The End of Reconstruction

Readmission to the Union

In December of 1869, the new Mississippi state constitution, written by the state convention was passed, and in 1870 Mississippi was formally readmitted to the Union. The Republicans had a firm grip on the state government, led by Governor James L. Alcorn. The party promised to help all Mississippians regardless of race or wealth, but many whites still hated the Republican organization.

There were a number of prominent African American Members of the Republican Party from Vicksburg. Hiram R. Revels, the first black man to serve in the US Senate, and a former chaplain in the United States Colored Troops stationed at Vicksburg; Albert Johnson who served in the state legislature; Thomas W. Stringer, who was a delegate to the Mississippi Constitutional Convention in 1868 and served in the Mississippi Senate in 1870; Wesley Crayton, the first African American alderman of Vicksburg,; Thomas W. Cardoza, appointed state superintendent of education in 1874, and I. D. Shadd, who served in the state legislature and was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1874-1876.

 

Old Jackson Road, now park land, including the Shirley House, where violence occurred during the Massacre - circa 1899.

NPS

Vicksburg Massacre of 1874

To fight against Republican rule, many white Southerners joined groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, which sought to intimidate blacks and keep them from voting. It is not know how many citizens from Vicksburg served in these organizations, but research has shown that large numbers of Confederate veterans joined such groups. Matters came to a head in Vicksburg in 1874, when a white faction made an effort to remove all black office holders from city and county government.

Peter Crosby was elected as first African American Sheriff of Warren County in 1873. Throughout 1874 attempts were made to intimidate him and other African Americans in the area. On December 2, 1874, armed white men with the Taxpayers’ League demanded his resignation. Sheriff Crosby issued requests for aid to restore him to office. On December 7, 1874, African American citizens marched to Vicksburg in support of Sheriff Crosby, however they were intercepted by groups of armed white men. In the ensuing violence of that day and the weeks after, approximately 23 African Americans were killed throughout Warren County. Reports of violence lasted until around Christmas Day. Black men hid out in the woods until the end of the month/year. Federal troops were sent to Vicksburg and Sheriff Crosby was reinstated.

Racial troubles continued in Vicksburg through 1875 and beyond. A congressional hearing was held on the massacre. Sheriff Crosby was shot in the face in June 1875 and further violence occurred targeting African Americans on July 5, 1875.

The locations of homes on Old Jackson Road, which are now park land, including the Shirley House, were sites of racial violence during the Massacre.

The events of the Vicksburg Massacre of 1874 are significant to the history of Vicksburg and national story of the Reconstruction Era.

 

The Mississippi Plan and Political Turmoil

In 1875 white conservatives in the state came up with the "Mississippi Plan" to insure their victory in the upcoming elections. This plan used intimidation of black voters and outright fraud to guarantee that white Democrats would take control of the state government. The Mississippi Plan was very successful in undermining the Republican-led government and in 1875 the resurgent Democratic Party took control of the state legislature. In 1876, the Republican governor and lieutenant governor were impeached and Democrat John M. Stone became the new governor.

White Democrats took control of the judicial branch of government as well in 1876, and Congressional Reconstruction in Mississippi was all but finished. The next year saw the official end of Reconstruction, with the Compromise of 1877 that made Rutherford B. Hayes President of the United States, removed all military forces from the former Confederacy, and the authorized southern states to "deal with blacks without northern influence." In the years that followed, the political and civil gains made by African Americans in Vicksburg and throughout Mississippi were systematically erased.

In the aftermath of the Democratic victory, conservative whites in Mississippi promoted a number of myths about Reconstruction to justify their takeover of state government. Black politicians were stereotyped as incompetent and ignorant, and claimed the Republican government was corrupt. History has proved these myths false, but helped to create the optics of "the failed policies of Reconstruction."

With the end of Reconstruction and the compromise of 1877, oppression of African Americans, became rampant under the "Jim Crow Laws." It would be over a century until equality for all races would be granted under the Civil Rights Act of 1966, however the struggle for equality and quest for Civil Rights still transcends our society today.