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Though he’d cast aside his
aspirations within the central government, he was still in a position to
participate in state affairs. Upon his return from Kentucky, he was invited to
address the state house of representatives in Jackson. In an editorial written
in the pro-Democratic, secessionist newspaper Mississippian, the address exemplified a man of “despotic character”.
Alcorn advocated abolishing the Confederate Constitution (patterned on that
same U.S. Constitution, which, of course, the South and not the North honored),
muzzling the press, and establishing a dictatorship (I’m reasonably confident
those last words were penned by the editor of the paper and not spoken publicly
by Alcorn). Alcorn advocated the Whig tradition of a strong central government
capable of decisive action. But a strong central government was (and is) anathema
to state rights advocates.
Alcorn’s thoughts on crisis
management, frankly, mirrored the same tyrannical views of the Whig turned
Republican president in Washington, and talk about a double standard, Alcorn described
Jefferson Davis as a “corrupt tyrant who disgraces the head of government by
his low jealousies and constitutional timidity.” I take the term
“constitutional timidity” to imply a healthy respect for the constitution—in
this case the Confederate Constitution. One must consider that Alcorn admired Lincoln’s
lack of respect for the U.S. Constitution, but I do believe blatant disregard
for the document by the North was one of the South’s motivations for
secession.
By March of 1863, Alcorn was
expressing thorough disgust at the resistance (or lack thereof) to Yankee
gunboats moving through the Yazoo Pass and the plundering of his plantation
home by Union soldiers while Davis protected Richmond and allowed Yankees to
ravage the lower Mississippi Valley. In his defense, Davis did successfully
defend his capitol right up till near the end, and he managed to kill a lot of
Yankees doing so. I’ve heard it stated over the eons of my life that perhaps a
change in capitols on the part of the Confederacy would have been a smart move,
but that’s a thought for another post. The point is, war came early to
Mississippi and men such as Alcorn blamed the debacle on Davis’ misguided
priorities. No doubt Alcorn’s perspective would have been different had he been
part of the Confederate government, but I can’t see his thoughts on Davis being
any different if he’d been a bona fide Confederate general trying to cope with the situation in the
west.
Alcorn didn’t blame Jefferson Davis
for Mississippi’s secession—he wasn’t even at the secession convention—he was
in Washington representing the state in the U.S. Senate. Alcorn was at the secession convention, and he voted in favor. Alcorn
believed Mississippi had a right to secede and was justified in doing so,
though he did doubt the prudence of the act—correctly surmising that his
ex-Whig associates in Washington had no more respect for the Constitution than
he did and would opt for war.
What he blamed Davis for was the prosecution of the war—that and
protecting Richmond, while the west and the Mississippi River were lost. [Ah,
yes, defense might be the stronger position in battle, but it “ain’t no way” to
win a war. That’s just me talking].
In the fall of 1863, Mississippi
elected former Confederate general Charles Clark governor. General Clark had
been severely wounded at the Battle of Baton Rouge, taken prisoner, and later
released. Some might say his fighting days were over. Personally, I’d say he
never stopped fighting, God bless him. In the years leading up to the war,
Clark had represented Bolivar County in the state house on the Whig ticket, and
Alcorn had served with him on the state military board immediately following
secession.
In the same election that sent Whig-turned-Democrat
Clark to the gubernatorial office, Alcorn was elected to the legislature and
helped Mississippi resist the invasion. By this time, there were folks within
the state clamoring for a separate negotiated peace with the Union. Their
clamor was louder than their support apparently because Clark won with little
opposition. Despite his rapport with Governor Clark, Alcorn never lessened his
hostility for the Democratic-controlled Confederate government.
Another note about this election,
which kept in place leaders determined to “carry on” and sent Alcorn back to
the state house: It was held in the fall of 1863. Vicksburg had fallen and
Jackson had been burned twice (the second time, July 1863, to the ground). But
before all that, in the late winter of ’63, Grant’s forays into the hinterlands
of Mississippi north of Vicksburg had brought Union troops to Alcorn’s
plantation home, Mounds Place. But Alcorn’s involvement with Union officers predated
even that and was more extensive than tossing the gauntlet at Lew Wallace and inviting him to come on
down to Fort Beauregard and joust. [Again, see my 24 July 2014 post].
The plot thickens.
More in my next post and thanks for reading,
Charlsie
