Clubbing his musket, he then desperately rushed upon the enemy, determined, if he must die, that he would sell his life as dearly as possible; but the odds were altogether too heavy against him. The gun-stock in his brawny hands, was shattered at the first blow struck by his powerful arm, and then the band sprang forward and secured him, though not without a furious struggle. He was at once taken out of the cabin, a rope was placed about his neck, and thrown over the projecting limb of the nearest convenient tree, from which his body was quickly dangling, a lifeless corpse. They hung him without accusation, judge or jury, until he was dead, dead, dead—in accordance with the terms of the bitter oath of the Ku Klux Klan, whose victims are doomed “for opinion’s sake!”
One of the gang had been mortally wounded by Washington’s first shots, and died on the following day. Two others had been seriously hurt, and one of them was crippled for life. The body of Washington was left hanging beneath the tree for several days after this conflict, and until the negroes in the neighborhood gathered courage sufficient to cut it down, and give it decent burial; which they did at night, secretly and mournfully, for their late friend’s sudden and violent death, proved an affliction indeed to the poor creatures, towards whom he had been so kind and clever an instructor and companion.
And thus this poor negro paid the penalty of his offence in being a radical, and like many a one before him who had been similarly sacrificed, “his soul goes marching on.”
Scourging Radical Teachers and Banishing Ministers Of the Gospel.
Judging from information gathered from the most available sources, it appears that all measures, whether of a political, a religious or educational character, looking to the elevation of the negro, were strenuously opposed by the Ku Klux Klans, as they had sworn they should be.
The education of the negro was regarded as an especial heresy, not to be tolerated under any circumstances. It was an offence second in magnitude only to that of his voting the Radical ticket, and the face of the Klan was set against it with a resolution that made it a dangerous avocation for any one to engage in. School houses, erected for the purpose of teaching colored children, were burned to the ground, and the teachers scourged, banished or whipped to death.
The testimony of Col. A. P. Huggins, formerly of the Union Army, and subsequently of Monroe County, Mississippi, is pertinent to the point. Col. Huggins, is known as a brave and gallant officer, a man of great physical and moral courage, and of unquestioned veracity. During the month of May, 1870, he became County Superintendent of Schools, for Monroe County, and on the 8th of March following, went into the interior, some eight or ten miles from Aberdeen, the County seat, on business connected with the School Department. He was at this time an Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, and improved the opportunity to make several assessments of revenue in the vicinity, staying, by invitation, at the house of a Mr. Ross.
On the night of the day after his arrival at the house of Mr. Ross, (the 9th of March) a band of the Ku Klux, armed and disguised, and numbering about one hundred and twenty, came to the house and compelled Col. Huggins to come out. The chief of the Klan then informed him that they had come to warn him that he must quit the country within ten days that it had been decreed in the camp that he should first be warned, that the warning should be enforced by whipping, and if that did not produce the desired effect, he should be killed by the Klan, and if circumstances were such that he could not be killed by the Klan in a body, then they were sworn to assassinate him publicly or privately.
Col. Huggins asked them what his offense consisted of, and was answered by the chief, who said:—“You are collecting obnoxious taxes from Southern Gentlemen, to keep damned old Radicals in office. Now I want you to understand that no laws can be enforced in this country, that we do not make ourselves. We don’t like your Radical ways, and we want you to understand it.”
Col. Huggins then asked them if their operations were against the Radical party, and the Chief replied that they were; that they had stood the radicals just as long as they intended to, and they meant to banish or kill every one of them. The Chief then said, “will you leave the country in ten days.” The Colonel replied that he would leave the country when he got ready, and not before. He was then taken about a quarter of a mile from the residence of Mr. Ross, where they halted. He was then ordered to take off his coat, which he refused to do, and it was removed by force.