TheFourth Military District of theU.S. Army was one of five temporaryadministrative units of theU.S. War Department that existed in theAmerican South. The district was stipulated by theReconstruction Acts during theReconstruction period following the American Civil War.[1][2] It included the occupation troops in the states ofArkansas andMississippi. At various times, the district was commanded by generalsEdward Ord,Alvan Cullem Gillem, andAdelbert Ames.
Following the completion of the Civil War, the Federal government underPresident of the United StatesAndrew Johnson sought to restore order within the states that had composed the defeatedConfederate States of America. Johnson, a loyalTennessean, advocated a lenient strategy to remove all commercial and social restrictions between the states, with the intention for the South to return to its former position in the Union. He believed that former Confederates should receive amnesty for their actions during the war and regain full rights of citizenship. However, theRadical Republicans in Congress vehemently disagreed, and passed the 1867Reconstruction Acts, which divided the former Confederacy into military districts, in which a military commander controlled all social, economic, and political activity in the region. The Fourth Military District comprised the states of Mississippi and Arkansas, with its headquarters inVicksburg.
Edward Ord served as the district's first commander, with Alvan C. Gillem, like Johnson a loyal Tennessean, in charge of the sub-district of Mississippi. Gillem was later appointed as the district's commander. He favored the policy of leniency towards the former Confederates, invoking the displeasure of the Radicals in Congress. WhenUlysses S. Grant became president, he removed Gillem from command and reassigned him to Texas, replacing him again with Ord, a personal friend who had served under Grant during the Civil War. When Ord was later assigned command of the District of California, another former Civil War general, Adelbert Ames, assumed command in 1868, and was also named asGovernor of Mississippi, replacing former Confederate generalBenjamin G. Humphreys.
When Mississippi was readmitted to theUnion in 1870, the Fourth Military District was abolished and control of the state reverted to the newly elected state government.
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