Note 27 — Chapter I

The scalawag was the war-time Unionist or reconstructed rebel who had ceased opposing Congress. A negro preacher defines the difference between a carpet-bagger and scalawag as follows: “A carpet-bagger came down here from some place and stole enough to fill his carpet-bag, but the scalawag was a man who knew the woods and swamps better than the carpet-bagger did, and he stole the carpet-bagger’s carpet-bag and ran off with it.” House Misc. Doc., 42 Congress, 2 Sess., No. 211, 478.