Eufaula, Alabama

===Reconstruction in Eufaula===
By August 1865 cotton shipping out of Eufaula was increasing again, mostly in barter for household goods, which were arriving by ship in increasing quantities.<ref>{{cite news|title=Business at Eufaula|work=The Macon Daily Telegraph|place=Macon, Georgia|date=August 4, 1865|page=2}}</ref>  However, the quantity of cotton being shipped out was nowhere near antebellum levels, and ships bound for [[Port of Apalachicola|Apalachicola]] were far below capacity.<ref>{{cite news|title=Shipping on the Chattahooches|date=August 9, 1865|page=4|work=Daily Constitutionalist|place=Augusta, Georgia}}</ref>  In November 1865 the Federal garrison that had been occupying Eufaula was relieved of duty by two companies of the [[8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], whose commander, John Bell, assured the citizens that they would not "be disturbed in their lawful business."<ref>{{cite news|title=Another Garrison at Eufaula|work=The Daily Sun|place=Columbus, Georgia|date=December 1, 1865|page=2}}</ref>

In March 1867, the [[United States Congress]] passed the first of four [[Reconstruction Acts]] and the [[Reconstruction Era]] began in earnest.  Alabama, and therefore Eufaula, was placed in the [[Third Military District]] under the command of General [[John Pope (military officer)|John Pope]].  By the time the first elections were held under the new regime, in October 1867, Barbour County had about 5,000 registered voters, with about 1,500 white and 3,500 black.<ref name=firstday>{{cite news|title=The First Day's Election Under the 'Military Bills' in Alabama|work=[[New York Herald]]|date=October 13, 1867|page=7}}</ref>

Municipal elections were held in March 1870 and white candidates won all offices except for the two fourth (of four) [[Wards of the United States|ward]] positions as [[alderman|aldermen]], which were won by black candidates Washington Burke and Melvin Patterson.<ref>{{cite news|title=From Eufaula|work=Georgia Daily Telegraph|place=Macon, Georgia|page=3|date=March 8, 1870}}</ref>  Election officials set aside Burke's and Patterson's victories for election fraud and replaced them with their white competitors R. A. Solo and T. E. Morgan as fourth ward aldermen.<ref>{{cite news|title=Eufaula|work=The Daily Sun|place=Columbus, Georgia|page=2|date=March 8, 1870}}</ref>  In the same election a [[radical republican]] candidate named Keills won the post of City Court Judge.<ref name=keills>{{cite news|title=Latest by Mail|date=March 13, 1870|page=1|work=Mobile Register|place=Mobile, Alabama}}</ref>  According to the ''[[Press-Register|Mobile Register]]'', Keills's "election turned upon sectional differences. The negroes made their usual noisy demonstrations, marching in from the country with [[Fife (instrument)|fife]] and drum."<ref name=keills/>

On November 3, 1874, members of the [[White League]] instigated the [[Election Riot of 1874]] in Eufaula on election day, massacring at least 7 black Republicans, shooting at least 70 more, and preventing over 1,000 others from voting. They hijacked the vote count, fraudulently electing white candidates by excluding votes cast by blacks. Federal officials attempted to hold the white mob members accountable, but police falsely charged and convicted a witness with perjury, intimidating other witnesses. By 1876, with Reconstruction ended and black voters intimidated with [[lynching]], there were just 10 black voters in the city, compared to 1,200 in February 1874.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 16, 2022|title=Ambushed in Eufaula: Alabama's forgotten race massacre|url=https://www.al.com/news/2022/01/ambushed-in-eufaula-alabamas-forgotten-race-massacre.html|access-date=January 29, 2022|website=al|language=en}}</ref>

By 1866 there was a general movement of black Baptists to [[Southern Baptists#Formation and separation of black Baptists|separate from the white churches]] and form their own congregations.  Black Baptists applied for permission to separate in May 1866.  The permission was granted, and, after negotiations, the black Baptists were allowed to purchase an old church building to house their own congregation.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wayne Flynt|title=Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Heart of Dixie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm41b65DOEMC&pg=PA138|year=1998|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-0927-5|pages=138–9}}</ref>  This congregation formed the basis of the Eufaula Association, one of two black Baptist associations formed in Alabama prior to the founding of the state association of black Baptist churches in 1868.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilson Fallin|title=Uplifting the People: Three Centuries of Black Baptists in Alabama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LImKo9-w60MC&pg=PA16|date=August 17, 2007|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-1569-6|page=16}}</ref>  By 1869 the site for the new white [[First Baptist Church of Eufaula]] had been purchased and $16,000 out of an estimated $25,000 necessary for its construction had been raised.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Flying Visit to Eufaula|work=Georgia Weekly Telegraph|place=Macon, Georgia|date=April 9, 1869|page=4}}</ref>