1875

  

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“We do not intend to be driven to the frontier as you have driven the Indian.”

 

Rep. Joseph Hayne Rainey, African American lawmaker

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January 4: Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives meet to convene a new session. There was an actual wrestling match for control of the gavel. Republican members who tried to leave were prevented from doing so by the sergeant-at-arms, and “pistols were displayed.” Federal troops had to be called in to restore order. 

General Philip Sheridan suggested that Congress or President Grant should declare “the ringleaders of the armed White Leagues” banditti. He might then try them in a military court and put an end to the troubles. (11/165) 

General William Tecumseh Sherman remarked: 

I have always thought it wrong to bolster up weak State governments by our troops. We should keep the peace always; but not act as bailiff constables and catch-thieves; that should be beneath a soldier’s vocation. I know that our soldiers hate that kind of duty terribly, and not one of those officers but would prefer to go to the plains against the Indians, rather than encounter a street mob or serve a civil process. But in our government it is too hard to stand up in the face of what is apparent, that the present government of Louisiana is not the choice of the people, though in strict technical law it is the State government. (11/165-166)

 

Order was eventually restored, but it was clear, Andrews says, that this “was the beginning of the end of carpet-baggery in Louisiana.” (11/167)

 

* 

Writing in 1896, after the last bullets have been fired, Andrews’ understanding of the “Indian problem” is a little more nuanced than his position on Reconstruction, but still not good. He speaks of a commission set up by the Grant administration, made up of white religious leaders, and the “kindly policy” that was tried. Two powerful Indian delegations, one led by Red Cloud, the Sioux chief, went to Washington “evidently determined henceforth to keep the peace.” 

Few of the wild Indians did this, however. Perhaps only the Apaches, always our most troublesome wards, have ever pursued murder and rapine out of pure wantonness; yet most of the red men still remained savages, ready for the warpath on slight provocation. If the frontier view – no good Indian but a dead one – is severe, many Eastern people were hardly less extreme in the degree of nobility with which their imagination invested the Aborigines. (11/170)

 

Contractors, paid to supply tribes confined to reservations with food, Andrews admits,  “systematically swindled Indians.” 

Honest Indian agents complained that the “food and clothing actually furnished them was insufficient and of wretched quality.” 

Army officers often agreed: 

“The poor wretches,” said one, have been several times this winter on the verge of starvation owing to the rascality of the Indian Ring. They have been compelled to eat dogs, wolves, and ponies.” It was urged in excuse that the supply wagons had been delayed by snow. March 18, 1875, General Sherman wrote from St. Louis: “To-morrow Generals Sheridan and Pope will meet here to discuss the Indian troubles. We should settle them in an hour, but Congress wants the patronage of the Indian Bureau, and the Bureau wants the appropriations without any of the trouble of the Indians themselves.”

 

The Indians’ discontent was intensified by the progressive invasion of their preserves by white men, often as lawless as the worst Indians, and invariably bringing intemperance and licentiousness. Frontiersmen looked jealously at the unimproved acres of the reservations as an Eden which they were forbidden to enter, while a horde of thriftless savages were in idle possession. Violence against the red men seemed justified and was frequent. (11/171)

 

* 

May 10: The Whiskey Ring is finally exposed. According to Andrews, “Mr. Myron Colon, with the backing of the St. Louis Democrat, and the Secretary of Treasury, set out to expose corruption in the distillery business.” 

Under pretext of gathering commercial statistics, a work which, as financial editor of the Democrat and as secretary of the St. Louis Board of Trade, Mr. Colon had often done, and could, of course, do without suspicion, he obtained, at landings and freight depots, copies of bills of lading that showed all the shipments of staple articles, including whiskey, to or from St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee. The record gave the names of the shippers and the consignees, the number of gallons and the serial numbers – never duplicated – of the revenue stamps on each and every package. The discrepancies between these way-bills and the official records furnished to the Internal Revenue Office showed conclusively the extent of the frauds and the identity of the culprits. From July 1, 1874, to May 1, 1875, no less than $1,650,000 had been diverted from the government till.

 

Members of what became known as the “Whiskey Ring,” believed they would be alerted to any investigation, through official channels, by their allies, but were not prepared to be caught out by private individuals. Now, members of the Ring realized, too late, that they were in danger. “Lightning will strike Monday!” one crook telegrammed to others. “Warn your friends in the country!” 

Indictments were eventually handed down against 152 liquor agents and other private parties, and 86 government officials. That included President Grant’s Private Secretary, General O.E. Babcock. Babcock had friends in high places, and he was never convicted. All the other “prominent defendants,” Andrews notes, were convicted, but six months later three were pardoned. 

“Great credit was due to the press for its assistance in discovering and exposing the whiskey fraud.” Said Andrews, “the press proved the terror of unclean politicians and the reliance of the people.” 

“As the New York Times had exposed the ‘Tweed Ring,’ so to the St. Louis newspaper men was due, in large part, the glory of bringing to light the whiskey iniquity.” 

In those times and in the course of such complicated investigations, it was inevitable that libels should occur and do harm. Naturally, and perhaps justifiably, Congress undertook to remedy this ill by amending the law of libel. The debate over the measure was in great part composed of philippics against “the licentious newspaper.” The licentious newspaper retorted in the teeth of the law, which was christened the “Press-Gag Law.” The enactment, too much resembling the old “Sedition Law,” was universally unpopular, contributing not a little to the Democratic victories of 1874. Judge Poland, of Vermont, the chief sponsor for it, was defeated in this election. As a further consequence of it, in the Forty-Fourth Congress, first session, meeting in 1875, the National House of Representatives, for the first time since the Civil War had a Democratic majority. It was seventy strong, and elected Hon. Michael C. Kerr Speaker.

 

Andrews goes on to note that the “strength of the evil tide” which Hayes had determined “to turn” could be seen in these matters. (11/239-242) 

 

*

 May 17: The first Kentucky Derby is run. Aristides is the winner, with Oliver Lewis, an African American aboard. The fifteenth and last black rider to win the Derby is Jimmy Winfield in 1902, as Jim Crow laws lock down the race.

 

 

*

 

Increasing efforts in the South to curtail voting by African Americans are bearing fruit. Rep. Joseph Hayne Rainey, however, is defiant. He and others in Congress will continue to fight for equal rights. “We do not intend to be driven to the frontier as you have driven the Indian,” he announces on the floor of the House of Representatives. (See also: 1876.)

 

*

NOTE TO TEACHERS: I never did this in class; and I’m retired now. I’d have students read this passage and ask them to point out any flaws they might see in Ellis’ narrative.

Edward P. Ellis, writing in 1905, describes the history of Reconstruction in Louisiana. In 1874, he says, New Orleans had been riven by a bloody confrontation between the White League, and the police, nearly all of whom “were colored men.” The Republican governor had to take refuge in the Custom-House, “strongly garrisoned by United States troops.” General Longstreet, in support of the Republican government, ordered five hundred police, with cavalry and artillery to “assault…the position of the citizens.” That is: The White League.

 

“The conflict was sharp, but the Metropolitans were routed, General Longstreet and others taking refuge in the Custom-House.” The next morning, the White League captured the State House and the police surrendered. “Then the barricades disappeared and comparative quiet returned to the city.”

 

“Pistols were drawn, and the disorder became uncontrollable.”

Ellis continues,

 

The triumph of the citizens was complete and aroused enthusiasm everywhere. The leaders insisted upon moderation, and the negroes were assured that neither they nor their property would be molested. This promise was kept, and the McEnery officials were installed throughout the state. The United States troops cheered General Ogden’s militia [the armed forces of the White League], who heartily responded.

 

A hotly contested election in November 1874 led to violence and an order by President Grant for Gen. Phil Sheridan to take charge of the city. Five Democrats claimed to have been elected to contested seats to the legislature. If they prevailed, the Democrats would control lawmaking in Louisiana.

 

Ellis explains:

 

On January 4, 1875, the legislature met. There was intense excitement everywhere, and all felt that stirring events were at hand. The State House bristled with Federal bayonets, and the swarm of Metropolitans allowed no one to enter save by permission of Governor Kellogg. At noon, when the clerk of the preceding House called the roll, fifty-two Republicans and fifty Democrats responded. A Democrat instantly nominated L. A. Wiltz as temporary chairman, and without waiting for the clerk he himself put the motion and declared it carried by a viva voce vote. Wiltz hurry to the platform, hurled the clerk aside, and wrenched the gavel from him. The members were sworn in wholesale. Before the Republicans fairly comprehended what was going on, a new clerk and a new sergeant-at-arms were elected. Assistances to these officers were elected in the same hurried manner. Amid the tumult, protests, and confusion, the five contesting Democrats were admitted and sworn in. The Republicans who attempted to leave were prevented by the strong force of assistant-sergeants-at-arms, and Wiltz was elected Speaker. Pistols were drawn, and the disorder became uncontrollable.

 

Once again, U.S. troops had to restore order, and the five Democrats whose seats were contested were removed.

 

These high-handed proceedings awakened sympathy for the oppressed, who appealed to the country for justice. Many indignation meetings were held, at which the foremost Republicans and leading citizens condemned the use to which the federal troops had been put. General Sheridan, influenced naturally by the stories of the carpet-baggers and rogues, was a strong friend of Kellogg and his supporters. The [U.S.] Senate called upon President Grant for an explanation, and he replied in a special message, defending the means he had employed.

 

An investigation led to seating of a dozen Democrats in the legislature, various other compromise measures, and says Ellis, “thus  began the downfall of carpetbag-ism in Louisiana.”

He continues:

 

Having traced the course of misgovernment in Louisiana, let us see what it effected elsewhere. The interlopers who flocked southward like vultures scenting their prey were said to carry all their possessions in a carpet-bag, from which they received the derisive name. The majority were adroit scoundrels, who took advantage of the ignorance and fears of the black men to secure power. They terrified the negroes by making them believe that if the Democrats gained the upper hand again, they would make slaves of the colored people. The carpet-baggers and southern “scalawags” (generally former fire-eaters and plantation overseers) plunged the States headlong into debt; they openly bribe voters; stole hundreds of thousands of dollars; debauched the negroes, of whom some of the most besotted and ignorant, unable to read or write a word, were sent to the legislatures to make laws for their former masters; they lounged in their seats, with their huge feet elevated in front, while they smoked expensive cigars for which the state paid; they adjourned pell-mell to attend the circus, rode in gorgeous carriages, beside gorgeously arrayed black women, whose houses were furnished with carpet costing four dollars a yard, and with furniture corresponding; they wallowed in champagne, voted away vast sums of money for thieves, who divided with them and who joined in their wild riding and devilry. (1394-1396)

Racist depiction of the Era of Reconstruction.

 

*

 

Frank Butler, a professional marksman who performs shows as a crack shooter, appears for an appearance in Cincinnati. As usual, he has a standing offer. A contest against anyone who thinks they can beat him.

 

The owner of the hotel where Butler is lodging thinks that he has someone who might, and a shooting contest is arranged. Butler vs. a 15-year-old girl in braids, by the name of Phoebe Ann Oakley, who grew up on a farm in Drake County.

In fact, in a trap-shooting contest, the girl beats the pro on the last shot. Butler, 25, who is divorced, marries her the following year. (Our ancestors married early, particularly the women – or girls.)

Picture of Annie in later years.

 

Butler helps turn his wife into a star attraction, shooting under the name of “Annie” Oakley. He also provided lessons in reading and writing, and taught her many new trick shots. One involved Frank holding the ace-of-hearts while Annie sighted on the card and put a bullet through the center.

 

Born on August 13, 1860, when Phoebe Ann was young her father died, leaving behind a hungry wife and children, and a 40-inch Kentucky rifle. The girl was eventually sent to a local institution for poor children, and at age 10, “placed in the home of a local farmer, who cruelly abused her.” As Damaine Vonada wrote, in a July 1993 article for Ohio Magazine, “her memories of that time were so painful that for the rest of her life she refused to say the name of the farmer or his wife and instead called them ‘he-wolf’ and ‘she-wolf.’” (84) When her mother remarried, Phoebe Ann rejoined the family and she picked up the muzzleloader and started hunting for market.

 

She went after mostly pheasant and quail, and sold her game to a Greenville storekeeper, who supplied fancy dining rooms in Cincinnati hotels. “Annie’s aim was so perfect that she consistently shot her quarry in the head. The hoteliers gladly paid a premium for undamaged meat; and by the time Annie was fourteen, she had earned enough money to pay off the lien on the [family] farm.”

 

Not long after Annie met Butler, she landed a job with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, a traveling exhibition of cowboys and Indians, which played to huge crowds, starting in the 1880s. She performed all over the country and in Europe. Frank became her coach and manager, no longer doing much shooting himself. He cleaned her weapons and watched from the sidelines as his wife, whom he always called his “little girl,” curtsied to cheering crowds.

 

It is said, for example that Annie could

 

…shoot the flames off candles on a rotating wheel. She could aim a rifle at a dime held between a man’s thumb and forefinger and from thirty paces knock the coin away, leaving his hand intact and her audience breathless. She could order two clay pigeons to be simultaneously released from the traps, then run twenty feet, vault over a table, pick up the gun, take aim and manage to pick off both flying targets before they hit the ground.

 

She could turn cartwheels and do handsprings to delight the crowd. She could swing on and off Indian ponies. She could stand on the back of a galloping horse and still shoot with “clockwork” precision at airborne glass balls, sending sparkling showers of broken glass raining down on the Wild West arena. (85)

 

It didn’t hurt that Annie was pretty. Standing only five feet tall, weighing a hundred pounds, she had unusually beautiful blue-grey eyes. One male admirer remembered that she had “white and perfect teeth” and a “low and sweet voice full of melody.” (84)

 

As Vonada explains,

 

Along with her boss, Annie Oakley became one of the nation’s first superstars. She and Buffalo Bill were, in today’s parlance, media darlings, who had impeccable images as the perfect western man and woman. … Annie was such a strong draw that she commanded the show’s highest salary, reportedly up to $1000 per week, slightly more than the president of the United States was making.

 

By the time the show folded in 1913, fifty million people had witnessed “the epic of the American West condensed into a few hours in an arena.” Annie once made $9,000 from a series of shooting matches in England, and won more than $100,000 worth of trophies during her lifetime. In 1891, during a show in Germany, Crown Prince Wilhelm was so impressed with her abilities that he agreed to hold a lit cigarette in his lips. Annie stood back thirty paces and shot off the lit end. In 1914, when Kaiser Wilhelm led his nation to war, Oakley remarked, “If my aim had been poorer, I might have averted the Great War.” (86)

 

Frank and Annie remained happily married for fifty years, although admirers sometimes sent her proposals. One Mr. Davis, from Wales, proposed that she divorce Butler and marry him. Annie sent back his photograph, with a .22 bullet hole in the center, and the note, “Respectfully declined.”

*

Two miners, Essington and Lockberg, return to Bodie, California, and set to digging again. Since the town sits in a flat bowl, at 8,379 feet above sea level, and because winters are brutal, no trees survive. So timbers needed to shore up mine shafts were scarce. 

One day, part of the tunnel the two men were working collapsed. It was the kind of accident that has killed miners since early humans first began to go underground. But luck was with them. A rich vein or ore was revealed, an “Aladdin’s Cave,” as Ella M. Cain has written. “There it was with its golden treasure; the ledge they had dreamed of, had worked for, had hoped to find; its richness exceeding even their wildest expectations. (59/12-13) 

In an era when a typical factory worker made $500 a year, the partners took out gold worth $37,500 over the next few months. The following year they sold the claim for $67,500. The Bunker Hill Mine now became the Standard Mine, and in the next four decades, $18 million in gold came out of that ground. 

News of this rich strike spread quickly, and the Bodie boom began.