Marshall Twitchell was a well-educated white male born in Vermont. He joined the Union as a soldier during the Civil War. Twitchell moved to Louisiana after the war where he became a wealthy planter. Here he met and married Adele Coleman who came from a wealthy cotton farming family. The people of Louisiana trusted Twitchell, so this carpetbagger[1] was elected provost marshal of the Freedman’s Bureau. He is not a traditional carpetbagger, which makes him famous in reconstruction. When he was sent to congress he ran for parish judge. His loss for this position ended with his opponent being disqualified. Ironically his opponent was disqualified under the constitution that Twitchell helped write years before. Twitchell’s legacy in reconstruction was his help in promoting education, civil rights, and public representation for former slaves.
[1] A term to describe Northerners who moved South after the war to profit from the land while the Southerners moped.
What did you learn about Reconstruction as a result of researching this person?
During the Reconstruction Era, a Republican coalition took control over the southern states and set out to radically transform the society, with the help and support of the Army and the Freedman’s Bureau, which is a Reconstruction agency that aimed at assisting the freedmen in the transition from slavery to freedom. The Bureau set up schools for the former slaves and provided food and clothes to war refugees, black and white. In the fall of 1865, the 25-year-old Marshall Twitchell was named provost marshal, the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police, and agent of Freedmen’s Bureau. Twitchell was posted to Bienville Parish, in northern Louisiana. This region is the last part of the Confederacy to surrender, and it is dangerous, exotic, violent, and isolated. However, Twitchell knew nothing about that, but he had military authority to settle labor disputes and conflicts between former slaves and masters.
Marshall Twitchell
Biography
Marshall Twitchell was a well-educated white male born in Vermont. He joined the Union as a soldier during the Civil War. Twitchell moved to Louisiana after the war where he became a wealthy planter. Here he met and married Adele Coleman who came from a wealthy cotton farming family. The people of Louisiana trusted Twitchell, so this carpetbagger[1] was elected provost marshal of the Freedman’s Bureau. He is not a traditional carpetbagger, which makes him famous in reconstruction. When he was sent to congress he ran for parish judge. His loss for this position ended with his opponent being disqualified. Ironically his opponent was disqualified under the constitution that Twitchell helped write years before. Twitchell’s legacy in reconstruction was his help in promoting education, civil rights, and public representation for former slaves.
[1] A term to describe Northerners who moved South after the war to profit from the land while the Southerners moped.
What did you learn about Reconstruction as a result of researching this person?
During the Reconstruction Era, a Republican coalition took control over the southern states and set out to radically transform the society, with the help and support of the Army and the Freedman’s Bureau, which is a Reconstruction agency that aimed at assisting the freedmen in the transition from slavery to freedom. The Bureau set up schools for the former slaves and provided food and clothes to war refugees, black and white. In the fall of 1865, the 25-year-old Marshall Twitchell was named provost marshal, the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police, and agent of Freedmen’s Bureau. Twitchell was posted to Bienville Parish, in northern Louisiana. This region is the last part of the Confederacy to surrender, and it is dangerous, exotic, violent, and isolated. However, Twitchell knew nothing about that, but he had military authority to settle labor disputes and conflicts between former slaves and masters.
Bibliography:
http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2004-01/reconstruction.html
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40038261?seq=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era_of_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_H._Twitchell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provost_marshal
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/filmmore/pt.html