Then, there were thousands of men in northern Alabama not subject to the proscription, who were nursing the grievance that Democrats had precipitated secession without permitting the people to vote on the ordinance. They believed that, had it been submitted, it would have been defeated. Northern Alabama was so loyal to the Union that leaders there proposed separation of that section at the line of the mountains, and that its people organize and "fight it out" in the foothills. But the promptness with which the Confederate authorities organized the military forces discouraged such a project. The strong resentment of the summary accomplishment of secession was rendered bitter by conscription laws. Sections of the mountains in which drastic measures were necessary to enforce those laws became easy recruiting grounds for the federal army. It is recorded that 2,700 men from Walker, Winston and Fayette counties enlisted in one federal command. North Alabama was more than once occupied by contending armies, and partisan organizations embittered the contest. In central and southern Alabama were many Whigs and Union men who had no liking for the Democratic party. In this state of affairs, convinced that not many of the proud Confederates would sue for relief from fourteenth amendment disabilities, and that the constitution which disqualified thousands of white voters would perpetuate negro supremacy in Alabama, the Republican leaders in Congress committed a wrong which to this day bears heavily upon their party. CHAPTER NINE CARPETBAG GOVERNMENT The negroes had exercised without hindrance their new privilege of the suffrage. Their incapacity as voters was illustrated in the character of the men who assumed office after the election in 1868. In Sumter county, Tobias Lane was elected probate judge, but during the period of uncertainty when the constitution was in abeyance, concluding that congressional action respecting it would be unfavorable, he packed his carpetbag and returned to Ohio, having been one of the migrants from that state, so prolific of birds of his feather. Beville, the sheriff, was an appointee of General Swayne. He was unable to give bond, but Swayne waived that formality and ordered him to continue in office without bond. In 1868 Richard Harris, a negro, who could neither read nor write, became his worthy successor. As solicitor the discriminating voters chose Ben Bardwell, a negro, who was wholly deficient in the knowledge of reading and writing, a deficiency which made him "an easy mark" for one of the most learned bars in the state. George Houston, a freedman, was sent to the lower house of the legislature. As his colleague Ben Inge, another "person of color," absolutely illiterate, was selected.