in whom the President reposed confidence. Each, indepen-
dently of the other, visited the important towns and cities of
the late Confederacy; had interviews with leading citizens,
soldiers, and Confederate generals, travelled over the principal
railroads, navigable rivers, and even in stage-coaches; called
upon post and district commanders of the United States army
and upon Freedmen's Bureau agents, and, when possible,
procured written statements of their views. As a result of
these investigations, the first commissioner, General U. S.
Grant, reported that there was such "universal acquiescence"
in the authority of the national government as to make the
mere presence of a military force, without regard to numbers,
sufficient to maintain order; that economy and the good of
the country required that white troops should be employed
in the interior of the country; that the presence of black
troops demoralized the labor system by encouraging the
freedmen to abandon the plantations and congregate about
the military camps; that the people of the Southern states
were anxious to renew their allegiance to the United States;
and that they were earnest in wishing to do what was re-
quired by the government, provided it was not humiliating
to them as citizens, and if such a course were pointed out to
them, they would pursue it in good faith. ¹

Another commissioner, Carl Schurz, spent several weeks
in the South, visiting, among other places in Mississippi,
Meridian, Jackson, Vicksburg, and Natchez. With regard
to Mississippi, he reported that the people had reorganized
their government and were yielding obedience to the laws
and Constitution of the United States with more willingness
and greater promptitude than could reasonably be expected
under the circumstances; that they evinced a laudable desire
to renew their allegiance to the government, and to repair
the devastation of war by a prompt and cheerful return to
peaceful pursuits; that the demoralizing effects of the war
had occasioned disorders in some cases, but they were gener-
ally local in character, and rapidly disappeared as the author-
ity of the civil law was extended and sustained. ²

Mr. Truman, the third commissioner, took a most rosy view
of the situation. He declared that he looked to the dis-
banded regiments of the Confederate army with great con-
fidence as the best and altogether most hopeful element of
the South -- the real basis of reconstruction and the material

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