The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-12-21
Chadbourne. Camp Stockton. Fort
Davis, Loredo, Brownsville and San


Davis, Loredo, Brownsville and San
| tiago.
/ Breyet Major General George W.
/ Getty, who had succeeded Major
/ General FL. o. Wright in the CON
Inand of the District of Texas, was
+ by promotion and the natural changes.
succeeded by Brevet Major General
S.aP.. .Heintze Imam, and he by Brevet
Major General Charles Griffin. Bras.
vet Major General A. Baird was su:
ceededl by Breret Maior General ] os.
4 A. Mower. IN command of Loufsiana.
4 and MaiorE 81 EN- eraf4 j. E Fostertby
! Colonel Sprague Ia the District og.
I Florida. Brevet Brigadier General
1879 Reynolds also Succeeded Brevet
4 Brig8dier General Brown. In com
/ Hian8 of the sub district OF the Eio
/ ll4rande. Gr Dne gm1s ahE tp'la9af
Work was conmenced on 9the post
above named in the early Spring, aud
! vigorously prosecuted until the rig d
quarantine established against the an
| l'ticipated spread of the yellow fever
/ materially retarded the work of put
ting the soldiers on the frontier un-
| der shelter until late In the ehsuing
Fail No change of troops occurred
In the districts ofLouisiana and Flor
/ ida except such as were Incidental to
the preservation of order and the ex-
eeution of the laws under the civil
rights bill. a few Indian depreda-
litions occurred on the frontier of Tex
as, arising principally from the ad-
venturous character of the extreme
frontier settlers, who, pushing out
| toward the Indian territory, thereby
| incurred the risk of coming ia con-
tact with hostile indians: for there
were no treaties with the Indians as
| far as the Texas border was concern.
| settlements was regarded as the ''dead
| line" below which if an Indian came
| he was killed if overtaken, and above
which white men were treated In the
same manner by the Indians.
In consequence of the struggles in
the Republic of Mexico, to drive out
| the invaders, the Rio Grande frontier
gave me much anxiety. 1t was inn
possible to prevent the soldiers and
/ Union people upon the border from
/ expressing an open sympathy with
the Liberal cause therefore, it was
exceedingly difficult to maintain a
| strict neutrality, and on one or two
occasions violations occurred which
were not particularly Objectionable to
/ the Liberal party, and were, without
difficulty, reconciled. ef
-gI had also some trouble in breaking
up the ''Cordova Settlement" which
was scheme on the part of the rebel
adVenturers, who had founded there
the nucleus of an American Maxi
| milIian party In Mexico, to which
they invited all discontented and un-
| repentant rebels in the Southern
States. By preventing the efnbarka-
ton of this class of mafcontent emf
grants at. New Orleans, the Cordova
scheme proved a failure.
The conditio n of civil affairs 10
! Louisiana, Florida and Texas, from
September 80, 1866, to March 2, 1867,
| remained nearly the same as for the
year previous, and heretofore report
| ed. There was, however, some I'M
provement IN the tone of the public
in reference to the rights and privil-
eges of freedmen; but many outrages
/ and murders were committed in
Louisiana and Texas which it was
! impossible for the military to reach.
and which were neglected by the civil
/ authorities. and even in some instan-
ces the perpetrators of these out
RACES justified by the form of a trial
On the Cd day of March, 1867, the
| act entitled " An act to provide for
the more efficient government of the
rebel States became a law, under the
provisions of which the States of
| Louisiana and Texas were constituted
the Fifth Military District, and by
direction of the President of the
/ United States [ was assigned to said
District in General Orders No. TO-
1 dated headquarters of the army. Ad-
4 jutant q eneral's Office, March II 1867.
/ Assn uming command of the Fifth
4 Military District on the 18th day of
March. 1867, [ found upon examining
the law that [ was required to pro-
tect all persons In their rights of per-
! son and property; to suppress insur-
! rection, disorder and violence, and
to punish, or cause to be punished, all
disturbers of the public peace, and
| criminals"
To accomplish this purpose, and to
reorganize these two States as loyal
to the Government, I had a small
military force and the authority in
vested in me by the law. found,
upon a close examination of the ex-
isting civil governments of those two
States, that nearly every civil func-
tionary, from the Governor down,
had been soldiers or aiders and abet-
tors in the rebellion, and that in
nearly all cases they had been elected
on Confederate grounds, and solely
/ for services rendered in their attempts
to destroy the General Government.
In fact, many, if not all, had adver-
tised when they were candidates their