Carl Schurz First published 1865 39TH CONGRESS, SENATE. Ex. Doc. 1st Session. No. 2. In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 12th instant, information in relation to the States of the Union lately in rebellion, accompanied by a report of Carl Schurz on the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; also a report of Lieutenant General Grant, on the same subject . DECEMBER 19, 1865.—Read and ordered to be printed, with the reports of Carl Schurz and Lieute

In seeking remedies for such disorders, we ought to keep in view, above all, the nature of the problem which is to be solved. As to what is commonly termed "reconstruction," it is not only the political machinery of the States and their constitutional relations to the general government, but the whole organism of southern society that must be reconstructed, or rather constructed anew, so as to bring it in harmony with the rest of American society. The difficulties of this task are not to be cons

No. 1. Hilton Head, S.C., July 27, 1865. Dear Sir: I have received your letter of the 17th instant, from Charleston, propounding to me three questions, as follows: 1st. Do you think that there are a number of bona fide loyal persons in this State large enough to warrant the early establishment of civil government? 2d. Do you think that the white population of South Carolina, if restored to the possession of political power in this State, would carry out the spirit of the emancipation proclamatio

Charleston, South Carolina, July 24, 1865. General: In answer to your question as to the disposition of the people being such as to justify their speedy return to the control of political power, I would say no. Many portions of the State have not yet been visited by our troops, and in other parts not long enough occupied to encourage the formation of a new party, disposed to throw off the old party rulers, who, after thirty years preaching sedition, succeeded in carrying their point and forcing

New Orleans, June 10, 1865. General: There is a class of officers holding and exercising the duties of civil officers in this State who claim to hold their right to the same by virtue of deriving their appointment from military authority exercised either by General Shepley as military governor, or Michael Hahn, and in some cases by Major General Banks, commander of the department of the Gulf. These men resist my power to remove on the ground that I am not clothed with military power, although th

New Orleans, June 19, 1865. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 10th instant, asking me to revoke all appointments made by military or semi-military authority to civil offices in the State prior to the 4th of March, 1865. I have given this subject the attention and serious consideration which its importance demands, and I find it complicated not only with the private and public interests of the people and State of Louisiana, but also with the direct inte

New Orleans, June 23, 1865. General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 16th instant, in answer to mine of the 13th, relating to the expediency of your revoking the appointment of all civil officers in the State made by military or semi-military authority. I desire to state that your views and suggestions, as regards your duty and proper course of action in the premises, are entirely satisfactory to me. For the care you have bestowed on the subject, and the

New Orleans, September 8, 1865. Sir: In compliance with your request, I have the honor to submit some remarks upon the civil government of Louisiana, and its relation to the military administration of this department. These relations are more anomalous and complicated, probably, than in any other insurrectionary State, and it will be useful in considering these questions to bear in mind the changes that have occurred since the occupation of this city by the Union forces. These are, briefly— 1. T

Port Gibson, Mississippi, August 26, 1865. General: I have the honor to state that my reasons for issuing the enclosed order, (No. 16,) was, that a party of citizens acting under authority from Captain Jack, 9th Indiana cavalry, and having as their chief C.B. Clark, was by their own acknowledgment in the habit of patrolling the roads in this section of the country, and ordering any one they came across to halt. If this was not promptly done, they were ordered to fire upon them. In this way one n

Jackson, Miss., August 22, 1865. Captain: I have the honor to enclose copy of a letter received from Governor Sharkey in reply to my communication of yesterday, copy of which was sent you by last courier. The governor's proclamation, raising troops in the whole State, changes the status of things, as it no longer belongs to the limits of my district, but to the department; and, consequently, I desist from all further action in the matter until your instructions have come to hand. In regard to th

Jackson, Miss., August 21, 1865. Sir: A notice appears in yesterday's paper, over the signature of Lamar Fontaine, calling on the young men of Hinds and Madison counties to meet at Cooper Wells and at Livingstone, respectively, on the 22d and 24th instant, for the purpose of organizing companies and electing officers. The notice creates the impression that some kind of military organization is intended, and in that event I would beg leave to call your attention to the fact that the State of Miss

Washington, D.C., December 18, 1865. Sir: In reply to your note of the 16th instant, requesting a report from me giving such information as I may be possessed of coming within the scope of the inquiries made by the Senate of the United States in their resolution of the 12th instant, I have the honor to submit the following: With your approval, and also that of the honorable Secretary of War, I left Washington city on the 27th of last month for the purpose of making a tour of inspection through s