Reconstruction military districts

Temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department in the American South

Following the end of the American Civil War, five Reconstruction Military Districts of the U.S. Army were established as temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department in the American South. The districts were stipulated by the Reconstruction Acts during the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War.^[1]

Creation of the military districts

In March 1867, Radical Republicans in Congress became frustrated with President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies, which, they believed, allowed too many former Confederate officials to hold public office in the South.^[2] Politically empowered Democratic Party politicians who were former Confederates would obstruct the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. For Republicans these rights, which would allow the prewar ideology of abolition to translate to real freedom, were critical.

In response, Congressional Republicans passed a multitude of bills furthering strict Reconstruction policies known as the Reconstruction Acts, the most important of which being "An Act to provide for the more efficient Government of the Rebel States".^[3] This act, passed on March 2, 1867, divided the former Confederate States (except for Tennessee, after it ratified the 14th Amendment)^[4] into five separate military districts.^[5] The Reconstruction Acts required that each former Confederate state hold a Constitutional Convention, adopt a new State Constitution, and ratify the 14th Amendment before rejoining the Union. The five districts and the states within them were:

First Military District (Virginia)
Second Military District (North Carolina, South Carolina)
Third Military District (Georgia, Alabama and Florida)
Fourth Military District (Arkansas and Mississippi)
Fifth Military District (Texas and Louisiana)

Each of these districts fell under the command of former Union Army general officers to supervise the replacement of undesirable former Confederate officials and use military force to guarantee the safety of liberated African Americans and maintain peace. However, it soon became apparent that the appointed army commanders could only act as peacekeepers until the president unveiled a proper Reconstruction policy.^[6]

References

^ Vergun, David. "150 years ago: Army takes on peacekeeping duties in post-Civil War South". U.S. Army. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
^ "First Military District". www.encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
^ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875 | Statutes at Large, 39th Congress, 2nd Session". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
^ "Mapping History : Reconstruction - Military Districts in the South: 1867". mappinghistory.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
^ "Landmark Legislation: The Reconstruction Act of 1867". United States Senate. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
^ Bradley, Mark (2015). The Army and Reconstruction 1865-1877. pp. 13–15.

American Civil War

Origins

Origins	Timeline leading to the War Bleeding Kansas Border states Compromise of 1850 John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Kansas-Nebraska Act Lincoln–Douglas debates Missouri Compromise Nullification crisis Origins of the American Civil War Panic of 1857 Popular sovereignty Secession South Carolina Declaration of Secession States' rights President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers
Slavery	African Americans Cornerstone Speech Crittenden Compromise Dred Scott v. Sandford Emancipation Proclamation Fire-Eaters Fugitive slave laws Plantations in the American South Positive good Slave Power Slavery in the United States Treatment of slaves in the United States Uncle Tom's Cabin
Abolitionism	Abolitionism in the United States Susan B. Anthony James G. Birney John Brown Frederick Douglass William Lloyd Garrison Lane Debates on Slavery Elijah Parish Lovejoy J. Sella Martin Lysander Spooner George Luther Stearns Thaddeus Stevens Charles Sumner Caning Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad

Combatants
Theaters
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States

Combatants

Union	Army Navy Marine Corps Revenue Cutter Service
Confederacy	Army Navy Marine Corps

Theaters

Major campaigns

Major battles

Involvement

States and
territories

Cities

Leaders

Confederate

Military	R. H. Anderson Beauregard Bragg Buchanan Cooper Early Ewell Forrest Gorgas Hill Hood Jackson A. S. Johnston J. E. Johnston Lee Longstreet Morgan Mosby Polk Price Semmes E. K. Smith Stuart Taylor Wheeler
Civilian	Benjamin Bocock Breckinridge Davis Hunter Mallory Memminger Seddon Stephens

Union

Military	Anderson Buell Burnside Butler Du Pont Farragut Foote Frémont Grant Halleck Hooker Hunt McClellan McDowell Meade Meigs Ord Pope D. D. Porter Rosecrans Scott Sheridan Sherman Thomas
Civilian	Adams Chase Ericsson Hamlin Lincoln Pinkerton Seward Stanton Stevens Wade Welles

Aftermath

Constitution

Reconstruction Amendments

Reconstruction

Post-
Reconstruction

Monuments
and memorials

Union	List Grand Army of the Republic memorials to Lincoln
Confederate	List artworks in Capitol memorials to Davis memorials to Lee Removal

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Related topics

Military	Arms Campaign Medal Cavalry Confederate Home Guard Confederate railroads Confederate revolving cannon Field artillery Medal of Honor recipients Medicine Naval battles Official Records Partisan rangers POW camps Rations Signal Corps Turning point Union corps badges U.S. Balloon Corps U.S. Home Guard U.S. Military Railroad
Political	Committee on the Conduct of the War Confederate States presidential election of 1861 Confiscation Act of 1861 Confiscation Act of 1862 Copperheads Emancipation Proclamation Habeas Corpus Act of 1863 Hampton Roads Conference National Union Party Politicians killed Radical Republicans Trent Affair Union Leagues U.S. Presidential Election of 1864 War Democrats
Music	Battle Hymn of the Republic Dixie John Brown's Body A Lincoln Portrait Marching Through Georgia Maryland, My Maryland When Johnny Comes Marching Home Daar kom die Alibama
Other topics	Baltimore riot of 1861 Battlefield preservation Bibliography Confederate war finance Confederate States dollar Espionage Confederate Secret Service Great Revival of 1863 Juneteenth Naming the war Native Americans Catawba Cherokee Choctaw Seminole New York City Gold Hoax of 1864 New York City riots of 1863 Photographers Richmond riots of 1863 Gender issues Supreme Court cases Tokens U.S. Sanitary Commission Women soldiers
Related	List of films and television shows about the American Civil War