Litchfield enquirer., 1877-02-01

on to follow the example of their brethren in the other Southern States. Social pressure was brought to bear, an ener- getic canvass begun, and newspapers were boug!t mp or new ones founded; for the main ,...lv of the whites were still dis posed to hesitate. ''We had better wait, ' said they, land see how things go in the North. If the democrats carry the elec- tions there in November, and get control of the national government, why, of course, we can rise up and throw off re- publican rule in the State But we have good government now, and had best let we'll enough alone. for fear our old op- pression might be re-established. But the work went on. At the Fort Moultrie centennial thousands of Confederate sol- diers. once more under arms, were parad- ed before the people of the State. Wade Hampton was their captain. Hot South ern speeches were made, and the troops in attendance from Georgia, disgusted at the unwonted spectacle of negroes in office, rode rough-shod over the colored police of Charleston. Mir. Tilden had just been nominated at St. Louis, and the brilliant prospects of electing him were triumphantly paraded. Then came race conflicts: the killing of colored legisla- tor in Darlington County, the lynching of two negroes in Marlboro and six in Edge field, and finally the Hamburgh massacre. This last and the governors action con- corning it were followed by appeals to the whites, made with all the old vehemence of Carolinians. Everybody was urged to buy arms; rifle clubs and mounted com panies were everywhere formed, the young men being cheered on to joln them; and the old system of browbeating and chal- lenging all on-conformists to the duello was vigorously put in operation.
 The whites in the old Ku-Klux coun- ties, where the negroes are in the minor ity, turned ovef CD naassc to the revolu- tionary policy; in the other counties they held back for a' long time, ~disconraging g violence as likely to hurt Tilden in the North, as being, in Short, premature. But gradually they half fell, were half driven into line; though not all; for when the state democratic convention met on August 18th there was still powerful minority (about two fifths) in favor of postponing action until it should be seen what the republicans would do about Chamberlain. It Is useless to say, how ever. that the majority carried their point. General Wade Hampton, the Murat of the Confederacy, in whom are crystalized all the arrogant old plantation qualities of the South, was nominated for gover- nor with corresponding ticket. It was determined to carry the State by the method known as the Mississippi Plan.
 I will merely summarize the means used; was ln the State during the whole campaign, and know whereofI speak. The plan was, first, to arouse the white popu- lation to secession or notification mad ness; next to get as many negroes as pos sible to vote the democratic ticket, and prevent as many as possible from voting the republican; and finally, to put such 8 face on their dOings as to work no harm to the democratic cause outside the State.
 In the first matter they thoroughly suc- ceeded. General Hampton, an orator of no mean order, an accomplished gentle man sprung from the best Carolina stock, our greatest and most celebrated soldier, in company with numerous other ex-Con. federate generals and officers (among ciadng fi ffoombs, Hf aG4dth G4dtheEo eEofsdt5atss fsdt5atss j9 iR: gan a systematic canvass of the State, speaking at every county town and at oth- CT place of size. Such delirium as they aroused can be paralelled only by itself even in this delirious State. Their whole tour was vast triumphal procession; at every depot they were received by tre- mendous concourse of citizens and es- corts of cavalry. Their meetings drew the whole white population, male and fe- male (for the ladies turned out by tens of thousands to greet and listen to the heroic Hampton) for scores of miles around, and had to be held invariably ln the open air, They were preceded by processions of the rife clubs, mounted and on foot, miles in length, marching amidst the strains of music and booming of cannon; at night there were torchlighr processions equally imposing. The speak CTS aroused in thousands the memories old, and called on their hearers to redeem the grand old State and restore it to it's ancient place of honor in the republic. The widest cheering followed. The en- thusiasm, as Confederate veterans press ed forward to wiring their old generals hand, was indescribable Large columns of mounted men escorted. the canvassers from place to place while off the railroad They were entertained at the houses of leading citizens, held receptions attended by all the wealth, intelligence, and brill lance of the community, and used all the vast social power they possessed to help on the work.
 Beside this, the fearful memories of the days were revived. The governors participation in them was ma asserted. The acknowledged fact that the mass of the negroes had oppo- sed his reforms was skilfully paraded. His attempts to secure United States troops were denounced as a damning outrage; South Carolina should be ruled by South Carolin1ans'' was repeated from mountain to seaboard.
 The work of buying arms and organi- zlng democratic primaries and rifle clubs was energeticaHy pushed on, till every democrat in the State had gun and was enrolled in primary, and three fourths of the whites belonged to the military.
 The ostracism and dragooning of all who hung back was carried to the last ex- treme. until the whites were consolidated as in 1860.
 The negroes saw these portentous movements; they saw the soldiery drilling, and every white man spending hours dai lY at the target. Rumors of Hamburg reached them. Their former masters ur- gently importuned them to vote for AauP1Ou. A'0Ly IopuOllCdA AOc0AuB Wa0 interrupted by armed multitudes of dem- ocrats, half the time demanded for demo- cratic speakers, the republican orators ieered at. interrupted, vilely insulted, and hissed down. while the intruding speak CTS plainly announced that the whites were going to carry the election at all hazards and that the negroes had better vote the democratic ticket to save them selves trouble. Long lines of cavalry kept constantly parading and proved par ticularly effective. Then another holo caust took place at Ellenton, and was talked about by the whites all over the State in the presence of the negroes. The whites, furthermore, suddenly assumed a dlctatorial demeanor in their daily inter course with the colored people, knocked them down or shot them on the smallest provocation, and by free use of menaces prevented indictments. Prominent Re- publicans, white and colored, were threat ened by ambuscades or followed by crowds of bullies, If they left towns to canvass in the country; the negroes and white republicans were insulted on the