Militia organizations and military schools were forbidden.
No uniform might be worn, no parades were permitted, no memorial and historical societies were to be organized, and no meeting of any kind could be held without a permit.

The attempt to control the press resulted in what one general called "a horrible uproar." Editors were forbidden to express themselves too strongly against reconstruction; public advertising and printing were awarded only to those papers actively supporting reconstruction.

Several newspapers were suppressed, a notable example being the "Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor", whose editor, Ryland Randolph, was a picturesque figure in Alabama journalism and a leader in the Ku Klux Klan.
The military administration was thorough and, as a whole, honest and efficient.

With fewer than ten thousand soldiers, the generals maintained order and carried on the reconstruction of the South.

The whites made no attempt at resistance, though they were irritated by military rule and resented the loss of self-government.