The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1872-04-13
How the South is Represented in Congress

correspondent gives the following ac-l
count of the carpet-bag congressman
from the South:
1t is curious to note the number of
carpct-baggcrs in Congress at the pres
cnt time, the term "carpet-bagger' be-
ing meant to designate all the Senators
and Representatives from the South
who are really from the North, mas
much as they never went South until
the close of the war.
Alabama has one c;trpct-b:,g Senator
and one carpct-bag Representative.
Spencer, of the Senate, was born i'll
New York, and was a citizen of Iowa
or Nebraska when he entered
banla at the close Of the war. Buck
ley, of the House, was also born i'll
New York, entered the Union army
from Wisconsin, and WAS not mustered
out until 1868, when he Immediately
went into Alabama and politics.
Both the Arkansas Senators, and one
of her Representatives are carpct-bag-
gers. Senator Rice, born in New York,
entered the army from Minnesota,
and did not settle in Arkansas until
1864. Senator Clayton spr,ng from
Pennsylvani;,, and alighted in Ark:n-
sas from the saddle at the close Of the
war; and Edwards, the c;lrpct-bag
member of the House, who had lived
in Iowa several years preceding the
war, alighted the same way.
Both the Florida Senators are car
pet-baggers. Osburn, a native Of New
Jersey, entered Florida in 1865 as AS
sistant Commissioner of the Freed
mems Bureau, and Gilbert was former
~ 4 New York merchant.
The Louisiana Senators are likewise
carpet-baggers, though West, elected a
year ago, was born in New Orleans.
Ite lett his native place at an early
age, and was next heard of in Penn
SylVania. He was in San Francisco
when the war broke out, and, at its
close, settled temporarily in Texas and
then in New Orleans. Kellogg, the
the other Senator, is \ermODter,
who, possibly, never saw Louisiana I'M
til after the war, when he was appoint
ed Collector of New Orleans. Louisi-
ana has four Representatives (the fifth
has died since electlon), al of whom
without exception, stayed away from
that State until the close of the war.
Sypher, Il native of Louisiana in 1866;
Sheldon, of New York, went there in
1865; Darrell, Of Pennsylvania, went
there about the same time; and Morcy,
Of Massachusetts, in 1866.
Mississippi has one pretty carpet-bag
Senator, with Il pretty name--Adcl~
bert Ames. He was from Maine be-
fore he came from Mississippi, where
he sssettled'' as provisional Governor
June, 1865. Besides this Senator Mis-
sissippi has three carpet-bag Represent
tatives, viz: Mckee, OF Illinois; PeEce,
OF Michigan; and Barry, Of Kentucky.
All these gentlemen became Missisip-
plans after the War.
Sawyer, Senator from South Carroll
ma, went there in 1859, but retired to
the n Orth during the rebellion, at the
close of which he was appointrd Col
lector of Internal Revenue for the Sec
ond District of South Carolina-thc
beginning of his political career. Eli
OFT, the carpet-bag Representative, was
born in Boston, and is first heard Of in
South Carolina as Il delegate to the
Constitutional Convention OF 1868.
Texas has a carpet-bag Representa-
tive in the person of William II. Clark,
who was Il stranger to the State until
1866, when he went into business at
Galveston.
Of\'irginis,'s Representatives three
Plat, Porter, and S>towell-arc carpet
baggcrs. Platt is II Ecrmontcr, Porter
/, New Yorker, and Stoweli Il New
l;nglAntler. All went to Virginia dur
ing or at the close of the war.
so it seems the States of Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missis-
sippi, South Carolina, Texas and \ir-
ginia, which arc entitled i'll the ag-
grcgatc to sixteen Senators and thirty
six Representatives, have in fact but
seven Senators and thirty-two Repre-
scntativeS-thc rest arc all carpct-bag-
| tror. frny,, tho Morrill,
Again, it appears that the States OF
New York, Nebraska, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Jer-
sey, Vermont, Massachusetts,, Maine,
Illinois and Michigan, which are enti-
tied as II whole to twenty-five Senators
and l0G Representatives, really have
thirty-one Senators and 100 RepreScn-
tatives here in Congress. How is
this?
1t may be set down as tOlerablN GER
tain that whether the average carpet
bag Congressman represents the COM
munity which he deserted, or the COM
munity upon which he foistcd HIM
self, he does represent with continual
devotion the interest of himself and
his ''frirn,lS.''