James L. Alcorn: Difference between revisions

James L. Alcorn
James L. Alcorn
United States senator; from Mississippi
	In office; December 1, 1871 – March 3, 1877
Preceded by	Hiram R. Revels
Succeeded by	Lucius Q. C. Lamar
28th Governor of Mississippi
	In office; March 10, 1870 – November 30, 1871
Lieutenant	Ridgley C. Powers
Preceded by	Adelbert Ames
Succeeded by	Ridgley C. Powers
Member of the Mississippi Senate
	In office; 1848–1854
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
	In office; 1846, 1856–1857
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
	In office; 1843
Personal details
Born	James Lusk Alcorn; November 4, 1816; Golconda, Illinois Territory
Died	December 19, 1894 (aged 78); Friars Point, Mississippi, US
Political party	Whig, Republican
Alma mater	Cumberland College
Profession	Politician, lawyer
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States
Branch	Mississippi Militia
Years of service	1861–1862
Rank	Brigadier-General
Wars	American Civil War

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James Lusk Alcorn (November 4, 1816 – December 19, 1894) was a governor, and U.S. senator during the Reconstruction era in Mississippi. A Moderate Republican and Whiggish "scalawag",^[1] he engaged in a bitter rivalry with Radical Republican Adelbert Ames, who defeated him in the 1873 gubernatorial race. Alcorn was the first elected Republican governor of Mississippi.^[1]

Although a Unionist,^[2] Alcorn briefly served as a Confederate brigadier-general of the Mississippi Militia. Among former Confederates who joined the postbellum Republican Party, only James Longstreet had been of higher rank than Alcorn.

Early life and career

Alcorn was born near Golconda, Illinois Territory^[3] to James Alcorn and Hanna Lusk, a Scots-Irish family. He attended Cumberland College in Princeton, Kentucky,^[3] and from 1839 to 1844 served as deputy sheriff of Livingston County, Kentucky. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1838 and for six years practicing law in Salem, Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1843 before moving to Mississippi the following year.

Alcorn set up a law office in Coahoma County, Mississippi.^[4] As his law practice flourished and his property holdings in the Mississippi Delta increased, he became a wealthy man. In 1850, he built a three-story house at his Mound Place Plantation in Coahoma County, where he resided with his family. By 1860, he enslaved nearly one hundred people and held lands valued at a quarter of a million dollars. Alcorn served in the Mississippi House of Representatives and Mississippi Senate during the 1840s and 1850s being one of the leaders of the then Whigs in the state.

He founded the levee system and was chosen president of the levee board.^[3] In the Mississippi legislature, Alcorn pushed for the construction of levees to protect Delta counties from flooding. A levee district was established in 1858 through his efforts.^[5] He ran for Congress in 1856 but was defeated. In 1857, Alcorn was nominated for governor by the Whigs but declined.^[3]

Alcorn was a delegate to the special Mississippi convention of 1851 called by Democratic governor John A. Quitman, who, as an opponent of Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850 advocated secession.^[6] Alcorn joined the Mississippi Unionists to thwart Quitman's plans. Like many other Whig planters, Alcorn opposed secession, pleading with the secessionists to reflect on the realities of the national balance of power. He foretold a horrific picture of a beaten Southern United States, "when the northern soldier would tread her cotton fields, when the slave should be made free and the proud Southerner stricken to the dust in his presence."^[7] However, in January 1861, at the Mississippi state convention, he joined the secessionists and was elected to the Committee of Fifteen to prepare the Ordinance of Secession.^[8]

American Civil War

When secession was declared, Alcorn, although born in what became in 1818 the free, pro-U.S. state of Illinois, joined the Confederate States of America and was appointed by the Mississippi secession convention as a militia brigadier-general. However, when his brigade entered the Confederate States Army, Jefferson Davis refused to commission him on account of political differences.^[3] Alcorn, during the war, was in uniform for about eighteen months of inconspicuous field service, mainly in raising troops and in garrison duty. After the resignation of several major generals of the Mississippi State Troops, including Davis, Earl Van Dorn, and Charles Clark, Alcorn became eligible for promotion in rank but was passed over because his political foe, John J. Pettus, was the governor of Mississippi at the time.

At the start of the Civil War, Alcorn was ordered to proceed with his troops to central Kentucky; then, he was stationed at Fort Donelson, Tennessee. In October 1861, Alcorn raised three regiments of militia troops, designated as the Army of 10,000, committed to sixty days of service in Mississippi and led his brigade to Camp Beauregard, Kentucky, at which he served under General Leonidas Polk. His field service ended after his brigade was disbanded in January 1862. Alcorn was taken prisoner in Arkansas in 1862, was paroled later in the year, and returned to his Mound Place Plantation in Mississippi. In 1863, he was elected to the Mississippi state legislature, where he joined critics of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.^[9]

During the war, Alcorn spent a fortune raising and supplying troops. Additionally, in 1863 his plantation was raided by General Leonard Ross' troops during the Yazoo Pass Expedition, part of the Vicksburg Campaign.^[10]^[11] However, he managed to preserve part of his wealth during the war by trading cotton with the North.^[12] In November 1863, Alcorn wrote to his wife: "I have been very busy hiding & selling my cotton. I have sold in all one hundred & eleven bales, I have now here ten thousand dollars in paper (Green backs) and one thousand dollars in gold."^[13] After the war, he was estimated to be among the fifty wealthiest men in the South.^{[citation needed]}

Alcorn lost two sons. His older son, James Lusk Alcorn Jr., committed suicide in 1879 after returning home from the war partially deaf and a drunkard. An inscription on the monument at the family cemetery attributes James' death to the "insane war of rebellion" (apparently his father's words). Seventeen-year-old Henry "Hal" Alcorn ran away during the war to join the military against his father's wishes, became ill, and was left behind and captured. He was held in Camp Chase and made his way to Richmond, Virginia after the surrender. He died of typhoid fever en route to Mississippi.^{[citation needed]}

Postbellum career

Alcorn's grave in Coahoma County, Mississippi

Alcorn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865. However, he was prohibited from being seated in Congress, like all those disqualified from office for insurrection or rebellion against the United States for their participation in the Confederacy.^[3] He supported suffrage for freedmen and endorsed the Fourteenth Amendment. Alcorn became the leader of the scalawags, who comprised about a fourth of the Republican officials in the state, in coalition with carpetbaggers, African-Americans who had been free before the outbreak of the Civil War, and freedmen. Mississippi had a majority of African-Americans, the overwhelming majority of whom were freedmen. They had no desire to vote for the Democratic Party, which had carried the 1868 elections by intimidation and violence against blacks.

Thus the vast majority of votes for Republican candidates came from African-Americans, even though most of the Republican state officeholders in Mississippi were whites. In the 1869 election, James Alcorn was elected governor of Mississippi, defeating Ulysses S. Grant's brother-in-law Lewis Dent.^[14] Alcorn served as governor until 1871.^[3] As a modernizer, he appointed many like-minded former Whigs, some since Democrats. He strongly supported public schools for all and a new college exclusively for blacks, now known as Alcorn State University. He maneuvered to make his ally, Hiram Revels, the institution's president. Irritated at his patronage policy, many Republicans opposed Alcorn. They were concerned as well over his understanding of African-American interests. His hostility to a state civil rights bill was well known; so was his unwillingness to appoint local black officers where a white alternative could be found. One complained that Alcorn's policy was to see "the old civilization of the South modernized" rather than lead a total political, social, and economic revolution.^[15]

Alcorn resigned from the governorship to become a U.S. senator, with service from 1871 to 1877, when he was succeeded by L. Q. C. Lamar.^[3] He succeeded his ally, Hiram Revels, the first African American senator. Senator Alcorn urged the removal of the political disabilities of white southerners and rejected Republican proposals to end segregation in hotels, restaurants, and railroad cars by federal legislation;^[16] he denounced the federal cotton tax as robbery,^[17] and defended separate schools for both races in Mississippi. Although a former enslaver, he characterized slavery as "a cancer upon the body of the nation" and expressed the gratification he and many other Southerners felt over its destruction.^[18]

New South politics

Alcorn's estrangement from Senator Adelbert Ames, his northern-born colleague, deepened in 1871, as African-Americans became convinced that the former governor was not taking the problem of white terrorism seriously enough. Alcorn resisted federal action to suppress the Ku Klux Klan, instead contending that state authorities were sufficient to handle the task. By 1873, the quarrel had deepened into an intense animosity. Both men ran for governor. Ames was supported by the Radicals and most African Americans, while Alcorn won the votes of most of the scalawags, moderately Whiggish whites. Ames won by a vote of 69,870 to 50,490. Alcorn withdrew from active politics in the state and accused the new governor of being incapable and an enemy of the people. When a second African-American senator, Blanche Bruce, was elected in 1874, Alcorn refused to follow the customary procedure of introducing his new colleague to the Senate.^[19] Bruce was instead welcomed by New York senator Roscoe Conkling, the leader of the congressional "Stalwart" wing.

In 1875, when Reconstruction was fighting for its life against a campaign of violence from the Democrats, Alcorn emerged and led a white force against black Republicans at Friar's Point. The aftermath led to at least five black people being killed.

During the Reconstruction period, Alcorn was an advocate of modernizing the South. Although a believer in white supremacy, he supported civil and political rights for African-Americans. In a letter to his wife (Amelia Alcorn, née Glover, of Rosemount Plantation in southern Alabama), he states that white Southerners must make African Americans their friend or the path ahead will be "red with blood and damp with tears."^[20]^[21] Alcorn founded the Mississippi levee system and was instrumental in rebuilding the structures after the Civil War.

After he retired from politics, he was active in levee affairs. He was a delegate to the Mississippian constitutional convention of 1890,^[3] in which he supported the black disenfranchisement clause that the state's Democrats had introduced in the new constitution. He was twice married: in 1839 to Mary C. Stewart of Kentucky, who died in 1849; and in 1850 to Amelia Walton Glover of Alabama. In his later life, Alcorn practiced law in Friars Point, Mississippi, and lived quietly at his home, Eagle's Nest, in Coahoma County. He was interred upon his death in 1894 in the family cemetery.^[3]^[22] Alcorn commissioned a statue of himself, and after his death, it was placed on his grave.

Honors

Alcorn County, Mississippi is named in his honor, as is the historically black Alcorn State University, the first black land-grant university.

References

^ ^a ^b Sansing, David G. (July 10, 2017). James Lusk Alcorn. Mississippi Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
^ James Lusk Alcorn. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Johnson 1906, p. 67
^ Pereyra, Lillian A. James Lusk Alcorn, Persistent Whig, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966, p. 19.
^ Mississippi Levee Board: History
^ Clay Williams. The Road to War (1846–1860) Archived November 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society.
^ James L. Roark. Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction, 1977, New York City: W. W. Norton, 1977, p. 3.
^ Proceedings of the Mississippi State Convention, Held January 7th to 26th, A. D. 1861. Including the Ordinances, as Finally Adopted, Important Speeches, and a List of Members, Showing the Postoffice, Profession, Nativity, Politics, Age, Religious Preference, and Social Relations of Each, by J. L. Power, convention reporter. Mississippi, 1861.
^ Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray, A Companion Volume to Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge: University of Louisiana Press, 1995, p. 17.
^ Miller, Mary Carol (2010). Lost Mansions of Mississippi: Volume II. University Press of Mississippi. p. 116. ISBN 9781604737875.
^ Dumas, David (2012). Yazoo Pass Expedition, a Driving Tour Guide. AuthorHouse. p. 22. ISBN 9781477275351.
^ Woodman, Harold D. King Cotton & His Retainers: Financing & Marketing the Cotton Crop of the South, 1800–1925. Lexington, University of Kentucky Press, 1968, p. 219.
^ Robinson, Armstead L. Bitter Fruits of Bondage: The Demise of Slavery and the Collapse of the Confederacy, 1861–1865. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p. 126.
^ Abbott, Richard (2004). For Free Press and Equal Rights: Republican Newspapers in the Reconstruction South. University of Georgia Press. p. 138. ISBN 0820325279.
^ Quoted in Eric Foner. (1988) Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, p. 298.
^ See Congressional Globe, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 246–47
^ See Congressional Globe, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 2730–33
^ See Congressional Globe, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 3424
^ March 5, 1875. Alcorn's Great Insult. United States Senate. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
^ Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817–1967. 1981. p. 7. ISBN 9781617034183. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
^ Kennedy, Stetson (1995). After Appomattox: How the South Won the War. p. 28. ISBN 9780813013411. Retrieved September 14, 2015. We must make the Negro our friend. We can do this if we will. Should we make him our enemy under the prompting of the Yankees, whose aim is to force us to recognize him on a basis of equality, then our path lies through a way red with blood and damp with tears.
^ Riley, Franklin Lafayette. Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume 6.

Sources

United States Congress. "James L. Alcorn (id: A000079)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Alcorn, James Lusk". The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 67.
Harris, William C. (1979), The Day of the Carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi Archived March 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
Harris, William C. (1967), Presidential Reconstruction in Mississippi. Louisiana State University Press.
Pereyra, Lillian A. (1966), James Lusk Alcorn: Persistent Whig. LSU Press, the standard scholarly biography.
Riley, Franklin Lafayette (1928), "Alcorn, James Lusk" in Dictionary of American Biography, Volume 1.

Party political offices
Preceded by Beriah B. Eggleston	Republican nominee for Governor of Mississippi 1869	Succeeded by Adelbert Ames
Political offices
Preceded by Adelbert Ames	Governor of Mississippi March 10, 1870 – November 30, 1871	Succeeded by Ridgley C. Powers
U.S. Senate
Preceded by Hiram R. Revels	U.S. senator (Class 2) from Mississippi March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1877 Served alongside: Adelbert Ames, Henry R. Pease and Blanche K. Bruce	Succeeded by Lucius Q. C. Lamar

[msencyclopediabio-1] Sansing, David G. (July 10, 2017). James Lusk Alcorn. Mississippi Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 13, 2022.

[2] James Lusk Alcorn. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 13, 2022.

[BDA1906-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Johnson 1906, p. 67

[4] Pereyra, Lillian A. James Lusk Alcorn, Persistent Whig, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966, p. 19.

[5] Mississippi Levee Board: History

[6] Clay Williams. The Road to War (1846–1860) Archived November 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society.

[7] James L. Roark. Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction, 1977, New York City: W. W. Norton, 1977, p. 3.

[8] Proceedings of the Mississippi State Convention, Held January 7th to 26th, A. D. 1861. Including the Ordinances, as Finally Adopted, Important Speeches, and a List of Members, Showing the Postoffice, Profession, Nativity, Politics, Age, Religious Preference, and Social Relations of Each, by J. L. Power, convention reporter. Mississippi, 1861.

[9] Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray, A Companion Volume to Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge: University of Louisiana Press, 1995, p. 17.

[10] Miller, Mary Carol (2010). Lost Mansions of Mississippi: Volume II. University Press of Mississippi. p. 116. ISBN 9781604737875.

[11] Dumas, David (2012). Yazoo Pass Expedition, a Driving Tour Guide. AuthorHouse. p. 22. ISBN 9781477275351.

[12] Woodman, Harold D. King Cotton & His Retainers: Financing & Marketing the Cotton Crop of the South, 1800–1925. Lexington, University of Kentucky Press, 1968, p. 219.

[13] Robinson, Armstead L. Bitter Fruits of Bondage: The Demise of Slavery and the Collapse of the Confederacy, 1861–1865. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p. 126.

[14] Abbott, Richard (2004). For Free Press and Equal Rights: Republican Newspapers in the Reconstruction South. University of Georgia Press. p. 138. ISBN 0820325279.

[15] Quoted in Eric Foner. (1988) Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, p. 298.

[16] See Congressional Globe, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 246–47

[17] See Congressional Globe, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 2730–33

[18] See Congressional Globe, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 3424

[19] March 5, 1875. Alcorn's Great Insult. United States Senate. Retrieved March 13, 2022.

[20] Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817–1967. 1981. p. 7. ISBN 9781617034183. Retrieved September 14, 2015.

[21] Kennedy, Stetson (1995). After Appomattox: How the South Won the War. p. 28. ISBN 9780813013411. Retrieved September 14, 2015. We must make the Negro our friend. We can do this if we will. Should we make him our enemy under the prompting of the Yankees, whose aim is to force us to recognize him on a basis of equality, then our path lies through a way red with blood and damp with tears.

[22] Riley, Franklin Lafayette. Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume 6.

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@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 {{Infobox officeholder
 |image        = JLAlcorn.jpg
-|office1      = [[United States Senate|United States Senator]]<br />from [[Mississippi]]
+|office1      = [[United States Senate|United States senator]]<br />from [[Mississippi]]
 |term1        = December 1, 1871 – March 3, 1877
 |preceded1    = [[Hiram Rhodes Revels|Hiram R. Revels]]
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 |signature    = Signature of James Lusk Alcorn.png
 }}
-'''James Lusk Alcorn''' (November 4, 1816{{spaced ndash}}December 19, 1894) was a [[Governor of Mississippi|governor]], slave owner,<ref>{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners|date=2022-01-13|url=https://github.com/washingtonpost/data-congress-slaveowners|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2022-01-14}}</ref> and [[United States Senate|U.S. senator]] during the [[Reconstruction era]] in [[Mississippi]]. A [[Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era)|Moderate Republican]] and [[Whig Party (United States)|Whiggish]] [[scalawag]],<ref name=msencyclopediabio>Sansing, David G. (July 10, 2017). [https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/james-lusk-alcorn/ James Lusk Alcorn]. ''Mississippi Encyclopedia''. Retrieved March 13, 2022.</ref> he engaged in a bitter rivalry with [[Radical Republican]] [[Adelbert Ames]], who defeated him in the [[1873 Mississippi gubernatorial election|1873 gubernatorial race]]. Alcorn was the elected Republican governor of Mississippi.<ref name=msencyclopediabio/>
+'''James Lusk Alcorn''' (November 4, 1816{{spaced ndash}}December 19, 1894) was a [[Governor of Mississippi|governor]], and [[United States Senate|U.S. senator]] during the [[Reconstruction era]] in [[Mississippi]]. A [[Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era)|Moderate Republican]] and [[Whig Party (United States)|Whiggish]] "[[scalawag]]",<ref name=msencyclopediabio>[[Sansing, David G.]] (July 10, 2017). [https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/james-lusk-alcorn/ James Lusk Alcorn]. ''Mississippi Encyclopedia''. Retrieved March 13, 2022.</ref> he engaged in a bitter rivalry with [[Radical Republican]] [[Adelbert Ames]], who defeated him in the [[1873 Mississippi gubernatorial election|1873 gubernatorial race]]. Alcorn was the first elected Republican governor of Mississippi.<ref name=msencyclopediabio/>
-Although a Unionist,<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/james-lusk-alcorn James Lusk Alcorn]. ''Encyclopedia.com''. Retrieved March 13, 2022.</ref> Alcorn briefly served as a [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Brigadier general|brigadier-general]] of militia. Among former Confederates who joined the postbellum Republican Party, only [[James Longstreet]] had been of higher rank than Alcorn.
+Although a Unionist,<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/james-lusk-alcorn James Lusk Alcorn]. ''Encyclopedia.com''. Retrieved March 13, 2022.</ref> Alcorn briefly served as a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[Brigadier general|brigadier-general]] of the [[Mississippi State Troops#Mississippi militia and predecessor units|Mississippi Militia]]. Among former Confederates who joined the postbellum Republican Party, only [[James Longstreet]] had been of higher rank than Alcorn.
 ==Early life and career==
-Alcorn was born near [[Golconda, Illinois|Golconda]], [[Illinois Territory,]]<ref name="BDA1906" /> to James Alcorn and Hanna Lusk, a [[Scotch-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] family. He attended [[Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky)|Cumberland College]] in [[Princeton, Kentucky|Princeton]], [[Kentucky]],<ref name="BDA1906" /> and from, 1839 to 1844 served as deputy sheriff of [[Livingston County, Kentucky|Livingston County]], Kentucky. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1838 and for six years practiced law in [[Salem, Kentucky|Salem]], Kentucky. He served in the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]] in 1843 before he moved the following year to Mississippi.
+Alcorn was born near [[Golconda, Illinois|Golconda]], [[Illinois Territory]]<ref name="BDA1906" /> to James Alcorn and Hanna Lusk, a [[Scotch-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] family. He attended [[Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky)|Cumberland College]] in [[Princeton, Kentucky]],<ref name="BDA1906" /> and from 1839 to 1844 served as deputy sheriff of [[Livingston County, Kentucky]]. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1838 and for six years practicing law in [[Salem, Kentucky]]. He served in the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]] in 1843 before moving to Mississippi the following year.
-Alcorn set up a law office in [[Coahoma County, Mississippi|Coahoma County]].<ref>Pereyra, Lillian A. ''James Lusk Alcorn, Persistent Whig'', Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966, p. 19.</ref> As his law practice flourished and his property holdings in the [[Mississippi Delta]] increased, he became a wealthy man. In 1850, he built a three-story house at his [[Roseacres, Mississippi|Mound Place Plantation]] in Coahoma County, at which he resided with his family. By 1860, he owned nearly a hundred [[slavery in the United States|slaves]] and held lands valued at a quarter of a million dollars. Alcorn served in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] and [[Mississippi Senate]] during the 1840s and 1850s being one of the leaders of the then [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] in the state.
+Alcorn set up a law office in [[Coahoma County, Mississippi]].<ref>Pereyra, Lillian A. ''James Lusk Alcorn, Persistent Whig'', Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966, p. 19.</ref> As his law practice flourished and his property holdings in the [[Mississippi Delta]] increased, he became a wealthy man. In 1850, he built a three-story house at his [[Roseacres, Mississippi|Mound Place Plantation]] in Coahoma County, where he resided with his family. By 1860, he [[slavery in the United States|enslaved]] nearly one hundred people and held lands valued at a quarter of a million dollars. Alcorn served in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] and [[Mississippi Senate]] during the 1840s and 1850s being one of the leaders of the then [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] in the state.
-The [[levee]] system was founded by him, and he was chosen president of the levee board.<ref name="BDA1906" /> In the Mississippi legislature Alcorn pushed for construction of levees to protect Delta counties from flooding. A levee district was established in 1858 through his efforts.<ref>[http://www.msleveeboard.com/index.php/about/history Mississippi Levee Board: History]</ref> He ran for [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] in 1856 but was defeated. In 1857 Alcorn was nominated for governor by the Whigs, but declined.<ref name="BDA1906" />
+He founded the levee system and was chosen president of the levee board.<ref name="BDA1906" /> In the Mississippi legislature, Alcorn pushed for the construction of levees to protect Delta counties from flooding. A levee district was established in 1858 through his efforts.<ref>[http://www.msleveeboard.com/index.php/about/history Mississippi Levee Board: History]</ref> He ran for [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] in 1856 but was defeated. In 1857, Alcorn was nominated for governor by the Whigs but declined.<ref name="BDA1906" />
-Alcorn was a delegate to the special Mississippi convention of 1851 called by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] Governor [[John A. Quitman]], who as an opponent of [[Henry Clay]]'s [[Compromise of 1850]] advocated  [[secession]].<ref>Clay Williams. [http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/206/the-road-to-war-1846-1860 ''The Road to War (1846–1860)'']. Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society.</ref> Alcorn joined the Mississippi Unionists to thwart Quitman's plans. Like many other Whig planters, Alcorn opposed secession, pleading with the secessionists to reflect for a moment on the realities of national balance of power. He foretold a horrific picture of a beaten [[Southern United States|South]], "when the northern soldier would tread her [[cotton]] fields, when the slave should be made free and the proud Southerner stricken to the dust in his presence."<ref>James L. Roark. ''Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction'', 1977, [[New York City]]: W. W. Norton, 1977, p. 3.</ref> However, in January 1861, at the Mississippi state convention he joined the secessionists and was elected to the ''Committee of Fifteen'' to prepare the [[Mississippi Secession Ordinance|Ordinance of Secession]].<ref>''[http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/missconv/missconv.html Proceedings of the Mississippi State Convention, Held January 7th to 26th, A. D. 1861. Including the Ordinances, as Finally Adopted, Important Speeches, and a List of Members, Showing the Postoffice, Profession, Nativity, Politics, Age, Religious Preference, and Social Relations of Each, by J. L. Power, convention reporter].'' Mississippi, 1861.</ref>
+Alcorn was a delegate to the special Mississippi convention of 1851 called by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] governor [[John A. Quitman]], who, as an opponent of [[Henry Clay]]'s [[Compromise of 1850]] advocated  [[secession]].<ref>Clay Williams. [http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/206/the-road-to-war-1846-1860 ''The Road to War (1846–1860)''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104142310/http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/206/the-road-to-war-1846-1860 |date=November 4, 2016 }}. Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society.</ref> Alcorn joined the Mississippi Unionists to thwart Quitman's plans. Like many other Whig planters, Alcorn opposed secession, pleading with the secessionists to reflect on the realities of the national balance of power. He foretold a horrific picture of a beaten [[Southern United States]], "when the northern soldier would tread her [[cotton]] fields, when the slave should be made free and the proud Southerner stricken to the dust in his presence."<ref>James L. Roark. ''Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction'', 1977, [[New York City]]: W. W. Norton, 1977, p. 3.</ref> However, in January 1861, at the Mississippi state convention, he joined the secessionists and was elected to the ''Committee of Fifteen'' to prepare the [[Mississippi Secession Ordinance|Ordinance of Secession]].<ref>''[http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/missconv/missconv.html Proceedings of the Mississippi State Convention, Held January 7th to 26th, A. D. 1861. Including the Ordinances, as Finally Adopted, Important Speeches, and a List of Members, Showing the Postoffice, Profession, Nativity, Politics, Age, Religious Preference, and Social Relations of Each, by J. L. Power, convention reporter].'' Mississippi, 1861.</ref>
 ==American Civil War==
-When secession was declared, Alcorn, although born in what became in 1818 the free, pro-Union state of [[Illinois]], cast his lot with the Confederacy and was appointed by the Mississippi secession convention as a brigadier-general of militia, but when his brigade entered the Confederate States army, President Davis refused to commission him, on account of political differences.<ref name="BDA1906" /> Alcorn during the war was in uniform for about eighteen months of inconspicuous field service, mainly in raising troops and in garrison duty. After the resignation of several major generals of the Mississippi state troops, including [[Jefferson Davis]], [[Earl Van Dorn]], and [[Charles Clark (governor)|Charles Clark]], Alcorn became eligible for promotion in rank, but was passed over because his political foe, [[John J. Pettus]], was the governor of Mississippi at the time.
+When secession was declared, Alcorn, although born in what became in 1818 the free, pro-U.S. state of [[Illinois]], joined the [[Confederate States of America]] and was appointed by the Mississippi secession convention as a militia brigadier-general. However, when his brigade entered the [[Confederate States Army]], [[Jefferson Davis]] refused to commission him on account of political differences.<ref name="BDA1906" /> Alcorn, during the war, was in uniform for about eighteen months of inconspicuous field service, mainly in raising troops and in garrison duty. After the resignation of several major generals of the [[Mississippi State Troops]], including Davis, [[Earl Van Dorn]], and [[Charles Clark (governor)|Charles Clark]], Alcorn became eligible for promotion in rank but was passed over because his political foe, [[John J. Pettus]], was the governor of Mississippi at the time.
-At the start of the Civil War, Alcorn was ordered to proceed with his troops to central Kentucky; then he was stationed at [[Fort Donelson]], [[Tennessee]]. In October 1861, Alcorn raised three regiments of militia troops committed to sixty-days of service in Mississippi and led his brigade to [[Camp Beauregard Memorial|Camp Beauregard]], Kentucky, at which he served under General [[Leonidas Polk]]. His field service ended after his brigade was disbanded in January 1862. Alcorn was taken prisoner in [[Arkansas]] in 1862, was paroled later in the year, and returned to his [[Roseacres, Mississippi|Mound Place Plantation]] in Mississippi. In 1863, he was elected to the Mississippi state legislature, where he joined critics of Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]].<ref>Allardice, Bruce S. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=d7kKuAZFDu0C&lpg=PA17&ots=OzOSyEmU3p&dq=Alcorn%20was%20taken%20prisoner%20in%20Arkansas%20in%201862&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q&f=false More Generals in Gray, A Companion Volume to Generals in Gray.]'' Baton Rouge: University of Louisiana Press, 1995, p. 17.</ref>
+At the start of the Civil War, Alcorn was ordered to proceed with his troops to central Kentucky; then, he was stationed at [[Fort Donelson]], [[Tennessee]]. In October 1861, Alcorn raised three regiments of militia troops, designated as the [[Army of 10,000]], committed to sixty days of service in Mississippi and led his brigade to [[Camp Beauregard Memorial|Camp Beauregard]], Kentucky, at which he served under General [[Leonidas Polk]]. His field service ended after his brigade was disbanded in January 1862. Alcorn was taken prisoner in [[Arkansas]] in 1862, was paroled later in the year, and returned to his [[Roseacres, Mississippi|Mound Place Plantation]] in Mississippi. In 1863, he was elected to the Mississippi state legislature, where he joined critics of [[President of the Confederate States of America|Confederate President]] [[Jefferson Davis]].<ref>Allardice, Bruce S. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=d7kKuAZFDu0C&dq=Alcorn%20was%20taken%20prisoner%20in%20Arkansas%20in%201862&pg=PA17 More Generals in Gray, A Companion Volume to Generals in Gray.]'' Baton Rouge: University of Louisiana Press, 1995, p. 17.</ref>
-During the war, Alcorn spent a fortune raising and supplying troops. Additionally, in 1863 his plantation was raided by General [[Leonard Fulton Ross|Leonard Ross']] troops during the [[Yazoo Pass Expedition]], part of the [[Vicksburg Campaign]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Miller | first = Mary Carol | title = Lost Mansions of Mississippi: Volume II | publisher = University Press of Mississippi | year = 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=a2niviowphQC&pg=PP1 | pages = 116| isbn = 9781604737875 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Dumas | first = David | title = Yazoo Pass Expedition, a Driving Tour Guide | publisher = AuthorHouse | year = 2012 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SPWxdOsnm7YC&pg=PP1 | pages = 22| isbn = 9781477275351 }}</ref> However, he managed to preserve part of his wealth during the war by trading cotton with the [[Northern United States|North]].<ref>Woodman,  	Harold D. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5miElUnk_bYC&lpg=PA219&dq=Alcorn's%20Mound%20Place%20Plantation&pg=PA219#v=onepage&q&f=false King Cotton & His Retainers: Financing & Marketing the Cotton Crop of the South, 1800–1925.]'' Lexington, University of Kentucky Press, 1968, p. 219.</ref> In November 1863, Alcorn wrote to his wife: "I have been very busy hiding & selling my cotton. I have sold in all one hundred & eleven bales, I have now here ten thousand dollars in paper (Green backs) and one thousand dollars in gold."<ref>Robinson, Armstead L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h3qop2781qcC&lpg=PA126&ots=ugnHptVT4_&dq=I%20have%20been%20very%20busy%20hiding%20%26%20selling%20my%20cotton.%20I%20have%20sold%20in%20all%20one%20hundred%20%26%20eleven%20bales&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Bitter Fruits of Bondage: The Demise of Slavery and the Collapse of the Confederacy, 1861–1865.''] Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p. 126.</ref> After the war, he was estimated to be among the fifty wealthiest men in the South.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
+During the war, Alcorn spent a fortune raising and supplying troops. Additionally, in 1863 his plantation was raided by General [[Leonard Fulton Ross|Leonard Ross']] troops during the [[Yazoo Pass Expedition]], part of the [[Vicksburg Campaign]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Miller | first = Mary Carol | title = Lost Mansions of Mississippi: Volume II | publisher = University Press of Mississippi | year = 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=a2niviowphQC&pg=PP1 | pages = 116| isbn = 9781604737875 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Dumas | first = David | title = Yazoo Pass Expedition, a Driving Tour Guide | publisher = AuthorHouse | year = 2012 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SPWxdOsnm7YC&pg=PP1 | pages = 22| isbn = 9781477275351 }}</ref> However, he managed to preserve part of his wealth during the war by trading cotton with the [[Northern United States|North]].<ref>Woodman,  	Harold D. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5miElUnk_bYC&dq=Alcorn's%20Mound%20Place%20Plantation&pg=PA219 King Cotton & His Retainers: Financing & Marketing the Cotton Crop of the South, 1800–1925.]'' Lexington, University of Kentucky Press, 1968, p. 219.</ref> In November 1863, Alcorn wrote to his wife: "I have been very busy hiding & selling my cotton. I have sold in all one hundred & eleven bales, I have now here ten thousand dollars in paper (Green backs) and one thousand dollars in gold."<ref>Robinson, Armstead L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h3qop2781qcC&dq=I%20have%20been%20very%20busy%20hiding%20%26%20selling%20my%20cotton.%20I%20have%20sold%20in%20all%20one%20hundred%20%26%20eleven%20bales&pg=PA126 ''Bitter Fruits of Bondage: The Demise of Slavery and the Collapse of the Confederacy, 1861–1865.''] Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p. 126.</ref> After the war, he was estimated to be among the fifty wealthiest men in the South.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
-Alcorn lost two sons. His older son, James Lusk Alcorn, Jr., committed suicide in 1879 after returning home from the war partially deaf and a [[Drinking|drunkard]]. An inscription on the monument at the family cemetery attributes James' death to the "insane war of rebellion" (apparently his father's words). Seventeen-year-old Henry "Hal" Alcorn ran away during the war to join the military against his father's wishes, became ill, and was left behind and captured. He was held in [[Camp Chase]] and made his way to [[Richmond, Virginia]] after the surrender. He died of [[typhoid fever]] en route to Mississippi.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
+Alcorn lost two sons. His older son, James Lusk Alcorn Jr., committed suicide in 1879 after returning home from the war partially deaf and a [[Alcoholism|drunkard]]. An inscription on the monument at the family cemetery attributes James' death to the "insane war of rebellion" (apparently his father's words). Seventeen-year-old Henry "Hal" Alcorn ran away during the war to join the military against his father's wishes, became ill, and was left behind and captured. He was held in [[Camp Chase]] and made his way to [[Richmond, Virginia]] after the surrender. He died of [[typhoid fever]] en route to Mississippi.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
 ==Postbellum career==
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 [[File:Grave of James Lusk Alcorn.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Alcorn's grave in Coahoma County, Mississippi]]
-Alcorn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865, but, like all Southerners who had attacked the U.S as part of the Confederacy, was not allowed to take a seat as Congress was divided over Reconstruction.<ref name="BDA1906" /> He supported [[suffrage]] for [[freedman|freedmen]] and endorsed the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]]. Alcorn became the leader of the [[scalawags]], who comprised about a fourth of the Republican officials in the state, in coalition with [[carpetbaggers]], African-Americans who had been free before the outbreak of the Civil War, and freedmen. Mississippi had a majority of African-Americans, the overwhelming majority of whom were freedmen. They had no desire to vote for the Democratic Party, which had carried the 1868 elections by intimidation and violence against blacks.
+Alcorn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865. However, he was prohibited from being seated in Congress, like all those disqualified from office for insurrection or rebellion against the United States for their participation in the Confederacy.<ref name="BDA1906" /> He supported [[suffrage]] for [[freedman|freedmen]] and endorsed the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]]. Alcorn became the leader of the [[scalawags]], who comprised about a fourth of the Republican officials in the state, in coalition with [[carpetbaggers]], African-Americans who had been free before the outbreak of the Civil War, and freedmen. Mississippi had a majority of African-Americans, the overwhelming majority of whom were freedmen. They had no desire to vote for the Democratic Party, which had carried the 1868 elections by intimidation and violence against blacks.
-Thus the vast majority of votes for Republican candidates came from African-Americans even though most of the Republican state office holders in Mississippi were whites. In the [[1869 Mississippi gubernatorial election|1869 election]], James Alcorn was elected governor of Mississippi, defeating [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s brother-in-law [[Lewis Dent]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=Richard |title=For Free Press and Equal Rights: Republican Newspapers in the Reconstruction South |date=2004 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=0820325279 |page=138}}</ref> Alcorn served as governor until 1871.<ref name="BDA1906" /> As a modernizer, he appointed many like-minded former Whigs, some of them since Democrats. He strongly supported [[State school|public schools]] for all, and a new college exclusively for blacks, now known as [[Alcorn State University]]. He maneuvered to make his ally, [[Hiram Rhodes Revels|Hiram Revels]], the president of that institution. Irritated at his patronage policy, many Republicans opposed Alcorn. They were concerned as well over his understanding of African-American interests.  His hostility to a state civil rights bill was well known; so was his unwillingness to appoint black local officers where a white alternative could be found.  One complained that Alcorn's policy was to see "the old civilization of the South ''modernized''" rather than lead a total political, social and economic revolution.<ref>Quoted in Eric Foner. (1988) ''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877'', p. 298.</ref>
+Thus the vast majority of votes for Republican candidates came from African-Americans, even though most of the Republican state officeholders in Mississippi were whites. In the [[1869 Mississippi gubernatorial election|1869 election]], James Alcorn was elected governor of Mississippi, defeating [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s brother-in-law [[Lewis Dent]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=Richard |title=For Free Press and Equal Rights: Republican Newspapers in the Reconstruction South |date=2004 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=0820325279 |page=138}}</ref> Alcorn served as governor until 1871.<ref name="BDA1906" /> As a modernizer, he appointed many like-minded former Whigs, some since Democrats. He strongly supported [[State school|public schools]] for all and a new college exclusively for blacks, now known as [[Alcorn State University]]. He maneuvered to make his ally, [[Hiram Rhodes Revels|Hiram Revels]], the institution's president. Irritated at his patronage policy, many Republicans opposed Alcorn. They were concerned as well over his understanding of African-American interests. His hostility to a state civil rights bill was well known; so was his unwillingness to appoint local black officers where a white alternative could be found. One complained that Alcorn's policy was to see "the old civilization of the South ''modernized''" rather than lead a total political, social, and economic revolution.<ref>Quoted in Eric Foner. (1988) ''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877'', p. 298.</ref>
-Alcorn resigned the governorship to become a U.S. senator, with service from 1871 to 1877, when he was succeeded by [[L. Q. C. Lamar]].<ref name="BDA1906" /> He succeeded his ally, Hiram Revels, the first African American senator.  Senator Alcorn urged the removal of the political disabilities of white southerners and rejected Republican proposals to end segregation in hotels, restaurants, and railroad cars by federal legislation;<ref>See ''Congressional Globe'', 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 246–47</ref> he denounced the federal cotton tax as robbery,<ref>See ''Congressional Globe'', 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 2730–33</ref> and defended separate schools for both races in Mississippi. Although a former slaveholder, he characterized slavery as "a cancer upon the body of the nation" and expressed the gratification which he and many other Southerners felt over its destruction.<ref>See ''Congressional Globe'', 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 3424</ref>
+Alcorn resigned from the governorship to become a U.S. senator, with service from 1871 to 1877, when he was succeeded by [[L. Q. C. Lamar]].<ref name="BDA1906" /> He succeeded his ally, Hiram Revels, the first African American senator.  Senator Alcorn urged the removal of the political disabilities of white southerners and rejected Republican proposals to end segregation in hotels, restaurants, and railroad cars by federal legislation;<ref>See ''Congressional Globe'', 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 246–47</ref> he denounced the federal cotton tax as robbery,<ref>See ''Congressional Globe'', 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 2730–33</ref> and defended separate schools for both races in Mississippi. Although a former enslaver, he characterized slavery as "a cancer upon the body of the nation" and expressed the gratification he and many other Southerners felt over its destruction.<ref>See ''Congressional Globe'', 42 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 3424</ref>
+===New South politics===
-Alcorn's estrangement from Senator Adelbert Ames, his northern-born colleague, deepened in 1871, as African-Americans became convinced that the former governor was not taking the problem of white terrorism seriously enough; and, in fact, Alcorn resisted federal action to suppress the [[Ku Klux Klan]], having instead contended that state authorities were sufficient to handle the task. By 1873, the quarrel had deepened into an intense animosity. Both men ran for governor. Ames was supported by the Radicals and most African Americans, while Alcorn won the votes of conservative whites and most of the [[scalawag]]s. Ames won by a vote of 69,870 to 50,490. Alcorn withdrew from active politics in the state and accused the new governor of being incapable and an enemy of the people.  This was not true, but then, neither was Ames' view of Alcorn as an insincere and possibly corrupt man. When a second African-American Senator, [[Blanche Bruce|Blanche K. Bruce]], was elected in 1874, Alcorn refused to follow the customary procedure of introducing his new colleague to the Senate. In 1875, when Reconstruction was fighting for its life against a campaign of violence from the Democrats, Alcorn emerged, only to lead a white force against black Republicans at Friar's Point. The aftermath led to at least five black people being killed.
+{{further|New South}}
+Alcorn's estrangement from Senator Adelbert Ames, his northern-born colleague, deepened in 1871, as African-Americans became convinced that the former governor was not taking the problem of white terrorism seriously enough. Alcorn resisted federal action to suppress the [[Ku Klux Klan]], instead contending that state authorities were sufficient to handle the task. By 1873, the quarrel had deepened into an intense animosity. Both men ran for governor. Ames was supported by the Radicals and most African Americans, while Alcorn won the votes of most of the [[scalawag]]s, moderately Whiggish whites. Ames won by a vote of 69,870 to 50,490. Alcorn withdrew from active politics in the state and accused the new governor of being incapable and an enemy of the people.  When a second African-American senator, [[Blanche Bruce]], was elected in 1874, Alcorn refused to follow the customary procedure of introducing his new colleague to the Senate.<ref>March 5, 1875. [https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Alcorns_Great_Insult.htm Alcorn's Great Insult]. ''United States Senate''. Retrieved March 13, 2022.</ref> Bruce was instead welcomed by New York senator [[Roscoe Conkling]], the leader of the congressional "[[Stalwarts (politics)|Stalwart]]" wing.
+In 1875, when Reconstruction was fighting for its life against a campaign of violence from the Democrats, Alcorn emerged and led a white force against black Republicans at [[Friar's Point]]. The aftermath led to at least five black people being killed.
-During the Reconstruction period, Alcorn was an advocate of modernizing the South. Although a believer in [[white supremacy]], he supported civil and political rights for African-Americans. In a letter to his wife (Amelia Alcorn, née Glover, of [[Rosemount (Forkland, Alabama)|Rosemount Plantation]] in southern [[Alabama]]), he states that white Southerners must make African Americans their friend or the path ahead will be "red with blood and damp with tears."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfXGJBB1HvoC&q=%22path+ahead%22+%22be+red+with+blood+and+damp+with+tears.%22&pg=PA7|title=Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817–1967|year=1981|page=7|access-date=September 14, 2015|isbn=9781617034183}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7SNNPRRnToC&q=%22red+with+blood+and+damp+with+tears.%22&pg=PA28|title=After Appomattox: How the South Won the War|first=Stetson|last=Kennedy|page=28|access-date=September 14, 2015|quote=We must make the Negro our friend. We can do this if we will. Should we make him our enemy under the prompting of the Yankees, whose aim is to force us to recognize him on a basis of equality, then our path lies through a way red with blood and damp with tears.|isbn=9780813013411|year=1995}}</ref> Alcorn was the founder of the Mississippi levee system and was instrumental in rebuilding the structures after the Civil War.
+During the Reconstruction period, Alcorn was an advocate of modernizing the South. Although a believer in [[white supremacy]], he supported civil and political rights for African-Americans. In a letter to his wife (Amelia Alcorn, née Glover, of [[Rosemount (Forkland, Alabama)|Rosemount Plantation]] in southern [[Alabama]]), he states that white Southerners must make African Americans their friend or the path ahead will be "red with blood and damp with tears."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfXGJBB1HvoC&q=%22path+ahead%22+%22be+red+with+blood+and+damp+with+tears.%22&pg=PA7|title=Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817–1967|year=1981|page=7|access-date=September 14, 2015|isbn=9781617034183}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7SNNPRRnToC&q=%22red+with+blood+and+damp+with+tears.%22&pg=PA28|title=After Appomattox: How the South Won the War|first=Stetson|last=Kennedy|page=28|access-date=September 14, 2015|quote=We must make the Negro our friend. We can do this if we will. Should we make him our enemy under the prompting of the Yankees, whose aim is to force us to recognize him on a basis of equality, then our path lies through a way red with blood and damp with tears.|isbn=9780813013411|year=1995}}</ref> Alcorn founded the Mississippi levee system and was instrumental in rebuilding the structures after the Civil War.
-After his retirement from politics, he was active in levee affairs and was a delegate to the Mississippian constitutional convention of 1890,<ref name="BDA1906" /> in which he supported the black disenfranchisement clause that the state's Democrats had introduced in the new constitution. He was twice married: in 1839 to Mary C. Stewart of Kentucky, who died in 1849; and in 1850 to Amelia Walton Glover of Alabama. In his later life, Alcorn practiced law in [[Friars Point, Mississippi|Friars Point]], Mississippi, and lived quietly at his home, [[Eagles Nest, Mississippi|''Eagle's Nest'']], in [[Coahoma County]]. He was interred upon his death in 1894 in the family cemetery.<ref name="BDA1906" /><ref>Riley, Franklin Lafayette. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rEgTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA250&lpg=PA250&dq=Alcorn+had+a+statue+made+of+himself+and+after+his+death+it+was+put+on+his+grave&source=bl&ots=VFG_DWqyz5&sig=537Cl3WSWWywYJNx6klIYqIyEC0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq5PC7io7QAhWB4CYKHdIoB5YQ6AEIKjAC#v=onepage&q&f=false Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society]'', Volume 6.</ref> Alcorn commissioned a statue of himself and after his death it was placed on his grave.
+After he retired from politics, he was active in levee affairs. He was a delegate to the Mississippian constitutional convention of 1890,<ref name="BDA1906" /> in which he supported the black disenfranchisement clause that the state's Democrats had introduced in the new constitution. He was twice married: in 1839 to Mary C. Stewart of Kentucky, who died in 1849; and in 1850 to Amelia Walton Glover of Alabama. In his later life, Alcorn practiced law in [[Friars Point, Mississippi|Friars Point]], Mississippi, and lived quietly at his home, [[Eagles Nest, Mississippi|''Eagle's Nest'']], in [[Coahoma County]]. He was interred upon his death in 1894 in the family cemetery.<ref name="BDA1906" /><ref>Riley, Franklin Lafayette. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rEgTAAAAYAAJ&dq=Alcorn+had+a+statue+made+of+himself+and+after+his+death+it+was+put+on+his+grave&pg=PA250 Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society]'', Volume 6.</ref> Alcorn commissioned a statue of himself, and after his death, it was placed on his grave.
 ==Honors==
-[[Alcorn County, Mississippi|Alcorn County]] is named in his honor, as is the [[historically black]] [[Alcorn State University]], the first black [[land-grant university|land grant]] university.
+[[Alcorn County, Mississippi]] is named in his honor, as is the [[Historically black colleges and universities|historically black]] Alcorn State University, the first black [[land-grant university]].
 ==See also==
@@ Line 88: / Line 92: @@
 ==Sources==
 {{CongBio|A000079|accessdate=2008-08-12}}
+* {{BDA1906 |wstitle= Alcorn, James Lusk |volume= 1 |page=67 |short=}}
-* {{cite dictionary
+* Harris, William C. (1979), ''[https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=61592900 The Day of the Carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110326025315/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=61592900 |date=March 26, 2011 }}''.
- | editor-last  = Johnson
- | editor-first = Rossiter
- | editor-link  = Rossiter Johnson
- | title        = Alcorn, James Lusk
- | dictionary   = [[The Biographical Dictionary of America]]
- | year         = 1906
- | volume       = 1
- | page         = 67
- | location     = Boston, Mass.
- | publisher    = American Biographical Society
- | language     = en
- | via          = en.wikisource.org
- | url          = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Biographical_Dictionary_of_America/Alcorn,_James_Lusk
- | access-date  = November 7, 2020
-}} {{PD-notice}}
-* Harris, William C. (1979), ''[https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=61592900 The Day of the Carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi]''.
 * Harris, William C. (1967), ''Presidential Reconstruction in Mississippi''. Louisiana State University Press.
 * Pereyra, Lillian A. (1966), ''James Lusk Alcorn: Persistent Whig''. LSU Press, the standard scholarly biography.
@@ Line 112: / Line 101: @@
 {{s-ppo}}
 {{s-bef|before=Beriah B. Eggleston}}
-{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[List of Governors of Mississippi|Governor of Mississippi]]|years=1869}}
+{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[List of Governors of Mississippi|Governor of Mississippi]]|years=[[1869 Mississippi gubernatorial election|1869]]}}
 {{s-aft|after=[[Adelbert Ames]]}}
 {{s-off}}
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 }}
 {{s-end}}
 {{Governors of Mississippi}}
 {{USSenMS}}
@@ Line 143: / Line 133: @@
 [[Category:Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky) alumni]]
 [[Category:Governors of Mississippi]]
-[[Category:United States senators from Mississippi]]
 [[Category:Mississippi state senators]]
 [[Category:Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives]]
@@ Line 154: / Line 143: @@
 [[Category:Northern-born Confederates]]
 [[Category:People of Mississippi in the American Civil War]]
-[[Category:Republican Party United States senators]]
+[[Category:Republican Party United States senators from Mississippi]]
-[[Category:Republican Party state governors of the United States]]
+[[Category:Republican Party governors of Mississippi]]
-[[Category:American slave owners]]
 [[Category:People from Coahoma County, Mississippi]]
-[[Category:Burials in Mississippi]]
 [[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
-[[Category:American white supremacists]]
 [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
 [[Category:Military personnel from Illinois]]
+[[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]]

v t e Governors of Mississippi
Territory (1798–1817)	Sargent Claiborne R. Williams Holmes
State (since 1817)	Holmes Poindexter Leake Brandon Holmes Brandon Scott Lynch Runnels Quitman Lynch McNutt Tucker Brown Matthews Quitman Guion J. Whitfield Foote Pettus McRae McWillie Pettus Clark Sharkey Humphreys Ames Alcorn Powers Ames Stone Lowry Stone McLaurin Longino Vardaman Noel Brewer Bilbo Russell H. Whitfield Murphree Bilbo Conner White Johnson Sr. Murphree Bailey Wright White Coleman Barnett Johnson Jr. J. Williams Waller Finch Winter Allain Mabus Fordice Musgrove Barbour Bryant Reeves

v t e United States senators from Mississippi
Class 1	Leake Holmes Ellis Reed Ellis Black Trotter T. Hickman Williams Henderson Speight Davis McRae S. Adams Davis Ames Pease Bruce George Money J. Williams Stephens Bilbo Stennis Lott Wicker
Class 2	T. Hill Williams Reed R. Adams Poindexter Walker Chalmers Foote Brooke Brown Revels Alcorn Lamar Walthall McLaurin Walthall Sullivan McLaurin Gordon Percy Vardaman Harrison Eastland Doxey Eastland Cochran Hyde-Smith

v t e Signatories of the Mississippi Constitution
Convention President	S. S. Calhoon
Adams County	Frank K. Winchester
Alcorn County	L. P. Reynolds
Alcorn and Prentiss counties	C. B. Martin
Amite County	W. F. Love
Amite and Pike counties	F. A. McLain
Attala County	F. M. Glass D. T. Guyton
Benton County	Will T. McDonald
Benton and Tippah counties	Allen Talbott
Bolivar County	Geo. P. Melchoir Isaiah T. Montgomery
Calhoun County	C. K. Holland
Carroll County	Monroe McClurg T. W. Sullivan
Chickasaw County	D. S. Johnson W. J. Lacey
Choctaw County	T. L. Hannah
Claiborne County	Chas. K. Regan
Clarke County	Geo. L. Donald
Clay County	John Henderson James Kennedy
Coahoma County	J. L. Alcorn J. W. Cutrer
Copiah County	A. B. Guynes W. C. Wilkinson
Covington County	N. C. Hathorn
DeSoto County	J. W. Odom Sam Powell
Franklin County	J. H. McGehee
Greene County	J. Kittrell
Grenada County	Wm. C. McLean
Hancock County	W. F. Spence
Harrison County	Elliot Henderson
Hinds County	D. S. Fearing W. P. Harris T. T. Hart
Holmes County	H. S. Hooker Walter L. Keirn
Issaquena County	W. S. Farish
Itawamba County	Steve H. Turner
Jackson County	Walter M. Denny
Jasper County	Jno. F. Smith
Jefferson County	C. S. Coffey
Jones County	Arthur Abbington
Kemper County	T. P. Bell
Lafayette County	R. A. Dean Thos. D. Isom
Lauderdale County	Jno. A. Bailey H. M. Street
Lauderdale, Kemper, and Clarke counties	Wm. D. Witherspoon
Lawrence County	H. I. Bird
Leake County	Irvin Miller
Leake and Newton counties	Jno. H. Reagan
Lee County	L. J. Rhodes Jno. M. Simonton
Leflore County	W. H. Morgan
Lincoln County	J. B. Chrisman
Lincoln and Jefferson counties	R. H. Thompson
Lowndes County	A. J. Ervin W. C. Richards
Madison County	Robert Charles Lee T. S. Ward
Marshall County	W. S. Featherston Geo. J. Finley E. J. Marett
Monroe County	T. J. McDonell J. R. Murff E. O. Sykes
Montgomery County	J. R. Binford
Neshoba County	W. L. Bassett
Newton County	J. E. Ferguson
Noxubee County	Geo. G. Dillard J. H. Jamison Robt. C. Patty
Oktibbeha County	J. W. Edwards S. D. Lee
Panola County	D. B. Arnold G. W. Dyer R. H. Taylor
Perry County	J. P. Carter
Pike County	S. E. Packwood
Pontotoc County	J. D. Fontaine
Prentiss County	B. B. Boone
Quitman County	F. M. Hamblet
Rankin County	A. J. McLaurin S. W. Robinson
Scott County	J. K. P. Palmer
Sharkey County	H. J. McLaurin
Simpson County	T. L. Mendenhall
Smith County	A. G. McLaurin
Sunflower County	Jno. R. Baird
Tallahatchie County	W. S. Eskridge
Tate County	J. R. Puryear W. P. Wyatt
Tippah County	W. A. Boyd
Tishomingo County	R. H. Allen
Tunica County	R. F. Abbay
Union County	C. O. Potter J. P. Robinson
Warren County	Marye Dabney H. F. Simrall Murray F. Smith
Washington County	R. B. Campbell A. J. Paxton Wm. G. Yerger
Wayne County	J. L. Morris
Wilkinson County	G. T. McGehee T. V. Noland
Winston County	O. C. Watson
Yalobusha County	Geo. H. Lester J. J. Rottenberry
Yazoo County	D. R. Barnett D. Bunch T. P. Lee
Yazoo and Holmes counties	J. G. Hamilton
State at large	John A. Blair J. B. Boothe Jno. W. Fewell T. S. Ford J. Z. George Patrick Henry R. G. Hudson J. H. Jones L. W. Magruder Edward Mayes J. S. McNeilly H. L. Muldrow J. S. Sexton
Attest signature to marginal note	R. E. Wilson (convention secretary)

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	United States
People	US Congress
Other	SNAC