgett after he left the regiment until his return to Au- gusta, Georgia, in eighteen hundred and sixty-five, (1865,) he then being ap- pointed postmaster. I entered the Confederate service as second (2d) lieutenant in company G of said 3d regiment, but was, upon the organization of the regi- ment, appointed quartermaster, and held that position in said regiment until about the first of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, (1864.) We all entered the service voluntarily; there was no coercion used to get any one into the service at that time, for there were more volunteers offering than could be accepted. ALEXANDER PHILLIP. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 24th day of April, 1869. W. MILO OLIN, J. P. State of Georgia, Richmond County : Personally appeared J. L. Ells, who, after being duly sworn, deposeth and says, that in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-one, he volunteered to serve in the Third Regiment of Georgia volunteers ; that he was first sergeant of company G of the aforesaid regiment ; that the regiment was thoroughly organized in Portsmouth, Virginia, early in the month of May, in the year afore- said, by the election of field officers. At that election Foster Blodgett, then captain of company I, otherwise called the "Blodgett Volunteers," was a candi- date for major, but was defeated by A. H. Lee, captain of company H. The said Foster Blodgett, with his company, continued to perform military duty in the said Third Regiment of Georgia volunteers until some time early in the month of August of the year aforesaid, at which time he and his command were transferred to another arm of the service. Deponent further says that the Third Georgia regiment aforesaid was composed entirely of volunteers until subsequent to the sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-two. Deponent further testifies that he has made oath to, substantial!}', the same fact herein contained before a grand jury, in the United States court, in the city of Savannah, in the State of Georgia, in the latter part of the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, which grand jury returned a true bill of indict- ment against the said Foster Blodgett for perjury. JOHN L. ELLS. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 23d day of April, 1869. W. MILO OLIN, J. P. 12 State op Georgia, Richmond County : Personally appeared James A, Bennett, who, after being duly sworn, deposeth and says that in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, (1861,) iu the month of April, Foster Blodgett, John Harper, himself and one or two others organized a volunteer company in the city of Augusta, county aforesaid ; that said Foster Blodgett was very energetic in getting up the same — electioneered and was elected captain of the same, ("the Blodgett Volunteers;") that said company was mus- tered into the service of the Confederate States on the twenty-seventh (27th) of said month, and left for Virginia on the following day with orders to organize with the Third (3d) Georgia regiment at Portsmouth; said regiment was ordered to elect field officers, and that said Foster Blodgett opposed and ran against one A. H. Lee for the office of major of said regiment, and used his best endeavors to obtain his election, but was defeated ; that at the expiration of the year for which said company went into service they reorganized, when said Foster Blodgett tried very hard to be re-elected captain, but on failing, returned home. Deponent says that said Foster Blodgett, in getting up said company, in running for major as aforesaid, and in running for captain again, did so freely and voluntarily, as there was no compulsion, coercion or influence to bear on him ; that he persuaded most of the members to join said company, and that after arriving in Virginia he re- turned home, in Augusta, and obtained about thirty more recruits. Deponent further says that about the middle of April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, (1861,) said Foster Blodgett had just been defeated by a very small majority for the office of mayor of said city ; that he told deponent that he had desired the office that he might be the first Southern mayor to take a company into the service, or words to that effect. JAMES A. BENNETT. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this twenty-third day of April, 1869. W. MILO OLIN, J. P. State of Georgia, Richmond County : Personally appeared William W. King, who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that shortly after Foster Blodgett 's defeat by a small majority for a re- election to the office of mayor of the city of Augusta, in said county, in the month of April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, (1861,) said Foster Blodgett stated to him that he was very sorry deponent had not supported him ; that he had desired to be the first Southern mayor to take a company into service, or words to that effect. WILLIAM W. KING. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this twenty-third day of April, 1869. W. MILO OLIN, J. P. State op Georgia, Richmond County : Personally appeared James P. Fleming and Daniel B. Thompson, who after be- ing duly sworn deposeth and say : That in the year eighteen hundred and sixty- one, just before the commencement of hostilities between the Government of the United States and some of the Southern States, there was organized in the city of Augusta, in said county, a vigilance committee, for the declared and avowed pur- pose among themselves of ridding the community of all who were considered spies, or in any manner opposed to the action of the State of Georgia, then claim- ing to have been a separate government, and particularly those suspected of re- siding in said city whose sympathies were with the United States, and that Foster Blodgett, then mayor of the city, was among those (if not the very first man) who organized the same, presiding at and advising with their committees, and on resigning, gave as his reason that he had been advised, as he was mayor of the city, not to remain with said vigilance committee, but assured them that he thought the committee right, and heartily approved of its object ; that said Fos- ter Blodgett shortly afterward organized a large company and went into the ser- vice of the confederate States. JAMES P. FLEMING, D. B. THOMPSON. Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 22d day of April, 1869. ALEX. PHILLIP, J. P., S98