session a full and accurate account of all expenditures made by said asylum out of appropriations made by Congress, I have the honor to submit the following statement of these expenditures from the date of my last report, December 5,1868, to June 30, 1869. To whom paid, and for what. F. C. Weston & Company, groceries and provisions. Amount. Medical Department United States Army, medicines... $709 72 H. F. Davis, groceries and provisions.. 418 05 Ashford & Faris, groceries and provisions.. 199 38 98 35 94 50 96 80 704 47 24 40 128 74 32 55 50 00 233 32 Daniel Sullivan, milk.. Varnell & Myers, fresh meats. Thomas Weaver, fresh meats. William Whelan, plumbing and gas-fitting. John Ross, repairing surgical instruments. John Riley, cow, hose, and pipe... Doctor J. H. Thompson, salary as surgeon-in-chief. Martha Rumsey, repayment of scavenger's bill.. Martha Rumsey, repayment of bill for repair of water pipes. Martha Rumsey, salary as matron. Nurses and cooks' services.... C. C. Hill, trustee, rent of house and grounds corner Massachusetts avenue and Fourteenth street.... Total.... Amount expended as stated in last report. Total expenditures... Surgeon General United States Army. SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE, December 6, 1869. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant, reports of the military commander of the district of which Georgia is a part, in regard to the political and civil condition of that State. DECEMBER 9, 1869.-Read, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed. To the Senate of the United States: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant, requesting reports of the military commander of the district of which Georgia is a part, in regard to the political and civil condition of that State, the accompanying papers are submitted. EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, D. C., December 9, 1869. U. S. GRANT. The Secretary of War, to whom was referred the Senate's resolution of December 6, 1869, has the honor to submit to the President the report of the commanding general of the department of the South upon "the civil and political condition of the State of Georgia." WAR DEPARTMENT, December 8, 1869. WM. W. BELKNAP, HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, GENERAL: Soon after I assumed command of this department a letter from the Hon. Henry Wilson to the President of the United States was referred to me, with instructions to investigate and report upon the matters therein mentioned. The following is a copy of that letter and the indorsement placed upon it by the General commanding the army, viz: NATICK, Mass., May 14, 1869 DEAR SIR: Can nothing be done to stop the outrages in Georgia? These political murders should cease. Nothing animated the people more in the canvass than the idea that the rebel outrages should be stopped. They were checked much by your election; still they go on, and many of our best friends say that we do nothing to stop them, and that we rather say nothing about them. I fear that unless something is done many of our most devoted friends will grow dissatisfied. Cannot a proclamation in regard to Georgia be issued? Cannot these criminals be caught by the army and punished? I am sure something should be attempted. Martial law is this day needed in that the worst of all the States for the security of the friends of the country. Yours truly, President GRANT. HENRY WILSON. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, Respectfully referred to the commanding general department of the South for thorough investigation and report. W. T. SHERMAN, General. I have delayed making the report thus called for until the present time, in order that I might become acquainted with the condition of affairs in Georgia before expressing any opinion in regard to them. Now, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the situation here demands the interposition of the national government, in order that life and property may be protected, freedom of speech and political action secured, and the rights and liberties of the freedmen maintained. This opinion is based upon complaints made to me, the reports of officers detailed to investigate alleged outrages, and upon the statements of many persons of respectability and high position from different parts of the State, in whose representations I must repose confidence; some of whom have given me information only under the pledge of secrecy, the state of affairs in their section being such that they feared the extreme of personal violence should it become known that they had been in communication with me. In many parts of the State there is practically no government. The worst of crimes are committed, and no attempt is made to punish those who commit them. Murders have been, and are, frequent; the abuse in various ways of the blacks is too common to excite notice. There can be no doubt of the existence of numerous insurrectionary organizations known as Ku-Klux Klans, who, shielded by their disguise, by the secrecy of their movements, and by the terror which they inspire, perpetrate crime with impunity. There is great reason to believe that in some cases local magistrates are in sympathy with the members of these organizations. In many places they are overawed by them, and dare not attempt to punish them. To punish such offenders by civil proceedings would be a difficult task, even were magistrates in all cases disposed, and had they the courage to do their duty; for the same influences which govern them equally affect juries and witnesses. A conversation which I have had with a wealthy planter, a gentleman of intelligence and education, and a political opponent of the present national administration, will illustrate this difficulty. While deploring the lamentable condition of affairs in the county in which he lives, he frankly admitted to me that, were the most worthless vagabond in the country to be charged with a crime against the person of a republican, or a negro, neither he nor any other person of property within the county would dare to refuse to give bail for the offender, nor would they dare to testify against him, whatever might be their knowledge of his guilt. That very many of the crimes which have been committed have no political bearing, I believe; that some of them were prompted by political animosity, and that most of the numerous outrages upon freedmen result from hostility to the race, induced by their enfranchisement, I think cannot be controverted. The same difficulties which beset the prosecution of criminals are encountered by negroes who seek redress for civil injuries in the local courts. Magistrates dare not do their duty toward them, and instances are not wanting where it has even been beyond the power of a magistrate to protect a negro plaintiff from violence in his own presence, while engaged in the trial of his case. I desire it to be understood that in speaking of magistrates I in no degree refer to the judges of the superior courts; they are gentlemen of high character. I have every confidence that they will do their duty fearlessly and impartially, but it is to be observed that even they cannot control grand and petty juries; they cannot compel the former to indict nor the latter to render unprejudiced verdicts. The executive of the State would gladly interpose to give to all citizens the protection which is their right, but under the constitution and laws he has power neither to act directly in bringing offenders to justice nor to compel subordinate officers to do their duty. I do not suppose that the great majority of the people of the State, of either race, approve of the commission of these crimes. I believe that not only would they gladly see good order restored, peace and quiet maintained, and the law vindicated, but would lend their aid to secure these ends, were they not controlled by their fears. Governed, however, by their apprehensions, and having no confidence that the civil authorities will afford them protection, in many counties they suffer these evils to exist without an effort to abate them, and meekly submit to the rule of the disorderly and criminal minority. While I have been in command of the department I have endeavored to take no action which could not be justified by the letter of the law, even if Georgia should be held to be restored to its original relations to the general government. I have confined myself to giving support to the civil authorities, and moving detachments of troops into some of the disturbed counties, where their presence would exert a good influence, and where they would be ready to act if properly called upon. I think that some good has in this way been accomplished, but the great evil has by no means been reached. As a department commander, I can do no more; for whatever may be the status of Georgia, and whatever may be the powers which an officer assigned to command the third district created by the reconstruction acts would possess, it is only an officer so assigned who could exercise them; they are not vested in me by assignment to the command of this department. Where, therefore, the civil authorities are in sympathy with, or are overawed by, those who commit crime, it is manifest that I am powerless. In this connection I respectfully call the special attention of the General commanding the army to the reports in regard to the attempt made in Warren County to secure the arrest and punishment of persons charged with crime, which are this day forwarded. It appears to me that the national honor is pledged to the protection of the loyalists and the freedmen of the South. I am well aware that the protection of persons and property is not ordinarily one of the functions of the national government; but when it is remembered that hostility to the supporters of the government is but a manifestation of hostility to the government itself, and that the prevailing prejudice against the blacks results from their emancipation-the act of the gov ernment-it would seem that such protection cannot be denied them if it be within the power of the government to give it. I know of no way in which such protection can be given in Georgia, except by the exercise of the powers conferred on military commanders by the reconstruction acts. The question whether these powers can still be exercised in this State is a grave one. I should hesitate to attempt the discussion of it were I not convinced of the absolute necessity of such action. Being convinced of that necessity, I venture to present my views to the General commanding. By the act entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," passed March 2, 1867, it is provided, in the first section thereof, that the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, shall be divided into five military districts, and subjected to military authority; and, in the second section, that to each of the said districts shall be assigned as commander an officer of the army not be low the rank of brigadier general. The third and fourth sections of the act specify the powers and duties of district commanders, making it their duty "to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace," &c. The fifth section prescribes the manner in which, and the conditions upon which, the rebel States may be restored to their normal relations to the national government, and fixes the contingencies upon the hap pening of which the preceding sections shall become inoperative in said States, respectively; upon the happening of which, military control in said States shall cease. This section is as follows, viz: SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when the people of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government in conformity with the Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of said State, twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said State for one year previous to the day of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for felony at common law; and when such constitution shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates; and when such constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the persons voting on the question of ratification who are qualified as electors for delegates; and when such constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved the same; and when said State, by a vote of its legislature, elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, and when said article shall have become a part of the Constitution of the United States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom, on their taking the oath prescribed by law; and then, and thereafter, the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative in said State: Provided, that no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States, nor shall any such person vote for members of such convention. It will be observed that, after prescribing the terms of restoration, it provides that when they shall have been complied with by any one of the States to which the act applies, said State shall be declared to be entitled to representation in Congress; and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the oath prescribed by law; and then and thereafter the preceding sections shall be inoperative in said State. I respectfully submit that by this language the actual admission of senators and representatives is made a condition precedent to the abrogation of military authority; that the action of the two houses of Congress in admitting members was provided for as the final recognition of the restoration of the States, and that until that recognition by the law-making power, unless subsequent acts have changed, modified, or repealed this act in this respect, the powers conferred on district commanders may be exercised. The supplementary acts of March 23 and July 19, 1867, to my apprehension, have no bearing whatever upon this question; they in no |