Clark Atlanta University

The Texas "Black Uprising" Scare of 1883 Author(s): Alwyn Barr Reviewed work(s): Source: Phylon (1960-), Vol. 41, No. 2 (2nd Qtr., 1980), pp. 179-186 Published by: Clark Atlanta University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/274970 . Accessed: 04/02/2013 14:19
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By ALWYN BARR

The Texas "Black Uprising" Scare of 1.883

IN
RECENT YEARS historians have explored with increasing sophistication whether the frequently reported plots by blacks to revolt against domination by whites in the United States reflected a well-developed strain of revolutionary violence or hysterical overreactions by whites to imagined or minor incidents. Students of racial violence accept the reality of several slave revolts during the antebellum period, as well as armed resistance by black soldiers to harrassment by whites in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But they emphasize the strong "a successful insurrection loomed as influence of racial fears -that total destruction" of white society -to explain panics in a number of instances for which there is little if any evidence of plots by blacks.1 While the newer studies have focused primarily upon the slave revolt scares which swept the South before the Civil War, they also include the Christmas Day insurrection panic in 1865 and some early twentieth century race riots. Yet fears among whites of uprisings could be stirred by local events as well as by national or regional crises such as antebellum sectionalism, emancipation, or the recession and Red Scare of 1919.2 Just as suspicious happenings in South Carolina culminated in the panic over the Vesey revolt of 1822, so events in other states brought forth fearful reactions among whites in the post-Reconstruction South. Outspoken political activity by blacks in Choctaw County, a part of the Alabama Black Belt, aroused fears of insurrection among whites, which spread to other parts of the state and resulted in the lynching of one black leader in 1882.3 In Texas efforts by blacks to organize militia companies and perhaps labor unions caused a similar panic in 1883. Despite opposition of white Southerners to armed Negroes after the Civil War, some black militia were allowed to survive the end of Reconstruction, although in reduced numbers and under the strict control of new Democratic state governments. In Texas a dynamic young AfroAmerican minister and teacher, A. M. Gregory, led an expansion of the black militia from three companies to a regiment which held a state encampment in 1881. Gregory's continued recruiting activities became D. Jordan, White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro 1550-1812 'Winthrop (Chapel Hill, 1968), p. 115; Herbert Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts (New York, 1943); Robert V. Haynes, A Night of Violence: The Houston Riot of 1917 (Baton Rouge, 1976). sCharles B. Dew, "Black Ironworkers and the Slave Insurrection Panic of 1856," Journal of Southern History, 41 (August 1975): 321-38; Steven A. Channing, Crisis of Fear: Secession in South Carolina (New York, 1970), pp. 17-57; Dan T. Carter, "The Anatomy of Fear: The Christmas Day Insurrection Scare of 1865," Journal of Southern History, 42 (August 1976): 345-64; Arthur I. Waskow, From Race Riot to Sit-in, 1919 and the 1960's: A Study in the Between Conflict and Violence (Garden City, 1966), pp. 121-74. Connections Journal of Southern History, 30 8Richard C. Wade, "The Vesey Plot: A Reconsideration," Warren and Robert David Ward, August Reckoning: William Rogers (May 1965): 143-61; Jack Turner and Racism in Post-Civil War Alabama (Baton Rouge, 1973).

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a source of concern, however, to the state adjutant general, former Confederate General W. H. King.4 A crisis began to develop when Gregory found his Waco company in a state of disorganization in July, 1883, and asked that its weapons be transferred to "a splendid company at Marshall Texas well uniformed and ready for arms." He bolstered his request by reporting that "it is the only company named after our Hon. Gov. Ireland" and "is composed of Good Democratic colored Gentlemen who stand high with their white friends." King replied that no new units would be commissioned until after a complete reorganization of the militia system. Yet his reason for rejecting the new Marshall company rested primarily on a protest from white Democratic officials of Harrison County. In their view "these brave colored troops never thought of such an organization until the white people of Marion County hung the two negroes that Ravished and murdered Mrs. Rogers of that county."5 The opposition voiced by leaders in Harrison County reflected not only traditional white racial concepts, which included fear of armed blacks, but also local conditions. Harrison and neighboring Marion counties contained black majorities which had provided the basis for Republican county governments even after the end of statewide Reconstruction. Harrison County Democrats had seized control of their county government by force in 1878 with the indulgence of state Democratic officials. Black and white Republican leaders had been killed or intimidated and ballot boxes stuffed in succeeding years to complete the overthrow of majority rule. Marion County would follow a similar course during the 1890s. The two lynchings in Marion County in 1883 reflected efforts by white Democrats of both counties to maintain social and economic as well as political domination of local blacks and helped rank the area among the highest in the state in total lynchings.6 Articles in the Marshall Herald continued to voice suspicion and concern over "Secret Negro Meetings . . . of a military character . . . at

Liberty Church two nights in every week," and described the aspiring black militia captain, Lias Tillman, as "noted for bad reputation and troublesome character." Before the end of August, local whites again exhibited their frayed nerves by driving out of town a Missouri book agent, I. E. Wilson, on charges of making himself "noxious to the people of this community by organizing secret unions among colored cooks and washerwomen, and induced strikes for higher wages."7
'Report of the Adjutant-General 1882), of the State of Texas, February 28, 1882 (Galveston, pp. 12, 15, 21; W. H. King to J. N. Henderson, June 28, 1882, Letters Sent, 1882-1883, Texas Marshall Tri-Weekly Adjutant General Records (Archives, Texas State Library, Austin); Robertson County, Texas Herald, September 13, 1883; U.S. Tenth Census, 1880, Population, (microfilm. Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock), 26. and others W. 1883, T. Scott to W. H. King, July 12, H. King, July 24, S. GA. M. Gregory to King to Gregory, July 26, 1883, Letters Sent, 1882-1883, Texas Adjutant 1883, Correspondence, General Records. to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876-1906 (Austin, 1971), pp. 194-96, eAlwyn Barr, Reconstruction 200: Lawrence D. Rice, The Negro in Texas, 1874-1900 (Baton Rouge, 1971), DP. 114-18; David L. Chapman, "Lynching in Texas" (M.A. thesis, Texas Tech University, 1973), p. 32. ? Marshall Tri-Weekly Herald, August 18, 28, 1883.

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At the request of potential black militia leaders, Colonel Gregory came into this tense situation to explain what he believed to be the temporary delay in recognition of the Ireland Guards. When a sprained back prolonged his stay at the home of Henry Jones, a railroad porter, other blacks arrived on Saturday, September 1, to ask about forming additional companies. He explained the difficulties of recognition and convinced them to join the existing unit. From each member he collected $1.00 to cover rent for an armory.8 That gathering of about a hundred Negroes created panic among whites in Marshall. State Senator W. H. Pope (also a leading advocate of railroad segregation), the chief of police, and twenty-five armed whites rushed to Jones' house, where they seized the company muster roll and forced the colonel to return the funds he had raised. The whites then disbanded the militia unit and ordered Gregory and Tillman out of town. When a patrol returned to Jones' house that night, black guards shouted "halt" and fired on the whites, who continued to advance. In the exchange of shots, two black children in a nearby house were slightly wounded, as were probably one or two persons engaged on each side. Three hundred whites quickly gathered at the courthouse and swept through the town temporarily arresting any Negroes who were awake, including members of a local fraternal group. White searchers found the Jones house deserted and an uneasy quiet settled over Marshall.9 On Sunday, September 2, white Democrats telegraphed their account of events to the governor and the Adjutant General, a former resident of neighboring Marion County. Their statement asserted that one member of the black company had described its purpose as the arrest and punishment of whites guilty of injuring blacks, such as a Marshall policeman who recently had killed a Negro. They pronounced the charge false and urged King to stop the organization of any black militia units in the area.10 The Marshall Herald published a similar account entitled "The Negro Riot" in which it ignored past actions by whites to proclaim: "This is the first time that any trouble or conflict has come up between the negroes and white citizens in this city or county." The editor blamed "a few hot headed, bad negroes, who want to bring themselves in notice" and "political emissaries in the interest of the Republican party." Reflecting fears of local whites of "a war of races," he asserted that "the white people do not want such affairs; . . . but if it becomes necessary to protect their wives and children and property, they are always ready, 8A. M. Gregory to W. H. King, September 10, 1883, Correspondence, Texas Adjutant General
9 Ibid.; W. P. Lane and others to Governor Ireland and Adjutant General King, September
Texas Adjutant General Records; Marshall Tri-Weekly 2, 1883, Correspondence, September 1, 4, 1883. 0W. P. Lane and others to Governor Ireland and Adjutant General King, September Herald, Records. 2, 1883,

Correspondence, Texas Adjutant General Records.

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and will do it at all hazards." He also offered several "lessons" which blacks should learn from the confrontation. As a clearly implied warning he hoped "the negroes will see that the white citizens always go for the
leaders . . . in such organizations." Furthermore, "the anglo saxon race

will control it over every other race . . . and whatever the white people do for the good of society to protect their families and property, is also for the good of the colored people." Finally, he assumed "there are a
large number . . . of the younger negroes . . . who think they are too

well educated to work like their 'daddies' do" and thus join such organizations. To keep them in line the paper published the twenty-two names on the company muster roll."1 Fifteen of the twenty-two men on the muster roll appear in the 1880 United States Census of Harrison County, which indicates that at least two-thirds had lived there for three years or more and could be considered permanent residents.12The fifteen ranged in age from nineteen to fifty-one, and averaged twenty-nine years of age in 1883. Five identified themselves as farmers with their own families, two as laborers with their own families, and seven as farm laborers still living with their parents. Two others whose names did not appear on the muster roll, Lias Tillman, the company captain, and Henry Jones, whose home had been used as a meeting place, were both forty-eight. Tillman was a farmer with a wife, while Jones, a railroad porter, had a family. The ages of many of the would-be militiamen and the apparently stable family and farming situations of most of them thus render implausible the editorial criticism of "bad negroes" and "younger negroes who think they are too well educated to work like their 'daddies' do." Adjutant General King arrived on September 5 and met with the Democratic leaders to assure them that he would allow no black militia there and that Gregory, whose report of the events he had not yet seen, would lose his commission for attempting to form such an organization. King and the white leaders then met local black spokesmen, who had promised to help restrain the resentment and hostility among younger Negroes. The Adjutant General told them no companies could be created "to take the law in their own hands." Instead, if they "had any grievances against the white people" they "must apply to the
officers of the law. . . and to the courts, and . .. should have full justice

under the law." A local judge indicated the quality of that justice the same day when he fined a black man $30.00 for carrying a pistol, while dozens of armed whites roamed the countryside seeking the blacks who had defended themselves on Saturday night.13 When Gregory left Marshall he did not realize initially the threat to his militia career posed by events there. He planned to continue his
Herald, September 4, 6, 1883. Harrison County, 1880, Population, lection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock). 13 Marshall Tri-Weekty Herald, September 4, 6, 8, 1883.
11 Marshall Tri-Weekly 12 U.S. Tenth Census,

Texas

(microfilm,

Southwest

Col-

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annual inspections of black militia companies and ordered the Brenham Rifles to be prepared for an official visit in late September. When he learned of King's decision to revoke his commission, however, he protested at length, describing his actions in Marshall and stating "our colored companies have never caused any trouble in any city or town when they are organized." Gregory's problems became even more critical after a report appeared in the Galveston News charging him with embezzlement and seduction when he lived in Gonzales. "I can prove before any council or any court in the country a clear record of character," he responded. Furthermore, he assured King of his support for the Democratic party rather than for the Republican party as charged by the Marshall Herald. His efforts failed, however, for King refused to review the decision even after he learned in late September that Gregory faced only a minor embezzlement complaint in a justice of the peace court, upon which the Gonzales grand jury had not yet acted. Although his activities aroused a strong reaction among the whites, Gregory's failure as a militia leader appears to have been due to his excessive promotional zeal and ambition combined with events and attitudes unknown to him, rather than upon criminal intent on his part - a situation similar in many ways to the fall of Marcus Garvey in the 1920s. Gregory would show his resilience and continued leadership ability, however, by achieving local and state offices in the black Masons of Texas during the 1880s and 1890s. Those accomplishments also suggest his innocence of the earlier criminal charges, since conviction would have barred him from membership in the Masons.14 Following the confrontation at Marshall a wave of fear, similar to panics caused by antebellum slave revolts and earlier post-Civil War fears of insurrection by blacks, swept through the white population of Northeast Texas. Rumors of secret meetings and drills by blacks surfaced at Longview in Gregg County during September. Hearsay related other gatherings near Daingerfield in Morris County and Gilmer in Upshur County. The suspicious book agent was reported to be active again in Marion and Camp counties. Near Hawkins in Wood County a white posse broke up a meeting of blacks and reported that the leader "ran into the swamp and was 'lost."' Another rumor prepared Longview whites for a raid by blacks from Gladewater which never materialized. A white man, who announced himself as a Pinkerton detective, claimed to have found a notebook on the railroad platform at Marshall which described elaborate organizational efforts by black Henry Coleman with the aid of several whites and blacks scattered from Terrell in Kaufman County and Mineola in Wood County to Marshall and Shreveport,
143. G. Sloan to W. H. King, September 4, 1883, A. M. Gregory to King, September 10, 1883, King to Sam Smith, to King., September 26, 1883, Correspondence, B. R. Abernathy General Records: Marshall 15, 1883, Letters Sent, 1882-1883, Texas Adjutant September Tr- Weekly Herald, September 11, 13, 1883; Galveston Daily News, September 8, 1883; Prince Hall Masons, Grand Lodge of Texas, Proceedings, 1889, pp. 6, 27, 1892, p. 71.

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Louisiana. Although the notes did not indicate violent goals for the group, and some of those mentioned exonerated themselves, Coleman was assassinated shortly thereafter. Seeking a scapegoat, local Democratic and Republican leaders blamed each other as manufacturers of the story for political purposes. Some native whites blamed Northern white instructors at Bishop College for arousing assertiveness in blacks by teaching "social equality" of the races. A white vigilante group, which claimed to be from the Sheriff at Longview, although probably local in origin, took from his home and murdered Silas Johnson, a black minister at Marshall who had been accused of holding secret meetings and selling guns to Negroes. The Shreveport Standard reported blacks organizing at night near Fairfield, though the Shreveport Times raised doubts about such activities by publishing denials by blacks and whites of anything other than religious and social meetings.15 Fears soon spread beyond the immediate vicinity of Marshall to other parts of East Texas. A white in Smith County claimed to have found along a road a letter "purporting to be from a negro at Marshall" to a black man in Tyler. It outlined plans for a general revolt in which whites would be killed, property burned, and courthouses captured by irregular black companies from Marshall, Tyler, and Palestine in Anderson County that were a part of the organization described in the Coleman notebook. In discussions of the letter, a newspaperman found that "the opinion as to its genuineness is somewhat divided" in Tyler. Adjutant General King received a copy of the letter; but he evidently believed it to be a forgery, for he did not rush additional arms or men into the area. When no uprising or raids followed, his judgment appeared to be confirmed. The authenticity of the documents revealing a conspiracy probably raised doubts, for two reasons. First, if such a plot had evolved it seems unlikely that the leaders would have committed their plans to paper, which could later be used to incriminate them. Moreover, written plans for a conspiracy by blacks would appear implausible at a time when illiteracy among Negroes in Texas still stood at 75 percent and communication remained primarily verbal in the black community.'6 Some repercussions of events in East Texas surfaced outside that region. For example, a white militia officer in Houston arranged to inspect the black militia there "to find out exactly how they stand," since the company was armed.17 The scare nevertheless finally began to subside in November when the white press admitted that the drilling of black school children in Milam County and false rumors of Negroes
Is Marshall Galveston State of 1883. 6 John H. Records; 17Frank S. Records. Tri-Weekly Herald, September 15, 18, 22, 1883; Houston Post, September 25, 1883; of the Daily News, September 24, 25, 27, 1883; Report of the Adjutant-General 30, Times, September Texas, December, 1883 (Austin, 1883), pp. 5-7; Shreveport Castle to W. H. King, October 3, 1883, Correspondence, Galveston Daily News, October 4, 1883. Burke to W. H. King, October 30, 1883, Correspondence, Texas Texas Adjutant Adjutant General General

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purchasing ammunition at Maysfield had stirred unnecessary fears of an uprising. Even in September during the midst of the panic, a Longview reporter had explained: "Our more calm and cautious citizens greatly regret the unjustifiable proportions to which the scare about a 'negro rising' has grown, indeed, out of all reason." And from outside the overwrought region the Dallas Herald editorialized: "No blood so far has been shed and no collisions have occurred," which "is pretty good evidence of the fact that the extent of the trouble has about been the
scare."18

The concerns of blacks appeared in the Galveston Spectator, a Negro newspaper, which feared that all black militia units might be disbanded as a result of the agitation. A mass meeting of blacks in RuSk during October probably reflected the views of most Negroes When it denounced all blacks involved in any uprising and all whites who spread rumors about such events. Major G. W. Wilson spoke for the existing black militia units when he wrote the adjutant general in October: "We would like to get our regiment straight if possible" by electing a new colonel. Despite the furor around Gregory and his dismissal, the Democratic state government allowed a few black companies to continue as part of the Texas militia, but reduced the organization from a regiment to a battalion with Wilson in command.19 The scare in Texas in 1883 of an uprising by blacks reflected many attitudes held by whites which were common to other such panicsfear of armed blacks, belief in outside agitators, and invidious comparisons of an older generation of ex-slaves with a younger, more aggressive generation seen as "bad negroes." As in earlier scares, some whites apparently seized the opportunity to forge incriminating documents, which then provided the basis for disarming blacks and eliminating Texas at least three who came under suspicion their leaders-in were killed. The absence of any revolt and the lack of reliable evidence for even a plot suggest that this scare, like many of those before and immediately after the Civil War, probably arose, not because of any planned violence by blacks, but rather from exaggerated fears among whites of any challenge to their domination. Blacks in Texas and the South had not completely accepted subordination after Reconstruction. They sought to organize militia units and to resist violence against them by whites, which indicated a desire for self-protection and self-respect. There also may have been some unsuccessful efforts at labor organization in the region. Yet such actions could be understood by some whites only as the pretense for a bloody uprising.
19 Galveston

s1Houston

Post, November 3, 1883; Dallas Weekly Herald, September 20, 27, 1883. Spectator, September 15, 1883. as quoted in New York Times, September 23. 1883; Houston Post, October 18, 1883; G. W. Wilson to Adjutant General, October 27, 1883, Correof the State of spondence, Texas Adiutant General Records; Report of the Adjutant-General Texas, December, 1886 (Austin, 1886), pp. 28, 31.

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Reactions of whites reached their greatest intensity in rural East Texas counties where blacks were a majority or a large minority of the population - a pattern common also to Southern lynchings. By contrast, black militia units and labor unions existed peacefully before and after 1883 in the larger Texas towns where blacks generally formed smaller minorities. Such variations in response to activities of blacks suggest what C. Vann Woodward recently described as the paternalistic vs. the competitive models of race relations.20In the larger towns where whites clearly controlled political, economic, and social life, they could accept in a paternal spirit a variety of organizational activities by blacks. But in smaller towns and rural counties where black majorities seemed a constant threat to domination by whites, a harsher competitive response seemed necessary to any challenge, whether it be real insurrection or vivid imagination.
20C. Vann Woodward. American Counterpoint: Slavery and Racism in the North-South Dialogue (Boston. 1971), pp. 243-44.

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