Episode Details

Robert Cwiklik, guest author, describes how, following the legislative intervention, Sheridan sent his infamous "Banditti" telegrams to Secretary of War William Belknap. He proposed that Congress declare the White Leagueringleaders "Banditti" so they could be tried by military commissions and executed. Sheridan's blunt call for military justice against "respectable" white citizens sparked national outrage, leading to "indignation meetings" across Northern cities. Even prominent Republicans like Senator Carl Schurz denounced the move as unconstitutional and lawless, reflecting a growing Northern desire to end Reconstruction. Grant was forced to defend his administration to the Senate; while he refused to apologize for restoring order, he stopped short of endorsing Sheridan's proposal. Grant noted that while military tribunals might be effective, they were no longer strictly legal because his habeas corpus suspension powers had expired in 1871. This episode became a massive self-inflicted wound for the Reconstruction effort, turning public opinion against further federal enforcement of Black rights. Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War (7)