Atlanta - Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow. John R. Hornady
throughout the length and breadth of the Commonwealth.
As throwing light upon the mental attitude of the newly liberated negroes, it is interesting to note that one of the early acts of Provisional Governor Johnson was to issue a proclamation in which was set at rest the expectation that private property would be parceled out. Many negroes were under the impression that the land of the white people was to be divided among them, this being the outgrowth of a report that came from some source during the war that each negro would get "forty acres and a mule" when the South was subdued.
Provisional Governor Johnson called a State Convention for October 25, and when this body assembled, he delivered a message that created widespread controversy because of a recommendation that the war debts of the State be repudiated. These debts amounted to $18,135,775, whereas the debt of the State for other purposes was only $2,678,760. A violent protest against repudiation arose and the act was passed only after notice had been received from President Johnson and Secretary Seward that repudiation was necessary to readmission to the Union. In addition to repudiating this debt, the Convention formally abolished slavery and adopted a new constitution.
The legislative session beginning January 5, 1866, developed incidents of widespread interest. Among other things, this body elected Alexander H. Stephens and Herschell V. Johnson to the United States Senate, but they were never seated. By now the fierce conflict between President Johnson and the Congress of the United States was on, with Thaddius Stevens leading the fight for making the conditions as onerous as possible. Southern representatives were denied admission, and the whole matter went to the Reconstruction Committee, of which Stevens was Chairman, and before which he had his way. He also won in Congress, when the fight was renewed and when the vetoes of the President, which precipitated the agitation for his impeachment, were overridden.
The extraordinary condition brought about by the disfranchisement of many prominent citizens, was illustrated in striking fashion when the Democrats, in 1868, undertook to place a candidate in the field for Governor. Meeting in Atlanta on March 13, the State Democratic Executive Committee placed Judge August Reese in nomination for Governor. On the 24th of the same month Judge David Irwin announced his candidacy for this position, and thereupon Judge Reese withdrew, saying that he had found himself ineligible to hold the office. The party then got behind Judge Irwin, but presently the Republicans pointed out that Judge Irwin was ineligible by reason of the fact that he had been a Confederate presidential elector. This point was sustained by the Military Commander, and the Democrats were left without a standard bearer. In this emergency they went to General Meade, Military Commander, to find out who among Democrats was qualified to hold the office. General Meade thought the situation over and then announced that General John B. Gordon was eligible. Thereupon this great soldier and highly popular leader was given the nomination, going down to defeat, however, in the chaotic state that existed at that time — thousands of white men disqualified and thousands of negroes having the ballot.
One of the greatest sensations of the period was furnished by Governor Rufus B. Bullock, who succeeded Governor Jenkins after the brief reign of Thomas Ruger, the military appointee. Under his administration, which was characterized by great bitterness. State bond issues were handled with a disregard for the properties that was amazing, and charges of corruption and inefficiency mounted until they reached such proportions that drastic action appeared inevitable. His administration became a national scandal, attracting the notice of newspapers in New York and elsewhere, and finally the storm of public disapproval became so threatening that, on October 23, 1871, he secretly resigned and fled from the State.
A warrant for the arrest of the fugitive ex-Governor was issued early in 1872, it being charged that he was guilty of the larceny of certain bonds, but it was not until 1876 that he was arrested. The Governor of New York, to which state he fled, refused to grant a requisition, and when the accused was finally brought back and placed on trial, five years after his flight, acquittal resulted, it being impossible to connect him directly with the transaction involving the bonds.
In January, 1872, a scene of rejoicing such as Atlanta had not witnessed in years, attended the inauguration of James M. Smith as Governor. Coincident with his election, the Democrats of the State had come into complete control of the legislative machinery for the first time since the war, and the rule of a free people was restored. Carpet-bagism, with all its attendant terrors and intimidations, was at an end.
A stirring event of this year was the meeting of the Democratic State Convention in Atlanta on June 26, which was characterized by a sensational fight over the impending nomination of Horace Greely for President, in opposition to the regular Republican candidate. Greely was then the nominee of the Liberal Republicans and had been endorsed by the Democrats of the North, who saw the futility of attempting to carry the country with a candidate of their own in the face of the popular feeling in the North which had grown out of the war. The Atlanta convention, after a spirited contest, declined to endorse Greely or to oppose him, preferring to send an untrammeled delegation to the Democratic Convention, which soon was to meet at Baltimore. However, when the Baltimore Convention formally endorsed Greely, another meeting was held in Atlanta, July 24, and the convention endorsed the nominee and pledged its support to the ticket. In the national election which followed, Greely carried the State.
Another convention held in Atlanta that excited widespread interest, was in 1873, when General John B. Gordon was elected to the United States Senate after a spectacular and sensational fight, in which the honor came very near going to the eloquent and popular Alexander H. Stephens. The candidates were General Gordon, Alexander H. Stephens, B. H. Hill, Herbert Felder and A. T. Akerman, but the struggle narrowed down to the two first named, and in the end General Gordon won.
The popularity of Stephens was attested immediately thereafter by his election to Congress, where he was returned after an absence of thirteen years, during a portion of which interval he occupied the high office of Vice-President of the Confederate States of America.
Senator Gordon inadvertently added fuel to a flaming state fight by resigning his seat in the Senate in May, 1880. At that time Governor Alfred H. Colquitt was a candidate for re-election, his campaign being managed by the famous Henry Grady, and it was one of the bitterest fights Georgia had ever known. The State Convention, which had met in Atlanta on August 4, was unprecedented in that it failed to make a nomination after a prolonged and fiercely bitter struggle. Governor Colquitt's forces were in the majority by a wide margin and might have insisted upon majority rule, which had prevailed in previous conventions, but they accepted the two-thirds rule, and fought for days to bring about the nomination of their man. At one time they came within nine votes of winning, but the opposition was implacable, and in the end the body adjourned after passing a resolution "recommending" Governor Colquitt to the Democrats of the State.
The element which had waged this fierce and uncompromising fight upon Governor Colquitt, put Thomas M. Norwood in the field for governor, and the struggle raged with unprecedented fury. The most sensational charges were brought against the Governor, and when Senator Gordon resigned and former Governor Brown was appointed in his place, the cry of 'trade" was raised by the opposition, and the struggle became more embittered. This development threw three powerful figures side by side in the struggle — Colquitt, Gordon and Brown, and the result was a landslide for Colquitt.
The Colquitt campaign, which Grady conducted with such conspicuous success, assisted by Evan P. Howell and other distinguished leaders, resulted in the choice of a Legislature which elected Joseph E. Brown to the United States Senate — the post to which he had been appointed by Governor Colquitt.
By this time, 1880, the population of Atlanta was approaching 40,000 and the City was pulsing with life and energy. Its fame had grown until it was recognized as one of the coming cities of America, and the tide which carried it to the greatness of today was running strong. It is a far cry from that stirring and progressive period to 1849, but it is worthwhile to turn back for a little while and consider some of the intervening events.
Communication between Atlanta and the outside world, which is now carried on with so much ease by means of telegraph and telephone systems and numerous radio stations, was limited to the United States mails until the Spring of 1849, when the Macon and Western Branch Telegraph Company brought a line into the