Thread by @BrooksDSimpson

Let me tell you what really happened when Adelbert Ames asked Ulysses S. Grant to intervene in Mississippi in 1875.

#Grant #Grant3

Mississippi Democrats planned a shrewd terrorist strategy to triumph in 1875. The "peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must" them of the #MississippiPlan was in fact a program of carefully calibrated political violence framed in an awareness of federal government responses.

Governor Ames had already dealt with an outbreak of violence at Vicksburg, where Grant authorized federal intervention.

Ames was reluctant to mobilize a state militia that would have to draw upon black militiamen.

Thus, as signs of violence escalated in August 1875, Ames prepared to call on Grant for assistance once more.

However, Grant had been burned by his efforts to combat violence in Louisiana in 1873, 1874, and 1875.

You can see his frustration, anger, and bluntness here ... and this should have appeared in #Grant3 with a spotlight:

millercenter.org/the-presidency…

"To hold the people of Louisiana generally responsible for these atrocities would not be just, but it is a lamentable fact that insuperable obstructions were thrown in the way of punishing these murderers;...

"...and the so-called conservative papers of the State not only justified the massacre, but denounced as Federal tyranny and despotism the attempt of the United States officers to bring them to justice.

"Fierce denunciations ring through the country about office holding and election matters in Louisiana, while every one of the Colfax miscreants goes unwhipped of justice, ...

" ...and no way can be found in this boasted land of civilization and Christianity to punish the perpetrators of this bloody and monstrous Crime."

That's telling it like it is. Grant's calling out white America.

So when Ames makes his request, Grant's aware that support for intervention's dwindling, as the Democratic triumphs in the 1874 elections remind him.

Yet he was still ready to authorize intervention:

msstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collec…

And on September 13, 1875, he shared his thoughts with his attorney general, Edwards Pierrepont:

msstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collec…

Pierrepont, after conferring with cabinet members, wrote Ames as follows:

msstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collec…

Note how Pierrepont changed the thrust of Grant's message from a reluctant willingness to intervene to a request to make sure Ames was doing all he could so that federal intervention was a last resort.

Grant acceded, in part because people were telling him that intervention in Mississippi would cost the Republican party in Ohio, where the Democrats were putting up a fight for the state legislature and governorship. BTW, the Republican candidate for governor? R. B. Hayes.

Ames's September 30 reply seems to indicate he has everything under control (scroll to bottom of page):

msstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collec…

Now, Mississippi's Democrats know that once the Ohio state election takes place in October 1875, Grant will be free to intervene in Mississippi without fear of political repercussions in Ohio. So, just as the election takes place (and Hayes and the Republicans narrowly win) ...

... the Mississippi Democrats negotiate a "truce" with Ames, and Ames informs the Washington authorities that everything's okay.

See the following:

msstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collec…

That "truce" lasts until a few days before the election: by that time, federal intervention would have come too late to affect the outcome.

The Democrats win in Mississippi; Hiram Revels shares his views with Grant:

msstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collec…

Most historians badly bobble this story and concentrate on the September correspondence. Their narratives feature a story of lack of will and frustration. The full story offers a far more complex tale.

It's time to treat Reconstruction terrorism seriously and thoughtfully. Only a few scholars, including George Rable in BUT THERE WAS NO PEACE, have done so. There are others.

Want to see a frustrated Grant? Read this 1876 letter to South Carolina governor D. H. Chamberlain:

teachingamericanhistory.org/library/docume…

And, as for Grant's actions in resolving the disputed election of 1876, something overlooked in #Grant #Grant3, see:

rbhayes.org/research/hayes…

*theme... oops. :)