Hanging of Union Men

The illustration above is from the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 20 Feb 1864. Several smaller illustrations comprised a doublepage centerfold, about 22X16 in size and entitled "Rebel Barbarities in Texas." This illustration was in the center of the page and called, "Hanging of 30 Union Men," which depicted the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas.

I was able to purchase a copy of the original 1864 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper through an antique dealer and placed a very high quality scan on fold3.com. To look at the full doublepage centerfold of the above 1864 newspaper illustration, go to www.fold3.com   http://www.fold3.com/image/52160008   Personal and family use granted to all.  If you wish to use this photo or the one placed on fold3.com to post online, blogs, social media, or commercial sites such as Ancestry.com, please use a text link back to this site or use the following wording placed nearby the information used:  Information and/or image courtesy of http://www.gainesvilletx1862.blogspot.com/ 

Bringing in Union Men

The illustration above is from the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 20 Feb 1864 and is entitled "Bringing in Union Men."

On the night of 30 September 1862, men surrounded the homes of suspected unionists and at daybreak on October 1st the unionists were arrested.  Susan Leffel, in a letter dated June 1869, stated that the "leader of their families were taken off by those nocturnal visitors and destroyed by the hanging."  The 1941 obituary for the daughter of John Miller, Nannie Miller Brand, states: "The tragedy occured at night, and the terror-stricken little girl [Nancy] took her little sister by the hand and found her way through the forest at night by a blazed trail to the home of a neighbor." 

According to Barrett, "the heaviest rains I ever saw" started and the arrests took place in the pouring rain.

I was able to purchase a copy of the orginial 1864 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper through an antique dealer and placed a very high quality scan on Fold3. To look at the full doublepage centerfold of the above 1864 newspaper illustration, go to www.fold3.com  and to view the image: http://www.fold3.com/image/#52160008.   Personal and family use granted to all.  If you wish to use this photo or the one placed on fold3.com to post online, on blogs or commercial sites such as Ancestry.com, please use a text link back to this site or use the following wording placed nearby the information used:  Information and/or image courtesy of http://www.gainesvilletx1862.blogspot.com/

James L. Clark's list of Victims of the Gainesville Hangings

James L. Clark’s list of men “murdered” at Gainesville, 1862

Lemuel D. Clark, ed., The Civil War Recollections of James Lemuel Clark, Including Previously Unpublished Material On The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas In October, 1862 (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1984) page 109-112. 

"After some concideration I will rite a brief statement an give the fact in regard to the 44 good men that was murderd by a mob in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas in October 1862, as I no more a bout the men then eney body else now in this country. Will say tha were murderd for there Union princeables."

“I will conclude by giving the names of all the men that I pursnoly knew an others that was murdered...In the beginning [I] will give the names of the first settlers that lived in this county when my father came:

One of our near neighbors was William Rhodes. He [came] from North Carolina here, an got 320 acres of land as a homestead from the state. He had a nice famley an his oaldest boy belong to the same company that I belonged to. Now Rhodes sold land to a man by the name of Eli Scott about the time the war started. An Scott moved to the land an was murdered while he lived on the land. He Scott [came] from California here, an had a big famley, an was nice foalks. Him [Scott] an Rhodes were hung the same day. Tha are boath buried on the Rhodes survey, now owned by Sam McClerran.
The next neighbor I will name was Hiram Kilborn. He had a homestead of 320 acres of land patened to him by the state. Tho tha did not hang him. He was shot an killed by some of the Bourland men in trying to git a way. His foalks never got his body an did not no what tha dun with it. He Kilborn was a Babtist preacher, and not one of the kind that preached for the money that was in it. He was the oanly Babtist preacher in this country when we came here. I am informed by Frank Foreman that [he] helped to bury Kilborn.

I will give the names [of others who were hanged] as follows:
Wernell – 160 acres
Richard Martin – landowner
Oald Grandpaw Burch – would talk, say what he thought – landowner
H. J. Esmond – 320 acres
Ward
Evans – Or Quinn
Clem Woods – landholder
Wolsey – landholder
Manon – lived on Preston Road
Oald man Leffel
A. B. McNiece – landholder
Wash Morris – landholder
Wesley Morris – landholder – tha were brothers
Thomas Floyd – shot while under gard – landholder
John Crisp – landholder
James Powers
Rama Dye – oald man – landholder
J. Dawson
Oald Man Wiley – landholder
J. Morris
Barnes
Milburn
W. Anderson
Gross
Ward
Dr. Johnson – nation [probably from the “Indian Nation”]
Childs, Senior
Childs, Junior
Hampton
Locke
Foster
Fields
D. Anderson
D. Taylor
R. Manton
Jones
Carmichael
Henry Cochran
Those names are as tha was give to me by McPherson.
Will McCool and two others were murderd at Bill Young Spring on the river after Welch killed Young in Bourland Hollow."

[Footnote on bottom of page 111]
"JLC often mentions a total of forty-four [hanged].  This list is not complete and many contain some errors in names.  Even the number of men murdered is not known exactly.  The best authorities here seem to be Barrett, Hanging, 21, and Wheeler's diary entry for 19 October 1862.  Both accounts give forty as the number hanged and add that two were shot while trying to escape.  If two were hanged by the military, the numbers then agree.  According to Diamond, three men were hanged by the military.  Diamond, "Account," 402."

BlogNote:  Men mentioned on above list by JL Clark who are NOT on Diamond's list: Evans, Clem Woods, Manon, Wiley, Milburn, Manton.

Related Posts:
List of Men who Died in Hangings
1880 Newspaper List of Hanging Victims
Diamond's List of Men Tried and Convicted
Occupations of Hanging Victims

Galveston Daily News 1880

EXECUTION AT GAINESVILLE

Galveston Daily News

Publication date: 1 May 1880

The Galveston News ran an article on 1 May 1880 about an Execution by Hanging of a man named Noftsinger.  The Noftsinger hanging took place in Gainesville on 30 Apr 1880 and the scaffold was "within view of the celebrated 'hangsman tree' of Cooke County.  A portion of the article then goes on to discuss the earlier hangings that took place on the 'hangsman tree' in Gainesville during October 1862.

This 1880 news article is interesting because it includes a partial list of names for the victims of the Great Hanging and it was supposedly the first time these names had appeared in print.  The article called the Citizens Court the "court of inquisition"  and the weeks in which the Citizens Court was holding it's trials, the "fifteen days of terrorism in 1862."

Transcription of above news article.

Galveston Daily News (newspaper), 1 May 1880

OVER THE STATE. 
Special Telegrams to the Galveston News --- The Execution at Gainesville, April 30
[The first part of the article is about a legal hanging in Gainesville that took place on April 30, 1880. Then the article reflected upon the Great Hangings of 1862.]

"THE SCAFFOLD,
erected in the northeastern suburbs of the town [Gainesville], is within view of the celebrated “hangsmen tree” of Cook County. Upon the low, outstretching limbs of this monarch of the woodland, forty men were gibbeted during the fifteen days of terrorism in 1862. The circumstance has often been alluded to in political harangues and commented upon by the press, but thus far the names of the parties executed, and those of the members of the court of inquisition, have never appeared in print. The object of the secret organization, whose members were gibbeted, is more a subject of surmise than of fact. The secessionists at the time, held that the organization was a league to butcher the confederate command at Wichita, kill all pronounced secessionists, burn and destroy their property, and order out of the country all known southern sympathizers. The anti-secessionists, on the other hand, contended that it was a peace party favorable to an alliance with the disaffected reservation Indians, with the object of cooperating with the union army, in the event of federal success in Arkansas, in restoring order in that portion of the state, then the frontier of Texas.
MURDER RAMPANT
Be that as it may, the knife and the rifle of the assassin were rampant. On the first of October, 1862, several hundred persons assembled at Gainesville, in response to a circulated notice, alleging that a treasonable plot had been discovered. A meeting was held in the Methodist Church, and the following members of the court of inquisition appointed to investigate the matter, which court held its sessions in the Masonic lodge-room: Samuel Doss, Thomas Barrett, Wiley Jones, Benjamin Scandland, Thos. Wright, Daniel Montague, J. P. Long, J. E. Hughes, Reason Jones, W. S. Simpson, John N. Hamil, and James Jones. Some one hundred alleged traitors were arrested and brought before the tribunal for trial, during its sixteen days sessions, forty of whom were adjudged guilty and hanged upon the tree in question.
THE VICTIMS
The names of the parties gibbeted were: Dr. Childs; William, John, Wesley and Work Morris, John Crisp, Dr. Eli Thomas, Frosty, George and William Anderson, E. C. Scott, B. Dossen, Thomas Floyd, Ramsey Dye, James Powers, and the following, whose given names are not remembered Chiles, Fields, Locke, Hampton, Wiley, McNice, Worrel, Birch, Goss, Jones, Esmon, and thirteen others, whose names are not recollected. On the 2nd of the month two were hanged, on the 4th two, on the 7th one, on the 8th one, on the 10th one, on the 12th three and on the 13th eleven. On the 12th the inquisition adjourned, subject to call between that date and the 15th. Col. Young, one of the most popular men in north Texas, was assassinated, together with several other confederate officers. The inquisition reassembled and passed sentence on nineteen members of the league, all of whom were hanged on the 17th. There were three degrees in the league. Those who had only taken the first degree were invariably acquitted, and those who had subscribed to the second and third oath, taken by those degree members, invariably executed. The NEWS reporter has been unable to learn the character of the several oaths."

The above newspaper article can be found on THE PORTAL TO TEXAS HISTORY website:
The Galveston Daily News(Galveston, TX), Vol. 39, No. 34, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 1, 1880, page 1:   http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth462743/m1/1/?q=Saturday  

Related Posts:
List of Men who Died in Hangings 
James L Clark's List of Victims
Diamond's List of Men Tried and Convicted
Occupations of Hanging Victims

George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862

"George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862," edited by Sam Acheson and Julie Ann Hudson O'Connell, can be accessed here on the The Portal to Texas History website.  This account was published by the Texas State Historical Association in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963.

George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862

Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, H. Bailey Carroll, editor, Journal/Magazine/Newsletter, 1963; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196 : accessed April 08, 2011), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas.

George Diamond's brother, James Diamond, was one of the key players in trying to rid Cooke county of anyone with Union sentiments. George Diamond was asked to use the records of the court to prepare an "official account" of the court proceedings, with the purpose of "preserving them and so disposing of them that the history of its (Citizen's Court) transactions might be perpetuated and justice done to those who participated (Jurors & accusers) in its deliberations."  Diamond's compilation of "memoranda" was to be offered to the public as a just vindication of the conduct of those whose judgements were under national criticism. So, basically, Diamond's job was to make the court look good.

In his conclusion, Diamond states, "The proceedings of the Citizens Court are characterized with as much wisdom, justice and moderation as may anywhere be found in the history of criminal procedure."  Was he biased or what???  Naturally, the members of the court examined Diamond's account and gave their unanimous and unqualified approval.  Diamond apparently completed the manuscript before the end of 1876, but it was not published during his lifetime.  In 1963, Diamond's account was transcribed and edited by Sam Acheson and Julie Ann Hudson O'Connell, and then published by the Texas State Historical Association. 

On page 27 of CIVIL WAR RECOLLECTIONS OF JAMES LEMUEL CLARK, L. D. Clark gives his opinion of Diamond's Account:
"Diamond had been a newspaper-man before the war and in 1862 held a commission in the Confederate army.  When he went to Gainesville not long after the affair to visit a brother who had helped round up the Unionists, he was entrusted with the court records with the understanding that he would write a thoroughgoing vindication of the hanging.  Not until the mid-1870's did he undertake to fulfill his promise, and what he produced was left unfinished and unpublished at the time of his death.  He arranged some of the testimony from papers in his possession, thought we have no way of knowing whether he transcribed it verbatim.  He introduced a background of sorts and a narrative of events interspersed with commentary, all of it written in a determination to give a noble cast to the outrage, even to the extent of arguing that the action must have been right since it was undertaken by the "best men" in the county...  To make matters worse, while no one can say whether he himself destroyed the records, at best he seems to have taken no care to preserve them, though he did see to the preservation of his own manuscript."

It seems that Diamond's Account published by the Texas State Historical Association was transcribed and edited from Diamond's manuscript, which he in turn had edited and condensed from the actual court proceedings.  Anytime a record is transcribed, even if it is transcribed word for word, there is room for error.  But, as Clark states above, we have no way of knowing "whether he transcribed it verbatim." 

Diamond concluded with the following explanation concerning his edited version.
"We have now written what we designed to write concerning the proceedings of the "Citizens Court."  The Jury as well as all others who were connected with the scenes of that day desired that all the evidence in each case should be published.  It is to be regretted that it has not been done.
But it is the opinion of all that a complete transcript from the record of the Court would have been unnecessary to vindicate the course pursued, and would also have made a volume to too large a size for the general public notice." (Diamond's Account, page 405)

Diamond was not kidding when he stated it was "to be regretted" that all the evidence in each case should NOT be published.  All who are now interested or who will ever be interested in the history of the Hangings, REGRET Diamond's decision to edit and leave to history only his condensed version of the Court!!  And, one has to wonder just how much Diamond edited, changed, or left out from the original "Citizens Court" records???

It is not known what happened to the actual records of the Citizens Court.  We are very much aware of the historical value and significance of Diamond’s account of the Hanging, especially since his account is the only "official" record remaining.  But, it is really, really unfortunate that the complete and original "Citizens Court" records are lost to us.  

Were the originals destroyed when Diamond was finished using them so his would be the only record left, or are they still lying around in some dusty attic?

To view Diamond's list of those tried and executed, click here.

A short biography of George Washington Diamond can be found on the Handbook of Texas Online.

Cooke County Books and Articles

Just found a great website with a list of books and articles on Cooke County, Texas.  Many of the articles contain information about the Great Hanging.  An index to the site can be found the Cooke County Genforum.com message board.   
The Genforum.com post states that "The follow-up posts will contain links to articles/books I've scanned and put online for everyone to read/print."

http://genforum.genealogy.com/tx/cooke/messages/1667.html

You can also get to the list of books and articles by going directly to the Ware's of Woodbine website:
http://waresofwoodbine.envy.nu/pic4.html


UPDATE:
These links no longer work.  The websites appear to be taken down.  Sorry

Under the Rebel Flag

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission has a great website about life in Texas during the Civil War. The website is called UNDER THE REBEL FLAG.

Under the Rebel Flag -- Life in Texas During the Civil War

Click here to go to their website.

Handbook on Texas Online -- Great Hanging Articles

The Handbook of Texas Online has the following articles on the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862.

Great Hanging at Gainesville, click here.

Also the following related articles can be found on The Handbook of Texas Online, just click on topic:
Unionism 
Lynching 
Thomas C. Barrett 

Another online article about the Great Hanging

This article is from W.T. Block on TexasEscapes.com.
Texas Escapes Online Magazine; "Cannonball's Tales" by W.T. Block, Jr., December 1, 2006 column
http://www.texasescapes.com/WTBlock/Hangings-at-Gainesville-Texas-1862.htm

Some Books & Articles about the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas

Suggested books & articles to learn more about the Great Hanging at Gainesville:
1. Richard B. McCaslin, "Tainted Breeze, The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, 1862"
(Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1994).
(Shown above)
This book is a MUST READ!  McCaslin's book, Tainted Breeze, is the definitive source for information concerning the Great Hanging at Gainesville.  He gives a "fair and balanced" narrative of the Great Hanging.

2. James Lemuel Clark, "Civil War Recollections of James Lemuel Clark, Including Previously Unpublished Material On The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas In October, 1862" (Republic of Texas Press, Wordware Publishing, Plano, Texas, 1997), Edited and with an introduction by L. D. Clark, grandson of James Lemuel Clark.

3. George W. Diamond, "Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862" SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Vol. 66, no. 3, January, 1963, p. 331-414, edited by Sam Acheson and Julie Ann Hudson O'Connell.
George Diamond's brother, James Diamond, was one of the key players in trying to rid Cooke county of anyone with Union sentiments. Diamond was asked to use the records of the court to prepare an "official account" of the court proceedings, with the purpose of "preserving them and so disposing of them that the history of its (Citizen's Court) transactions might be perpetuated and justice done to those who participated (Jurors & accusers) in its deliberations. Diamond's compilation of "memoranda" was to be offered to the public as a just vindicaton of the conduct of those whose judgements were under national criticism. So, basically, Diamond's job was to make the court look good.  In his conclusion, Diamond states, "The proceedings of the Citizens Court are characterized with as much wisdom, justice and moderation as may anywhere be found in the history of criminal procedure."   Naturally, the members of the court examined Diamond's account and gave their unanimous and unqualified approval. He apparently completed the manuscript before the end of 1876, but it was not published until 1963 by the Texas State Historical Association. It is not known what happened to the actual records of the Citizens Court. 
How much, if any, did Diamond edit, change, or leave out from the original "citizens court" records?  Were the originals destroyed on purpose or are they still laying around in some dusty attic?
Diamond's account of the hanging can be found online at:

Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, H. Bailey Carroll, editor, Journal/Magazine/Newsletter, 1963; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196 : accessed March 25, 2011), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas. 

The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 196

4. Thomas Barrett, "The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas, October, A.D. 1862," Gainesville, Texas: January, 1885; Old West Magazine, pages 49-66, Summer 1981, Note: Original pamphlet was written in 1885. Its author, Thomas Barrett, was on the Cooke County jury that found 42 men guilty of conspiracy against the Confederacy in the Fall of 1862. According to the Handbook on Texas, Barrent "deprecated the role of emotion in the jury's decisions and argued that his being on the jury had saved large numbers of lives." Note: Barrett did NOT mention names of the victims.

5. Pete A. Y. Gunter, "The Great Gainesville Hanging, October, 1862, Rebel Colonel Bourland's 'Witch Hunt' in North Texas" Blue and Gray (magazine) April-May 1986.

6. C. N. Jones, "Early Days In Cooke County (1848-1873)" 976.4533 H2j, FHL US/CAN Book

List of Men who died during the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862

The Great Hanging at Gainesville

Arresting the men

The following is a list of those who died during the Great Hanging at Gainesville.  We are trying to find information concerning the immediate families of these men.  To find a list of the victims and their spouses, go to the "Weeping Wives" post.

Any corrections or additions to this list are welcome!

At least 42 men were tried and convicted by a Confederate Citizens Court.
At least 40 men were hanged, several more were shot while trying to escape.

Others were shot and killed during this time.
========
1. C. F. Anderson > E. F. Anderson > Edward Frost Anderson
2. George W. Anderson
3. Richard J. Anderson
4. William B. Anderson
5. Thomas O. Baker
6. Bennet C. Barnes
7. Barnibus Burch
8. Samuel Carmichael
9. Ephraim Chiles
10. Henry Chiles
11. Nathaniel M. Clark
12. Henry Cockrum
13. John Mansil Crisp
14. Arphaxton R. Dawson
15. Rama Dye
16. Hudson John Esman
17. Henry S. Field
18. Thomas B. Floyd (shot)
19. James T. Foster (shot)
20. Curd Goss
21. Edward D. Hampton
22. M. D. Harper > Manadier D. Harper
23. William W. Johnson
24. C. A. Jones
25. David Miller Leffel
26. J. W. P. Lock
27. Abraham McNeese
28. Richard N. Martin
29. John M. Miller
30. John A. Morris
31. John W. Morris > This may be Wash Morris, brother of Wesley Morris
32. M. W. Morris > Michael Wesley Morris
33. William W. Morris
34. James A. Powers
35. William R. Rhodes
36. Alexander D. Scott
37. Eli M. Scott
38 Gilbert Smith (?)
39. William B. Taylor
40. Eli Sigler Thomas
41. James A. Ward
42. William Wilson Wornell

==

Other victims that were killed or sentenced during that time:

43. William Boyles (not arrested but  shot and later died from wounds)
44. Hiram Kilborn (shot) not claimed as one of the Citizen Court victims
====
James Young hanged the following:
   William A. McCool

   John M. Cottrell

   A.N. Johnson

E. Junius Foster, editor of the Sherman Patriot, was shot as he was closing up his newspaper office.

Joel Francis DeLamirande was tried and sentenced to life in prison for helping the wives of the victims.
John Wiley is on Clark's list as one of the men who was hanged.  He is also mentioned in the 1880 newspaper article as one of the men hanged.  His descendants claim he was hanged, but McCaslin does not include him in his list of men hanged and his list is basically the same as Diamond's account.

The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862 has been called the largest mass lynching in American history by some historians.

Related Posts:
List of Men on 2014 Memorial
1880 Newspaper List of Hanging Victims
Diamond's List of Men Tried and Convicted
James L Clark's List of Victims
Occupations of Hanging Victims
Left Without a Father 
Weeping Wives List 
Lynching or Hanging

Note:
The illustration above is from the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 20 Feb 1864. Several smaller illustrations comprised a double-page centerfold, about 22X16 in size and entitled "Rebel Barbarities in Texas."  The illustration can be found at Fold3.

Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862

Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862

In October of 1862 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas, 40 men suspected of Union sympathies were hanged by an extra-legal "Citizens Court," of which the majority were slaveholders. Two other men were shot trying to escape. North Texas (which included Cooke and neighboring counties) was the center of opposition to secession from the Union. The opposition was fueled when the Confederate Conscription Act of April, 1862 was enacted with an exemption from the draft for the largest slaveholders. Those who were in opposition formed a Peace Party, whose primary goals were "to provide for the families of those at war, to protect members from Confederate authority, and to restore the Union." (McCaslin, pg.91)

The Confederate Citizens Court was not an established legal authority and consisted of a majority of slaveholders. Seven of the twelve jurors during Gainesville lynchings were slaveholders and they insisted on a simple majority rule in the decisions for execution. The slaveholder jurors alone could condemn a person to death! The wealthy slaveholders exerted power and influence far out of proportion to their numbers. Two of the largest slaveholders in Cooke County were Colonel James Bourland and Colonel William C. Young.
Men were also killed in neighboring counties: Grayson, Wise, and Denton counties.
Most of the men killed during this time, were accused of treason or insurrection, but very few had actually conspired against the Confederacy, and many were innocent of the charges for which they were tried.

The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862 has been called the largest mass lynching in American history by some historians.

Related Posts:
Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas by Richard McCaslin 
List of men who were killed in the Great Hanging at Gainesville 
List of the wives of the Great Hanging victims 
Bringing in Union Men
Hanging Union Men
Lynching or Hanging 


Note:
The illustration above is from the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 20 Feb 1864. Several smaller illustrations comprised a double-page centerfold, about 22X16 in size and entitled "Rebel Barbarities in Texas."  The illustration can be found at Fold3.