THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
Union troops were withdrawn, the life of no Northern man would be safe in Mississippi. At the same time he was anxious to see the Union forces withdrawn and thus to make room for his militia. It seemed to me impossible that a man of so doltish a brain should have exercised a determining influence upon the President's mind.
It is hard to imagine my amazement when, at two o'clock A. M., of the 1st of September, I was called up from my berth on a Mississippi steamboat carrying me from Vicksburg to New Orleans, off Baton Rouge, to receive a telegraphic dispatch from President Johnson, to which I cannot do justice without quoting the whole of it:
To Major General Carl Schurz,
Vicksburg, Mississippi.
I presume General Slocum will issue no order interfering
with Governor Sharkey in restoring functions of the
State Government without first consulting the Government,
giving the reasons for such proposed interference. It is believed
there can be organized in each county a force of citizens
or militia to suppress crime, preserve order, and enforce the
civil authority of the State and of the United States which
would enable the Federal Government to reduce the Army and
withdraw to a great extent the forces from the State, thereby
reducing the enormous expense of the Government. If there
was any danger from an organization of the citizens for the
purpose indicated, the military are there to detect and suppress
on the first appearance any move insurrectionary in its
character. The great object is to induce the people to come forward
in the defense of the State and Federal Government. General
Washington declared that the people or the militia was the
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