Massacre in Memphis by Stephen V. Ash

Author:Stephen V. Ash [Ash, Stephen V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780809068302
Amazon: 0809068303
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Published: 2014-10-13T23:00:00+00:00

8

Recriminations and Investigations

[The riot] has put [the freed people] back further than they were when I began;… they will not heed my counsel; when they come to me they say, “You are the man we expected to protect us”;… they have had very little confidence in me or in the government since [the riot].

—Testimony of Benjamin Runkle

The riots and massacres of Memphis are only a specimen of what would take place throughout the entire south, should the government fail to afford adequate military protection.

—Excerpt from majority report of the Select Committee1

Not long after the sun came up on May 3, Reverend Tade returned to the ruins of Lincoln Chapel. His wife, Amanda, went with him. They found a crowd gathered there, consisting of students of the chapel’s school and their parents, members of the congregation. Turning out like this was brave, for as far as anyone knew the rioting might erupt again at any moment. Most of the freed people and Yankee missionaries in Memphis were staying off the streets.2

Many of those assembled were in tears. Some came up and silently pressed Tade’s hand. Others sought answers. “Oh they have burnt our meeting house,” one woman said, “what shall we do?” Another asked, “Are the colored people to have no more schools in Memphis?”3

Tade picked through the wreckage to see what he could find. There was not much; those who set the fire had done their work well. He retrieved as keepsakes the mainspring of a clock, a piece of the school bell, a part of the melodeon, and a half-burned Bible. Before leaving he offered his flock words of comfort and hope: “Be of good courage—there are ashes enough here to build two Lincoln Chapels.” He assured them that the church would be rebuilt, and that the fellowship of the church would remain unbroken in the meantime. Come on Sunday as usual, he said, and we will meet in the lot across the street under the cottonwood trees.4

Later that morning a group of prominent white citizens, including Appeal editor J. H. McMahon, met downtown to discuss the rioting. They approved a resolution calling on Mayor Park and Sheriff Winters to form a sizeable posse to patrol the city in cooperation with the military for as long as rioting threatened, and another requesting McMahon and two others present to inform General Stoneman of the meeting. These resolutions, with an endorsement by the mayor, were printed up as a handbill and copies were posted around the city. The sheriff began enlisting men for the posse. But when McMahon and his two colleagues called on Stoneman, the general told them flatly that he would permit no more raising of posses, because he had been informed that those raised thus far had proved unreliable, even dangerous.5

That afternoon Stoneman formalized this decision in a letter addressed to the city and county officials. The letter revealed his ignorance of the behavior of the Memphis police over the past two days—or rather, revealed that he had chosen to ignore what Marshal Ryder told him Tuesday night, that the police were among the rioters.

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