Reconstruction in Alabama: From Civil War to Redemption in the Cotton South

464 Pages·2017·108.27 MB·English

by  Michael W. Fitzgerald

that eventually bankrupted the state and helped Civil War Studies / Southern History
end Republican rule. He explains, however, that
the state’s freedpeople and their preferred lead- “At long last, Alabama Reconstruction has an account equal to the decade’s
ers were not the major players in this arena: they complexity and drama. Michael Fitzgerald’s study will stand for many years as
had other issues that mattered to them far more, the definitive history of the state’s experience during this period.” j From Civil War to Redemption
including public education, civil rights, voting — J. Mills Thornton, author of Politics and Power in a Slave Society:
in the Cotton South
rights, and resisting the Klan’s terrorist violence. Alabama, 1800–1860 F
After Reconstruction ended, Fitzgerald sug- I
T
gests, the white collective memory of the era fix- “Michael Fitzgerald is the foremost historian of Reconstruction-era Alabama. MICHAEL W. FITZGERALD
Z
ated on the ideas of black voting, big govern- His exhaustively researched book tells a new and disconcerting story of the
ment, high taxes, and corruption, all of which politics of war and reconstruction. Racial oppression and violence, he argues, G The civil rights revolutions of the 1950s and
buttressed the Jim Crow order in the state. This were profoundly embedded in banal everyday problems and strategies. Fitz- E 1960s transformed the literature on Recon-
misguided understanding of the past encour- gerald reveals the inadequacy of a rough ‘Republican versus Democrat’ ac- R struction in America by emphasizing the so-
aged Alabama’s intransigence during the later count of political competition. Countless factions, and countless individuals, A cial history of emancipation and the hope that
civil rights era. Despite the power of faulty inter- shaped Alabama’s often devastating political landscape by making specific, L reunification would bring equality. Much of
pretations that united segregationists, Fitzgerald small choices about their self-interest and alliances. Railroad construction D this r evisionist work served to counter and cor-
demonstrates that class and regional divisions projects, state debts, long-term consequences of wartime political strategy, rect the racist and pro-Confederate accounts of
over economic policy, as much as racial tension, declining family fortunes, shortages of agricultural labor, patronage jobs, per- Reconstruction written in the early twentieth
shaped the complex reality of Reconstruction in sonal relationships and political reputations that had been honed and tested century. While scholars have explored modern
Alabama. over time shaped racial relations and state policy as much as did regret for the revisions for individual states, most are decades
From Civil War
defeat in war or inflexible racial hatred. This book will be recognized as the
old, and Michael W. Fitzgerald’s Reconstruction
authoritative text on Alabama’s Reconstruction, and any serious historian of
in Alabama presents the first comprehensive
the Reconstruction era more generally will need to come to terms with Mi-
reinterpretation of that state’s history in over a

chael Fitzgerald’s powerful contextualization of the era’s more familiar story.” to Redemption century.
— Elaine Frantz Parsons, author of Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan in the Fitzgerald’s work not only revises the existing
Reconstruction-Era United States troubling histories of the era, it also offers a com-
pelling and innovative new look at the process of
“A proper history of Alabama Reconstruction is 110 years overdue; that so rich in the Cotton South
rebuilding Alabama following the war. Attend-
a topic has only been nibbled around the edges until now is a scandal. For-
ing to an array of issues largely ignored until
tunately, the wait has proved worth it. The best scholar on postwar Alabama
now, Fitzgerald’s history begins by analyzing the
politics has written a refreshingly revisionist examination of a state where
differences over slavery, secession, and war that
race, railroad policy, promotionalism, and traditionalism mixed. A story grim
divided Alabama’s whites, mostly along the lines
in its examination of the terrorism and factional friction that helped bring Re-
of region and class. He examines the economic
construction to an end, it not only is the last, best word on Alabama in that
and political implications of defeat, focusing par-
MICHAEL W. FITZGERALD is professor period, prodigiously researched, but a set of pointers to where scholars might ticularly on how freed slaves and their former
look to enhance their understanding of Reconstruction elsewhere across the
of history at St. Olaf College and the author of masters mediated the postwar landscape. For a
cotton South.”
Urban Emancipation: Popular Politics in Re- time, he suggests, whites and freedpeople coex-
cLoenasgtureu Mctioovne mMeonbti ilen, t1h8e6 D0e–e1p8 9S0ou atnh:d P Tohliet iUcsn ainond Press — MHiasrtkor Wy aohf Rlgerceonn Ssturmucmtieorns, author of The Ordeal of the Reunion: A New M I C H A E L W. F IT ZG E R A LD iusntedde rm tohset lRy epceoancsetarbulcyt iinon s ogmovee prnarmtse onft ,t haes sat arete-
Agricultural Change During Reconstruction. University cboevlte rinin pgr coofittt.o Lna etceor,n womheyn b cahtahretdin tgh eth pel arnistea tainond
LSU Press | Baton Rouge 70803 State LSU Press | Baton Rouge 70803 fall of the Republican Party, Fitzgerald shows
www.lsupress.org ouisiana tphleamt Aelnatbeadm aan’s naemwb Riteiopuusb lpicraong rgaomve ronfm reaniltr oimad-
L
Jacket design by Laura R. Gleason 017 subsidy, characterized by substantial corruption
2
Printed in U.S.A. ©
Winner of the Jules and Frances Landry Award for 2017
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j
From Civil War
to Redemption
in the Cotton South
MICHAEL W. FITZGERALD
Louisiana State University Press
Baton Rouge
Published by Louisiana State University Press
Copyright © 2017 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing
Designer: Laura Roubique Gleason
Typeface: Miller Text
Printer: McNaughton & Gunn
Binder: Dekker Bookbinding
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Fitzgerald, Michael W., 1956–
Title: Reconstruction in Alabama : from Civil War to redemption in the cotton South /
Michael W. Fitzgerald.
Description: First printing. | Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016042879 | ISBN 978-0-8071-6606-2 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 978-0-8071-6607-9 (pdf) | ISBN 978-0-8071-6608-6 (epub) |
ISBN 978-0-8071-6609-3 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865–1877)—Alabama. | Unionists (United
States Civil War)—Alabama. | Ku Klux Klan (19th century)—Alabama— History.
Classification: LCC F326 .F7545 2017 | DDC 976.1/06 —dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042879
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. ∞
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
PART I
1. A Mere Lapsus: Unionists and Conservative Dissidents during
the Civil War 13
2. The Last Relicks of Barbarism: Army, War, and
Reconstruction 33
3. Presidential Reconstruction: Unionism and the Politics of
Definition 55
4. The Premature New South of Governor Robert Patton 83
PART II
5. Black Liberation: Freedom and Political Mobilization 107
6. Implementing Reconstruction: Governance and Biracial
Politics 143
7. The Difference between Whaling a Freeman and Pounding a
Slave: Terrorism and Resistance in the Klan Era 174
8. R ailroads, Race, and Reconstruction: The Curious Legacy of
Governor William H. Smith 205
9. B ipartisan Disaster: The Advent of Governor Robert
Lindsay 229
10. False Dawn: The Promise of Reconstruction in the Early
1870s 257
— v —
Contents
PART III
11. Beneath the White Banner: Depression and the Overthrow of
Reconstruction 285
12. “It Only Requires a Little More Figuring”: Redemption’s
Aftermath 316
Notes 339
Select Bibliography 415
Index 443
Illustrations follow page 132
— vi —
Acknowledgments
This work has had, alas, a substantial gestation period. Thus it is
nearly impossible to remember all the people who have assisted and
encouraged me along the way. In the interest of avoiding an Oscar-length
list of thanks, only the most outstanding and recent debts can be men-
tioned here. If I overlook anyone, I hope my friends will forgive the omis-
sion.
Several scholars read drafts of the entire manuscript, a selfless act if
one exists. I should thank Bertis English, Chris McIlwain, Terry Seip,
and Mills Thornton. In Minnesota, David Willard lives nearby, and re-
peated conversations on the manuscript over coffee have been invaluable.
But beyond all else, I should acknowledge the exhaustive critiques pro-
vided by Mark W. Summers. His daughter attended my institution, and
given the usefulness of his occasional visits, I should have subsidized her
tuition. Several individuals performed similar feats of kindness. Steve
Chicione, for example, let me drive to his home after an Internet contact,
and examine his photocopies from the National Archives. Several others
behaved similarly, and I could scarcely credit the generosity with which I
have been treated.
Various historians read portions of the manuscript, often quite ex-
tensive ones. Several are good friends, but such distinctions seem invid-
ious. I should mention Bruce Baker, Hilary Green, Elaine Parsons, Rob
Riser, Mitchell Snay, and Kidada Williams. Joan Waugh read one chap-
ter, and Eric Foner read earlier versions of others. Professor Foner in par-
ticular provided a scholarly model and much encouragement over the
years. Chris Waldrep provided commentary and assistance, as did my
former undergraduates Max Grivno and Sarah Silkey. I’m not sure I ever
persuaded Sarah Wiggins to read any of this manuscript, but conversa-
tions with her over the years were instructive. All these scholars have my
thanks, but of course the book’s errors are entirely my own.
— vii —
Acknowledgments
This project involved repeated trips to the South, mostly involving the
Alabama Department of Archives and History. Both the former director
of the archives, Ed Bridges, and his successor, Steve Murray, have been
abundantly helpful in making facilitating the process, and in providing
insights during my extended stays in Montgomery. Norwood Kerr and
numerous others were generous as well. I should also thank Carol Ellis
at the University of South Alabama archives for expediting access to the
excellent Pickens Collection. Nearby, at the University of Mobile, Lonnie
Burnett facilitated making the special collections there available as well,
and was helpful in other ways. And I should acknowledge the library
staffs at the University of Alabama, Auburn University, and the Birming-
ham Public Library, along with public libraries and county courthouses
along the way.
I profited intellectually from the scholarly documentary editing proj-
ects in the field. At the University of Maryland, Leslie Rowland at the
Freedom and Southern Society Papers Project provided me access to that
matchlessly organized collection, and she generously talked through my
project and even assisted with citations. I received a short-term fellow-
ship to the Grant Papers project at Mississippi State, and I should note
Professor John Marszalek’s role in securing it. A short-term fellowship at
the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University, a seminar with Professor
Richard White at Stanford, and grants from the National Endowment
for the Humanities enabled this research too.
One of the pleasures of teaching in a liberal arts setting like St. Olaf
College is seeing a profusion of fine students at an early, candid stage of
their intellectual lives. A decade ago, Adam Lozeau and I coauthored a
paper on the Ku Klux Klan, which we presented at the Alabama Histori-
cal Association. More recently, I benefited from the research of Cynthia J.
Zapata and the statistical assistance of Ben Bayer. Sarah Paulson shared
her internship research from the University of South Alabama, and two
recent students read this manuscript in its entirety, Tim Klustner and
Evan Holmstrom. I have been edified by the commentary of all three.
Also, I have benefited from my colleagues with statistical skills. Decades
ago, Catherine Fitch studied at my college, and I would like to acknowl-
edge her associates at the University of Minnesota demographic history
project. Utilizing their online IPUMS database, statistics Professor Paul
Roback and his students Thomas Hegland, Eric King, and Charlotte Siv-
anich received a National Science Foundation grant (DMS-1045015) to
support my research. His St. Olaf colleague Dick Brown and students
— viii —
Acknowledgments
Rodney LaLonde and Omar Shemata worked on statistical mapping pro-
grams, and their skills are on display in this manuscript. More broadly, I
should acknowledge the librarians at the University of Minnesota and St.
Olaf College, specifically Kris McPherson and Kasia Gonnerman, among
others. And of course all my departmental colleagues lived with the proj-
ect much as I did, and I thank them all.
Over the years I shamelessly exploited friends and their families for
housing in expensive places. The economist Don Davis, a fellow Canoga
Park High School alumnus, assisted my research with extended stays at
Harvard and Columbia, as did Parke Skelton in Los Angeles and my sis-
ter, Cheryl Fitzgerald Berriman, in the Bay Area. My late in-laws, John
and Alexandra Kutulas, and Janet Kutulas and Peter Simcich did the
same.
Finally, I should thank my spouse and colleague, Judy Kutulas, and
my sons, Alex and Nate, for enduring conversation on this topic for much
of their lives. My parents are gone and their absence is felt, in part be-
cause they both loyally read my books. My mother, a southern native,
could never hear of my visiting Alabama without expressing her horror of
the Birmingham church bombing. It got old, but I miss her now. In clos-
ing, I should note the origin of my interest in this subject in the UCLA
History Department of the late 1970s. Armstead Robinson gave his early
benediction to Alabama as a topic. He and Alexander Saxton are no lon-
ger around, but Margaret Washington is, and all three deserve my thanks
for their guidance. I hope this work repays their pains, and I am grateful
for the memories of that place and time, which gave me a kind wife and a
career.
— ix —