Friday, February 23, 2018

The “Kirk-Holden War” in North Carolina (Holden & the Union League)

Holden RS
 Governor William Holden

 
 My great great grandfather, BF Moore The Father Of The NC Bar, words below.

"Holden's impeachment is demanded by a sense of public virtue and due regard to the honor of the state. He is an exceedingly corrupt man and ought to be placed before the people as a public example of a tyrant condemned and punished."
 


Union League

*******************
 
A very stringent anti-Klan law was passed by the North Carolina legislature under the direction of Governor William Holden in January of 1870. This was in response to Radical Republican leadership in Washington. True to Washington Radical Republican despotism, it gave the Governor power to declare counties in a state of insurrection and supersede practically all laws and Constitutional rights in its prosecution. Despite a vigorous attempt to enforce the law, Klan activity increased and a top black activist and leader of the League in Alamance County was found hanging in a tree. 

Shortly thereafter, Senator John Stephens, a ranking white operative for Governor Holden, seeking evidence for Klan prosecutions, visited a Caswell County Union League meeting. There he handed to each of about twenty members a box of matches with the suggestion that they should be put to good use burning barns. Barns were especially important to Southern farmers. Without a barn a family’s livelihood was severely threatened. The next night seven barns, a row of houses, and the tobacco crops of several prominent citizens were burned.

More @ The Tribune

No comments:

Post a Comment