Albion Tourgee, during his life, was
one of the most loved and most hated men.
He was a jurist, best-selling writer, an outspoken advocate for civil
rights, and United States ambassador; however, he is less known than contemporaries
such as Frederick Douglas and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Tourgee is worthy of study; yet, unlike
Douglas or Stowe, he appears nowhere in the history curriculum of Texas, his home
state of Ohio, or the state of North Carolina, where he served as a major
political force.[1] One might ask why a person of Tourgee’s
stature is not a part of the history curriculum of these states. The answer is that unlike the historic contemporaries
mentioned earlier, Tourgee had the misfortune to be presented with the
contemptuous label of carpetbagger. Carpetbagger is a word familiar to most
people. It is a word that is mostly
associated with the South. However, no
matter what area you are in, it has a negative connotation.
Tourgee was born in 1838, the son of
Valentine and Louisa Emma Winger Tourgee, in northeastern Ohio. He had a
relatively normal childhood where he displayed an enthusiasm for life and the
written word.[2]
A vigorous youth, he found himself on the short end of various adventures. The one that had the most lasting impact
occurred when he was fourteen. A mishap
with a percussion cap left Tourgee permanently blind in his right eye.[3] He managed to hide this
handicap from the Army years later.
Tourgee was a popular student at the Kingsville Ohio Academy where he
met Emma Kilbourne, whom he would eventually marry. In 1859, Tourgee completed his education at
Kingsville and entered the University of Rochester as a sophomore. During his
time at Rochester, Tourgee began to take an interest in politics and joined a
Republican political organization.[4] At the onset of war, Tourgee enlisted in the Union
army. Then during the first battle of Bull Run, Tourgee was struck by a gun
carriage which caused a spinal injury. After
the injury, Tourgee was discharged from the military because it was believed that
he would not walk again.[5] Tourgee returned to Ohio where he continued
his studies, and that spring began seeing a back specialist. By June of 1862, he could walk.[6] Shortly after that, Tourgee received his
degree from Rochester. He then joined
the 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was appointed Lieutenant. At
the battle of Perryville, he was again wounded. Then the following January he
was captured while leading a patrol. After four months in a POW camp, he was
part of a prisoner exchange.[7] Tourgee would later say of this period, “[He
had] but two enjoyments: cursing the confederacy and smoking.”[8] After his release, Tourgee returned to Ohio
where he and Emma wed on May 14, 1863. Two
weeks later Tourgee rejoined the 105th where he proved himself a
“brave and efficient officer”. But his
injuries began affecting his military performance until on December 6, 1863,
Tourgee resigned his commission “for the good of the service”.[9]
During Tourgee’s military service, he
became acutely aware of the plight of slaves in the south and did what he could
to assist them.[10] After Tourgee’s discharge, he returned to
Ohio and established a law practice where he made an effort to assist escaped
slaves as they entered Ohio.[11] Tourgee soon became dissatisfied as an
attorney. He then tried his hand at many jobs, but none held his interest. The war had taken its toll on his body, especially
his back injury. His doctor suggested a
milder climate might be advisable.
Tourgee then sent a letter to the governor of North Carolina inquiring
about the opportunities available. By
June of 1865, Tourgee received a letter from Governor Holden stating, “That
every favor [would] be shown to them.” Tourgee
was delighted. He gathered Emma and
their belongings and traveled to North Carolina where they settled outside of
Greensboro.[12]
Tourgee and two associates formed A. W.
Tourgee and Company with the purpose of practicing law and managing an orchard.[13] Through Tourgee’s business dealings, many
contacts were made among both the southern unionist and African American
communities, both of which would later be sources of political allies.[14] By 1866, Tourgee found himself involved in
politics. He also found the treatment of
freedmen unacceptable and often represented former slaves in disputes. Tourgee’s partners did not share his
convictions, and this led to the end of the partnership. This did not stop Tourgee’s working for the
rights of African Americans as well as poor whites that had generally opposed
secession.[15] These feelings put Tourgee at odds with Jonathan
Worth who summed up the issue as such, “We who were born here will never get
along with the free Negros, especially while the tools and demagogues of the
north insist they must be our equals.
This will not be tolerated.”[16] Tourgee’s belief in equality for African
Americans was enough to alienate him.
The
election of Worth as Governor and other prominent ex-confederates whom Tourgee
considered traitors left Tourgee angry.[17] Even the former Governor Holden, who had
welcomed Tourgee to North Carolina, failed to get Tourgee’s endorsement for his
Union Party because although Holden was against secession prior to the war, he
“acquiesced to Confederate authority”. This
was enough for Tourgee to consider Holden and those like him Confederates, and this
caused a rift in the coalition that opposed the conservatives.[18]
By the time the 1866 constitutional
convention was over, Tourgee was counted among North Carolina’s political leaders.[19] By 1867, unionists from North Carolina had created
a government that gave former slaves the right to vote. Before North Carolina could be readmitted,
Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867.
This law took the ten former Confederate states that had not been
readmitted to the Union and created five military districts. Each district was governed by a general whose
duty it was to oversee the creation of new state constitutions and assure that
African Americans had the opportunity to participate in government. Once this was accomplished all that would
stand in the way of a state reentering the Union would be to ratify the Fourteenth
Amendment.[20]
In North Carolina, the Constitutional
Convention was set to start on January 14, 1868. There were 120 delegates. Tourgee was the youngest delegate, yet a
prominent participant. He was elected
Assistant Secretary Pro-tem. He was also
a member of several important committees and chaired the committee that wrote the
article for local government.[21] After the convention, he returned home very
satisfied.[22] Not long after his return, Governor Holden
recommended Tourgee for a vacant state Superior Court Judgeship, which General
Canby, the military Governor of North Carolina, rejected.
Tourgee then tried to obtain the
Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives but again
he was rejected.[23] Tourgee then unexpectedly found himself
appointed one of the three commissioners to prepare the new legal codes for the
state.[24] Then he was asked to accept the Republican
nomination for the Superior Court Judge of the Seventh Judicial District, the
position denied him by Canby. Tourgee
returned to Greensboro buoyed by the judicial nomination. Tourgee now had a bright outlook; he wrote to
a former military acquaintance, “I think we shall have a human country here
sometime…” [25] When the returns of the April 21-23, 1868
election came back, the Republican majority was smaller than the 1867
election. Tourgee did win his seat, as
did Holden, who defeated Worth for the governorship and the constitution also
carried.[26]
By 1870, the Republicans lost control of
the North Carolina legislature yet did retain control of the governor’s mansion
and the judiciary.[27] As the 1870s began, the rest of the country
began to take less of an interest in the south.
The Republican governments’ setup just a couple years prior began to
come under siege from conservatives across the south.
In North Carolina, the new legal codes
were soon implemented and though they received early criticism from both sides,
by 1870 they had been widely accepted. The
well-known conservative lawyer, Samuel Phillips said, “All the lawyers in old
North Carolina would never have framed as good a code in a century.”[28] By 1870, the commission’s work was drawing to
an end and by 1873, the commission was abolished.[29]
After the completion of his first circuit,
Tourgee’s major concern was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). In May of 1870, Tourgee wrote a letter to his
friend General Joseph Abbott, describing the death of their mutual friend, John
Stephens, a state senator. The original
purpose of the letter was simply to inform Abbott of the death of a mutual
friend. However, Tourgee began
describing the acts of the KKK and vented his frustration at not being able to
end the problems caused by them. The
Klan furnished alibis for its members, intimidated or killed hostile witnesses,
and impeded investigations.[30]
Lack
of proof was not the impediment to the Klan; it was to the judiciary. However, Tourgee’s letter to Joseph Abbott
did make an impression on him and his colleagues. Senator John Pool shared the letter with
other members of Congress and soon after of the murder of Senator Stephens the
first federal law outlawing the KKK was passed.
This did not aid North Carolina in the prosecution of offenses already
perpetrated by the Klan. However, it did
allow federal troops to be employed in order to combat the Klan.[31] Governor Holden was pressured to put an end
to Klan activity. So Holden called on
the mountaineers that fought in the Union Army under Colonel George Kirk and
the Third North Carolina United States volunteers. They quickly rounded up leaders of the Klan
and held them without formal charges or a trial. The Klan members, over Tourgee’s objections,
were able to get a writ of habeas corpus and Holden was forced to free them.
Then on August 6, 1870, the conservatives carried the state.[32]
Once the conservatives gained control of
the legislature, the activities of the KKK declined.[33] However, the Klan did not stop being a thorn
in Tourgee’s side. Josiah Turner, a
member of the Guilford County Bar and reputedly the king of the KKK, petitioned
Tourgee for a bench warrant for assault and false imprisonment during the
incident with Colonel Kirk. Tourgee failed to issue the warrant.
With all the turmoil and loss Tourgee
endured in 1870; it ended on a high note.
On November 19, 1870, Emma gave birth to a daughter Lodolska Tourgee,
Lodie for short.[34] The birth of Lodie seemed to energize Tourgee. By the end of January of 1871, he entered
into a new business venture. He and H.
W. Snow established the Greensboro Spoke and Handle factory. By the fall of
1872, the company merged with a competitor, which became the North Carolina
Handle Company. The company was very
successful, but the depression of 1873 proved to be too much to overcome, and
Tourgee lost most of his money and property.[35] That same year Tourgee began experiencing
discomfort that began in his blind eye but soon spread to his good eye as well. Tourgee sought the medical opinion of an eye
specialist who recommended that the blind eye be replaced with a
prosthetic. The procedure proved
beneficial to his good eye. He did not
let this setback stop him.
Throughout his life, Tourgee had dabbled
with writing. His big literary break
came in 1873 with his first novel, Toinette. In Toinette,
Tourgee tells the story of a North Carolina planter that falls in love with a
slave named Toinette. She is “cleaned
up” and instructed in the ways of society.
Then with the help of friends in Ohio, she is installed into society,
where she refuses the planters proposal until he accepts her as his equal.[36] Tourgee published the book under a nom de plume;
however it is not long before it is widely known that Tourgee is the author.[37] Tourgee’s rivals took advantage of Tourgee’s
authorship of the scandalous novel by running a story in the Charlotte Observer that stated, “The
real purpose of Tourgee was to popularize intermarriage between the races in
North Carolina.”[38] Sales of Toinette
were not to rival the success of Tourgee’s later novels, but it did garner some
promising reviews. Thanks in part to the scandal caused by Toinette, 1874 saw the end of Tourgee’s
political career in North Carolina. He once again failed to secure the
Republican nomination for Congress and his term as judge was ending without
hope of re-election. He was left without
a political office for the first time in six years.[39] This left Tourgee in a dire financial
situation. Tourgee joined the Lyceum
lecture circuit, speaking on southern humor and interpretations of modern
civilization. In the spring of 1876,
Tourgee secured employment as a federal pension agent. The position required the Tourgee family to
relocate to Raleigh. Tourgee still diligently
campaigned for a Republican victory and defended Republican directives.[40]
In 1878, Tourgee lost his position as a
pension agent. That year he also published his digest of cited cases. In 1879, Tourgee then took a job as an editor
of the evening edition of the Denver Times.
However, he was soon on his way to New York because his second novel, Figs and Thistle, had begun to sell
quite well. Earlier that year, Tourgee
wrote his crowning literary achievement, A
Fool’s Errand. Though the novel was
loosely based on Tourgee’s life, he published it anonymously. This caused quite a stir among the countries
newspapers trying to discern the identity of the author. One critic from Chicago felt the book was so
comparable to Uncle Tom’s Cabin that he felt Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote it. Although Tourgee’s friends and relatives were
quick to recognize Tourgee as the author.
A Fool’s Errand became a best-seller, as did his next novel Bricks Without Straw. Tourgee’s books brought him fame. The money
and notoriety allowed Tourgee to gain some influence in national politics.
Which he used to campaign for improved education in the South.[41] Though, no longer of the south, Tourgee continued
working for the betterment of his former home.
Tourgee also never stopped working for the rights of African
Americans. Unfortunately, Tourgee met with
a “financial low ebb”. In 1884, he had
to mortgage the revenue from his new book, An
Appeal to Caesar, but as always Tourgee persevered.[42]
In 1891, Tourgee was a founding member of
the National Citizen’s Rights Association (NCRA). The group’s purpose was to publicize the
facts of oppression and attack segregation.
Many notable people joined Tourgee’s organization such as Ida Wells and
Charlotte and Francis Grimke.[43] Less than a year after its formation it had over
10,000 members in 42 states. Tourgee was
then acted as an attorney in a case to test the constitutionality of the
Louisiana separate but equal law.[44] On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy bought a train
ticket in New Orleans and took a seat in the white’s only car. This, however, was against Louisiana’s
segregation law, because Plessey was one-eighth African American. Plessey was arrested and charged with a
violation of Louisiana law. Tourgee
entered a plea before Judge John H. Ferguson arguing that the law was null
because it went against the fourteenth amendment. Ferguson ruled against him. The verdict was
appealed and ultimately heard by the United States Supreme Court (1892). In each instance, Tourgee was defeated but
the publicity did much to reveal the conditions in the south. Tourgee never
stopped fighting for black civil rights.
In 1897, Tourgee was named Consul to Bordeaux where he worked until his
death on May 21, 1905.[45]
Throughout Tourgee’s life, he worked to
better America. He had wanted to make the
United States a better place for all.
Tourgee did as much or more than other great Americans that are studied
yet because he was afflicted with the terrible condition of being a
carpetbagger he is largely unknown. If
Tourgee would have gone west, say to Idaho, and made the same contribution that
he did in North Carolina he very likely would be considered a hero. Because he chose to go to the south after the
Civil War, he is largely forgotten. Eric
Foner said in reference to why carpetbaggers were so vilified, “like a great
many things the reason is politics.”[46] However, we now can rectify the injustice
done to Albion Tourgee’s memory, by correcting the oversight that has excluded
Tourgee from the history curriculums across the United States.
[1] “Chapter 113. Texas Essential
Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies Subchapter C. High School”, Texas
Education Agency, August 23, 2010, http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/ch113c.html;
; “Ohio’s New Learning Standards: K-12
Social Studies”, Ohio Department of
Education, October 2013, http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohio-s-New-Learning-Standards/Social-Studies/High-School_American-History_Model_Curriculum_Aug2014.pdf.aspx;
“United States History Curriculum Document”, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2007, http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/curriculum/socialstudies/secondary/ushistorysupportdoc2007.pdf
[2] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 3.
[3] Ibid, 4.
[4] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 7-13.
[5] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), ix.
[6] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 17.
[7] Ibid, 20.
[8] Ibid, 20.
[9] Ibid, 20-23.
[10] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 24.
[11] George M. Fredrickson,
introduction to A Fool’s Errand: A Novel
of the South During Reconstruction by Albion
W. Tourgee (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press Inc,
1991), ix.
[12] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 27-28.
[13] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 51.
[14] Ibid, 28.
[15] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 33.
[16] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 34.
[17] Ibid, 41.
[18] Ibid, 48.
[19] Ibid, 48.
[20] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 66.
[21] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 94.
[22] Ibid, 115.
[23] Ibid, 124.
[24] Ibid, 130.
[25] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers, (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 107.
[26] Ibid, 107.
[27] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 139.
[28] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 132.
[29] Ibid, 139.
[30] Ibid, 146-147.
[31] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 205.
[32] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 206.
[33] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 167.
[34] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 209-210.
[35] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 177.
[36] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 213-217.
[37] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 284.
[38] Ibid, 284.
[39] Ibid, 285.
[40] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 207-208.
[41] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 379.
[42] “Judge Tourgee’s Troubles,” New York Times (New York, NY), November
26, 1884,
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-
free/pdf?res=9507E2D6113EEF33A25755C2A9679D94659FD7CF.
[43] Otto H. Olsen, Carpetbagger’s Crusade: The Life of Albion Winegar Tourgee
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965), 312-313.
[44] “Albion Winegar Tourgee: Radical Republican and Civil Rights
Advocate,” North Carolina State
University,
accessed October 1, 2012,
http://history.ncsu.edu/projects/cwnc/archive/files/e86c8255fdf8480a6819fdc569c7e099.pdf.
[45] Richard Nelson Current, Those Terrible Carpetbaggers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 403.
[46] Eric Foner, “Reconstruction
Revisited,” Reviews in American History
10 (December 1982): 82.
Bibliography
“Albion Winegar Tourgee: Radical Republican and Civil Rights Advocate.” North Carolina
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“Chapter 113. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies Subchapter C. High
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