In the summer of 1865 President Johnson sent Carl Schurz through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. His report to the Senate describes the loyalty oaths, the hostility toward Northern soldiers, and widespread violence against freedpeople, and argues that the South would not protect their rights unaided. Grant’s briefer report is included.
A key primary source for the beginnings of Reconstruction, still quoted by historians. Download the free EPUB.