392 



GEORGIA. 



following despatch to the Governors of Georgia, 

 South Carolina, and Florida : 



GBEKSSBORO', April 80, 1865. 



To his Excellency Joseph E. Brown, Augusta, Ga. ; 

 A. G. Magrath, Governor of South Carolina, Spar- 

 tansburg, via Chester, S. C.; John Milton, Florida : 

 The disaster in Virginia ; the capture by the enemy 

 of all our workshops for the preparation of ammuni- 

 tion and repairing arms ; the impossibility of recruit- 

 ing our little army, opposed by more than ten times 

 its number, or of supplying it except by robbing our 

 own citizens, destroyed all nope of successful war. I 

 have, therefore, made a military convention with 

 Gen. Sherman to terminate hostilities in North and 

 South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 



I made this convention to spare the blood of the 

 gallant little army committed to me, to prevent fur- 

 ther sufferings of our people by the devastation and 

 ruin inevitable from the marches of invading armies, 

 and to avoid the crime of waging hopeless war. 



J. E. JOHNSTON, General 



All further resistance on the part of the State 

 was now at an end. The Governor issued a 

 proclamation and called a session of the Legis- 

 lature. But Gen. Gillraore, in charge of the De- 

 partment which included Georgia, issued orders 

 declaring the proclamation of the Governor to 

 be null and void, that the blacks were free citi- 

 zens of the United States and would be pro- 

 tected by the Federal Government in the enjoy- 

 ment of freedom and of the fruits of their indus- 

 try. Gen. Wilson, in a letter to the Governor, 

 ftated that he was instructed by the President 

 to say to him : " That the restoration of peace 

 and order cannot be intrusted to rebels and 

 traitors ; that the persons who incited the war 

 and carried it on will not be allowed to assemble 

 at the call of their accomplice to act again as a 

 Legislature of the State, and agahi usurp the 

 authority and franchises. Those who have 

 caused so much woe, will not be allowed again 

 to set on foot fresh acts of treason and rebellion. 

 In calling the Legislature together again, with- 

 out the permission of the President, you have 

 perpetrated a fresh crime; and if any person 

 presumes to answer or acknowledge your call, 

 he will be immediately arrested." 



The control of affairs in the State was thus 

 held by the military authorities until it was 

 subsequently relaxed on the appointment of a 

 Provisional Governor. 



The condition of the inhabitants of Georgia, 

 and indeed of all the other Southern States 

 where the desolation of war had been made, 

 was one of great destitution and suffering. A 

 writer from Augusta, May 24th, thus describes 

 the views of the citizens : 



This city is the only place of any magnitude South 

 that was spared. And now let us hope for an indul- 

 gent Government. A kind and generous policy will 

 be followed by general satisfaction at the South. 

 The effort will be very happy, and will tend much 

 to banish the bitterness of the late struggle, and re- 

 vive the friendly relations of the sections. At pres- 

 ent the people are in suspense generally anxious 

 and dejected, fearful of harsh measures. Emancipa- 

 tion has deranged labor somewhat, but not as much, 

 I think, as was expected ; and after a while I believe 

 people will cease to feel any inconvenience, especially 

 if wholesome legislation is had against vagrancy, etc. 

 The people may be called in just that state of mind 



when a very generous policy might be expected to 

 produce the happiest results. They seem prepared 

 for a radical course of treatment. A different appli- 

 cation, announced promptly and frankly, would 

 cause rejoicing throughout the land. Of one thing, 

 however, all are assured, viz. : there will be but one 

 Government, and none are hesitating to resume tbeir 

 allegiance to the "old flag, for better or worse." 

 We are all " citizens of the United States," of one 

 country, and a common destiny as a people. Seces- 

 sion is dead ! And the irrepressible conflict has de- 

 cided that slavery is dead ! 



Another writer about the same date says : 



Passing Marietta, where the usual marks of de- 

 struction appeared, I was interested by the appear- 

 ance of a crowd gathered about one of the few remain- 

 ing business buildings. I began to make inquiries, 

 indicating my character as just from above, in search 

 of information, when they thronged about me and 

 began the revelation of a degree of destitution that 

 would draw pity from a stone. 



Thomas H. Moore, of respectable and even cul- 

 tured address, introduced himself as the agent for 

 the county, appointed by the State, for the distribu- 

 tion of the supplies voted b^ the rebel Legislature to 

 the people of North Georgia, after Sherman's pas- 

 sage. He said all these supplies had been long ago 

 issued. He had himself, since, walked to Atlanta 

 (having no horse), to procure more. A few hundred 

 pounds had been furnished, which he was now dis- 

 tributing, but it amounted to a mere pittance, and 

 he was obliged to reserve it for those who are 

 already on the verge of starvation. Women daily 

 nay, hourly, come in from a distance of ten and fif- 

 teen miles afoot, leaving homes entirely destitute, in 

 order to get a few mouthfuls to save the lives of their 

 helpless children. 



After him came slaveholders, the wealthiest in the 

 county one with sixty slaves, who complained that 

 what had once made them the richest now made 

 them the poorest. They_ had nothing to feed these 

 people, without whose aid the crops could not be se- 

 cured. Mr. had told his negroes that if they 



would remain with him, now that they were free, he 

 would compensate them, and share with them his 

 land, and they were anxious to do so ; but and he 

 called me aside to tell me this privately the distrib- 

 uting officers refused to furnish the slaveholders, 

 who, unless they could get aid, would, together with 

 their negroes, starve. They all told me that no man 

 in the country had more than two bushels of corn 

 left. They besought me to help them if I could, and 

 at their request I sent word back to Col. Adams, to 

 be forwarded to Gen. Judah, that, if possible, sup- 

 plies might be sent down at once by railroad to 

 Kingston, from which point the citizens of the coun- 

 ty would gladly team it themselves. 



The commandant has mentioned a case that occur- 

 red yesterday. A poor woman came all the way into 

 town on foot, from a distance of twenty miles, leav- 

 ing at home a family of children who had had noth- 

 ing to eat for twenty-four hours. Yet the most that 

 could be done in answer to her appeal was to request 

 the commissary, if possible, to supply her. 



Another account says : 



From a recent report made by order of the military 

 authorities, it has been ascertained that there are 

 85,000 men, women, and children in the counties of 

 Georgia immediately surrounding Atlanta, who are 

 dependent upon the United States Government for 

 support and preservation from death by hunger. In 

 the counties of North Georgia there must be at least 

 as many more, for at every post and headquarters of 

 the United States forces hundreds of applicants ap- 

 ply daily for relief. To such an extent does this 

 state of affairs prevail that it seriously incommodes 

 the troops ; and though every effort has been made to 



