USA > South Carolina > Spartanburg County > A history of Spartanburg county > Part 14
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The conviction was slowly forced on Spartans that continued refusal to swallow the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave the freed slaves the unconditional right to vote and hold office, would result in confiscation outright, or in foreclosures and sales for taxes, that would amount to the same thing. General D. E. Sickles, military commander in control of the two Carolinas, had cooperated with Governor Orr in the so-called "Stay Law" order, and this coopera- tion he could stop. Many recognized this legislation as dangerous and extra-constitutional, and yet welcomed it for its immediate ben- efits ; but it was not unanimously approved. Its beneficial results were later to be pointed out by James L. Orr as one of his grounds for joining the Republican Party. This, to the dismay of his old friends, he did in 1868.
B. F. Perry besought men, during the summer of 1867, not to sacrifice their Constitutional rights on the altar of expediency, but to withstand the Fourteenth Amendment, to register and then vote against the proposal to hold a convention to frame a new State Con- stitution. After what they had endured, surely Southern men could endure four more years of military despotism. In a Public Letter he said :
I will never degrade myself, or my State, or surrender my constitutional rights or Republican principles to get back into the Union. I will live under a military government, no matter how
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absolute or despotic it may be, and bequeath it to my children, sooner than vote a Negro government for South Carolina, which every man will do who votes for a Convention.
As for fear of confiscation, Perry pointed out that a State Convention offered far stronger threats of it than did Congress.
The view expressed by B. F. Perry would have been that of the Spartan a year earlier ; but now that paper argued that men must vote for a Convention and secure a share in its proceedings by send- ing to it the best citizens, men able to influence the freedmen, who were sure to outnumber them. Refusal to register and to vote for a. Convention would be suicidal, said the Spartan, June 13, 1867. Two weeks later the editor slashed out at former Governor Perry, urging people not to take him too seriously, even though Perry con- stantly pointed out that he had during the fifties predicted the dire things which had, in the sixties, come to pass; yet, this time, the editor protested, Perry's view was not right. Nor did the Spartan endorse Wade Hampton's view, expressed in a Public Letter. Hamp- ton deplored divisions of sentiment and policy. He denied the right of Congress to prescribe rules for citizenship, and repeated his for- mer statements that he had rather submit to the existing military rule than sanction the Fourteenth Amendment, urging refusal to vote.
The nature of the political maelstrom is indicated by the revul- sions in policy of the Spartan, which in October, with bitter sarcasm, questioned whether its counsel had been correct, in view of what it referred to as the white man's apathy and the Negro's stubbornness, duplicity, and willful blindness. Furthermore, while conceding that Spartanburg had nearly 1,300 majority of white votes, and could elect white delegates to a convention, provided one were called, the editor realized that such a condition would not prevail throughout most of the State, and that even in Spartanburg the Negroes were being skillfully arrayed against the whites. Therefore, the Spartan said : "There is a great change in the public mind of the District . . . very many of our best citizens say that, if they vote at all, they will vote against a Convention."
Registrations and Much uncertainty attended the question of who Elections in 1867 had the right to register and vote. By its Re- construction legislation Congress had set aside President Johnson's action in restoring citizenship to ex-Confederates. In July, 1867, a Board of Registration was appointed for Spartanburg District :
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Samuel T. Poinier, John Thompson, Javan Briant, John Anderson, J. T. Wood, Moses Wakefield, Silas Benson, Dr. J. H. Shores, B. H. Steadman. Qualifications for registering were greatly modi- fied from time to time by the orders of General Sickles and his suc- cessor, General E. S. R. Canby. Eventually the rolls showed a reg- istration of 2,710 white voters and 1,448 blacks. At a public meeting in the courthouse, November 5, presided over by S. N. Evins and ad- dressed by B. F. Perry, nominees were chosen for the State Conven- tion : J. W. Carlisle, J. C. Zimmerman,S. C. Means, and S. Morgan.
An effort was made to split the Democratic vote for these nomi- nees by playing on division in public opinion-and that at a time when unity of action among the whites was imperative. The men nomi- nated November 5 were denounced as representatives of "the ex- treme party ;" and the Union League and Negroes of the other ex- treme. Neither of these parties, the objectors charged, were truly representative of the mass of white voters of the district, who were "earnestly conservative." A third ticket was therefore proposed- the People's Ticket: W. K. Blake of Spartanburg C. H., Dr. Robert Smith of Walnut Grove, O. P. McArthur of Limestone Springs, and Dr. Shores. W. K. Blake immediately published a card refus- ing to allow the use of his name on this ticket.
The Republican Party of the District-usually called the Radi- cals-met at the courthouse November 13, 1867, and nominated its candidates to the State Convention: J. P. F. Camp, Coy Wingo, John S. Gentry, and Rice Foster.
The election was held November 19 and 20, 1867, and results were announced in the Spartan as follows: John S. Gentry, 1,580; J. P. F. Camp, 1,557; H. H. Foster (black), 1,294; Coy Wingo (black), 762; Eliphas Rampley (repudiationist and white), 638; J. W. Carlisle, 414; J. C. Zimmerman, 392; Robert M. Smith, 138; J. H. Shores, 83; O. P. McArthur, 50; J. H. Vandike, 31; Scatter- ing, 125.
The Spartan commented: "We don't think it worth while to make any further analysis of this 'nigger affair.' If anyone can find any comfort in comparing the facts with the figures, they are welcome to do so. We can find none." The editor estimated that, of the 2,710 whites registered, only 700 voted, and of these 510 against the Convention ; and that of the 1,448 blacks registered, prob- ably all voted for it.
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The Constitution General Canby, December 14, 1867, called the
of 1868 Constitutional Convention, chosen by the Novem- ber election, to assemble in Charleston, January 14, 1868. Its mem- bership included forty-eight whites and seventy-six Negroes, all but four of the members being Republicans. From the time of this meeting until its adjournment, March 18, the Spartan's columns were filled with accounts of the tragi-comedy being enacted in Charleston and of the high-handed proceedings of Congress in Wash- ington. The spectacle of "two obscure white men and two ex-slaves" representing Spartanburg District in a Convention to frame a new Constitution overwhelmed its editor. "Oh!" he wailed, "ye gods, be ready with all your thunderbolts, and-and-and-" Words, in- deed, failed him for the time. His only comfort was that Spartan- burg's "precious delegation" seemed passive.
On February 28, 1868, at the courthouse "a large and respec- table meeting of citizens-residents of this town," organized the Constitutional Club of Spartanburg, the object being to prevent the adoption of the new constitution. Simpson Bobo presided over the meeting, and W. K. Blake acted as secretary. Dr. Lionel C. Ken- nedy was elected president. Five vice-presidents were chosen : Joseph Foster, Dr. J. J. Boyd, John B. Cleveland, John H. Evins, and James Nesbitt. Dr. W. T. Russell was elected treasurer, and W. K. Blake, secretary. The organizers urged whites and blacks in all communities of the District to form similar clubs which would be units of the District organization. The response was enthusiastic ; the Spartan was made the official organ of these clubs, and five thousand copies a week were distributed, containing detailed accounts of the progress of the movement.
When the new Constitution was ready to be submitted to the voters, the Constitutional Clubs presented, in two broad columns of the Spartan, an ADDRESS TO THE REGISTERED VOTERS OF SPARTANBURG DISTRICT, prepared and signed by the appointed committee consisting of T. Stobo Farrow, John H. Evins, S. T. Poinier, and J. J. Boyd. This address analyzed the proposed constitution, pointed out its objectionable features, and urged its rejection. It also urged the voters to support, in the approaching election, April 14-16, 1868, the Conservative ticket, with Joel Foster for Senator; and Samuel Littlejohn, Robert M. Smith, Claude C. Turner, and Javan Briant, for the House of Representatives. This
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ticket was elected; and the District vote went Democratic by a ma- jority of 549, and against the proposed constitution.
Of 339 white men who voted at the courthouse box, only two cast Radical votes. About fifty of them voted for the new consti- tution. In the entire District about one hundred Negroes voted the Democratic ticket ; about two hundred and fifty whites voted the Radi- cal ticket. Of registered voters, 1,100 whites and 300 Negroes failed to vote-many on account of high water on all the streams.
The constitution adopted was not entirely obnoxious; on the contrary, it embodied many reforms long urged by advanced thinkers in South Carolina. But the fact that it was the product of a mili- tary despotism and that the mode of its adoption outraged every political principle dear to their hearts, rendered it hateful to most South Carolinians. This constitution was ratified by an overwhelm- ing majority of the popular vote of the State at large, and was approved by Congress June 25, 1868. This was the first time in the history of South Carolina that a constitution was ratified by a popular vote, and also the first election in which Negroes partici- pated. There were 133,597 registered voters; 35,551 did not vote, 27,288 voted against ratification, 70,758 in favor of the new con- stitution.
The white Democrats sent a special commission to Washington to protest the proceedings of the military government in South Carolina, but it received no encouragement. In June Congress pro- claimed South Carolina readmitted to the Union under the new constitution. General Canby instructed Governor Orr, July 6, 1868, to turn his office over to Governor-elect R. K. Scott of Ohio.
Thus was inaugurated South Carolina's "Carpet-bagger Regime" -a nightmare hardly believable when described today.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Union League and the Ku Klux Klan
Shadow of the For many weeks, beginning early in 1868, the Spar- Ku Klux Klan tan was reproducing accounts of the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. The improper administration of the Freedmen's Bureau by the Radicals, and the organization among the negroes of the Loyal League-commonly known as the Union League-explained the rise of the Ku Klux Klan as an inevitable counter-action. In the spring the Klan was operating in Spartanburg District. Buildings used by the Union League were reported mysteriously burned. Negroes and whites began to publish cards explaining that they had joined the League under misunderstanding and had now repudiated it. It was clear that these cards were written under compulsion. The League retaliated by setting fire to the property of men suspected of membership in the Klan.
Federal Soldiers In the upper part of Greenville and Spartanburg Again in Counties, along the North Carolina line, a thinly set- Spartanburg tled and semi-mountainous section was early given the appellation "The Dark Corner." It was a refuge for lawbreakers, fugitives from justice who could defy arrest from the officers of one state or county by merely stepping across a line. It had many stills, which were operated without license, and was famous for its "moon- shine" whiskey. Through it passed a road from the mountains, made in pioneer days by Indian traders and drovers; and it had in it strongholds which dated back to the period of Indian warfare. Dur- ing the War Between the States it had been the refuge of deserters or of Union men who resisted conscription and in some instances en- trenched themselves in the old blockhouses.
In this section, it was claimed, a Radical turned informer on some of his neighbors who were operating illicit stills, and thereby secured appointment as a United States Revenue Officer. The resistance of his neighbors to his administration of his new office was of such a nature that he invoked military aid in enforcing his authority. This brought United States soldiers again to Spartanburg. A small com- pany arrived in January 1870 "to protect a loyal citizen from the repetition of outrages," according to a sarcastic editorial note in the
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Spartan. In a later editorial the Spartan expressed the opinion that if the revenue officer's appointment had gone to a man who com- manded respect in the community no open resistance would have been offered him in the performance of his duties. Sneeringly dubbing a revenue raid, participated in by sixty United States army men, "The Second Battle of Cowpens," the Spartan said: "The last expedition of the Spartanburg Revenue Corps, so far as we could learn, was a very dull and commonplace affair. A few stills were captured-still houses burned-distillers arrested, and some bacon, sugar, and coffee and a few horses confiscated. We would be pleased if some of the revenue officers would cite us to the law which authorizes confisca- tion."
The grand jury presentment at the November 1870 term of court, scathing in its denunciations of corrupt practices by officeholders and of the arming of colored men, and especially "the arming of one class of citizens whilst the state authorities refused to receive and arm companies of the other class," cited some specific instances of the evils indicated. "We present that companies of men in disguise called the K. K. K. have been seen riding through the town in the night-time. We pledge our assistance in suppressing such unlawful bands, be- lieving as we do that they intend mischief."
November 24, 1870, the Spartan reported that from twenty
Ku Klux Activities to fifty mounted men, "fantastically attired," had visited the jail at two o'clock on the night of November 17, but failed to move the sheriff to admit them. The editor commented : "They left, screaming like wild men through the streets, and firing off their guns, much to the alarm of the people. This is the first time our town has been visited by these outlandish gentry and we hope it will be the last . ." This visit was undoubtedly precipitated by the ship- ment to Spartanburg, September 24, 1870, of ten boxes of Winchester rifles and seven boxes of ammunition to be distributed among the three local companies of Scott's colored militia. White companies which had formed and volunteered their services to Governor Scott had been refused, while companies of negroes had been organized and armed all over the State. To offset the alarming situation thus created, the whites privately formed "Rifle Clubs," drilling without weapons or with pistols and shotguns. In December 1870, the editor of the Spartan boldly pointed out the "singular fact" that "on the eve of the last election several persons were cruelly maltreated, just
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in time to have three strong Reform boxes thrown out," and that again a suspicious case of cruel beating by "a party of disguised per- sons" whom Justice Fleming professed himself unable to identify, occurred "just before the legislature decided upon a contest concern- ing the same election."
The grand jury in November had presented the fact that one of the election commissioners had "refused to sign the false report, and made a just and true minority report which was confirmed by the State board," and pronounced, "His conduct commends itself to the honest voters of the county." This man was William Irwin, from the outset of the Reconstruction period an outspoken Republican, sharing the political philosophy of James L. Orr. Irwin found him- self in uncongenial company in his political affiliations, as he himself made clear during his testimony before a Congressional Investigating Committee in July 1871, but he was of the opinion that only harm could come from the effort to fight fire with fire, as the Ku Klux Klan was doing. Yet he testified before this committee that he had changed his mind about the Klan a dozen times in three months.
It became increasingly clear that several irresponsible bodies in the county were operating under the Ku Klux Klan disguise, and that both the Radicals and private parties were using its mystic meth- ods for personal ends. In December 1870, the only colored trial justice in the county, Anthony Johnston, was lured from his home and murdered. Rumor said that injured husbands and wronged prop- erty owners did the deed, and that it had no political significance, but the Radical press attributed the murder to the Ku Klux Klan, actuated by political motives.
Within two weeks the infamous murder of Matt Stevens by Negro militiamen, in the adjoining county of Union, further inflamed public opinion. Thoughtful citizens, apprehensive of increased demoraliza- tion, called public meetings to pass resolutions on lawlessness and consider ways and means of checking it. Governor Scott sent Major General C. L. Anderson of the Regular Army to investigate conditions in Spartanburg County. Additional United States soldiers were sta- tioned here March 16, 1871, and in accordance with its policy the Spartan welcomed them, wondering, however, why they were sent. "We are certain," ran the editorial comment, "they have never seen a more quiet place than our town has been since their arrival." In the
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same week the Honorable Gabriel Cannon, called into conference by Governor Scott, earnestly begged him to disband the Negro militia.
The Case of Dr. On the night of March 22, 1871, a body of disguised John Winsmith armed men, numbering-according to varying esti- mates-from twenty to fifty, appeared at the country residence of Dr. John Winsmith. Winsmith, an outstanding citizen who lived a few miles from town on the Glenn Springs road, was of distin- guished Revolutionary ancestry and had served Spartanburg ably in the legislature for fifteen years. He was a scholar and a gentleman of high standing socially. In the reorganization of the militia in 1868 he had been made a brigadier general, having previously held a colonel's rank in the South Carolina Militia. It was now whispered about that he had received ammunition and distributed it to Scott's Negro militia-a charge he indignantly denied. Official reports show that Brigadier General J. C. Winsmith was allotted, September 1870, 192 rifle-muskets and 5,000 rounds of ammunition for the use of the Negro militia. The fact that the raiding party, March 22, 1871, de- manded the weapons and ammunition substantiates Winsmith's claim that he did not distribute them. D. R. Duncan, in July 1871, testified before the Congressional Investigating Committee that Winsmith had told him he had never intended to distribute these supplies to the Negroes, and Duncan felt assured he never did. Winsmith had out- raged public sentiment by announcing that he would support Scott in his campaign for re-election rather than join what he regarded as the unwise course of supporting a fusion ticket.
Sixty-eight years old at the time of the attack on him, Winsmith met it bravely. With a pistol in each hand, he ordered the mar- auders off his premises; and on their refusal to leave, he fired both pistols. The fire was at once returned and he received seven wounds, one very serious. He made a rapid recovery, however, and showed his vigor by entering during the ensuing summer into promotion of the Taxpayer's Convention, and by undertaking the study of law, being admitted to practice law in August 1871. The secrecy and efficiency of the Ku Klux organization is proved by the fact that nobody was convicted of the Winsmith attack. Gossip in the county has always run that Winsmith killed one man and wounded others. A romantic story is told of a fresh grave and of unexplained dis- appearances following this attack on Winsmith.
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Efforts to Curb The Radicals were at this time publishing a sheet in the Ku Klux Columbia, called The Daily Union, the nature of which is indicated by "A Card" dated May 9, 1871, addressed to its editor over the signatures of G. Cannon and A. B. Woodruff. These gentlemen denied the truth of its accounts of "horrible outrages in Spartanburg" and made the claim that most of the outrages that were occurring were personal, not political. Their own statement is en- lightening :
We are citizens of Spartanburg; we know that the as- sertions that the occurrence of one case of this kind every week, ยท the shooting of thirty or forty, and the whipping of hundreds is so wildly exaggerated as to make it entirely unworthy of belief.
The shooting of Anthony Johnston, a colored man, near Pacolet Depot, who was killed, and of Doctor Winsmith, who we are glad to say is recovering, constitute the only cases of this kind that come within our knowledge in Spartanburg. The cases of whipping may have been more common, probably as many as one dozen, but "Senex" says hundreds. . It looks very much as if these announcements were made for the accomplishment of party purposes and not for the promotion of the general good. The principal portion of the citizens of Spartanburg, nearly all, we might say, are peaceable, quiet, and law-abiding, . . . and we cannot consent that they should thus lie under a general charge of lawlessness because a few evil-disposed men perpetrate acts of violence to gratify personal revenge.
Public meetings to check the disorders were held all over the county. The legislative delegation consisted of Joel Foster, D. R. Duncan, R. M. Smith, J. L. Wofford, and J. Bankston Lyle. They earnestly urged public measures to check the Ku Klux activities. At the courthouse, J. W. Carlisle and J. H. Evins urged resolutions condemning all forms of lawlessness. Gabriel Cannon and A. B. Woodruff addressed several meetings over the county. One espec- ially interesting gathering was that of the colored citizens of Fair Forest township, addressed by Isaac and R. M. Smith of Walnut Grove.
The alarmed white men pointed to the fact that not a company of white militia existed in the county, and the law forbade all white men the possession and use of firearms, while to the Negroes of the county had been allotted 912 rifle-muskets and 5,000 rounds of am- munition. For what purpose, they asked. Such weapons as they had, they put in order, and they determined that the rifles sent for
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the use of the Negro militiamen should never be so used. Nearly all of these Spartans had been in the Confederate army, or at least in the old militia, and could fight, in case of need. Yet they knew what martial law, with armed Negroes to enforce it, would mean; and in dread of such martial law, thoughtful leaders urged on their fellow- citizens all possible patience and forbearance. To the fullest extent possible they cooperated with the United States troops stationed here.
About one hundred United States soldiers were already in the county, and seventy-five additional cavalry troops arrived early in April, 1871, for the purpose of helping to round up the Ku Klux Klan. By fall they had the county jail crowded and the lofts over two stores filled with Ku Klux prisoners. Some outrageous stories were told of these arrests. J. Bankston Lyle, a legislator, and teacher of the Limestone Springs Male Academy, was a reputed leader of the Ku Klux Klan. In October 1871, a squad of soldiers sent to arrest him, upon being told he was absent, broke down the doors and ate the breakfast prepared for Lyle's pupils. Testimony elicited during the Congressional investigation makes it quite clear that in the beginning Lyle was a leader of the Klan, and that when he went to Columbia to attend the legslature he left his power in unworthy hands. Lime- stone Springs was a hotbed of Ku Klux activities. Lyle refused to endorse some of the later activities of the Klan, and bore a share in its suppression. The representative of the New York Herald wrote of the absurdity of suspecting a highly educated, cultured man like Lyle of having planned certain of the Ku Klux atrocities he was charged with, and suggested the probability that Lyle's flight was not a confession of guilt, but an indication that he had no confidence in the established government. He also said bluntly that Grant's proclamation, and his suspension of the habeas corpus had spread panic through Spartanburg County. He described the situation as being such that even a strongly democratic county like Spartanburg was unable to govern itself because the new constitution had placed power in the hands of the governor and the legislature, and both were so corrupt that the governor pardoned convicted criminals and at will withheld commissions from elected officers.
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