Carpetbaggers And Scalawags Contested 1876 Election
President Rutherford B. Hayes
Courtesy of U.S. Historical Archive
For political drama, nothing matches the drama of the 1876 presidential race here between Ohio Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes and New York Gov. Samuel J. Tilden. The outcome featured two midnight rides, each more harrowing than that by the celebrated Paul Revere.
Florida after the Civil War was tightly controlled by appointed "reconstruction" Republicans -- many of them former slaves.
Manatee County included what is today's DeSoto, Charlotte, Sarasota and Lee counties. The county seat had been moved after the Civil War from the town of Manatee to the backwoods village of Pine Level, 10 miles west of Arcadia. Instigator was State Representative James Dopson Green.
Green was a prominent cattleman but a "scalawag," or a white, southern, Union sympathizer and reconstruction Republican -- in contrast to a northern "carpetbagger." He had married the daughter of Willoughby Whidden, a leader among cattlemen who objected to making the long trip through the wilderness to Manatee for official business.
Most Florida cattlemen were scalawags in spirit if not practice. Though opposing secession, they had depended upon the Confederacy to buy their beef.
In 1876, Green had become sheriff of Manatee County, but was under suspension awaiting trial for "illegally arresting Ziba King," another important cattleman.
The county clerk of courts, who was responsible for holding elections, was John Bartholf, a carpetbagger. He had been a Union officer at Fort Myers during the war and had stayed to become active in reconstruction politics.
Bartholf, disheartened by the decline of Republican power, and seriously ill, resigned his position in August. Upon the suggestion of Green, Republican Gov. Marcellus Stearns sat on the resignation for weeks. Finally the governor appointed Green's son, Andrew, to the clerk's post.
Andrew Green delayed obtaining a required performance bond, intending to wait until after the election so there would not be a clerk for Manatee County qualified to hold the upcoming election. It was widely believed that John Bartholf and Green had hatched the plan in order to avoid a Democrat landslide.
Democrats soon realized the Republicans were trying to prevent an election. County Judge Edgar M. Graham, with the support of other Democrat leaders, took it upon himself to organize an election.
Judge Graham confronted Clerk Andrew Green two weeks before the election and demanded the voter registration lists. Green refused, so Graham drew up some official-looking election documents and distributed printed ballots to his Democrat friends -- deputizing them as "election inspectors."
James Green, meanwhile, rode throughout the county urging Republicans not to participate in an illegal "rump election."
On November 7, Election Day, 289 Manatee County voters went to the polls. Tilden electors received 262 votes. Only 27 Republicans showed up to cast votes for Hayes electors, and one of these was disqualified.
Judge Graham gathered the tally sheets and took them for certification to John Bartholf. He refused on the basis he had resigned. Son Andrew was nowhere to be found. Graham had no recourse but to carry the ballots and his tally sheets to Manatee where they were dispatched to Tallahassee.
Republican election officials refused to accept the Democrat tally without a bona fide, signed certificate of election.
When presidential ballots nationwide were counted, Democrat Tilden had 4,284,000 popular votes to Republican Hayes's 4,036,000. The electoral count was Tilden 184, Hayes 163.
However, Republicans would not concede votes won by Tilden in Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon. Without them, Tilden was one electoral vote short.
Suddenly the rump election in Manatee County took on national significance. County Democrats were determined to validate the Tilden victory. They drew up an unsigned certificate and rushed it to Pine Level intending to force one of the Bartholf's to sign it.
The extraordinary effort to certify the Manatee County vote was related to a newspaper reporter years later by Col. Josiah Gates on whose shoulders fell the task:
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WILD MIDNIGHT RIDES
The story of how this county and state and the Democratic party were saved from corrupt carpetbag rule away back yonder in 1876, reads like a romance. The victory was won by a daring ride of 50 miles, on a dark night, over uncertain roads, something like the famous old Indian trails, across swollen streams and boggy branches -- overcoming difficulties that might have baffled a man of less daring and bravery than Col. Josiah Gates, of Manatee.
The final test lay in securing a certificate of election from the clerk of the court who lived at Pine Level, then the county seat. The (unsigned) election papers were brought (from Tallahassee) to Manatee, a mere hamlet then, by E.M. Graham and Dr. J.C. Pelot. They traveled by boat from Cedar Key, the nearest point touched by the railroad.
No one could be found who was willing to undertake the trip. The roads were known to be bad, and the Myakka river and other treacherous streams were to be crossed. Recent rains had filled the creeks and covered much of the country with water. Finally Josiah Gates was called from his field and the situation explained to him.
He consented to make the trip. He started out about 3 p.m., bearing the document of such value to the cause of democracy. It was a cold day in November. The clouds were hanging low. There was a drizzle of rain falling as he plunged into the almost wild woods on his pony.
On and on he moved through mud and slush, boggy ponds and swimming sloughs. Just as the new day began to dawn, he pulled rein in the county seat.
Said Graham: "I went to the home of an old southern soldier by the name of Morgan and told him my business. He pointed me to the clerk's home. "I was soon standing in the presence of J.F. Bartholf, clerk of the court, with my papers ready for his signature and seal. To my discomfiture and chagrin he informed me that he was no longer clerk, having tendered his resignation.
"I was not to be outdone. I struck out for Fort Ogden, 12 miles farther on, to confer with Hon. Ziba King. I knew King was one of the shrewdest men and best politicians in the county, so I laid the case before him. He saddled his horse and rode back with me to Pine Level.
"The papers were executed in some way satisfactory to all parties, regardless of the resignation of the clerk. By the time this was done, another day was almost gone.
"I was urged to spend the night, but I declined, telling them that the documents in my possession must be in Manatee by the rising sun. It was cold and disagreeable; but, buttoning up my coat, I mounted my pony for the return trip. Mr. King decided he would accompany me.
"All went well until we reached the Myakka River swamp which in some places is very wide and fearfully boggy in a wet time. "Mr. King suggested that we could save five or six miles by a near cut at the Boggy Ford. I told him to take the lead. We plunged into the swamp about dark. Through mud and slush we wandered all night. Many a time our horses returned to the spot we were seeking to get sway from.
"Just at daylight we found ourselves on the south side of the Upper Lake. We had spent the whole night in the boggy swamp and now we had to cross the river at that big lake or go many miles around.
"After daylight we got our bearings. In a little while we came to the lake, which was perhaps three-quarters of a mile wide. We plunged in and had to swim a good part of the way. At sunup we were on this side of the Myakka River, wet as rats and cold as frost, with over 20 miles still ahead of us.
"We rode into Manatee about three o'clock that afternoon. I delivered the papers and went to bed completely exhausted after 48 hours in the saddle without sleep and little to eat. "Mr. King accompanied the parties delivering the papers to Tallahassee to give further evidence if necessary"
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It was said that King persuaded Clerk Bartholf to sign the certificate of election with the help of a Winchester rifle. However, the certificate tells a different, but equally interesting, story.
The document dated November 13, 1876, "At Pine Level," was signed by "E.M. Graham, county judge; J. B. Mizell, county sheriff; and Z. King, justice of the peace." Once again it was a made-up substitute. Jesse Mizell was acting sheriff in place of the suspended Green, and none of the signers had legal authority to do so. Despite the heroic efforts, election officials at Tallahassee threw out the Manatee vote.
The three pivotal Southern states each submitted two sets of electoral votes to Congress -- the original one and subsequently a second set with enough Democrat votes disqualified to throw the election to Hayes. The Democrat governor of Oregon arbitrarily replaced one Republican elector with a Tilden supporter. Both sides hollered fraud.
The Constitution then did not specify whether the Republican Senate or the Democrat House counted electoral votes (now it is the House). Inasmuch as the outcome would depend upon which arm of Congress did the counting, a deadlock ensued. Therefore, Congress set up a 15-member Electoral Commission with an even number of Democrats and Republicans from Congress and the Supreme Court.
After three weeks of wrangling, Justice Joseph P. Bradley switched his vote from Tilden to Hayes. In return, Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from southern states, appropriate large sums for southern improvements, and appoint a southerner to the cabinet.
Shortly after the election, James Green was absolved of wrongful arrest and reinstated as sheriff. Bartholf was appointed postmaster at Charlotte Harbor Town and county school superintendent -- in the latter position building the first 20 public schools in the county.
The county seat was moved back to Manatee (now Bradenton). Pine Level was abandoned, except for the pioneer church still active.
By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers
