 The white minority in the county bitterly resented federal authority and giving the franchise to freedmen, who elected a bi-racial county government dominated by Republican Party officeholders.Republican dominance in local offices continued in the county until 1880, but the conservative whites of the Democratic Party regained control of the state government before the official end of Reconstruction.In 1880, the Citizen's Party of Harrison County, amid charges of fraud and coercion, gained control of elected positions in the county government after winning on a technicality, which involved hiding a key ballot box.