CHAPTER EIGHTEEN--DISAPPEARANCE OF PRICE 124 CHAPTER NINETEEN--RIOTS IN MARENGO 127 CHAPTER TWENTY--KILLINGS AND RIOTING IN GREENE 132 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE--RESTORATION OF WHITE SUPREMACY 148 WHEN THE KU KLUX RODE CHAPTER ONE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT In a proclamation which issued on May 10, 1865, the president of the United States declared the Civil War at an end. April 9, the date of General Lee's surrender, was recognized as the date of the actual termination of the war. On May 29, 1865, the president, by proclamation, directed the restoration of seized private property, except "as to slaves"; and on June 24, 1865, restored commercial intercourse between all the states. Relying on the promises made by federal generals while Southern armies were in the field; on the terms arranged between Generals Grant and Lee and Sherman and Johnston when the Southern armies capitulated, and on the proclamation of the president, the people of Alabama believed that as soon as they could in the proper way repeal the ordinance of secession and comply with other immediate requirements, Alabama and the people thereof would be restored to their former coequal condition in the Union. The real issue of the war had been the right of the southern people to renounce allegiance to and citizenship in the Union; in its triumph at arms the United States sustained its contention that there could be no such renunciation; and consequently the southern people laid down their arms as citizens of the United States defeated in the attempt at renunciation. The authorities at Washington could not fairly avoid this conclusion, and certainly President Johnson reached it instantly. That there would be permitted prompt resumption of equal rights, except in a few cases, was more than hoped for,--it was confidently expected; and for some time there was no indication that there would be disappointment. President Johnson's attitude toward the southern states encouraged the hope of speedy restoration of order and a large measure of prosperity. The president was as generous as Lincoln would have been, had he survived the conflict. In order that readers may clearly understand the situation as it then existed, a brief explanation of President Johnson's attitude is necessary here: