RAYMOND
A History... 1821-1876

Two award winning papers on a period in history of Raymond, Mississippi, a small Southern town, County Seat of the Second Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi.

by
Beth Ferguson

PART III

ADDENDUM

     This addition to the paper, The Dismal Decade in Raymond, 1866-1876, offers much more accurate information concerning the attitudes and opinions of the people of Raymond toward the Republicans' control of the government. This account is taken from a paper written by W. Calvin Wells, a man who participated in the political activities of this dismal decade. His paper is called Reconstruction and Destruction in Hinds County.
In 1865, the same laws in Mississippi were in force that existed prior to the war, with exception of those changed in relation to the Confederate government. Therefore, the election of June, 1865, for l state and county officers results included the following, most of whom l were Confederate veterans, born and reared in Hinds County.

R. N. Hall - Probate Judge
W. T. Ratcliff - Probate Clerk
W. 0. Chapman - Circuit Clerk
S. B. Thomas - Sheriff
H. S. Pond - Treasurer
A. J. Chapman - Assessor
P. M. Alston - Ranger
E. B. Lamons - Coroner
T. G. Dabney - Surveyor

     Because of the prestige of being a Confederate veteran caused nearly every state office to be filled by men of this class. Mr. Wells referred to this as one factor in bringing on the harsh reconstruction laws of March, 1867, passed by Congress placing the whole South under military rule and helping in the passage of the three reconstruction amendments to the U. S. Constitution.
     Because the officials listed above refused to take the "ironclad oath," they were replaced by the following appointments:

Scalawag-A. L. Dabney-Probate Judge-Sept. 15, 1867
Scalawag-E. B. Cabaness-Probate Judge-April 13, 1869
unknown-J. M. Stone-Circuit Clerk-April 13, 1869
Carpetbagger-N. Hodge-Circuit Clerk-Sept. 11, 1869
Carpetbagger-Samuel Donnell-Probate Clerk-April 3, 1009
Scalawag-Thomas Palmer-Treasurer-May 6, 1869
Carpetbagger-J. L. Lake, Jr.-Sheriff-June 17, 1869

     The Board of Police (Supervisors) elected in October, 1865, included: N. W. Bankston, T. A. Millon, John Brown, Hugh Campbell, and Howell Hobbs. In 1867, they were replaced by W. S. Cabell - Scalawag, L. J. Fathere - Scalawag, E. D. Fisher - Carpetbagger, Ned Hill - Negro, and Chas. Caldwell - Negro. By 1873, there were four Negroes and one white on the Board of Supervisors.
     According to Mr. Wells' report the robbing of the treasury under this and subsequent boards of supervisors down to 1876, was fearful. Mr. Wells gives a detailed illustration of the misuse of county funds in the re-building of the Fourteen Mile Creek bridge and the Baker's Creek bridge in the Raymond district. Fathere, the supervisor, contracted with his brother to build the bridges for $9,000.00, an extravagant price at that time. The bridges fell within a year from their own weight.
      Governor Alcorn was quoted in an address given at the courthouse in Raymond as saying: "My countrymen, it has been said that the Republican party in Mississippi is composed of myself, a few carpetbaggers and the Negroes, and I think that that is about correct." The Democrats through this period felt that they were in a hopeless condition. In the summer of 1874, a few citizens got together in Raymond and formed a Taxpayers' League for the purpose of keeping down the extravagance of the board of supervisors. This group could do little except protest. With the election of 1875 approaching, many Democratic citizens were driven to desperation.
     The Democratic Executive Committee, according to Mr. Wells, was composed of some of the very best men in the county. It met at Raymond and organized with Cade Drew Gillespie, an attorney at Raymond, as chairman, and Calvin Wells as secretary. At this meeting it was decided that clubs should be established in each precinct for the purpose of enlisting every Democrat voter and as many Negroes as could be persuaded to join. Before the 18th of August, 1875. the county had a thorough organization and the executive committee called for a mass meeting at Raymond. They urged every Democrat. white and black, to come on horseback and in procession from their precincts to assemble in Raymond.
      On August 18, 1875, the greatest demonstration ever seen in Raymond took place. A parade of Democrats from throughout Hinds County formed a line of march so long that the streets of the little town would not hold it. Everything was carried in the parade that would belittle and degrade the Republican party. The people passed through every street, and went to a grove north of the town where the parade disbanded and the participants gathered around the speakers stand. The wildest enthusiasm prevailed, and when C. D. Gillespie, chairman of the executive committee, called the meeting to order , quiet could scarcely be restored. Ex-Governor Albert G. Brown was introduced as chairman of the meeting. Resolutions were passed expressive of the determination of the Democrats to carry the election, and pledging every man to do his duty.
     The fever heat continued to the day of the election, however, the fear of trouble at the polls put a quietness on everything and it was like a funeral day. The registrars who were to count the vote after the election in Hinds County consisted of one intelligent white Democrat, an ignorant Negro, and a smart Scalawag. It was easy to get over the Negro who could not have counted the votes if he tried, and the Scalawag was given $500.00 which he cheerfully accepted. On the day of the counting, the Scalawag was sick and failed to appear .Every Democrat in the county who was on the ticket was elected by overwhelming majorities. The men who had been turned out of office by Federal bayonets six years before, were elected.
     Mr. Wells defends the Democrats by saying,

The reader of this who did not live through this terrible ordeal, will lift up his hands in horror and say that those were corrupt practices. And I am not prepared to deny it. We looked upon the matter thus : We had quietly borne the corruption of the Republican Party until disaster and bankruptcy stared us in the face. We had lost all hope that the Negro would cease to be dominated by the Republican party, and we were forced to a choice between the evils of Negro rule and the evils of the questionable practices to overthrow it. We chose what we thought was the lesser evil, and it is now not to be regretted.

Following the 1865 election "the carpetbaggers read the handwriting on the wall and left the state never to return. The scalawag hung his head in shame, soured and sulked."

FOOTNOTES

1. Mrs. Hugh B. Gillespie, Sr., Hinds County Gazette, 1946.
2. Hinds County Gazette, April 29, 1867.
3. Susan Dabney Smedes, Memorials of a Southern Planter, New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 1965, p. ix.
4. Ibid. p. 222.
5. Ibid. p. 224.
6. James Revels, "Redeemers, Rednecks and Racial Integrity," A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi, I. p. 508.
7. Ibid. p. 608.
8. Robert West Howard, This is the South, Chicago, Rand McNally and Company, 1959), p. 145.
9. Hinds County Gazette, August 16, 1871.
10. John K. Bettersworth, "The Home Front," A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi, I. p. 538.
11. James Welford Garner, Reconstruction In Mississippi, Gloucester: The Macmillan Company, 190, p. 14.
12. William C. Harris, "The Reconstruction of the Commonwealth" A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi, I. 1965.
13. Mrs. Jane L. Brent, A History of Raymond United Methodist Church and the Town of Raymond of Raymond, Mississippi, 1911. Quoted from Claiborne's Journalism in Mississippi as edited by John H. Moore in Journal of Mississippi History, April, 1960.
14. Mrs. Hugh B. Gillespie, Sr., Hinds County Gazette, 1948.
15. Hinds County Gazette, December 6, 1867.
16. Jackson Clarion, January 22, 1868.
17. Mrs. Erwin Peyton, interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 6:00 P.M., February 10, 1976.
18. Barker, Commager, and Webb, The Building of Our Nation, New York: Row, Peteron, and Comrad, 1958, p. 395.
19. Joe G. Moss, "Raymond Was First County seat of Hinds County", Hinds County Gazette, 1948.
20. Mrs. Jane L. Brent, The Methodist Advocate, October 8, 1944.
21. Ibid.
22. Charles L. Long, The Raymond Presbyterian Church, 1960.
23. Reverend Sam Mason, interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 3:30 P.M., February 27, 1976.
24. "Raymond Pilgrimage Activities Set," Hinds County Gazette, March, 1975.
25. Mrs. Jane L. Brent, The Methodist Advocate, October 8, 1944.
20. Hinds County Gazette, March 22, 1867.
27. Charles L. Long, The Raymond Presbyterian Church, 1960.
28. Mrs. Hugh B. Gillespie, Sr., Hinds County Gazette, 1946.
29. Hinds County Gazette, March 22, 1867.
30. Mrs. Erwin Peyton, interviewed by Beth Ferguson, (Raymond, Mississippi) 6:00 P.M., February 10, 1976.
31. Rowland Dunbar, Mississippi, Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing Association, 1907, II. p. 519.
32. Pearl Vivian Guyton, Our Mississippi, Austin: The Steck Company, 1959, p. 195.
33. "The Election in Raymond," Hinds County Gazette, November 15, 1867.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Dolsie E, Williams, Raymond Marches On, Raymond: Hinds Jr. College, 1939.
37. James Wilford Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi, Gloucester: The Macmillan Company, 1901, p. 293.
38. William C, Harris, "The Reconstruction of the Commonwealth", A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore. Hattiesburg: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1973, I, P. 566.
39. Bessie G. Long, interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 3:30 P.M., February 6, 1976.
40. Hinds County Gazette, 1866.
41. W. Calvin Wells, "Reconstruction and Its Destruction in Hinds County," quoted by David G. Sansing , A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi, 1973, I. p. 586.
42. "Reminiscence -The Clinton Riot," Hinds County Gazette, September 4, 1875.
43. David G. Sansing, "Congressional Reconstruction," A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi, I. p. 587.
44. James Revels, "Redeemers, Rednecks and Racial Integrity," A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi,, I. p. 609.
45. David G. Sansing, "Congressional Reconstruction," A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. edited by Richard Aubrey McLemore, Hattiesburg: University and College ,Press of Mississippi, I. p. 594.
46. Ibid. p. 594.

Bibliography

Barker, Commager, and Webb, The Building of Our Nation, New York: 1958.
Coulter, E. Merton. The South During Reconstruction, 1865-1817, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, lV47.
Dorris, Johnathan Truman, Pardon and Amnesty Under Lincoln and Johnson, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953.
Dunbar, Rowland, History of Mississippi the Heart of the South, Jackson: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1925.
Dunbar, Rowland, Mississippi, Vol. 2. Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing Association, 1907.
Fulkerson, H. S., Random Recollections of Early Days in Mississippi, Baton Rouge: Otto Claitor, 1937.
Guyton, Pearl VivIan, Our Mississippi, Austin: The Stock Company, 1952.
Hinds County Gazette, September 4, 1875, "A Reminiscence -The Clinton Riot."
Hinds County Gazette, 1946, "Highlights on the History of Raymond: Mrs. H. B. Gillespie, Sr."
Hinds County Gazette, September, 1948, "Raymond Was First County Seat Of Hinds County: Joe G. Moss."
Hinds County Gazette, November 15, 1867, "The Election in Raymond."
Hinds County Gazette, March 22, 1867, "The Question Of the Day."
Howard, Robert West, This is the South, Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, 1959.
Kynerd, Byrle Acker, The Work and Reaction to the Committee of Fifteen In Mississippi, Clinton: Mississippi College, 1966.
Lowry, Robert and McCardle, William H.,  A History of Mississippi. Jackson: Henry and Company, 1891.
McLemore, Richard Aubrey, A History of Mississippi. 2 vols. Hattiesburg: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1973.
Rand, Clayton, Sons of the South, Jackson: Dixie Press, 1967.
Riley, Franklin L., Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, 10 vols, Oxford: 1909.
Smedes, Susan Dabney, Memorials of a Southern Planter, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965.
Wells, W. Calvin, Reconstruction and Its Destruction in Hinds County, Clinton: Mississippi College.
Wish, Harvey, 1865-1377 -First Hand Accounts of the American Southland Alter the Civil War by Northerners and Southerners, New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroeux, 1965.
Woodward, C. Vann, The Burden of Southern History, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1916.

Unpublished Materials

Brent, Jane, A History at Raymond United Methodist Church and the Town of Raymond, Mississippi, 1937 -1971, Compiled and typewritten, Raymond, Mississippi.
Gillespie, Mary White (Mrs. H. B.), History of Raymond, Scrapbook and typewritten memoirs.
Long, Charles L., The Raymond Presbyterian Church.
Williams, Dolsie E., Raymond Marches On, Term paper written at Hinds Junior College, 1939.

Interviews

Adams, Mrs. James H., interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 2:00 P.M., February 7, 1976.
Long, Bessie G., interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 3:30 P.M., February 6, 1976.
Long, Charles L., interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 2:00 P.M., August 28, 1975. Mason, Reverend Sam, interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi 3:30 P.M., February 27, 1976.
Peyton, Mrs. Erwin, interviewed by Beth Ferguson (Raymond, Mississippi) 6:00 P.M., February 10, 1976.