Page 138 - a-history-of-columbia-county-florida-(1996)-edward-f-keuchel

A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 127/340

The Era of Reconstruction
qualified as a deputy to stop the intimidation of voters. Federal
troops were considered but were not sent.27
Intimidation of Republican voters appeared to give an ad­
vantage to the Conservative-Democrats as the November 1870,
election neared. The transplanted New Yorker, Ambrose Hart,
writing from the Ichetuchnee plantation told his brother Ed:
Politics are becoming daily a more and more general topic
of conversation, etc. And I think it is high time that the
complexion of our state legislature underwent a most
sweeping change. Our state and county taxes are getting
to be enormous and all to enrich a lot of thieves who for the
sake of office call themselves Republicans. I think, how­
ever, that we can make a considerable change here in the
November election for the better.28
In order to insure that things did change “for the better”
regulators (vigilantes) were active on the eve of the election. On the
night of November 7, the night before the 1870 election, a large
body of armed men rode into Lake City in a cavalry type forma­
tion. They fired their guns in the air as they cursed and yelled and
called for the Radicals. A procession of blacks was leaving a
political rally at a church when the night riders appeared. The
blacks were dispersed, but not before several had been wounded.
Many of the blacks left Lake City that night and refused to vote the
next day. The Conservative-Democrats won in the county by a
majority of over two hundred votes.29 Elated over the victory
Ambrose Hart wrote to his mother on November 11: “By hard
work we have succeeded in sending all conservatives to the
legislature. . . ”30
Historian Jerrell Shofner noted that the Conservative Demo­
crats held no monopoly concerning election irregularities. Repub­
27 Peek, “Lawlessness and the Restoration of Order in Florida, 1868-1871,” pp.
155-58; House Report 22, p. 130.
23Hart to Brother Ed, September 2, 1870, Letters of Ambrose B. Hart.
29 House Report 22, pp. 87, 225.
30Hart to Mother, November 11, 1870, Letters of Ambrose B. Hart.

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