Читать книгу Freedom Facts and Firsts - Jessie Carney Smith - Страница 71

This event took place during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, when freed blacks and radical Republicans held a number of elective offices and exerted significant political influence in South Carolina and other southern states. Ongoing tensions remained with former Confederates and other white Democrats who had been displaced from political power when the state’s large black population was able to exercise voting rights. In South Carolina—and in Hamburg in particular—blacks not only exercised their constitutional right to bear arms, but had formed “colored militia” units. A confrontation between the Hamburg unit and two white men, Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, took place on July 4, 1876. The unit was in military formation along a public highway and refused to break ranks to allow the passage of a white man’s vehicle. An argument ensued between black militia captain “Doc” Adams and white general M. C. Butler on July 8. When Adams and the other blacks refused to surrender their guns, Butler and a mob of whites retaliated by attacking the outnumbered militia with artillery and other weapons. Seven blacks and one white man died in the riot, and according to one account four of the blacks killed had already disarmed and surrendered to Butler. Despite protests and mass meetings held by blacks in Charleston and efforts by white Republican governor Daniel H. Chamberlain to seek a fair and legal investigation, no people were prosecuted in connection with the incident.

Fletcher F. Moon