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Many South Carolinians know very little factual history of what happened in the South Carolina Government immediately following the pillage and destruction of the Capitol City by Sherman’s army and during Reconstruction imposed by the federal government that followed the end of armed conflict.
An honest assessment would likely lead to the conclusion that Reconstruction for the citizens of South Carolina, both white and former slaves, was many times more horrible than the war itself. The experience left deep scars in the memories of all citizens. The ugliest part of Reconstruction was revision of historical facts that continue to this day.
Vice President Johnson became President following the assassination of Lincoln. In order to reestablish state government in South Carolina, President Johnson appointed Benjamin Franklin Perry, a respected Union man from Greenville County, to serve as Governor during the first phase of Reconstruction in June of 1865.
The first election under federal rule was held in October of that year.
James L. Orr became the first elected Governor of South Carolina during Reconstruction with only 18,885 ballots cast in the entire state. Orr was replaced by Richard K. Scott in the election of 1868. Scott was a Carpetbagger from Ohio and a former officer of the Freedmen’s Bureau, who had popularized himself with former slaves by aggressively posing as their champion.
Scott gave his administration an air of respectability by appointing former Union officer Daniel H. Chamberlain as Attorney General. The majority of other state officials were Carpetbaggers and Scalawags of the lowest order.
Most respectable citizens of the state were not allowed to vote or hold office because of their affiliation with the Confederacy.
Governor Scott’s administration of affairs in South Carolina was so corrupt and oppressive, that even “Northern observers such as S. S. Cox of New York declared that since the world began, no parallel could be found for its unblushing knavery…If the entire body of penitentiary convicts could be invested with supreme power in a state, they could not present a more revolting mockery of all that is honorable and respectable in the conduct of human affairs.”
Scott was replaced by Governor Franklin J. Moses, Jr., a Scalawag who became known as the “Robber Governor” of South Carolina. One feature of the Scott and Moses administrations was creation and maintenance of a 96,000 man black army while ordering the few remaining white militia companies to surrender their arms and disband. The cost for initially equipping the private army was half a million dollars. Moses acknowledged “receiving $10,000 as commission” on the weapons and equipment purchases.
Carpetbaggers, Scalawags and former slaves ruled what became known as the “prostrate state” until the “Second American Revolution” led by Gen. Wade Hampton III occurred in 1876. Of the 124 members of the state’s House of Representatives during the Scott and Moses era, 76 were black Republicans. Of the 48 white men in the House, only 14 were Democrats. Of the 33 member Senate, 9 were black, and only 7 of the total were Democrats.
While Speaker of the House, Moses lost $1,000 on a horse race. The next day, the House voted him $1,000 as a “gratuity.”
The State House was refurnished during this spending spree. Five dollar clocks were replaced with $600 clocks. Four dollar mirrors were replaced by $600 mirrors. Two dollar window curtains were replaced by curtains costing taxpayers as much as $1,500. Four dollar benches were replaced by $200 sofas. Forty committee rooms were converted to bedrooms and furnished each session. Legislators going home took the furniture with them. A bar and restaurant were operated in the State Capitol both day and night.
Lawmakers refreshed and gorged themselves and their friends at taxpayer expense on delicacies, fine wines, liquors and cigars.
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