In an attempt to undercut the protection of the rights of African Americans in the South, President Johnson removed General John Pope from command of the Reconstruction military district covering Georgia, Alabama and Florida, and General E.O. Ord from the District covering Arkansas and Mississippi. Johnson directed U.S. Grant, then commanding the United States Army, to issue General Order 104 effecting the change:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S OFFICE
By direction of the President of the United States, the following orders are made:
I. Brevet Major-General E. O. C. Ord will turn over the command of the Fourth Military District to Brevet Major-General A.C. Gillem, and proceed to San Francisco, Cal., to take command of the Department of California.
II. On being relieved by Brevet Major-General Ord, Brevet Major-General Irvin McDowell will proceed to Vicksburg, Miss., and relieve General Gillem in command of the Fourth Military District.
III. Brevet Major-General John Pope is hereby relieved of the command of the Third Military District, and will report without delay at the Headquarters of the Army for further orders, turning over his command to the next senior officer until the arrival of his successor.
IV. Major-General George G. Meade is assigned to the command of the Third Military District, and will assume it without delay. The Department of the East will be commanded by the senior officer now on duty in it until a commander is named by the President.
V. The officers assigned in the foregoing orders to command of military districts will exercise therein any and all powers conferred by acts of Congress upon district commanders, and also any and all powers pertaining to military-department commanders.
By command of General Grant:
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
On December 27, 1868 Pope had written to Grant that “The indications are now that the managers of the disloyal faction in the South will succeed in breaking down every general who performs his duty.”
Meade replaced Pope, allowing the state government to exclude blacks from service on juries and for the extension of white-control over the state government. [Find more on this at The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson by Michael Benedict p. 90]
On December 30, 1867 O.O. Howard, head of the Freedmen’s Bureau wrote in a letter that:
“The President…musters out all my officers…Measures are on foot…which are doubtless intended to utterly defeat reconstruction.” [The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson by Michael Benedict p. 90 Letter of Howard to Ketchum Dec. 30, 1867]
These removals helped to convince Congress that further disasters awaited if Johnson was not checked by impeachment.
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