The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-07-21
From the Cincinnati Gazette
OPENING OF THE CENTENNIAL YEAR
N CF0RErt


negroes and one white man We're killed
and four negroes and one white man
wounded. III pitched battle, the
cause of which was the refusal OF ne
gro militia company, who were engag-
ed in drilling for the Fourth of July,
To turn of a public highway, and al
low buggy containg two white men
70 pass. The Captain of the company
was arrested. hut detied the authority
of the coi"rcd Police Justice who was
trying him. aI:u. ia lear of the two
hundred or NOR white men who were
moving upon the town from Edgefield
and Aiken counties, took refuge with
about twenty five of his followers, in
the cOmpauy's drill room, which was
in a two-story brick building. One of
the numerous Generals at large in the
South-his name is Butler this time
took command of an irregular body of
whites, and sent word TO the colored
militia Captain that he would give him
half an hour to surrender his arms.
No answer was returned TO this unwar
ranted demand, and the whites opened
fire upon the besieged. At the end of
half an hour the attacking party, thor
oughly enraged at the death of one of
their leaders, sent to Augusta for an
old six FOUNDER cannon, which they
placed within fifty yards of the house,
and fired four rounds of cannister.
driving the negroes from their strong
hold, and Ell lin g all appearance of
fight. Two negroes were killed in at
tempting to escape, and the rest of them
were surrounded and captured. The
prisoners were all made TO lie down on
the ground. In a few moments four
of them We're called out singly and shot
TO death Oh the abutment of the bridge
and in full view of large number of
spectators. One of the captured col
ored men, seeing the horrible fate of
his friends, rose 10 escape, aud succeed
ed in getting away with bullet in his
legs.
Several negroes Were rescued by gem
tlemen who knew them, but one of the
proteges was shot in the back and has
since died. The bodies of the massa-
cred cOlored men We're left lying where
they fell, and the ground about them
was marked with blood. Two or three
of the bo d les We're mutilated with
hatchets or bayonets, and the cruel,
hardhearted whites left lying out un-
attended on the ground ali night
wounded negro, who died next morn
ing from loss of blood.
The negroes of Hamburg were pan
ic stricken and first fled to Augusta,
but returned-one place was as bad as
the other. y number of their houses
were broken into and robbed and the
furniture destroyed All the killed,
with one exception, leave wives and
children, and the grief and distress of
these widows and orphans are said to
be heartrendin2. y correspondent of
the NetOS and Courier, Il Democratic
paper published in Charleston, South
Carolina, thus describes the murder of
the prisoners:
Then some, who appeared 70 be
leaders of the captors, moved off II
little space and consulted together
After long while-it was now after 2
O'Clock Sunday mornings voice from
this group called out, Bring Attaway
here; tell him we want TO see him
Attaway, who il will be remembered,
was a member of Legislature, Coun-
" Commissioner. and II Lieutenant in
III Adams company, rose and went
forward under guard. After going
about thirty yards over the knoll, and
when within about the same distance
from the bridge, he was ordered TO
turn his back, instead of which he fell
to pleading for mercy, saying he had
never done anything wrong, and would
promise to remove to Georgia and re
main there. He addressed his captors
as masters, and begged hard for his
life. 4 volIey of five or six shots was
his only reply, and he fell a corpse in
the road. Dan Phillips was next called
and disposed of III the same way, and
Albert Minion, II voiley being fired
into each. Mnion received two balls,
one striking his head aud rendering
him insensible. He was left for dead,
but lived until the next morning, when
he d i e d from the effects of loss of
blood from wound in the thigh
Hamp Stevens was then called and
told 10 run. He leaped over a low
fence at the roadside (as Philips had
done before him), and was shot before
he had gone five PAGES. Stevens and
Philips fell only a few yards from each
other, and Pomp Curry was next call
ed. In his own words; Il knew what
was comm and | riz' runnin', and
dashed off through the high weeds tat
right angles with the course the Others
had taken). They shot at me, and
one ball hit HE on the knee, and fell.
They thought | was killed, but | crawl
ed off a. fast as | could through rhe
weeds, and got into the woods near
bv." These, the ringleaders, having |
been thus disposed of, the Others were
next told TO run for their lives, which |
they did. when few shots were fired |
after them, which slightly wounded |
one or two more. John Thomas, an |
other of the party, was next discovered |
in the custody of man who was tax
ing him towards the entrance to the |
bridge. Some one stepped up behind |
him and fired pistol load into his
back. the ball penetrating his liver and |
bowels, and inficting n wound of which
he died in Augusta during the next
morning,
The same newspaper, commenting
on the Hamburg massacre, takes a
stand which will find for it many liza
tiers among the Georgia brigadiers and
South Carolina chivalry. 1t says:
eve take no pleasure in condemning
what was done at Hamburg. We wish
that it were such an act as we could
justify aud defend.
But, in our Judgment, the whole affair
from beginning to end, was shamefully
wrong, and We owe it to the state to
say so. We shall he told, no doubt,
that il does not become Democratic
i'll South Carolina to give
aid and comfort TO the Radicals by
as criminal, any act of
a BODY of white South Caroliuians.
Our answer 10 that L., that there il
only one right and and one wrong, for
Democrat and Republican. What is
wrong We must condemn. We will
not consent to cover up the wrong, be
cause it is committed by our political
or personal friends. Too
much injury has been done theSouth by
such a course. By remaining silent,
this State has been made responsible, TO
her greivous injuries, for the lInpru-
dent utterances and lawless acts OF a
handful of needless or headstrong men.
For such citizens as we represent, for
those who abhor violence. except in
self defense, for those who look to sup
erior intelligence andvirtue rather than
to rifle and sabre. as the means of re-
storing to the whites the control of
the State. we shall. come what may,
give our candid Judgment upon every
public act, whether it be done by Dem
ocrats or Republicans. Indeed, we