and employees, he made provision for boards of arbitration.
In the absence of legislative sessions, it devolved upon him
to make regular appropriations for support of the state
institutions. ¹ So far as reconstructing the official person-
nel of the civil government was concerned, it may be said
that General Gillem removed a few more officers than his
predecessor, due chiefly to the pressure which Congress
brought to bear upon the district commanders. The mayor
of Jackson was removed for failure to enforce law and
maintain order, and an army officer was appointed to act
in his stead. The circuit and probate clerks of Madison
County were removed for using their positions for "political
purposes." Sheriffs, probate judges, district attorneys, and
justices of the peace were removed in several instances.
On account of these removals, and on account of a good
many resignations, the power of appointment was exercised
considerably more than by his predecessor. The total num-
ber of civil appointments made by General Gillem aggre-
gated about two hundred and thirty. ²

There were during Gillem's incumbency few complaints
from freedmen or white men, such as had occupied the time
of the courts, agencies of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the
"arbitrary boards" established by General Ord. Gillem
says there was not a single complaint from the sub-district
of Vicksburg, containing a large population of whites and
blacks. His theory was to interfere as little as possible with
the civil authorities, and to restrict the sphere of the mili-
tary power to its legitimate function, that of preserving the
peace. He reported at the end of the first year of his
administration that the courts of record almost without
exception had performed their duties impartially, although
some of the minor courts were not so fair. The civil author-
ities, he said, did what lay in their power to maintain order
and enforce the law. ³

-185-