448 



GEORGIA. 



The disasters of July evidently led to a con- 

 sideration of the subject of reconstruction as 

 well in Georgia as in other States. Thus, in 

 August, ex-Senator Toombs was led to write as 

 follows : 



WASHINGTON, GA., August ISto, 1868. 

 Dr. A. Sees, Americu-s, Ga. : 



MY DEARSIU: Your letter of the 15th inst., asking 

 my authority to contradict the report that " I am in 

 favor of reconstruction," was received this evening. I 

 can conceive no extremity to which my country could 

 be reduced in which I would for a single moment en- 

 tertain any proposition for any union with the North 

 on any terms whatever. When all else is lost, I pre- 

 fer to unite with the thousands of our own countrymen 

 who have found honorable deaths, if not graves, on the 

 battle field. Use this letter as you please. 

 Very truly, your friend, &c., 



R. TOOMBS. 



In August, a print issued at Macon said : 

 To-day, and in the heart of Georgia, may be found 

 men ready to discuss a reconstruction of these dissev- 

 ered Unions ! Men willing to degrade themselves, to 

 enslave their wives and children to insult our dead in 

 their soldiers' graves to make for their country a 

 history of shame and infamy to be the mock of all 

 men for all time to come, by voluntary reunion with 

 our vile, our despicable enemies. Reconstruction means 

 but subjugation. To ask for readmission to the United 

 States would be to petition for our own slavery and 

 degradation. 



Another in Savannah, a few days later, 

 said: 



That there are submissionists among us, remarks the 

 Milledgeville "Union," all now see. They are band- 

 ing together to form a political Union. Who compose 

 this party or league? First and foremost the men who 

 have never wanted the South to succeed. These are 

 mostly men born at the North, or who have relatives 

 in that section. Next comes the speculator, who has 

 got rich out of the sufferings of our people, and who 

 has bought property with his ill-gotten gains, which 

 property he hopes to save by swearing allegiance to 

 Lincoln, when it is put in danger. The next class (in 

 shame and sorrow we say it) is composed of men who 

 are between forty-five and fifty years of age, and who 

 fear that they may yet be called to the field. They may 

 have sons in the army they may have had their sons 

 butchered by the hated foe, but to keep at home them- 

 selves they nre ready to dip their fingers in the heart's 

 blood of an only son, and write traitor on his pale cold 

 forehead. If we are not right, we are wrong. If we 

 are not right in this war, we are all traitors. The 

 man, therefore, who is ready to submit to Lincoln 

 confesses himself guilty of treason, and deserves a 

 halter. 



It appears that there were a very few who 

 were bold enough to come out openly for re- 

 construction, but there were many who secretly 

 harbored a wish for it. The position taken by 

 the secessionists is shown in the above extracts 

 and in the following : " Now, the time has long 

 passed for discussing that subject. Secession is 

 a fixed fact: we have been fighting two years 

 for it ; and I cannot separate between opposi- 

 tion to secedera and opposition to secession, 

 which means opposition to the war, and that 

 means submission to Abraham Lincoln." 



A third candidate for governor was nomina- 

 ted, by the name of Furlow ; but it does not ap- 

 pear what his peculiar views were. The entire 

 vote cast was 64,704. The vote shows that 

 Brown had 36,558 ; Hill, 18,122 ; Furlow, 10,- 



024 total vote, 64,704. For President in 1860 

 the total vote was 106,365. 



Many of the candidates for the Congress at 

 Richmond claimed the votes of the citizens on 

 the ground that they were in favor of an " hon- 

 orable peace." 



Gov. -Brown, in his message to the Legisla- 

 ture of the State, which convened in Novem- 

 ber, recommended the repeal of the substitute 

 law, and the employment of negroes as team- 

 sters and in similiar capacities in the army; 

 that the pay of officers be increased twenty -five 

 per cent., and that of privates to twenty-two 

 dollars per month, and that the salaries of 

 all State officers be increased; that cotton 

 planting be restricted to one fourth of an acre 

 to the hand, and that every energy be directed 

 to the production of food; that $500, 000 be ap- 

 propriated to support soldiers' families; that 

 $8,000,000 be appropriated as a military fund, 

 and $2,000,000 as a clothing fund ; that the 

 militia be reorganized, so as to include all be- 

 tween eighteen and sixty, and that the 10th 

 day of December be observed throughout the 

 nation as a day of fasting, humiliation, and 

 prayer. He also opposed loaning the credit of 

 the State to the Confederate Government or the 

 endorsement of its bonds. 



The State debt was reported as follows : 



Bonds bearing interest $5,911,750 



Bonds not bearing interest 176,000 



Treasury notes, not bearing interest 7,588,000 



State change bills, not bearing interest 478,660 



Total $14,149,410 



To meet this indebtedness, the interest and 

 principal, the State had not only her taxable 

 wealth, returned in 1863 as $991,596,383, and 

 in I860 returned at $672,322,777, but held 

 stocks in banks and railroads amounting to 

 $992,400, and the "Western and Atlantic rail- 

 road entire, which was valued by a committee 

 of the Legislature before the inflation of prices 

 at $8,840,124, and which paid into the treasury 

 as its net earnings during the year the sum of 

 $1,650,000. 



Resolutions were unanimously passed by the 

 Legislature, reenacting the resolution in refer- 

 ence to the secession of the State, and pledging 

 anew its entire resources, in vindication of the 

 position then assumed, and declaring the deter- 

 mination not to become weary of the war until 

 independence was achieved. 



The military operations touched Georgia only 

 on the southeastern and northwestern borders. 

 Some naval movements in the waters adjacent 

 to the Savannah river, which involved the at- 

 tack on Fort McAllister, the capture of the iron- 

 clad steamer Atlanta, and the burning of the town 

 of Darien, were the most important in the south- 

 eastern part of the State. Darien was burnt 

 on the llth of June by a force landed from two 

 transports, accompanied by three gunboats. -Ml 

 the churches except the Methodist, the market- 

 house, courthouse, jail, clerk's office, and .ill 

 the houses except three, were destroyed. The 



