Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Four
The Emperor's Coat-tails
Part One
From "A Summary of the Elections in the Transition from the Second to the Third Party System" by Prof. James Gilmore
Mississippi State 1964
“The gubernatorial elections throughout 1868 would both predict and replicate the results of the national election of that year. Veterans of the Civil War were very much the flavor across the country…
With the tapping of James S. Wadsworth for a cabinet role, a fresh face was needed in New York. A National Unionist was elected but he was anything but a fresh face: John A. Dix was a 70 year old former volunteer major-general. A War Democrat, he had no difficultly wearing the mantle of National Unionism…
John A. Dix of New York and Joshua Chamberlain of Maine
In Maine it was the 40 year old hero of Union Mills and Kings Mountain, Joshua Chamberlain, who would win the governorship for the National Unionists. Unlike Dix, Chamberlain was a Republican to his fingertips, but he idolized Phil Kearny and was a great advocate of the spirit of unity that National Unionism espoused…
Wisconsin returned Lucius Fairchild. He did not wear the cloak of National Unionism but still proudly called himself a Republican. The word unspoken was ‘radical’ and he was a staunch supporter of the principles of proscription and confiscation…
It was not entirely a story of combat veterans in 1868. John Quincy Adams II had been a colonel on Governor Andrews’ staff in Maine but had never seen a moment’s action or a day’s drill. Although a conservative Republican at the start of the war he had become increasingly horrified with the outrages perpetrated by the rebels during the war. “His principles vied with sentiments” according to his biographer. In such a mind he was of course drawn to the compromise that national Unionism offered. “Like a loving parent we invite the Southerners to repent and be embraced in forgiveness but we reserve the right to chastise the unrepentant unremittingly” (John Quincy Adams II in his election address)…
John Quincy Adams II of Massachusetts
A man alone, Joel Parker of New Jersey, was the only Democrat governor elected in 1868. He would be the last Democratic governor there for some time in what would become “The Kearny State”…
Of perhaps more significance was that 1868 saw the first elections for governor in the South since the re-establishment of state government in the former rebel states…
In Texas, German Americans united with the Tejanos to elect Frederick ‘Fritz’ Tegener. A bear of a man, Tegener had founded the Union Loyal League in Texas at the outset of the war. Barely escaping Texas with his life he had returned upon the peace to become a leader of the pro-union immigrant rump. The fact that huge numbers of former Texas voters had been proscribed, voluntarily fled into exile, or simply had not applied to take the oath of alligience following the renunciation of their American citizenship during the war meant that Texas was fought over by native Unionists, German and Polish immigrants, Tejanos and freedmen. The Tejano-German alliance under Tegener stole a march on his rivals and he was elected as a Republican. The turbulent state of Texas meant however that he had to “sleep with a pistol under the pillow and shotgun under the bed” (Galveston Union Courier)…
In Arkansas the tiny community of freedmen made up nearly a quarter of the reduced electorate in 1868. Many rebels were reluctant to apply to the Courts to take the oath of allegiance in fear that they might cause the Office of Proscription might look again at their file. This presented Joseph Brooks, a fiery preacher and former chaplain of a Negro regiment of Fighting Lambs fame to take office. A radical Republican he would, in later terms, be one of the first senior politicians to be influenced by the works of Selah Merrill and early communalism…
Joseph Brooks of Arkansas and Andre Cailloux of Louisiana
Andre Cailloux would become the first Negro elected to a generalship in the history of the Union. He would not be the last. Injured hero of the Louisiana Native Guard; holder of the Kearny Cross; and, uniquely, a former Confederate Lieutenant, he defeated Dan Sickles picked man, Henry Tremain, to become the National Unionist candidate for and then governor of Louisiana…
Unable to find “one honest man” (Jackson Chronicle) in Mississippi the National Union Party of Mississippi turned to a Northerner who, having served ably on Albion P. Howe’s staff, had done much to improve life in Jackson – Doctor Latimer McCook. A member of the huge McCook clan of Ohio (his branch was called the ‘Tribe of Dan’) McCook had worked wonders in sanitation and disease prevention during the military governorship. He now faced the daunting task of dealing with a state in flux. Originally divided into three contending camps of disenfranchised former rebels, white unionists and freedmen, Mississippi had suffered badly with partisan violence after the peace. The result had been a flight of former rebels either into exile or to other more accommodating states and territories. This was balanced by an influx of freedmen and their families from Georgia, Alabama and western Tennessee. Little did he know it, but Dr. McCook was fast becoming the governor of the second majority Negro state in the Union…
Dr. Latimer McCook - one of several McCooks who would rise to high office
William Hugh Smith’s election in Alabama made the freedmen there nervous. A former slave-owner he had opposed secession on purely practical grounds. Having raised and led the 1st Alabama Union Cavalry and ridden with McClernand he had the army’s seal of approval. However, though he wore the mantle of National Unionism, he quickly came to be viewed by the freedmen of his state as a barely concealed conservative Democrat. His perceived prejudice against Negroes and his preference for the most transparent spinners encouraged many freedmen to move to Mississippi, South Carolina and further afield…
In Georgia Joshua Hill was elected governor. While a committed unionist himself many in his family were not. Although initially reluctant to run because of his concerns about the enfranchisement of freedmen it has subsequently been argued he ran in order to protect his crippled son (injured under Cleburne in Hooker’s advance on Atlanta) from proscription. Forced to associate with the Negro leaders of National Unionism in his state did not sit well with him and he ultimately only served one term...
The Bureau of Collectors saw their man in Florida, Harrison Reed, elected to the governor’s mansion. At the time his opponents claimed he had misused public funds to buy his election. Of course he had been responsible for distributing some confiscated rebel property to the freedmen of the state and therefore the lines between his duties and bribery of the electorate were ‘naturally’ confused…
Born in Alabama, raised in Kentucky William Birney would become governor of South Carolina. In a state where almost the entire white population had been disenfranchised because of their rebellion it was the freedmen who elected their National Unionist governor. Initially reluctant to nominate one of their own the Negro leadership of the party sought a Southern white who would be happy to carry the standard in South Carolina. Birney was a fierce partisan of the freedmen’s cause having led Negro regiments and brigades from their formation in the war. He would be an incredibly popular governor of the state but he would also be the last white governor of that state…
William Birney- "A southerner fit to be governor" (attributed to Israel Richardson)
John Milton Worth was only free to become governor of North Carolina because General Hancock had ensured a more liberal hand in the state. Proscription was a less resorted to remedy and the Courts seemed happier administering the oath of alligience. John M. Worth therefore did not join his brother in exile, but as he was only a junior officer in the state reserves during the Rebellion he was quickly rehabilitated. This was in no small part to his history as an anti-secessionist Union man before the war. North Carolina was, alongside Alabama, the least secure state to be a freedman in, and thus many moved south to the other Carolina…
Perhaps the most surprising successful candidate for governor was in Virginia. The political class in Virginia had been wiped out by proscription. The many spinners who had revolved around the military administration were loath to run lest their record be re-examined by the Office of Proscription. The spinners needed a popular but benign candidate to clothe in the National Unionism otherwise the freedmen might elect some radical republican. General John Sedgwick had been a popular governor during his military tenure in that state. Why risk change was the question the spinners asked. A delegation of Richmond notables was deputised to approach the General to request he run for the office. Initially reluctant, the Connecticuter had his patriotism pled to. His friends in the army also advised him to take advantage of the opportunity. Thus Uncle John became the Governor of Virginia. Who could have imagined but a mere 8 years before that Virginia would elect an anti-slavery Yankee as governor...”
Virginia would settle for 'Uncle John' Sedgwick as governor for another four years