Militant South

07095 THE MILITANT SOUTH 18OO-1861 John Hope Franklin (c) Cupynfiht. WA. hv the I'trudent and telltttM of Pint a% a (trtutm * pubthhftl PaprrikttH /^^ f h\ wrangtment with ftwufd friurmfv Itfaeon l^nt ^/mA.ii r^ fmhluhnl uri^rr ^ f &t th* l nitantm tfnwrr UI/MI 4 |i,u>< iatitm, Printed in tHf f'm'ffrf S/rt/^s f .i Third fMinting, tfrtrmhn MOZELLA. .AJNTlSrE, BTJC1C (jTr Preface When the Union fell apart in 1861, it was not possible for anyone to answer all the questions that arose in the troubled minds o Americans regarding that catastrophe. In searching for an explanation of the tragic dissolution, thoughtful observers looked at the political and philosophical bases of the nation's structure. They found that the controversial question of the autonomy of the states and the concept of liberty that had evolved offered a partial answer to the question. They examined the economic order and realized that between a commercial-industrial section and one that was pre- dominantly agricultural there was basis for conflict. They looked into the structure of society in the two sections and concluded that there were inherent conflicts between that committed to the view that universal freedom was the proper foundation for improving the social order and the other that insisted that its half-free, half-slave society needed only to be left alone. continued to Questions of how and why the war came have baffle the minds of men in the generations since 1861. A notable lack of agreement, except on the point of the almost accumulation of hopeless complexity, and the remarkable have been details regarding the course of events prior to 1861 the most impressive results. While considerable attention has been given to the social, of the South before cultural, and psychological conditions In the ante-bellum 1861, certain aspects are yet incomplete. Southerners, period, large numbers of observers, including viii PREFACE made more than passing reference to those phases of Southern life and culture that suggested a penchant for militancy which at times assumed excessive proportions. The persistence of the rural environment, the Indian danger, the fear of slaves, of an old-world concept honor, an increasing sensitivity, and an arrogant self-satisfaction with things as they were con- tributed. Reflected in the culture and conduct of Southern- ers, it militated against a calm, deliberate approach to their problems. Several years ago, the late Wilbur J. Cash, a dis- tinguished Southern journalist, observed that the ante-bellum Southerner "did not think; he felt." Feeling or groping his way toward a solution of his increasingly complex problems, the Southerner not infrequently reacted militantly, indeed violently. This volume seeks to identify and describe those phases of life that won for the ante-bellum South the reputation of be- ing a land of violence. It is concerned, therefore, not merely with the formal and conspicuous revelations of bellicosity but also with those varied conditions of life which not only reflect, but explain this tendency. In the South, for example, militant race superiority evolved out of the defense of plan- tation slavery, to become an ingredient in the culture. The South's dread of real and fancied Indian scalpers kept many inhabitants trigger-happy, while the persistent fight for Leb- ensraum added to the flavor of militancy. Growing interest in military education, preoccupation with military activities, and many other phases of everyday life reflected a warm at- tachment to things of a militant nature. This study implies at no point that all Southerners, or even almost all of them, were bellicose or militant It is mindful of the existence of elements in the South that regarded violence and other forms of precipitate action as revolting. But these elements dominated neither thought nor action in the crucial generation preceding the Civil War. Like the anti- slavery elements, they lost most of their influence as the con- PREFACE ix troversy between the North and South became intense. They were shouted down, voted down, and fought down by those Southerners who though they might have been in the mi- a of action nority subscribed to a code of conduct and plan that was the antithesis of moderation and conciliation. These created the climate of militancy. The atmosphere of conflict that came to characterize much of the South was transformed into aggressive militancy as in- tersectional tension increased. Southerners began to think in terms of preparing themselves for "any eventuality," especial- involved conflict with the North, Fever- ly if that eventuality for war the decade before the election ish preparations during not but de- of Lincoln suggest a South that was only willing, termined to be ready to fight. of life It would be absurd to suggest that the conditions the South. herein described were the exclusive possession of West its The North had its problems of law and order, the of and al- Indian dangers and more than its share violence, individualism most everywhere in "Young America" rugged to an obnoxious pushed men dangerously close imperious- ness. In the North, however, these conditions were almost in the settled invariably to be found relatively new, sparsely to the frontier and under its influences. As regions close also Northern areas increased in age and population, they and tended to shed grew in maturity and responsibility; they their cruder frontier characteristics and take on new traits, sometimes no less violent, that were the product of change in the South, even and increasing complexity. Meanwhile, the older areas tended to retain the traits usually associated with the frontier, while the new areas of the cotton and sugar and violence that kingdoms nurtured a frontier militancy as and became almost as much a part of the scene staple crops these manifestations Negro slaves. The excessive degree of the ante-bellum and their persistence throughout period consideration in this make the South worthy of special regard. x PREFACE that the tradition It should be added of a military spirit did not drive the South into an armed conflict with the North. But this tradition, together with the preparations to support the a and nourish it, gave South self-confidence that strength- ened its determination to take the fatal step of secession. The martial of the it spirit South helped face the consequences of secession with confidence, if not with eagerness. One should not draw the inference that, because this work is concerned primarily with the ante-bellum period, the manifestations of excessive belligerency disappeared with the Civil War. While that conflict may be regarded, in some re- spects and in some quarters, as the South's "finest hour" or the most dramatic and spirited defense of the concept of hon- it was no means the final In the decades fol- Q>TI by gesture. lowing the Civil War dueling was not altogether uncommon in the South. The record of the Klan, the night riders, and other self-constituted regulators is an impressive reminder of the resourcefulness and ingenuity of some Southerners in the area of violence. The fact that nearly 90 per cent of the 1,886 lynchings in the United States between 1900 and 1930 oc- curred in the South is further indication of this tendency. The assertion that the murder capital of the United States moves annually from one Southern city to another has considerable basis in fact and suggests a continuing indifference to violence. The of these persistence habits suggests the depth and tenacity of their hold and would also seem to suggest that an exam- ination of their origins and early development is important in any effort to understand them. This book is the result of the labor and cooperation of many generous persons. The endnotes and bibliographical notes indicate my indebtedness to those who have written on related subjects. The staffs of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, Duke University Library, the University of North Carolina Library, Harvard College Library, and the Howard University Library were helpful in numerous PREFACE xi ways. The state librarians and archivists of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana were unfailing in their generous help. Rayford W. Logan and my other colleagues in the department of his- tory at Howard University and numerous friends and associ- ates, including Douglass Adair, the Joseph Mendelsons, the Henry F. Pringles, Alfred Kazin, Blake McKelvey, Carl Brid- enbaugh, Merle Curti, Howard K. Beale, Arthur S. Link, Clement Eaton, and Charles G. Sellers, offered suggestions that place me under heavy obligation to them. The research and writing were made possible through generous grants from the Social Science Research Council and the John Si- mon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. To all these persons and institutions I am deeply grateful. I assume full re- errors deficiencies in this sponsibility, however, for any or work. I can never fully express my gratitude to my wife for her understanding patience and valuable assistance. Washington, D. C. JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN Contents 1 Background of Violence i 2 Fighters' Fatherland 14 3 Personal Warfare 33 4 A Militant Gentry 63 5 Defending The Cornerstone 80 6 Militant Expansionism 96 7 A Little Learning 129 8 West Points of the South 146 9 The Citizen Soldiery 171 i o Literary and Social Echoes 193 i i Toward a Unified South i 2 Ready to Fight Bibliographical Essay Notes 165 Index 35 HI 1 LI UTM Background of Violence In 1857, Edmund Ruffin, Virginia's perennial defender of Southern rights, was on the warpath. This time he had good reason to indulge in more than his usual amount of vitu- peration against the North.

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