The condition of affairs early in 1868, when General Meade took command, was as follows: in Georgia a convention elected under the Reconstruction Acts was in session at Atlanta but was hampered by lack of funds; in Alabama a convention had met, framed a constitution, nominated State officers, and adjourned; in Florida members of a convention had been elected, but this body was not to meet until Jan. 20. The financial difficulties of the Georgia Convention received the special attention of the commander, as did the effects of the "Relief Laws" passed by the conventions of Alabama and Georgia, intended to relieve debtors from the immediate pressure of their creditors. As in all the districts, the commander of the Third Military District was under great pressure to remove incumbents from office. This district ceased to exist when Georgia, Alabama, and Florida complied with the Reconstruction Acts; and AGO General Order 55, July 28, 1868, constituted the three States (with North and South Carolina) as the Department of the South. The following passage from General Meade's final report as Third Military District Commander reveals both the nature of his responsibilities and the problems he encountered: The inauguration of civil government was to me, personally, a source of great relief, charged as I had been with almost unlimited powers. Notwithstanding the utmost effort on my part . . . I found myself the subject of virulent abuse, my motives impugned, and every imaginable mode of attack resorted to that malice and partisan malignity could devise. Determined from the first to ignore all partisan considerations, . . . I encountered. . . the animosity of both sides, without having the benefit of the sympathy of either. Two years later, conditions in Georgia necessitated its again being made a military district (by AGO G. O. 1, Jan. 4, 1870). This status continued until Georgia complied with the Reconstruction Acts and ratified the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. Then (by AGO G. O. 104, Aug. 3, 1870) the State again became a part of the Department of the South. Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, Commander of the Georgia Military District during this period, directly exercised his powers through the civil authorities of the State in the following matters: an investigation into the eligibility, under the Reconstruction Acts, of certain men to seats in the legislature of Georgia and the exclusion of some of them; the removal from office of two county officers, and the appointment of others to fill their places; and the arrest of a few persons on the charge of murder, attempt to murder, or complicity in murder. Successive commanders of the Third Military District: Bvt. Maj. Gen. John Pope, Apr. 1, 1867. Bvt. Brig. Gen. Caleb C. Sibley, Jan. 1, 1868. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, Jan. 6, 1868. Bvt. Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry (Military District of Georgia), Record Group 98. --The records of the Third Military District, 1867-68 (ca. 55 ft.), the subjects of which are suggested by the discussion above, consist of correspondence, orders, rosters, and inspection and other reports. The records about civil affairs are separate and include election returns. Records of the Military District of Georgia, 1870–71, are in separate series. Fourth Military District (Mississippi and Arkansas) Bvt. Maj. Gen. E. O. C. Ord assumed command of this district on Mar. 26, 1867. On Apr. 6 he created two subdistricts, that of Mississippi (headquarters at Vicksburg) and that of Arkansas (headquarters at Little Rock). The operation of the civil laws was not "interfered with when those laws were administered equally towards all classes, except to remove from the civil courts cases of crimes charged against persons who for having opposed the rebellion had reason to fear prejudice against them; also cases where freedmen were maltreated or defrauded, and the courts were practically closed against them, and of cases of horse-stealing and violations of the acts of Congress." For all such cases military commissions were organized. The officers of the provisional State governments were not removed unless it became necessary. So many complaints from merchants, planters, and freedmen were filed with the arbitration boards established in 1867 by General Ord, with the offices of agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, and with the State civil courts that in 1868 General Gillem devoted much attention to these problems. In protecting the rights of person and property, however, he did not interfere with local tribunals "except in rare instances, where, from excitement or prejudice, engendered either by political feeling or local animosities," he was convinced that justice would not be done. When Arkansas complied with the Reconstruction Acts, that State (with Louisiana) was constituted as the Department of Louisiana (AGO G. O. 55, July 28, 1868). The Fourth Military District then consisted only of the State of Mississippi; and by AGO General Order 18, Mar. 16, 1869, it was included in the Military Division of the South. Bvt. Maj. Gen. Adelbert Ames, who took command of the Fourth Military District on Mar. 17, 1869, was both commander of the district (by then only the State of Mississippi) and Provisional Governor of the State. Since the latter post demanded his presence at the State capital, he transferred the district headquarters from Vicksburg to Jackson on Mar. 30, 1869. His policy was to use the troops, except for their ordinary post duty, only for "expeditions into the country for the purpose of arresting lawless characters who had been guilty of murder or other serious offenses," to ensure "the safety of... persons and the quiet of communities." When Mississippi complied with the Reconstruction Acts, it was attached to the Department of the Cumberland, and the district ceased to exist (AGO G. O. 25, Feb. 26, 1870). Successive commanders of the Fourth Military District: Bvt. Maj. Gen. Edward O. C. Ord, Mar. 11, 1867. Record Group 98. --The records of the Fourth Military District, 186770 (ca. 120 ft.), the subjects of which are suggested by the discussion above, consist of correspondence, circulars, orders, and inspection and other reports. The correspondence about civil affairs is separate, as are the records of the subdistricts and posts. Fifth Military District (Louisiana and Texas) Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan assumed command of this district on Mar. 19, 1867. He reported on Nov. 21, 1867, that he had found, "upon a close examination of the existing civil governments of those two States, that nearly every civil functionary, from the governor down, .. had been elected on confederate grounds." In consequence, he adopted the "one sensible course to pursue," the removal of "every civil officer who did not faithfully execute the law, or who put any impediment in the way of its execution." The problems of the district commander, especially in Texas, were aggravated during 1868 by the Ku Klux Klan, which, according to Bvt. Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds, purposed "to disarm, rob, and in many cases murder Union men and negroes, and as occasion may offer, murder United States officers and soldiers; also to intimidate everyone who knows anything of the organization but who will not join it." By Oct. 1869 the commander noted that juries seemed more willing to find accused persons guilty of murder and other high crimes. By then the ordinary civil machinery of the State was in operation, aided when necessary and practicable by the military. The authorization of voluntary county organizations of citizens to combat an increasing number of Indian raids was cordially approved by the people in some Texas counties. When Louisiana complied with the Reconstruction Acts, that State (with Arkansas) was constituted as the Department of Louisiana (AGO G. O. 55, July 28, 1868), and the Fifth Military District then consisted only of Texas. When that State also complied with the Reconstruction Acts, it was constituted as a separate military department, part of the Military Division of the South (AGO G. O. 35, Mar. 31, 1870). Successive commanders of the Fifth Military District: Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Mar. 19, 1867. Record Group 98. --The records of the Fifth Military District, 1867-70 (ca. 80 ft.), the subjects of which are suggested by the discussion above, consist of general files of correspondence, orders, and reports; the files of the judge advocate, the inspector general, the commissary of musters, the chief engineer, and the civil affairs officer; and the records of subordinate posts. Most of the materials pertaining to Texas are in separate series. VIIL OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL The appointment of "a meet person, learned in the law" as Attorney General was authorized by sec. 35 of the Judiciary Act of Sept. 24, 1789 (1 Stat. 93). His duties were to prosecute and conduct all U. S. suits in the Supreme Court and to give advice and opinions on questions of law to the President and heads of departments. The Attorney General did not become a Cabinet member until the Department of Justice was established by an act of June 22, 1870 (16 Stat. 162). For many years he had only a small staff; that authorized by an act of Mar. 3, 1859 (11 Stat. 420), consisted of an assistant "learned in the law" and five clerks. The Attorney General during most of the Civil War was Edward Bates. A lawyer of St. Louis, who had been attorney general of Missouri and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860, he was appointed on Mar. 4, 1861, and took the oath of office two days later. He resigned in Nov. 1864, after his influence in the administration had waned. Joseph Holt declined the post, preferring to remain Judge Advocate General of the Army; and on Dec. 1, 1864, the appointment went to James Speed, a lawyer of Kentucky who had served in the State senate from 1861 to 1863. Titian J. Coffey, of Indiana, Pa., who had studied law in Bates' office in St. Louis and had helped to organize the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, succeeded Alfred B. McCalmont as Assistant Attorney General on Apr. 4, 1861. He resigned in Apr. 1864 to take a position under contract with the Attorney General as U. S. counsel in prize cases pending in the Supreme Court. He was succeeded on May 11, 1864, by J. Hubley Ashton, who had been assistant U. S. district attorney for eastern Pennsylvania. Bates, Coffey, four clerks, and a messenger took the oath of office on Apr. 22, 1861. In May 1861 Coffey asked for a clerk to help him handle the California land claims, and one was appointed. Of the other clerks, one was chief clerk; another, messenger and confidential agent for the Attorney General; another, opinion clerk; and the fourth, pardon clerk. Many lawyers were employed as special counsel during the war to assist the Attorney General, especially in California land cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Legislation before and during the Civil War enlarged the duties of the Attorney General. By 1861 he counseled treaty commissioners, advised the Solicitor of the Treasury, made recommendations on applications for pardons, passed on the title to lands bought by the Government, acted for the Government in the defense and settlement of private land claims, and adjudicated claims under treaties with foreign nations. In regard to the judiciary he received applications for appointments, transmitted commissions, and administered leaves of absence. War brought him responsibility for proceedings under an act of Aug. 6, 1861 (12 Stat. 319), which authorized the seizure of property used or about to be used for insurrectionary purposes and under acts of July 31, 1861 (12 Stat. 284), and July 17, 1862 (12 Stat. 589), providing for the punishment of treason and conspiracy and for the confiscation of property of "rebels." Sec. 4 of a later act (June 15, 1864; 13 Stat. 129) assigned to the Attorney General the task of determining questions of law respecting the pay of colored soldiers. Besides preparing California land cases for argument before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Assistant Attorney General wrote opinions and acted as Attorney General in his chief's absence. An act of Aug. 2, 1861 (12 Stat. 285), charged the Attorney General with the general superintendence of district attorneys and marshals and required them to submit to him reports of their proceedings. Successive Attorneys General during the war period: Edwin M. Stanton, Dec. 20, 1860. James Speed, Dec. 1, 1864. The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859- ney General, Edward Bates," in 1866, ed. by Howard K. Beale, American Historical Association, Iowa, University, Abstracts in His- Record Group 60.--The General Records of the Department of Justice contain most of the records created by the Attorney General's Office during the Civil War. These are discussed immediately below by type. Thereafter the pardon and claims records, in other record groups, are discussed. Outgoing letters of the Attorney General, 1818-90, copied in letter books, are addressed to the President and heads of Government agencies; officers and Members of Congress; Governors of States; judges, district attorneys, marshals, and clerks of court (including those in the Territories); and others. These letters concern appointments to and removal from office, commissions and bonds, leaves of absence, resignations, opinions, pardons, land claims, prosecutions under legislation relating to confiscation and treason, the compensation of attorneys employed to assist the district attorneys, the seizure of telegrams passing between the North and the South, the release of vessels captured by blockading squadrons, the bailing of prisoners, trials of crews of Confederate privateers, and political prisoners. Letters received make up most of a series known as the Attorney General's Papers, 1790-1870. They consist of letters received by the President and referred to the Attorney General and letters from heads of departments and other executive agencies, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Court |