Robert B. Lindsay

Robert Burns Lindsay (July 4, 1824 in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland – February 13, 1902 in Tuscumbia, Alabama) was a Scots-American politician, elected as the 22nd Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama during Reconstruction, and serving one term from 1870 to 1872.[1]

Robert Burns Lindsay
22nd Governor of Alabama
In office November 26, 1870 – November 17, 1872
Lieutenant	Edward H. Moren
Preceded by	William Hugh Smith
Succeeded by	David P. Lewis
Personal details
Born	(1824-07-04)July 4, 1824 Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Died	February 13, 1902(1902-02-13) (aged 77) Tuscumbia, Alabama, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Sarah Miller Winston
Alma mater	–University of St Andrews

Lindsay studied at the University of St Andrews before emigrating to the United States in 1844. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives in 1853 and the Alabama Senate in 1857, 1865, and 1870.[2]

1870 political campaign

A Democrat, Lindsay was elected as governor in 1870, following a year of white terrorism against blacks: violence, including murders, and intimidation of black and white Republicans, and freedmen supporters. As examples, five Republicans, four black and one white, were lynched in Calhoun County; three blacks (two who were Republican politicians) were murdered in Greene County, in March and October; the white Republican County Solicitor was murdered there in March; and on October 25, a Republican rally of 2,000 blacks was disrupted by a mob of whites, who killed four blacks and wounded 54 in the Eutaw riot.[3] Blacks were intimidated and stayed home from the polls, with Democratic white voters in Greene County and elsewhere taking the state for Lindsay.[4]

See also

• List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States

References

1. "Alabama : Past Governors Bios". National Governors Association. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
2. "Robert Burns Lindsay". National Governors Association. 7 Sep 2018.
3. Waldrep, Christopher (2011). Jury Discrimination: The Supreme Court, Public Opinion, and a Grassroots Fight for Racial Equality in Mississippi. U of Georgia P. pp. 137–38. ISBN 9780820341941.
4. Encyclopedia of Alabama

Party political offices
Vacant Title last held by Michael J. Bulger	Democratic nominee for Governor of Alabama 1870	Vacant Title next held by George S. Houston
Political offices
Preceded by William H. Smith	Governor of Alabama 1870–1872	Succeeded by David P. Lewis