Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1820s-1870s

CHAPTER 46: 1868

CHAPTER 46 1868 under military supervision, met in Atlanta, as previously noted, on December 9, 1867. Of the 169 delegates to the convention, 37 were Negroes, nine were white Carpetbaggers, and about 12 were conservative whites. The remainder, and majority, were native whites, known as Scalawags, because they went over to the reconstructionists.1 The delegates in general were obscure men with little experience in, or aptitude for, public affairs. The contempt in which they were held by the better element was recognized by the President of the Convention in his opening address when he said: "Many of us have come here from amongst a people who have spurned us and spit upon us. ... The bitter and proscriptive spirit manifested toward us by our neighbors . . . should not influence our action. . . . We should form a State Government for an unwilling people, based upon the soundest principles of justice. . . ,"2 Conspicuous among the Negroes striving for leadership in the convention were Aaron Alpeoria Bradley, of Savannah; Tunis G. Campbell, of Mclntosh County, and Henry M. Turner, of Macon. Bradley, a notably objectionable character, had served a prison sentence in New York State for seduction and had been stricken from the roll of attorneys in Massachusetts for malpractice and contempt of court. He was finally expelled from the Convention by unanimous vote for "malicious mouthing." Campbell, also with an unenviable record , had come to Georgia from New Jersey soon after the war and had set up a so-called republic on St. Catherine's Island off the Georgia coast, with himself at its head. He had likewise been the subject of a treedmen's Bureau investigation for inciting Negroes and disturbing the peace. Henry M. Turner, a better man by far than either Bradley or Campbell, had come South as chaplain of a Negro regiment in the Union Army and later engaged in missionary work for the African Methodist Church. During the period of radical reconstruction he saw a greater opportunity in politics, and after serving in the legislature of 1868 was appointed postmaster of Macon, Georgia, by President Grant. Still later he moved to Atlanta, resumed his religious work, and became a respected Bishop of the A. M. E. Church.3 The Carpetbaggers included men from Vermont, New York, Ohio, and other Northern States who had come South seeking their fortunes and had been in Georgia for only two or three years. Like the Negroes in the Convention they were largely controlled by the radical Republicans. Notable among this group was Asa Lyman Harris, known as "Colonel" Harris and as "Fatty" Harris, the latter title having been inspired by his weight which was well over 300 pounds. Harris was born in Ohio in 1833. He espoused the Union cause and, in 1864, located in Savannah, Georgia, where he had charge of all the mail for Sherman's army. He came to Atlanta soon afterward, and being a civil engineer by profession and a follower of Rufus B. Bullock, was made supervisor of the W. & A. R. R. after the latter became governor. Harris appeared as a member of the legislature in 1870, but was charged with merely representing the W. & A. R. R., and declared not entitled to a seat on the THE Constitutional Convention of 1868, called by military order and held 772 ATLANTA AND ITS ENVIRONS floor. Nevertheless, he was designated by Governor Bullock to organize the House, which he did after extreme difficulty. After the storm of reconstruction had passed Harris continued to live in Atlanta, where he engaged chiefly in editorial pursuits. Among the subjects of his editorial prowess were the Railroad Gazette, the Southern Industrial Record and, for a short time, the Post Appeal In 1892, when nearly 60, he entered the Southern Medical College of Atlanta as a student, and graduated with distinction in 1894. He practiced medicine for two years and died as Dr. Asa L. Harris at his home on Luckie Street near North Avenue, January 28, 1896. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery .4 While never one of Atlanta's most popular citizens, Asa L. Harris was certainly one of its most versatile. Unlike the constitutional conventions of some of the other Southern states, that of Georgia in 1867 and 1868 was not dominated by Negroes and Carpetbaggers . Its principal leaders, Rufus B. Bullock, Benjamin F. Conley, Amos T. Ackerman and Henry K. McCay, though not native Georgians, had resided here for periods of time ranging from eight to nearly forty years, and therefore had an interest...