y burning the Female Academy. Three of the leaders were
afterwards lynched.

The general belief of the whites was that the ultimate object of the
order was to secure political power and thus bring about on a large
scale the confiscation of the property of Confederates, and meanwhile
to appropriate and destroy the property of their political opponents
wherever possible. Chicken houses, pigpens, vegetable gardens, and
orchards were visited by members returning from the midnight conclaves.
During the presidential campaign of 1868, the North Carolina League sent
out circular instructions to the blacks advising them to drill regularly
and to join the militia, for if Grant were not elected the Negroes would
go back to slavery; if he were elected, the Negroes were to have farms,
mules, and offices.

As soon as possible after the war the Negroes had supplied themselves
with guns and dogs as badges of freedom. They carried their guns to the
League meetings, often marching in military formation, went through the
drill there, marched home again along the roads, shouting, firing, and
indulging in boasts and threats against persons whom they disliked.
Later, military parades in the daytime were much favored. Several
hundred Negroes would march up and down the streets, abusing whites,
and shoving them off the sidewalk or out of the road. But on the whole,
there was very little actual violence, though the whites were much
alarmed at times. That outrages were comparatively few was due, not
to any sensible teachings of the leaders, but to the fundamental good
nature of the blacks, who were generally content with mere impudence.

The relations between the races, indeed, continued on the whole to
be friendly until 1867-68. For a while, in some localities before the
advent of the League, and in others where the Bureau was conducted by
native magistrates, the Negroes looked to their old masters for guidance
and advice; and the latter, for the good of both races, were most eager
to retain a moral control over the blacks. They arranged barbecues and
picnics for the Negroes, made speeches, gave good advice, and believed
that everything promised well. Sometimes the Negroes themselves arranged
the festival and invited prominent whites, for whom a separate table
attended by Negro waiters was reserved; and after dinner there followed
speeches by both whites and blacks.

With the organization of the League, the Negroes grew more reserved,
and f