In his book The Coming of the Glory (1949), author John S. Tillery relates that on July 14, 1868, a visitor walked into the office of Abram Joseph Walker, Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court.
Walker had served as Associate Chief Justice from 1856, when the Legislature of Alabama had elected him to that post, until 1859 when he became Chief Justice. His tenure as Chief Justice would end in 1868. The visitor, a New York carpetbagger named E.W. Peck, had a favor to ask. Would he (Walker), and two other Alabama Justices, peacefully vacate their places on the bench and make way for he (Peck) and two of his (carpetbag) associates?
Of course the reference to a “peaceful” transition was no less than a thinly veiled threat. Major General George Meade, Commander of the Military Occupation in the District of which Alabama was a part, had issued the following order just shortly before this event:
More @ The Abbeville Institute
No comments:
Post a Comment