?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(RECONSTRUCTION.) Letter recommending literate "colored men" to help run elections in Reconstruction Georgia. Autograph Letter Signed by William Gibson to Governor Rufus Bullock. 2 pages, 9½ x 7½ inches, on one sheet; mailing folds, minimal foxing. With typed transcript. Sandersville, GA, 18 October 1870
This letter describes efforts to establish fair elections during the brief window when Georgia was under Republican Reconstruction rule. Governor Bullock was obliged to leave office under threat of Ku Klux Klan violence the following year. This letter suggests seeking advice from Black state representatives Alexander Stone and the Rev. Romulus Moore, who had both served in the Reconstruction legislature in 1868, were illegally expelled, and were then reinstated in 1870.
"I send you herewith the names of three colored men [not listed], all of whom can read & write, as suitable men to hold the election in this Washington County. . . . [State Representatives] [Ephraim] Tweedy, [John A.] Madden, [Alexander] Stone, [J.M.] Tapley, & Romulus Moore I presume will aid you in making suitable appointments for their respective counties. . . . Why is Augusta of all the cities left in the hands of the Wright oligarchy? The abolishing of the registry fee & suitable election managers would secure the government of the city to the friends of law & order."
