https://www.susannahjural.com/cwrgm/files/original/74cd8b46219f356e31759eb8f397e53d.png 4616aae16600dc807237fa30a3555d31 https://www.susannahjural.com/cwrgm/files/original/87c23dd3044d1776eba9b5e11ecff5be.png b5609e18e84d562dfa37c24b84e49ef7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emancipation and Citizenship Subject The topic of the resource The documents in this section remind us that emancipation was a process, not a moment. To approach it as such, this theme is broken down into Wartime, Immediate Postwar, and Reconstruction-era sections. Emancipation during the War: When President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, it only freed enslaved peoples in Confederate held territory. But this seemingly limited document would revolutionize the United States in the years that followed. Starting in 1863, enslaved peoples, if they could escape to the Union Army, would no longer be returned to their owners, but rather could stay in what were known as contraband camps where some men joined the Army and women served as cooks and laundresses. The contraband camps were not a panacea of freedom — disease was rampant and bigotry did not end with escape — but 1863 marked a radical shift in Federal policy where Union forces were now directly threatening the institution of slavery in the Confederacy. If you're investigating the process of emancipation during the war, you might look at the June 1862 letter from <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/16">Isaac Applewhite</a> warning Governor Pettus of what Applewhite saw as three key threats to the Confederacy in Marion County: enslaved African-Americans who became "emboldened" by nearby Union forces, potentially disloyal civilians, and Confederate deserters. Site users may also want to examine the <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/51">November 1863 telegram</a> from Confederate President Jefferson Davis to MS Governor Charles Clark about U.S. forces recruiting (or "conscripting," in Davis's words) African-American men into the Union Army or Navy, and efforts Davis wanted the state to take to thwart this. See also the unusual November 1863 account of W. E. Montgomery, Captain of the Herndon Rangers, describing the destruction of white Mississippians' properties in Bolivar County by a former overseer and Confederate deserter named Milford Coe. He lived with escaped African-American men, women, and children on an island in the Mississippi River, from which, according to this document, they launched small raids on Confederate property and traded with Union forces. The CWRGM research team is investigating this story to see if it echoes the more famous wartime case of Newton Knight in Jones County or if it is about something else entirely. If you'd like to join our volunteers and dig through newspaper, census, and military records, we'd love to hear what you find about this case. Emancipation in the Immediate Postwar Period: Scholars often warn against reading history backwards. Just because we know Mississippi surrendered in May 1865 does not mean that Mississippians knew the war was about to end that spring. Individuals also did not know what changes would follow — How would emancipation unfold? What rights did free and freed Blacks have, would those be respected or protected, and by whom? What rights and freedoms did former Confederates and Unionists have as Mississippi rejoined the Union? Would slaveholders be compensated for their slaves? Would freed peoples receive land or funds in compensation for their years of unpaid labor? In the sample documents relating to emancipation and the immediate postwar period, several letters spotlights the speed with which some freed peoples asserted themselves as citizens and businessmen. See, for example, <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/87">the case of Lambert Moore</a>. The formerly enslaved man <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1865/08/07/archives/mississippi-taxes-imposed-by-gov-sharkey.html">challenged the idea that he should pay taxes on his wartime earnings</a> and argued, through his attorneys, that he earned that money while hiring himself out as an enslaved man. Since Moore paid a portion of his earnings to the man who owned him (who confirmed that in the same document), Moore had, in essence, already been taxed. You may want to explore a related case made by <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/80">Frank Spruell</a>, a formerly enslaved man who argued directly to Governor Sharkey that he made far too little selling melons to pay $25 in taxes. There are also a series of letters that reveal former slaveholders' questions about their rights and responsibilities under the emancipation policies that went into effect throughout the state with its surrender in May 1865. The following month, <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/69">George T. Swann wrote to Governor William Sharkey </a>from Jackson, MS, describing the lack of clear information he had received on emancipation, a concern echoed by <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/71">S. R. Frierson</a> in Columbus the following month who asked if it would be an immediate or gradual process. In late July, Methodist minister Alex J. Smith from Neshoba County asked for similar clarification for his campaign as a "Union" political candidate facing strong <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/79">"Secession party" opposition</a>. Racial Tensions: Racial tensions increased significantly between moderates and conservatives, blacks and whites, and military and civilian Mississippians in the summer and fall of 1865. As early as July, documents reveal white Mississippians' desire to handle cases in civilian courts, while most African-Americans and U.S. military occupiers saw the need for military oversight. One of these cases involved a <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/75">4th of July shooting</a> where Joseph L. Jackson killed an African-American man (frustratingly unnamed in the document) the Jackson family had once enslaved and who worked as a hired laborer on a Jackson plantation in Washington County. The CWRGM research team is investigating this case to see if Freedmen's Bureau Colonel Samuel Thomas succeeded in his desire to keep the case in military courts, if Governor Sharkey, per the document's authors' advice, contacted President Andrew Johnson to win his support for transfer to civilian court and what Johnson's reaction was (if any), the court's final decision, and what happened to the two families involved after the trial. Another case emerged that fall as Captain S. D. Cooper with the 50th United States Colored Infantry (USCI) investigated charges of theft <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/84">filed by a Rankin County man</a> against one of his former slaves (again unnamed in the record), while another document reveals a request by the <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/90">mayor of Clinton, Mississippi</a> for clarification on how to interpret and enforce labor contracts. Both documents reflect a sharp spike in labor disputes as white and black Mississippians asserted their power and independence. Site visitors may also want to explore the case of Captain Peck, Provost Marshal of the Freedmen's Bureau. He arrested the former sheriff of Copiah County, Colonel Drury Brown, in the fall of 1865 on charges of violence against a freedman. When Governor Sharkey lobbied to have Brown transferred to a civilian court, it appears that Brown won his case and then Peck went to jail rather than pay bail for his appearances in court (though this part is unclear). At that point, U.S. Maj. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus intervened, sending 300 U.S. Colored Troops (USCTs) to force the release of Peck from a Copiah County jail. This document spells out some of that case, and this <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1865/11/04/archives/from-the-south-and-west-petition-for-the-pardon-of-jacob.html">New York Times article</a> and along with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1865/11/12/archives/southern-items-trouble-in-mississippi-a-county-under-military.html">this one</a> offers a bit more context. This is another case the CWRGM research team is investigating. We welcome help from the public. Emancipation and African-American Citizenship during Reconstruction: The Emancipation Proclamation led to the passage and ratification of three constitutional amendments: the 13th Amendment in 1865 (abolition of slavery throughout the U.S. and territories), followed by the 14th Amendment in 1868 (guaranteeing rights of citizenship) and the 15th Amendment in 1870 (extending the right to vote to adult African-American men). Despite this powerful legislation, military and civilian leaders varied greatly in their ability or willingness to enforce the laws that protected the rights of all Mississippians throughout Reconstruction. There is an 1870 document in this sample (also included under the "Civilian" theme) that exemplifies the significant increase in racial violence by the 1870s and efforts taken to combat this by Mississippi Governor James Lusk Alcorn as well as U.S. military forces. <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/94">This documen</a>t shares the report of J. J. Gainey, a Union Army veteran and agent of the Mississippi Secret Service established by Alcorn to investigate and prosecute Ku Klux Klan violence in the state. Gainey's investigation, detailed here, uncovered several assaults on African-Americans in Lafayette County, MS, including one shooting and possible murders in Arkansas. This is another case that the CWRGM research team is investigating. We welcome help from the public. (Written by Susannah J. Ural, Ph.D.) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Page 1: Sharon Madison County Miss— Dec 13th 1859— To His Excellency Gov= Pettus, Gov= State Miss Dear Sir I have been requested to address you, in behalf of the Young men of our Town, and procure if possible, The Rifles and other necessary accoutrements, for a corps of Mounted Riflemen, numbering between Twenty five and Thirty We think, that the signs of times demand it, and that it is, the duty of the Legislature to enforce its military Laws or to encourage the formation of Volunteer Companies throughout the State: and more=over we think, that it is the duty of every Town, in the "Southern" States, that can boast of Twenty five young men, eligible to Military duties, to be forthwith supplied with arms and other appendages by the state, and be brought under military discipline— Then will [strikethrough]the[strikethrough] north see, and not until then, that there are hords of young men, who will take arms, to protect their "Southern" homes and firesides, against the encroachments of northern "fanatics", and abolishion incendiaries With many hopes, for your continual prosperity and happiness, I remain Your Obdt Servt Chas, C. Thornton Page 2: Madison College to be turned into Military Institute Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from Charles C. Thornton to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; December 13, 1859 Subject The topic of the resource Mississippi. Governor; Pettus, John Jones, 1813-1867. Description An account of the resource From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Letter from Charles C. Thornton to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus requesting rifles to arm a "corps of mounted riflemen" being formed in the town. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thornton, Charles C. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Mississippi Department of Archives and History. (electronic version); Mississippi Digital Library. (electronic version) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1859-12-13 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Funding for this project provided by The Dale Center for Study of War and Society-USM, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Digital Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Watson-Brown Foundation Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context mdah_757-930-1-20 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1859