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Below is a summary of the events in Mississippi and Louisiana from 1874 to 1876 that lead to Adelbert Ames giving up the governorship and the Republican party losing the south. After reading this timeline in Lemann’s book, which is fleshed out considerably with narratives of the confrontations, I was aghast. Whites in the South saw blacks through the lens of fear and racial prejudice. They justified violence with the notion of self-defense, which is mind-boggling.

And yet, it seems that it is only recently that historians have written the story of these years in a way that doesn’t glorify the South. (For the record, my high school education was in Maryland which, while technically a Southern state, is an odd mix, having been kept from secession.) Even paragons of liberal thinking such as Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy are guilty of defending these violent actions. For example, JFK wrote Profiles in Courage, in which he investigated Lucius Lamar. Lamar was a catalyst for these violent events, prejudiced against blacks, and demonstrated himself to be a two-faced opportunist. Profiles in Courage focused upon the increase in taxation upon Mississippi, and claimed that Reconstruction was "a black nightmare the South could never forget."

This came from the president who was at the helm during our nation’s civil rights movement, and who is often lionized himself for being progressive and a champion of African-Americans. Lemann points out that JFK was put in a similar position as Grant, being asked to send troops to Mississippi to enforce order. JFK, unlike Grant, does. He was, as well, confronted with his erroneous descriptions of Reconstruction by one of Adelbert Ames’ children (Blanche Ames), who wrote Kennedy. He said he would do further research in case the book went through another printing. It went through several and no changes were made. Blanche Ames was the grandmother of Georges Ames Plimpton, who was a friend of the Kennedys. Kennedy asked Plimpton to have his grandmother stop writing him about the book.

As for Woodrow Wilson, he held a White House screening of the notorious The Birth of a Nation, and commented "It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."

With that in mind, below is an outline of the events which liberal scholars and officeholders used to laud as an inspiring effort to resist heavy taxation and defend freedom.

1874

January 8 – Yazoo County sheriff Hilliard is killed while trying to retake his office (which was legitimately voted to Albert T. Morgan). Stories circulate that Morgan killed him and was planning a black uprising. Morgan turns himself in and after a trial, is acquitted of any wrong-doing.

August 5 – Vicksburg elections riddled with violence. No troops are sent, and the Democrats win. 170 seats in the House changed parties, re-aligning the balance of power.

December 2 – taxes were due that day, but the taxpayer’s league forced the resignation of Peter Crosby, Vicksburg’s black sheriff.

December 7 – blacks gathered together in order to re-take their government (which was legitimate, gained by the majority black population voting them in) but Sheriff Crosby was arrested by Colonel Horace Miller. Andrew Owen (a black Union veteran) gathered a militia and faced Colonel Miller’s forces—Crosby sent a message from jail telling Owen to send the men home. As they were turning to go, a white man from Miller’s forces fired at the men and a massacre ensued.

December 19- Ames telegraphs Grant a resolution passed by the Mississippi legislature asking him to dispatch federal troops and Grant complies on December 24^th. By January 19^th, troops arrive and reinstall Crosby.

1875

July – a “letter” from two blacks is published in a Yazoo County newspaper, purporting to report plans of an uprising among the population.

The Enforcement Act of 1875 is killed in Congress by Lucius Lamar, who argued that blacks could vote (although they were inherently unfit) so long as the federal government was not enforcing the elections.

September 1 – during a Republican meeting, armed Democrats are “provoked” into shooting at Sheriff Morgan, who flees as the shooting escalates. The White Liners take this opportunity to overthrow the government and “defend” the city from a black uprising. Morgan flees and never goes back to Yazoo City.

September 4 – Republican barbecue in Clinton, Mississippi is interrupted by violence (competing narratives again as to who began the fight). The result is that a white militia gathers to “defend” the city against a black uprising. The whites go around the countryside and kill blacks and Republican supporters.

September 8 – Ames telegraphs Grant and asks him to send troops. Grant refuses, largely due to the influence of a cabinet minister named Edwards Pierrepont. Ames tries to gather a Republican militia, but whites are reluctant to take up arms against other whites in defense of black people.

October 9 – a black militia marches through the countryside to convey ammunition. Having done so successfully (with no white interference), the whites fear that the militia would then restore Morgan to sheriff in Yazoo County. A thousand plus white men gather in Yazoo County, ready to hang Morgan and fight off the black militia.

October 13 – a “peace conference” takes place at the Governor’s Mansion, during which Ames promises not to send the militia to Yazoo County or ship munitions around the state. In return, Democrats allow blacks to vote and the black militias would disband partially, though their weapons would be kept with the army. The peace conference coincided with the Ohio election, which Republicans won. Sending troops to Mississippi would have been an unpopular decision and could have lost the election.

October 13-28- Democrats continue to harass and threaten black voters, using “Negro riots” as justification, although the violence was often against unarmed men, women and children.

October 28 – Attorney General Pierrepont says the government would deploy troops to ensure a free election

November 2, election day – no troops arrive. Some black voters attempt to vote, but are driven away by armed White Liners. Republicans only gain 496 votes, in comparison to 1,844 in the 1873 election.

1876

The US Supreme Court hands down United States v. Cruikshank et al, from the Colfax massacre. It rules that state governments are responsible for enforcing civil rights, not the federal government. Ames is accused of misconduct during 1874 and the Vicksburg trouble, and that putting Charles Caldwell in charge of the militia is an offense.

Ames decides to resign as governor in exchange for dropping the charges against him.

Violence against blacks in Mississippi and Louisiana continues. On Election Day, there were almost no Republican votes, and Samuel Tilden (Democratic presidential nominee) sweeps Mississippi, as do local Democrats.

Rutherford B. Hayes is the Republican presidential nominee, shifting the emphasis from Reconstruction to growing businesses and commerce. Only South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana are Republican.

July 4 – another massacre occurs in Hamburg, South Carolina. Grant again refuses federal troops, claiming that this was simply what was happening in the other Southern states.

September – another massacre in Ellenton, South Carolina, this time perpetrated by “rifle clubs”

October 17 – Grant orders rifle clubs to disperse or he will send federal troops. 150 blacks were murdered in South Carolina during the summer and leading up to the election.

The presidential election is close: the Southern states are disputed on both sides, and Tilden loses by a single state.

1877 brings about the Compromise of 1877, when Hayes is president in exchange for removing the last federal troops from the South.

1880s bring the Jim Crow laws in the Southern states, legislating the oppression of blacks. In 1890, the Mississippi state constitution requires voters to “read and interpret any portion of Mississippi’s charter, if asked” (184), which of course, is used to disenfranchise black voters.

Image: Thomas Nast’s cartoon, "Compromise, Indeed!" published in Harper’s Weekly January 1877, referring to the Compromise of 1877

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