"He was conservative, just and wise; and it was due to his moral courage that Virginia was spared the reign of terror that existed in most of the Southern States during the Reconstruction period. His policy was to gain the confidence and support of the people of the State and to interfere as little as possible with civil authorities."[182] [182] _The Negro in Virginia Politics_, 27. General Eppa Hunton came to know him well and between the two men there developed mutual respect and friendship. Hunton, in his biography, has this to say of conditions under Schofield's rule: "Fortunately for us the commanders in this district were good men--not disposed to oppress us--and we had for several years a fairly good military government in Virginia--our judges were military appointees; our Sheriff and all the officers in this State owed their appointment to the military Governor of Virginia. Our military judge was Lysander Hill. We had great apprehensions of him as our circuit judge when he took the place of Judge Henry W. Thomas, of Fairfax, but Hill turned out to be a first rate man and a fine judge. He was the best listener I ever addressed on the bench. His decisions were able and generally satisfactory. He certainly was not influenced in the slightest degree by politics on the bench--(Schofield) tried in every way to mitigate the hardships of our situation and gave us the best government that was possible under the circumstances."[183] [183] _Autobiography of Eppa Hunton_, pp. 147, 148.