Chisolm Massacre
The Chisolm Massacre occurred April 29, 1877, after the end of the Reconstruction era in Kemper County, Mississippi.[1] A judge and former sheriff named William Chisolm was accused of killing a Democratic Party sheriff John Gully and was being held in the local jail. Also there, being held in protective custody, were his son and daughter and two of his friends. A mob of around 300 Ku Klux Klan members stormed the jail and killed Chisolm, his family, and one of his friends. No one was convicted for the attack.[2]
Southern papers applauded the lynching.[1] Governor John Marshall Stone refused to launch an investigation and U.S. President Rutherford Hayes did not comment on the killings.[1] It was one of several reprisal actions in Mississippi during the period after Reconstruction. A freedman later confessed to killing Gully and was hanged.[1]
The New York Times wrote about it.[3] James Monroe Wells, a deputy revenue collector and U.S. Army veteran, wrote the book The Chisolm Massacre: A Picture of "Home Rule" in Mississippi about it.[4][5] His criticisms of locals were responded to by James Daniel Lynch's account blaming Radical Republicans, Kemper County Vindicated, And a Peep at Radical Rule in Mississippi.[4]
References
- Newton, Michael (December 21, 2009). "The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History". McFarland – via Google Books.
- "The Chisolm Massacre: A Picture of "Home Rule" in Mississippi | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History". www.gilderlehrman.org.
- "The Chisolm Massacre". June 27, 1878 – via NYTimes.com.
- "Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967". Univ. Press of Mississippi. June 22, 1981 – via Google Books.
- "The Chisolm Massacre". Ardent Media – via Google Books.