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Scenes
In Memphis |
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During the riot -
Burning a Freedmen's School-House
During the riot - shooting down negroes on the morning of May 2, 1866 |
| THE MEMPHIS
RIOTS |
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There was in Memphis, on the
first two days of May, an excitement
unequaled since the close of the
war. The origin of the disturbance
between the whites and negroes of
that city was highly discreditable to
the colored soldiers, and the riotous
proceedings which followed were a
disgrace to civilization. For the riot
the lower class of white citizens were
as responsible as were the soldiers
of the Third United States Colored
Infantry for the original difficulty. This regiment, whose reputation has
been a bad one, had been mustered
out, since which they had frequented whisky-shops in the southern
part of the city, and had been guilty
of excesses and disorderly conduct. On the evening of May 1 some
drunken members of the regiment were on
South Street, talking noisily, when
in an insolent manner they were ordered by two policemen to cease
their noise and disperse. Words ensued, followed by blows, throwing
of missiles, and firing of revolvers.
To understand what followed it
must be remembered that the police
force of Memphis is composed mostly
of Irishmen, whose violent prejudice
against negroes was so shamefully
displayed in the New York riots of
1863. The Times correspondent thus
described the riot:
Word was sent to police head-quarters,
and the whole force at once proceeded to
the scene of the fray, being joined on the
way thither by armed and excited citizens. Meanwhile the firing had brought
other negroes to the spot, some armed
with clubs and some with revolvers, so
that by the time the police force came up
the two parties were about equal in
number. The negroes held the original
position, and, upon the approach of the
police, showing no determination to abandon it, were fired upon by the police and
citizens who accompanied them. This
fire was returned, and for a while both
parties busied themselves in discharging
their revolvers as rapidly as possible. Meanwhile word was sent to General
Stoneman, who promptly dispatched to
the scene of action a company of Regulars (white), when the negroes were
quickly dispersed and driven in every direction.
During the evening the wildest and
most exaggerated reports soon spread
throughout the city. Every communicator of the intelligence of the fight told
a different story, and the highest excitement prevailed. Each rumor placed a
worse aspect upon the affair than the
preceding one, and only served to develop
the pent-up prejudices against the negro. Soon after dark this excitement and prejudice found vent. Large numbers of
armed citizens repaired to the scene of
the fight and commenced firing upon every negro who made himself visible. One
negro upon South Street, a quiet, inoffensive laborer, was shot down almost
in front of his own cabin, and after life
was extinct his body was fired into, cut
and beat in a most horrible manner. In
all parts of the city, wherever they could
be seen, negroes were fired upon by policemen as well as citizens. They were
shot while driving hacks, and quietly
walking in the streets about their business. The police seemed to make it their
special business to shoot every negro they
could see, no matter where he was or
what he was doing. The result was that
by 9 o'clock the colored population were
in-doors trembling with wild alarm. How
many negroes were killed during the
night it is impossible to ascertain, as firing was constantly heard during the
earlier hours in all parts of the city. It is
estimated that from 15 to 20 were killed. So far as I have been able to learn, not
a white man was fired upon by a negro
during the whole night.
After the fight of Tuesday evening the
negro soldiers and most of the colored
population residing in the vicinity of the
fight fled to the fort for security. They
were perfectly quiet -- in fact, were terribly frightened for their own safety. At an
early hour yesterday morning every thing
in the neighborhood of the late fight was quiet and peaceable. Few, indeed, were the negroes to be seen in the
vicinity. The bodies of most of those killed the evening
before lay unburied where they fell, in some cases horribly
mutilated and disfigured. Before the hour of 9 citizens
armed with revolvers, shot-guns, and muskets, with a
squad of policemen, repaired to the locality. As soon as
they reached the place they commenced firing upon every
negro in sight. It was said that the negroes had shot two
white men who were quietly passing along in that vicinity
in the morning; but this was, doubtless, one of those wild
and unfounded rumors called out by the unnecessary excitement of the previous evening, and the unjust prejudice
of the unrepentant rebels against the freedmen, as no such
bodies were found, nor could the rumor be traced to any
reliable source. Immediately upon the commencement of
firing by the citizens, the report spread rapidly through
the city that the fight had been renewed, and a large posse
of citizens were called out by the Sheriff, armed at a large
gun-store, and ordered to the field of battle. By 11 o'clock
a large force had collected in the vicinity, who dealt out
destruction to every colored man within reach. Several
negro women and children were shot, in several instances
from eight to ten bullets hitting them. So far as I could
see, there were no armed negroes in the neighborhood, and
I have the testimony of many respectable and reliable
gentlemen to the same effect. The negro soldiers, and
many not soldiers, stood trembling in the fort, filled with
the direst apprehensions, and beyond even musket-range
of those who were engaged in shooting down innocent and
helpless men, women, and children. The arrival of a
company of regulars upon the ground restored order, and
the citizens and police gradually retired. How many negroes were killed in this vicinity during the morning is
not known. The number, however, was considerable. During the entire day they were shot down in various
parts of the city. But one white man was killed in the
entire day, and he was shot by another white man for the
simple reason that he stood talking with an old negro acquaintance. Such familiarity could not be tolerated. And
I have, after careful inquiry, failed to find a single instance where a white man was shot at during the day by
a negro.
Soon after dark the red glare of fire shot up in the southern part of the city, then the flames burst out in the
eastern part, and then they rolled up in the northern portion
of the city. Some thirty houses, occupied by negroes,
every school-house for colored children, and every place
of worship for the freedmen were given to the devouring
element. Lincoln Chapel, costing $12,000, only served to
whet the appetite of the greedy destroyer, for soon the oldest place of worship in the city -- a large brick church on
the corner of Main and Overton streets, lately occupied by
the freedmen, rolled away into a heap of blackened and
charred ruins. And while the fire rolled onward and upward the masses smiled and approved. At this writing
no estimate of the damage caused by the fire can be made,
so great is the confusion and excitement.
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| Note: |
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Historians tell of a somewhat different origin
to the Memphis riot than the one stated in Harper’s
Weekly. During the Civil War, the black
population in Memphis had quadrupled, and racial
tensions were high. The riot was sparked on May 1,
1866, when the hacks of a black man and a white
man collided. As a group of black veterans tried
to intervene to stop the arrest of the black man,
a crowd of whites gathered at the scene. Fighting
broke out, then escalated into three days of
racially-motivated violence, primarily pitting the
police (mainly Irish-Americans) against black
residents.
In the end, 46 blacks and two whites were
killed, five black women were raped, and hundreds
of black homes, schools, and churches were broken
into or destroyed by arson. Along with the New
Orleans riot three months later, the Memphis riot
helped undermine the viability and support of
President Andrew Johnson’s lenient
Reconstruction program.
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