A Voting Story by Temperance Blalock

The Rockville City Election is this Tuesday, November 3, 2009 and we have been encouraging everyone to vote. Last time only 20% turned out. Rockville Central friend, Temperance Blalock sent along this story about a time when voting was taken much more seriously.

I’ve heard and read lots of amusing stories of this nature, about how election day in the South in the late 19th century was a rambunctious and dangerous occasion, because voters took it so seriously.

I was glad to hear all of the recent talk about the significance of citizen participation in the election, that they MUST actually VOTE. It’s sad that so many people are blase about it.

I’m an amateur historian and genealogist, with a special interest in the Civil War in the South, and the period of Reconstruction. My Blalock ancestors were Southern Unionists, living in central Tennessee (Bledsoe/Cumberland counties), and the communities were polarized between the Democrats (former Confederates), and the Republicans (former Southern Unionists). Election Day in the 1880-1890s was a MAJOR event of the year, and the people exercised their right to vote with a vengeance. Not only did they make sure that their (male) family members all went to the polls and voted, they would even kidnap family members who had other allegiances and would forcibly take them to the polls, and intimidate them to vote a particular ticket. The bottom line was that eligible voters (only males) took their right to vote with a deadly seriousness, and gunfights at the polls were a regular occurrence.

I’m reminded of a story about one of my distant relatives, which I read in a book called “My Swafford Ancestors” by Tommy Swafford of Bledsoe County. The story goes that this man, I’ll call him Sam, walked 10 miles from his home to the polls to cast his vote. When he arrived at the polls, he ended up in the middle of a gunfight between two groups, and was hit in the backside with a rifle shot. He decided it was too dangerous to remain at the polls long enough to cast his vote, so he walked back the 10 miles to his home.

When he got home, he told his mother about the gunfight. Mother said “but, did you vote?”, and Sam said “No, it was too dangerous.” Mother then very resolutely told him that he must return to cast his vote, and she put a big pillow on the back of the mule, perched Sam on the pillow, and told him not to come back until he had cast his vote.

Temperance Blalock

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