Judge Albert W. Tourgee
He was baleil as thoroughly as probably
any man who ever lived in North Carolina.
At the same time, he sponsored many
w orthy causes, sonic* of w hich were adopted
and are still in effect.
\
MY subject was by far the
most brilliant of all the
carpetbaggers who perched
upon the prostrate carcass of the
State so soon as the guns of the
South were silent; and he was the
only one of that ilk who attained
an international reputation. Al¬
though he long bore an unsavory
reputation in our State on account
of his radical views on the issue of
slavery, he was none the less a
Sfect illustration of “Doctor
yll and Mister Hyde"; and if
the character of Hyde was more
in evidence in Tourgee than that
of Jekyll, he none the less possessed
some of the attributes of the hu¬
manitarian physician, and he
wrought some good for the service
of our State.
Born in Ohio in 1883,he entered
upon his turbulent career in his
boyhood, leaving home because of
trouble with his step-mother, fend¬
ing for himself until 1859 when
he entered Rochester University,
where ho remained until January
1861. The Bachelor's degree was
conferred upon him by Rochester
in 1862, not because he had earned
it but because he had entered the
Federal army; and in 1880 Roches¬
ter conferred upon him the degree
of Doctor of Laws which in his
case may be considered as an
earned degree, for by that time his
literary fame was known through¬
out the nation; and three years
later the University of Copenhagen
named him Doctor of Philosophy.
Volunteered in Union Army
Lincoln no sooner called for
volunteers in April 1861 than
Tourgee volunteered for the Fed¬
eral service, acting as Lieutenant
in the 27th New York. He was
in the thick of the fight at First
Bull Run, where he claimed to
have lost the sight of one of his
eyes, although those who knew
him intimately contend that he
lost the eye prior to the outbreak
of the war. Be that as it may,
there is no doubt but that he was
most seriously wounded in the
spine, a wound from which he
By II. C. LAWRENCE
never recovered, which caused
permanent impairment of his ner¬
vous system and often was the
cause of excruciating pain — which
facts should be borne in mind in
appraising his subsequent career.
It was eleven months before he
was able to walk, even on crutches;
but so soon as he was able, he
again entered army service as
Lieutenant in the 105th Ohio, and
at the battle of Perryville he once
more suffered an injury to his
spine which kept him in a hospital
several months, following which
he was captured by a squadron
of Calvary under
"Morgan, Morgan the raider
And Morgan’s terrible men.”
He was imprisoned at Salisbury
and elsewhere, but took advantage
of the opportunity to do a variety
of literary work. In May 1863 he
was exchanged and re-entered the
army. His unbridled temper
brought him into frequent clashes
with his superiors and he was ar¬
rested several times for insubordi¬
nation, which caused him to tender
his resignation from army life. In
May 1864 he was admitted to the
Ohio bar, where he had studied
while nursing the severe wounds
he had sustained. Later he secured
a commission as Major in a Negro
regiment, but before he could as¬
sume his new command, Lee’s
surrender at Appomattox brought
about a cessation of hostilities.
Came South in 1865
He came south seeking his for¬
tune in July 1865. and after mak¬
ing a tour of the State he settled
at Greensboro. This was to be his
home for the next fourteen years,
where he possessed the friendship
of the Negroes and the compara¬
tively few carpetbaggers, but
where he was ostracised, although
admired, by the responsible classes.
As early as 1866 he began his fear¬
less and imprudent course of un¬
ceasing criticism of all things
Southern which characterized his
subsequent career. He was a dele¬
gate to the Philadelphia Loyalist
Convention, during which he made
a speech bitterly assailing the
South, which led to his receiving
many anonymous letters, some of
which warned him of lynching and
all of them advising him to seek
safety in the North.
But Tourgee knew not the mean¬
ing of fear, and he boldly under¬
took the publication of a Republi¬
can newspaper, stating in its first
issue that he was fully aware that
its principles would be unpopular
— prophetic words, for the venture
lasted but six months; but during
this period he denounced President
Johnson as being worse than Cata-
line, and no improvement what¬
ever on JefTcrson Davis.
Hated as he was, he would have
been appointed Judge in 1867, but
for the bitterness of Governor
Worth, who in his correspondence,
referred to Tourgee as “the mean¬
est Yankee who has ever set foot
among us”; “This vile wretch
Tourgee"; “This contemptible
Tourgee”; and worst of all simply
"This Tourgee." The Governor
said that he had heard a hundred
men speak of Tourgee as most con¬
temptible character, whereas none
had spoken well of him. None the
less, Tourgee received the judicial
nomination and was elected in
1868 by a majority of more than
25,000.
The Constitutional Convention
But before he took his seat upon
the bench, he became a member
of the Constitutional Convention
of 1868, the membership of which
embraced but 13 Conservatives as
against 107 Republicans, including
13 Negroes. By this convention
Tourgee was named as one of three
commissioners to codify the laws
of the State and he was primarily
responsible for changing the entire
system of pleading from the old
English Common Law system to
that of the modern Code, adopting
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