The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-12

The following article was read at
 the last meeting of Camp Lomnx, U.
 c. ":
 A history of the stirring times of
 the City of Montgomery and of the
 State of Alabama, has never been writ
 ten.
 do so now, while there are yet many
 living witnesses to the verity of every
 statement.
 It is written too, that it may be pre-
 served for the education of our com
 ing generations: and for the vindica-
 tion of Southern Honor before the
 Civilized World.
 It may not be improper to preface
 this part of our history with the then
 current state of any and all public
 matters.
 In tears and the agony of disap-
 pointment because of surrender and
 that the Stars and Bars had gone down
 in defeat to rise no more. the Con- federate Veteran made his way from
 North Carolina and Virginia afoot
 (riding when he could) inspired by the
 hope of being soon at home with his
 loved ones
 He thought surrender was the end of
 the long years of his griefs and sor-
 rows. and renewal of his allegiance to the Stars and Stripes. He could not
 believe that free America would em- ploy any policy or measure that did not promise sweet peace and the harmony and prosperity of a reunited country. At the gate of his home. in smiles ana gladness, he greeted wife and chii- dren, with kisses and embraces All along his way home, were standing armies at every turn. Fortunateiy and pleasingly. the United States regi- mental forces, both officers and pri- yates, were polite. affable and disposed to do everything, comporting with the health. happiness or prosperity Of ms Fallen Foe. Busy with his home in- terest, his energies were concentrated in his best efforts to make 1t what IL was before grim visaged war had de- faced or destroyed its beauty ana peace. He stopped the holes in ms roof; filled up crevasses through wnich the chilly winds of winter came; re- paired his barns; remade his. fences, and was in utter ignorance of the in- fernal fires being kindled at the Ns- tional Capitol
 When it was made known to him that MT. Davis was held a prisoner, bound with chains and letters, and subjected to the jibes and jeers of low, debased class of idleFs and curio- |sity sensationalists. his blood grew |warm with the spirit of resentment and he longed for his gun again. Not content with the cowardly |cruelty of incarcerating MT. Davis and MT. Clay, their venom rankled' against |General Robert E. Lee. who would |have been their fellow prisoner and fellow sufferer. had not General Grant stood an impossible barrier, wall Of IRiva hat him Jealousy. envy, malice and the d. rest poison of hate, gathered in the halls of Congress. growing into a mighty ana consuming fire, until our |Constitutional compact became only |ashes, and the accursed spirit of Re- had so altered free Amer |ica as to make 1t ti.the foremost prov 1ince of his Satanic Majesty Then Icame swarms of Iocusts, clouds of vul-> Iof prey, each commissioned with au- Ithority to invade the sanctity of home, Ito look into all places and to appro- |priate jew els, plate, gold or silver Icotn. cotton or other things of value, hot even exempting gold plated teeth Iin the mouths of helpless old men and |women.
 When that fire of inferno had grown Into its utmost proportions, all Govern ments of Dixie, State, County ana were dissolved and an elec- Ition ordered.
 Negroes In all their ignorance, the how contemptible scallawag who turn led his back on his country in her hour |of need, and the buzxard carpet-bagger |eloryfng in freedom and singing of the bottom rail on top, migrated from bounty to county, town to town, and wherever there was ballot box to de- posit a handful of illegal votes. un- able to understand what their votes meant, They oboyed the word that Iwas saunt."
 Great haste was made in the inau- Sguratiap of State. county and munich Epnl governments and the installment of Officers
 Stealage or rather filching became their order of procedure and so con- 3einued until there was no money to de- Tray daily needs and darkness over spread their skies. In this emergency bn the suggestion of their white pilots,
 fesort was had to tho issuance of State, county and city bonds, which were divided to those in power and i. markets of the world. Alabama was bankrupt. being hope
 essly involved in a bonded debt of nearly $35, ,000, 100000, having neither
 money nor bonds in her treasury. Ne
 groes became insolent, rapacious and
 marauding, with tendencies toward
 -iot and disposition to appropriate the little left by the war upon which the
 wives and children of the old soldier were subsisting.@
 Such was the aspect of our political
 horizop, when our people. without re-
 gard to gender or age. firmly resolv- ed to resist the yoke of oppression at
 hny cost.
 Tn conference it was proposed and kgreed to out vote them in the ensu- Ing city election and so wrest from
 he dirty hoard the power they had
 isurped.
 Organizations were perfected; fell Now soldiers and their sons were call Nd from our own and adjacent counties,
 ind they came unbidden from other xstates. So that whom the suspicious May came in 1872, we were all at the boiling place and in force, equipped
 with carefully correct lists of citt- Eens who were legally entitled to suf- 8ragc
 That day the sun rose upon the Heavens in beauty and splendor. M Negroes were fin swarms and mili- ant, coming from other counties and #owns to exercise their American free #iom-nor were the hungry carpet Dagger or unwashed scallawag want #nR
 Balloting was both rapid and con 4 Iinuous amidst imprecations and un- |kivil expressions of speech. as some & egMo belonging anywhere outside of
 Montgomery city. was challenged.