John W. Stephens

John W. Stephens (October 13, 1834 – May 21, 1870) was a state senator from North Carolina. He was assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan on May 21, 1870.^[1][2]

Personal life and early career

Born John Walter Stephens near Bruce's Crossroads (now Summerfield) in Guilford County, North Carolina, he was the oldest child of Absalom Stephens and his wife, Letitia. Stephens had four siblings, including three brothers and a sister.

His family moved to Rockingham County when Stephens was still young, living first in Wentworth and then in Leaksville. Stephens' father, a tailor by trade, died in 1848, while the family was living in Leaksville.

Stephens married his first wife, Nannie Walters, in 1857. Only two years later, she died, leaving Stephens a widower, and the single father of an infant daughter, Nannie. Living in Wentworth in 1860, he married Martha Frances Groom. From this marriage, his daughter Ella was born.

Said to have been an active member of the Methodist Church at Wentworth, Stephens also served for a time as an agent for the American Bible and Tract Society. Soon after, he became a tobacco trader, moving to York, South Carolina.^[2]

Civil War

Early on in the American Civil War, Stephens was based in Greensboro, North Carolina. He served the Confederacy by commandeering horses for the Confederate army. Later, he moved back to Wentworth, and worked as what was known as an "impressment agent", mustering draftees for the Confederate army. Toward the end of the war, Stephens signed up for the armed forces, but it is unclear whether he actually saw action during this time.^[2]

Post-war

At the conclusion of the war, Stephens returned to Wentworth, and once more worked as a tobacco trader. It was during this time that the incident that would lead his political enemies to refer to him as "Chicken Stephens" occurred. Accounts of this incident vary greatly, even amongst historians. Much of the variance apparently depends upon the view the historian takes regarding Stephens' later political actions.^[1][2]

In all versions of the story, Stephens shoots and kills a chicken on his own property. The accounts diverge as to Stephens' motives in shooting the chicken. One account states that it was a simple misunderstanding, and that Stephens had thought the wayward chicken was his own.^[2] In his history of North Carolina, William Powell paints a picture of Stephens as a vindictive man, who killed the chicken almost purely out of spite.^[1]

The stories converge again when dealing with what happened after Stephens shot the chicken. All accounts have Wentworth merchant and postmaster Thomas A, Ratliffe, the owner of the chicken, complaining to the sheriff, and Stephens spent a night in jail. Upon release, he confronted Ratliffe, sporting a seven-shot revolver. During the altercation, the gun was discharged (whether intentionally or accidentally is again a matter where accounts vary), and two bystanders were wounded. Records do not indicate that Stephens ever spent further time in jail regarding this matter, but the dismissive nickname by which his enemies would refer to him the rest of his life was established.^[1]

Political career

Stephens moved to Yanceyville in 1866, continuing to work as a tobacco trader, and also beginning to serve as an agent for the Freedmen's Bureau. He became a member of the Republican Party, as well as the Union League. As part of these organizations, he helped to politically organize the majority black population. These activities made many enemies for him amongst the conservative white Democrats of the state.

Due in large part to his popularity amongst the black population, Stephens was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1868, displacing sitting senator Bedford Brown, who was quite popular among the white community. This further inflamed the already significant antipathy that the local white population of Caswell County felt for him. During this time, Stephens became nearly completely isolated socially from the white community, to the extent that he was kicked out of the local Methodist church. Many unsubstantiated rumors were circulated amongst the white population regarding his personal life, including claims that he had burnt the crops and buildings of fellow citizens. His political opponents, consisting mainly of white Democrats, even claimed Stephens had murdered his own mother who did die under rather unusual circumstances. However, none of these claims ever resulted in any form of legal action against Stephens, which seems to mitigate against the veracity of such claims.

Due to threats against his life raised during this period, Stephens was known to always be well armed. Additionally, he took out a quite substantial life insurance policy (worth a reported $10,000) on himself.

Assassination by the Ku Klux Klan

The grave of John Walter Stephens in Yanceyville, NC, USA

Stephens' political activities greatly angered the Ku Klux Klan of North Carolina. The Klan held a "trial" in absentia of Stephens, in which he was convicted and a death sentence verdict was rendered. Claims were made by Klan members that Stephens was given a "vigorous defense", though no evidence in this regard has ever been proffered. It was under the auspices of this "verdict" that the assassination of May 21, 1870 was carried out.

According to news accounts from around that time, the assassination was carried out in a backroom of the Yanceyville courthouse. Stephens was in attendance at a Democratic gathering, in an attempt to convince a prominent Democrat to run for Sheriff as a Republican. The man he was attempting to sway signaled to him from the floor of the hall, and Stephens followed him downstairs. Knowing Stephens' reputation for being quite well armed, his Klan assassins had assembled between eight and twelve men who lay in wait in a darkened room on the Caswell County Courthouse's first floor.^[3]

Legacy

The legacy of the life lived by John Stephens is quite complicated. William Powell is not alone in his negative characterization of Stephens. Much local folk history characterizes Stephens as, at best, a misguided miscreant, and at worst a criminally craven opportunist. What is clear from all accounts is that Stephens did work extensively with the Freedmen's Bureau and the Union League. It is such associations – as well as his political organization of the black population – that cause the wide divergence in popular opinion surrounding his legacy.

Those who view him as little more than an opportunist often point out that he only joined the above organizations after the South was defeated, and the political winds shifted. During the War, however, he had worked in support of the Confederacy, leading modern historians like Phillips to take a more cynical view of his later support of the Freedmen and the Union League. A significant number of former Confederates opted to join the Republican Party after the war, and some, such as James Longstreet and James L. Alcorn became "scalawags" at least partly in the interest of national reconciliation.

The dichotomy with which historians view Stephens aside, there is no question that the black population of the time revered him.^[2]

References