Pathways: Retracing Their Steps, Recovering Their History
A Guided Exploration of the 1871 Jail Lynching Sites in Union County, SC
In January and February of 1871, white supremacists lynched numerous members of a black state militia unit (similar to today’s National Guard) in Union, South Carolina. The locations of these events are sacred places, since they bore witness to the suffering and courage of the victims. This virtual journey to sites associated with the lynchings is part of efforts by the Union County Community Remembrance Project and the Equal Justice Initiative to honor the victims and restore memory to the present.
Union Jail, 21 November 2020.
On New Years Eve, 1870, an African American state militia unit on patrol duty clashed with a white man named Mat Stevens, just north of the town of Union. Stevens was killed during the ensuing struggle, and the next day local whites rounded up a number of militiamen and jailed them to await trial. But on the night of January 4th, 1871, disguised men broke into the jail, lynched two of the militiamen, and wounded several others. Then on the 12th of February, a larger party of disguised men returned to the jail and lynched another group of prisoners at the nearby “hanging grounds.” The men lost their lives because they contested white political, social, and ecomonic power during the tumultous days of Reconstruction following the Civil War.
Cartridge box used by the South Carolina State Militia in 1870. Photograph courtesy of the Union County Historical Society.
Today, we remember the men who died, a group which included important community leaders: Captain J. Alexander Walker, Charner Gordon (aka Herndon), Sylvanus Wright, Andrew Thompson (or Thomas), Joseph Vanlue, Aaron Thompson (aka Aaron Easters/Estes), Barrett Edwards (aka Burt Woodson), Thomas Byers (aka Thomas Green), William Fincher, and Ellison Scott. We also remember Mac Bobo and Amos McKissick, who were abducted from the jail alongside these men and somehow escaped. Mac Bobo was later lynched near Pinckneyville, and Amos McKissick may have suffered a similar fate.
Two other militia men, Henry Cannon and Taylor Palmer, were arrested later. They were eventually tried and executed for the murder of Mat Stevens.
This virtual experience allows you to travel to the places where the events occurred. Members of the Union County Community Remembrance Project will tell the stories of the men who lost their lives in 1871 through videos connected to the map. If you visit the sites in person, please be respectful of these places and be mindful that some of them are private property. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and want to read the video scripts, you can access it here .
In this first video, below, Timika M. Wilson, Co-Lead of the Union County Community Remembrance Project, introduces this virtual exploration.
Introduction
Duck Pond Church
In this video, Dr. Elaine Frantz, Professor of History at Kent State University, begins the exploration at its first stop, the location of the fight between the militia and Mat Stevens.
Charner Gordon/Mary Prater House site
Karl Pendergrass, of the UCCRP History & Research Committee, talks about the home and life of one of the militiamen.
The Yellow House
Nate Johnson, of the UCCRP History & Research Committee, picks up the story at the Yellow House in Union, SC.
The Jail
Dr. Ramon Jackson, African American Heritage Coordinator, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, explains the significance of the Union County jail lynchings of 1871.
First Jail Lynchings, 5 January 1871
Timika M. Wilson, UCCRP Co-Lead, talks about the January 1871 lynchings.
2nd Jail Lynchings, 12 February 1871
Mayor Harold Thompson talks about the lynchings of February 1871.
Mulberry Chapel
Pastor Gloria Land Fleming tells of the aftermath of the 1871 lynchings here at the historic Mulberry Chapel.
Conclusion
In this video, Kate Borchard Schoen, Co-lead for the UCCRP, concludes this pathways exploration.
Pathways Conclusion
The Capital City Guards, a militia unit in Columbia, South Carolina, pictured around 1880. The Reconstruction-era militia companies in Union had uniforms, though we do not know if they were the same as the ones worn by the men in this photograph. Historic Columbia collection, HCF.2011.4.1 (cropped from original).
For further reading:
Baker, Bruce E. This Mob Will Surely Take My Life: Lynchings in the Carolinas, 1871-1947. London: Continuum, 2008.
Charles, Allan D. The Narrative History of Union County. Union County Historical Society, 1987.
Equal Justice Initiative’s Community Remembrance Projects: https://eji.org/projects/community-remembrance-project/
Parsons, Elaine Frantz. Ku Klux: The Birth of the Klan during Reconstruction. The University of North Carolina Press, 2016.
U. S. Congress. Testimony Taken by the by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: South Carolina, Vol. II. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872.
Williams, Kidada E. They Left Great Marks on Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to World War I. New York University Press, 2012.
