Battle of Hayes Pond

Battle of Hayes Pond
Date	January 18, 1958
Location	Near Maxton, North Carolina
Caused by	Ku Klux Klan violence against the Lumbee tribe, culminating in cross burnings and racist threats against the Lumbee community.
Resulted in	Ku Klux Klan meeting disrupted; Ku Klux Klan ceases activity in area.
Parties to the civil conflict
Ku Klux Klan	Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina; Anti-Ku Klux Klan locals
Lead figures
James W. Cole	Sanford Locklear; Simeon Oxendine; Neill Lowery
Number
50–100 Klansmen	500 Lumbee
Casualties
Injuries	4 Klansmen injured in exchange of gunfire; several Lumbee disoriented and/or injured by tear-gas grenades, none seriously.
Arrested	1 Klansman arrested by police.

The Battle of Hayes Pond was an armed confrontation between members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Lumbee Native Americans at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, on the night of January 18, 1958. Grand Dragon James W. "Catfish" Cole was the organizer of the Klan rally. Sanford Locklear, Simeon Oxendine and Neill Lowery were leaders of the Lumbee who attacked the Klansmen and successfully disrupted the rally.

Events leading up to the confrontation

In reaction to the US Supreme Court ruling in 1954 calling for public school desegregation, the revived Ku Klux Klan (KKK) undertook a campaign of terrorist actions throughout the American South designed to intimidate black people and discourage them from demanding greater civil rights.^[1] Cole led the South Carolina-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Cole targets the Lumbee

In 1956, the Native American inhabitants of Robeson County, North Carolina succeeded in achieving limited federal recognition as the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. The Lumbee campaign for federal recognition attracted the attention and outrage of James Cole, who considered the Lumbee a "mongrel" race of largely African origin. Cole worried that the Lumbee, if successful in portraying themselves as Indians, would next attempt to "pass" as white, further blurring racial lines in the segregated South.

In 1957, Cole began a campaign of harassment designed to intimidate the Lumbee.^[2] He hoped to use his campaign against the Lumbee to build up the Klan organization in North Carolina.^[1] He believed that the Lumbee—marginalized even within the Native community—would easily be frightened. Declaring war, Cole told newspapers: "There's about 30,000 half-breeds up in Robeson County and we are going to have some cross burnings and scare them up".

Klan violence escalates

On January 13, 1958, Klansmen burned a cross on the lawn of a Lumbee woman in the town of St. Pauls, North Carolina as "a warning" because she was dating a white man. Emboldened, he gave a speech denouncing the "loose morals" of Lumbee women and warned that "venereal disease" could be spread to the white population by their noted promiscuity. The Klan then struck at Lumbee men, burning a cross at a tavern frequented by the Lumbee. Cole denounced the Lumbee men as "lazy, drunken and prone to criminal activity." After the tavern, the Klan burned a cross on the lawn of a Lumbee family who had moved into a white neighborhood as a final warning for the Lumbee to remain in "their" areas.

Believing that he had the Lumbee on the run, Cole announced plans for a Klan rally on January 18, 1958, near the small town of Maxton, intended "to put the Indians in their place, to end race mixing".^[3] His speeches, in which he called the Lumbee "half niggers" and denounced "mongrelization" of the races, provoked anger among the Lumbee.

Battle

On the night of the rally, 50–100 Klansmen arrived at the private field near Hayes Pond which Cole had leased from a sympathetic farmer. Cole set up the public address system and erected the cross, all under the illumination of a single light bulb. Before Cole could finish the arrangements, over 500 Lumbee men, many armed with rocks, sticks and firearms, appeared and encircled the assembled Klansmen.^[2] The Lumbee shot out the one light, darkening the field and panicking the Klansmen. The Lumbee then began yelling and attacked the group, firing shots at the Klansmen, several of whom briefly returned fire to no avail. Four Klansmen were wounded in the exchange of gunfire. The remaining Klansmen fled the scene, leaving family members, the public address system, unlit cross and various Klan regalia behind. Cole reportedly left his wife behind and escaped through a nearby swamp.

Afterward, the Lumbee celebrated by holding up the abandoned KKK banner; Charlie Warriax and World War II veteran Simeon Oxendine were shown wrapped in it in Life magazine photos.^[4] Oxendine, Neill Lowery and Sanford Locklear were acknowledged by the Lumbee as leaders of the attack, which they called "the Klas." Many local, state and national newspapers covered the event and captured photos of Lumbee burning the regalia and dancing around an open fire. A group of Robeson County deputies led by the sheriff arrived on the scene, dispersing the Lumbee with tear-gas grenades and terminating the celebration.

Aftermath

In the days after the confrontation, a defiant Cole called the Lumbee "lawless mongrels" and denounced local law enforcement for failing to intervene earlier in the confrontation.^[5] Public opinion, however, turned against Cole. North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges denounced the Klan in a press statement, and Cole was later convicted for inciting a riot and given a two-year sentence.^[2] With Cole imprisoned, the Klan ceased activities in Robeson County. Cole's wife, Carol Cole, in an April 3, 1959 letter raising funds for her husband's appeal, described the battle: "A group of kinky haired so-called Indians invaded on leased land, shot up the segregation meeting with shotguns, rifles and pistols and stole my husband's speaking equipment."^[6]

The Lumbee celebrate the anniversary of the disrupted Klan rally, which they call the "Battle of Hayes Pond," as a holiday.

References

1 2 Chick Jacobs and Venita Jenkins, "The Night the Klan Met Its Match", Fayetteville Observer, January 18, 2008, reprinted on Action Center for Justice, accessed September 29, 2010.
1 2 3 Jefferson Currie II, "The Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina and the Battle of Maxton Field" Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., Tar Heel Junior Historian 44:1 (Fall 2004), North Carolina Museum of History, accessed September 29, 2010.
↑ Nicholas Graham, "January 1958: The Lumbees face the Klan", This Month in North Carolina History, January 2005, accessed September 29, 2010.
↑ "Bad Medicine for the Klan", Life, January 27, 1958, accessed September 29, 2010.
↑ Cole Says His Rights Violated", Greensboro Daily News, 20 Jan. 1958: A1.
↑ http://catfishcole.weebly.com/1/previous/3.html%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D

External links

"The bedsheet brigade", Archives, University of Utah
Guide to the James William Cole Papers, 1863, 1946–1967 (Manuscript Collection #40)
Jacobs, Chick; Venita Jenkins (January 18, 2008). "Showdown at Hayes Pond: The Night The Klan Met Its Match". Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-14.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Jacobs-1] 1 2 Chick Jacobs and Venita Jenkins, "The Night the Klan Met Its Match", Fayetteville Observer, January 18, 2008, reprinted on Action Center for Justice, accessed September 29, 2010.

[Currie-2] 1 2 3 Jefferson Currie II, "The Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina and the Battle of Maxton Field" Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., Tar Heel Junior Historian 44:1 (Fall 2004), North Carolina Museum of History, accessed September 29, 2010.

[Graham-3] Nicholas Graham, "January 1958: The Lumbees face the Klan", This Month in North Carolina History, January 2005, accessed September 29, 2010.

[4] "Bad Medicine for the Klan", Life, January 27, 1958, accessed September 29, 2010.

[5] Cole Says His Rights Violated", Greensboro Daily News, 20 Jan. 1958: A1.

[6] ttp://catfishcole.weebly.com/1/previous/3.html%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D