Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy

Around 11 AM on November 10th, violence erupted between armed Black men and the white mob outside of Brunjes’ Saloon in Brooklyn. At least 12 Black men and three white were killed. Governor Russell directed the Wilmington Light Infantry to intervene to end the violence and sent reinforcements from nearby Clinton and Maxton. Meanwhile, deputy sheriff Gizzard French authorized the Naval Reserves to intervene. The combined Light Infantry and Naval forces opened fire on Black men on a bridge leading into Brooklyn, killing an estimated 25.

The mob also marched to the home of a suspected “instigator,” Daniel Wright. They shot him and burned his house down. Checkpoints were set up throughout the city to search all Black citizens. Black clergymen were sent out to go door-to-door and tell Black people to “succumb to white authority” (214-15). The infantry attacked a Black dance hall, killing two men and arresting four others. Although some white people pleaded for peace, throughout the afternoon, more Black men were killed by the infantry, Red Shirts, and other members of the white mob.

Later in the afternoon on November 10th, Black families fled to the swamps and cemeteries outside the city. Waddell assembled a Committee of Twenty-Five to take over the Fusionist city government. They summoned the mayor, police chief, and the city alderman, forced their resignations, and then appointed Democrats to the positions. Waddell was appointed mayor. His first act was to appoint members of the armed mob as “‘special policemen’” to patrol the city. Democrat Edgar G. Parmele was appointed chief of police. Walter MacRae was “elected” sheriff.

Much of the Black working class fled the city but many of the Black upper-class hoped their capitulation would protect them from the mob. Some of the white Fusionists remained behind as well. However, the new city leadership drew up a list of 50 men “who were considered troublesome” (230) to be banished from the city.

Their first target, Black barber Carter Peamon, was put on a train with Red Shirts and was found later, shot dead, near the train tracks. Gizzard French, also on the list, was nearly lynched. He was saved by his fellow Freemasons and put on a train out of town. Armond Scott, the lawyer who was blamed for not delivering the message by 7:30 AM, snuck onto a train unnoticed while the mob tried to lynch French.

On the evening of November 10th, a white mob came to the home of prominent Black lawyer William Henderson and told him—at gunpoint—to leave by the following night. Black businessman Thomas Miller was arrested. Black Reverend J. Allen Kirk escaped just in advance of the mob and hid in a hut in a swamp, and then took a train to Virginia. On the train a group of Red Shirts threatened him but the conductor intervened and he made it to Virginia.

Six Black men on the banishment list arrested late in the day were held by the Light Infantry in the jail because there were no further trains that evening. The Red Shirts, hoping for a lynching, rode to the jailhouse.

The Light Infantry defended the jail from the Red Shirts hoping to lynch the men. Waddell, Moore, and MacRae attempted to calm and disperse the mob. Early on November 11th, Waddell wrote “a public appeal to tamp down the white rage he had been stoking for months” (248). At 9 AM, the six captives were put on a train to Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, a mob attacked the home of a white Republican, Robert H. Bunting, who was common-law married to a Black woman. Bunting, former police chief Melton, and former police officer Charles Gilbert were arrested and put on a 3:30 PM train to New Bern.

That afternoon, infantrymen and their supporters celebrated their victory. Waddell tried to encourage the Black laborers to return to the city by telling the Red Shirts only the military would be allowed to patrol.

That evening, former mayor Wright and the lawyer Henderson got on a train to Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, Waddell’s orders were disobeyed and the Red Shirts continued to patrol the city. The next day, he published a reiteration of his order that only authorized troops were to patrol.

On November 10th, county corner David Jacobs, a Black man, collected corpses in his cart. An estimated 60 Black men had been killed. He attempted to hold an inquest on the deaths the next day, but no city officials arrived. On November 12th, an inquest was finally held. Most of the witnesses were white and they all claimed not to know who had shot the men.

On November 12th, Colonel Taylor sent the infantry reinforcements home. On November 13th, he disbanded two of the Wilmington militia. Waddell attempted to contact the Black families hiding out in the swamps to reassure them it was safe to return, but they fled in fear. He believed the coup had made the city safer for Black people as well as white.

White Wilmington clergy celebrated the coup from the pulpit that Sunday. The new police chief Parmele encouraged Black clergy to “preach acceptance of the new racial and political order” (264) and they complied.