Wade Hampton, the Red Shirts, and Anderson – Part IV: Anderson’s Red Shirt Reunions

After Wade Hampton’s election as South Carolina’s governor in 1876, the Red Shirts had fulfilled their primary mission. They were also active during the Hampton’s 1878 reelection campaign, but not to the same level and the group seemed to dissolve. After several decades of silence, the Red Shirts again came to the attention of many in 1908 when the first of four annual reunions were held in South Carolina. The first two were held in Anderson County. These were large gatherings, and were largely propaganda to change the view of the Red Shirts from that of a violent and racist organization to something more benign that would only use violence when necessary. They might have succeeded too, had it not been for a speech delivered by Benjamin Tillman at 1909 reunion.

By the end of the 19th century, the South Carolina Democratic Party had completely adopted white supremacy as its standard policy. In the words of John C. Watkins, Sr., the acting party chairman in Anderson County, printed in the Anderson Intelligencer, October 16, 1890:

“…we hereby call every Democrat in the County, who is willing to help save his race and protect the helpless women and children from Negro domination to meet in mass-meeting at Anderson Courthouse…Don again the red shirts, the emblem of white supremacy; “Old Reformer” is ready to again raise his voice for liberty. Let the state, the world, if necessary, see and understand that the white people in Anderson County are true to their principles of Democracy and the supremacy of the white race…let every Democrat vote, and vote the regular ticket. In doing so you are not voting for men, but for the regular Democracy and white supremacy.”

“Old Reformer” is a cannon that was bought to the upstate during the War of 1812. It is believed to have been brought to Charleston by German emigrants in 1764. The cannon made its way to Anderson in the 1850’s, and it was used fired at important occasions such as Hampton’s campaign announcement and the announcement of his win. For decades it was visible at the courthouse, but today, it is housed at the Anderson County Museum.

Augustus J. Sitton (www.findagrave.com)

The Red Shirts were introduced in Anderson by Augustus J. Sitton during Hampton’s campaign. Sitton was the quartermaster of his regiment during the Civil War. He was unable to bear arms due to a wound he received at First Manassas so he served in clerical and administrative roles. According to Ellison Capers, Sitton was a member of Hampton’s staff, “and was the originator of the red shirt as a campaign uniform, which was an important factor in ridding South Carolina of the carpet-bag and Negro government in 1876.”

The association between the Red Shirts and their racial past was something that many wanted to change. In fact, there were Freedmen who were members of the Red Shirts. In 1900, a former slave named James Minor of Williamston died at his home at the age of 75. His obituary states that he “took an active part in the red shirt campaign of 1876” and often gave speeches extolling the white man as the best friend of his race. His funeral was attended by a large number of whites and blacks.

The First Reunion

A Maid of the Foot-Hills by J.W. Danial

There was a renewed interest in the Red Shirts in Anderson County during the early 1900’s primarily because of one man and two books. The man was Jesse C. Stribling. He was the first lieutenant of the Pendleton Red Shirt Company. He was a supporter of Hampton in 1876 and after the election devoted himself to his farm and local politics.

The two books were John Reynold’s Reconstruction in South Carolina and a novel by J.W. Daniel, A Maid of the Foot-Hills, set in Anderson County. Both books were published in 1905. Reynolds was a noted author and the library for the state Supreme Court His Reconstruction began as a series of articles printed in The State. They were collected in book form in 1905 and trace a chronological history of Reconstruction, ending with Hampton. Daniel’s Maid was a fictionalized account of Reconstruction with Anderson legend Manse Jolly serving as the inspiration of his hero. Daniel portrayed the Red Shirts in a very sympathetic light, much like the Klan received in the film The Birth of a Nation.

Stribling had a keen interest in the region’s past, and he wanted to remind people of what the Red Shirts had accomplished. Like many of his day, the white supremacy of the Red Shirts was not a negative thing, and it had led to a South Carolina that was prosperous, settled, and without racial violence. To accomplish this, he began planning a reunion, using the annual Confederate veteran reunions as his model. Invitations were mailed to other chapters in the state asking them to gather together to recall their glory days. On August 14, 1908, the first Red Shirt Reunion in South Carolina was held in Anderson County where they had been originally been organized, Pendleton, SC.

Stribling’s intention for the reunion was to educate the current generations on the accomplishments of the Red Shirt and to pass on their beliefs of white supremacy. A parade was held that was reserved for Red Shirt members and their sons. Local Pendleton boys organized themselves into a junior Red Shirt company and were responsible for dragging the Peacemaker cannon through the streets in the parade. One speaker encouraged the boys to “learn of the trials their fathers endured and the struggles they made to insure white supremacy for their children.”

For Stribling and the other former Red Shirts, there was a distinction between their work and that of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan used violence to solve all problems and acted outside the law under the cover of darkness with their faces covered. The Red Shirts operated in the open, and would use violence only as a last resort, when the circumstances forced them. This was the message of the first reunion.

The Second Reunion

The first Red Shirt Reunion in Pendleton was such a great success, that plans were made for another reunion the following year. This time it would be moved to Anderson, and it was a much larger and more inclusive event. Held on August 25, 1909, the second Red Shirts Reunion began with a lavish parade of approximately 2,000 people, including veterans of the Red Shirts, Spanish-American War veterans, brigades of firefighters, speakers, the Orr Mill Band, and 50 members of the Daughters of the Confederacy. The parade made its way through the center of Anderson’s on Main Street, and ended at University Hill, the site where Hampton made his campaign announcement in 1876.

Benjamin R. Tillman (Library of Congress)

The keynote speaker of the 1909 reunion was none other than Benjamin R. “Pitchfork” Tillman, an early member and ardent supporter of the Red Shirts. Tillman had backed Hampton as a Red Shirt, but be became disillusioned with Hampton soon after the election. This division eventually led to a split with the state Democratic Party eventually split and Tillman became the leader of his own faction called the Tillmanites. A popular politician across the state, he was elected governor of South Carolina (1891-1894) and U.S. Senator (1895-1918).

Tillman’s speech in Anderson was entitled “The Struggles of 1876: How South Carolina was Delivered from Carpet Bagger and Negro Rule,” and it destroyed forever the façade of Red Shirt restraint and non-violence that had been fostered in the first reunion. Tillman was known for speaking in overly racial terms and would proudly proclaim himself a white supremacist when given an opportunity. He used the second Red Shirt reunion as an opportunity to discuss perhaps the most infamous of the Red Shirt actions: the Hamburg Massacre.

Covered in a previous post, the Hamburg Massacre was a pivotal moment in race relations in South Carolina. Over 90 men were indicted in the deaths in the massacre, including Tillman, but none were ever tried for their crimes. The bulk of Tillman’s speech consisted of a detailed account and defense of the massacre, and he relates the events with a cold matter-of-fact manner that does not hide his racism and support for white supremacy. None of this was surprising. Tillman was known for bragging in public speeches and on the Senate floor about the violence he had perpetrated against blacks in his early days.

To the thousands standing before him in Anderson, Tillman delivered a long speech that runs over 30 printed pages. These were among his words:

“The purpose of our visit to Hamburg was to strike terror, and the next morning (Sunday) when the Negroes who had fled to the swamp returned to the town (some of them never did return, but kept on going) the ghastly sight which met their gaze of seven dead Negroes lying stiff and stark, certainly had its effect…

“It was now after midnight, and the moon high in the heavens looked down peacefully on the deserted town and dead Negroes, whose lives had been offered up as a sacrifice to the fanatical teachings and fiendish hate of those who sought to substitute the rule of the African for that of the Caucasian in South Carolina.

“We have in truth waved the bloody shirt in the face of the Yankee bull and dared him to do his worse. It is needless to say that this daring act on the part of the whites served to intensify the fears of the Negroes, while among the whites the bond of race drew us closer together.”

The Red Shirts simply could not escape their racial past from this speech. Although there were a few more reunions interest in the group disappeared by 1911, and they ceased to gather together, gradually swept into the proverbial dustbin of history.

Legacy

The key figures in the Hampton campaign all continued their political careers past the turbulent events of 1876.

Daniel Henry Chamberlain, the last of the Reconstruction Governors, returned to New York and practiced law. He was a constitutional law professor at Cornell University from 1883 to 1897. After retiring, he traveled extensively in Europe before moving to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he died in 1907. He was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. His tombstone makes no mention of his term as Governor of South Carolina, but he is called a “scholar, patriot, soldier, lover, jurist, and statesman.”

Wade Hampton III was elected to a second term as governor in November 1878, but he resigned February 26, 1879, after being elected by the state Senate to the United States Senate. Hampton was not a candidate for the position and he did not want it, but he took the seat and remained in the U.S. Senate until 1891. Hampton was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as United States Railroad Commissioner in 1893, and remained in the post until 1897 with he retired from public life. Hampton died in 1902, and was buried at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia, SC.

Martin Witherspoon Gary’s Tombstone (Old Tabernacle Cemetery, author’s collection)

Martin Witherspoon Gary commanded the Red Shirts in their implementation of the Mississippi Plan. He made his headquarters at Oakley Park in Edgefield. Today, the house is the property of the Town of Edgefield and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and is the home of The Red Shirt Shrine and Museum. Gary was elected to the state Senate in 1876 where he served two terms. His was a long time ally and supporter of Hampton, going back to the Civil War, but that ended when Hampton failed to appoint him to the U.S. Senate in 1877 and 1879. Gary retired from politics in 1881, and died at his home in Cokesbury, South Carolina, later that year. He was buried at the old Tabernacle Cemetery near Cokesbury.

Rutherford B. Hayes served for two terms as President of the United States from 1877 to 1881. He declined to run for a third term and retired. During his administration, Hayes promoted civil service reforms, attempted to reconcile the differences in the nation that remained after Reconstruction, and believed in a government that was color blind. Despite being the man who ended Reconstruction, Hayes is often regard as among the best of the worst presidents in United States history. He died at his Ohio home in 1893, and was buried on Oakwood Cemetery in Freemont, Ohio.

Benjamin Ryan Tillman, the firebrand speaker, white supremacist, Red Shirt leader, friend of the farmer, and education advocate, was elected governor of South Carolina in 1890 and he served two two-year terms. During his four years as governor, 18 blacks were lynched in the state, and the South Carolina Constitution of 1895 was drafted which disenfranchised most of the voting blacks in the state. He was instrumental in the growth of Clemson and Winthrop. Tillman was elected by the state Senate to the United States Senate in 1895, as proscribed by the United States Constitution. He would hold his seat until his death in 1918. Tillman was buried at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Trenton, SC. His tombstone includes the following inscription: “He was the friend of leader of the common people. He taught them their political power and made possible for the education of their sons and daughters.”

Both Hampton and Tillman have been honored at locations across South Carolina. Each had a monumental statue on the statehouse grounds. Because of his backing of the higher education, buildings at Clemson and Winthrop bear Tillman’s name. To honor the “Savior of South Carolina,” a new county was carved out of the northern part of Beaufort County by the General Assembly in 1877. Governor Hampton signed the bill on February 18. 1878, naming it Hampton County.

The lives of Hampton, Tillman, Chamberlain, and the others involved in the campaign of 1876 ended decades ago. The Red Shirts no longer exist, and although their are groups motivated by hate and racism, the idea of white supremacy as a legitimate political idea is no longer accepted as mainstream. Justified or not, the legacy of the 1876 election and the men who fought it remains with South Carolina over 140 years later.

Wade Hampton, the Red Shirts, and Anderson – Part III: Two Governors

The corruption of South Carolina’s Reconstruction Governors resulted in Wade Hampton’s 1876 gubernatorial campaign, spearheaded by the promise to reform and save South Carolina. Along with Hampton’s campaign came the rise of the Red Shirts, the racist paramilitary arm of the state Democratic Party that was loyal to Hampton. This was also a presidential election year, and the results of that race would have a profound impact on South Carolina for over a century. This is the story of how South Carolina once had Two Governors, and of the beginning of Redemption.

The Choices

Daniel Henry Chamberlain (www.schistory.org)

In 1876, the choices for the governor’s seat were clear. Chamberlain, whether deserved or not, had come to symbolize all that was wrong with Reconstruction. He epitomized the “Carpetbagger” of Southern folklore, the Yankee who moved to the South and profited off the backs of poor Southerners. Chamberlain was hardly this, but he had lost complete control of the state government and was forced to depend on federal troops just to maintain peace during the election. By contrast, Hampton spoke to large crowds and was greeted with thunderous applause at every gathering. His theme was consistent: only he and the Democratic Party can save the state from the ruin that surely awaited it under Chamberlain and the Republicans.

The stakes were high for Chamberlain. At risk was not only his political career but Reconstruction itself. Chamberlain believed in its tenants and but the corruption in the Republican Party overshadowed its accomplishments. He acknowledged this in 1876 when he wrote, “We have tried for eight years to uphold Negro rule in the South officered by carpetbaggers, but without exception it has resulted in failure and almost ruin in our party.”

Wade Hampton III (Library of Congress)

Hampton believed, as a Bourbon Democrat, in an aristocratic power base. He wanted to restore the old South Carolina families to the place of power they had prior to the war. While this appealed to the old planter class, it was not enough to win him an election. What Hampton needed was a cause that would attract poor farmers and everyday South Carolinians who were fed up with the Republican leadership but had no one to speak for them. He won them over by placing the blame for the corruption squarely on Chamberlain. Corruption and Reconstruction went hand in hand in Hampton’s mind because power in the state was given to a class of people unsuited for the job and who had mismanaged the state’s funds, and this was a direct result of Reconstruction.

Once the old Democratic base was rebuilt, Hampton had to ensure that the black votes supporting Chamberlain were suppressed. Under the command of his chief lieutenant, Martin Witherspoon Gary, the Red Shirts targeted Freedmen communities and individuals with bribery, terror, violence, and murder to ensure they did not vote or that their votes were never counted. During the course of the 1876 election, nearly 200 lives were lost in political violence, most of them Freedmen, and many of the events involving the Red Shirts. Democratic majorities were created in districts were they did not exist. In Edgefield County, for example, 2,000 more votes were counted than were registered in the county. The same thing happened in Laurens County. Threats of retaliation were made to Freedmen who voted Republican. Anyone who doubts the tactics of the Red Shirts need only look to an 1896 speech delivered by then Senator Benjamin R. Tillman on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Tillman had been a member of the Red Shirts and was indicted in the Hamburg Massacre.

“We set up the Democratic party with one plank only: that this is white man’s country and white men must govern it. Under this banner we went to battle. It was then that we shot them. It was then that we killed them. It was then that we stuffed ballot boxes…once we decided to take the state away from them, we stopped at nothing…I do not ask anybody to apologize for it. I am only explaining why we did it. I want to say now, that we have not shot any Negroes in South Carolina on account of politics since 1876. We have not found it necessary.”

“Who is the Governor of South Carolina?”

Anderson Intelligencer, November 9, 1876

The election was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1876. Four days later, The Anderson Intelligencer asked “Who is the Governor of South Carolina?” When the votes were finally counted, Hampton received 92,261 to Chamberlain’s 91,127. The difference of 1,134 remains the closest gubernatorial vote in South Carolina’s history. The chart to the right shows the breakdown of Anderson’s precincts, which were overwhelmingly in Hampton’s favor. The Republican dominated Elections Commission refused to verify the votes from Edgefield and Laurens. The state Supreme Court held the commission members in contempt and they were placed in jail until they were released by a federal judge.

Hampton delivered a victory speech in Columbia on Friday, November 10 thanking, “the whole people of South Carolina, for having done their work so honestly and well.” He continued:

“We can now look back to our victory untarnished by any ignoble act. You have, by your ballots, in spite of fraud and bayonets, declared what your will has been. We have certainly won the victory, though it may be wrestled from our hands. Do not let yourselves by led away by enthusiasm. Try to seek peace and ensure it. Do everything for peace, and your redemption is sure…Make yourselves worthy of victory; show that you are not fighting for party, but your mother land.”

Anderson Intelligencer, November 9, 1876. The paper called the Presidential election for Tilden.

Not surprisingly, the Intelligencer had sided with Hampton and they were quick to report on November 16 that “the Radicals, carpetbaggers or rogues, whichever suits them best, are defeated, and no one knows it any better than they do.”

Chamberlain was not about to let go of what little power he had. On November 28, he ordered two companies of federal troops under the command of General Thomas H. Ruger to the statehouse to prevent the recently elected Democratic members from taking their seats. Two years prior, the Democrats held no seats in either house of the South Carolina General Assembly. Now, the once broken party had taken 64 of the 128 seats in the House, holding a clear majority; they had won 15 of the 33 seats in the Senate, a two seat minority. The Democrats left the statehouse, reconvening in the nearby Carolina Hall, where they established a rival one-party General Assembly. South Carolina now had two General Assemblies, one Republican and one Democrat.

With the support of the federal troops, the Republican General Assembly elected Chamberlain governor on December 5, 1876. The commission never certified the Edgefield and Laurens County votes so Chamberlain had a majority. On the following day, the state Supreme Court declared William H. Wallace, a Democrat, was the new Speaker of the House. Chamberlain was inaugurated on December 7, 1876. A week later, on December 14, the Democrat General Assembly elected Hampton governor. He took his oath of office the same day and South Carolina now had two single-party governments.

Both governors tested their powers by issuing pardons. Chamberlain issued his on December 14, but it was later overturned by a judge on the grounds that he was not the legal governor. Hampton issued a pardon on February 9, 1877, but it was not recognized by the director of the state penitentiary because he did not recognize Hampton as the legitimate governor.

Hampton made a bid to financially starve the Chamberlain government. He pleaded with the citizens not to send any more tax revenue to the Chamberlain government. Instead, Hampton was asking for all people to contribute 10% of the previous year’s bill to his government, and money began poured in to Hampton’s coffers. A list of names of citizens who had paid the tax was printed on April 12, 1877, by the Intelligencer. The list ran into the hundreds with several names marked “c” to denote “colored.” The state could no longer be allowed to operate in this manner. On March 7, 1877, the state Supreme Court declared Hampton to be the legally elected governor.

A broken, but not defeated, Chamberlain had one card remaining. He still had the two companies of federal troops stationed at the statehouse. Chamberlain argued in a letter to President Rutherford B. Hayes dated March 31, 1877, that “the withdrawal of the troops from the State House will close the struggle in defeat to the large majority of the people of the State.” He listed four consequences he believed would result from the withdrawal of federal troops.

“First: It will remove the protection absolutely necessary to enable the Republicans to assert and enforce their claim to the government of the State.

“Second: It will enable the Democrats to remove all effective opposition to the illegal military forces under the control of my opponent.

“Third: It will place all the agencies for maintaining the present lawful government of the State in the practical possession of the Democrats.

“Fourth: It will lead to the quick consummation of a political outrage against which I have felt and now feel it to be my solemn duty to struggle and protest so long as the faintest hope of success can be seen.”

He concluded with “the Republicans of South Carolina have carried on a struggle up to the present moment for the preservation of [the Freedmens’] rights. Their hope has been that they might continue to live under a free government.”

Chamberlain’s request fell on deaf ears. His fate had already been determined in Washington, and he was sacrificed on an altar already dedicated to removing Reconstruction. On April 3, 1877, President Hayes ordered all federal troops to leave the south, ending Reconstruction. This decision was mired in the outcome of the Presidential Election of 1876. This election, one of the most disputed in the history of the United States, had a dramatic impact on the futures of all of the former Confederate states.

The Election of Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes, Library of Congress

The Republican ticket was led by Rutherford B. Hayes, Governor of Ohio. The Democratic were represented by Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of New York. The 1876 election had the highest voter turnout in United States’ history. Nearly 82% of registered voters cast ballots. Tilden received the majority of the popular vote, 4.29 million, compared to Hayes who received 4.03 million. Hayes, however, carried more states, 21. Tilden only carried 17. Neither reached the number of Electoral College votes needed, so the election was determined by the United States House of Representatives. Hayes needed 20 elector votes in order win, and he cut a deal with the House: he agreed to end Reconstruction if elected President. The House, tired of twelve years of strife over Reconstruction, delivered the votes. Hayes was awarded the electoral votes of Florida (4), South Carolina (7), Louisiana (8), and one vote from Oregon. Hayes now had 185 elector votes to Tilden’s 184. Rutherford B. Hayes was the new President of the United States, thanks to what has come to be known as the Compromise of 1877.

The End of Reconstruction

Anderson intelligencer, April 6, 1877

The withdrawal of federal troops left Chamberlain with no choice. He fled to New York where he practiced law, but he was forever remembered in South Carolina as the “debaucher of the State.” Wade Hampton III was now the sole South Carolina’s governor. The two General Assemblies combined into one. Reconstruction was over and Hampton, the “savior of South Carolina,” became the de facto leader of the state’s Redeemers.

The end of Reconstruction had several impacts on the South Carolina, many of which Chamberlain predicted in his letter. First, it instituted a century of Democratic control. Beginning with Hampton’s election, there was an unbroken line of Democratic governors in South Carolina until James B. Edwards took office 98 years later on January 21, 1975. In the 1878 election, the Democratic Party obtained a majority of seats in both houses, and grew more powerful after Reconstruction than before the war.

Single party rule produced a disastrous civil rights record. The Democratic Party ruled largely unchecked as Republicans held small minorities, and their social policies caused the second impact: the mistreatment of and racially motivated laws enacted against the now vulnerable Freedmen. Without federal protection, the Freedmen were at the mercy of the newly installed Democratic power base.

A third impact was the rise of populism among the Democrats. The actions of the Red Shirts had inspired many in the white population, but the aristocratic nature of the Bourbons put them out of touch to most. The party eventually split into two factions: the Bourbons and the Tillmanites, named after their leader, Benjamin Tillman.

Anderson County had overwhelmingly supported Hampton during the campaign and as governor. He delivered a speech in Anderson in 1876 declaring his candidacy, and a street in the city was named in his honor. In the 1900’s, over two decades since Hampton’s first election, there would be a series of annual Red Shirt reunions in Anderson. These reunions and Tillman’s fiery speech at the final gathering will be the topic of the fourth and concluding part in this series.

Wade Hampton, the Red Shirts, and Anderson – Part II: The Hampton Campaign of 1876

The rule of the Reconstruction Governors left South Carolina weak and deep in debt. As crippling as the financial crisis in the state funds was, however, many advancements had been made in race relations. Due to the implementation of Reconstruction by Republicans, former slaves (or Freedmen) were holding public office at local, state, and national levels. None of these were popular with Wade Hampton and his supporters. They believed that the time had come for the state Democratic Party to take power again. They were ready to fight, and what a fight it would be. By the end of 1876, there were two separate governments in the state, each with a governor and a General Assembly, and it would take intervention by Washington to determine the final fate of South Carolina. The drama of the South Carolina Election of 1876, began in Anderson, South Carolina.

The state Democratic Party during Reconstruction was virtually non-existent. Although there were local Democratic clubs, the party was crippled during the period. At the beginning of Daniel Henry Chamberlain’s term as governor in 1874, there were 124 members of the South Carolina House, 91 Republicans, and 33 independents/other parties. In the state Senate, there were 33 members, 26 Republicans and 7 independent/others. Democratic politicians, therefore, were forced to run under other party names, and there were no Democratic candidates for governor. All this changed in 1876, when the Period of Reconstruction ended, and the Period of the Redeemers began.

The Hamburg Massacre

Hamburg Riot, Harpers Weekly, August 1876 It was the coverage of the massacre by Harpers Weekly that promoted a Congressional investigation into what happened.

If there was one event that encapsulated the level of dissatisfaction felt by many in the state, Freedmen and whites, with the Republican Party, it was the Hamburg Massacre. On July 4, 1876, two white farmers were driving a cart along the main road in Hamburg, South Carolina, when they were blocked by a unit of the state National Guard who were drilling in the area. Many of the guardsmen were Freedmen. What led to the verbal altercation between the two farmers and the company is in dispute, but the farmers drove through the guard unharmed. Two days later, the farmers appeared in court and charged the militia with obstructing a public road. A hearing was scheduled for July 8. On the day of the hearing, but the courthouse was swarmed by a mob of over 100 armed white men. As more armed men approached Hamburg, and fearing for their safety, the militia sought refuge in the armory near the Charlotte, Columbia, and Augusta Railroad Bridge crossing the Savannah River. The mob surrounded the armory and gunfire ensued. A local white farmer, McKie Meriweather, was killed.

When the militia learned that a canon had been brought from Augusta and was aimed at the armory, they slipped away under the cover of darkness. Many of them escaped, but around 2:00 a.m. on the morning of July 9, two dozen guardsmen were captured by the mob. A “circle of death” was formed around the guardsmen by the mob, four men were picked at random, and executed. Their names were: Allan Attaway, Albert Myniart, David Phillips, and Hampton Stephens. There was outrage in Columbia and although 94 indictments were handed down, no one were ever prosecuted for the four murders. Among the members of the white mob were a group called the Red Shirts, and among their members was a man who would later be a thorn in Wade Hampton’s side, Benjamin Tillman.

The Hamburg Massacre demonstrated the complete inadequacy of the state Republican leadership. Whites, tired of the corruption in state government, viewed the Freedmen as symbolic of the government’s corruption, and the Freedmen realized that the Republican Party was powerless to protect them from a new menace, the Red Shirts.

The Red Shirts

Many Confederate veterans joined local Ku Klux Klan chapters after the war, and over time so did their sons and grandsons. The Klan operated as a quasi law enforcement body, but it also racially motivated in favor of the minority white population. The passage of the federal anti-Klan laws in 1870 and 1871 led to the demise of the Klan, but it was soon replaced in many parts of the South, including South Carolina, with groups know as “rifle clubs.” Unlike the Klan, the rifle clubs were not secret organizations. Members of rifle clubs could not hid under sheets. They were required to with the state, and their membership rolls were public.

Because of Hampton’s defense of former Klan members in 1870 and 1871, the rifle clubs expressed an intense, almost religious, loyalty to Hampton, who realized that he had his fingertips a force that could help him secure the governor’s seat. Over time, the rifle clubs began calling themselves the Red Shirts, and they were the paramilitary arm of the state Democratic Party, a racist terrorist organization, and Hampton’s own private army.

In local news, the Anderson Intelligencer of August 31, 1876, reported that a rifle club was organized on August 26 in Pendleton with A.J. Sitton, Captain; J.C. Stribling, First Lieutenant; J.W. Simpson, Second Lieutenant; and G.G. Richards, Third Lieutenant. Their uniforms consisted of red shirts or jackets, and their number was reported to be over one hundred. The Pendleton Rifle Club made their first public appearance on September 2 at the Anderson County Democratic Party’s Grand Ratification Meeting.

The Ratification Meeting

Anderson Intelligencer, September 2, 1876

To describe the Democratic meeting as a “big deal” would be a gross understatement. The meeting was called to honor Samuel Jones Tilden and Thomas Andrew Hendricks, respectively the Democratic nominees for President and Vice President. More importantly, the meeting would ratify the nomination of Wade Hampton and William Dunlap Simpson as the state Democratic Party nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the first Democratic nominees to the offices since 1868.

The entire event was planned by the county’s Democratic Clubs and began on the morning of September 2 at 9:30 at the old Fair Grounds. The procession stretched two miles long, and it included several groups: the Pendleton Cornet Band; twelve carriages with the speakers; Major William W. Humphreys, the Chief Marshall and his staff; the members of the Democratic Clubs; the Anderson Cornet Band; and 1,500 mounted men. The procession ended at the Carolina Collegiate Institute, locally known as University Hill, on South Main Street.

Wade Hampton III (Library of Congress)

There were 12 speakers scheduled to appear at the meeting, which lasted most of the day, but it was the first speaker that everyone really wanted to hear. When General Wade Hampton III arose and walked to the podium, a deafening storm of enthusiastic applause began which lasted for several minutes. After thanking the citizens of Anderson for a warm reception, he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the governor’s seat. In a lengthy speech, he laid out his plan for reforming the state’s government, concluding, that “the Republicans cannot reform their party, for it is impossible for the stream to rise higher than the fountain….the Democratic Party must succeed in this state, and with its success reform will come.” Hampton’s nomination was confirmed at the state Democratic convention in Columbia a few weeks later.

In addition to the thousands in the procession, thousands more had gathered to hear Hampton on that warm and sunny afternoon. Among the crowd were hundreds of armed men wearing red jackets and shirts. These Red Shirts of Anderson County would later unity with other chapters across the state and form a private army dedicated to electing Hampton as governor. Red Shirt chapters were also formed in North Carolina, the location of the Hampton summer home, and in Mississippi, where he still owned plantations.

William Dunlap Simpson, Hampton’s running mate and successor (www.palmettohistory.org)

While the crowd before Hampton was mostly white, he did have some supporters among the Freedmen who had grown disillusioned with the Republican Party and its failure to live up to the ideals of Reconstruction. One Benjamin Collins, described as a “colored Democrat” and barber in Anderson by the Intelligencer, attended the rally. Afterwards, he spotted one of the speakers, Col. D. Wyatt of Aiken, standing with several others on Granite Row. Collins approached the colonel and asked if he could purchase some lard. Wyatt was surprised and told Collins that he had better try one of the stores. Collins replayed, “Oh. I thought as you had just slaughtered a hog, perhaps you would be able to supply me with a few pounds.” The reference was to Wyatt’s speech in which he eviscerated the state’s Republican leadership. Wyatt, Collins, and the other standing by all laughed heartily at the joke.

Hampton’s Campaign

Martin Witherspoon Gary (Library of Congress)

Hampton was not only a Democrat, he was a Bourbon Democrat, a faction of the national party which functioned as the Southern wing of the Redeemers movement. The Bourbon’s primary goal was to reverse the policies of Reconstruction. Their leadership was usually made up of wealthy landowners and businessmen with conservative views. In order to win, the Bourbons had to change the voting structure in the state, and to do that they had suppress the Freedmen vote. This task was given to the Red Shirts. Martin Witherspoon Gary, a chief lieutenant of Hampton’s and a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, begin the implementation of the Mississippi Plan. Developed in Mississippi in 1875, the plan outlined a two-prong attack on the Republican Party: first, financial bribery to Freedmen and white Republicans to switch parties; and second, political violence, used as necessary, to suppress the Freedmen vote.

Once Hampton was nominated by the Democrats, and with no prosecution of the accused in the Hamburg Massacre, the Red Shirts began to actively and openly harass Freedmen and supportive whites across the state. Violence continued after Hamburg. From September 15 to 21, in Ellenton, over 100 Freedmen and one white were killed. In October, in Cainhoy, near Charleston, one Freedman and several whites were killed. In both instances, the violence was led by the Red Shirts.

As

1872 Cartoon Depiction of a Carpetbagger

Hampton campaigned across the state, the Red Shirts were careful never to connect their actions directly with Hampton, but even if they had, there was nothing the state government could do to stop them. Governor Chamberlain admitted as much when he signed a document dated October 5 that declared he had no effective control over the state government and was entirely depended in Federal troops to main order. President Ulysses S. Grant responded by sending federal troops that arrived on October 17 and remained through the election. Despite his attempts at reforming the government, Chamberlain had become the personification of the Carperbagger, a “Yankee” who moved to the South after the war, and reaped financial gain at the expense of Southerners.

Despite the violence and bloodshed during the campaign, Election Day, November 7, 1876, went by with just a few instances of minor disturbances. The troops sent by President Grant were in place to ensure safe and fair voting, and that Freedmen were unmolested. Votes were counted and declarations of victory were made by both sides. What followed was a four month period in which South Carolina had two governments.