y
of between twenty and thirty thousand had to be overcome. This could be
done only by the adoption and enforcement of questionable methods. It
was a case in which the end justified the means, and the means had to be
supplied.

The Republican vote consisted of about ninety-five per cent of the
colored men, and of about twenty-five per cent of the white men. The
other seventy-five per cent of the whites formerly constituted a part of
the flower of the Confederate Army. They were not only tried and
experienced soldiers, but they were fully armed and equipped for the
work before them. Some of the colored Republicans had been Union
soldiers, but they were neither organized nor armed. In such a contest,
therefore, they and their white allies were entirely at the mercy of
their political adversaries.

Governor Ames soon took in the situation. He saw that he could not
depend upon the white members of the State militia to obey his orders,
to support him in his efforts to uphold the majesty of the law, and to
protect the law-abiding citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and
property. To use the colored members of the militia for such a purpose
would be adding fuel to the flames. Nothing, therefore, remained for him
to do but to call on the National administration for military aid in
his efforts to crush out domestic violence and enforce the laws of the
State. He did call for such aid, but for reasons that will be given
later it was not granted.

When the polls closed on the day of the election, the Democrats, of
course, had carried the State by a large majority,--thus securing a
heavy majority in both branches of the Legislature. Of the six members
of Congress the writer was the only one of the regular Republican
candidates that pulled through, and that, by a greatly reduced majority.
In the Second (Holly Springs) District, G. Wiley Wells ran as an
Independent Republican against A.R. Howe, the sitting member, and the
regular Republican candidate for reelection. The Democrats supported
Wells, who was elected.

The delegation, therefore, consisted of four Democrats, one Republican,
and one Independent Republican. While the delegation would have
consisted of five straight Republicans and one Democrat had the election
been held in 1874, still, since the Democrats had such a large majority
in the House, the political complexion of the Mississippi delegation was
not important. The election of the writer, it was afterwards d