Project Gutenberg's The Sequel of Appomattox, by Walter Lynwood Fleming

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: The Sequel of Appomattox
A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States, Volume 32 In The
Chronicles Of America Series

Author: Walter Lynwood Fleming

Editor: Allen Johnson

Posting Date: January 2, 2009 [EBook #2897]
Release Date: November, 2001

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX ***

Produced by The James J. Kelly Library Of St. Gregory's
University, and Alev Akman

THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX

A CHRONICLE OF THE REUNION OF THE STATES

By Walter Lynwood Fleming

CHAPTER I. THE AFTERMATH OF WAR

When the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy were disbanded in
1865, two matters had been settled beyond further dispute: the Negro was
to be free, and the Union was to be perpetuated. But, though slavery
and state sovereignty were no longer at issue, there were still many
problems which pressed for solution. The huge task of reconstruction
must be faced. The nature of the situation required that the measures of
reconstruction be first formulated in Washington by the victors and then
worked out in the conquered South. Since the success of these policies
would depend in a large measure upon their acceptability to both
sections of the country, it was expected that the North would be
influenced to some extent by the attitude of the Southern people, which
in turn would be determined largely by local conditions in the South.
The situation in the South at the close of the Civil War is, therefore,
the point at which this narrative of the reconstruction naturally takes
its beginning.

The surviving Confederate soldiers came straggling back to communities,
which were now far from being satisfactory dwelling places for civilized
people. Everywhere they found missing many of the best of their former
neighbors. They found property destroyed, the labor system disorganized,
and the inhabitants in many places suffering from want. They found the
white people demoralized and sometimes divided among themselves and the
Negroes free, bewildered, and disorderly, for organized government