Alexander Boyd (September 8, 1834 – March 31, 1870) was notable as the Republican County Solicitor and Register in Chancery of

Greene County, Alabama Greene County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,730, the least populous county in Alabama. Its county seat is Eutaw. It was named in honor of Revolutionar ...

in 1870 during Reconstruction who was murdered by a lynching party of

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

members. He was fatally shot on March 31, 1870 in Eutaw, the county seat. The Klan members apparently intended to hang him in the square in a public

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

, to demonstrate their power during this period and their threat to Republicans. Boyd fiercely resisted their taking him from his hotel room. In the armed confrontation, he was shot and killed there. As was typical of most Klan attacks, his murderers were never brought to justice. That same night, prominent black Republican James Martin was shot and killed at his home in

Union, Alabama Union is a town in rural Greene County, Alabama, Greene County, Alabama, United States. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 180. According to the 1980 U.S. Census, it was incorporated in the 1970s. Geography Union i ...

, also in Greene County.

Early life

Boyd was born in South Carolina, and later lived in Alabama. He was among thousands of Klan victims who were killed or wounded in Alabama and other Southern states during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

. The Klan's primary targets were

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

and free blacks from the North, but they also attacked and intimidated white Republican officeholders, teachers, and other freedman sympathizers. Similarly, the Greene County Courthouse was burned in 1868, and some suspect it was arson to destroy such records of suits by freedmen against planters.

Death

On the night of Boyd's murder, thirty masked, armed, and costumed Klansmen were observed riding into the town square of Eutaw, the county seat of Greene County. A number of the men entered George Cleveland's hotel and demanded to be shown to Boyd's room. Boyd put up unexpected resistance and a gunfight broke out. He was wounded and left the room, and was fatally shot in the hallway. It is believed that he was attacked to prevent prosecution of suits by freedmen against planters. That same night, James Martin, a black Republican prominent in the county, was shot by gunmen near his home in

, who took him away rather than let him be treated; he was never seen again.

Aftermath

In the fall of 1870 before elections, two black politicians were killed in Greene County. An estimated four blacks were killed by whites in the

Eutaw riot The Eutaw riot was an episode of white racial violence in Eutaw, Alabama, the county seat of Greene County, on October 25, 1870,Shapiro 12. during the Reconstruction Era in the United States. It was related to an extended period of campaign vio ...

, which took place in the town square. President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

gained congressional passage of the 1870

Enforcement Acts The Enforcement Acts were three bills that were passed by the United States Congress between 1870 and 1871. They were criminal codes that protected African Americans’ right to vote, to hold office, to serve on juries, and receive equal protect ...

, intended to authorize the federal government to suppress Klan violence. While the Klan was suppressed, rifle leagues and such insurgent groups as the White League in Louisiana and Red Shirts in Mississippi and the Carolinas developed as other paramilitary insurgent groups.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Alexander 1834 births 1870 deaths Alabama lawyers Deaths by firearm in Alabama Ku Klux Klan crimes in Alabama Lynching deaths in Alabama Male murder victims People from Greene County, Alabama Unsolved murders in the United States 19th-century American lawyers

Early life

Death

Aftermath

See also

References