United States, Georgia, Mitchell County, Camilla, 31.23129, -84.21046Meade, George Gordon, 1815-18721868-10-02George Gordon Meade, commander of the Department of the South's Third Military District in Georgia writes to Georgia Governor Rufus B. Bullock. This letter is written sometime after Meade received, on October 2, 1868, an investigative report by Captain William Mills on the Septmeber 19 outbreak of violence between freedmen together with Republicans who attempted to hold a political rally in Camilla, Georgia, and the white townspeople who opposed them; yet Meade must have written this before writing a seperate letter to Commanding General U. S. [Grant], dated October 3, 1868, in which he enclosed both this letter to Bullock and Captain Mills' report. In this letter to Bullock, Meade encloses Mills report, the affidavits Mills collected, and remarks on the conclusions he has drawn from these materials as to the biggest contributing factors to the incident in Camilla. The first major factor Meade cites is the negligence of Republican candidate William Pierce and Republican elector John Murphy in not advising the freedmen to comply with the Sheriff Mumford Poore's request of them to leave their arms outside of town, while the second major factor Meade cites is the Sheriff himself, as facilitator of the ensuing violence. In closing, Meade justifies the absence of troops at Camilla and explains to Bullock his difficult position in deployment of troops in these matters, as according to departmental instructions he must only intervene at the behest of local civil authorities. He assures Bullock that if such authorities are prevented from acting, that he is prepared to send troops.Digital image and transcription created by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2001 of a photocopy held by DeSoto Trail Regional Library of an original record held by the National Archives.image/jpegtext/htmlcam045Forms part of United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Records held by the National Archives.http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/Republican Party (Ga.)--History--19th centuryUnited States. ArmyAfrican Americans--Georgia--History--19th centuryAfrican Americans--Georgia--Social conditions--To 1964Freedmen--Georgia--Political activityFreedmen--Georgia--Violence againstMilitary assistanceReconstruction--GeorgiaPolitical violence--Georgia--CamillaGeorgia--History--1865-Georgia--Politics and government--1865-1950Mitchell County (Ga.)--Politics and governmentMitchell County (Ga.)--Race relationsMurphy, John, fl. 1868Pierce, W. P.Putney, F. F.Poore, MumfordBullock, Rufus B. (Rufus Brown), 1834-1907Letter: [Headquarters, Department of the South, Atlanta, Georgia] to Governor [Rufus B. Bullock], Atlanta, Georgia, [1868 Oct. 2]Text