Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/305

Rh chaos of the times, there were local frictions occasionally. The military officers interfered frequently, but the governors considered this as incident to the surroundings and took no exceptions. The people showed great evenness of temper and displayed most remarkable forbearance. The Freedmen's bureau was in operation, and its administration tended to inflame both races and produce collisions.

During this trying period, the people of the South did as best they could amid the great trials and perplexities which surrounded them, and the civil and military pressure brought to bear on them. Provost guards were set up over municipal government. Military courts were established, and many of the best citizens were arrested on frivolous complaints of irresponsible negro men and women, and under military guard, forced to appear at county seats before these courts and undergo trial. Bayonet rule was the order of the day; civil officers were disregarded and humiliated.

Repudiation of State war debts was pressed as a necessity for success in restoring States. The pressure was brought to bear by the president and Secretary Seward. This repudiation was done under protest upon the behest of Federal power. The reign of the provisional governors and military officers was very odious, and the humiliating conditions, not necessary to mention now, developed a spirit of forbearance, sacrifice, and discretion remarkable in a people high-strung and liberty-loving although crushed.

By the fall of 1865, the States were reorganized, and the program of the president carried out to the letter, so much so that when Congress met in December he was able to report in his message that civil government had been restored in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. These States had adopted new constitutions, elected governors, senators and representatives in congress, and State