This report consists of thirteen volumes.
Volume I contains the report of the committee and the views of the minority.
Volume II contains the testimony taken by the committee in relation to North Carolina, and the report of the trials in the United States circuit court held at Raleigh, North Carolina.
Volumes III, IV, and V contain testimony taken by the committee in relation to South Carolina, and the report of the trials in the United States circuit court held at Columbia, South Carolina. Index to the three volumes is contained in volume III.
Volumes VI and VII contain testimony taken by the committee in relation to Georgia. Index is contained in volume VI.
Volumes VIII, IX, and X contain testimony taken by the committee in relation to Alabama. Index is contained in volume VIII.
Volumes XI and XII contain testimony taken by the committee in relation to Mississippi. Index is contained in volume XI.
Volume XIII contains miscellaneous testimony taken by the committee, testimony in relation to Florida, and miscellaneous documents.
FLOWERS, ANDREW J., (colored,) testimony of....
resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee, since 1865..
born in Georgia, and lived there till 1865; learned the trade of coopering within
the last two or three years; elected justice of the peace August 4, 1870; two
white men elected justices of the peace at the same time..........
visited a sister (who was teaching school at Whiteside, fourteen miles west of
Chattanooga) June 17, 1871; that night a crowd of masked men with pistols
in their hands entered his room, after he had gone to bed, and took him out and
carried him nearly a mile from the house..
made him take off his coat and vest, gave him twenty-five blows with hickories
seven or eight feet long, and made him promise to resign his office of justice of
the peace; three men whipped him; was told by them that they had nothing
against him, but they did not intend to have a "nigger" holding office, and
that they whipped him because he had had the impudence to run for office
against a white man...
was stopping at the house of Birch Overby, who had been whipped twice, the
last time within two months previous: did not know the men who whipped
him, (witness;) supposed there were fifteen or sixteen of them, all disguised,
with red, white, or black gowns, and a sort of face and cap joined together,
with eye and mouth holes; they were all armed; did not wake up till they
were in the house; supposed they lived in the vicinity.
they whipped Overby because he notified an old man that the Ku-Klux were
coming, and because he had been given a job of work in preference to a white
the disguised men went with witness back to the house after they had whipped
him, and told him if he did not keep his promise they would kill him the next
time they got hold of him: three colored men whipped and one killed by dis-
guised men, in spring of 1871, at Wauhatchie Station, six miles west of Chat-
tanooga
the man who was killed was son-in-law of Isaac Beeson; Beeson was after-
ward whipped, and was told it was because he was getting almost too saucy
in January or February, 1871, Joe Coulter was whipped because he had mar-
ried a white woman; about same time another man was whipped, (has since
died,) because he had had a dispute with a white man; another man whipped
by disguised men June, 1871.
a white man by the name of Brubaker was badly whipped by disguised men,
because he had separated from his wife....
never saw band of disguised men but once; the general understanding of the
community is that the object is to intimidate voters, as they are always worst
about time of elections; colored men have been told, "You vote that ticket and
you will be Ku-Kluxed to-night;" colored people are afraid of the Ku-Klux
the great mass of colored people want to vote the republican ticket..
witness was in Chattanooga in 1866, and recollects the canvass for governor;
Mr. Etheridge, the democratic candidate, was not mobbed..
does not remember hearing that any democratic meeting was broken up by the
militia..
thinks the democrats broke up one meeting in Chattanooga; rather a hard
thing for a colored man to vote the democratic ticket when colored men are
present; have known colored men to be deceived by being given wrong
tickets
in 1866 engaged in planting; in 1867 president of fire insurance company ; in
1868 went into the railroad business..
concerning letter of correspondent of Cincinnati Commercial, purporting to
give an account of an interview with witness, and his statements about the
Ku-Klux in Tennessee and the South...
FORREST N. B., testimony of—Continued.
obtained a knowledge of the Ku-Klux, by some called "Pale Faces," of a man
named Saunders, then a resident of Mississippi, and who afterward died of
poison in Asheville, North Carolina; understood it was an offset to Loyal
Leagues..
the Ku-Klux were first organized in the latter part of 1867, or early in 1868; citi-
zens of Southern States belonged to the organization; members of the order it
was rumored rode in disguise; men were killed in Tennessee and Mississippi
by bands of men in disguise; heard of a case of Ku-Klux in 1867 in Holly
Springs, Mississippi..
heard of a man being taken from jail and hung in Greensborough, Alabama....
killing of Boyd, at Eutaw, Alabama..
received anonymously a constitution of the order.
burned the copy of constitution or prescript....
it was the constitution of a secret organization; the name of the order not
printed, but place indicated by stars where the name was to be inserted; the
copy received was mailed from some place in Middle Tennessee
it was called a prescript, and provided for subordinate camps, lodges, or di-
visions...
declines to give the name of any member of the organization; prescript referred
to a ritual, and there were signs and pass-words; have seen the signs used for
purpose of recognition between individuals cannot give any of the signs
received the signs from Saunders; exerted influence to suppress the organiza-
tion: saw and recognized the signs in Tennessee..
have heard of men being whipped for stealing, for whipping their wives, and
negroes whipped for committing outrages; understood that the men who
killed Boyd in Alabama were disguised; understood that men in Tennessee
were disguised, some with masks, some with high caps, and with black or
red gowns, or white sheets; do not think there was any uniform; have not
read the correspondent's article in the Cincinnati Commercial concerning in-
terview with witness since shortly after its publication
have been actively engaged for some years in building railroads, and establish-
ing factories and founderies..
concerning proclamation of Governor Brownlow calling out the militia..
the organization of Ku-Klux gotten up for protection of the people; disbanded
in latter part of 1868
did not vote in 1868; was disfranchised
a band of men in 1871 troubled Judge Blackford, in Greensborough, Alabama. 16, 17, 18
attack on Flournoy, in Pontiac, Mississippi, by a band of disguised men, one
of whom was killed
accepted parole at time of surrender, and was pardoned by President Johnson
in 1868; made application to Governor Sharkey to obtain pardon.
has not been in good health since the war..
does not know where the Ku-Klux originated or who started it; think it origi-
nated in Middle Tennessee; heard of the Knights of the White Camelia, but
never was a member; joined the Pale Faces in 1867, in Memphis....
never was in a meeting of Pale Faces but once or twice; do not recollect any
of the signs, grips or pass-words......
object of the organization was to prevent a war of races, and a general slaugh-
ter of women and children
those who were in the rebel army and afterward joined the republicans are gen-
erally called "scalawags;" men from the North are called "carpet-baggers"
suppressed the order of Pale Faces.
and at first admits its general resem-
blance to copy of prescript received by him in 1867; afterwards expresses
doubts
negroes generally submissive and quiet.
men of character and position organized to prevent disorders
difficulty at Crawfordsville, Mississippi, between citizens and negroes
letter of correspondent of Cincinnati Commercial giving details of interview
with witness..
Sergeant-at-arms of the United States Senate; has been engaged in summon-
ing witnesses to appear before the joint select committee on alleged outrages
in the late insurrectionary States...
FRENCH, JOHN R., testimony of-Continued.
particulars concerning his efforts to secure the attendance of W. L. Saunders, of
North Carolina.
same in regard to J. W. Avery, of South Carolina
same in regard to F. N. Sturdwick, of North Carolina
same in regard to John Manning, jr., and D. Schenck, of North Carolina
REEMELIN, CHARLES, testimony of..
resident of Cincinnati, Ohio; correspondent of Cincinnati Commercial.
farmer and merchant, and now living on a small country place
traveled through the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; visited editors of democratic papers,
particularly editors of German papers; visited Alexander H. Stephens, and
saw Herschel V. Johnson, and Mr. Toombs; travel confined principally to rail-
road and the larger cities and towns; found the laws well executed; visited
two plantations near New Orleans where coolies were at work.
a great deal of irritation and dissatisfaction of a political nature through the
entire South; the people dissatisfied with the way the Government has treated
them; the condition of affairs in South Carolina was represented to witness
to be almost insufferable; property offered for sale at less than the appraised
value; no intention to go back into rebellion..........
the South is settling down into a comfortable social condition; saw Mr. Tren-
holm in Charleston, and Mr. Semmes in Mobile; did not visit the troubled
districts in South Carolina..
Affidavi of Samuel Fleischman...
African Methodist Episcopal convention.
Alachua County, disturbance at election in.
Alachua County, negro hanged in..
Alachua County, outrages in, (see Killed, Shot, and Whipped.)
Alachua County, political complexion of.
Arms for State militia taken from railroad train and destroyed.
Ashley,
killed in La Fayette County, 1871
thirty-two years old; born in Maine; resident of Jacksonville, Florida; attor-
ney at law, and United States district attorney for northern district of
Florida..
character and acts of Judge Long
no more infamous man than Judge Long in Florida.
Bradley, Willey, killed in Alachua County, 1868.
Bryan, William, shot in Jackson County, 1869..
BRYANT, HOMER, (colored,) testimony of...
about fifty-eight years old; born in North Carolina; lived in Florida for twenty
years, and in Jackson County for about fifteen years..
.210, 249, 250, 251, 252, 302
threats to kill witness because he was a leading republican..
sixty or seventy-five murders in Jackson County; murder of Dr. Finlayson
and Mr. Dickinson; colored man and child killed while going to a picnic..
particulars concerning murder of Mr. Dickinson.
BRYSON, WILLIAM, testimony of.
sixty years old; born in North Carolina; resident of Suwannee County, and
judge of third judicial district of Florida..
not much of a republican; in one sense not a radical; not a democrat.
the administration of the laws hindered by an organization generally termed
Ku-Klux ;' was told some of the signs and secrets by a man in Columbia
County..
|