CHAPTER XXI.

PEACE AND THE AFTERMATH.

WHEN peace came in April, 1865, there was a feeling of relief to the people at home, not entirely unmixed, however, with dread. It was not supposable that neighbors who had been at war so long would dwell together without friction. War makes us brutal in action, while as it continues morality retrogresses. In a measure the people who sympathized with the South in the great struggle expected the triumphant Unionists to be overbearing, and this was the case in a few instances. It is to the credit of the Northern sympathizers that hundreds of them seemed ready to encourage peace and amity. Not only was there a conservative faction with the successful side which did everything possible to restore good will, but it was not long before ex-Federal soldiers became the most loyal patrons of those merchants who had been loyal to the Confederacy. Such men as Joseph Clarke-there were a number in the county-often risked life that the returned ex-Confederates might have justice.

There were here and there a few men who, having become desperate through war's carnage, were slow to yield to the influences of peace. When inflamed by strong drink they were especially hostile. So it was that, following the war, there was here and there a killing, while some feuds developed. It is possible, human nature being the same, that there would have been among the Southern sympathizers an element just as

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lawless and overbearing had the cause of the South succeeded.

It would have been wonderful had the noncombatants living in the villages shown no antagonism toward each other occasionally while the war was going on. Even the women now and then took sides. One day the children of two ladies of opposite sentiments were scrapping. The parents of each passed a few words. Said the one of less refinement: "The children of no old 'secesh' can run over mine." "And who are you?" asked the "secesh" with some scorn. The answer was long-drawn-out and smacked of much pride: "I'm a U-U-U-Union woman."

As a rule, however, neighbors got along well. The Southern "skedaddlers" frequently found a safe refuge in the homes of Unionists in the country. The writer takes this opportunity to say that, though his parents were Southern in sympathy, they were never molested by Stokes, Blackburn, or Hathaway; but, on the other hand, were treated with great respect. Colonel Blackburn one night was seen passing through the yard spying while the village was filled with Confederates. He was not reported-he was "a neighbor's boy"-and went his way safely, as he knew he would.

Peace brought with it a new aspect to occasions like elections. The freed negroes gathered by hundreds in the towns. In vividness the scenes return to-day-old blacks like Ike Lamberson, with competitors, selling cider and ginger cake, others vending melons, and all noisy and happy over their liberation. If there was any violence on their part, it is not recalled. There

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was a kindly feeling on the part of ex-slaves for their "white folks," and numerous families did not leave their old quarters for some years.

As the soldiers swore mightily in Flanders, so there was in DeKalb much drinking and fighting, particularly on Saturdays and on election days. When the Loyal League, an order composed mainly of negroes, was formed, it was regarded as a menace to the safety of society, and many whites began to view the freed-man with disfavor. The Ku-Klux Klan was organized, and it soon had the blacks terrorized. No member of the order was ever convicted in Tennessee. One indictment at least was found in DeKalb County, and two cases of whippings occurred. There were at one time half a million members in the South. The order was formed in Pulaski, Tenn., in the summer of 1866 and was disbanded in March, 1869. Its name continued to be used by unknown organizations, and alleged "Ku-Klux outrages" were reported as late as 1872. Governor Brownlow in 1868 called out the militia to suppress the order, many DeKalb Countians becoming militiamen.

Tennessee was readmitted to the Union in July, 1865. Prior to that (April 5) William G. Brownlow was inaugurated Governor of the State. The legislature, in session that month, practically disfranchised all those voters who had not been Union men. In 1866 the negroes were given the right to vote by the Brownlow legislature, made up of Radicals and Conservatives, the former in favor of very harsh laws toward the ex-Rebels, the latter (who had always been

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Union men) in favor of milder treatment. There was a "split," and the two wings, or factions, became very bitter toward each other. In February, 1869, Governor Brownlow was elected to the United States Senate, the Speaker of the State Senate, D.W.C. Senter, becoming Governor. In the same year Governor Senter was a candidate for election, nominated by the Conservatives. William B. Stokes was nominated by the Radicals.

There was an exciting joint canvass. Both candidates were excellent speakers, Stokes, the "Bald Eagle," being the better under normal conditions. They spoke in DeKalb County in their itinerary. Reaching Liberty, Stokes had luncheon at the home of his brother-in-law, C.W.L. Hale, a Southern sympathizer. In the afternoon the contestants held forth in a grove near where the Murfreesboro road intersects the Lebanon and Sparta Turnpike. The audience was large and somewhat boisterous, but order was good.

Meantime plans had been put on foot to insure the "Bald Eagle's" defeat. At the time of the contest the Confederate element was led by Gen. John C. Brown. His followers offered to support Senter if the latter should allow them to vote. He agreed. The vote on election day stood: For Senter, 120,234; for Stokes, only 55,046.

The legislature was Democratic in both branches and met October 4, 1869. Thus the Democratic party regained ascendancy in about four years after the close of the war.

Then came the convention, in 1870, to form a new

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Constitution-the one which exists at present. The delegate from DeKalb County was Col. J. H. Blackburn, as previously stated.

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The people by a four years' war were placed as the pioneers were-they had to begin over to establish themselves socially and materially. In depicting their makeshifts and customs one but depicts the makeshifts and customs of the grandparents to a large extent, and it is profitable and illuminative to sketch these rather in detail.

Boots were almost wholly worn by men. The custom prolonged the life of the serviceable bootjack, once familiar in all homes. There were no screened windows. Wherefore the house fly was a greater nuisance than now-that is, if he was as prone to load himself down with disease germs as he is to-day. The foreparents knew a thing or two, however, and used a "fly broom" in the dining room. Some of these brooms were things of beauty. An elderly lady named Grandstaff lived on Dismal Creek, and her handiwork was so artistic as to give local prestige to a stream even so wretchedly named as that. The brush of her fly brooms was made of the tail feathers of peacocks; while the handle, some four feet long, was covered with the plaited white quills of the same bird. It was gorgeous and must have cost several dollars.

In the village and country back yards the homely ash hopper was a familiar object-made usually of a barrel, each end knocked out, and set on a slightly inclined platform. It was filled with wood ashes, through

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which a few bucketfuls of water were allowed to seep. The product was lye, and the product of lye and meat rinds and bones boiled together was an excellent quality of soft soap. By the way, the ash hopper was the bete noir of the head of the house. The springtime was not a sweet time to him until the ash hopper had been made and filled. Somehow he dreaded the task, and it is little wonder that a member of his tribe perpetrated this: "The hardest things that come up in a man's life are building the spring ash hopper and cutting summer stove wood."

Another feature of the back yard was the dye pot. The foremothers made much-almost all-of the family's wearing apparel, as well as their carpets, necessitating the cards for carding wool, the spinning wheel, the reel, the winding blades, and the loom. All of these, excepting the hand cards, were homemade. To give the cloth, or thread, or "chain," for the carpet the desired color, it was put into the dye pot. Dyeing materials were logwood, cochineal, indigo, madder, and copperas. Blue-mixed jeans was regarded the most suitable for men's suits. A kind of jeans was woven especially for vests, or "weskets," with red or yellow stripes, and sometimes red, yellow, and blue stripes occurred in the same piece. The writer during the post-bellum period saw his mother make a "pattern" for the sort of cotton dress goods she desired, the weaver following it faithfully. Threads of different colors were wrapped around a bit of cardboard or a flat piece of wood, the stripes-red, yellow, black, or blue-being of uniform width or varying to suit the

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fancy. When woven the cloth would indeed "fairly hurt the eyes."

Tin molds for making candles were used some years after the war. They were made in sizes to suit-to mold a half dozen or a dozen tallow candles at a time. A wick was run through each mold and fastened at both ends. At the top all were attached, so that every candle could be drawn out at once. The molten tallow would then be poured in, forming around the wicks. When the tallow had become hard the molds were heated slightly, when the candles could be pulled out easily.

Bread trays, bee gums of hollow logs, ax handles, ox yokes and bows, rolling pins, chairs, chests (make-shifts for trunks), water buckets, tubs, and churns were handmade of buckeye, cedar, hickory, and other woods. No doubt there are still hickory chairs in Tennessee made more than a century ago. Gourds sufficed for dippers, while a larger variety were used in the kitchen for holding salt, soft soap, brown sugar, and the like.

A relic of the old times was the horse block near the front gate of village or farmhouses. It was constructed for the ladies, who seldom rode in a carriage and never dreamed of an automobile. They would mount the horse from it if going visiting, while visiting guests would dismount upon it. Horseback-riding was popular as well as necessary if one were "going abroad," as even neighborhood visiting was spoken of. Riding man fashion was not in vogue even by the most hoidenish girl. Ladies were, as may be imagined, ac-

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complished equestrians. Moreover, a country girl prized a new sidesaddle and riding skirt as much as a city girl would now prize a piano. Those of well-to-do-parents were often provided with a good mount, usually a pacer. It was a delightful experience to see some village belle and her beau taking a ride, the former, adorable in her riding habit, putting her pacer to the limit, her escort keeping alongside on a galloping animal.

Other "luxuries," necessities, and fashions of "auld lang syne" were: Candle snuffers, casters, accordeons, picture albums, paper collars, dickeys (false shirt fronts), reticules, hoops, petticoats, bustles, chignons, sunbonnets with pasteboard stiffening, snuff boxes and hickory or althea toothbrushes, home remedies like horehound sirup and vermifuge made of boiled pink-root, knitting needles, yarn socks, breakfast shawls, nubias, comforts, hair nets, and hair oil for men.

But the old order has passed away. Not only buggies and carriages are common, but the automobile is no longer amazing. In town and hamlet the girl who "sets out" makes her début; "infairs" are receptions; "going abroad" is spending the week-end; the "party" or "frolic" has been turned into a function, and reference to color schemes, linen or kitchen showers, and progressive luncheons does not send the latter-day rural belle to the dictionary for light.

While from 1900 to 1910 the county lost 1,026 of its population, it has made remarkable progress. In 1914 it was out of debt, with a comfortable surplus ($6,000) in the hands of the trustee. Every part

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shows this substantial progress. In the Highlands old agricultural methods have given way to new, and thrift followed in spite of the inferiority of the soil compared with that in the Basin. Better homes and more comfortable living are decidedly apparent. A feature of that section is the great number of nurseries. It is estimated that the income from them will reach a quarter of a million dollars yearly.

In the Basin live stock and grain-"hog and hominy"-still hold the closest attention of the farmers. There are quite a number of fine farms with progressive owners. United States Marshal John W. Overall possesses about nine hundred acres, raising cattle on a large scale. Ed Simpson, near Alexandria, is widely known among breeders for his registered Hereford cattle.* Dr. T. J. Jackson, with about five hundred acres, devotes much time to cattle. Herschel Overall, with six hundred acres, sells annually a large number of mules, cattle, and hogs. There are stockmen who buy as many as two thousand suckling mules and raise them to maturity with profitable results. J. I. Banks, of Dry Creek, is regarded as one of the best beekeepers of the State. He makes a specialty of queens and has patrons throughout the Union. Rev. O. P. Barry, of Alexandria, besides doing a produce business of $200,000 annually, is a successful breeder of

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*It may be remarked that Mr. Simpson served in Company H, Twelfth Regiment United States Volunteers, in the Philippines. Other young men from the county who took part in the war there were Gray Davis, Frank Colvert, George Bratten, Lewis Smith, Robert Givan, and Herbert L. Hale.

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pure-bred hogs. The smaller farmers are touched with the spirit of progress also and contribute largely to the volume of business done by the six local banks. Under such conditions it is not to be wondered at that merchandising and other businesses succeed as never before.

The redemption of Pea Ridge strikingly illustrates the spirit of progress. Twenty-five years ago the wonder was if anything good could come out of this Nazareth. The years have replied. Pea Ridge is a long ridge extending from Clear Fork to Dry Creek eastward and to Short Mountain on the south, covering a territory from two to seven miles in width. It is level and ten or twelve miles in length. The land was covered with scrub oak, blackjack, and pine. For years the inhabitants made a scant living by selling rails, boards, hoop poles, baskets, charcoal, tar, whortleberries, chestnuts, and service berries. Here and there one made whisky. Tom Anderson, a Pea Ridge citizen of some humor, once observed that the people were "only a tribe of board makers." But after the timber showed indication of giving out the inhabitants began to till the soil in earnest. To their surprise, it proved quite productive. Orchards were planted, yielding abundantly. No finer vegetables can be grown anywhere. Large crops of corn meet the eyes of the traveler in season. It is really one of the best country sections in the county. The moral tone has been elevated also. There are schoolhouses, two churches, and a well-patronized general store kept by M. D. Herman.

The circulation of agricultural and other journals

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has increased a thousandfold since the war. With the telephone (it is in the homes of even small farmers), better roads, lighter vehicles, good churches and schools, and the rural service, the isolation which was once noticeable is now negligible. The split-oak chair, corded bedstead, and homemade clothing are rarely seen. The fiddle and dulcimer have been banished for the phonograph and piano. These material means influence the mental life, and both material and mental changes act and react on the spiritual life for the better. But it will be well if the swing toward the commercial side does not go too far, allowing manhood to decay while wealth accumulates.

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