730 



TENNESSEE. 



authorized statement of his opinions, made public 

 by his direction, long since his accession to the Pres- 

 idency, he declares that if he were "in Tennessee 

 he would endeavor to introduce negro suffrage." 

 He declares that he would begin with three classes 

 of negroes to be admitted to vote at once: "those 

 who had served in the army; those who could read 

 and write ; and those having a property qualifica- 

 tion of $200 or $250." Thus, by a system not very 

 gradual, he desired to extend the privilege to the 

 entire race. If what is termed the Radical party in 

 the Legislature shall agree with the President and 

 his followers on the question of negro suffrage, it 

 would seem that an excellent opportunity for agree- 

 ment and conciliation on a vexed question will be 

 presented, and that the negro may be enfranchised 

 with unanimity. As for myself, while I have con- 

 fessed to those prejudices of caste, resulting from 

 education and life-long habits, I am free to say that 

 I desire to act in harmony with the great body of the 

 loyal people of the Union. I think we should not, 

 without great and controlling reasons, sever our- 

 selves from that great national party whose wisdom 

 and courage saved the life of the nation, and rescued 

 the loyal people of Tennessee from the hands of the 

 oppressor. 



A bill was introduced in the House to repeal 

 the franchise law and give suffrage to the ne- 

 groes ; in other words, to conple universal suf- 

 frage and universal amnesty in one act. This 

 was laid on the table by a vote of 39 to 29. At 

 a subsequent session the Governor sent a spe- 

 cial message to the Legislature, in which he 

 again called attention to the negro suffrage 

 question. He said : 



I must therefore be permitted to express the hope, 

 that this General Assembly will not cease its present 

 session without the passage of the bill granting 

 suffrage to all loyal males properly qualified by age 

 and citizenship. Onward is the watchword which 

 shields and inspires two continents ! Now is the 

 time for Tennessee to show to the world that she 

 belongs to the advance guard on the great question 

 of equal suffrage ! With the loyal men of the 

 State allowed to vote, the Government thereof 

 will remain in loyal hands. Without their votes, 

 the State will pass into disloyal hands, and a reign 

 of terror not so easily described as realized will 

 result. 



During the early part of the year several 

 collisions occurred, without serious results, be- 

 tween colored soldiers and white citizens of 

 Memphis. On the 1st of May these difficulties 

 culminated in a riot, which lasted the two'fol- 

 lowmg days, and was not suppressed until a 

 considerable loss of life and property had en- 

 sued. Accounts differed greatly in respect of 

 the origin of the disturbances, and the distri- 

 bution of the blaise. The following is the 

 official report made by General Stoneman : 



HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF TENNESSEE, ) 

 MEMPHIS, May 12. 1866. ' 

 Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U. 8. A. : 



Your telegram of this date is received. 



The Third colored artillery has been stationed here 

 since its organization, and consequently were not 

 under the best of discipline ; large numbers of the 

 men have what they call families living in South 

 Memphis, contiguous to the fort in which the sol- 

 diers were stationed. These soldiers had been used 

 as the instruments to execute the orders of govern- 

 ment agents, such as provost-marshals, bureau 

 agents, etc., and consequently had been more or 

 less brought directly in contact with the law-break- 



ing portion of the community, and the police, which 

 is far from being composed of the best class of resi- 

 dents here, and composed principally of Irishmen, 

 who consider the negro as their competitor and nat. 

 ural enemy. Many negro soldiers have, from time 

 to time, been arrested by the police, and many 

 whites, including some of the police, have been ar- 

 rested by the negro soldiers, and in both cases those 

 arrested have not unfrequently been treated with a 

 harshness altogether unnecessary. These remarks 

 and hints will lead you to reflections which will ex- 

 plain and indicate to you the state of feeling which 

 existed between the negro soldiers and their sympa- 

 thizers, and the lower class of the whites and their 

 sympathizers, in which last are included agitators, 

 demagogues, and office-seekers. The testimony be- 

 fore the commission, which I have assembled to in- 

 vestigate the circumstances connected with the riots, 

 shows that at about four o'clock Monday afternoon, 

 April 30th, four policemen were walking down Cou- 

 sey Street, and met three or four negroes ; they jos- 

 tled each other on the sidewalk ; an altercation oc- 

 curred; one of the policemen struck a negro with a 

 pistol, and was in return struck by another negro 

 with a cane. There was no further trouble, though 

 a good deal of excitement existed among the ne- 

 groes during that night. 



Incident on this encounter, about 4 p. ., on Mon- 

 day, May 1, a crowd of from fifty to seventy-five 

 negroes, mostly discharged soldiers, were congre- 

 gated together near the corner of Mai a and South 

 streets ; the greater portion of these negroes were 

 intoxicated. Six policemen approached the crowd 

 and arrested two of the most boisterous of the ne- 

 groes. The policemen proceeded to conduct these 

 two negroes toward the station-house, being fol- 

 lowed by the crowd of negroes, which increased as 

 they proceeded, and who used very insulting and 

 threatening language, and accompanied their threats 

 by firing pistols into the air. The police turned and 

 fired upon the negroes, wounding one ; one of the 

 negro prisoners escaped, and the other was released 

 by the police. The negroes returned the fire, wound- 

 ing one of the police. The police force of the city, 

 together with a large crowd of citizens, congregated 

 together in the vicinity of South Street, and being 

 very much infuriated, proceeded to shoot, beat, ana 

 threaten every negro met with in that portion of the 

 city. This was continued until about midnight on 

 Tuesday night, when it was quelled by the interfer- 

 ence of a detachment of the United States troops. 

 Wednesday morning arrived, and found large crowds 

 of people collected together in South Memphis, most 

 of whom were armed. They remained there until 

 about one o'clock p. M., when they were dispersed 

 by a detachment of United States soldiers, which 

 had been employed during the day in keeping the 

 discharged negro soldiers in and the white peo- 

 ple out of the fort. During the day several negro 

 shanties were burned down. About ten o'clock on 

 Wednesday night a party of mounted men began to 

 set fire to negro school-houses, churches, and dwell- 

 ing-houses. It is hoped that the investigation now 

 being had will result in identifying the parties en- 

 gaged. 



During Tuesday and Wednesday, several inoffen- 

 sive negroes were killed, and many maltreated and 

 beaten in different parts of the city. The number 

 killed and wounded in the riot, as far as ascertained 

 by the commission, was one white man wounded 

 (shot by negroes). The number of negroes shot and 

 beaten to death has not yet been ascertained. I will 

 give you the information when procured. Frequent 

 applications were made for arms and permission to 

 organize a militia force, all of which were refused ; 

 and on Thursday I issued an order, prohibiting any 

 persons, under whatsoever pretext, from assembling 

 anywhere, armed or unarmed. Great fears were en- 

 tertained that other buildings, such as the Freed- 

 men's Bureau building, and the office of the Mem- 



