Z 1855.000
GOLDING (JOHN REID II) LETTER
1869
Biography
John Reid Golding II was born to John Reid Golding I and Clementina Brown
Golding on December 20, 1811, in Athens, Georgia. He married Eliza Ann
Ligon on January 4, 1829, and they had thirteen children. Golding settled
in Choctaw County, Mississippi, in 1839. He became an itinerant Baptist
minister in 1844, and he later pastored the Bethany Church near Slate Springs.
Golding enlisted as a private in the Thirty-third Mississippi
Infantry, Company G, on April 27, 1863. He was captured at Vicksburg,
on July 4, 1863, and later paroled. After the war, Golding returned to
his home in Choctaw County. It has been suggested that Golding may have
run for the United States Presidency in 1868, but no evidence has been
found to substantiate this claim. Golding died on August 28, 1869, and
he was buried in the Roberts Cemetery in Webster County.
Scope and Content Note
After the Civil War the imposition of federal military rule enabled the
Republican Party to quickly dominate Mississippi politics, and by January
1868 a convention of mainly Republican delegates had assembled in Jackson
to draft a new state constitution. Although there were a number outspoken
Union League radicals at the convention, the majority of the delegates
initially favored a moderate state constitution that would be acceptable
to most white citizens. Unfortunately, as the convention progressed the
vehement attacks of conservative newspaper editors caused many of the moderate
or uncommitted delegates to join with the more radical elements at the
convention. The result was a new state constitution that contained a number
of provisions that were considered objectionable by moderate and conservative
members of the electorate. By a narrow margin, the new state constitution
was rejected in a referendum held in June 1868. It was not ratified until
1869 when citizens were permitted to vote separately on the objectionable
provisions. Mississippi re-entered the Union in 1870.
The letter dated February 15, 1869, written by John Reid Golding II
of Choctaw County, to his aunt Mrs. C. M. Golding, et al.,
of Crosshill, Laurens District, South Carolina, provides important documentation
for the economic and political history of Mississippi during Reconstruction.
In the letter Golding mentioned traveling to Jackson, to publicly
denounce the ratification of the 1868 state constitution. He also described
the unlawful destruction of property and the expropriation of provisions
by various Choctaw County members of the Union League whom he called \"Feegees,\"
"Rogues," and "Tories." Golding even threatened to kill some of them if
they attempted to take any of his provisions. There are also a number of
references in the letter documenting the many economic hardships that Golding
and his family faced as they struggled to rebuild their lives in the aftermath
of war. Additional references in the letter describe the failing health
of Golding.
A literal interpretation of the following passage from the Golding letter
would seem to indicate that he actually ran for the United States Presidency
in 1868: "But I was so badly beaten in the Presidential election that I
have give up saying anything of any consequence." However, it seems far
more likely that Golding was speaking metonymically regarding the defeat
of his candidate, Democrat Horatio Seymour, by Republican Ulysses S. Grant.
