Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Adelbert Ames Papers (Z/0017).
Creator/Collector: Adelbert Ames.
Date(s): 1874-1929.
Size: 0.30 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, 1973.
Provenance: Gift of unknown donor before 1973.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Adelbert Ames Papers (Z/0017), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Adelbert Ames

Adelbert Ames was born in East Thomaston (now Rockland), Maine, on October 31, 1835, the son of Martha Blaisdell Bradbury Tolman (1813-1903) and Jesse Ames (1808-1894), and brother of John Thomas Ames (1834-1915). Adelbert Ames graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1861. During the Civil War, Ames served with the Union Army from 1861 to 1865 as lieutenant, colonel, and brigadier general, and received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Battle of Bull Run. He was a captain in the Fifth Artillery of the Regular Army from 1864-1866, and he served as lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry from 1866 until 1870, when he resigned. In Boston on July 21, 1870, Ames married Blanche Hildreth Butler (1847-1939), the daughter of General Benjamin Franklin Butler, later the Governor of Massachusetts and unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1884 against Grover Cleveland. The couple established a residence in Natchez, however their primary residence remained in Massachusetts. Their children include Butler Ames (1871-1954), Edith Ames (1873-1958), Sarah Hildreth Ames (1874–1931), Blanche M. Ames (1878–1969), Adelbert Ames, Jr. (1880–1955), and Jessie Marshall Ames (1882–1967). Blanche Ames became an artist and a leader in women's suffrage movement.

Adelbert Ames was appointed Provisional Governor of Mississippi on March 15, 1868, by President Andrew Johnson, when Governor Benjamin G. Humphreys was removed from office. On March 17, 1869, he was appointed to the command of the fourth military district (including Mississippi), under the Reconstruction Act of 1867. As military governor, Ames garnered praise as well as great criticism for dismissing numerous state and local officials for having supported the Confederacy. Ames became convinced that he had a mission to assist the formerly enslaved people of Mississippi. He appointed Blacks to local offices and ordered that, for the first time in the state's history, they be eligible to serve on juries.

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1870, Ames became leader of the Republican faction that opposed the moderate policies of Governor James L. Alcorn. He held his position in the Senate from February 23, 1870, until January 10, 1874, when he resigned, having been elected Governor in 1873. As governor, Ames attempted to reduce the cost of government and make public land available to African Americans.

The fall elections of 1875 saw more violent disturbances, and Ames called out the state militia to maintain order. His actions incited more unrest, and widespread violence and voter intimidation occurred during the election. Ames called for federal intervention to combat the violence, but President Ulysses S. Grant declined. The Democratic Party secured a large majority in the state legislature and when it convened in January 1876, the legislature brought impeachment charges against Ames and several other Republican officials. In most cases, the charges were politically motivated. When it became apparent that Ames would be convicted and removed from office, his lawyers arranged a compromise with the state legislature; Ames resigned on March 29, 1876, and the charges were dropped. During the Spanish-American War, Ames was appointed brigadier general of volunteers from 1898-1899.

Adelbert Ames moved to New York City and later to Lowell, Massachusetts, and engaged in his father’s flour-milling business in Northfield, Minnesota. He was also interested in various manufacturing industries in Lowell. He discontinued active business pursuits and lived his retirement in Lowell. He died at the age of 97 at his winter home in Ormond Beach, Florida, on April 13, 1933. He was interred in Hildreth Family Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts.

 

Scope and Content Note:

Miscellaneous correspondence, principally dealing with Governor Ames's Reconstruction administration. Of special interest is the correspondence with E. Benjamin Andrews, President of Brown University, discussing the historical significance of Ames's administration. One long letter written by Ames gives a detailed and careful account of the finances of the state of Mississippi during the Reconstruction period. One letter to Governor Ames, signed with the initial "M," gives "secret" information on the Vicksburg riots.