Curtis Hooks Brogden | |
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| 42nd Governor of North Carolina | |
| In office July 11, 1874 – January 1, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | Tod R. Caldwell |
| Succeeded by | Zebulon Baird Vance |
| 2ndLieutenant Governor of North Carolina | |
| In office 1873 – July 1874 | |
| Governor | Tod R. Caldwell |
| Preceded by | Tod R. Caldwell |
| Succeeded by | Thomas J. Jarvis |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's2nd district | |
| In office March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879 | |
| Preceded by | John A. Hyman |
| Succeeded by | William H. Kitchin |
| Member of theNorth Carolina House of Commons | |
| In office 1839–1851 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Curtis Hooks Brogden (1816-11-06)November 6, 1816 |
| Died | January 5, 1901(1901-01-05) (aged 84) |
| Resting place | Willowdale Cemetery in Goldsboro |
| Political party | Republican (from 1867) |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic (until 1867) |
| Residence(s) | Goldsboro, North Carolina, US |
| Profession | Farmer, Lawyer, Politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
|
| Branch/service | North Carolina State Militia |
| Rank | Major general |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Curtis Hooks Brogden (November 6, 1816 – January 5, 1901) was an American farmer, attorney and politician who served as the42nd governor of the U.S. state ofNorth Carolina from 1874 to 1877 during theReconstruction era.[1] He succeeded to the position after the death of GovernorTod R. Caldwell, after having been elected as the 2ndlieutenant governor of the state on theRepublican ticket in 1872.
Brogden had a long political career, first elected to state office in 1838 at the age of 22. Building a close friendship with editorWilliam Woods Holden of theNorth Carolina Standard, he served nearly without a break in various state offices and lastly as US Congressman, until essentially retiring from politics in 1878. He was elected to one more term in the state legislature in 1886.
He was born on November 6, 1816, in the Brogden family home ten miles southwest ofGoldsboro, North Carolina, the son of ayeoman farmer.[1] The Brogdens wereQuakers of English descent and came to oldDobbs County during the colonial period.[2] Although he attended the local district schools, like most North Carolina farm boys of his generation, his opportunity for higher education was limited, but Brogden was anauto-didact, learning by his own studies.
His father Pierce Brogden was a veteran of theWar of 1812, and his grandfather, Thomas Brogden, served in theContinental Army during theAmerican Revolution. Brogden continued the family tradition of military service and joined the North Carolina state militia at the age of 18. He was elected captain at his second muster, and eventually rose to the rank ofmajor general. During theCivil War he served theConfederate cause although he never held a field command due to his position in the North Carolina state government that kept him inRaleigh for the duration of the conflict.
First elected to theNorth Carolina House of Commons in 1838 as aJacksonianDemocrat, Brogden was its youngest member at age 22. He became known as the "Eloquent Plowboy from Wayne" and served in the House until 1851 where he was the longtime chairman of the House Finance Committee. In 1838, he was also elected asWayne CountyJustice of the Peace, a position he held for 20 consecutive years. Brogden studiedlaw and was admitted to thebar in 1845 but never seriously undertook the practice of law.
In 1852, Brogden was elected to theNorth Carolina Senate, where he served until 1857. That year he was elected by theGeneral Assembly[3] as StateComptroller, a post he held for ten years.[1] He continued in office through the crises ofsecession,Civil War, andemancipation. During these decades he formed a political alliance with Holden who as the Civil War dragged on became a quiet critic of the Confederate government, a leader of the North Carolina peace movement, and was ultimately appointedgovernor of North Carolina by PresidentAndrew Johnson in 1865 for a brief term and then elected in 1868.[3]
After the Civil War,Radical Republicans in Congress were not content withPresident Johnson's moderate approach for reconstruction. Concerned that Southern states passedBlack Codes restrictingfreedmen, they passed theMilitary Reconstruction Acts to temporarily replace state governments and try to remake the societies to incorporate full emancipation of African-American slaves, establish free labor and other rights of citizens for blacks. The Act stipulated that the former Confederate states had to include Negro male suffrage in their new constitutions.
These measures were opposed by most whites in the South, although North Carolina had extended the franchise tofree blacks before rescinding it in 1835, followingNat Turner's slave rebellion. In North Carolina before the war, blacks made up about one-third of the population of the state, with a majority in the coastal areas and near parity in some Piedmont counties.Wilmington had had the largest proportion and number of free blacks before the war. Due to his Quaker beliefs, Brogden supported extending the franchise.
Brogden followed Holden into theRepublican Party after the war.[3] His change of parties and support of negro suffrage shocked his ex-Confederate friends who opposed allowing blacks to vote and because the Republican Party in North Carolina was at the time dominated bycarpetbaggers, freedmen andscalawags.[4]
He briefly left the Senate in 1867 after being elected to represent Wayne County at a state constitutional convention. In 1868 he was elected to the State Senate as a Republican, serving for three terms. He also was a member of theElectoral College supporting Republican,Ulysses S. Grant. In 1870 he was appointed as a U.S. Collector of Internal Revenue.[1] He supported Holden as governor and voted in the state legislature against hisimpeachment.
In 1872, he was elected on the Republican ticket aslieutenant governor withTod R. Caldwell. When Gov. Caldwell died in office in 1874, Brogden succeeded to the position of governor. By then, white Democrats had regained control of the state legislature, in part by a program of suppression of black voting carried out by theRed Shirts.
During his term as governor, Brogden made a stronger attempt to work with the Democrats who controlled the legislature than his Republican predecessors, and focused on railroad construction and higher education. He worked diligently to re-open theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he had been an appointed trustee from 1869 to 1872. Brogden also called for founding a college for blacks.[3] While making efforts to lower the state debt, he supported construction of a state penitentiary as a public good. During his tenure as governor, the federal government completed theCurrituck Beach Lighthouse to light the last remaining dark stretch of coastline along North Carolina'sOuter Banks, long known as theGraveyard of the Atlantic in 1875.[5] In 1876, Governor Brogden represented North Carolina at theCentennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
While serving as governor, Brogden was elected in 1876 as a Republican to theUnited States House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's 2nd congressional district, which was a predominately black Republican stronghold in the Piedmont area. In Congress. He worked to gain internal improvements for his state and reduced internal revenue taxes. He also advocated direct presidential elections and pensions forMexican War veterans. His vote with the Democratic majority for the U.S. Army reorganization bill was unpopular with his Republican constituents.
Brogden served one term and was not re-nominated in 1878, a year of intense rivalry among second district Republicans. Amid charges of fraud, the Democrats narrowly elected their nominee,William H. Kitchin. Two years later, Brogden tried to regain his seat in Congress. After many Republicans disputed the outcome of the turbulent convention, he issued a broadside declaring himself an independent candidate against the convention nominee, Northern immigrantOrlando Hubbs. Brogden called for reduction in the tariff and other taxes and accused Hubbs of not representing the interests of the South. But his efforts collapsed when Republicans closed ranks in response to the entry of a third Democratic candidate into the race. Wayne County was redistricted to theThird Congressional District before Brogden’s next campaign for Congress. In 1884, Brogden was nominated, only to be defeated in the general election byWharton J. Green, a Democrat.
After losing the congressional election in 1884, Brogden essentially retired from public life with the exception of a single term, in 1887, representing Wayne County in theNorth Carolina House of Representatives. In a House controlled by Republicans and independents, he spoke in favor of changing the centralized, indirect system of county government the Democrats had instituted ten years before in order to “save” Eastern North Carolina from “Negro rule.” The House passed a bill changing the system, but the Senate rejected it. Brogden was not re-elected in 1888. By then one of the largest landowners in Wayne County, Brogden devoted himself to farming.[6]
Brogden's goal of establishing a college for blacks was finally realized more than a decade after he left the governor's office. On March 7, 1887, The North Carolina General Assembly foundedNorth Carolina State University as aland-grant college under the name "North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts." In the segregated system, it was open only to white students. Under terms of theSecond Morrill Act, in 1890 states were required to have colleges available to all races of students. In order to qualify for the land grants, North Carolina in 1891 established qualifying programs at what becameNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, ahistorically black college, first as part of Shaw Collegiate Institute in Raleigh.
Brogden, a lifelongbachelor, died on January 5, 1901, in his hometown ofGoldsboro, North Carolina and is buried there in Willowdale Cemetery.[1]
Brogden's younger brother Willis H. Brogden (1839-1922) was convicted of murder in 1892 following a dispute over the shooting of one of Willis's cows that led to the death of one of his neighbors. Willis claimed he struck the man, who died of his injuries weeks later, in the head with abilly club in self defense after being attacked with a knife. Despite numerous witnesses who attested to Willis's excellent character and three of the twelve jurors being potentially compromised in his favor (two were related to the defendant by marriage, and one had previously stated that he believed the accused was innocent) Willis was found guilty ofmanslaughter. After he was sentenced to six years in thepenitentiary, counsel moved to appeal the case and Willis was released from jail on $5000.00 bond (equal to approximately $140,000.00 in 2019) provided by ex-Governor Brogden.[7] Willis received a somewhat controversial pardon from GovernorHolt in 1893.[8]
Brogden's nephewWillis J. Brogden (1877-1935), son of Willis H., was a prominent attorney who served asmayor ofDurham from 1911 to 1915. He became a judge in 1925, when GovernorMcLean appointed him associate justice of theNorth Carolina Supreme Court to fill the unexpired term of JudgeL. R. Varser. He was elected to a full term on November 6, 1928, and served on the court until his death in 1935.
Another of Brogden's nephews, L. Cramner Brogden, was superintendent of public schools inKinston in the early 1900s and later served as state supervisor of rural education for North Carolina.[9]
Brogden Middle School in Wayne County is named for Governor Brogden.[10]
A North Carolina historical marker marks the site of Brogden's home along US 13 southwest of Goldsboro.[11]
Ex-Gov. Curtis H. Brogden is dead. He was born on a farm in Wayne County, N.C., in 1815. His early days were spent farming, but he found time to attend the district schools with fair regularity and to devote some of his leisure to rehearsing in the militia.
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| Preceded by | Republican nominee forLieutenant Governor of North Carolina 1872 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Tod R. Caldwell | Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina 1873–1874 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of North Carolina July 11, 1874 – January 1, 1877 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's 2nd congressional district 1877–1879 | Succeeded by |
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| People | |
