Misplaced Pages

#755244

179-411: 1864–1865: [REDACTED] Confederate States of America 1865–1874: [REDACTED] United States The Lowry War or Lowrie War was a conflict that took place in and around Robeson County , North Carolina , United States from 1864 to 1874 between a group of mostly Native American outlaws and civil local, state, and federal authorities. The conflict is named for Henry Berry Lowry ,

358-548: A Lumbee who led a gang of Native American, white and black men which robbed area farms and killed public officials who pursued them. Banditry in Robeson County emerged during the later stages of the American Civil War , as free persons of color hid in local swamps to avoid being conscripted for labor to support the war effort and stole food to survive. In 1864 and 1865 local Confederate officials came into conflict with

537-460: A kangaroo court to determine their culpability in the alleged crimes, selecting a jury from among their own ranks. The tribunal found Allen and William guilty of possessing stolen goods on their farm (Lumbee oral tradition holds that these goods were planted to frame them) and ruled that William had been positively identified during a robbery. They were taken back to their farm and executed by firing squad. According to one account, Henry Berry hid in

716-490: A Home Guard unit in arresting the brothers on charges of desertion and said he would transport them to the Moss Neck rail depot where they could be taken by train back to Fort Fisher. On the way he dismissed his fellow guardsmen, telling them he could manage the two handcuffed prisoners by himself. Once they were alone, Harris beat them to death, later claiming that they had attacked him and that he acted in self-defense. An inquest

895-468: A Lumbee's land and release some of his cattle there, before bringing local authorities to the scene to accuse the Lumbee landowner of theft. Doubtful of a fair trial in the courts, a Lumbee would settle with the farmer by either offering him a portion of land or free labor. The legal discrimination and exploitative practices heightened racial tensions in the area. The Lumbee people were initially ambivalent about

1074-548: A file smuggled in by his wife in a cake. He then returned to Scuffletown and reunited with his wife. Following the jailbreak, the Robeson County Court issued at least 35 capias warrants against Lowry for sheriffs in the North Carolina-South Carolina border region. North Carolina Governor Jonathan Worth also offered a $ 300 reward for Lowry's capture. He avoided the authorities by hiding in swamps with

1253-609: A group of associates which became known as the Lowry Gang or Lowry Band. Although a somewhat fluid band at times numbering 20–30 men, the gang usually operated with six to eight men. Its most consistent members included Henry Berry; Steve and Tom Lowry, his two older brothers; two of his cousins, Calvin and Henderson Oxendine; two of his brothers-in-law, Andrew and Boss Strong; and two other Indians, John Dial (son of George Dial) and William Chavis. There were also two black men, George Applewhite and Eli Ewin (sometimes called Shoemaker John), and

1432-420: A home of one of the outlaw's families to catch them on a visit. On April 15, five members of the compact met at a store and decided to ambush Applewhite, believing he would return to his family home the following morning, a Sunday. They proceeded to the homestead and hid themselves in thicket. Applewhite approached his cabin in the afternoon of April 16 but, seeing the armed men, turned away to run. They shot him in

1611-478: A legislative body on March 18. After four years of heavy fighting, nearly all Confederate land and naval forces either surrendered or otherwise ceased hostilities by May 1865. The most significant capitulation was Confederate general Robert E. Lee 's surrender on April 9, after which any doubt about the war's outcome or the Confederacy's survival was extinguished. Confederate President Davis's administration declared

1790-404: A letter to his wife before Steve shot him. Andrew Strong buried him and mailed his letter. In early November county authorities searched the farm belonging to the mother of Zachariah T. McLauchlin and found some property believed to have been stolen by the Lowry Gang. As a result, he was declared an outlaw and a $ 400 bounty was offered for his capture, dead or alive. On December 16 McLauchlin spent

1969-718: A lumber mill in Abbottsburg , Bladen County . To avenge McLauchlin's death, they attempted a raid, but were spotted near the county line. A posse was raised to stop the gang and Biggs escaped. Governor Holden decided that there was a state of war in Robeson, and at his request federal troops under Captain Evan Thomas were dispatched to "aid the civil authority". Company A of the 4th Regiment U.S. Artillery arrived in Lumberton on November 22, 1870. Thomas immediately headed for Scuffletown to find

SECTION 10

#1732855174756

2148-446: A maximum security cell, but managed to escape early on the morning of June 13. Lumbee oral tradition maintains that Rhoda Strong walked to Wilmington from Scuffletown and distracted the guards with "womanly charms" while an accomplice slipped the gang members tools to break out. A white prisoner later testified that a woman had some days before distracted the guards with an inquiry of another prisoner while Steve Lowry hauled tools tied by

2327-450: A neighbor, S. E. Ward. Henry Lowry confronted King and demanded money, leading the former sheriff to lunge for his gun. In the ensuing scuffle Lowry's weapon fired into the floor. Applewhite then shot King in the back with a revolver, mortally wounding him, while Dial shot and wounded Ward. The gang recovered $ 155 in cash and $ 20 in gold from the house. King's murder ended all efforts by Republican officials to negotiate with Lowry and renewed

2506-613: A new constitution establishing a confederation government of "sovereign and independent states". Some Northerners reacted by saying "Let the Confederacy go in peace!", while some Southerners wanted to maintain their loyalty to the Union. The federal government in Washington D.C. and states under its control were known as the Union . The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when South Carolina's militia attacked Fort Sumter . Four slave states of

2685-561: A normal government, the expression of popular will". Fremantle went on to write in his book Three Months in the Southern States that he had: ...not attempted to conceal any of the peculiarities or defects of the Southern people. Many persons will doubtless highly disapprove of some of their customs and habits in the wilder portion of the country; but I think no generous man, whatever may be his political opinions, can do otherwise than admire

2864-420: A panel of historians emphasized in 2011, "while slavery and its various and multifaceted discontents were the primary cause of disunion, it was disunion itself that sparked the war." Historian David M. Potter wrote: "The problem for Americans who, in the age of Lincoln, wanted slaves to be free was not simply that southerners wanted the opposite, but that they themselves cherished a conflicting value: they wanted

3043-505: A peaceful solution to the problem, but this ended after the gang killed a former sheriff during a robbery in 1868. Over the following years the gang committed various robberies, often targeting plantations. Declared outlaws by the state government, they were pursued by posses and county militiamen, typically eluding them in swamps and killing some of their pursuers. Some gang members were captured but successfully escaped detention. The state of North Carolina ultimately placed large bounties on

3222-446: A posse captured Henderson Oxendine at Applewhite's home, and he was subsequently indicted for the murder of Steve Davis. He was placed under constant guard in the Lumberton jail by U.S. soldiers. The authorities quickly tried him and found him guilty; he was publicly hanged on March 17, the only Lowry Gang member to be formally executed. Henderson's brother, Calvin, was tried for the murder of King. After providing an alibi to demonstrate he

3401-464: A posse to pursue the gang and remain there until the posse had disbanded. He also sent 10 soldiers to Harper's Ferry, near where the gang members reportedly lived. This angered the local authorities, who considered the federal troops an impediment to their progress, and McMillan scaled down his pursuit of the band. Thomas' troops did little other than routine activities over the following months. Some soldiers searched Henry Berry Lowry's cabin and discovered

3580-455: A presidential proclamation issued April 15, 1861. It called for troops to recapture forts and suppress what Lincoln later called an "insurrection and rebellion". Mid-war parleys between the two sides occurred without formal political recognition, though the laws of war predominantly governed military relationships on both sides of uniformed conflict. Once war with the United States began,

3759-408: A range of opinion but generally advocated for the withholding of certain rights from nonwhites and forcing blacks to work menial jobs. The renewal of democratic institutions coincided with a relaxation of violence in the county, as many impoverished people hoped that their interests could be addressed through them. No armed robberies were reported in the county for nearly six months, and the members of

SECTION 20

#1732855174756

3938-612: A sectional balance in the Senate but not in the House of Representatives , as free states outstripped slave states in numbers of eligible voters. Thus, at mid-19th century, the free-versus-slave status of the new territories was a critical issue, both for the North, where anti-slavery sentiment had grown, and for the South, where the fear of slavery's abolition had grown. Another factor leading to secession and

4117-542: A statement supporting or recognizing the Confederacy. In November 1863, Mann met Pope Pius IX and received a letter supposedly addressed "to the Illustrious and Honorable Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America"; Mann had mistranslated the address. In his report to Richmond, Mann claimed a great diplomatic achievement for himself, but Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin told Mann it

4296-445: A string through a window. By his account, the gang members fashioned a lock pick out of one of the tools, allowing them to leave their cell at will, and this let Applewhite find an exterior wall which he chiseled through when the guards were not around. On the morning of their escape, the outlaws left their cell when the guard on duty went downstairs to speak with a colleague, climbed through the hole Applewhite had carved, and descended to

4475-506: A swamp four miles away. The body was later turned over to Chaffin. Justice of the Peace James Sinclair issued arrest warrants for nine men believed to have been involved. A grand jury subsequently dismissed the charges, but Judge Daniel Lindsay Russell disagreed with the jury's findings and issued a bench warrant for the men. Surprised by this turn of events, the men fled the state, and Russell declared them outlaws. On February 26,

4654-473: A third associate, Archy McCallum, in a buggy towards Shoe Heel. Both McLeans were killed, while McCallum was wounded and managed to run way. The gang tied up the horse and sent a child to inform the McLean family of their sons' deaths. Sheriff McMillan gathered a posse of 150 men at the McLean home and set out after the outlaws, tracing them to the W. A. Sellers Plantation, but losing their trail after ascertaining that

4833-549: A trap door in the floor which opened into a tunnel that led about 60 yards (55 m) away into a swamp. They subsequently dug it up. Two of the men named in Russel's indictment, Faulk Floyde and Malcolm McNeill, unbothered by the proclamation of outlawry against them, quickly returned to Robeson County and joined with nine others in a "compact" to kill the Lowry Gang. Aware that the authorities' tactics of using large parties for short-term searches were deficient, they decided to stake out

5012-480: A view that has been disproven by the overwhelming historical evidence against it, notably some of the seceding states' own secession documents . The principal political battle leading to Southern secession was over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the Western territories destined to become states. Initially Congress had admitted new states into the Union in pairs, one slave and one free . This had kept

5191-503: A white man, Zachariah T. McLauchlin. They joined at different times for various reasons, but all bore resentment against the local authorities. They usually stayed in improvised shelters in Back Swamp, a ten-mile long stretch of sparsely-traveled land near Allen Lowry's homestead. Throughout 1866 and 1867 the gang conducted raids "in retaliation" for previous wrongs inflicted upon them, but no people were killed. In response to their activities,

5370-453: Is too great, save that of honor". The message stated that if the French or British governments made their recognition conditional on anything at all, the Confederacy would consent to such terms. European leaders all saw that the Confederacy was on the verge of defeat. The Confederacy's biggest foreign policy successes were with Brazil and Cuba . Militarily this meant little. Brazil represented

5549-665: The Constitution of North Carolina classified the eastern Carolina Native Americans as " free persons of color ". While having previously enjoyed the same political rights as white people, the Lumbees were disenfranchised by the new constitution. In 1840 the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law prohibiting free nonwhites from bearing arms without a license from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in their county. In 1853

Lowry War - Misplaced Pages Continue

5728-610: The Florence Stockade , 60 miles (97 km) away in South Carolina. Lumbees became increasingly willing to help the Union soldiers escape and avoid recapture. As time progressed some of the swamp deserters—including Lumbees, blacks, and Union soldiers—formed bands to raid and steal from area farms, though this was mostly out of a desire to survive and had little to do with challenging the Confederacy. After Union troops led by General William Tecumseh Sherman entered North Carolina ,

5907-559: The General Assembly from Jefferson City. The executive committee of the convention called the members together in July, and declared the state offices vacant and appointed a Unionist interim state government. The exiled governor called a rump session of the former General Assembly together in Neosho and, on October 31, 1861, it passed an ordinance of secession . The Confederate state government

6086-573: The Jim Crow laws through activities such as building Confederate monuments and influencing the authors of textbooks . The modern display of the Confederate battle flag primarily started during the 1948 presidential election , when the battle flag was used by the Dixiecrats . During the civil rights movement , racial segregationists used it for demonstrations. A consensus of historians who address

6265-477: The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the legality of the law in its ruling for State v. Noel Locklear , involving the case of a man convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm. White farmers in Robeson County also sought ways to obtain Lumbees' land or labor. According to Lumbee oral tradition, the "tied mule" incidents were emblematic of this. In these scenarios, a farmer would tie his mule on

6444-516: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans . Intense periods of Lost Cause activity developed around the turn of the 20th century and during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in reaction to growing support for racial equality . Advocates sought to ensure future generations of Southern whites would continue to support white supremacist policies such as

6623-626: The Upper South — Virginia , Arkansas , Tennessee , and North Carolina —then seceded and joined the Confederacy. On February 22, 1862, Confederate States Army leaders installed a centralized federal government in Richmond, Virginia , and enacted the first Confederate draft on April 16, 1862. By 1865, the Confederacy's federal government dissolved into chaos, and the Confederate States Congress adjourned , effectively ceasing to exist as

6802-694: The "peoples most identical to us in Institutions", in which slavery remained legal until the 1880s and the abolitionist movement was small. Confederate ships were welcome in Brazilian ports. After the war, Brazil was the primary destination of those Southerners who wanted to continue living in a slave society, where, as one immigrant remarked, Confederado slaves were cheap. The Captain–General of Cuba declared in writing that Confederate ships were welcome, and would be protected in Cuban ports. Historians speculate that if

6981-450: The 21st century agree on the centrality of slavery in the conflict, they disagree sharply on which aspects of this conflict (ideological, economic, political, or social) were most important, and on the North 's reasons for refusing to allow the Southern states to secede. Proponents of the pseudo-historical Lost Cause ideology have denied that slavery was the principal cause of the secession,

7160-521: The 34 counties in the Eastern region (313,211) in 1830. This created a greater demand for roads, schools, and infrastructure in the faster growing counties, especially the Piedmont region. The 1776 constitution had spelled out one senator for each county, at least two delegates to the house of commons for each county, and one senator from each of eight large towns, also called districts or boroughs. The governor

7339-733: The British Coldstream Guards , who entered the Confederacy via Mexico, Fitzgerald Ross of the Austrian Hussars , and Justus Scheibert of the Prussian Army . European travelers visited and wrote accounts for publication. Importantly in 1862, the Frenchman Charles Girard 's Seven months in the rebel states during the North American War testified "this government ... is no longer a trial government ... but really

Lowry War - Misplaced Pages Continue

7518-516: The British merchant fleet. In mid-1862, fears of a race war (like the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804) led to the British considering intervention for humanitarian reasons. John Slidell, the Confederate States emissary to France, succeeded in negotiating a loan of $ 15,000,000 from Erlanger and other French capitalists for ironclad warships and military supplies. The British government did allow

7697-419: The Confederacy asserted its independence and appointed dozens of diplomatic agents abroad. None were recognized by a foreign government. The US government regarded the Southern states as being in rebellion or insurrection and so refused any formal recognition of their status. The US government never declared war on those "kindred and countrymen" in the Confederacy but conducted its military efforts beginning with

7876-502: The Confederacy by counties in East Tennessee were checked by martial law. Although slaveholding Delaware and Maryland did not secede, citizens exhibited divided loyalties. Regiments of Marylanders fought in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia . Overall, 24,000 men from Maryland joined Confederate forces, compared to 63,000 who joined Union forces. Delaware never produced a full regiment for

8055-404: The Confederacy counted about one-fourth its population. They voted 43% for pro-Union candidates. The four states which entered after the attack on Fort Sumter held almost half the population of the Confederacy and voted 53% for pro-Union candidates. The three big turnout states voted extremes; Texas, with 5% of the population, voted 20% for pro-Union candidates; Kentucky and Missouri, with one-fourth

8234-552: The Confederacy dissolved on May 5. After the war, during the Reconstruction era , the Confederate states were readmitted to the Congress after each ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery. Lost Cause mythology , an idealized view of the Confederacy valiantly fighting for a just cause, emerged in the decades after the war among former Confederate generals and politicians, and in organizations such as

8413-443: The Confederacy had achieved independence, it probably would have tried to acquire Cuba as a base of expansion. Most soldiers who joined Confederate national or state military units joined voluntarily. Perman (2010) says historians are of two minds on why millions of soldiers seemed so eager to fight, suffer and die over four years: North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1835 The population distribution had changed since

8592-540: The Confederacy on March 16, 1861, and appointed Dr. Lewis S. Owings as the new territorial governor. They won the Battle of Mesilla and established a territorial government with Mesilla serving as its capital. The Confederacy proclaimed the Confederate Arizona Territory on February 14, 1862, north to the 34th parallel . Marcus H. MacWillie served in both Confederate Congresses as Arizona's delegate. In 1862,

8771-572: The Confederacy pinned its hopes for survival on military intervention by the UK or France . The Confederate government sent James M. Mason to London and John Slidell to Paris. On their way in 1861, the U.S. Navy intercepted their ship, the Trent, and took them to Boston, an international episode known as the Trent Affair . The diplomats were eventually released and continued their voyage. However, their mission

8950-418: The Confederacy, but neither did it emancipate slaves as did Missouri and West Virginia. District of Columbia citizens made no attempts to secede and through the war, referendums sponsored by Lincoln approved compensated emancipation and slave confiscation from "disloyal citizens". Citizens at Mesilla and Tucson in the southern part of New Mexico Territory formed a secession convention, which voted to join

9129-459: The Confederacy. The war itself began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces bombarded the Union's Fort Sumter , in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina . Background factors in the run up to the Civil War were partisan politics , abolitionism , nullification versus secession , Southern and Northern nationalism, expansionism , economics , and modernization in the antebellum period . As

SECTION 50

#1732855174756

9308-678: The Confederate New Mexico campaign to take the northern half of the U.S. territory failed and the Confederate territorial government in exile relocated to San Antonio, Texas. Confederate supporters in the trans-Mississippi west claimed portions of the Indian Territory after the US evacuated the federal forts and installations. Over half of the American Indian troops participating in the War from

9487-570: The Confederate States of America. The new provisional Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a call for 100,000 men from the states' militias to defend the newly formed Confederacy. All Federal property was seized, including gold bullion and coining dies at the U.S. mints in Charlotte , North Carolina; Dahlonega , Georgia; and New Orleans . The Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia, in May 1861. On February 22, 1862, Davis

9666-431: The Confederate population, voted 68% for pro-Union. Following South Carolina's unanimous 1860 secession vote, no other Southern states considered the question until 1861; when they did, none had a unanimous vote. All had residents who cast significant numbers of Unionist votes. Voting to remain in the Union did not necessarily mean individuals were sympathizers with the North. Once fighting began, many who voted to remain in

9845-479: The Confederates "suffered a severe loss of confidence in themselves" and withdrew into an interior defensive position. By December 1864, Davis considered sacrificing slavery in order to enlist recognition and aid from Paris and London; he secretly sent Duncan F. Kenner to Europe with a message that the war was fought solely for "the vindication of our rights to self-government and independence" and that "no sacrifice

10024-653: The Constitution, which protected slavery, to be honored, and the Union, which was a fellowship with slaveholders, to be preserved. Thus they were committed to values that could not logically be reconciled." The first secession state conventions from the Deep South sent representatives to the Montgomery Convention in Alabama on February 4, 1861. A provisional government was established, and a representative Congress met for

10203-491: The General Assembly amended the state outlawry statutes, requiring all magistrates to issue a proclamation of outlawry against any accused felon if an affidavit presented to them demonstrated that the accused had evaded arrest. The statute allowed any citizen to kill the accused felon if the individual refused to surrender after being so ordered. Following the passage of federal Reconstruction Acts in 1867, nonwhites in

10382-467: The House and the remainder of the 120 representatives were assigned based on population of the counties. Senators were elected from districts that were laid out based on the amount of taxes paid to the state for each county. Also, the office of Governor became popularly elected. These changes gave the more populous western counties more of a say in government but still favored those who owned property, since this

10561-601: The Indian Territory supported the Confederacy. On July 12, 1861, the Confederate government signed a treaty with both the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian nations. After several battles, Union armies took control of the territory. The Indian Territory never formally joined the Confederacy, but did receive representation in the Congress. Many Indians from the Territory were integrated into regular Confederate Army units. After 1863,

10740-700: The Indians' trust, he would try and gather intelligence from them about the Lowry Gang, so he could turn them over to the authorities and secure a reward for himself and Schenck. He later reported to the authorities that some gang members would stop at their relatives' homes on short visits between forays. By the autumn of 1869, Norment's men had captured eight members of the Lowry Gang—six Indians and two blacks. Among those captured were George Applewhite, Steve Lowry, John Dial, and Eli Ewin. The latter two agreed to turn state's evidence . The trial of those captured for

10919-467: The Lowry Gang and had worked with the earlier "compact". The governor granted him the rank of captain, later colonel, and tasked him with forming a new militia to suppress the outlaws. Like his more Conservative-leaning predecessors, he believed an effective campaign against the gang required the authorities' intervention in Scuffletown and suppression of their supporters there, not just direct action against

SECTION 60

#1732855174756

11098-501: The Lowry Gang entered Lumberton and broke Tom Lowry and Forney Oxendine out of the county jail. The next morning Thomas conducted a fruitless search for the gang members. Feeling the troops would be more useful elsewhere, on May 17 Morgan ordered Thomas' men out of the county. The authorities were greatly demoralised by this point, and in June the "compact" of men who had ambushed Applewhite declared they were too exhausted to continue searching for

11277-509: The Lowry Gang kept a low profile. John Dial found work in a blacksmith shop while most others lived off of resources provided to them by family and friends. Henry Berry Lowry was reported to have shown some public support for the Republican Party. Republican officials were reluctant to take any action concerning the previous lawlessness in Robeson, since prosecuting former Home Guardsmen would harm their law and order campaign, while targeting

11456-405: The Lowry Gang would split their local base of support. In October 1868, a group of about 30 armed men robbed a company store and several plantations in South Carolina. Several days later, the group robbed three plantations in Robeson County. These men were never positively identified, though historian William McKee Evans wrote, "it appears they were led by Henry Berry's men, who had grown restive at

11635-553: The Lowry Gang. He reported searching "the whole country for 30 miles" but found nothing. Thomas wrote to General Irvin McDowell to ask for permission to declare martial law to arrest Lowry family members, but the general declined and ordered him to serve "under the direction of the civil authority, and as a part of its posse." Thus denied, Thomas posted his men at various stations along the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad and

11814-585: The Lowry family to stay off his land under threat of being shot. It remains unknown whether some of the Lowry sons actually stole the hogs or whether Barnes falsely accused them with ulterior motives. On December 21, 1864, Barnes was ambushed and shot as he made his way to the Clay Valley Post Office. His screams drew the attention of several neighbors and slaves, and shortly before he died he accused William and Henry Berry Lowry , two sons of Allen, of committing

11993-436: The Scuffletown area to gather intelligence and drew a detailed map of the region, labeling small footpaths in the swamps and appending the names of the local inhabitants to their residences. He also studied Saunders' reports on the gang's behaviors. Despite this refined strategy, the gang continued to elude their pursuers. Wishart eventually settled on arresting the outlaws' wives, who up to that point had been largely ignored by

12172-462: The Smith's Township company as it arrested Rhoda Strong and Applewhite's wife. As the unit returned to Wishart's headquarters at the village of Buie's Store, the Lowry Gang ambushed it from a blind. One militiaman was immediately killed, two others were mortally wounded, and three more were injured. Surprised by the attack, the militia did not mount an assault on the gang's position. The gang then moved out of

12351-436: The South's slavery-based economy. The convergence of race and slavery, politics, and economics raised South-related policy questions to the status of moral questions over, way of life, merging love of things Southern and hatred of things Northern. As the war approached, political parties split, and national churches and interstate families divided along sectional lines. According to historian John M. Coski: The statesmen who led

12530-549: The South, both black freedmen and Robeson's Indians, were re-enfranchised. The following year the Republican Party won a majority of the vote in elections in Robeson, displacing Conservative planter families who had dominated county affairs. The party relied on the electoral support of black freedmen, Indians, and poor "Buckskin" whites. Republicans generally favored equal citizenship and civil rights for all persons regardless of race. The opposing Conservative faction encompassed

12709-516: The Union accepted the majority decision, and supported the Confederacy. Many writers have evaluated the War as an American tragedy—a "Brothers' War", pitting "brother against brother, father against son, kin against kin of every degree". Initially, some secessionists hoped for a peaceful departure. Moderates in the Confederate Constitutional Convention included a provision against importation of slaves from Africa to appeal to

12888-569: The Union and Confederate sides as belligerents . In 1863, the Confederacy expelled European diplomatic missions for advising their resident subjects to refuse to serve in the Confederate army. Both Confederate and Union agents were allowed to work openly in British territories. The Confederacy appointed Ambrose Dudley Mann as special agent to the Holy See in September 1863, but the Holy See never released

13067-556: The Union escapees left to join them, and the bands became predominantly Native American. Allen Lowry was a respected, successful Lumbee farmer whose ancestral roots in Robeson County traced to the 1700s. He and his wife, Mary, had twelve children, four of whom hid as a band in the swamps to avoid labor conscription. On at least one occasion they assisted Union escapees. In 1864 wealthy planter and Confederate postmaster James P. Barnes accused some of Lowry's sons of stealing two of his hogs and butchering them to feed Union escapees. He ordered

13246-581: The Union victory at the Battle of Antietam , Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and abolitionist opposition in Britain put an end to these possibilities. The cost to Britain of a war with the U.S. would have been high: the immediate loss of American grain-shipments, the end of British exports to the U.S., and seizure of billions of pounds invested in American securities. War would have meant higher taxes in Britain, another invasion of Canada, and attacks on

13425-446: The United States during the American Civil War . With Abraham Lincoln 's election as President of the United States in 1860, a portion of the southern states were convinced that their slavery-dependent plantation economies were threatened, and began to secede from the United States . The Confederacy was formed on February 8, 1861, by South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. They adopted

13604-519: The Upper South. Non-slave states might join, but the radicals secured a two-thirds requirement in both houses of Congress to accept them. Seven states declared their secession from the United States before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861, and Lincoln's subsequent call for troops, four more states declared their secession. Kentucky declared neutrality, but after Confederate troops moved in,

13783-445: The accusation of possessing stolen property. On April 26, McMillan led nine men to Henry Berry Lowry's cabin. Covertly advancing to the location, they found Boss Strong acting as a lookout, while Applewhite, still recovering from his wounds, was sitting in front of the house. Lowry was with his wife and three children inside. The posse fired a single shot at Strong, but it missed, and he dove for cover. He and Applewhite then crawled into

13962-413: The ambiguous attitude of the government and the uncertainty of their own position." Soon thereafter, the new Republican Governor of North Carolina, William Woods Holden , received a written petition from over 50 Robesonians asking for him to declare Henry Berry Lowry and his gang outlaws. Holden issued a declaration of outlawry against Lowry and some of his associates on November 30. The proclamation divided

14141-630: The approach of Federal armies in mid-1862, the government's archives were readied for removal. As the Wilderness Campaign progressed, Congress authorized Davis to remove the executive department and call Congress to session elsewhere in 1864 and again in 1865. Shortly before the end of the war, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, planning to relocate further south. Little came of these plans before Lee's surrender. Davis and most of his cabinet fled to Danville, Virginia , which served as their headquarters for eight days. During its four years,

14320-410: The area. On March 9 Union troops entered Robeson County and looted, but quickly moved on. The Home Guard was briefly disrupted by this incursion, but thereafter resumed investigating the Lowry family. In April a Home Guard detachment searched Sinclair's farm for an alleged stockpile of weapons and interrogated Mary Lowry, but found nothing. The situation in Robeson County calmed with the Union victory at

14499-538: The attack. The Native Americans' aid to the Union escapees, their attempts to dodge labor conscription, and the murder of Barnes drew the attention of the Confederate Home Guard , a paramilitary force tasked with maintaining law and order in the South during the war. One prominent officer of the Home Guard in Robeson County was James Brantly Harris. He was a white man who had sold liquor to Native Americans before

14678-440: The authorities and had lived their lives publicly. Evans speculated that the purpose of this was to try to bait the gang into mounting a rescue attempt, like the May jailbreak, except that the militia could confront them in an open fight in which they would be destroyed. On 10 July, Wishart dispatched the township detachments to simultaneously arrest the wives and some other prominent Indians before they could be warned. He accompanied

14857-522: The authorities. The Robeson County commissioners also offered several hundred additional dollars in bounties . The high amounts of money attracted many bounty hunters to Robeson, drawing interest from people as far away as New York City . In turn, the gang offered $ 1,000 for the body of county commissioner Angus McLean. On October 3, 1870, the Lowry Gang, including a dozen white members, stole large quantities of brandy from Angus Leach's still and destroyed what they could not cart away. Leach protested and

15036-460: The back and neck, but he returned fire and crawled into a nearby swamp for cover. Satisfied that Applewhite was mortally wounded and fearing the presence of other outlaws, the group departed and notified McMillan of the incident. He returned the following morning with a posse and the coroner, but Applewhite could not be located, and his children told the sheriff that he had survived. The posse then arrested Applewhite's brother-in-law, Forney Oxendine, on

15215-463: The banks of the Lumber River. While they were there, Henry Berry Lowry paddled by in a canoe. The militiamen recognized him and opened fire. Lowry jumped into the river and retrieved his rifle from the boat. Using it as a shield, he swam towards the landing while resting his gun over top of the craft, firing as he approached. He wounded two men before McRae ordered the militia to retreat. By the end of

15394-434: The buggy proceed before asking them to stop again. This time, Locklear jumped out armed, but was quickly subdued. The other man lashed the horse and sped away in the buggy. The bounty hunters later found it abandoned on the side of the road, with the man having taken the horse and going into the woods. On Locklear's person and in the buggy the bounty hunters found $ 83 and "3 double-barreled guns and 4 repeating pistols". Locklear

15573-507: The cabin and began firing at the posse through cracks in the walls. Feeling that they had the outlaws cornered but were not strong enough to flush them out of the building, McMillan took Frank McKay to go recruit others for their posse. Traveling up to the Buie's Store/Red Banks area, they enlisted four men to their cause. The sheriff sent them with McKay to the Lowry homestead while he took the train to Shoe Heel to gather more men. At Lowry's cabin,

15752-454: The condition that he be given quality treatment and be assured of his safety. Being promised of these things, Lowry was willfully taken to Lumberton and housed in the rebuilt jail. Some white Robesonians were angered by his privileged treatment, and there were rumors of threats to remove him from his cell and drown him in the Lumber River . Hearing of these threats, Lowry decided to escape. On

15931-545: The conflict, the Lowry Gang was implicated in the deaths of 22 people, while one of its members was arrested and executed and several others killed. The affair attracted significant regional and national media attention. His fate still unknown, Lowry became a folk hero for the Lumbee people and his exploits have a prominent place in Lumbee folklore. The Lumbee people in southeastern North Carolina originated from various Native American /Indian groups which were greatly impacted by conflicts and infectious diseases dating back to

16110-546: The constitution. The following officers were chosen by the delegates to the convention: In 1835, the counties of North Carolina were characterized as either eastern or western counties. The more sparsely populated counties were in the west. The voters from the counties elected two delegates for each county in elections held in April 1835. In 1835, there were 38 Eastern counties and 27 Western counties (Western and Piedmont Regions, see table). The following delegates were elected by

16289-413: The construction of blockade runners in Britain; they were owned and operated by British financiers and shipowners; a few were owned and operated by the Confederacy. The British investors' goal was to acquire highly profitable cotton. Several European nations maintained diplomats in place who had been appointed to the U.S., but no country appointed any diplomat to the Confederacy. Those nations recognized

16468-506: The core gang members, with a reward of $ 12,000 being offered for the capture or killing of Lowry. Elements of the 4th Regiment U.S. Artillery were dispatched on several occasions to assist the local authorities. Following a major robbery in Lumberton in February 1872, Lowry disappeared, and over the next two years bounty hunters tracked down the remaining active gang members. Over the course of

16647-458: The county authorities to have one 20-man group continuously search for the Lowry Gang, but instead the Police Guard would search for the outlaws in three-day stints after a raid before dissolving, allowing them to escape. Morgan thought this showed the local authorities' lack of determination and believed they expected federal troops to do all the necessary work for them. Lowry's threat concerning

16826-575: The courage, energy, and patriotism of the whole population, and the skill of its leaders, in this struggle against great odds. And I am also of opinion that many will agree with me in thinking that a people in which all ranks and both sexes display a unanimity and a heroism which can never have been surpassed in the history of the world, is destined, sooner or later, to become a great and independent nation. French Emperor Napoleon III assured Confederate diplomat John Slidell that he would make "direct proposition" to Britain for joint recognition. The Emperor made

17005-478: The day, Wishart's militia had captured the wives of Henry Berry Lowry, Steve Lowry, Andrew Strong, and George Applewhite. They also captured Aaron Revels, Andre McMillan, and McMillan's wife. They were detained under warrants accusing them of "aiding and abetting the outlaws" and incarcerated in the Lumberton jail. The next few days remained quiet as the militia gathered its strength. On the morning of July 14, Henry Berry and Steve Lowry and Andrew and Boss Strong went to

17184-449: The direction of John Taylor, a wealthy planter, former member of the Home Guard, and a known racist. Strong managed to work himself free of the rope tying him and ran into Bear Swamp. The guardsmen then shot Sanderson and dumped his body in the mill race. Strong subsequently joined the Lowry Gang, while word spread among the Indian community that Taylor had ordered Sanderson's death. A justice of

17363-472: The doctor's mule was shot, and he jumped from the buggy and proceeded to the house on foot, leaving his medical supplies behind. Norment died the following day. Three other raids were reported in the county that night. The murder of Norment provoked the ire of his brothers-in-law, John and A. C. Bridgers, so the gang resolved to kill them as well. They went to their plantation one evening and attempted to coax them outside by making loud noises. This failed, and with

17542-735: The effort to suppress the gang and sought a truce. Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America ( CSA ), commonly referred to as the Confederate States ( C.S. ), the Confederacy , or the South , was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 5, 1865. The Confederacy was composed of eleven U.S. states that declared secession ; South Carolina , Mississippi , Florida , Alabama , Georgia , Louisiana , Texas , Virginia , Arkansas , Tennessee , and North Carolina ; they warred against

17721-402: The end of the Civil War, as locals focused on rebuilding their livelihoods. Local government in Robeson mostly continued as it had during the war, with rich white men of prominence dominating public offices, especially the justices of the peace who constituted the county court. The Home Guard was formally dissolved but was replaced by a similar institution, the Police Guard. An investigation into

17900-661: The end of transatlantic enslavement of Africans; by 1833 , the Royal Navy patrolled middle passage waters to prevent additional slave ships from reaching the Western Hemisphere. It was in London that the first World Anti-Slavery Convention had been held in 1840. Black abolitionist speakers toured England, Scotland, and Ireland, exposing the reality of America's chattel slavery and rebutting the Confederate position that blacks were "unintellectual, timid, and dependent", and "not equal to

18079-457: The evening drinking in the company of another young white man, Henry Biggs. Over the course of the night he drunkenly demanded Biggs join the gang or he would kill him. Fearful of McLauchlin, Biggs waited until he had fallen asleep, and then shot him with his own pistol. Biggs proceeded to Lumberton to report the killing, led authorities to the body, collected a $ 400 bounty, and left the county. The Lowry Gang later learned that Biggs had found work at

18258-419: The evening of December 12, 1868 he menaced the jailer with a knife and revolver as the latter served dinner. After threatening to kill the jailer if he left to call for help, Lowry walked out of the building down to the river. He moved along the bank and stole some crackers from a house before crossing a bridge out of the city. Shortly after the second jailbreak, the Lowry Gang decided to target Reuben King. King

18437-461: The evening of March 19, 1870, he and his band went to the Norment Plantation. Norment was sitting with his wife when he heard a strange noise and decided to step outside. He was shot, and his wife pulled him inside, locked the door, and handed him his rifle. Other members of the family sent for help and contacted a doctor, who rode to the plantation in his buggy. A mile away from his destination,

18616-400: The executions of Allen and William was later conducted in 1867 at the impetus of Freedmen's Bureau agent William Birnie, but no charges were brought against the Home Guard. On December 7, 1865, Henry Berry Lowry married his cousin, Rhoda Strong . During the wedding reception , a company of the Police Guard under Lieutenant A. J. McNair arrived and arrested Lowry. The following day a warrant

18795-461: The federal encampment at the Moss Neck rail depot, Henry Berry Lowry, accompanied by Boss Strong, rose from an embankment on the side of a road and shot John Taylor through the head. Lowry then ran to the body, took $ 50 and ran with Strong into a nearby swamp. A sergeant and several enlisted men gave chase but quickly lost sight of him. Thomas' company, accompanied by Sheriff McMillan and a posse, resumed

18974-425: The fighting, while one member of the posse, Steve Davis, was killed while confronting the gang at the edge of a field. The band retreated into Long Swamp, which was subsequently surrounded by over 150 armed men. Sheriff McMillan was wary of pursuing the outlaws into the thicket and requested that artillery be sent to flush them out, but in the meantime the gang had escaped and was reported 10 miles (16 km) away from

19153-507: The formation of the Confederacy was the development of white Southern nationalism in the preceding decades. The primary reason for the North to reject secession was to preserve the Union, a cause based on American nationalism . Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election . His victory triggered declarations of secession by seven slave states of the Deep South , all of whose riverfront or coastal economies were based on cotton that

19332-435: The gang escape westward, reportedly with the secret intention of having them arrested in South Carolina or Georgia, far away from their homeland. The gang surveilled Saunders and realized he had made connections with the family of William C. McNeil, in which John Taylor had married. Fearing that he was a spy, they elected to not show up at a rendezvous he planned at a camp near Moss Neck on November 19 for their "migration" out of

19511-458: The glorious cause of southern independence. They demanded that their own states join the cause. Scores of demonstrations took place from April 12 to 14, before Lincoln issued his call for troops. Many conditional unionists were swept along by this powerful tide of southern nationalism; others were cowed into silence. Historian Daniel W. Crofts disagrees with McPherson: The bombardment of Fort Sumter, by itself, did not destroy Unionist majorities in

19690-504: The ground with a rope fashioned out of blankets. All of the members fled except Calvin, who declared that he was innocent of any crime and sought to be cleared in court. The other gang members slowly made their way back to Robeson County over the course of a month, hiding in the wilderness to avoid detection. Once they returned they restarted their raids. Meanwhile, elections were held in 1870, resulting in many Republican losses across North Carolina. In Robeson County, Howell won re-election to

19869-406: The group had crossed the Lumber River. Concerned about the situation, a group of elderly citizens went into Lumberton and met with McMillan and the county commissioners. The group agreed that it would be best to release the wives. Wishart was not consulted and was outraged by their decision. On July 18, the wives were sent aboard a train and released at the village of Red Banks. A small federal force

20048-535: The guard was stolen from the courthouse in Lumberton . White citizens were infuriated by the decline in law and order, and the Home Guard suspected that the Lowry family was largely responsible. On March 3, a detachment of the Home Guard under Captain Hugh McGreggor arrested Allen and Mary Lowry, three of their sons—William, Calvin, and Sinclair—some female relatives, and their Lumbee neighbor, George Dial. They also seized some of Allen's belongings. They brought them to

20227-710: The hundreds of thousands. Secessionists argued that the United States Constitution was a contract among sovereign states that could be abandoned without consultation and each state had a right to secede. After intense debates and statewide votes, seven Deep South cotton states passed secession ordinances by February 1861, while secession efforts failed in the other eight slave states. The Confederacy expanded in May–July 1861 (with Virginia , Arkansas , Tennessee , North Carolina ), and disintegrated in April–May 1865. It

20406-442: The local Republican Party and threatened their hold on county politics. In attempt to broker a peaceful and less politically risky solution, two prominent local Republicans, Freedmens' Bureau agent Alfred Thomas and Robeson Sheriff Benjamin A. Howell, met with Lowry at his home to convince him to surrender. Thomas and Howell argued that he had a chance at a fair trial in the new Reconstruction court system. Lowry agreed to stand trial on

20585-535: The man in a night ambush. He ended up shooting and killing the man's brother, Jarman, a nephew of Allen Lowry. Though local authorities ignored the killing, Harris became fearful that members of the Lowry family might attempt to attack him in revenge for the death of Jarman. Two of Jarman's brothers were working at Fort Fisher (Harris had earlier conscripted them) but, several weeks after the killing, they were granted leave and returned to Robeson County to visit their parents. To preempt any attempts at vengeance, Harris led

20764-439: The meantime, some of the gang members detained in Lumberton escaped from the jail there after a woman, probably Rhoda Strong, smuggled them an auger . Ewin was among those who broke out, and thereafter he disappeared. Those who remained in the possession of the authorities were transferred to the more secure brick jail in Wilmington , where Calvin and Henderson Oxendine were already being held. The gang members were held together in

20943-522: The murder of King was scheduled for the 1870 spring term in the Robeson County Superior Court. The gang's leader and Boss Strong, as well as some other less prominent members, remained at large. Raids continued throughout the winter, despite the intensified efforts of local authorities. Norment also arrested Zachariah T. McLauchlin on suspicion of robbery, but he escaped custody. Lowry decided to attack Norment in revenge for his crackdown. On

21122-462: The office of sheriff but was unable to raise the money to post his official bond. The courts thus awarded the office to a Conservative and former member of the Home Guard, Roderick McMillan. To incentivize capture of the gang members, the now Conservative-dominated General Assembly voted during its 1870/1871 session to offer $ 2,000 each for the "delivery, dead or alive" of Henry, Tom and Steve Lowry; Henderson Oxendine, George Applewhite, and Boss Strong to

21301-428: The ordinance of secession. In the 1860 election "Constitutional Democrat" Breckenridge had outpolled "Constitutional Unionist" Bell in the 50 counties by 1,900 votes, 44% to 42%. The counties simultaneously supplied over 20,000 soldiers to each side of the conflict. Representatives for most counties were seated in both state legislatures at Wheeling and at Richmond for the duration of the war. Attempts to secede from

21480-465: The origins of the American Civil War agree that the preservation of the institution of slavery was the principal aim of the eleven Southern states (seven states before the onset of the war and four states after the onset) that declared their secession from the United States (the Union ) and united to form the Confederate States of America (known as the "Confederacy"). However, while historians in

21659-521: The other three candidates (Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and John Bell ). Support for these three collectively, ranged from significant to outright majority, running from 25% in Texas to 81% in Missouri. There were minority views everywhere, especially in the upland and plateau areas of the South, particularly concentrated in western Virginia and eastern Tennessee. The first six signatory states establishing

21838-467: The outbreak of the American Civil War . Some men enlisted in the Confederate States Army , though it is unknown whether they were accepted as recognised Native Americans or passed as white. In 1863, Confederate authorities began conscripting the Lumbees for labor along the coast, especially at Fort Fisher . The Lumbees were usually tasked to either construct batteries or grind salt. Most found

22017-620: The outlaws and the posse exchanged fire for some time until the former went silent. The posse figured that they had either run low on ammunition or were trying to bait a trap and continued to fire at the home. In reality, the outlaws and the Lowry family slipped out of a secret door on the south wall of the house (unguarded by the posse since it had no obvious exits) and went into Back Swamp. About 30 minutes later they encountered McKay's group and fired upon them, wounding two and killing one, Giles Inman. The outlaws escaped and later Lowry sent his apologies to Inman's father for killing his son. On April 29

22196-626: The outlaws raided a plantation in Richmond County , stealing a cart full of corn and driving it to Scuffletown, where its contents were distributed to the locals. They then returned the cart and mules to the plantation. They acted similarly when they robbed the Argyle plantation, returning the wagon they used to cart away their goods. They also attempted to rob John McNair, who was reportedly rich, but upon finding that he only had $ 15 in his possession they returned his money. Shortly after midnight on May 10,

22375-568: The outlaws unable to enter the home, they shot some of the Bridgers' dairy cattle and departed. On April 1, 1870, Applewhite and Steve Lowry were tried for the murder of King. Due to tensions in Lumberton, proceedings were conducted in Whiteville. Statements made by Dial were used as evidence against them, though when testifying in court he said been coerced into confessing. Regardless, Applewhite and Lowry were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. In

22554-679: The outlaws. With the attempts to suppress the Lowry Band failing, and the Conservative-led local posses frightening nonwhites in their searches, state authorities sought new leadership for their efforts. They ultimately recruited Francis M. Wishart to lead the locals. Wishart was a Buckskin Republican of modest origins who had served in the Confederate Army as an officer. Unlike most of his local Republican colleagues, he held little sympathy for

22733-485: The outlaws. However, he generally sought warrants for searches and arrests of suspects and attempted to instill discipline in the militia. Wishart planned a campaign to suppress the Lowry Gang for July, the largest-ever concerted effort to capture them. He called upon Robeson's 15 townships to provide 10 men each, ultimately raising a militia of 117 men. The force was divided into smaller detachments ranging from 3–25 men, known as "township companies". Wishart sent scouts into

22912-454: The peace indicted Taylor for murder, but he was released on bond. Fearing his life was in danger, he offered Sanderson's family money as compensation for the death. After they indicated their lack of interest, he made preparations to leave Robeson County, but remained to oversee the selling of his property. Meanwhile, the Lowry Gang grew suspicious of John Saunders. Saunders had established contact with Henry Berry Lowry and told him he would help

23091-471: The people on November 9, 1835 with 26,771 in favor and 21,606 against. These changes remained in effect until 1868 when the Constitution was next changed. The convention also provided amendments that eliminated private acts that granted divorces, changed names, and legitimizing persons; provided procedures to impeach of state officers; procedures to remove judges for disability; established biannual legislative sessions; and provides provisions for amending

23270-717: The period of European colonization . Those who survived these disruptions grouped together as homogenous communities. In 1830, the United States government began a policy of Indian removal , forcibly relocating Native American populations in the American South further west. Native Americans in Robeson County, North Carolina , were not subject to removal. Culturally, this group was not particularly distinct from proximate European Americans ; they were mostly agrarian, and shared similar styles of dress, homes, and music. They also spoke English and were mostly Protestants . Their identity

23449-415: The plantation of John McNair and demanded to be served breakfast. The family complied, and when they were finished eating Henry Berry Lowry told McNair to tell the sheriff and county commissioners to release his wife from jail or he would "retaliate on the white women of Burnt Swamp Township". He then dictated a note he wanted delivered to Sheriff McMillan and the local leader of the Republican Party, demanding

23628-560: The populous counties along the Ohio and Pennsylvania borders rejected the Confederacy. Unionists held a Convention in Wheeling in June 1861, establishing a "restored government" with a rump legislature , but sentiment in the region remained deeply divided. In the 50 counties that would make up the state of West Virginia , voters from 24 counties had voted for disunion in Virginia's May 23 referendum on

23807-456: The pro-Confederate claimants in Kentucky (December 10, 1861) and Missouri (November 28, 1861) and laid claim to those states, granting them Congressional representation and adding two stars to the Confederate flag. Voting for the representatives was mostly done by Confederate soldiers from Kentucky and Missouri. Some southern unionists blamed Lincoln's call for troops as the precipitating event for

23986-584: The prominent Lumbee Lowry family, and two of the former were murdered. A Confederate Home Guard detachment subsequently executed two Lowrys for alleged possession of stolen goods and arrested Henry Berry Lowry on murder charges. He later broke out of jail and avoided the authorities by hiding in swamps with a group of associates which became known as the Lowry Gang. The gang was a somewhat fluid group of American Indian, white and black men, but many of its predominant members had kinship ties to Lowry. New public officials brought in during Reconstruction initially sought

24165-402: The property of Robert McKenzie. The women were locked in the smokehouse while the men were interrogated outside facing accusations of " highway robbery ", aiding Confederate deserters and Union escapees, stockpiling weapons, and having dodged labor conscription. The men denied the accusations and Williams was wounded after trying to escape. The guardsmen then moved them into the smokehouse and held

24344-447: The pursuit but were unsuccessful. Also that month, a group of bounty hunters stopped a buggy on Old Stage Road, 12 miles (19 km) south of Fayetteville , heading towards Lumberton. They asked the two Indian occupants to identify themselves and state their business. One declared that he was Sinclair Locklear and the other was his brother John, and that they were heading to South Carolina to do farm work. The bounty hunters initially let

24523-727: The release of the wives by Monday morning or else "the Bloodiest times will be here that ever was before—the life of every man will be in Jeopardy". McMillan rebuffed the ultimatum but asked for assistance from the militias in Bladen and Columbus counties. He also wrote to Governor Tod Robinson Caldwell to ask for supplies and to appeal to the President of the United States for a "strong detachment" of federal troops. Major Morgan, writing to General McDowell, advised against this, saying he had tried to convince

24702-543: The resolve of the authorities to stop his gang. Owen Clinton Norment, a member of a prominent Robeson family, decided to cooperate with the Republican Reconstruction government to regain influence and was appointed captain of the Police Guard. He pursued the Lowry Gang, but was sometimes hampered by a lack of intelligence. In one instance he was reported to have attended a religious service at Black Swamp Church and to have found Lowry there. Lowry had expected this and

24881-405: The same assurance to British Members of Parliament John A. Roebuck and John A. Lindsay. Roebuck in turn publicly prepared a bill to submit to Parliament supporting joint Anglo-French recognition of the Confederacy. "Southerners had a right to be optimistic, or at least hopeful, that their revolution would prevail, or at least endure." Following the disasters at Vicksburg and Gettysburg in July 1863,

25060-449: The secession movement were unashamed to explicitly cite the defense of slavery as their prime motive ... Acknowledging the centrality of slavery to the Confederacy is essential for understanding the Confederate. Southern Democrats had chosen John Breckinridge as their candidate during the 1860 presidential election, but in no Southern state was support for him unanimous, as they recorded at least some popular vote for at least one of

25239-476: The second wave of secessions. Historian James McPherson argues such claims have "a self-serving quality" and regards them as misleading: As the telegraph chattered reports of the attack on Sumter April 12 and its surrender next day, huge crowds poured into the streets of Richmond, Raleigh, Nashville, and other upper South cities to celebrate this victory over the Yankees. These crowds waved Confederate flags and cheered

25418-506: The situation in the county calmed, the Lowry Band seemingly wary of engaging the troops. The Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad Company, though it shuttled federal troops, tried to keep armed bounty hunters off of its trains and strived for neutrality in the overall conflict, not seeking to become a target of the outlaws. Some of its black crew members were reported to have warned Scuffletown when troops were on board. Violence resumed on January 14, 1871. Several hundred yards away from

25597-578: The state legislature asked for Union troops to drive them out. Delegates from 68 Kentucky counties were sent to the Russellville Convention that signed an Ordinance of Secession. Kentucky was admitted into the Confederacy on December 10, 1861, with Bowling Green as its first capital. Early in the war, the Confederacy controlled more than half of Kentucky but largely lost control in 1862. The splinter Confederate government of Kentucky relocated to accompany western Confederate armies and never controlled

25776-496: The state population after 1862. By the end of the war, 90,000 Kentuckians had fought for the Union, compared to 35,000 for the Confederacy. In Missouri , a constitutional convention was approved and delegates elected. The convention rejected secession 89–1 on March 19, 1861. The governor maneuvered to take control of the St. Louis Arsenal and restrict Federal movements. This led to a confrontation, and in June federal forces drove him and

25955-516: The state. With their failure to appear, Saunders requested that some of the McNeil sons meet him at the camp. The gang kept watch on the camp and captured the McNeils and Saunders. They released the former and took Saunders to their own camp in Back Swamp. Once there they debated his fate, though Henry and Steve Lowry were in favor of killing him and eventually won their argument. The gang allowed Saunders to pen

26134-491: The states' militia to muster under his command. The stated purpose was to re-occupy U.S. properties throughout the South, as the U.S. Congress had not authorized their abandonment. The resistance at Fort Sumter signaled his change of policy from that of the Buchanan Administration. Lincoln's response ignited a firestorm of emotion. The people of both North and South demanded war, with soldiers rushing to their colors in

26313-464: The swamp. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Police Guard decided to target some of the Indians they believed were helping the gang. On October 5, a detachment of guardsmen under Captain Murdock McLean arrested Andrew Strong and Malcolm Sanderson, accusing them of spying for the band. The guardsmen took them to the mill pond of William C. McNeil where an execution by firing squad was prepared at

26492-410: The time of the original constitution was written in 1776. The number of counties had increased from 38 at the time of the first general assembly in 1777 to 68 in 1835. Many new counties had been created in the central Piedmont and Western regions of the state. The population of the 23 counties in the Piedmont region (344,184) and eight counties in the Western region (80,592) combined exceeded that of

26671-456: The town, though by then the outlaws had disappeared. Another detachment, led by county coroner Robert Chaffin, entered Scuffletown and went to the home of a freedman and active Republican, Benjamin Bethea. Once there, the men debated executing him and some opposed to the idea left the scene. The rest took Bethea away on horseback. Members of the Lowry Gang later recovered his body, beaten and shot, from

26850-614: The tribal governments sent representatives to the Confederate Congress : Elias Cornelius Boudinot representing the Cherokee and Samuel Benton Callahan representing the Seminole and Creek . The Cherokee Nation aligned with the Confederacy. They practiced and supported slavery, opposed abolition, and feared their lands would be seized by the Union. After the war, the Indian territory was disestablished, their black slaves were freed, and

27029-521: The tribes lost some of their lands. Montgomery, Alabama , served as capital of the Confederate States from February 4 until May 29, 1861, in the Alabama State Capitol . Six states created the Confederacy there on February 8, 1861. The Texas delegation was seated at the time, so it is counted in the "original seven" states of the Confederacy; it had no roll call vote until after its referendum made secession "operative". The Permanent Constitution

27208-550: The upper South. Because only three days elapsed before Lincoln issued the proclamation, the two events viewed retrospectively, appear almost simultaneous. Nevertheless, close examination of contemporary evidence ... shows that the proclamation had a far more decisive impact. ...Many concluded ... that Lincoln had deliberately chosen "to drive off all the Slave states, in order to make war on them and annihilate slavery". The order of secession resolutions and dates are: In Virginia,

27387-586: The war but upon its outbreak was tasked by the Home Guard with tracking down deserters, escapees, and maintaining order in Scuffletown , the center of the Native American community in Robeson County. Lumbee oral histories portray him as hot-tempered and brutal. During the war he became attracted to a young Lumbee woman, provoking the ire of her boyfriend. The boyfriend stated he would kill Harris if he interacted with his girlfriend again, leading Harris to try to kill

27566-513: The white man...the superior race." Frederick Douglass , Henry Highland Garnet , Sarah Parker Remond , her brother Charles Lenox Remond , James W. C. Pennington , Martin Delany , Samuel Ringgold Ward , and William G. Allen all spent years in Britain, where fugitive slaves were safe and, as Allen said, there was an "absence of prejudice against color. Here the colored man feels himself among friends, and not among enemies". Most British public opinion

27745-553: The white women in Burnt Swamp generated panic throughout Robeson County. The white community was worried that Wishart's recruitment for his militia would deprive the white women of protection; many men avoided his summons. As a result, Wishart struggled to maintain a cohesive force. On the Monday of July 17, the day the gang's ultimatum expired, the outlaw band ambushed Police Guardsman Murdoch McLean as he rode with his younger brother Hugh and

27924-693: The woods a few hundred yards down the railway and began cheering and firing their long range guns. Fearing that they were trying to provoke the militia into a pursuit that would give the hostages an opportunity to escape, Wishart refused to attack them and moved the women into his headquarters under heavy guard. The gang later retreated to the Lumber River. Meanwhile, the combined Alfordsville and Thompson's Township detachments under Captain Charles McRae captured Flora Strong (Andrew's wife) and handed her over to other militiamen to be taken to Buie's Store. That evening, McRae's men stopped to rest at Wire Grass Landing on

28103-421: The woods nearby and witnessed this execution. The next day the guardsmen forced Calvin Lowry and Dial to show them where Union soldiers were hiding. Dial led them to a small cave, but, to the guardsmen's frustration, the two men largely did not know where to find escapees. Dial and the Lowry family members were released the following day under the threat that they would be punished for any "mischief" that occurred in

28282-408: The work dangerous and monotonous, and the conditions at the labor camps poor. Many consequently fled into the swamps of Robeson County to avoid conscription. Though some Lumbee still sought to serve in the army during this time, by late 1863 most had concluded that the Confederacy was an oppressive regime. This change in attitudes was brought on by their contact with Union prisoner-of-war escapees from

28461-458: Was "a mere inferential recognition, unconnected with political action or the regular establishment of diplomatic relations" and thus did not assign it the weight of formal recognition. Nevertheless, the Confederacy was seen internationally as a serious attempt at nationhood, and European governments sent military observers to assess whether there had been a de facto establishment of independence. These observers included Arthur Lyon Fremantle of

28640-551: Was adopted there on March 12, 1861. The permanent capital provided for in the Confederate Constitution called for a state cession of a 100 square mile district to the central government. Atlanta, which had not yet supplanted Milledgeville , Georgia, as its state capital, put in a bid noting its central location and rail connections, as did Opelika, Alabama , noting its strategically interior situation, rail connections and deposits of coal and iron. Richmond, Virginia ,

28819-561: Was against the practice, with Liverpool seen as the primary base of Southern support. Throughout the early years of the war, British foreign secretary Lord John Russell , Emperor Napoleon III of France, and, to a lesser extent, British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston , showed interest in recognition of the Confederacy or at least mediation of the war. Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone attempted unsuccessfully to convince Palmerston to intervene. By September 1862

28998-613: Was also chosen by the general assembly vice the voters in each county. The 1776 Constitution was worded with restrictions on who could and who could not vote, as follows: Freemen included former slaves, so they were allowed to vote in North Carolina from 1777 to 1835. Out of the convention came many amendments. Among those changes was fixing the membership of the Senate and House at their present levels, 50 senators and 120 representatives. Each county received at least one representative in

29177-488: Was armed, while Norment was not; the two reportedly exchanged some antagonistic conversation but Lowry left without incident. Also in 1869, John Saunders, a detective from Boston , came to Robeson County at the behest of the Sheriff of New Hanover County , J. W. Schenck, with the intent of disguising himself as a Radical Republican carpetbagger who wanted to teach the children in Scuffletown how to read and write. After gaining

29356-547: Was chosen for the interim capital at the Virginia State Capitol . The move was used by Vice President Stephens and others to encourage other border states to follow Virginia into the Confederacy. In the political moment it was a show of "defiance and strength". The war for Southern independence was surely to be fought in Virginia, but it also had the largest Southern military-aged white population, with infrastructure, resources, and supplies. The Davis Administration's policy

29535-512: Was conducted and a warrant for Harris' arrest was issued. On January 15, 1865, he was shot and killed while riding his buggy, and his body disposed of either in a nearby well or an unmarked grave. Henry Berry Lowry and some of his associates were suspected of the killing. Fearing Harris' death would lead to retaliation from the Home Guard, local Lumbees began preparing for violence. Short on food and weapons, they began stealing from white-owned farms and plantations. Firearms and ammunition intended for

29714-574: Was crafted accusing him of murdering James Barnes. He was initially held in the Lumberton jail but, since it had been damaged by Union troops, the authorities decided to move him to the Columbus County jail, approximately 30 miles (48 km) away in Whiteville . Lowry later escaped from the Whiteville jail, the first person to ever do so. How he achieved this is not clear, though Lumbee oral tradition maintains that he cut his way through prison bars with

29893-541: Was cultivated by slave labor. They formed the Confederate States of America after Lincoln was elected in November 1860 but before he took office in March 1861. Nationalists in the North and "Unionists" in the South refused to accept the declarations of secession. No foreign government ever recognized the Confederacy. The U.S. government, under President James Buchanan , refused to relinquish its forts that were in territory claimed by

30072-704: Was formed by delegations from seven slave states of the Lower South that had proclaimed their secession. After the fighting began in April, four additional slave states seceded and were admitted. Later, two slave states ( Missouri and Kentucky ) and two territories were given seats in the Confederate Congress. Its establishment flowed from and deepened Southern nationalism, which prepared men to fight for "The Southern Cause". This "Cause" included support for states' rights , tariff policy , and internal improvements, but above all, cultural and financial dependence on

30251-439: Was inaugurated as president with a term of six years. The Confederate administration pursued a policy of national territorial integrity, continuing earlier state efforts in 1860–1861 to remove U.S. government presence. This included taking possession of U.S. courts, custom houses, post offices, and most notably, arsenals and forts. After the Confederate attack and capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Lincoln called up 75,000 of

30430-406: Was jailed on a robbery charge and "being suspicioned as one of the [...] outlaws." A local newspaper reported that the escaped man was believed to have been Henry Berry Lowry. On February 17, McMillan raised a posse to search for the Lowry Gang. The sheriff led one large group to the swamps near Scuffletown. A reported sighting of the band four miles (6.5 km) from Lumberton led them to return to

30609-460: Was required to vote and hold office. The vote was taken away from freed slaves in this convention, which followed a national trend. The most ardent supporters of disenfranchisement were located in the Eastern regions, where the black population was higher and slavery had been more established. The convention approved the changes on July 11, 1835. The convention's proposed changes were adopted by vote of

30788-400: Was rooted in kinship and shared location. Through intermarriage, they acquired some white and black ancestry. Not viewed as Native Americans by the state of North Carolina until the 1880s, these people were generally dubbed " mulattos " by locals and in federal documents throughout the mid-1800s to distinguish them from blacks. They were recognized under the name "Lumbee" in the 1950s. In 1835

30967-412: Was sent to Robeson County during local elections to contain political violence in early August but left at the contests' conclusion. Governor Caldwell then requested that McDowell send troops to explicitly "assist" local authorities and on August 24 the general dispatched two companies of the 4th Regiment U.S. Artillery to Robeson. By the end of the summer many Robesonians had concluded that it was not worth

31146-408: Was struck with the butt of a gun. A black man who attempted to help him was whipped with a trace and had his ears cut with a knife. The following day, Leach's neighbors formed a posse to track down the gang. The posse found 15 gang members at Applewhite's home between Plummer's Station and Red Banks , leading to a firefight and pursuit. Applewhite, Boss Strong, and Henderson Oxendine were wounded in

31325-491: Was that "It must be held at all hazards." The naming of Richmond as the new capital took place on May 30, 1861, and the last two sessions of the Provisional Congress were held there. As war dragged on, Richmond became crowded with training and transfers, logistics and hospitals. Prices rose dramatically despite government efforts at price regulation. A movement in Congress argued for moving the capital from Richmond. At

31504-437: Was the former sheriff of Robeson who had been displaced in an 1868 election by Howell, but many white locals considered the contest fraudulent and still accorded King authority. The Lowry Gang decided to rob him since he was reportedly wealthy and had a reputation for discriminating against racial minorities. He had also made threats against the band. On the night of January 23, 1869, the gang entered King's home while he spoke with

31683-500: Was unable to control substantial parts of Missouri territory, effectively only controlling southern Missouri early in the war. It had its capital at Neosho, then Cassville , before being driven out of the state. For the remainder of the war, it operated as a government in exile at Marshall, Texas . Not having seceded, neither Kentucky nor Missouri was declared in rebellion in Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation . The Confederacy recognized

31862-426: Was unsuccessful; historians judge their diplomacy as poor. Neither secured diplomatic recognition for the Confederacy, much less military assistance. The Confederates who had believed that " cotton is king ", that is, that Britain had to support the Confederacy to obtain cotton, proved mistaken. The British had stocks to last over a year and been developing alternative sources. The United Kingdom took pride leading

32041-551: Was working outside of Robeson when King was killed, the jury acquitted him and he was freed. Major Charles H. Morgan , commander of the Post of Raleigh , held jurisdiction over Thomas and the troops in Robeson County. He oversaw a brief investigation into the murder of Taylor before concluding that the army's priority should be to protect friends and family of the Lowry Gang from revenge inflicted by posses. He instructed Thomas to place himself in Scuffletown every time Sheriff McMillan formed

#755244