The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1873-04-03
Army officers as Ku-Klux Hunters.

From the Augusta (Ga.,) Chronicle s. Sentinel
Senator Bayard, of Delaware, has intro
duced resolution. Of inquiry as to whether
any officer OF The army stationed in South
Carolina has received, payment from the
State Legislature for services performed in
the line Of hR duty, or has been admitted to
practice at tho Bar of the State for his own
.emolumsnt Sbilo receiving pay as an army
officer. Tbi&resolption i, aimed at Major
hcwis- Mtrr4xwhes aar Sometime past has
been conspicuous for his zeal as hunter Of
Ku-Klux. When the Administration and
the then At!orney-Gencral, Ackerman, de-
tcrmned upon the invasion of South Carroll
Ia under color Of the Ku-Klux law, they Sc
lected Major Merrill as a proper man to man.
age the military features of the programme
A better man for their purposes could scarce
have been chosen. AS ii general rule, the
officers of the regular army-espccially those
stationed in the Southern States since the
warfare gentlemen of whose bearing and
treatment the people have but little reason to
complain. They have obeyed the orders of
their supcriors in Washington, as they were
compelled to do, but their execution of COM
mands has seldom been attended with dis
courtesy harshness or unnecessary rigor.
In the discharge Of their duties they refrain
ed from anything calculated to offend or
wound tho people Of the country. Officers
of this class would not have answered the
purposes of the Administration. They de-
Sired a man who would. look upon the whites
of South Carolina as enemies deserving pun
ishment--not alone the punishment Of ar
bitrary arrest and illegal Imprisonment, but
also the punishment Of annoyance, insult and
the petty tyranny. Such an instrument they
thought would be found in Major Merrill.
nor did the result disappoint their expccta-
tons The work entrusted to him Was with
him labor of love. At the head Of Il band
of rough riders fully as ferocious and un-
feeling as the dragons of charlottesville
rode over the State like 4 Tcritable Sergeant
Boutwell,, carrying devastation and destruc-
ton wherever his column went. A reign of
terror was inaugurated-wholc counties
we're harred and the people driven to the
Businesses of the forests and the swamps for
protection. Major Merrill increased the
alarm by making his expeditions under cov-
or of darkness. Citizens were dragged from
their beds at midnight by armed men, and
their wives and children terrified by domi-
ciliary visits. Nothing like this ku-klux
campaign was ever known in this country
not even in times Of war-and nothing like
it, we hope for the honor Of the Govern
ment. will ever DO known again. The names
of Merrill and maraudcrs will ever be held
in lust exccration by the people not of South
Carolina alone, but by all fair minded, hon
orable men, North and South. Besides his
hatred and malice, his love of persecution
and his fondness for playing the tyrant,,
Major Merrill seems to have been influenced
by still another incentive The Columbia
Phanic states that when the Legislature
met he came forward as Il lobbyist to urge
payment for the services" which he had
rendered. He was equally successful in his
new vocation, and Il bill passed appIopria-
ting thirty-fivc thousand dollars as compen-
tion for himself and others. While hunting
Ku.Klux he was an officer Of the United
States army and regularly received his pay,
yet he is to be gwen in addition an enor-
nous bonus from an impoverished State
whose people he harasscd and ruined. -
While he was an officer of the army he also
sought and was granted admission to the
bar, thus bringing rcproach upon two honor
able professions. The Pho1'ic tells that
his cxertions did not stop with the arrest
and imprisonment Of accused citizens lie
assisted the Attorncy-Ccneral in the Court
room and his labors never ceased until his