mad Just an update. I was installing Automad on a server where Wordpress is also running. Apparently Automad doesn't play nice with WP, even though both were running from their own separate directories, with their own rewrites and permissions.
I've installed Automad on a separate server, where it is the only content management system running, and everything went fine. Now I just need to figure out what the conflict might be with WP, as ideally I will need both running off the same server, for different purposes.