Yesterday was election day here in Georgia. A day that was riddled with broken voting machines, long lines, and changes in poll locations – predominantly in black neighborhoods. It makes you start to think, do all votes count, or are elections decided by another delegation other than regular citizens? After writing my last blog post, I mentioned the election of 1867 which ended the use of the Insurrection Act after the civil war. It was a questionable election, which ultimately reversed Reconstruction. The most pivotal event that paved the way for the southern democrat win of the election of 1867, was the massacre that took place in Hamburg, South Carolina which ultimately changed the course of history.

Hamburg was one of the only towns in South Carolina with a majority black Republican population and successfully had been established as such as a result of Reconstruction. It was a thriving market town that was resettled by freed blacks after being considered obsolete by its original settlers who no longer had business due to the creation of the Augusta Canal and extension of the railroad to Augusta. In July 1867, fairly close to Independence Day, two white farmers wanted to pass through the town of Hamburg, South Carolina. At the time, the South Carolina National Guard was performing a drill that blocked off the town from incoming patrons. The two white farmers were livid that they couldn’t freely pass through the town and even though they eventually made it through, they took measures to ensure this wouldn’t happen again.

The two men hired an attorney and took their case to court for obstruction of a public road. Their attorney demanded that as a result of the “injustice” they encountered, that the guard (all black) be disbanded and that the guard hand over their guns to him personally. The court was filled with about 100 whites armed with guns, axes, pitchforks, etc., who were a part of a rifle club from outside of Hamburg. The rifle club was named the Red Shirts. The guard refused to give up their weapons and retreated to a stone warehouse as a fort. A gun battle ensued and a small cannon was brought from the neighboring city of Augusta to aide the whites in the fight. By nightfall, one local white farmer and the black town marshal, James Cook was killed in the middle of the main road. 

The South Carolina National Guard which also included whites who lived outside the town rounded up around two dozen black citizens from Hamburg and at about 2 a.m, took them to a spot near the South Carolina Railroad bridge. There, the whites formed what was later called the “Dead Ring” picking four men and went around the ring murdering them one at a time, these men were as follows: Allan Attaway, David Phillips, Hampton Stephens, and Albert Myniart. Benjamin Tillman, the leader of the Red Shirts, was chosen to execute black state legislator Simon Coker of Barnwell. After being told of his impending execution, Coker asked the unit to give instructions to his wife regarding cotton-ginning and that month’s rent. He was then executed mid-prayer. Several blacks were wounded during their escape, while others were gunned down will trying to getaway. 94 whites were indicted in the murder of the black freedmen, but they were never prosecuted. 

As a result of the massacre, Wade Hampton, a southern democrat used Hamburg as a reminder to whites of the racial danger of having a “Republican” controlled government thereby winning him the gubernatorial South Carolina election of 1876 by a tight margin, removing the Republican hold of government in South Carolina. Meanwhile, on that same day, the presidential election was held which may have been one of the biggest controversial elections yet.

 Ulysses S. Grant did not want to run a third term as president and decided to step down. He was a Republican. The same Republican party that Lincoln belonged to, the party that established Reconstruction, and the party that used the Insurrection Act to protect the newly freed blacks. The election of 1876 had two opponents; Samuel Tilden representing the Republican party and Rutherford Hayes representing the Southern Democrat party. Tilden had won 184 electoral votes to Hayes’ 165, with 20 votes from four states unresolved. Those states being Florida (I am convinced Floridians can’t count), Louisiana, and South Carolina – the deep south. In addition to these states, Oregon had one missing electoral vote, due to the assumed voter being “illegal”. The question of who should have been awarded these electoral votes was the controversy that led to the Compromise of 1877 where Hayes would be given the election if he followed certain orders such as removing the troops deployed via the Insurrection Act from the south. The compromise was agreed to because the congressmen in the deal were mostly southern Democrats. Rutherford Hayes went on to win the election even though he didn’t win the popular vote. This was the first time in American History that this ever happened. Sidenote: this is very reminiscent of Hilary and Trump 👀. Because of the Compromise of 1877, the troops were removed in the south and the south no longer had to abide by the rules of the north. Jim Crow laws were enforced (a black is only 3/5ths of a person) and reintroduced black disenfranchisement in the south.

   Benjamin Tillman, the same guy in charge of the Red Shirts that was involved with the Hamburg Massacre, would become the next governor of South Carolina after Hampton, later becoming a U.S. senator for 23 years. Under his rule of South Carolina, the state had its highest number of lynchings. Tillman helped found Clemson University and a statue was erected in his honor in 1940 at the state capital. In 2015, Clemson vowed to distance themselves from Tillman after the church shootings done by Dylann Roof, yet the main hall is still named after Tillman.

After reconstruction was no more, blacks slowly left Hamburg, some becoming sharecroppers in nearby towns. After a 1911 flood, Augusta began construction of a river levee, leaving Hamburg unprotected. Disastrous floods in the coming years finally forced out the last residents in 1929. Today in 2020, there are no visible remains that exist of Hamburg, and it is largely covered by a golf course. 

Here is another story of how the American system has abated the achievements of blacks in America. In addition to slave uprisings that occurred prior, the election of 1876 was pivotal in establishing a disenfranchisement and defeated attitude of the American black. When they thought they were given freedom, they were once again pulled back into an endless cycle of living for their oppressors and not for themselves. Furthermore, creating the racial divide we experience still to this day. 

P.S. While researching the Red Shirts I found this article which connects the Red Shirts to the modern day MAGA supporters 🌚. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/6/1832592/-Red-MAGA-hats-are-actually-the-new-Red-Shirts-and-their-defenders-the-new-Confederate-revisionists

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_South_Carolina_gubernatorial_election

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hamburg-massacre-1876/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compromise_of_1877

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg,_Aiken_County,_South_Carolina

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_United_States_presidential_election