Harber’s History Lesson, Daily News Journal, January 17, 2015, Susan Harber
Reconstruction in Rutherford County was tedious, complicated, disfranchised and far-reaching with massive social and economic disaster.
The emotional distrust among neighbors was highly fueled by acrimonious unrest in a succession of political missteps. The town folk referred to this time as a “continuing reign of terror.” Today, we will discover some highlights from this tempestuous period of time.
Tents filled the Courthouse grounds during the occupation of Murfreesboro.
More than 64,000 Confederate soldiers and 59,000 Union soldiers died in Tennessee in an uncivil war. A majority of the 275,000 slaves in our state gained freedom during the war.
Amidst Reconstruction, Rutherford County was occupied by the Union Army and under martial law with a brigade composed of the 9 th Michigan and 3 rd Minnesota. Civil courts were inactive, and land transfers were unprocessed. Few Rutherford County courthouse records survived.
From 1861-1862, J.M. Dromgoole was a popular mayor. When he declined to take the oath of the allegiance to the Union, he was replaced by Mayor J.M. Tompkins, who served as mayor from 1863-1864.
Tompkins was not well liked in Murfreesboro, and his tenure was full of controversy and strife. Even though he pledged cooperation with the Union, both sons, Robert and Albert, were Confederates, who fought in the war. During the early years of Reconstruction (1865-1869), Mayors R.D. Reed, Charles Ready and E.L. Jordan followed a similar path of miserable conditions for government to function with any degree of success.
Large farms in our county had been carved into battlefields with only thorns remaining. Grand homes were torched with charred walls haunting the landscape.
Proprietor Thomas Hord of Elmwood suffered immensely with untold damage to his home and farm. His house suffered a cannon ball shot through a bedroom wall. Hord also supplied 5,000 bushels of corn to the Union Army with resultant despair after the war.
Fences were destroyed, cattle were missing, and miles of the Nashville to Chattanooga railroad tracks were gone. No rail system was in place until 1870.
Most families were impoverished, and Confederate money was bogus. Disabled men returned home unable to support their families with manual labor. Widowed mothers in the county cried out in agony for assistance, as they clung tight to orphaned children. Northern agents were in town promising families payment for stock that was only a swindle.
Scores of emancipated blacks were on the streets as homeless and penniless. Many slaves had been treated well on Rutherford County farms and bemoaned their present state after emancipation.
In 1860, Alfred Pierce had a flourishing farm and 20 slaves on his Riverside plantation at Walter Hill. After the war, some freed slaves returned to work his farm and were paid for labor and treated well. Yet, most of the black population struggled to survive.
Many relatives of slaves were scattered decades before the war commenced. In 1833, a prominent member of a Murfreesboro church sold a slave at public auction; and the slave was moved to Mississippi never to be heard from again. After the war, the family core of free blacks was broken with little hope of reconciliation.
During Reconstruction, leadership in government was a sham for our county, and strong resentments prevailed. Former Rebel leaders were not allowed to vote, while suffrage was freely given to white men, who had supported the Union.
Fortunately, blacks had rights to vote effective Feb. 25, 1867. City and county governments had been suspended in 1863 and 1864, and elected officials could resume office only after taking an oath to the United States. Ultimately, Tennessee fared better than most Southern states, as many citizens elected to take the oath of allegiance and allow Tennessee an early re-entry into the Union in 1866.
The Ku Klux Klan was a tragedy for any equanimity for Rutherford County. Several in this circle were former Confederate soldiers, who formed military-style drills. There was a strong membership with nearly 5,000 attending a Murfreesboro parade in defiance.
In 1868, the Klan threatened teachers for the Freedman’s Bureau and rendered great fear in the lives of all local citizens. There were burnings, and one black man was killed in a demonstration in Murfreesboro. The heated emotions from the war spilled over into murder and hatred that possessed our county for decades.
From 1870-1900, there were few educational and economic advances. Moreover, church attendance in Rutherford County declined for blacks and whites.
In 1869, there were 36 schools for black students and 75 for whites with a total of 3,600 pupils and 112 teachers. Instructors for the Freedmen and white schools received low pay and were poorly trained. Most of these schools were in one-room structures and met for a short term.
In 1865, Murfreesboro extended its city limits to three-fourths of a mile from the square. The town was divided into six wards with aldermen required to live in the confines they represented.
Incredibly, our courthouse remained solid. It had been built just prior to the Civil War and stood tall during Reconstruction as a beacon for goodwill to come. In 1874, two chandeliers were purchased for the courtroom and hall for $170. While the county endured pain and suffering, the courthouse refused to fall and succumb to the pressures of the hour. Reconstruction was continued devastation from the horror of the Civil War. One must wonder if all could have been handled in a more positive manner had President Lincoln lived to fulfill his dream of “freedom for all’ under his own direct guidelines for unity. Rutherford County made incremental advances with all moving slowly until the turn of the century. Lessons were learned from this illustrious chapter of great sorrow that we carry in our hearts and minds to this day.