THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER TAKES CHARGE


As the year 1877 was beginning, the carpetbag governments in nine of the
Southern States had been already overthrown. In two other States were
two sets of officers, one of which represented the great mass of the
whites while the other was based upon negro suffrage and was supported
by Federal bayonets. Both sides seemed determined, and trouble was
expected. The Republican contestants in Florida had already yielded to a
decision of the Supreme Court of the State, but in South Carolina and
Louisiana the Republican claimants held on until the orders to withdraw
the troops were given in April, 1877. The withdrawal of the troops
marked the definite end of Reconstruction. The Democratic claimants then
took undisputed possession of the executive and legislative departments
of these States. The native whites were again in entire charge of all
the States which had seceded. They now had the task of rebuilding the
commonwealths shattered by war and by the aftermath of war. A new era
for the South had dawned, and here properly begins the history of the
New South.

The first and most important problem, as the white South saw it, was the
maintenance of white supremacy which had been gained with so much
difficulty. In only three States--South Carolina, Mississippi, and
Louisiana--were there negro majorities. Obviously, if the whites could
be induced or coerced to stand together, they could continue to control
the governments in eight of the seceding States. The negro population,
however, was not distributed uniformly over any of these States, so
that, no matter how great the white preponderance in the State as a
whole, there were counties or other civil divisions where negroes were