State

Military District No. 2 Tliiil was how North Carolina was closif*- naltMl immediately after tli«k Civil War. Some strenuous times developed under the leadership of Gt'iioral Sieklevs and General Can by. AT Ihe close of the Civil War. the Southern States were no longer recognized as such, but became "Military Districts," the Carolinas becoming District number two, under the command of the Federal General Daniel E. Sickles. General Sickles was brave to the point of rashness, losing a leg in the heavy fighting at the pcacn orchard at Gettysburg, and killing the United States District Attorney at Washington in a private en¬ counter after the war. But he was obdurate in his views, and had more than one tilt with President Lincoln. Mary Todd Lincoln, the President’s wife, was from the border state of Kentucky, and had several brothers and half-brothers, some of whom served on the south¬ ern and others on the northern side in the conflict. Fighting for the South, her brother Samuel Todd was killed at Shiloh; her brother Alexander Todd was killed at Baton Rouge; and her brother David Todd was mortally wounded at Vicksburg. Her brother-in-law. General Ben Hardin Helm, was killed at Chickamauga, and shortly after the General was killed. Mrs. Helm visited her sister-in-law at the White House, getting through the Federal lines on a pass fur¬ nished by the President. When General Sickles heard she was there, he hastened to the Presi¬ dent and told him "You should not have that Rebel in your house," which drew down upon him n stinging rebuke from the Presi¬ dent. Was Popular at First At first General Sickles was popular in Carolina, and issued a proclamation continuing the civil government, but declaring that it was only provisional in character, and its acts subject to approval by the military authorities. He fre¬ quently conferred with Governor Worth, and proceeded to organize the State into eleven military divi¬ sions, and named a commander for each to supervise the work of the civil authorities. He issued his By II. C. LAWRENCE famous "General Order No. 10" which interfered with the work of the courts to such an extent that Judge Merrimon (afterward chief justice) and Judge Fowle (after¬ wards Governor) resigned. In June 11168, «President Johnson visited his native state, and two days later Chief Justice Chase of the Supreme Court of the United States, sitting with Federal Judge George W. Brooks of North Caro¬ lina. opened at Raleigh the first Federal court held in the state since 1861. The opening of this court was acclaimed as the restora¬ tion of the civil authority, and the Chief Justice declared that the military authority had no control over the powers of the United States courts. General Sickles did not share this view, and he refused to permit the execution by the Federal Marshal of an order of the Federal court. In August he was removed, and Major General E. R. S. Canby became commander of the Department — a case much worse than merely a swapping of the devil for the witch, as Canby was far, far worse than Sickles. Many Drastic Actions Canby treated the civil authority with contempt, and proceeded to make many appointments to civil office himself, removing muny offi¬ cials without any charges against them and without a hearing. Crimi¬ nal conditions became so bad that he was finally forced to set up provost marshal courts which had jurisdiction over some thirty-two counties. President Johnson would have interfered with Canby and would have removed him had it not been for the fact that he was deeply embroiled in his own bitter controversy with a hostile Con¬ gress. Under the leadership of William W. Holden, the Republican party was organized in the state. A negro opened its convention with prayer; and the chairman was escorted to his seat by a commit¬ tee of two — one white, one black. Whites and blacks mingled during the convention on terms of abso¬ lute equality. Holden soon after¬ ward organized the "Union League" for the purpose of exploit¬ ing the negro vote, of which the brilliant carpetbagger. Albion W. Tourgec, became the first presi¬ dent, It had a membership of 70.000! In September, 1867. when the State Republican Convention met. it had a majority of negro delegates, and another carpetbag¬ ger. James C. Abbott of New Hamp¬ shire. was chosen as its chairman. In November an election was held resulting in the calling of a convention to revamp the Consti¬ tution. Meeting in January 1868, this convention was composed of 107 Republicans and 13 Conserva¬ tives or Democrats. The Republi¬ cans included 18 carpetbaggers and 15 negroes. The Conservatives were ably led by Plato Durham of Cleveland and John W. Graham of Orange, but were too few in number to do more than put their opponents on record. Widespread Authority The convention granted di¬ vorces; passed a resolution thank¬ ing Congress for its effort to im¬ peach President Johnson; passed a resolution admitting the carpet¬ bagger Albion W. Tourgee to the bar without examination, and placed him on a commission to re¬ vise the statute law. A corrupt lobby, under the leadership of the notorious Littlefield, pushed through the convention acts issuing nearly three million in state bonds, and pledged state aid at $10,000 per mile to a railroad to be built from Lexington via Greensboro to Winston-Salem. The proposed constitution was submitted to an election held un¬ der military supervision in April 1868. It conferred suffrage upon the negroes, provided for the taking of an oath of allegiance; added a ( Continued on page 18) THE STATE. July 26. 1947 5