1868

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1869 →

Events

• April 4 – During the period of Reconstruction, 1865–1870, the commanding general of the military district of Virginia named the governor and the lieutenant governor. Francis H. Pierpont was removed from office as governor and replaced by Henry H. Wells, an ex-soldier for Michigan who took the title of provisional governor of Virginia from 1868 to 1869. Wells began his administration on a bold note by sweeping all state, county and municipal officials out of office.
• April – Mayor C. L. Fowler, aldermen A. P. Abell, E. S. H. Wise, W. A. Watson, R. F. Harris and J. W. Lipops were removed from office by General J. M. Schofield, the military commander of the district of which Charlottesville was a part.
• April 20 – T. W. Savage appointed mayor for the Town of Charlottesville by General J. M. Schofield.
• September – Mayor T. W. Savage was arraigned before a Union lieutenant on charges of having declared himself to be a military dictator of the town. Savage was acquitted.
• July 28 – The 14th Amendment ratified, prohibiting former civil and military officeholders who supported the Confederacy from again holding any state or Federal office. The amendment, however, also allowed Congress to remove this political disability by a two-thirds vote in both Houses. Between 1868 and 1872, a number of ex-Confederates applied for and received such congressional amnesty. A General Amnesty Act of May 22, 1872 (17 Stat. 142), removed this office-holding restriction for all but a few hundred individuals.

Elections

Under military rule, no local elections were held until 1870.