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726 GEORGIA ineffectual attack was made on Fort McAllis- ter on the same river, a few miles S. W. of Sa- vannah, by a federal fleet. On June 1 1 Darien was burnt, and on June 17 Capt. John Rodgers in the Weehawken disabled and captured in Warsaw sound the confederate ironclad At- lanta, which had just come down from Savan- nah. A portion of the operations around Chat- tanooga in the autumn of 1863 took place in 1ST. W. Georgia. On May 6, 1864, commenced the decisive campaign from Chattanooga under Gen. Sherman, which resulted, after a persist- ent resistance and much severe fighting, in the evacuation of Atlanta by the confederates on Sept. 1. Sherman started, Nov. 15, on his memorable march to the sea. Passing through the heart of Georgia, he entered Milledgeville on the 23d, and reached the vicinity of Savan- nah on Dec. 10. On the 13th Fort McAllister was taken by storm, and on the 21st Savan- nah was occupied, having been evacuated the night before by the confederates under Gen. Hardee, who had destroyed the navy yard, two ironclads, several smaller vessels, and much ammunition and stores. A cavalry force under Gen. Wilson in April, 1865, entered Georgia from Alabama, took Columbus and West Point, arrived at Macon on the 21st, and captured Jefferson Davis, the fugitive president of the confederacy, at Irwinville, May 10. An- dersonville in this state was the seat of the most noted of the confederate military prisons, and there was another at Millen, which was removed upon the approach of Gen. Sherman. After the surrender of the confederate armies, the state was under the control of the military until June 17, 1865, when President Johnson appointed James Johnson, a citizen of the state, provisional governor, with power to call a con- vention of delegates chosen by the citizens loyal to the United States, who were qualified as voters by the laws in force immediately before the passage of the ordinance of seces- sion, and who should take the oath prescribed in the amnesty proclamation of May 29. The election of delegates took place Oct. 4, and the convention, assembling at Milledgeville on the 25th, remained in session 13 days, during which time it repealed the ordinance of secession and acts in pursuance thereof, declared the war debt void, amended the constitution by abolish- ing slavery and in other respects, and ordered an election to be held on Nov. 15 for govern- or, members of the legislature, and congress- men. The legislature convened Dec. 4, and soon afterward ratified the amendment to the constitution of the United States abolishing slavery, by a unanimous vote. On the 14th Charles J. Jenkins, who had been elected gov- ernor, was inaugurated, and on the 19th the provisional governor was instructed to turn over to him the government of the state. These measures not meeting with the approval of congress, the senators and representatives were not admitted to seats; and under the recon- struction acts of 1867 Georgia, with Alabama and Florida, was constituted the third military division, and placed in command of Major Gen. Pope. A registration of those entitled to vote under these acts was subsequently made, when 192,235 voters were registered, viz.: 96,262 white and 95,973 colored. An election was held during the five days commencing Oct. 29, which resulted in a large majority for a consti- tutional convention (the whites generally re- fraining from voting), and in the choice of 166 delegates, of whom 33 were colored. The convention met at Atlanta Dec. 9, and ad- journed finally March 11, 1868, after framing a constitution, and providing for an election for its ratification or rejection and for the choice of state officers and congressmen, to be held April 20 and the three following days. The re- sult was a majority of 17,699 for ratification, and the election of Rufus B. Bullock, republi- can, by 7,047 majority over John B. Gordon, democrat. The legislature consisted of 22 re- publicans and 22 democrats in the senate, and 73 republicans and 102 democrats in the house ; 3 senators and 25 representatives were colored. On June 25 an act of congress was passed pro- viding for the readrnission of Georgia, with other states, upon the ratification by the legis- lature of the 14th amendment to the constitu- tion of the United States, and the abrogation of certain provisions of the state constitution prohibiting suits on debts contracted prior to June 1, 1865. The legislature organized on July 4, and on the 21st complied with the pre- scribed conditions by a vote of 24 to 14 in the senate and 89 to 70 in the house, and on the following day Gov. Bullock was inaugurated. On the 29th United States senators were elect- ed, and on the 30th the government of the state was turned over to the civil authorities. The congressional representatives had been admitted to seats on the 25th, but the senators were still excluded. In September the colored members of the legislature were expelled, and the candidates having the next highest number of votes in the respective districts seated in their places, on the ground that by the code and the laws existing at the adoption of the constitution, which were continued in force by one of its provisions, negroes were ineligible to office. This action was regarded by the majori- ty at Washington as a violation of the recon- struction acts and of the conditions upon which the state had been admitted ; and on the organ- ization of the 41st congress, March 4, 1869, the representatives from Georgia were not per- mitted to take their seats. Subsequently the supreme court of the state decided that negroes were entitled to hold office, and on Dec. 22 congress passed an act directing the governor by proclamation to convene at Atlanta all per- sons declared by the order of Gen. Meade (who had succeeded Gen. Pope in December, 1867) of June 25, 1868, to be elected to the legisla- ture, who were required to take the test oath pres'cribed by the act as a condition precedent to organization, and to ratify the 15th amend-