This Week in Reconstruction, January 1-8, 1870

This Week in Reconstruction, January 1-8, 1870

The first week of the New Year in 1870 was a big one for African Americans testing out their still relatively new rights. They gathered in large numbers and marched on the governor's mansion and he received them warmly. The "negroes" marched because the resolutions relating to Virginia's admission into the Union were in discussion in the Capitol. The new black voters wanted confirmation that Governor Walker supported and cared about them. The speech he gave was indicative of his pro-rights sentiment, calling them "fellow-citizens" because he saw them as his equals in the eyes of the law and politics. As black men charged with crimes resisted arrest and argued with constables, crowds would often gather to support those charged. White Richmonders expressed great resentment towards the North for the war and the resulting Reconstruction. The South regretted how they carried out the war, because they believe that at one point they could have taken over the North. They regret that they had no officers well trained in the art of war and that they had resigned themselves to fighting a defensive war. Reconstruction is still seen as a scheme to ruin the South even more by forcing them under the rule of the northerners and Congress.

January 1-8, 1870

Charles Simmonds

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