But most Southerners preferred the rule of the army to the alternative reign of the carpetbagger, scalawag, and Negro.

The extreme radicals at the North, on the other hand, were disgusted at the conservative policy of the generals.

The apathy of the whites at the beginning of the military reconstruction excited surprise on all sides.

Not only was there no violent opposition, but for a few weeks there was no opposition at all.
The civil officials were openly unsympathetic, and the newspapers voiced dissent not untouched with disgust; others simply could not take the situation seriously because it seemed so absurd; many leaders were indifferent, while others among them, Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Longstreet, and Governor Patton--without approving the policy, advised the whites to cooperate with the military authorities and save all they could out of the situation.

General Beauregard, for instance, wrote in 1867: "If the suffrage of the Negro is properly handled and directed, we shall defeat our adversaries with their own weapons.