Report on the Condition of the South | Page 2

two races, but systems are
gradually developing themselves under which the freedman will
receive the protection to which he is justly entitled, and, by means of
his labor, make himself a useful and independent member of the
community in which he has his home. From all the information in my
possession, and from that which I have recently derived from the most
reliable authority, I am induced to cherish the belief that sectional
animosity is surely and rapidly merging itself into a spirit of nationality,
and that representation, connected with a properly adjusted system of
taxation, will result in a harmonious restoration of the relations of the
States to the national Union.
The report of Carl Schurz is herewith transmitted, as requested by the
Senate. No reports from the honorable John Covode have been received
by the President. The attention of the Senate is invited to the
accompanying report of Lieutenant General Grant, who recently made
a tour of inspection through several of the States whose inhabitants
participated in the rebellion.
ANDREW JOHNSON
Washington, D.C., December 18, 1865.

REPORT OF CARL SCHURZ ON THE STATES OF SOUTH
CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND
LOUISIANA.
Sir: When you did me the honor of selecting me for a mission to the

States lately in rebellion, for the purpose of inquiring into the existing
condition of things, of laying before you whatever information of
importance I might gather, and of suggesting to you such measures as
my observations would lead me to believe advisable, I accepted the
trust with a profound sense of the responsibility connected with the
performance of the task. The views I entertained at the time, I had
communicated to you in frequent letters and conversations. I would not
have accepted the mission, had I not felt that whatever preconceived
opinions I might carry with me to the south, I should be ready to
abandon or modify, as my perception of facts and circumstances might
command their abandonment or modification. You informed me that
your "policy of reconstruction" was merely experimental, and that you
would change it if the experiment did not lead to satisfactory results.
To aid you in forming your conclusions upon this point I understood to
be the object of my mission, and this understanding was in perfect
accordance with the written instructions I received through the
Secretary of War.
These instructions confined my mission to the States of South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the department of the Gulf. I
informed you, before leaving the north, that I could not well devote
more than three months to the duties imposed upon me, and that space
of time proved sufficient for me to visit all the States above enumerated,
except Texas. I landed at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on July 15,
visited Beaufort, Charleston, Orangeburg, and Columbia, returned to
Charleston and Hilton Head; thence I went to Savannah, traversed the
State of Georgia, visiting Augusta, Atlanta, Macon, Milledgeville, and
Columbus; went through Alabama, by way of Opelika, Montgomery,
Selma, and Demopolis, and through Mississippi, by way of Meridian,
Jackson, and Vicksburg; then descended the Mississippi to New
Orleans, touching at Natchez; from New Orleans I visited Mobile,
Alabama, and the Teche country, in Louisiana, and then spent again
some days at Natchez and Vicksburg, on my way to the north. These
are the outlines of my journey.
Before laying the results of my observations before you, it is proper
that I should state the modus operandi by which I obtained information

and formed my conclusions. Wherever I went I sought interviews with
persons who might be presumed to represent the opinions, or to have
influence upon the conduct, of their neighbors; I had thus frequent
meetings with individuals belonging to the different classes of society
from the highest to the lowest; in the cities as well as on the roads and
steamboats I had many opportunities to converse not only with
inhabitants of the adjacent country, but with persons coming from
districts which I was not able to visit; and finally I compared the
impressions thus received with the experience of the military and civil
officers of the government stationed in that country, as well as of other
reliable Union men to whom a longer residence on the spot and a more
varied intercourse with the people had given better facilities of local
observation than my circumstances permitted me to enjoy. When
practicable I procured statements of their views and experience in
writing as well as copies of official or private reports they had received
from their subordinates or other persons. It was not expected of me that
I should take formal testimony, and, indeed, such an operation would
have required more time than I was able to devote to it.
My facilities for obtaining information were not equally