Ex-Confederates insisted they were provoked, and they listed the provocations: “putting on airs,” “sassiness,” “impudence,” “insolence,” and “disrespect.”18 The relentless violence against freedpeople outraged Sheridan, who was a dangerous man to antagonize. Throckmorton opposed the pending Fourteenth Amendment and thought the Texas legislature should have the opportunity to reject the Thirteenth, which was the product of “a parcel of experimenting, humbugging, rascally, fanatical hounds of hell who have served the devil all their lives.” He predictably refused to protect Unionists and
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