Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-07-21
Another Southern Massacre.

"SP'sPNAos 40 DO AOlAOWS.
Hamburg, S. c., q decayed town,
stranded by the war, is governed by
colored men. 1t possesses, or pos.
sessed before the massacre, a colored
militia company, regularly organized
and armed by the State, as militia
companies are organized and armed
in Illinois or any Northern State
The colored men of Hamburg are
Republicans; the white men are Dem.
ocrats. On the 4th inst, this com.
pany, while parading in one of the
public streets, was approached by
two white men, who demanded, in an
offensive manner, that the company
should break ranks aud allow them
to drive through instead of going
around them, which the captain re,
fused to do, as any white captain
would have done. The company was
thereupon summoned to appear before
a colored Trial Justice for obstruct.
ing the highway, and, pending the
trial, the counsel for the plaintiffs,
Maj.-Gen. Butler, an ex-Contederate
officer, in conjunction with the Trial
Justice and others, demanded that the
company should be disarmed. Sew.
eral interviews were held with the
captain OF the company, but, as his
men were regularly and lawfully
armed by the State, he refused to
comply. Word was then sent to
Augusta, Ga, just across the river
and to other localities, for help to en-.
force the disarming, and by nightfal]
of the sth the streets of Hamburg
were filled with white men, far out
numbering the negroes, who collected
in their armory to defend themselves,
Both white and black non-combat
ants fled from the town, which was
now IN the hands of the besiegers
and the besieged. After several at
tacks had been made upon the armory,
with some casualties on each side, the
negroes sought to make their escape,
and several succeeded. The whites
at length forced the armory and cap.
tured Twenty-Five negroes in their
hiding-places. Gen. Butler then rode
home, leaving the prisoners in the
hands of strong guard, with in.
structions to take them to the Jail in
Augusta. The guards took them out
on the high road, suddenly released
them and told them to run, and, as
they ran, commenced firing into them,
killing seven and woundlng others.
They then returned to the town and
pillaged it, not even sparing the resi-
dence Of the colored Trial Justice,
who had been their friend and tool
through the whole affair.
This cowardly, atrocious shooting
of unarmed men, after they had sur
rendered, is not an unusual occurrence
at the South. 1t is illustrative of the
manner in which a great many South
ern communities treat negroes, espec-
tally if they are Republicans, and
they are practically upheld in these
brutal outrages by Democratic lead
ers in the North. A few days since,
when two colored members of Con-
gross rose in their places and APP
pealed for protection to their race,
and demanded that they be treated
the same as white citizens, Southern
members sneered at them, and two
Northern doughfaces, Cox and Coch-
rane, rushed to the aid of the Confel-
crates. Finally overwhelmed by the
indignant appeals Of the colored mem
bers, they procured an adjournment to
prevent action upon this demand of
justice and humanity. The Chicago
Tribune well says: "Thesc men,
however, cannot adjourn the opinion
Of the people. They cannot adjourn
discussion upon it. They cannot adj
journ the feeling of horror with
which law-abiding people will regard
it. They cannot adjourn the fact that
the victims of this massacre were
Republicans murdered by Democrats,
whose real offense consists of their
politics and their black skin. And
the people, discussing and reasoning
upon this brutal massacre, will reach
this question: If these cowardly
miscreants have so much license now,
how much more license will they
have when Tildcn and Hendricks are
elected and the Democratic policy is
carried out of withdrawing the troops
from every Southern State and re-
ducing the army to minimum Of
weakness and inefficiency? If Til
den and Hendricks are elected, will
the Buffers of the South have more
or less license than they have now to
shoot and kill at their own option?