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Russell Guerin
A Creole in Mississippi
2014-11-30 18:59:07
Police Court during Reconstruction
...as gleaned from Book A Minutes Russell B. Guerin
Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War is generally considered to cover the years
1866	to 1877. It was formally begun when Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of
1867, dividing the South into five military districts. Hancock County was in the 21st Military District.
This analysis covers the years 1866 to 1873, hopefully rendering a glimpse into how our county weathered those trying times. While difficult, the endeavor was one of peace, not war.
Board of Police Minutes, Book A
Called Book A, Hancock County Ms Board of Police Minutes, this is the first of many volumes in our courthouse archives recently found by our Clerk of Court and his staff. Subsequent volumes run through letter Z and then they pick up again at A-prime.
There is so much information that it is necessary to restrict this study to Book A, at least for the moment. It is essentially a follow-up to what we were fortunate to be given out of the Hilda Hoffman collection, that being the minutes of the Police Court during the Civil War. Specific years covered were 1863 to 1866. The earlier study can be found on my web site, www.russguerin.com. titled "Minutes of Hancock County's Police Court,
1863-1866....a Civil War activity."
On balance, the initial observation of these documents was that here existed a welcome piece of evidence that the various governmental organizations had not all shut down during the war years. In fact, many of them had, including to some degree the court system. But here was one body which continued not only to function, but to do some of the hard work of dealing with vital things like roads and bridges, and indeed, the survival of many made indigent by the war.
That first study reveals details of some of those important activities, such as the awarding