Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Georgia
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands 1865 - 1869
National Archives Microfilm Publication M798 Roll 32
Reports Relating to Murders and Outrages 1865 - 1868
List of Freedmen Murdered or Assaulted 1867

Statement showing names of Freed People who have been murdered or assaulted with intent to kill in Sumter, Schley & Webster counties from January 1st 1868 to October 31st 1868

Date: May 19. County: Sumter. Victim: SALLIE PICKETT. Injuries: shot in the face by pistol ball, not dangerous. Attacker: PETER CROGHAM (white). Remarks: bound over to Superior Court, sum of $300 gave bond. No trial yet.

Date: June 11. County: Sumter: Victim: ADELINE WALLACE. Injuries: severely beaten with club. Attacker: ANTHONY WALLACE (white). Remarks: no action by civil authorities. Attacker in Sumter County.

Date: April 26. Place: Sumter County. Victim: ALFRED JAMES. Injuries: brutally beaten and shot at. Attacker: JAMES MURRAY (white). Remarks: grand jury refused to find bill. Attacker in Sumter County.

Date: April. County: Schley. Victim: MOSES HART. Injuries: shot in face, severely wounded. Attacker: not known. Remarks: was called out of his house at night by white men. No action taken to ascertain perpetrators.

Date: August 5. County: Schley. Victim: MILES GRANT. Injuries: shot through shoulder. Attacker: JOHN T. LUMPKIN (white). Remarks: no action taken. Lumpkin is in Schley County.

Date: August 5. County: Schley. Victim: JOHN SINGLETERRY. Injuries: shot through thigh. Attacker: JOHN T. LUMPKIN (white). Remarks: no action taken. Lumpkin is in Schley County.

Date: August 25. County: Schley. Victim: EDMUND FRASER. Injury: shot in the shoulder. Attacker: JOHN T. LUMPKIN (white). Remarks: no action taken. Lumpkin in Schley County.

Date: September 19. County: Schley. Victim: MARCH THOMSON. Injury: shot through shoulder. Attacker: LEANDES SCARBOROUGH (white). Remarks: no action taken, attacker at large in Schley County.

Date: September 20. County: Schley. Victim: PETER SMITH. Injuries: beaten nearly to death. Attackers: parties unknown. Remarks: no action taken by civil authorities, came horseback with sheets over them.

Date: September 20. County: Schley. Victim: ROBT. WIGGINS. Injuries: beaten nearly to death. Attackers: parties unknown. Remarks: no action by civil authorities, came horseback with sheets over them.

Date: October 1. County: Schley. Victim: HENRY DAVIS. Injuries: shot at 5 times. Attackers: parties unknown. Remarks: no action taken by civil authorities, came & burst over in at night & shot at him & wife & drove them to the woods. Parties masked.

Date: October 18. County: Schley. Victim: CATO TOMLINSON. Injuries: most brutally beaten. Attackers: parties unknown. Remarks: no action taken. Was laid on his back and whipped through to his intestines.

Date: October. County: Schley. Victim: ROBT. STEWART. Injuries: brutally beaten. Attackers: CYRUS PEACOCK and others (white). Remarks: no action taken by civil authorities. These parties came masked and only PEACOCK was recognized.

Date: October. County: Schley. Victim: THOMAS STEWART. Injuries: brutally beaten. Attackers: same as above. Remarks: same as above.

Date: October. County: Schley. Victim: THOMAS ROBINSON. Injuries: brutally beaten. Attackers & Remarks: same as above.

Date: October. County: Schley. Victim: JONAS SWANSON. Injuries: brutally beaten. Attackers & Remarks: same as above.

Date: October 1. County: Schley: Victim: THOMAS PERKINS. Injuries: brutally beaten. Attackers: parties unknown. Remarks: no action taken by civil authorities.

Report of Freed People who have been murdered or assaulted with intent to kill in the sub district of Augusta during the year commencing January 1st and ending October 31st 1868

GREENE COUNTY

Victims: MILUS ARMUR & ALEX ROWLAND. Injuries: killed. Cause: unknown. Attackers: HENRY ARMOR, MAR REYNOLD, JEREMIAH MAPP, JOSEPH PEARCE & JOCK ASHLEY (all colored). Remarks: arrested and tried. ARMOR & REYNOLDS 10 and 15 years in penitentiary. MAPP & PEARCE 5 years. ASHLEY not guilty.

Victim: ALLEN JACKSON. Injuries: killed. No cause. Attacker: WM. M. CORRY (white). Remarks: arrested and escaped jail. At large, whereabouts unknown. The general information is that he escaped through the convenience of the jailer.

Victim: FRANK COPELAND. Injuries: flesh wound, shot in leg. Cause: none, shot in the night in the public road. Attacker: E. N. PRICE (white). Remarks: arrested and tried. Not guilty. Still in jail awaiting trial for murder of JNO. WILLIAMS (white).

Victim: JERRY TYNES. Injuries: struck in head with a gun. Injury slight. Cause: digging his own ground peas in the night. Attacker: H. C. THORNTON (white). Remarks: arrested and tried, not guilty. Tried before JNO. TUGGLE, J.P. at Union Point.

Victim: BOB JOSEPH. Injury: struck with a lick, injury severe. Cause: picking up waist corn. Attacker: F. B. WILKS (white). Remarks: no arrest. Plaintiff has not been able to pay for warrant. Civil officers refused to issue.

Victim: DELLA GRESHAM. Injury: slight. Cause: not known. Attacker: JOSEPH CARTWRIGHT (white). Remarks: no arrest. Plaintiff refused to prosecute.

Victim: ADAM HURT. Injuries: whipped severely and one rib broken. Cause: not known. Attacker: not known. Remarks: not arrested or tried. Done by a party calling themselves Ku Klux.

Victim: FELIX MCWHORTER. Injuries: shot in the foot and injured for life. Cause: not known. Attacker: not known. Arrested & Tried: no. Remarks: done by a party calling themselves Ku Klux.

Victim: HARRIETT MCWHORTER. Injuries: whipped. Cause: not known. Attacker: JOSEPH SANDERS (white). Not arrested. Remarks: plaintiff not being able to pay for warrant, civil officials refused to issue.

Victim: FANNY PEEK. Injuries: whipped severe. Cause: not known. Attacker: WM. TERRELL (white). Remarks: arrested and tried, not guilty. The case was heard before JAMES PARKER, J.P., at White Plains and dismissed upon frivolous grounds.

Victim: FANNY PEEK. Injuries: whipped severe. Cause: for going to see her children. Attacker: WM. TERRELL & other whites. Remarks: not tried and arrested. Plaintiff was beat shockingly and was afraid to prosecute, as justice was not done the first time.

Victim: EMILINE MOORE. Injuries: whipped very severe. Cause: jealousy. Attacker: SEABORN MOORE, colored. Remarks: no arrest. At large. Whereabouts not known.

Victim: TOM BROWN. Injuries: shot at. Cause: none. Attacker: B. W. ALLEN, M.D. (white). Remarks: tried before agent BRF & AL. Compromised by parties upon defendant paying plaintiff $25.00 and cost of warrant.

Victim: CARRIE JACKSON Injuries: cut with knife. Cause: self defense, not provoked. Attacker: JOHN C. WOOD, JR. (white). Remarks: tried before Agent BRF & AL, compromised by parties upon defendant paying plaintiff $15.00 and cost of warrant.

JEFFERSON COUNTY

Victim: JACOB THOMAS. Injuries: cut with a knife. Cause: homicide. Attacker: DANIEL CLEMENS (col'd). Remarks: arrested and tried. 6 months in jail, tried by county court. In confinement in the Louisville, Jefferson County Jail.

BURKE COUNTY

Victim: FREDERICK MITCHELL. Injuries: killed, shot in the hand with a pistol ball. Cause: homicide. Attacker: M. ABRAM (white). Remarks: no arrest. Bound over to appear before the superior court. Bond $5,000. Attacker resides one mile from McBeans station Ag & J RR, Burke County, at large.

Victim: PETER BREWER. Injuries: shot in the arm. Cause: assault with intent to kill. Attacker: JAMES ROSS & MARK TAVER (white). Remarks: no arrest. Bound over to appear before superior court, bond $1,000 each. Attackers reside in Millen, Burke County, Georgia, at large.

Victim: CATO PLONGING & OSTON JOHNSON. Injuries: killed shot dead. Cause: homicide. Attacker: E. SAPP (white). Remarks: no arrest. Bound over to appear before the superior court under bond of $3,000. SAPP lives near no. 1 station Ag & J RR, at large.

Victim: ALFRED ELLICKS. Injuries: stabbed with a knife in back. Cause: assaulted with intent to kill. Attacker: JABE NOBLE (white). Remarks: no arrest. Bound over to appear before Superior Court, bond $1,000. A NOBLE plantation 20 miles from Waynesboro near Burton's landing on Savannah River, at large.

Victim: CHARLOTTE BROWN. Injuries: killed. Cause: unknown. Attacker: unknown. Remarks: no action taken. Attacker is probably near the plantation of JOHN ROLLINS, May 20, 1868.

COLUMBIA COUNTY

Victim: ____ BUTLER. Injuries: killed. Cause: violations of white woman. Attacker: not known. Remarks: BUTLER was taken out of jail at Appling on the night of July 25, 1868 by a mob and hung. He was in jail awaiting trial.

Victim: GEORGE TYLER. Injuries: shot in the leg. Cause: difficulty with employer. Attacker: JAMES JENKINS (white). Remarks: arrested, bound over to superior court, Columbia County, bond $5,000. This occurred in or about February 12, 1868. JENKINS was arrested by the Commissioner of the U.S. Court and held in custody at August to await trial by a military commission by virtue of an order carried from General SIBLEY Commanding Sub District of Georgia, was returned upon giving bail to appear before the Superior Court in Columbia County and JENKINS is still at large in Columbia County.

Victim: REDDICK DARDEN. Injuries: killed with a club. Cause: an altercation about the possession of a cow. Attacker: WILLIAM DENNIS (white). Remarks: no arrest. This occurred near Thomson on May 16, 1868. The civil authorities (illegible) themselves to make an arrest in the (blank) but DENNIS immediately escaped and his present whereabouts are unknown.

Victim: ____ DARDEN. Injuries: at the same time and place the brother of REDDICK DARDEN was struck in the hand with a wagon spoke by the same WILLIAM DENNIS and no arrest made for the same reason.

Victim: RICHARD THOMAS. Injuries: lost his forearm and stabbed in the head and body. Cause: there appears to be no cause for this assault. Except a slight quarrel between a couple of freedwomen. Attacker: TURNER TOMPKINS & MAT HUNTER (white). Remarks: THOMAS was set upon in the afternoon of Friday June 26, 1868, and shot in the arm with a shot gun and stabbed with a knife in three or four places and was brought to August. His arm was amputated in the Freedman's hospital. Fear and a belief that it is useless making a complaint before the civil authorities of Columbia County are the reasons why no arrest has been made.

LINCOLN COUNTY

Victims and Injuries: WILLIAM CUSTIS (killed), HUMPHREY CUSTIS (wounded), and ABRAHAM BRIGSBY (killed). Attacked with pistols. Cause: political. Attackers: JIM BUSSY, JIM BIVENS, HENRY FREEMAN, ALLISON TOARETT & other whites. Remarks: no arrests. This occurred at or near Jenkins Mill about 8 miles from Lincolnton on Friday night (midnight) October 3, 1868. The offenders came disguised to the house of HUMPHREY CUSTIS, which they forcibly searched saying they were looking for his pistol. They took him and the other two freedmen named to a mill pond nearby, whereafter a short parley they dunked them and otherwise threatened them. They then made the freedmen get down under the water and fired upon them killing two (2) and wounded the third. The wounded man was brought to the freedman's hospital at August on Saturday night October 30, 1868 from whom this statement is obtained. The wounded man further states that he thinks that he knows of no cause for this outrage except the political opinion of the parties killed and injured.

RICHMOND COUNTY

Victim: LYMAN SCOTT. Injuries: killed gunshot. Cause: Bar room quarrel. Attacker: MICHAEL SULLIVAN (white). Remarks: arrested. Bound over to appear before the superior court. Appeared in June term, when the case was continued. This occurred on the night of February 4, 1868 at Augusta.

WARREN COUNTY

Victim: REUBEN NEIL. Injuries: shot twice. Cause: testified in parties trial. Attacker: (white). Remarks: no arrest. Attacker living at Warrenton.

Victim: SAMUEL WILSON. Injuries: killed. Hung. Cause: killed a white man. Attacker: (white & colored). Remarks: no arrest. Attackers near Thomson.

Victim: ISAAC GREER & wife. Injuries: whipped. Cause: political. Attacker: (white). Remarks: no arrest. Attackers at Wellborn's plantation near Thomson.

Victims: Two Freedmen. Injuries: whipped. Cause: political. Attacker: (white). Remarks: attackers near Camak, October 19, 1868.

Victim: WILLIAM COW. Injuries: whipped. Cause: political. Attacker: (white). Remarks: no arrest. Near Camak.

Victim: PERRY JEFFREY. Injuries: killed. Shot at 11 times. Cause: political. Attacker: CLEM GUN and five other whites. Remarks: no arrests. This party being near Camak. PERRY is a good old freedman, has made a fine crop, is always at work, he is now so tired & shaken that he leaves for August with his family, it has been reported that PERRY shot one of the assaulting party who since died. PERRY has made the sheriff of Warren County his agent to look after his crop which must clear him near $1,000. There has been mounted men in town for the last two nights believed looking for PERRY it is no doubt their attention to get him out of the way. He lives near JOE BINKLEY's plantation. The assault was on the night of November 1, 1868. Said PERRY was taken off the car while on the way to August at Derring Station with his four (4) sons marched into the woods and killed, with the exception of PERRY JEFFREY, JUNR., who made his escape. This occurred November 9, 1868.

Victim: WILLIAM JEFFREY. Injuries: killed, body burned, son of PERRY (above). No arrests. Remarks: WILLIAM is the son of PERRY JEFFREY, who was assaulted on the night of November 1, 1868. PERRY was notified that the same men were going to kill him, for being a radical. PERRY stayed in the woods at night. About 100 men visited his home November 5, 1868 but PERRY being absent they killed WILLIAM a poor sick boy confined to his bed and burnt his body with the furniture and clothing found in the house.

Victims: ____ JEFFREY, ____ JEFFREY, & ____ JEFFREY. Injuries: killed. Cause: political. Attacker: (white). Remarks: no arrests. Taken off the cars with their father PERRY JEFFREY, marched into the woods and killed at Derring Station. This occurred November 9, 1868.

Victim: JOE CODY. Injuries: whipped. Cause: political. Attacker: LEWIS JOHNSON, DAWSON JOHNSON, supposed SEABORN ADAMS & JOHN TODD (all white). Remarks: no arrest. JOE is a good old man living at widow SEABORN JOHNSON's. He would not vote the Democratic ticket, he was taken out and whipped in a most shameful manner, his hair pulled out of his head.

Victim: COLQUIT EBLENS. Injuries: shot in the leg. Cause: political. Attacker: SAM HALL, WM. HALL, GEORGE HALL & LUCIEN FOWLER (all white). Remarks: this party also lives near Camak. COLQUITT lives on THOMAS BROWN's plantation. Says there were twenty-six of this party. He got away from them and while running was shot in the leg, was in town of Warrenton to have the ball abstracted, this assault was on the night of November 1, 1868.

"The following are left for agent ANTHONY's correction"

Victim: WARREN BARLEIGH & WASHINGTON BARLEIGH. Injury: beaten. Cause: political. Attackers: (white). Remarks: no arrest. Resides near Mrs. HARDAWAY's plantation.

Victim: BILL HARGHT(?). Injury: shot. Cause: political. Attackers: (white). Remarks: no arrest. TEAL's settlement . . . he shot one of his assailants.

Victim: BILL HABERT. Injury: struck on the face. Cause: (blank). Attackers: JACK HABERT. Remarks: no arrest. Struck with pistol.

Victim: MONROE HOLLIMAN. Injury: beaten. Cause: political. Attackers: (white). Remarks: no arrest. Attacker supposed to be in town of Whitesville.

Victim: LACEY WARD. Injury: assaulted. Cause: political. Attackers: WILLIAM SHERLEY (white). Remarks: no arrest. Near Johnson's church.

Victim: VINCENT HUNTER. Injury: killed, shot. Cause: (blank). Attackers: (blank). Remarks: no arrest. Resides near COLIN BELL's plantation.

Victim: woman. Injury: whipped. Attackers: J.N. BARKSDALE (white). Remarks: no arrest. Resides near BARKSDALE's plantation.

Victim: JIM (an old man). Injury: killed. Attackers: TAPPERED (white). Remarks: no arrest. Resides near MC RAY's.