- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Location
- East Texas
Part I - George W. Smith, Victim of Mob Violence
George Webster Smith was the victim of one of Reconstruction Texas' most notable crimes, one which pitted Federal authorities against white members of the community of Jefferson, Texas. During the war Smith had been an officer in the 123rd New York, a regiment raised by his uncle. As can be seen in Smith's photograph on a CDV above showing him as a captain, his unit was a member of the 12th/20th Corps whose star insignia pinned to his left breast is obvious. The unit and its parent corps served at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg before transferring west where renumbered it formed part of Sherman's army in the Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea, and campaigns in the Carolinas to the end of the war. Note the length of crepe attached to his left sleeve, likely in mourning for the death of Abraham Lincoln and indicating this was made at the end of the war in 1865.
Smith came to Jefferson, Texas, following the war where he engaged in local politics, both as a member of the 1867 - 68 Texas Constitutional Convention and more ominously as head of the Union Loyal League and member of the Republican Voter Registration Board which was active both in the registration of newly-enfranchised black voters and the subsequent disenfranchisement of white former Confederates, earning him the enmity of most white locals, as described on the historical marker above near the site of his death. To many, Smith epitomized the prejudicial term carpetbagger.
This was the site of The Calaboose, Jefferson's new city jail; the house above on the corner of Lafayette and Marshall Streets is a relatively new one. In 1868, this entire block was given to storehouses, a stable and its yards, and the jail which was surrounded by a plank fence. Smith was here on the fatal night of Oct. 4 because of an event the previous night which happened only across Marshall Street below. This area was the site of a grocery store owned by Lewis Grant, one of Smith's black friends and associates in the Board and was where the altercation referred to in the marker had occurred in which Smith had defended himself, shooting and wounding two of his assailants. For his own protection he was placed under guard in the Calaboose along with four of the blacks who also felt threatened.
The Union Missionary Baptist Church of the 1860's which stood at the southwest edge of town on the site now occupied by its 1880's replacement was the scene of much activity by Smith and the Loyal League and Voter Registration Board. It was therefore a target for white resentment and recrimination which likely resulted eventually in its burning as detailed on the historical marker below.
Federal occupation troops under Major James Curtis were sent to Jefferson to protect the work of the Freedman's Bureau, establishing at least two camps, one for infantry and another for cavalry. One of these camps may have been in the vicinity of the church, but Curtis' headquarters was located in town where the gazebo and U. S. flag now stand. In the photo below, note the landmark Excelsior House Hotel at right and at left at the intersection the Jefferson House Hotel. This was only two blocks from the location of the Calaboose.
A mob began to gather in the Lady Gay Saloon which stood in the now-vacant lot below fronting Dallas Street. Around 9 pm it began to move up Market Street towards the Calaboose, gathering members and momentum; by the time it arrived it numbered at least seventy but perhaps over a hundred men. According to conflicting testimony most members of the mob were disguised by masks or blackened faces. Improbably, the large group surprised and overcame the pairs of sentinels stationed at street corners and approached the Calaboose undetected until they broke in the fence and entered the compound where they quickly subdued the remaining guards who were under the leadership of town Mayor William N. "Uncle Billy" Hodge.
Smith was being guarded by a combination of locals and soldiers from the garrison, altogether numbering one or two dozen. Unable to dislodge Smith from his cell, he was shot several times through the open windows and door by the light of a torch that was thrust through one of the windows. Three of the four four black men were seized and taken into the woods toward Sulphur Spring, where two of them, Lewis Grant and Richard Stewart, were killed, and the other, Anderson Wright, escaped. The fourth, Cornelius Turner, had escaped earlier in the initial confusion.
George Webster Smith was the victim of one of Reconstruction Texas' most notable crimes, one which pitted Federal authorities against white members of the community of Jefferson, Texas. During the war Smith had been an officer in the 123rd New York, a regiment raised by his uncle. As can be seen in Smith's photograph on a CDV above showing him as a captain, his unit was a member of the 12th/20th Corps whose star insignia pinned to his left breast is obvious. The unit and its parent corps served at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg before transferring west where renumbered it formed part of Sherman's army in the Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea, and campaigns in the Carolinas to the end of the war. Note the length of crepe attached to his left sleeve, likely in mourning for the death of Abraham Lincoln and indicating this was made at the end of the war in 1865.
Smith came to Jefferson, Texas, following the war where he engaged in local politics, both as a member of the 1867 - 68 Texas Constitutional Convention and more ominously as head of the Union Loyal League and member of the Republican Voter Registration Board which was active both in the registration of newly-enfranchised black voters and the subsequent disenfranchisement of white former Confederates, earning him the enmity of most white locals, as described on the historical marker above near the site of his death. To many, Smith epitomized the prejudicial term carpetbagger.
This was the site of The Calaboose, Jefferson's new city jail; the house above on the corner of Lafayette and Marshall Streets is a relatively new one. In 1868, this entire block was given to storehouses, a stable and its yards, and the jail which was surrounded by a plank fence. Smith was here on the fatal night of Oct. 4 because of an event the previous night which happened only across Marshall Street below. This area was the site of a grocery store owned by Lewis Grant, one of Smith's black friends and associates in the Board and was where the altercation referred to in the marker had occurred in which Smith had defended himself, shooting and wounding two of his assailants. For his own protection he was placed under guard in the Calaboose along with four of the blacks who also felt threatened.
The Union Missionary Baptist Church of the 1860's which stood at the southwest edge of town on the site now occupied by its 1880's replacement was the scene of much activity by Smith and the Loyal League and Voter Registration Board. It was therefore a target for white resentment and recrimination which likely resulted eventually in its burning as detailed on the historical marker below.
Federal occupation troops under Major James Curtis were sent to Jefferson to protect the work of the Freedman's Bureau, establishing at least two camps, one for infantry and another for cavalry. One of these camps may have been in the vicinity of the church, but Curtis' headquarters was located in town where the gazebo and U. S. flag now stand. In the photo below, note the landmark Excelsior House Hotel at right and at left at the intersection the Jefferson House Hotel. This was only two blocks from the location of the Calaboose.
A mob began to gather in the Lady Gay Saloon which stood in the now-vacant lot below fronting Dallas Street. Around 9 pm it began to move up Market Street towards the Calaboose, gathering members and momentum; by the time it arrived it numbered at least seventy but perhaps over a hundred men. According to conflicting testimony most members of the mob were disguised by masks or blackened faces. Improbably, the large group surprised and overcame the pairs of sentinels stationed at street corners and approached the Calaboose undetected until they broke in the fence and entered the compound where they quickly subdued the remaining guards who were under the leadership of town Mayor William N. "Uncle Billy" Hodge.
Smith was being guarded by a combination of locals and soldiers from the garrison, altogether numbering one or two dozen. Unable to dislodge Smith from his cell, he was shot several times through the open windows and door by the light of a torch that was thrust through one of the windows. Three of the four four black men were seized and taken into the woods toward Sulphur Spring, where two of them, Lewis Grant and Richard Stewart, were killed, and the other, Anderson Wright, escaped. The fourth, Cornelius Turner, had escaped earlier in the initial confusion.
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