Death of a Carpetbagger

7/27/2019 Death of a Carpetbagger

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Death of a Carpetbagger: The George Washington Smith Murder and Stockade Trial in

Jefferson, Texas, 1868-1869Author(s): Christopher B. BeanReviewed work(s):Source: The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 112, No. 3 (Jan., 2009), pp. 262-292Published by: Texas State Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30239649 .

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Plan of the calaboose in Jefferson, Texas, where "carpetbagger"George Washington Smithwas murdered on October 3, 1868. Map from the collections of the National Archives,Washington, D.C.

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Deathof a Carpetbagger:heGeorgeWashingtonSmithMurderand StockadeTrial inJefferson,Texas,1868-1869CHRISTOPHER B. BEAN *

SF I OWNED HELL AND TEXAS I WOULD RENT OUT TEXAS AND LIVEin hell." In these words, General Philip Sheridan, commander inTexas after the Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the former

Confederacy into five military districts, summarized his view not only ofthe state's unbearable climate, but of political and social conditions thatexisted in the post-war Lone Star State as well. Of the eleven formerConfederate states, none had a more difficult time coming to terms withemancipation and suffered more lawlessness and violence than Texas,particularly the state's northeastern counties, where loyal white men,both carpetbaggers and scalawags, and freedmen experienced almostconstant violence. "There has not been ... the slightest change in thefeelings and determination upon the destruction of the Radicals,"declared one Unionist leader in 1868, "they only await a more favorableopportunity." Contemporaries viewed the region as one infested witharmed banditti, thieves, cutthroats, and assassins. One could not pick upa newspaper without reading of murder, assassination, and robbery.'

*Christopher B. Bean earned his Ph.D. in history at the University of North Texas and now teachesmilitary history and the Civil War and Reconstruction at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.'Journal of theReconstructionConventionwhich Met at Austin, Texas, une I, A.D., i868, vol. i (Austin:Tracy, Siemering, and Company, 1870), 111 (first quotation); D. Campbell to Governor E. M. Pease,September 5, 1868, Records of the Governor Elisha Marshall Pease, Texas Office of the Governor,Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission (second quo-tation; hereafter cited as Governor Pease Correspondences); John Highland, "Texas Collection,"SouthwesternHistorical Quarterly45 (Oct., 1941): 197? 198; Willie Lee Rose, Slavery and Freedom,ed.William W. Freehling (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), 78; Alabama StateJournal,Jan. 3o,1869; New YorkTribune,Sep. 18, 1868; New YorkTimes,Oct. 25, 1868; Report of Maj. O. O. Howard tothe Secretary of War, Oct. 14, 1868, United States House of Representatives, Annual ReportU. S. WarDepartment,1868, 1052, H. Exec. Doc. 1, 4oth Cong., 3rd Sess. (Serial 1367; hereafter cited as Annual

Report);Campbell to Governor E. M. Pease, Nov. 3, 1868, Governor Pease Correspondences, MarshallTexasRepublican,Dec. 4, Dec. 11, 1868; Edward C. Henshaw to Lt. Charles Vernon, Dec. 1, 1868,Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Texas, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, andAbandoned Lands, 1865-1869, Registered Reports of Operations and Conditions, November-December, 1868, M821, reel 28 (National Archives; hereafter cited as Bureau Records); D. Campbell toC. Caldwell, Sep. 1868, Governor Pease Correspondences. According to Gen. J.J. Reynolds, commanderVOL. CXII, NO. 3 SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JANUARY 2009



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264 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryThe Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camelia, the Knights ofthe Rising Sun (KRS), and outlaw gangs led by men such as BenBickerstaff and Cullen Baker exemplified this kind of violence in the

most spectacular way. Doubtless, the greatest short-term deficiency oflocal Republican authorities was their ineffectiveness in countering thisthreat. As historian Carl H. Moneyhon concluded in his most recentwork on Texas during Reconstruction, the future of the RepublicanParty in the Lone Star State depended on the ability of the party to pro-tect the former slaves and white Unionists from such force.Unfortunately, in spite of efforts such as the creation of a state militia,the efforts to protect the freedmen from white violence proved toomuch for the fledgling party of Lincoln. In the end, federal authoritiesalso appeared unwilling or unable to protect those threatened by suchviolence, despite the occasional anti-Klan campaign or deployment oftroops to problem areas.2For decades, historians of Reconstruction generally viewedRepublican governments in the South as corrupt and oppressive andexcused white violence as necessary and justified against illegitimate

of the Fifth Military District, the "murder of negroes is so common as to render it impossible to keep anaccurate account of them," see Annual Report,U. S. WarDepartment, 1868, 705.2 Carl H. Moneyhon, TexasAfter the War:The Struggleof Reconstruction College Station: Texas &MUniversity Press, 2004), 85; Allen W. Trelease, WhiteTerror:TheKu Klux Klan Conspiracy nd SouthernReconstructionNew York:Harper and Row Publishers, 1971), xxxiv;James M. McPherson, "Wartime,"New YorkReviewof Books,Apr. 12, 1990: 33-35. There exist a few treatments specifically concerning vio-lence or the Ku Klux Klan in Texas during Reconstruction, most notably Gregg Cantrell, "RacialViolence and Reconstruction Politics in Texas; 1867-1868," SouthwesternHistorical Quarterly93 (Jan.,1990), 333-355; James Smallwood, "When the Klan Rode: White Terror in Reconstruction Texas,"Journal of the West25 (Oct., 1986), 4-13; Rebecca A. Kosary, "Regression to Barbarismin ReconstructionTexas: An Analysis of White Violence Against African-Americans From the Texas Freedmen's BureauRecords, 1865-1868" (M.A. thesis, Southwest Texas State University, 1999); Douglas Hales, "ViolencePerpetrated Against African Americans by Whites in Texas During Reconstruction 1865-1868" (M.A.thesis, Texas Tech University, 1994); BarbaraLeah Clayton, "The Lone Star Conspiracy:Racial Violenceand the Ku Klux Klan Terror in Post Civil War Texas, 1865-1877" (M.A. thesis, Oklahoma StateUniversity, 1979); and Barry A. Crouch, "A Spirit of Lawlessness: White Violence, Texas Blacks,1865?1868," Journal of SocialHistory 18 (Winter 1984): 220-221. For other Texas and national treat-ments-some sympathetic to white Reconstruction violence, while others not--dealing peripherally withthese subjects, see William L. Richter TheArmy in TexasDuring Reconstruction,1865-1870 (CollegeStation: Texas A&M University Press, 1987); William L. Richter, Overreached n All Sides: The Freedmen'sBureauAdministration n Texas,1865-1868 (College Station: Texas A&MUniversity Press, 1991); WilliamL. Richter, "The Army and the Negro During Texas Reconstruction, 1865-1870," East TexasHistoricalJournal io (Spring 1972): 7-19; Stanley Horn, The Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan,1866-187I (Boston: The Riverside Press, 1939); Otto H. Olsen, "The Ku Klux Klan: A Study inReconstruction Politics and Propaganda," North CarolinaHistoricalReview39 (Summer 1962): 34o-362;James E. Sefton, The United StatesArmy and Reconstruction186-1877 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana StateUniversity Press, 1967) ;James Marten, TexasDivided:Loyaltyand Dissent in theLone StarState, 1865-1874(Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 199o); and James M. Smallwood, BarryA. Crouch, and LarryPeacock, Murderand Mayhem:The Warof Reconstructionn Texas(College Station: Texas A&M UniversityPress, 2003).

3Smallwood et. al., Murderand Mayhem,133.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 265regimes run by carpetbaggers, scalawags, and freedmen. More recentscholarship has contradicted this paradigm, asserting that most violencein Reconstruction Texas, and across the South for that matter, amountedto an unjustified attack on civil rights and political liberties. According torevisionists, Klan-likegroups and their supporters, not federal authoritiesor the military, committed most of the violence, primarily to preservethe antebellum social order and values that included white supremacyand suppression of the newly freed slaves. "Theywere willing to use anymeans necessary to achieve their victory," wrote historians JamesSmallwood, Barry A. Crouch, and Larry Peacock. In East Texas, accord-ing to these scholars, ruffians harassed and killed nearly anyone whostood in their way, especially "uppity" blacks. Such violence played amajor role in turning Reconstruction into a litany of "failedpromises."Few events in Reconstruction Texas better demonstrate the politicaland racial violence of that era and attempts by federal and local officialsto counter such actions than the 1868 murder of George WashingtonSmith and the subsequent Stockade Trial in the Marion County town ofJefferson. The Smith murder and trial that followed were highly publi-cized events during that time as partisan newspaper editors and politi-cians used the whole affair for ammunition in their attacks against eachother. For many white Texans, the assassination of Smith represented along overdue offensive against the despotism embodied in RadicalRepublicanism. For Unionists, the event embodied the rebellious spiritthat four years of war had failed to kill and was evidence that a morepunitive reconstruction should continue with the support of the govern-ment in Washington.4 Thus the story of the murder of George

4For works that attempt to justify violence during Reconstruction, see W. D. Wood, ReminiscencesofReconstructionn Texas(San Marcos, Tex.: n. p., 1902), 9-10o;William A. Russ, "WasThere Danger of aSecond CivilWarDuring Reconstruction?" MississippiValleyHistoricalReview25 (June 1938), 58; CharlesW. Ramsdell, Reconstructionn Texas(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1910), 317-318; Brenda Stalcup,ed., Reconstruction:OpposingViewpointsSan Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995), 114-19; Richter, ArmyinTexasDuring Reconstruction, 95; W. C. Nunn, Texas Under the CarpetbaggersAustin: University of TexasPress, 1962), 71. For works that show how violence was used against Unionists, see Leon Litwack,Been ntheStormSo Long: TheEmergence f BlackFreedomn the South(New York:Knopf, 1979); Everette Swinney,Suppressing he Ku Klux Klan: TheEnforcement f the ReconstructionAmendments,1870-1874 (New York:Garland Publishing,, 1987); Billy D. Ledbetter, "WhiteTexans' Attitudes Toward the Political Equality ofNegroes, 1865-1870," Phylon 40 (Sep., 1979): 253-263; John A. Carpenter, "Atrocities in theReconstruction Period," Journal of Negro History 47 (Oct., 1962): 234-247; Otis A. Singletary, NegroMilitia and ReconstructionAustin: University of Texas Press, 1957); Rable, But ThereWas No Peace,AnnPatton Baenziger, "The Texas State Police During Reconstruction: A Reexamination, "SouthwesternHistorical Quarterly72 (Apr., 1969): 470-491; James Smallwood, Time of Hope, Timeof Despair: BlackTexansDuringReconstructionPort Washington, N.Y.:National University Publications, 1981); Robert W.Shook, "Federal Occupation and Administration of Texas, 1865-1870" (Ph.D. diss., North Texas StateUniversity, 1970); Melinda Meek Hennessey, "To Live and Die in Dixie: Reconstruction Race Riots inthe South" (Ph. D. diss., Kent State University, 1978). For more national perspectives, see Trelease, WhiteTerror,nd Rable, But ThereWasNo Peace.



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266 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryWashington Smith and the ensuing Stockade Trial provides an enlight-ening case study of violence in Texas after the Civil War.Although only asingle incident in a state located on the periphery of the Confederacy, itadds notably to the understanding of why Reconstruction proved so inef-fective in protecting the basic rights of Freedmen in the South.Situated in northeast Texas on the Louisiana border and immediatelynorth of Caddo Lake, Marion County covers 416 square miles. What thiscounty lacked in area, however, it more than made up in importanceduring the mid-nineteenth century. Created in 186o from several sur-rounding counties, Marion County enjoyed water access to the Red Rivervia Big Cypress Bayou and Caddo Lake.Jefferson, the county seat, devel-oped into an important port city, serving an agriculturally rich hinter-land that stretched well into the interior, and by 1868 had approximatelyten thousand residents. Although it was the most important city in north-east Texas, Jefferson did not impress all observers. "The tour ensemble fthe place is anything but agreeable," wrote one newspaper correspon-dent about Jefferson in 1869. "The streets are not paved, and are alwaysknee-deep with mud, except when the dust sweeps through them inblinding clouds."5In 1868, a little more than half of Marion County's population con-sisted of recently emancipated slaves. The white minority voiced distinctunhappiness at the implications of Radical Reconstruction. Theyexpressed particular nervousness about the Union League, which advo-cated racial equality and preached incendiary doctrines to the freedmensuch as black enfranchisement and office holding. One group in particu-lar, the Knights of the Rising Sun, held meetings and prowled the coun-tryside en masquealmost nightly. This secret fraternal organization target-ed any individual who disrupted the civic peace, meaning those advocat-ing anything threatening the racial order. Such intimidation causedfreedmen and white Republicans to attend League meetings under arms,only increasing the fears and anger of local whites. It was apparent to allparties involved that by the fall of 1868, Jefferson represented a city onedge, with Republicans in an advanced state of intimidation, whileDemocrats despised black enfranchisement and believed that every gath-ering of former slaves portended rebellion.6The general hostility toward freedmen, scalawags, and carpetbaggers

5New YorkTribune, uly 13, 1869 (quotation); Mark Howard Atkins, "MarionCounty," in Ron Tyler,Douglas E. Barnett, Roy R. Barkley, Penelope C. Anderson, and MarkF. Odintz (eds.), TheNew Handbookof Texas(6 vols.; Austin: Texas Historical Association, 1996), III, 924-925; Bureau of Business Research,An EconomicSurveyofMarionCounty:Preparedor TheTexasand PacificRailwayCompanyAustin: Universityof Texas Press, 1949), 1.03.6Trelease, WhiteTerror, 07-1o8; San AntonioDaily Express,December 25, 1868; HarrisonFlag,May 13,1869; Marshall TexasRepublican,November 13, 1868.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 267came to focus on an individual in Jefferson who preached racial equalityand possessed the greatest black following. That individual was GeorgeWashington Smith, a young veteran Union army officer from New Yorkwho had come to Jefferson as a merchant to work with his uncle immedi-ately after the war.Smith likely would not have been popular in the com-munity under any circumstances, but his zealous pursuit of outstandingdebts added to the general animosity toward carpetbaggers. Althoughthe business failed, Radical Reconstruction presented him the opportu-nity for a career in politics. With uncompromising ideals, Smith, at theage of twenty-four, headed the Union League in Jefferson, worked as amember of the executive committee of the county Republican Party,and, through the black majority in the area, won election as a delegate tothe 1868 state constitutional convention, which held its first session inAustin from June 1 to August 31. In his own words, Smith wanted toassist "theNegro in his efforts to escape the oppression of the rebels."'To the Republican press in the area, Smith embodied the selflessChristian democratic ideal in the mold of the pre-CivilWarAbolitionistswho advocated equality for freedmen. He stood against injustice and didnot waver in the face of criticism. "Inhis daily life," declared one conven-tion member in a posthumous eulogy, "he was correct, almost austere.He never drank, smoked, chewed, nor used profane language." Anothercalled him "afine specimen of manhood." Smith thought the freedmendeserved equality not only at the ballot box, but in the courtroom aswell. He fought tirelessly, regardless of the "perfect storm of indignationagainst himself," for the arrest of whites who committed crimes againstthe black community. The fact that Smith had suffered several wounds incombat during the Civil War attested to his bravery, and he did not lackfortitude or commitment. He refused to compromise what he thoughtright. For example, when warned by some to flee from potential death,Smith replied, "No, I shall stay here and do my duty, and leave the resultwith God."8

7Traylor Russell, Carpetbaggers, calawags, and Others Waco: Texian Press, 1973), 52 (quotation);Compiled Service Record, New York,Records of the Office of the Adjutant General, Washington, D. C.,RG 94, M551; Henry C. Morhouse, Reminiscencesof the 123rd New York tateVolunteers:History of its ThreeYearsService n the War(Greenwich, Conn.: People's Journal Book and Job Office, 1879), 251; New YorkTribune,July 31, 1869; Mark F. Odintz, "George Washington Smith," in Tyler, et al. (eds.), the NewHandbookof TexasV, 1098; ChicagoTribune,August 16, 1869; HarrisonFlag, May 13, 1869. Contrary tosome assertions, George Washington Smith was not a Freedmen's Bureau agent. There was a GeorgeWilliam Smith, of the burning of Brenham fame, who was a Bureau agent at Seguin and officer in the35th Infantry Regiment and was at one time stationed in Jefferson. There was also a district court judgenamed George W. Smythe. With the names so similar, it is understandable to see the mistaken identity.

8Shreveport outh-Western,ec. 2, 1868 (first quotation); Houston Tri-Weekly nion,May 24, 1869 (sec-ond quotation); New YorkTribune, uly 31, 1869 (third quotation); Houston Tri-Weekly nion, Oct. 29,1868 (fourth quotation); Flake'sDaily Bulletin,May 8, 1869; JeffersonRadical,Aug. 11, 1869; Morhouse,Reminiscences,51.



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268 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryIn stark contrast, the Democratic press called Smith "Dog"to indicatethat he was a low and unprincipled character who drove the locals to"madness," incited black mobs against their white neighbors, and

"undoubtedly merited the fearful retribution of death." They accusedhim of traveling the area "almost in [a] state of nudity to exhibit his con-tempt of its people." Smith's "love"for the former slaves, they added,revolted white-southern sensibilities. To most white Jeffersonians, theYankee Smith embodied all southern fears concerning racial equality, liv-ing and consorting in "unbridled licentiousness" with blacks. This ani-mosity, Mayor William W. Hodge later testified, stemmed from Smith'spersonal relationships that blurred the line between the races. AlthoughRepublican papers defended Smith and called these accusations "false ashell itself," they stuck.9Smith reportedly possessed unlimited ability to sway local freedmen.According to the Marshall TexasRepublican,he bragged about his influ-ence with the local black population. The hated northerner also wasalleged to have threatened to burn the town, "telling the negroes theywould have to burn it, before they could govern it." Smith was reportedto have bragged that the "defenseless"women of Jefferson dreaded suchan outrage and feared the consequences of a race war, and thereforeprotected him from harm. Unfortunately for Smith, these words,whether he said them or not, came back to haunt him, especially whenthroughout 1868 Jefferson was "threatened with incendiaries," includinga fire that devastated the city's business district. Whether Smith or hisspeeches had anything to do with Jefferson's fires is unknown, but foryears after his death, fires plagued the city to such an extent that onenewspaper contemplated keeping the headline "Another Fire inJefferson" standing. Nevertheless, the climate in Jefferson in late sum-mer and early fall of 1868, one thick with anger and fear, required onlycoincidence and happenstance to spell disaster for Smith.10The beginning of the end for Smith came on the night of Saturday,October 3, 1868, upon returning to town from a political rally earlier

9New YorkTribune, uly 31, 1869 (first quotation); Marshall TexasRepublican,Feb. 12, 1869 (secondquotation); Austin Tri-Weekly azette,une 23, 1869 (third quotation); Flake'sDaily Bulletin,May 8, 1869(fourth quotation); Marshall TexasRepublican,May 9, 1868; Shreveportouth-Western, ay 5, 1869; Ben C.Cooner, "The Rise and Decline of Jefferson, Texas" (M.A. thesis, North Texas State University, 1965),62; HarrisonFlag, May 13, 1869; Marshall TexasRepublican,Feb. 12, 1869; Lucille Blackburn Bullard,MarionCounty,Texas,186o--I87o (Jefferson, Tex. : n.p., 1965), 1og; Testimony of MayorWilliam Hodge,Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, Army Court MartialCase Files 18o9-1894, RG 94,Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780-1917, Case PP 629, Box 2582, pp. 1219, 2181(National Archives; hereafter cited as Trial Transcript).

'o Marshall TexasRepublican,February 12, 1869 (quotation); Marshall TexasRepublican,May 2, May 5,and Mar.7, 1868; Shreveportouth-Western,eb. 22, Feb. 29, 1871.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 269that day. His colleague, Aaron Grisby,a local man of the cloth, broughtSmith's valise (carpetbag) in a buggy after its owner forgot it at the politi-cal rally earlier that day. Grisby transferred the bag to several black mento return to its owner. On the road to Smith's home, however, a partystopped and robbed the freedmen, taking the bag. The Knights of theRising Sun, a local vigilante and home-guard group, were more than like-ly responsible for the larceny, for the Knights' newspaper, the Ultra KuKlux, published an inventory of the bag's contents. A close confidant ofSmith later testified that Smith told him about the theft that he "meantto have satisfaction if it cost this town $500,000.""

Believing his bag to be concealed at the home of Richard A. Figures, alocal hotel employee and a member of the Knights, Smith demandedpermission to search the residence. Figures objected, however, and thecommanding officer of the soldiers who accompanied Smith to preventany trouble between locals and the hated northerner refused Smith'srequest to search the premises on the grounds that he lacked a warrant.Smith allegedly then returned to town to form a squad of freedmen toassist in his original design of searching Figures's residence for his bag.Figures, who heard about this "premeditated outrage" and feared for hisfamily's safety, called on his neighbors for protection. Before returningto Figures's home, Smith, according to later court testimony, went to thehouse of a freedman, Cornelius Turner, to pick up his washed clothes.Suddenly from the street, Col. Richard P. Crump, a local merchant, lead-ing member in the community, and a man with a reputation for violence,yelled out to Smith, "Halt, you damned scoundrel," and fired his gun.The intended target quickly ran behind the house, and a group of menwho came to the support of the colonel pursued, firing as they went. Inspite of the intense fight that transpired-Smith, in fact, emptied hisweapon-neither he nor the freedmen who came to his defense receivedwounds, but two-not ten as some reports have suggested-of Col.Crump's men did. "Itwas the current report in Jefferson that the longexpected attempt at Smith's assassination had been made and that theassailants had got the worst of it," the JeffersonRadicalreported later."

" Trial Transcript, p. 1226 (quotation); Flake'sDaily Bulletin, Oct. 15, 1868; Shreveport outh-Western,Oct. 28, 1868; United States Eighth Census (186o), Marion County, Texas, Population Schedules, Cityof Jefferson (M1188; University of North Texas Microfilm Collection, University of North Texas) here-after cited as Eighth Census; New YorkTribune,July 31, 1869. Although known to students ofReconstruction in Texas, these events have been examined only peripherally. Many of these studies areinadequate, partly because they were based on incomplete evidence. None used the more-than-three-thousand pages of trial transcript and evidence; therefore, any depiction and interpretation of eventsare subject to criticism. This, in fact, is the only study of the murder of George Washington Smith andStockade Trial based on the original sworn testimony and evidence, as well as previously unused stateand criminal records.

12Marshall TexasRepublican,Mar. 26, 1869 (first quotation); Trial Transcript, pp. 172-173 (second



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270 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryFollowing the incident, Col. Crump attempted to cover his tracks by

placing the blame on Smith and the freedmen. He searched Turner'shouse for the "culprit"who had fired in defense of Smith and, findingseveral weapons, urged Mayor William W. Hodge and City Marshal SilasH. Nance, who arrived on scene after the fray, to arrest the freedmenCornelius Turner, Anderson Wright, and Lewis Grant for assault. "Itoldyou that son of a bitch, Smith, would get you into trouble," stated one ofthe civil authorities as he took the freedmen into custody, "and you willfind it out before tomorrow night." Local law enforcement then beganlooking for Smith.13

Fearing for his life, Smith had taken refuge behind a shed in back ofthe house. When Maj. James Curtis, commander of the federal post atJefferson and sub-assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau forMarion County, arrived on scene, Smith immediately gave himself up tofederal, rather than local, custody. Indifferent to Smith's pleas, whichincluded bluntly telling Maj. Curtis "ifyou surrender me to these menthey will kill me," the major handed the captive over to city authorities.In his later testimony the major stated that he decided to relinquish thehated northerner after both the mayor and the marshal gave assurancesthat they could protect Smith. Also, Col. Crump, who was chosen by civilauthorities to raise a detail of men to protect Smith while in confine-ment, promised that he would not hurt the prisoner.14

quotation); JeffersonRadical,Aug.,i 1, 1869 (third quotation); Ninth Census of the United States (1870)(microfilm; National Archives), reel 1597 (hereafter cited as Ninth Census, 1870, reel 1300); Fake'sDaily Bulletin, Oct., 15, 1868; Houston Tri-Weekly nion, Oct., 29, 1868. Accounts vary as to what exactlyhappened during the shootout. According to one story, Smith and his men arrived and even enteredFigures's house, before the shooting began. From another source, however, Smith's party was accostedon the road to Figures's residence. And from still yet another, Smith and his party met at a freedmen'shouse in town before heading to Figures's house and it was there that Col. Crump and his partyknocked on the front door and Smith and his men came out the back firing. The testimony of Maj.James Curtis, however, alludes to the incident on the third happening in town, approximately two blocksfrom the major's headquarters, rather than at Figures's residence located one and a half miles outsidetown; while Anderson Wright stated that the incident on October 3 occurred in the back of LewisGrant's grocery. Additionally, Figures's testimony points to no incident occurring at his residence onSaturday,October 3. What really happened may never definitively be known; see Shreveportouth-Western,Oct. 14, Oct. 28, 1868; Flake'sDaily Bulletin,Oct. 15, 1868; Trial Transcript, pp. 77-78; New YorkTribune,July 31, 1869; Austin Tri-Weekly azette,Oct. 16, 1868; and Trial Transcript, pp. 133, 263.14New YorkTribune, uly 31, 1869 (quotation); Trial Transcript, 28-29, 77; Maj.James Curtis to Gen. J.J.Reynolds, Aug. 30, 1868, Bureau Records, Letters Received A-C 1867-1869, reel lo; Special Orders,September 8, 1868, Bureau Records, Issuances and Rosters of Bureau Personnel and Special OrdersReceived, September 1865-April 1869, reel 19; Constitution of the Knights of the Rising Sun, Recordsof the Office of the Judge Advocate General: Army Court Martial Case Files 18o9-1894, RG 94, Recordsof the Adjutant General's Office, 178o-1917, Box 2585, p. 33 (National Archives; hereafter cited asConstitution of KRS). According to Maj. Curtis's testimony, Smith did not run to his headquarters asnearly every account reports, nor did Col. Crump and the civil authorities arrive at the major's head-quarters with a warrant for Smith's arrest as commonly believed. Instead, Maj. Curtis testified that Smithwas still hiding at the scene when he arrived. See New YorkTribune,uly 31, 1869.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 271Local law enforcement, with the blessing of the major, placed thethree freedmen and Smith in the calaboose, a seven to eight foot highwooden security fence enclosure (triangular shaped) containing an iron

jail, which consisted of one room and a cell attached. It was located onlya block and a half from Maj. Curtis's headquarters. The cityjail, whichwas located nearly a mile from the major's headquarters, was a woodenstructure. Officials thought it wise to house Smith in an iron structurelike the calaboose because it was easier to guard and could not beburned. Throughout the night on October 3, the four prisonersremained under guard by a handpicked group of sentries led by noneother than Col. Crump. The guards separated Smith from the freedmen,placing him in the iron jail and holding the others in the yard. Early thenext morning, local officials arrested a fourth freedman implicated inthe fray,Richard Stewart.'5Meanwhile, the Knights began organizing for some "southernjustice."They believed themselves "conservator[s] of peace" against those whoantagonized and "foment[ed] discord" between the races and "assisted"authorities "in bringing offenders to answer before the Court of Justiceand checking crimes and offences." The Knights did not have to travelfar in order to render assistance to local authorities, because MayorHodge later testified that he asked the Knights to provide a detail oftheir "best" men to assist in guarding the prisoners. This was a highlyquestionable decision, for some civil authorities were also Knights,including Marshal Silas H. Nance, Sheriff C. E. McGregor, DeputySheriff Mark H. Joplin, and policeman W. A. Thomas, all of whom volun-teered to protect the prisoners. Access to the calaboose by some of thesemen would prove decisive. According to one freedman, he overheard themarshal saying to another man, "Boys, about ten o'clock is our besttime." Events defined that time's significance. Whether planning 'jus-tice" for months or days, it is clear the KRS had decided to kill Smith. Asone Knight bragged to the black prisoners, "We will have radical meatbefore tomorrow."16On Sunday morning, October 4, Crump visited the prisoners,demanding from Smith all papers in his personal possession. Afterreceiving what the prisoner had on him, the colonel proceeded to ques-tion one of the freedmen. Recalling the devastating fire earlier that year"caused" by "that carpetbagger," Crump noticed the freedman's name

a" ew YorkTribune, uly 31, 1869; Russell, Carpetbaggers,3; Trial Transcript, pp. 78, 88, 114, 1104,1693-1694. Col. Crump would only lead the detail on October 3, relinquishing that duty the next day.16Constitution of KRS, (first and second quotations); Trial Transcript, p. 124 (third and fourth quo-tations), pp. 3, 18, 124, 166, 181, 239-240, 267.



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272 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly Januaryappeared in Smith's papers for twenty dollars owed. After a brief expla-nation by the prisoner, the colonel ended with an ominous promise.

"When his town was burned up,"rememberedCol. Crump,"itwas burnedup bythe Yanks ndniggers,and about the time it wasburnedtheystoleenoughto last them till this time, and nowyou'reabout to burn it up again,but I'll seeyou about it. Righthere on George Smith'spaper I see about twelvehundredniggersand low downoutside whitemen, you loyal eaguemen, but I willput anend to Mr.GeorgeSmith and all of them twelvehundredniggers-I willkill thelast damned one of you.""7Later that day, Maj. Curtis realized the possible danger to the prison-ers. Despite the assurances from local officials that such disturbances

usually resulted in all talk and no action, and hearing incessant rumorsof impending danger, the major dispatched approximately half of hisforce to protect the prisoners, which brought the total number of civilianand military personnel guarding the calaboose to approximately sixteen.To assuage any fears about a possible breakout, Maj. Curtis promised toreinforce the guard detail at a moment's notice. MayorHodge later testi-fied that he believed this to mean that the military would arrive firingaway.The major further ordered Lt. Wilbur T. DuBois to take commandat the calaboose and summoned all possible reinforcements fromMarshall, about twenty miles south of Jefferson. Before sending anytroops, however, the post commander at Marshall, Gen. J. Hayden, firstconsulted with Robert W. Loughery, the Democratic editor of theJeffersonTimes and Marshall TexasRepublican,who convinced him thattroops were not necessary. Gen. Hayden, who testified that Maj. Curtis'srequest arrived around six o'clock that night, later stated,

"it [the arrival or help] put it out of the questionas to the matter of rein-forcements, because the detachment could not by any possibilityreach youbefore midnightand were the idea seriouslyentertainedof takingG W Smithfrom thejail the attemptwill be made before the arrivalof the troops... Wereyourcommand threatenedI should not hesitatea moment to come to yourassis-tance evenif I movedwitheverysoldier at the Post."'8'7TrialTranscript, p. 176 (block quotation), pp. 175-177-

Gen. J. Hayden to Maj. James Curtis, Oct. 4, 1868, Post of Marshall, Letters Sent, August1868-March 1869, The Fifth Military District, RG 393 (National Archives; herereafter cited as Post ofMarshall), block quotation) N. V. Board to Governor E. M. Pease, Oct. 13, 1868, Governor PeaseCorrespondences (second quotation); New YorkTribune, uly 31, 1869; N. V. Board to Governor E. M.Pease, Oct. so, 1868, Governor Pease Correspondences; Trial Transcript, pp. 2o, 78-80, 85-86, 1116.After the fact, one newspaper leveled charges of duplicity and complicity at Loughery. "Yes,BroLoughery," stated the JeffersonRadical,"when it is known that you were aware of the condition of GeorgeW. Smith; that he was lying in the city prison of Jefferson, friendless and without his arms; for you, BroLoughery to advise that no help be sent him in an extremity of this kind, is indeed 'revolting,' SHOCK-ING AND INHUMAN," see JeffersonRadical,Sep. 18, 1869.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 273Gen. Hayden, no doubt, could have sent reinforcements to Maj.Curtis had he wanted to, as evidenced by the last sentence of his state-ment; in fact, a detail of cavalry might have arrived much earlier than

midnight as the general suggested, depending on the speed they trav-eled the approximately twenty miles from Marshall to Jefferson. Gen.Hayden's claim that troops, if sent, would not have arrived before mid-night, nearly three hours after Smith's death, is unconvincing, for he didnot know exactly when or if an attempt was going to be made on the pris-oner. In his own words, the general prioritized what he deemed impor-tant to warrant sending reinforcements to Jefferson and protection forSmith ranked low. Whether Loughery convinced him that sending rein-forcements was not necessary because all the talk of revenge was justrumor, or if he simply did not wish to dispatch soldiers to Jefferson toperform what he believed a civil matter will never be fully known. Butwhat is certain is Gen. Hayden should have given more emphasis andimportance to assisting a fellow officer (Maj. Curtis), who believed him-self in need of help.

Although some in the military incorrectly judged the situation, oth-ers, especially the black community, braced for trouble. Richard "SugarDick" Walker, a local freedman and eye witness to the events that nightin the calaboose, testified that he knew something was going to happenand warned others to find "asafe place to hide."John W. Lea, who livednear the calaboose, saw freedmen nailing up windows and bracing doors.For the prisoners, unfortunately, Gen. Hayden, among others, failed topossess such insight, which proved disastrous.'9Between nine o'clock and ten o'clock that night, a party estimated at100ooto 250 armed, masked men (including several freedmen)approached the enclosure. The party approached in a very disciplineddouble-time manner and halted just outside the calaboose enclosure.According to the testimony of a remorseful Richard Figures, a memberof the KRS and participant in the events that night who later turnedstate's evidence, attorney Hinche P. Mabry and William Saufly, a localmerchant, conversed with the military sentries who were placed outsidethe enclosure to sound the alarm if trouble approached. Soon after thebrief conversation, the sentries simply walked off. 20

Although some accused the military sentries of collusion with theKnights, there exists no evidence to support such an assertion. Nor doesit appear that the Military Commission gave much credence to military

19Trial Transcript, p 20o8(quotation), p. 970o.2"Trial Transcript, pp. 181, 213, 275-76; 304, Eighth Census, 186o, C. Caldwell to Governor[Pease], Sep. 30, 1868, Governor Pease Correspondences.



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274 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly Januarypersonnel involvement, because nowhere in the voluminous trial tran-script is there a suggestion that the sentries conspired with the KRS tokill Smith. More than likely, the sentries believed these men to be theanticipated civilian reinforcements orjust one of the periodic patrols theKnights were known to do throughout the town. The sentries had ordersto sound the alarm if any armed party approached, but to let a party ledby Dr.James Lockhart, which would include civilian reinforcements, topass unmolested. With the sentries satisfied to the identity of the party,the columns continued toward the calaboose.21

Halting the body approximately sixty feet outside the enclosure,Saufly approached alone and began yelling to individuals on the otherside of the fence inside the enclosure. Realizing that the guards insidewere expecting the arrival of Dr. Lockhart's party around nine thatnight, Suafly replied to the inquiring Dan Sanford, a policeman and oneof the guard detail, that he was with the doctor's party. To one Knight,the whole scene looked scripted. "[T]here was an understanding amongthe leaders for some purpose, I don't know what," he remembered. "Isuppose as to questions that would be asked by persons inside the jailyard." On state's evidence, Dr. Lockhart would later be indicted oncharges of complicity in the event.22With the guards inside presumably still not cognizant of the plan, theKnights marched to the gate and, after policeman Sanford opened it,immediately broke ranks and poured in. Their entry was made all theeasier because military officials inside had yet to bar the gate, as theywere awaiting the arrivalof Dr. Lockhart's party.A participant testified atthe trial that "we entered every man for [himself]," while an observercompared the crowd's entry to "wild cattle." The party quickly over-whelmed the unprepared soldiers, sentinels, and local civil officers,despite the best efforts of the soldiers present. "[B]efore my men couldspring to their feet," recalled Lt. DuBois, the commanding officer of thefederal soldiers ordered to protect the prisoners at the calaboose, "they[the armed group] were inside and about fifty shot-guns and pistols andother weapons were leveled on us." It was later revealed that several sol-diers within the enclosure hurriedly jumped over the fence upon seeingthe crowd. One civilian guard, Sheriff Campbell McGregor, saw theentering crowd and implored the mayor to speak to the crowd. "ForGod's sake,"Mayor Hodge answered, who was at first confused about the

21Trial Transcript, p. 41.22 Trial Transcript, p. 307 (quotation), pp. 33, 277; John M. Frith to S. Bissell, Aug. 21, 1869,

Correspondence of the Office of Civil Affairs of the District of Texas, The Fifth Military District, and theDepartment of Texas, 1867-1870, Letters Sent, June 1869-May 1870, M1188, reel 22 (hereafter citedas Office of CivilAffairs).



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 275whole affair,but soon realized what they had come for, "what'sthe use oftalking to such a crowd as that, we can't control them."23With the soldiers disarmed, and with assistance from Marshal Nance'skeys, the Knights secured the four freedmen in the yard and immediatelybegan working on opening the calaboose door. While some worked toopen the door, others took three of the four freedmen out, headingtoward a spring on the western side of town, approximately a quartermile from the calaboose. The fourth freedmen, Cornelius Turner,escaped from his captors and ran and hid under a nearby cabin. Hebecame a spectator to the events that night. While taking the prisonersto the spring, one attacker advised his co-conspirators to finish the deedquickly, for at any moment the reinforcements from Marshall might bearriving (they were unaware of Gen. Hayden's decision). "Damn MajorCurtis and his reinforcements," Anderson Wright later testified Col.Crump answered to the advice, "Ihave told him what I am going to doand I will do it or I will kill him and all his God damn men and burndown his shanty."24In the adjoining woods near the spring the party riddled two of thefreedmen with bullets, brushing off their pleas for mercy. AndersonWright, however, got away.Having accepted his fate and with a pistol tohis head, Wright asked to pray for both his attacker and himself beforedying. "Pray,and [do] that damned quick," the would-be victim testifiedthat Marion T. Slaughter said to him, "foryou will be in hell in ten min-utes, and Smith will not be five minutes behind you." As the prisonerknelt down, Slaughter knocked the praying man's hat off with hisrevolver and fired two shots at him, one hitting the man's shoulder.Wright immediately sprang up and ran into the woods, with bulletswhizzing past him. For the next couple of days, the Knights scoured thearea looking for Wright, but not before he found refuge at the militarypost at Marshall. He remained there until the military brought him backtoJefferson for the trial.25Meanwhile, back in town, Maj. Curtis, apprised of the break-in,arrived at the calaboose alone, not waiting for the rest of his commandto follow. Upon arriving, he found Lt. DuBois's military detail disarmed

"23 rial Transcript, p. 307 (first quotation), p. 1114 (second quotation), pp. 33-34 (third quotation),pp. 634-635 (fourth quotation), pp. 40, 31,178, 277, 1115-24 Trial Transcript, p. 125 (quotation). According to Wright's testimony, when the party entered theenclosure, Marshal Nance leveled his gun at the four freedmen and stated, "Don't you move." This con-tradicts the assertions of Lt. DuBois, who testified that Marshal Nance told him that he was clubbed andknocked down by someone in the crowd who then took his keys. It must be noted no one in the enclo-sure that night corroborated the marshal's story, see Transcript, pp. 36, 41, 141.25 Trial Transcript, p. 126 (first quotation), pp. 130-133, 282-283, 313, 323.



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276 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly Januaryagainst a wall and the intruders ineffectively battering at the metal cala-boose double-door. The double-door (one opening outward and theother opening inward) proved nearly impossible for the men to open. Asthe group worked the door, Maj. Curtis tried to intervene by placinghimself between the attackers and the door. On three separate occasions,he pleaded with the men "everyway on earth that a man could do to getthem to stop it." The major even reminded the crowd that Col. Crumpgave his word Smith would not be harmed, with some in the crowdresponding with "weare not Col. Crump." "[I] have the greatest respectfor you Major and your men," remarked one Knight, "but I intend toaccomplish the purpose that I have come for."After removing the majorfor the third time, one attacker even warned him that if he continued toplace himself in front of the door, "he would use him roughly." Maj.Curtis' superiors would later criticize him for his actions that night.Flake'sDaily Bulletinalso wondered: "Is it the duty of a United States offi-cer to expostulate with anybody?"26

Shortly after removing the major for the last time, the party producedMarshal Nance's key to the outer door, which left only the inner door,which lacked a lock. In the trial's testimony stories differed as to exactlyhow the party obtained the key. One witness remembered the partystrongly threatening Marshal Nance with bodily harm and death if hedid not give up the key.Another witness stated that the marshal admittedthat some of the attackers knocked him down and took the key. Othersinsinuated that the marshal's story was as scripted as everything else thatnight. Regardless of how the party obtained the key, the important thingwas that they now had it, and that essentially sealed the fate of GeorgeWashington Smith.27With the outer door unlocked and the inner door slightly pushedopen, one attacker, George Gray,squeezed through the door and beganfighting with Smith. "[H]e is killing one of our men," yelled out one ofthe attackers. At that moment, Gray,with Smith on his back, crawled tothe door and his compatriots pulled him to safety. Figures later remem-bered that Gray "didn't come out of the jail straight."The Knights obvi-ously underestimated the fight in the hated Yankee. For months, they

26Trial Transcript, p. 279 (first quotation), p. 83 (second and third quotations), pp. 220, 279-280Shreveport outh-Western, ct. 28, 1868 (fourth quotation); Flake'sDaily Bulletin,Oct. 31, 1868; Gen. J. J.Reynolds to U. S. Adjutant General, Oct. 16, 1868, Letters Sent by the Department of Texas, the Districtof Texas, and the Fifth Military District 1856 and 1858 and 1865-1870, Letters Sent, Aug. io-Dec. 31,1868, Mi165, reel 2 (hereafter cited as Fifth Military District). For examples of wondering how themajor could surrender his men before any of them were killed, see Flake'sDailyBulletin,Oct. 11, 1868.27Trial Transcript, pp. 36, 277; Trelease, WhiteTerror, 42. Richard Figures testified that policemanThomas also possessed a key and opened the door for the attacking men, see Trial Transcript, p. 278.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 277had labeled Smith a coward and no match against a southern man, butin a matter of minutes, Smith's tenacity and fight became unquestion-able. Having proven his bravery during the Civil War when he receivedwounds at the battles of Gettysburg and Dallas (Georgia), Smith faced alarge, armed crowd, unarmed and alone. "Armed," one newspaperdeclared, "he was a match for them all, and they gave him a wideberth. "28

But now Smith could only press his weight against the inner door andhope for help. For what must have seemed more than several minutes,the five-foot-nine-inch Smith kept his attackers at bay. "God damn him,"Richard Walker later stated he heard Col. Crump angrily bellow, "let meget to him, and I'll be God damned if I don't stop him from rearing."Another attacker declared, "I'llput his light out directly."Smith's resist-ance frustrated the Knights, but in the end, he only delayed theinevitable. "Hand me that gun God damn me," one of them yelled out infrustration to someone in the crowd, "Iwill blow him out next time."'29With Smith pressing his weight against the door and crying out forhelp, the attackers managed to pry open the door enough to fire twoshots through the opening. The first shot missed, but the second foundits mark. Others also fired shots through the window. With Smith wound-ed but still alive, Saufly ordered someone to give him "a showing."Someone then walked up and delivered the coup de grace to the dyingman's head. Others then filed in and delivered approximately eighteenshots into the lifeless corpse, "that each one might participate in the tri-umph." The MarshallTexasRepublican, eclaring the incident "an unavoid-able necessity [for] the sanctity of home, the peace and safety of society,the prosperity of the country, and the security of life itself," concludedthat "the career of Smith terminated as might have been expected.""3

With Smith dead (the whole affair had taken about five to ten min-utes) the crowd broke into squads and began canvassing the area forother Republican leaders. "Wehave got Smith," some heard individuals

2 Trial Transcript. p. 279 (first and second quotations), 300; Houston Tri-Weekly nion,Oct., 29, 1868(third quotation); Morhouse, Reminiscences, 51. Richard Walker testified that when the party got theinner door open, Smith wrestled an attacker's gun from him. It was then that the party immediately"doubled in on him." According to Figures, a participant in the attack, rather than a distant witness,Smith never garnered any weapon whatsoever. Nevertheless, such a story prompted several apocryphalstories that he killed several Knights, and they quietly buried the dead, see Trial Transcript, pp.211-212, Flake'sDaily Bulletin, Oct. 31, 1868; Untitled and unpublished manuscript, n.d., Box 24-B,Barry Crouch Collection, Victoria College, Victoria, Tex.29Trial Transcript, p. 212 (first and second quotations), p. 187.oTrial Transcript, p. 187 (first quotation); Trelease, WhiteTerror,142 (second quotation); MarshallTexasRepublican,Oct. 16, Oct.3o, 1868 (third quotation); Trial Transcript, pp. 128, 18o, 186, 211, 280,327-28; Testimony of Dr. W. C. Whitehead, Trial Transcript, n.p., Box 2585; Russell, Carpetbaggers,53-54.



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278 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly Januaryin the calaboose cry out, "Caldwell and Campbell next." Republicancounty judge Donald Campbell anticipated he could be killed and tookrefuge at Maj. Curtis' headquarters. Republican Supreme Court JudgeColbert Caldwell, the second most hated man next to Smith in the areabecause of his widely published report as chairman of the constitutionalconvention's committee on lawlessness, heard the shooting around thecalaboose and quickly fled his home into some nearby woods. His depar-ture came at a fortuitous time, for moments later a sizable crowd ofKnights arrived on his property.31

Although the judge evaded capture, his teenage son was not so lucky.A group captured the boy and for several hours the resolute youthrefused to divulge his father's whereabouts. "Weought to kill this brat,"snapped one of the boy's interrogators, "he is no better than the oldman." "There is no use killing him," answered another in the party, "lethim go, he is a brave boy and he don't deserve killing." They releasedCaldwell's son and, shortly thereafter, called off the search for his father.Other prominent Republicans were also targeted but escapedunharmed. Throughout the night, the various groups of Knights dis-persed and peace was restored. Thus ended, according to one newspa-per, "atragedy.., .which surpasses in atrocity anything which has takenplace in Texas since the [Gainesville] hanging of 1861 [sic]."32On the following day, October 5, the few remaining whiteRepublicans in Jefferson, fearing a repeat of the previous night, tookrefuge on the second floor of the Haywood Hotel, as federal troops occu-pied the first. The Knights, meanwhile, patrolled the town for "danger-ous Negroes," especially those individuals who might have witnessedtheir actions the night before. Later that day when Maj.Curtis confessedto the remaining Republicans at the hotel that the only protection hecould afford them was a military escort out of town, most Republicansdecided to leave Jefferson. The civic leaders, however, realizing theeffects to the town and themselves of such an exodus, pleaded for themto stay and offered them protection. According to historian Allen W.Trelease, the Republicans recalled the pledge made to Smith and thefreedmen and "departed as quickly as they could, some openly and oth-ers furtively to avoid ambush."'3Almost before the bodies were cold and the gunpowder smoke had

31 Flake'sDaily Bulletin, Oct. 15, 1868 (quotation); C. T. Garland to Governor E. M. Pease, Aug. 4,1868, Governor Pease Correspondences; Trial Transcript, pp. 285-289.32Trial Transcript, pp. 733-734 (first quotation); Shreveportouth-Western,ct. 28, 1868 (second quo-tation); Trial Transcript, pp. 285-289, 747; Shreveport outh-Western, ct. 28, 1868; Houston Tri-WeeklyUnion,May lo, 1869.33Trelease, WhiteTerror, 43 (quotation)



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 279faded from the air there began another conflict, this one fought in blackand white. The battles lines between the Conservative and Radical presshad been drawn before the Smith murder. But with his murder, therewas something tangible to focus upon, rather than some abstract theory,law, or far awayevent in Washington, D.C. Smith's death soon became apolitical football, and all sides ran with it. Conservatives and Republicansviewed the event differently and matched charge with counter-charge.Some correspondents presented the KRS and Democrats as the true vil-lains and Smith as a martyr for the righteous Radical Republican cause."The blood of Smith stains not only the hands of the masked perpetra-tors of the foul deed," declared the Tyler ndex,"but attaches to the skirtsof the citizens of Jefferson, and its voice cries from the ground like theblood of Abel in the ear of heaven of retribution." The Houston Tri-WeeklyUnion likened Smith to another martyr,John Brown, with Smith's bodyin the ground, but his "soul is marching on." According to Flake'sDailyBulletin, conservative editors "manifest the grossest ignorance concern-ing the crime." The paper also accused these editors of duplicity in theevent through their coverage. In fact, in order to give Republicans in thearea a vehicle to express their philosophy and opinions, Winston Banksand C. T. Garland began publishing a local Radical newspaper called theJeffersonRadical. "Wewish these gentlemen success," claimed the HoustonTri-Weeklynion,"but it looks about as hopeless as the storming of hell inan attempt to take the Devil prisoner."34Conservative newspapers, which were more numerous, condemnedSmith and applauded the act. They excused violence and described theincident as necessary, placing blame on Smith and the Republicans forthe murder. The conservative press added an aura of mystery andromanticism when describing the event, which would influence futureversions about Reconstruction. "After the accomplishment of theirobject," reported the JeffersonTimes,"theyall retired as quietly and myste-riously as they came-no one knowing who they were or from whencethey came." The Marshall TexasRepublicanproposed "surely no reason-able man will contend that the removal of such a man was not demand-ed by motives of public safety."Stories about Smith's murder demonstrat-ed a problem that appeared after other violent attacks duringReconstruction: two completely different versions of the same event."Republican and Democratic accounts differed diametrically on almost

" Tyler ndexquote as cited in Marshall TexasRepublican,Oct. 30, 1868 (first quotation); Houston Tri-WeeklyUnion, May 24, 1869 (second quotation); Flake'sDaily Bulletin, May 8, 1869 (third quotation);Houston Tri-Weeklyulletin,Feb. 5, 1869 (fourth quotation); JeffersonRadical,Aug. 11, 1869; HoustonT'i-WeeklyUnion,Nov. 5, 1868.



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280 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly Januaryevery particular,"wrote historian Allen Trelease, "and both were coloredby considerations of political and personal interest." Regardless of theconflicting stories, there usually exist enough facts to corroborate theRepublicans' case.35Of all the Texas papers that engaged in this war of words about theSmith affair, the most vitriolic attacks came from the unapologetic "rebeleditor" of the Marshall TexasRepublicanand JeffersonTimes,Robert W.Loughery. He wielded the printed word like a sword, thrusting it atSmith's defenders. As a result, there soon existed a personal battlebetween Loughery and the Unionist editor of Flake'sDaily Bulletin inGalveston, Ferdinand Flake. In a series of articles the two accused theother of distortion, embellishment, lying, and complicity in the murder.Loughery smeared Smith and the Republican cause and attacked thesubsequent military trial as despotic and tyrannical. Flake, on the otherhand, saw Smith as another victim of Democratic violence and the trialthat followed as constitutional justice. "He does not know that his posi-tions are untenable and his point refuted," declared Flake aboutLoughery's editorials, "but returns to and maintains them with a heroismperfectly sublime." Another Republican paper dared Loughery to cometo Jefferson and flaunt his views. To that, the editor wisely answered thathe did not "yearnfor a martyr'sfate or long for a resting place in a mili-tary stockade." Attacks by Loughery even drew the military's attention,especially when he insinuated that federal soldiers murdered a Marshallwoman supposed to have a large amount of money belonging to the U.S.government. After the editor's arrest, which made him an instant hero,Gen. Joseph Jones Reynolds, the commander of the Fifth MilitaryDistrict, ordered officials not to "molest Loughery or his paper" any fur-ther. Nonetheless, the whole ordeal only stoked the fire-eating editor'sclaims about oppression and tyranny.36

5"Jefferson imesquote as cited in Marshall TexasRepublican,Oct. 14, 1868 (first, second, and thirdquotations); Trelease, WhiteTerror, 44 (fourth quotation), 143; Marshall TexasRepublican,Oct. 3o, 1868;Trial Transcript, pp. 666, 725. The Smith murder apparently also began feuds between Democraticpapers, such as the JeffersonTimesand Marshall TexasRepublican quaring off in a "wordywar"with theJeffersonjimplecute,ee HarrisonFlag,Oct. 14, 1869.36Flake's Daily Bulletin, May 26, 1869 (first, second, and third quotations); Telegram from J.J.Reynolds to commanding officer at the Post of Jefferson, June 14, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs, LettersSent, May 29-November 8, 1869, M1188, reel 1 (National Archives; fourth quotation); HarrisonFlag,July 29, 1869; Max S. Lale, "Robert W. Loughery: Rebel Editor,"East TexasHistoricalJournal21 (1983):3-15; Richter, Army n TexasDuring Reconstruction, 78. Following the war,district commanders requiredTexas editors to submit a copy of each issue to headquarters in Galveston, where it would be examinedfor disloyal content. Ifjudged to be too disloyal to the Union anything from rewriting articles to the clo-sure of the press could happen, with the arrest of the editor in more extreme cases. Considering Federalcontrol had solidified in the South, Congress allowed the military to cancel this policy in August 1866;but, of course, it could be reinstituted whenever necessary, see William L. Richter, "Outside MyProfession: The Army and Civil Affairs in Texas Reconstruction," Military History of Texas and theSouthwest (1971): 10.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 281As editors battled it out, local officials and military officials began aneffort to bring participants in the murders to justice. Ironically, the

Knights actually created the one thing they tried to prevent. "The mur-der of Smith and the freedmen," wrote historian Ben Cooner, "markedthe beginning of military control in Jefferson." Fearing more troubleand attacks on the remaining Republicans, Maj. Curtis requested addi-tional troops. He believed at least a regiment (about one thousand men)necessary. Cognizant of the situation in Jefferson as well as northeastTexas in general, Gen. Reynolds instead ordered a company (about onehundred men) of troops to Jefferson. These soldiers were sorely neededon the frontier, but the general deemed the situation in Marion Countymore urgent."7Throughout the next few months, several companies of cavalry andcompanies from the 29th, 17th, and 35th Infantry regiments arrived inthe city, along with Gen. George P. Buell, the new post commander atJefferson, Col. Adam G. Malloy, the military-appointed mayor, and FirstLt. Henry Sweeney, the new Freedman's Bureau agent and replacementfor the much-maligned Maj. Curtis. Col. Malloy had orders to bring allperpetrators to justice. He began by replacing almost the entire city'sgovernment. By early 1869, the military force in the area had grown tothree companies of cavalryand four companies of infantry."8Within a few months after the incident at the calaboose, military offi-cials had four of Jefferson's leading men in custody, with a fifth on therun: William Saufly, the alleged organizer of the attack on Smith, lefttown "on business." Saufly was very difficult to capture; even when themilitary placed a two-thousand-dollar reward for his capture, he stillevaded their attempts. In the end Saufley's "business trip" took himthrough the Indian Territory all the way to New York."3

" Cooner, "Rise and Decline of Jefferson," 65 (quotation); Shreveport outh-Western, ov. 11, 1868;Marshall TexasRepublican,Nov. 6, 1868." Marshall TexasRepublican,Nov. 6, 1868; Marion Country, "Minutes of Commissioner's Court,"Officeof the County Clerk, Jefferson, Texas, 98; General J. J. Reynolds to Adjutant General, United StatesArmy, Washington, D. C., Oct. 22, 1868, Records of the War Department, Adjutant General, RG 94, Box321; Marshall TexasRepublican,Nov. 6, 1868; Headquarters to Lt. H. Sweeney, Oct. 14, 1868, BureauRecords, Letters Sent, Registers of Letters Received: September 1867-June 1869, reel 3; Telegram fromGen. J. J. Reynolds to Gen. [J] Hayden, Oct. 16, 1868, Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, August10-December 31, 1868, M1i 65, reel 2; Willard Richardson and A. H. Belo, eds., TexasAlmanac, 1870(Galveston: Richardson and Company, 1869), 203. Although some of the blame lies with headquartersfor their failure to offer any assistance-"the difficulties ... are fully appreciated"-to the many pleas forhelp by the sub-assistant commission in the weeks before the Smith incident, Maj. Smith still is most toblame for his inability to control the situation in Jefferson, especially considering he was not only theBureau representative in the area, but also military commander, see Maj. James Curtis to Gen. J. J.Reynolds, Sep. 19, 1868, Bureau Records, Letters Received A-C 1867-1869, reel lo, and A.A.A.G. toMaj.James Curtis, Sep. 28, 1868, Bureau Records, Letters Sent, March 1867-May 1869g,reel 1.

:"Gen. J. J. Reynolds to Gen. J. A. Rawlins, Dec. 7, 1868, Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, Augustto-December 31, 1868, M1165, reel 2; Telegram from Capt. C. E. Morse to Capt.J. P. Brown, Dec. 7,



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282 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryWith pressure mounting, the KRS held an emergency meeting, andabout twenty members decided to become fugitives from the law, fleeingall across Texas and to other states, including Louisiana, New York, and

Georgia. In spite of the mass exodus, many participants in the Smithmurder did not escape capture. Authorities captured thirty-seven sus-pects over a period of five months and arrested, questioned, andreleased dozens more. Those held included some of the more promi-nent and "best" citizens of Jefferson as well as some of its "worst."Officials went out of their way, however, to capture those who had fled,even employing private detectives. Some of these detectives possessedreputations, according to the local press, equal to if not worse than thoseof some of the men they chased. The detectives were often accused ofbeing wife beaters or drunks.40The most successful detective was Charles A. Bostwick, a mandescribed by a local conservative newspaper as the "vilestliving wretch."As one contemporary noted, Bostwick, in his attempt to capture Smith'smurders, often "threw caution to the wind," at times with tragic results.For example, while looking for Winshop O. "Bud"Connor, future pio-neer in the Texas pharmaceutical industry and future four-term mayorof Dallas, Bostwick and his men mistakenly took William Perry, a belovedelderly, deaf man in the community and builder of the famed ExcelsiorHotel, as the suspect. The mistaken identity resulted in Bostwick shoot-ing Perry outside the man's residence. Although Bostwick was exonerat-ed, incidents such as this only served to fuel the animosity and attacksagainst the investigation and authorities, especially against MayorMalloy.411868, Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, August io-December 31, 1868, Mi1165, vol. 6, reel 2;Telegram from J. J. Reynolds to Adjutant General, Aug. 9, 1869, Office of CivilAffairs, Letters Sent, May29-November 8, 1869, Mi188, reel 1;John M. Frith (sworn affidavit) to Colonel H. G. Malloy,Aug. 21,1869, Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Received, June 1869-May 1870, M1188, reel 22; G. P. Buell to C. E.Morse, August 2, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Received, June 1869-May 1870, M1188, reel 22;Telegram from Gen. J. J. Reynolds to U.S. Adjutant General, Oct. 16, 1868, Fifth Military District,Letters Sent: August 1o-December 31, 1868, M 1165,reel 2.

"oTelegram from Gen. J.J.Reynolds to Gen. J. Hayden, Oct. 6, 1868, Fifth Military District, LettersSent, August io-December 31, 1868, MI 165, reel 2; HarrisonFlag, Aug. 19, 1869; Trelease, WhiteTerror,145-"'Austin Tri-WeeklyGazette, une 23, 1869 (first quotation); ShreveportSouth-Western,May 5, 1869;HarrisonFlag, May 13, 1869; Telegram from Capt. C. E. Morse to Gen. G. P. Buell, Dec. 17, 1868, FifthMilitary District, Letters Sent, August lo-December 31, 1868, M1165, reel 2; W. P. Bainbridge to

Commanding Officer at Post of Jefferson, Sep. 11, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Sent, May29-November 8, 1869, M1188, reel 1; "Minutes of the Board,"Jan. 18, 1869, 360-361. Connor leftJefferson and landed in Dallas, along with several participants in the Smith murder, see Alicia F.Rodriquez, "Disfranchisement in Dallas: The Democratic Party and the Suppression of IndependentPolitical Challenges in Dallas, Texas, 1891-1894," Southwestern istoricalQuarterly 8 (July2004): 43-65.Apparently several of those captured by Bostwick filed accounts against him for his treatment towardthem, see Bainbridge to Commanding Officer at Post Jefferson, Sep. 11, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs,Letters Sent, May 29-November 8, 1869, Mi188, reel 1.



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 283Believing the civil courts "more than a farce" and wanting to instill"lawand order" in the area, the military decided to try the suspects by

military commission. A military commission differed from civil courtsand courts martial. Comprising five to thirteen members, such commis-sions derived their powers not from statute law but from the existence ofmartial law and the military commander under the laws of war. Theywere used when civil courts were incapable or unwilling to administerjustice. A simple majority was sufficient for conviction, but death sen-tences required a two-thirds vote. Although subject to review by the com-manding military officer, and in some cases by the president of theUnited States, military commissions did not require judicial review. Aswould be expected, many criticized the military for using commissions totry civilians. "Military courts are not fitted for the trial of civilians,"declared the Austin Tri-WeeklyGazette,"they were never intended for-they have been resorted to occasionally to accomplish tyrannical ends-they never have been successful in administering impartial justice."Employing every maneuver possible, including a trip by prominent attor-neysJohn Burke and former Whig gubernatorial candidate Benjamin H.Epperson to Washington, D.C., in order to appeal directly to Secretary ofWarJohn M. Schofield, the defense tried desperately to get the casetransferred to the civil courts. But Gen. Reynolds decided against themotion, having little confidence in the county's courts. He further notedthat the defendants were charged with federal crimes-overpoweringUnited States military forces-that could not be tried in a state court. Tocriticisms of the policy of denying bail to the defendants, the generalresponded that a number of these men charged with the murder hadalready fled the area to escape arrest. Those already in custody were alsocharged with murder and according to state law, bail could be revoked inmurder cases when "the proof is evident or the presumption is great"forflight. Critics, nevertheless, questioned the commission's constitutionali-ty, citing the 1866 Supreme Court Case Exparte Milligan,which ruled cit-izens could not be tried in military courts when civil courts were in oper-ation. But these arguments, too, all failed to persuade officials.42

"Gen. J.B. Kiddoo to Gen. Oliver O. Howard, June 26, 1866, Bureau Records, Letters Sent,September 1865-March 1867, reel 1 (first quotation); Austin Tri-Weekly azette,Apr. 14, 1869 (secondquotation); Sefton, UnitedStatesArmy,193 (third quotation), 31; Kenneth E. St. Clair, "Military ustice inNorth Carolina, 1865: A Microcosm of Reconstruction," Civil WarHistory11 (Dec. 1965), 342; CliffordJ. Mathews, "Special Military Tribunals, 1775-1865" (M.A. thesis, Emory University, 1951), 157-158;William E. Birkhimer, MilitaryGovernmentnd Martial Law (Washington, D.C.:JamesJ. Chapman, 1892);Ralph Wooster, "Ben H. Epperson: East Texas Lawyer,"East TexasHistoricalJournal (Mar. 1867): 30-31;Max S. Lale, "Stockade Case," in Tyler, et al. (eds.), The NewHandbookof Texas,VI, o06;Telegram fromLt. Louis Carrier to Army Chief of Staff, Feb. 15, 1869, Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, January1-April 17, 1869, M1165, reel 3; Gen.J.J. Reynolds to Secretary of WarJohn A. Rawlins,Aug. 16, 1869,



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284 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryEditor Loughery even involved himself in trying to sway public opin-ion with cries of indignation about the terrible ordeal imposed on a"refined, hospitable, and intelligent people." He claimed that citizens of

Jefferson were subjected "to the indignity and danger of midnightarrest." He accused the authorities of snatching these men from theirbeds "without apprehensions of being awakened and dragged off byarmed soldiery before the dawn." "The perpetration of such flagrant actsof despotism," Loughery wrote, "isunparalleled in the history of a coun-try that is in a state of profound peace, and is indeed most remarkable."A popular point to focus on for him was the prisoners' treatment. Evervigilant, Loughery even appealed to northern papers for intercessionagainst the military tyranny in Jefferson. His indictment drew someattention but did not cause military officials to change their course.43

Realizing the uneasiness many had with trying civilians in militarycommissions, military officials did ensure that the proceedings were asfair and impartial as possible. Unfortunately, however, the actions of sev-eral judges undermined their best efforts. Senior military officersremoved one commissioner for "drunkenness" and allowed another towithdraw from the commission. This individual was former Freedmen'sBureau sub-assistant commissioner Col. Samuel H. Starr, who, at times,acted more like a prosecutor than a judge. Surprisingly, both sidesobjected to the removal of the "one-armed member." "The MilitaryCommission has been sadly mutilated,"opined the JeffersonRadical, "bythe withdrawal of the one-armed member." Three other commissionersfaced investigation for accepting "hospitalities" from some defendants'family members, with one commissioner being arrested and relieved.According to the Radical Republican newspaper, Houston Tri-WeeklyUnion, by these actions the commissioners compromised their integrityand jeopardized the entire proceeding. Such faults only increased thealready persistent attacks by both sides, especially from the Democraticpress.44Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, August 3-December 31, 1869, M1165, reel 3. The commission com-prised Col. W. H. Shafter, Col. S. H. Starr, Maj. Syman Bissell, Col. N. A. M. Dudley, Col. J. A. Gordon,and Col. Samuel R. Schwenk." Marshall TexasRepublican,Nov. 6, Dec. 11, 1868 (first and second quotations); HarrisonFlag, Feb.18, 1869; Harrison Flag, Dec. 18, 1868; Assistant U. S. Adjutant General N. Claywood telegram to Gen.George P. Buell, June 30, 1869, Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, April 17-August 3, 1869, M1165,reel 3.

4"Jeffersonadical,Aug. 11, 1869 (quotation); Houston Tri-Weekly nion,September 14, 1869; Excerptof HarrisonFlag,Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Received, April-December 1869, M1188, reel 13; Col. W.H. Shafter to Gen. J. J. Reynolds, July 24, 1869, Officials of Civil Affairs, Letters Received, June1869-May 1870, M1188, reel 23; J. A. Gordon to Gen. J. J. Reynolds, July 34, 1869, Office of CivilAffairs, Letters Received, June 1869-May 1870, M1188, reel 23; Gen. Ed. Hatch to General J. J.Reynolds, July 24, 1869, Office of CivilAffairs, Letters Received, June 1869-May 1870, M 188, reel 23;Trial Transcript, p. 2394-



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2009 TheGeorgeWashington mithMurderand StockadeTrial 285In spite of these claims, which all the commissioners vehementlyinsisted did not compromise their judgment, and questions concerningits members, the commission did everything to ensure ajust trial. It com-

plied with habeas corpus, even releasing all parties held not likely to beconvicted, regardless of their possible involvement. In fact, this movefrustrated some involved with the prosecution, who believed that nomore defendants should be released until after the trial, for it "wouldhave a bad effect on the community." They believed that the judge advo-cate, Major Henry Goodfellow, possessed too much discretion, com-pared to other members on the commission. The members also allowedbail for all prisoners not facing capital charges. For the most part, thecommission followed as fair and impartial a course as could be expectedunder the circumstances.45

White town folk in Jefferson focused their complaints not only on themilitary commission but also on the woefully inadequate facilities used tohouse all those arrested. Military officials had recently ordered all civil-ians to be tried by military commissions in northeast Texas to be held atJefferson in the stockade. Thus, it soon filled to capacity. The stockadewas an immense timber structure, measuring 70 by 1oo feet with walls fif-teen feet high and broad enough on top for soldiers to walk. It was anopen-air enclosure that, up to the trial, housed, at times, almost a hun-dred men, not the two to three times that number claimed by some.Contrary to one historian's unsubstantiated assertion that "lifewas crueland unbearable," with many dying from "exposure and pneumonia,"only a few people died, and those not from neglect. The army enactedall reasonable measures to confine the defendants properly, includingallowing limited visits and gifts from relatives and sheds to protect themfrom the weather. Although an imposing structure, however, it provedless than airtight. The local commander, in fact, complained that he wasunable to guard the detainees adequately, and on several occasions, pris-oners escaped from the stockade, including some of those involved inthe killing of Smith.46

45C. T. Garland to Gen. George P. Buell, Jan. 1, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Received,April-December 1869, M1188, reel 13 (quotation); Major [Syman] Bissell to Gen. J. J. Reynolds, June24, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Received, April-December 1869, M188, reel 13; HarrisonFlag,Jan. 7, 1869; Gen. E. R. S. Canby to Commanding Officer at Post of Jefferson, Jan. 8, 1869, FifthMilitary District, Letters Sent, January 1-April 17, 1869, M1165, reel 3; Capt. C. E. Morse toCommanding Officer at Post of Jefferson, May 28, 1869, Fifth Military District, Letters Sent, April17-August 3, 1869, Mi165, reel 3; Telegram from Gen. J. J. Reynolds to Gen. [George P.] Buell, June28, 1869, Fifth MilitaryDistrict, Letters Sent, April 17-August 3, 1869, M1165, reel 3.14 Winnie Mims Dean, Jefferson,Texas:Queen of the Cypress Dallas: Mathis, Van Nort, and Company,1953), 70 (quotation); Captain of 26th Infantry to Gen. George P. Buell, Apr. 3o, 1869, Fifth MilitaryDistrict, Letters Sent, April 17?August 3, 1869, Mi1165, reel 3; Marshall TexasRepublican,Apr. 2, 1869;Arch McKayand H. A. Spellings, A History ofJefferson,Marion County,Texas:One-timeGatewayof TexasRetains its Glory n Rush and Harmonyof Modern Times1836-1936 (Jefferson, Tex.: n.p., 1936), 5;Shook,



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286 Southwestern istoricalQuarterly JanuaryBy May 1869 seventy-five men faced indictments for conspiracy to

oppose the United States government's authority and murder. Onlytwenty-three actually went on trial, including two freedmen. The govern-ment tried those not present in absentia. Those facing trial representedthe area's most influential political and business figures. In fact, theirservice for the Confederacy endeared them to many local whites. Onenewspaper sarcastically described these men as the town's "high-tonedchivalric knights." They included William B. Ochiltree, former judge ofthe Fifth Judicial District of Texas in 1862, attorney general of theRepublic of Texas in 1845, and namesake of Ochiltree County (he wouldeventually be released because "he was not a leading spirit in the mur-der"). Ludwig (Ludwick) P. Alford, a former county commissioner forHarrison County during Presidential Reconstruction, was also a defen-dant as was Col. William L. Crawford, a former officer in the 19th TexasInfantry and prominent lawyer.William B. Saufly, head of the depot forclothing during the war and former mayor of Jefferson, also went ontrial. All these men were known-and applauded by some-for theirresistance to Republican Reconstruction efforts. None, however,matched the reputation for violence of Col. Richard P. Crump, a wealthymerchant, assistant marshal of Marion County, and a former command-ing officer of the First Texas Partisan Rangers.47In a possible act of poetic justice, the military decided to hold the trialin the KRS'smeeting hall, Freeman's Hall. The military commandeeredthe building because it was large enough to accommodate all partici-pants, the defense, and witnesses. During the five-month trial, 176 wit-

"Federal Occupation," 223; Gen. George. Buell to Capt. C. E. Morse May 14, 1869, Office of CivilAffairs, Letters Received, April-December 1869, M1188, reel 13; Gen. George P. Buell to Capt. C. E.Morse, May 14, 1869, Office of Civil Affairs, Letters Received, April-December 1869, M1188, reel 13;Shreveportouth-Western,pr. 21, 1869.47New YorkTribune,uly 13, 1869 (quotation); Fred Tarpley,Jefferson:Riverporto the Southwest Austin:Eakins Press, 1983), lo9; Geor

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