Brooks-Baxter War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Brooks-Baxter War | |||||||||
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 Woodcut representation from the 50th Anniversary edition of the Arkansas Gazette. |
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| Combatants | |||||||||
| Republican Party nicknamed "The Minstrels" mostly Northerners at first loyal to Powell Clayton, later Democrats |
Liberal Republican Party nicknamed "The Brindle Tails" initially supported by state militia, later mostly African American volunteers |
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| Commanders | |||||||||
| Elisha Baxter | Joseph Brooks Robert F. Catterson (Arkansas state militia) |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| more than 2,000 | approximately 1,000, not including state militia | ||||||||
| Casualties | |||||||||
| approximately 200 | |||||||||
The Brooks-Baxter War was an 1874 political struggle between the Republican Party, nicknamed "The Minstrels", and the Liberal Republican Party, nicknamed "The Brindle Tails", over the governor's office of Arkansas.
The struggle began with a coup d'état—the physical removal of the sitting governor—and escalated to armed conflict. The ensuing events were complex political affairs with shifting allegiances. Eventually the intervention of President Ulysses S. Grant was necessary to settle the conflict.
The war's conclusion marked an early end to Reconstruction in Arkansas. It was also responsible to some degree for the dominance of the Democratic Party in Arkansas for the next 96 years, although the same trend occurred throughout the South in the same period.
Contents |
[edit] Background
During the Civil War, Arkansas was a member of the Confederate States of America. After the war concluded, many Northern Republicans, often referred to as carpetbaggers, came to the defeated states to make their fortune in the rebuilding process. They took control of certain Southern state governments, including Arkansas, and funneled state funds for their own profit.
[edit] Clayton Administration
Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress readmitted Arkansas in June 1868. In the same year, Radical Republicans in Arkansas drafted a new constitution, written under the terms of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 that required states to allow African Americans the vote; it also fixed legislative apportionments in favor of counties with large African-American populations, rendering the Democratic Party uncompetitive and giving the Republicans unchecked control. The new state constitution conferred broad powers upon the state government. The governor had the power to appoint officials including judges.[1]
Powell Clayton, who would become head of the Arkansas Republicans, was elected governor in 1868. He was very different from his predecessor, Isaac Murphy, despite both being carpetbaggers and Republicans. The Murphy Administration exercized a conciliatory attitude towards defeated Confederates and showed fiscal restraint; it had left the state budget in surplus.[2][1] Clayton had first come to Arkansas as a Brigadier General in the Union Army and so had good relations with Union soldiers and sutlers who made up the future carpetbaggers. His election was widely reported as fraudulent[citation needed]. As governor, he encouraged immigration from the North and employed many of these newcomers in his Administration; he also supported many ill-conceived and expensive construction projects, such as ineffective levies and incomplete railroads, increasing state debt[2]. In 1870, he cancelled elections in numerous counties, citing exaggerated reports of political violence; by which, he handed control of the state to President Grant.[3] He also raised taxes to pay the increased salaries of officials in his administration and created a series of bonds, known as the Holford Bonds, and promissory notes, known as scrip, that were issued in great numbers to raise money. Counties, cities, and school districts consequently fell into debt. By the end of Clayton's term, the state debt had increased by $10 million. Many counties had little or nothing to show for the debt they had shouldered, while Clayton and his administration grew very wealthy.
[edit] Factionalism within the Republican Party
This state of affairs caused a great deal of resentment from native-born Republicans (known as scalawags). Many were upset that state offices had gone to immigrants from the north, as well as with the questionable financial maneuvers of the Clayton government. In 1869, the Arkansas Republican Party split in two. The new Liberal Republicans opposed Clayton and included Lieutenant Governor James M. Johnson. They were nicknamed "The Brindle Tails" after their leader Joseph Brooks, who was said to speak like a brindle tailed bull. Brooks had been central in rigging the election of 1868 and getting Clayton elected to the governors office, but he had not been rewarded with a state job, a common practice in 19th century American politics. Therefore, Brooks turned on his party. The Brindle Tails platform included a new constitution that would roll back the Reconstructionists' legislature and re-enfranchise ex-confederates. Johnson and Brooks appealed to Democrats and pre-war Whigs to join, and they began gaining support among the disenfranchised and Liberal Republicans. Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to seize the governorship while Clayton was out-of-state on business.
[edit] Compromise
In 1870, Clayton lost control of the General Assembly, and they elected him to the United States Senate to sequester him from state affairs. Clayton was afraid that if he left for Washington and Johnson became governor, Johnson would immediately begin rolling back reconstruction legislation. Thus, he moved Johnson to the secretary of state position and replaced him with loyalist Ozra Amander Hadley. This was seen by the legislature as overreaching his power, and he was impeached. The popular outcry was so great that a compromise was reached. Clayton went to the Senate, Johnson became secretary of state, and Hadley became governor. In March, the legislature dismissed the impeachment charges; Clayton left the state for the Senate, leaving Hadley as governor, much to the delight of the states most prominent newspaper, the Arkansas Daily Gazette:
It will be a source of infinite joy and satisfaction, to the oppressed and long suffering people of Arkansas, to learn that, on yesterday, the tyrant, despot and usurper, late of Kansas, but more recently, governor of Arkansas, took his departure from the city and his hateful presence out of our state, it is to be hoped, forever and ever.
[edit] Election of 1872
In the election of 1872, Joseph Brooks ran for governor on the Brindle Tails ticket. The Claytonist Republican faction, now being referred to as "The Minstrels" (their leader, John Price, was a musician), nominated Elisha Baxter as their candidate. They believed that Baxter, a native Unionist, could split the scalawag and carpetbagger votes.
During the buildup to the election and the days afterward, predictions and reports of fraud were printed daily in The Gazette. Because of the relatively slow communication of the day, messages from other counties were often delayed up to a week. There were numerous reports of anomalies in state polling centers, including names being inexplicably stricken from the voter registration and people voting without proof of registration. The Gazette wrote:
It would be as great a farce of yesterdays election to designate it otherwise that a fraud. It was one of the worst ever yet perpetrated in the state. The city judges paid no attention to any registration either old or new, but permitted everybody to vote, and in many instances without question. Men were marched from one ward to another and voted early and often. (Gazette #299)
On November 6, 1872, the day after the general election, The Gazette reported that: "The election was one of the most quiet in Little Rock we ever witnessed"[4]. The returns on that day were too small to report with any certainty who had won yet, and the newspaper reported fraud. Reports were received claiming that registration had been cut short or extended in many counties to suit the needs of whoever controlled the polling places. The following Monday, The Gazette published incomplete tallies from the various counties showing a small majority for Baxter. They also reported more forms of attempted fraud. Some unofficial polling places had apparently been set up, but only those cast at the regular polls had been certified[5]. By November 15, The Gazette was claiming victory for Brooks[6], but by the next day, given all the irregularities and votes that would be thrown out, the projected winner had changed. The Gazette named Baxter as victorious by only 3,000 votes[7].
[edit] Baxter and Brooks switch positions
To everyone’s astonishment, as governor, Baxter did not toe the Minstrel line as expected. He began dismantling the corrupt systems put in place by Clayton and the Radical Republicans. He appointed honest Democrats and Republicans to the Election Commission, reorganized the militia by placing it under the control of Arkansas, and pushed for an amendment to the state constitution to re-enfranchise ex-confederates[8].
On March 3, 1873, re-enfranchisement of ex-Confederates was adopted to the delight of most of the state population and the anger of the Republicans. A special election was held in November to replace 33 members of the legislature, mostly Brindle Tails, who left for patronage jobs in the Baxter government. With the help of the newly re-enfranchised voters, Democrats swept the election, gaining a small majority. The Republicans realized that Baxter would have to be removed from office. If they ever hoped to regain control, a coup d'etat would be necessary.
The political backers of Brooks and Baxter had switched. Baxter was now being supported by the Brindle Tails, re-enfranchisers, and the Democrats, whereas Brooks was finding support among the Claytonist, carpetbagger, scalawags, and the Minstrels.
[edit] Crisis
[edit] Brooks seizes the governorship and removes Baxter
Brooks' new supporters appealed to the friendly Pulaski County Circuit Court. On April 15, 1874, Judge Whytock ruled in favor of Brooks on the two-year-old lawsuit. Without notifying the legislature or Governor Baxter, he swore Joseph Brooks in as the new Governor of Arkansas. With the aid of General Robert F. Catterson and state militia, Brooks marched to the Arkansas Capitol building, now known as “The Old Statehouse”, located at Markham and Center streets in downtown Little Rock. They ordered Baxter to abdicate his office, but he refused to do so unless physically forced. The mob dragged Governor Baxter out of the Capitol building and onto the street.
By the end of the afternoon, nearly 300 armed men had converged on the lawn of the State Capitol. Brooks's men seized the state arsenal and began turning the Statehouse into an armed camp. Telegrams covered in signatures were sent to President Grant supporting Brooks as the legal governor. Three out of the five Supreme Court justices also telegrammed the President in support of Brooks. Brooks telegrammed the President asking for access to weapons housed at the federal arsenal. He also issued a statement to the press proclaiming himself governor. The state senators met with President Grant, and a message was sent to Brooks giving their support.
[edit] Baxter responds
Coups normally result in the imprisonment of the ousted official; however, for some unknown reason, Baxter was allowed to remain free in Pulaski County. He set up headquarters in the Anthony House, three blocks away from the State Capitol. Ads placed in The Gazette indicated that the Anthony House continued to function as an upscale hotel during the entirety of the crisis, even though fighting continued outside, and at least one man was shot dead while standing in a window in the building[9]. Baxter issued two proclamations to the press from his temporary office, asserting his rights to the governorship by vote of the people and the decision of the legislature; both were printed in The Gazette.
There were now two armies marching and singing throughout Little Rock. Each makeshift army gathered arms and sent detachments to other cities and states seeking more[10]. It was at this point that the Baxter men retrieved “The Lady Baxter”, a cannon that had been spiked and abandoned by the Union Army and left sitting on the bank of the Arkansas River. It was repaired and made ready for battle; however whether it was ever fired is doubtful. It now sits in the lawn of the Old State House on permanent display.
Overtones of the Civil War were evident. Brooks' men numbered 600 by this time, and were all African American former slaves who supported Republicans as their emancipators. Baxter’s men were all white Democrats. The Baxter forces continued to grow steadily during the conflict until they reached nearly 2,000[11]. Several bloody skirmishes occurred on the streets of Little Rock, one in front of the Anthony House. There was also a small naval battle on the Arkansas River, where Brooks's men attacked a flatboat named The Hallie, thought to be bringing supplies; they killed nearly everyone on board. It has been reported by various sources[citation needed] that at least 200 men were killed during the fighting, most of whom were African American.
[edit] Grant's intervention
As the two continued to scramble for support in Washington, D.C., Grant pushed for the dispute to be settled in Arkansas. Baxter had the support of the legislature, but they were unable to convene because they could not enter the capitol building. Brooks, on the other hand, had the support of the courts, which were still controlled by Clayton, but Baxter’s men had kidnapped two members of the Supreme Court to prevent it from functioning[12].
It quickly became clear that the intervention of the Federal Government was required to settle the dispute; however, the general policy of the Grant Administration was to stay out of the affairs of Southern states. The President often expressed annoyance with Southern governors who insisted that federal troops extinguish various outbreaks of violence. Grant and the United States Attorney General, Hamilton Fish, issued a joint communique stating that the State Legislature should handle the problem and ordered both armies to disband and Brooks to vacate the capital[13].
[edit] Lasting effects
After the conflict subsided, a general election took place in which the entire electorate was allowed to vote for the first time since before the Civil War. However, Clayton and Brooks, claiming support from other Republicans, announced plans to overturn the government of Arkansas and the new constitution. They also assured that if successful, similar revolutions would spread to other Southern states, which were now becoming solidly Democratic. It was to no avail since the new state constitution was passed on October 13, 1874.
Baxter lost his reelection bid to August Garland, who was the first Democratic governor of Arkansas in a decade. The following 35 governors of Arkansas were all Democrats. Arkansas did not have another Republican governor until 1966, with the election of Winthrop Rockefeller.
[edit] References
- ^ Owings, Richard. The Brooks-Baxter War. Arkansas Times. 1998. Available online from oldstatehouse.com Retrieved on December 11, 2006.
- ^ Owings
- ^ Gazette #101
- ^ Gazette #291
- ^ Gazette #296
- ^ Gazette #299
- ^ Gazette #300
- ^ Owings, 3
- ^ Owings, 5
- ^ Owings, 5
- ^ Owings, 7
- ^ Owings, 8
- ^ Grant
- The Daily Arkansas Gazette. #101. March 19, 1871
- The Daily Arkansas Gazette. #299. November 15, 1872
- The Daily Arkansas Gazette. #296. November 12, 1872
- The Daily Arkansas Gazette. #91. March 6, 1878
- The Daily Arkansas Gazette. #300. November 16,1872
- Grant, Ulysses S. A Proclamation. Arkansas Archives. May 15, 1874
