The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-07-24
TEN YEARS OF ALABAMA
No. 5-Administratio of Governor Parsons
1865-1875

list of exceptions of the amnesty procla-
nation, now that the war was over. He
added the governors of the states which
had formed the Confederacy; he added all
who had changed their residence in the
war time to the Confederacy from the
United States all officers and sailors of
Confederate privateers; all citizens whose
property amounted In value to $4,000
All these excepted examples must come
to him with the recommendation of the
provisional governor. Each petition must
come to the governor with Sc to pay costs.
Lawyers who had been receiving hun
dreds of dollars for pardon fees must
come no more
The Freedman's bureau had become a
part of the army. General Grant came
down in the fall to inspect and observe.
He denounced the bureau as the sole
cause of trouble between whites and
blacks. No we'll defined line of separa-
ton between the authority of the pro-
visional governor and the bureau was
known.
Parsons was expected by the public to
dominate the whole situation. He re-
ceived a telegram from a distinguished
law firm of Eufaula, Cato, Baker g. Blu
ford, asking that Captain Gabenhorst,
United States army, commanding that
post, be looked after. This officer had
put the gentlemen of the law firm under
citizens charged with the recapture Of
a lot of private cotton found in possess
sion of the post commander. The grand
jury of Greene county, f. NJ Kirksey,
| foreman, indicted Lieut.. Benjamin Ratz,
| United States army of the troops
+, then infesting Eutaw and Greensboro,
| for stealing nine bales of cotton from
| William Smaw's plantation. The same
| jury indicted Moore & Dalmadge for
stealing ten bales from Col. James Craw-
fords plantation. A petition was sent
to the governor from Greensboro to soc
licit his aid in having the regiment of
negro troops removed from Greensboro.
Ratz was an officer in that regiment.
The officers, white men, seem to have
been in league with their men to steal
cotton, then deliver to citizens who might
| be depended on to sell the product for
| q share of the profits. A large number
of reputable citizens of Demopolis sent
| forward a petition to Governor Parsons,
praying his INTERPRETATION to have the
| troops removed from that post. They
were idle dissipated and destructive.
/ They set fire to the steepe of the Episco-
| pal church to see 1t burn. They cor
rupted the freedmen on adjoining pla,nta-
tons, inveigling them into constant hab-
| its of vagrancy and vice.
| Dargan Taylor, a leading law firm
| of Mobile, wrote to the governor on Oc-
| tober Is. 1855, praying his intercession to
| have the case of three reputable citizens
of Monroe county, Lambert, Bowden and
| Dudley, removed from the military court
at Mobile to the civil courts These gen.
| tlemen had been arrested by the military
on charges of unfair treatment of ne
groes 1t was not a military case.
The governor issued to the circuit
judges there were no city courts of rec
| ord form of examination to be put to
every grand juror: do you or do you
not know of any person who is suspect
ed of having stolen cotton, mules, horses
or other property or to have aided in
such thefts?'
Circuit Judge John X. Henry wrote to
| the governor that his court could not sit
| in Covington county because very few
people down there had taken the am
| nesty oath.
| John A. McCurdy was elected tax as
SCISSOR of DeKalb county at the general
! election of November 6, 1865. Many
voters petitioned the governor to remove
| ''the vile secessionist."
| Maj. Gen. o. o. Howard, distinguished
| office in Sherman's army, marching
| through Georgia and South Carolina, be-
| ing pronounced abolitionist and having
| strong religious sentiments, was placed
at the head of the institution, the Freed
mans bureau. Under Howard in Ala
bama was Maj. Gen. wagner Swayne
headquarters at Montgomery. Swaynt
| took rank over the governor In all mat
ters relating to the government of the
| freedmen Some weeks before Parsons
took office General Swayne issued ar
order to all judges of courts of record
that negro testimony must be received as
white mans testimony was in all cases
| at bar. This was q radical change In
administration of justice.
IT. f. Samuel. sheriff of Tuscaloosa
county. resigned for more lucrative
post In the United states internal reve-
nue. system in Alabama.
The provisional governor determined all
contests of elections, after elections were
restored. For example, c. B. Hale was
sheriff of Baldwin county by executive
appointment. He contested the election
with Robert j. Barbour at the Novembei
| election. Having been defeated by the
returns by majority of three. he applied
to the governor to set the election aside
The governor referred the case to tn,
probate judge.
Accustomed principles of government
were ignored familiar practice of Law
put in allegiance. 1t is marvellous to re
member, that illterate African slave.
were set free by force, their emancipa.
ton celebrated ~ the presence of this
army of the United States, with an or.
ganized feature intended to make trouble
between freedmen and their former own
ers. that blacks and whites were almost
equal In numbers and yet there was nc
attempt at race war.
Southern slavery demoralized the whit;
owners. There was the final test of thu
allegation and here the disproof. The
African was debased by southern slavery
Where Is the evidence? There is a wider
margin between the intellectual ant
moral status of the whites and blacks
l.. L.. ~ . t.
JOHN WITHERsPOON DUBOSE.