September 30 1869
On this day in 1869, Texas governor Elisha Pease resigned in protest against the actions of Reconstruction authorities. Pease, a Unionist during the Civil War, helped organize the Republican party in the state after the war. In 1867 he was appointed governor by Gen. Philip Sheridan. Pease's efforts to reorganize the state government and bring accountability to its actions bred conflict in the Republican ranks and bitterness among former Confederates. He resigned from the governorship in 1869 because of differences with Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds over Reconstruction policies that Pease considered radical and despotic, particularly the army's dismissal of Pease's supporters from state office.