top,' said he, 'that is the trouble.' The Union element, and the worst part of
the Union element, was uppermost." Confederates and Confederate sympathizers
in Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, were disfranchised. In
West Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, "war trespass" suits were brought
against returning Confederates for military acts done in war time. In Missouri
and West Virginia, strict test oaths excluded Confederates from office, from
the polls, and from the professions of teaching, preaching, and law. On the
other hand in central and western Kentucky, the predominant Unionist
population, themselves suffering through the abolition of slavery, and by the
objectionable operations of the Freedmen's Bureau and the unwise military
administration, showed more sympathy for the Confederates, welcomed them home,
and soon relieved them of all restrictions.

Still another element of discord was added by the Northerners who came to
exploit the South. Many mustered-out soldiers proposed to stay. Speculators of
all kinds followed the withdrawing Confederate lines and with the conclusion
of peace spread through the country, but they were not cordially received.
With the better class, the Southerners, especially the soldiers, associated
freely if seldom intimately. But the conduct of a few of their number who
considered that the war had opened all doors to them, who very freely
expressed their views, gave advice, condemned old customs, and were generally
offensive, did much to bring all Northerners into disrepute. Tactlessly
critical letters published in Northern papers did not add to their popularity.
The few Northern women felt the ostracism more keenly than did the men.
Benjamin C. Truman, an agent of President Johnson, thus summed up the
situation: "There is a prevalent disposition not to associate too freely with
Northern men or to receive them into the circles of society; but it is far
from unsurmountable. Over Southern society, as over every other, woman reigns
supreme, and they are more embittered against those whom they deem the authors
of all their calamities than are their brothers, sons, and husbands." But, of