Carpet-bagger, a term applied after the American civil war of 1861-65 to political adventurers from the northern states who tried to secure the votes of the negroes in the south; and implying that they had no property in the district save the contents of their carpet-bags.
Carpet-bagger
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 2: Beaugency to Cataract, p. 785
Source scan(s): p. 0802