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Battle of Hayes Pond

The Battle of Hayes Pond, also known as the Battle of Maxton Field or the Maxton Riot, was an armed confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization and Lumbee Indians at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, on the night of January 18, 1958. The clash resulted in the disruption of the rally and a significant amount of media coverage praising the Lumbees and condemning the Klansmen.

Battle of Hayes Pond
Lumbee Indians fighting Ku Klux Klansmen during the incident
DateJanuary 18, 1958
Location
Near Maxton, North Carolina, United States

34°43′07″N 79°21′57″W / 34.71862366859941°N 79.36573253796487°W / 34.71862366859941; -79.36573253796487
Caused byKu Klux Klan cross burnings and racist threats against the Lumbee community
Resulted inKlan rally disrupted
Parties
North Carolina Knights
Lumbee civilians
Robeson County Sheriff's Office
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
Lead figures

Malcolm McLeod
Raymond Williams

Number
~50 Klansmen
300–500 Lumbees
16 sheriff's deputies
12 highway patrolmen
Casualties
Injuries4 Klansmen injured by gunfire; 3 journalists and 1 witness injured
Arrested1 Klansman arrested by police
Location within North Carolina

In 1956, James W. "Catfish" Cole, a KKK member from South Carolina, established the North Carolina Knights, a Klan organization aimed at defending racial segregation. In early 1958 Cole focused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County, North Carolina, which had a triracial population of Native Americans, whites, and blacks. Many of the Native Americans were members of the recently recognized Lumbee Tribe, a group having its origins in other indigenous peoples but had grown into a single community around the county. Cole oversaw two cross burnings meant to frighten the Lumbees from racial mixing, and scheduled a Klan rally which he hoped would have a large turnout.

Cole and his Klansmen widely advertised their event, driving throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker to broadcast their plans. The announcements infuriated the Lumbee community and some decided to try to disrupt the meeting. Fearing violence, local law enforcement officials pleaded with Cole to suspend his plans, but he refused. On January 18, 1958, Cole and about 50 Klansmen, most of whom were followers of his from South Carolina, gathered in a leased cornfield near Hayes Pond, a place adjacent to the town of Maxton. Several hundred Lumbees, many armed, arrived and encircled the group and jeered at them. After an altercation in which the single light in the field was destroyed, the Lumbees began firing their weapons and most of the Klansmen fled. Cole hid in a swamp while the Lumbees seized Klan regalia and carried them to Pembroke to celebrate. Police restored order on the field and arrested one Klansman.

Afterwards, Cole and the arrested Klansman were indicted and convicted for inciting a riot. The event was widely covered in the local and national press, which blamed the Klan for the disorder and praised the Lumbees for their actions. Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident. In 2011 the Lumbee Tribal Council declared January 18 a "Tribal Day of Historical Recognition".

Background Edit

Robeson County and the Lumbee Tribe Edit

The Lumbee people in southeastern North Carolina originated from various Native American groups which were greatly impacted by conflicts and infectious diseases dating back to the period of European colonization. Those who survived these disruptions grouped together as a homogeneous community.[1] Culturally, this group was not particularly distinct from proximate European Americans; they were mostly agrarian, and shared similar styles of dress, homes, and music. They also spoke English and were mostly Protestants. Their identity was rooted in kinship and shared location.[2] Through intermarriage, they acquired some white and black ancestry.[3] In 1830, the United States government began a policy of Indian removal, forcibly relocating traditional-living, "tribal" Native American populations in the American South further west.[4] Native Americans in Robeson County, North Carolina, owing to their assimilation into Euro-American culture, were not subject to removal.[5] However, from this point on they were increasingly subject to racial discrimination.[5][6]

In 1835 the Constitution of North Carolina classified the eastern Carolina Native Americans as "free persons of color". Under this system they were denied the right to vote, bear arms, or attend white schools.[1] During the American Civil War, the Confederate States Army conscripted them for labor, though some resisted, leading to the Lowry War. In 1885, following Native Americans' refusal to attend black schools, the state of North Carolina recognized this group as Croatans and established a separate school system for them.[7] This tripartite segregation was unique in the American South, though whites generally regarded both the Native Americans and blacks as "colored".[8] Some other county facilities were separated for "Whites", "Negroes", and "Indians".[9] In 1913 the North Carolina General Assembly reclassified the Indians as Cherokees.[10]

Hundreds of Native Americans from Robeson County fought for the United States during World War II in white units (blacks were segregated into different outfits). Many returned with a willingness to pursue social change.[11] Some of them, especially the war veterans, disliked Robeson County's segregation.[12] Other leaders lobbied for the adoption of a unique name to identify their group.[10] In the early 1950s, some led by minister D. F. Lowry formed an organization, the Lumbee Brotherhood, to unite the community. The chosen name, "Lumbee", was derived from the Lumber River, which ran through Robeson County. Lowry and his supporters argued that this was a suitable label, since the community had its origins in various indigenous groups but all resided near the river.[10][13] In 1952 the name Lumbee was approved by the Native Americans in a referendum, and the following year the General Assembly formally recognized the label.[10] In 1956 the United States Congress formally extended partial recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, affirming their existence as an indigenous community but disallowing them from use of federal funds and services available to other Native American groups.[14] By 1958 Robeson County had a triracial population consisting of approximately 40,000 whites, 30,000 Native Americans (including Lumbees and Tuscaroras), and 20,000 blacks.[15]

Ku Klux Klan activity Edit

In 1954 the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The ruling sparked a significant amount of pro-segregation activity among whites in the South, who formed various groups to oppose integration.[16] It also led to a resurgence in Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activity. The Klan was a white supremacist and nativist movement which sought to defend racial segregation. It had different formal organizational incarnations, but all groups generally espoused white supremacy and a commitment to Protestant Christianity.[17] The KKK was historically violent, and by the 1950s Klan violence was looked down upon by North Carolina officials.[18] There had been a Klan presence in Robeson County in the early part of the decade before it was forced out under pressure from District Solicitor Malcolm Buie Seawell and the federal government.[19]

In 1956 James W. "Catfish" Cole, a former member of the U.S. Klans, organized a new Klan chapter called the North Carolina Knights. With Cole leading them as their "Grand Wizard", they held their first rally in the small Robeson County community of Shannon, where Cole defended segregation.[20] He was able to use segregationist rhetoric to grow his following throughout the following year.[9] He also began promoting the Klan in the town of Monroe in Union County, where black civil rights activists were seeking to end segregation in public facilities. In October 1957 Cole's group attacked a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People member's house in the town, but were repelled by gunfire from armed black activists led by Robert F. Williams.[21][22] In early 1958 Cole refocused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County.[9] He hoped to use this campaign to shore up support for his organization.[18]

 
Klansmen in robes with burning cross. This photo was probably taken on January 13, 1958, in either St. Pauls or Lumberton.[23]

On January 13, 1958, Cole and several Klansmen invited local journalist Bruce Roberts to cover their itinerary for the evening in Robeson. In St. Pauls, they burned a cross near the home of a Native American woman who was dating a white man.[a] They also burned a cross in Lumberton, near the home of an Indian family that had recently moved into a white neighborhood. Cole informed Roberts that he was planning a large Klan rally the following Saturday night somewhere in or near the town of Pembroke, the center of Robeson's Lumbee community, where he would condemn the "mongrelization" of the races.[24]

Roberts reported on the events and the planned rally in the January 14 edition of the Scottish Chief, the newspaper of the small town of Maxton. Nearby publications quickly repeated the story. Cole hoped the rally would attract hundreds or thousands of Klansmen. Rumors circulated that Robeson gun stores were selling large quantities of ammunition on Tuesday, raising fears of a violent confrontation.[24] One Klansman went into the offices of the Scottish Chief and the Lumberton Post to ask them to advertise the rally.[25] They also posted fliers to display their intentions.[18] To further publicize the event, Cole and other Klansmen drove throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker, broadcasting their plans. The loudspeaker announcements infuriated the Lumbee community.[18][24]

Fearing violence, Robeson County Sheriff Malcolm McLeod went to Cole's home in South Carolina and pleaded with him to suspend the rally, but Cole refused,[26] telling him, "It sounds like you don't know how to handle your people. We're going to come show you."[18] Unable to find someone willing to lease him land in Pembroke, Cole rented a small cornfield from a white farmer who lived near Hayes Pond.[24] Hayes Pond was a former mill pond located along Big Shoe Heel Creek, south of Maxton,[27] approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Pembroke.[24] Maxton Chief of Police Bob Fisher, who was opposed to the Klan's presence, sent letters to state and federal authorities to ask for their assistance,[28] while the town board of commissioners passed a resolution condemning the Klan and denouncing the rally.[29]

At a barbershop in Pembroke, a group of Lumbee men met and suggested confronting the Klansmen in Maxton so that they would not disturb their town.[21][b] Other Lumbees discussed the situation in the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall.[18] Accounts of how organized the Lumbees were in their response vary. In the 1960s anthropologist Karen Blu interviewed several Lumbee participants, and none mentioned the names of any leaders in this effort. She wrote that "one man" who was cited as a leader by the press was frequently criticized by her respondents for apparently professing that role.[31] According to local activist Willa Robinson, black people who worked in the same businesses with Klansmen and were familiar with the KKK gave the Lumbees intelligence about the meeting.[32] National news organizations such as the Associated Press, United Press International, and the International News Syndicate crafted reports printed in North Carolina and across the country which spoke of potential violence at the rally.[33]

Battle Edit

 
Hayes Pond, the location of the battle, in 2019

Cole scheduled the rally to begin at 8:30 p.m. on January 18, telling his followers to expect a crowd of at least 500 supporters. At about 7 p.m. around 10 Klansmen drove up and parked in the middle of the field. They exited their vehicles carrying guns; one was wearing Klan robes.[34] They were confident, and one of them told a reporter from The News and Observer, "You'd better be careful. We'd hate to shoot the wrong man."[35] Numerous local and state newspaper journalists were present, as were photographers[36] and some radio and television broadcast reporters, including personnel from WTSB-Lumberton.[37] The Klansmen set up a light pole and a public address system both wired to a portable generator, a banner emblazoned with the letters "KKK",[35] and a cross which they planned to burn.[18] Sheriff McLeod arrived with 16 deputies to maintain order. He told them that if Lumbees attacked the Klan they should "take [their] time" in breaking up a clash.[9] A further dozen North Carolina State Highway Patrol officers under Captain Raymond Williams, some armed with submachine guns, waited about a mile down the road out of sight, ready to mobilize in case of violence.[38]

Over the course of the next hour, more Klansmen drove into the field to join those already present.[35] Some of them brought their wives and children, though they remained in their cars to keep warm.[26][39] Most of them were from South Carolina, and few, if any, were from Robeson County.[18] At the same time, cars carrying three to six Lumbees each began parking along the side of the road. They remained in their vehicles to stay warm. By 8 p.m. the Klansmen, numbering about 50, realized they were outnumbered and grew anxious. Cole rehearsed his speech—which condemned racial integration—while the public address system played Christian hymns. At about 8:15 p.m., the Lumbees exited their vehicles and began streaming towards the field. Historian Christopher Oakley estimated that 300–400 Lumbees were present, most of them men.[35] Historian Malinda Maynor Lowery listed the presence of 500 Lumbee men—many of them World War II veterans—and 50 women.[26] Some accounts recall 1,000 Native Americans present.[28] Many of the men were armed with rifles, shotguns, pistols, and knives. As the Lumbees drew closer they began to jeer the Klan, shouting "We want Cole!" and "God damn the KKK!"[26] The Klansmen responded by calling the Lumbees "half-niggers".[26] McLeod pulled Cole aside and said, "Well, you know how it is. I can't control the crowd with the few men I've got. I'm not telling you to not hold a meeting, but you see how it is."[35] According to The News and Observer reporter Charles Craven, Cole told the sheriff, "I want to get my wife and babies out...Somebody's going for them...My little babies."[40]

 
Lumbees confronting Klansmen around the light pole

Cole refused to suspend the meeting, and by 8:25 most of the Klansmen and Lumbee had circled around the light pole.[35] Sources disagree on how the physical confrontation started. According to Oakley, shortly before 8:30 two young Lumbee men ran forward, smashed the light pole, and shut off the public address system. This plunged the field into darkness and led to a momentary silence.[38] According to Sanford Locklear, he and his brother-in-law, Neil Lowry, approached Cole and asked him why he was there. Cole said, "We come to talk to these people," to which Locklear responded, "Well, you're ain't gone [sic] talk to these people tonight."[26] Cole reaffirmed his intention to speak, which Locklear again rejected. Locklear then pushed Cole with his rifle and said, "And don't you move. If you do, well, I'll kill you."[26] Lowry then shot out the light on the pole, and Locklear kicked the public address system.[26] Initial newspaper reports of the affair stated that one Lumbee smashed the light with the butt of his shotgun, and this version corresponded to media photographs. Newsweek was the first publication to report that the light had been shot out.[41]

The Lumbee then began firing their guns—mostly into the air[42]—and shouting.[26] Some fired at the tires of the Klansmen's cars.[43] News photographers then began taking photos of the ensuing commotion.[39] Cole quickly retreated into the nearby swamp, leaving his wife, Carolyn, and his three children behind.[26] According to Oakley, most of the Klansmen did the same,[39] while Lowery wrote that many of them got in their cars and drove away erratically in an attempt to escape, some crashing into ditches.[26] Carolyn got her car stuck in a ditch; Lumbee oral tradition maintains that they had to help her push her car out, while Craven recalled seeing her run away with her three children as several Lumbee men jokingly "pretended" to free her car from the rut.[44][45]

 
Sheriff Malcolm McLeod (left) and Captain Raymond Williams (right) urging the crowd to disperse

Robeson County sheriff's deputies then fired two tear gas grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd.[39][43] Several minutes later Williams led the highway patrol officers onto the field and restored order.[39] McLeod announced over loudspeaker that there was still time to go home and watch Gunsmoke on television.[43] He also found Klansmen hiding in the brush and directed them out of the area.[18] By 9 p.m., the wind had dissipated the tear gas and the crowd had been cleared. The police confiscated two trunkloads of firearms from the Lumbees and Klansmen.[39] James Garland Martin, a Klansman who served as Cole's sergeant-at-arms,[46] was found by deputies lying in a ditch[47] and subsequently arrested for public drunkenness and carrying a concealed weapon.[48][c] Cole remained in hiding for two days.[46] Four Klansmen received minor gunshot wounds during the affair.[8] Three reporters were also injured, as was a Lakota U.S. Army soldier who had traveled from Fort Bragg to witness the events.[50]

After the shooting stopped, several Lumbee spoke with the press and posed for photographs. Some took the Klan's public address system[51] and their cross.[49] Simeon Oxendine, a World War II veteran and the son of Pembroke's mayor, and Charlie Warriax, stole the KKK banner.[46] Later that night Lumbees celebrated in Pembroke, driving in a motorcade and marching through the streets[18] before gathering in front of the police station in Pembroke to hang and burn an effigy of Cole.[51] Oxendine and Warriax drove to the city of Charlotte with the KKK banner and entered the offices of The Charlotte Observer shortly after midnight. They gave an interview with the reporter on duty and posed with the banner in the photography studio.[52] One picture from the shoot of Oxendine and Warriax wrapped in the banner was sent to other newspapers over the Associated Press wire and published a week later on a full page spread in Life.[53]

Aftermath Edit

Reactions Edit

 
 
North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges (left) condemned the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, and Alabama Governor Jim Folsom (right) issued a statement praising the Lumbees.

The local black community was pleased with the results of the clash, while the white community was relieved.[54] North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges responded to the incident by calling Sheriff McLeod and Pembroke Mayor J. C. Oxendine to assure them of his help if the situation required it. He then released a statement to the public, condemning the Ku Klux Klan as a violent group[55] and stating that responsibility for the disorder "rests squarely" on Klan leaders.[46] Other white observers—both locally and nationally—had mixed feelings about responsibility, expressing sympathy for the Lumbees' actions but suggesting that Cole's First Amendment rights may have been violated.[46] Mayor Oxendine received telegrams, letters, and phone calls of approval from Native and non-indigenous Americans from around the United States. Alabama Governor Jim Folsom issued a statement reading, "The white man has mistreated the Indian for 400 years. This is one time I'm glad to see and hope the Indians continue to beat the paleface."[56]

The day after the failed rally, large North Carolinian newspapers such as The News and Observer and The Charlotte Observer ran stories on the clash.[36] Most were favorable to the Lumbees and portrayed the Klansmen as antagonists. Initial reports in state and national newspapers were melodramatic and portrayed the Lumbees using stereotypes associated with Western Plains Indians.[57] The Santa Fe New Mexican misidentified the Lumbees as part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.[58] The local media in Robeson County did not publish on Sundays, thus it was not until later in the week that the Scottish Chief and The Robesonian released their reporting.[33] Their stories covered the affair and preceding events in detail and avoided the use of caricatures, treating the Lumbees as they did other community residents.[59] On January 23 the Scottish Chief issued an editorial titled "Setting the Record Straight," which criticized the national sensationalism, saying, "all too frequently news mediums are searching for a colorful angle to a story and in doing so stretch or add to the facts."[60]

Local editorials sided with the Lumbees, framing the clash as a conflict between locals and outsiders, though the editorial board of The Robesonian downplayed local discontent with segregation, proclaiming there was "no racial rift" between Native Americans and whites in Robeson County.[61] Editorial pieces from around the United States ridiculed the Klan for their behavior. The Anti-Defamation League reported that the affair "sent a ripple of laughter clear across the country."[42] Reflecting on the national praise for the Lumbees' actions at Hayes Pond in contrast to the muted response to the armed black resistance to the KKK in Monroe in 1957, Robert Williams wrote, "The national press played up the Indian-Klan fight because they didn't consider this a great threat—the Indians are a tiny minority and people could laugh at the incident as a sentimental joke—but no one wanted Negroes to get the impression that this was an accepted way to deal with the Klan."[62]

Legal proceedings Edit

On January 20 Sheriff McLeod declared that he would seek the arrest of Cole for the disorder. The following day a Robeson County grand jury indicted Cole, Martin, and others unknown to the state for inciting a riot. Cole, who was by then in South Carolina, posted bail, declared his intent to fight extradition back to North Carolina, and said he would host a new rally, saying, "It will be the greatest rally the Klan has had. I expect there will be more than 5,000 Klansmen there and probably more. Klansmen all over the South are pretty upset."[63] This never occurred.[64] Cole was eventually extradited with the permission of the South Carolina governor and held on bond.[65]

On January 23, Martin was tried for the drunkenness and weapons charges[64] before the Recorder's Court in Maxton by Judge Pro Tem Lacy Maynor, the second Native American in Robeson County to ever be elected to a judgeship. Martin denounced the Klan for abandoning him in the field and vowed that he would leave the organization.[47] Maynor thought that the circumstances of the situation were "tragic"[66] and gave Martin a suspended 60-day sentence and a $60 fine.[64] In his sentence the judge told him, "You have helped to bring about nationwide advertisement to a people who do not want that kind of advertisement—who only want to create a community that would be an asset to our nation. If your organization had something worthwhile to offer, we would be happy to have you. But the history of your organization proves that it has nothing to offer".[66]

Cole and Martin both faced the riot charges in the Robeson County Superior Court in Lumberton.[46] Cole argued in his defense that he had legally rented the field, had a right to hold a rally, and that the Lumbees had provoked the situation while McLeod had provided inadequate security. The prosecutors argued that the Klan had aggravated public sentiment by burning crosses in the county and employing inflammatory speech, billed the rally as a public event (thus it was not a private meeting), and that, according to statements made by Martin, had encouraged Klansmen to bring weapons with them.[64] About 350 Lumbees sat in the gallery during the trial. The prosecutor asked the jury, "Gentlemen, you had better stop this. If you don't, there will be more bloodshed."[46] He then pointed to the audience and said, "If you think you can take [any] Kluxer [...] and drive that crowd around, you've got another think a-coming".[46] In March, the jury found Martin and Cole guilty.[64][d] The judge delivered Cole the most stringent sentence of 18–24 months incarceration, while Martin was given a lesser punishment.[46] Cole appealed his case and was freed on bond pending its reconsideration.[68]

Impact on the Ku Klux Klan Edit

Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident.[46][e] In the wake of Cole's and Martin's arrests as well as some disagreements about organization finances, some members of the North Carolina Knights split off and created their own Klan chapters.[70] Cole attempted to rebrand his organization as a militant, "fighting outfit", and used this to recruit new members across the state with some success.[68] Throughout North Carolina, Klan leaders told their members to expect armed resistance to their work and prepare themselves accordingly.[55] In early 1959 Cole was arrested in South Carolina for posing as a private investigator and shortly thereafter lost his appeal in North Carolina for the riot charge and was imprisoned.[71] His incarceration curtailed Klan recruiting and though the North Carolina Knights elected a new grand wizard to replace him, coordinated policing by the State Bureau of Investigation and other agencies—encouraged by Hodges—led to a decline in Klan membership.[72] North Carolina KKK organizations later resurged in the mid-1960s.[73] In 1966, Klansmen declared their intent to hold another rally at the same field near Maxton,[74] provoking the ire of Lumbees.[75] State authorities received reports of Lumbees stockpiling weapons, and a superior court issued an injunction, prohibiting the meeting.[74] Klan challenges to the order were dismissed.[76] North Carolina Knights Grand Dragon Bob Jones told the press, "We want to ally with the Indian and see he gets some civil rights from the government. The Indians have never had an ally and if we're going to give civil rights to the Niggers, we're going to give them to the Indians."[74] Simeon Oxendine was dismissive of these remarks, saying, "I don't think Jones is in a position to give anything to anyone. I think the constitution gives us our rights,"[74] and the Native Americans in the county were unreceptive to the invitation.[77]

Legacy and commemoration Edit

Our histories will long record
That perilous advance,
When many a Klansman left the field
With buckshot in his pants.

—Excerpt from Malvina Reynolds' 1958 song on the event, "The Battle of Maxton Field".[78]

The clash has been generally remembered under two monikers: the "Battle of Hayes Pond" or the "Battle of Maxton Field".[79] The media dubbed it the "Maxton Riot".[80] The incident brought national attention to the Lumbee people, with Lumbee historian Adolph Dial later saying, "Until the Klan thing, people didn't even know there were Lumbees."[81] In the aftermath of the battle, most Lumbees recalled it as a purely local affair and an action of self-defense for their community from hostile outsiders; they did not see it as a symbolic protest, an attempt to gain national attention, or as a component of the larger American civil rights movement.[82] Local whites also tended to view the Klan rally as the work of outsiders from South Carolina.[83] In 1958, California-based folk singer Malvina Reynolds wrote a song about the incident, entitled, "The Battle of Maxton Field", which satirized the Klan,[8] and was later covered by folk musician Pete Seeger to commercial success.[79]

 
Battle of Hayes Pond highway marker

Since 1958, several Lumbee authors have written accounts of the battle, and the Lumbee Tribe included a recounting in its 1987 petition for full federal recognition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.[36] Newspapers in North Carolina have periodically cited the clash in their discussions of the Klan and white supremacy.[8] In 2003 the Lumbee Tribe presented 100 "Lumbee Warriors"—persons verified to have been involved in the Hayes Pond battle—with a medal of honor.[37][84] In 2011 the Lumbee Tribal Council passed an ordinance declaring January 18 a "Tribal Day of Historical Recognition".[85][86] On June 26, 2018, North Carolina erected a highway historical marker at the convergence of NC Highway 130 and Maxton Pond Road near Maxton to commemorate the event.[8]

In October 2021, politician Charles Graham, a Lumbee from Robeson County, released a video advertisement for his 2022 campaign in North Carolina's 9th congressional district which recounted the battle.[87] The video went viral on the internet, garnering over 4 million views within 24 hours,[88] and 8 million within three days on the social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and TikTok, becoming the most viewed congressional advertisement ever.[89] Graham said he used the event in his campaign to showcase "history where people of all walks of life came together to stand against absolute evil."[90]

Explanatory notes Edit

  1. ^ According to historian Malinda Maynor Lowery, the cross was burned near the home of a white woman who was dating a Native American man.[21]
  2. ^ Unlike Pembroke, Maxton had few Lumbee residents and it was not regarded as an "Indian place".[30]
  3. ^ Martin maintained that he was not drunk and only disorientated due to tear gas.[49]
  4. ^ Lowery described the jury as "all-white",[46] while Oakley wrote that it was triracial.[64] Craven reported the final jury to be all-white, as two Indians in the jury pool were struck for cause by the judge, while the defense struck two more Indians and one black person.[67]
  5. ^ According to Lowery, no known Klan rallies have taken place there since.[46] The News & Observer reported that a Klan rally was held in the county in 1984.[69]

Citations Edit

  1. ^ a b Ahearn 2016, pp. 10–11.
  2. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 11–12.
  3. ^ Lowery 2010, pp. 12–14.
  4. ^ Dial & Eliades 1996, p. 39.
  5. ^ a b Williams 2009, p. 49.
  6. ^ Dial & Eliades 1996, p. 41.
  7. ^ Ahearn 2016, p. 11.
  8. ^ a b c d e Coffey, Mike; Agan, Kelly (2020). "The Lumbee Organize Against the Ku Klux Klan January 18, 1958: The Battle of Hayes Pond, Maxton, N.C." Anchor. North Carolina Government & Heritage Library. from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d Cunningham 2013, p. 33.
  10. ^ a b c d Oakley 2008, p. 58.
  11. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 57–58.
  12. ^ Oakley 2008, p. 72.
  13. ^ Ahearn 2016, p. 13.
  14. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 132, 136.
  15. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 130–131.
  16. ^ Cunningham 2013, pp. 30–31.
  17. ^ Cunningham 2013, pp. 30–32.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jacobs, Chick; Jenkins, Venita (January 18, 2008). . The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  19. ^ Chalmers 2005, p. 10.
  20. ^ Cunningham 2013, p. 32.
  21. ^ a b c Lowery 2018, p. 137.
  22. ^ Oakley 2008, p. 79.
  23. ^ State Archives of North Carolina (February 10, 2009). "Klansmen in robes with burning cross (State's Exhibit No.4)". Flickr. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  24. ^ a b c d e Oakley 2008, p. 60.
  25. ^ Ahearn 2016, p. 181.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lowery 2018, p. 138.
  27. ^ Waters 1977, p. 19.
  28. ^ a b "Battle of Hayes Pond: Routing of the KKK". The Museum of the Southeast American Indian. University of North Carolina at Pembroke. from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  29. ^ "Indians on the Warpath?". The Charlotte News. January 16, 1958. p. 1.
  30. ^ Lowery, Malinda Maynor (January 20, 2020). "During Civil Rights Era, Native American Communities in the South Armed Themselves Against the Klan". Scalawag Magazine. from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  31. ^ Blu 2001, pp. 157–158.
  32. ^ Lowery 2010, p. 252.
  33. ^ a b Ahearn 2016, p. 179.
  34. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 60–61.
  35. ^ a b c d e f Oakley 2008, p. 61.
  36. ^ a b c Oakley 2008, p. 69.
  37. ^ a b "Medal of Honor to be presented to Indian Warriors who participated in the 1958 Ku Klux Klan Rally". The Carolina Indian Voice. Vol. 31, no. 27. July 3, 2003. pp. 1, 3. (PDF) from the original on October 23, 2021 – via DigitalNC.
  38. ^ a b Oakley 2008, pp. 61, 65.
  39. ^ a b c d e f Oakley 2008, p. 65.
  40. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 184–185.
  41. ^ Ahearn 2016, p. 186.
  42. ^ a b Cunningham 2013, p. 34.
  43. ^ a b c Ahearn 2016, p. 178.
  44. ^ Lowery 2018, pp. 138–139.
  45. ^ Ahearn 2016, p. 185.
  46. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lowery 2018, p. 139.
  47. ^ a b Ahearn 2016, p. 127.
  48. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 65, 67.
  49. ^ a b Ahearn 2016, p. 206.
  50. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 189–190.
  51. ^ a b Oakley 2008, p. 67.
  52. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 199–200.
  53. ^ Ahearn 2016, pp. 200–201.
  54. ^ Lowery 2010, p. 253.
  55. ^ a b Batchelor 2015, p. 69.
  56. ^ Oakley 2008, p. 78.
  57. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 70, 72.
  58. ^ Oakley 2008, p. 74.
  59. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 70–71.
  60. ^ Oakley 2008, p. 77.
  61. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 71–72.
  62. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 79–80.
  63. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 67–68.
  64. ^ a b c d e f Oakley 2008, p. 68.
  65. ^ "KKKole Trial To Be First On March 10 Court Docket". The Robesonian. Vol. LXXXIX, no. 6. February 25, 1958. p. 1. from the original on October 29, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  66. ^ a b Ahearn 2016, p. 128.
  67. ^ Craven, Charles (March 12, 1958). "Klan Leader's Trial Is Begun In Robeson". The News & Observer. Vol. CLXXXVI, no. 71. pp. 1–2 – via Newspapers.com.
  68. ^ a b Cunningham 2013, p. 36.
  69. ^ Barkin, Dan (April 15, 2014). "The story behind an old picture from a Klan rally". The News & Observer. from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  70. ^ Cunningham 2013, pp. 34–36.
  71. ^ Cunningham 2013, p. 37.
  72. ^ Cunningham 2013, pp. 37–38.
  73. ^ Cunningham 2013, p. 39.
  74. ^ a b c d "Bury The Old Tomahawk, Join 'urn Up With The Klan". The Daily Tar Heel. Associated Press. March 22, 1966. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  75. ^ Blu 2001, p. 158.
  76. ^ Blu 2001, pp. 158–159.
  77. ^ "Klan Rally Ban Heads For Hearing". The Robesonian. Vol. XCVII, no. 36. March 31, 1966. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  78. ^ Smith, Charles H. (2006). "The Battle of Maxton Field". Western Kentucky University. from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  79. ^ a b Ahearn 2016, p. 133.
  80. ^ Oakley 2008, p. 56.
  81. ^ Bledsoe, Jerry (August 22, 1971). "Routing Klan Is Best-Known Act". The Robesonian. p. 4B.
  82. ^ Oakley 2008, pp. 68–69.
  83. ^ Blu 2001, p. 160.
  84. ^ "Tribal Government hosts food, awards and rally during Lumbee Homecoming". The Carolina Indian Voice. Vol. 31, no. 28. July 10, 2003. p. 1. (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2021.
  85. ^ "Tribe Commemorates 58th anniversary of Battle of Hayes Pond". LumbeeTribe.com. Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. 18 January 2016. from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  86. ^ "Tribe recalls rout of KKK". The Robesonian. January 19, 2016. from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  87. ^ Jones, Reuben (October 22, 2021). "Candidate for Congress goes viral, raises awareness of Lumbee Tribe history". Spectrum News 1. Charter Communications. from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  88. ^ Spectrum News Staff (October 13, 2021). "N.C. congressional campaign ad strikes chord, goes viral". Spectrum News 1. from the original on October 28, 2021.
  89. ^ . Johnstonian News. December 6, 2021. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2022. It became the most viewed congressional launch ad of all time, he said, with more than 8 million views on Twitter, Facebook and TikTok in three days.
  90. ^ Bella, Timothy (October 5, 2021). "Campaign ad recalls defeat of KKK cross-burning by Native Americans who 'refused to be afraid'". The Washington Post. from the original on October 6, 2021.

Works cited Edit

  • Ahearn, Lorraine (2016). Narrative Paths of Native American Resistance: Tracing Agency and Commemoration in Journalism Texts in Eastern North Carolina, 1872–1988 (PhD thesis). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. OCLC 1105761379. ProQuest 1805650883.
  • Batchelor, John E. (2015). Race and Education in North Carolina: From Segregation to Desegregation. Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-6137-1.
  • Blu, Karen I. (2001). The Lumbee Problem: The Making of an American Indian People (reprint ed.). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6197-6.
  • Chalmers, David Mark (2005). Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement (reprint ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-2311-1.
  • Cunningham, David (2013). Klansville, U.S.A: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-era Ku Klux Klan (illustrated, reprint ed.). Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 978-0-19-975202-7.
  • Dial, Adolph L.; Eliades, David K. (1996). The Only Land I Know: A History of the Lumbee Indians (1st Syracuse University Press ed.). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0360-3.
  • Lowery, Malinda Maynor (2018). The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle. Chapel Hill: UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-1-4696-4638-1.
  • Lowery, Malinda Maynor (2010). Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-3368-1.
  • Oakley, Christopher Arris (2008). "'When Carolina Indians Went on the Warpath': The Media, the Klan, and the Lumbees of North Carolina" (PDF). Southern Cultures. 14 (4): 55–84. doi:10.1353/scu.0.0022. ISSN 1068-8218. S2CID 143772906.
  • Waters, T. L., ed. (1977), US-74 Construction from Laurinburg Bypass to US-74 and SR-1362 Intersection, Scotland/Robeson Counties: Environmental Impact Statement, Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Transportation
  • Williams, Walter L., ed. (2009). Southeastern Indians Since the Removal Era. Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-3203-1.

battle, hayes, pond, also, known, battle, maxton, field, maxton, riot, armed, confrontation, between, members, klux, klan, organization, lumbee, indians, klan, rally, near, maxton, north, carolina, night, january, 1958, clash, resulted, disruption, rally, sign. The Battle of Hayes Pond also known as the Battle of Maxton Field or the Maxton Riot was an armed confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan KKK organization and Lumbee Indians at a Klan rally near Maxton North Carolina on the night of January 18 1958 The clash resulted in the disruption of the rally and a significant amount of media coverage praising the Lumbees and condemning the Klansmen Battle of Hayes PondLumbee Indians fighting Ku Klux Klansmen during the incidentDateJanuary 18 1958LocationNear Maxton North Carolina United States34 43 07 N 79 21 57 W 34 71862366859941 N 79 36573253796487 W 34 71862366859941 79 36573253796487Caused byKu Klux Klan cross burnings and racist threats against the Lumbee communityResulted inKlan rally disruptedPartiesNorth Carolina Knights Lumbee civilians Robeson County Sheriff s Office North Carolina State Highway PatrolLead figuresJames W Cole Malcolm McLeod Raymond WilliamsNumber 50 Klansmen 300 500 Lumbees 16 sheriff s deputies 12 highway patrolmenCasualtiesInjuries4 Klansmen injured by gunfire 3 journalists and 1 witness injuredArrested1 Klansman arrested by policeLocation within North CarolinaIn 1956 James W Catfish Cole a KKK member from South Carolina established the North Carolina Knights a Klan organization aimed at defending racial segregation In early 1958 Cole focused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County North Carolina which had a triracial population of Native Americans whites and blacks Many of the Native Americans were members of the recently recognized Lumbee Tribe a group having its origins in other indigenous peoples but had grown into a single community around the county Cole oversaw two cross burnings meant to frighten the Lumbees from racial mixing and scheduled a Klan rally which he hoped would have a large turnout Cole and his Klansmen widely advertised their event driving throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker to broadcast their plans The announcements infuriated the Lumbee community and some decided to try to disrupt the meeting Fearing violence local law enforcement officials pleaded with Cole to suspend his plans but he refused On January 18 1958 Cole and about 50 Klansmen most of whom were followers of his from South Carolina gathered in a leased cornfield near Hayes Pond a place adjacent to the town of Maxton Several hundred Lumbees many armed arrived and encircled the group and jeered at them After an altercation in which the single light in the field was destroyed the Lumbees began firing their weapons and most of the Klansmen fled Cole hid in a swamp while the Lumbees seized Klan regalia and carried them to Pembroke to celebrate Police restored order on the field and arrested one Klansman Afterwards Cole and the arrested Klansman were indicted and convicted for inciting a riot The event was widely covered in the local and national press which blamed the Klan for the disorder and praised the Lumbees for their actions Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident In 2011 the Lumbee Tribal Council declared January 18 a Tribal Day of Historical Recognition Contents 1 Background 1 1 Robeson County and the Lumbee Tribe 1 2 Ku Klux Klan activity 2 Battle 3 Aftermath 3 1 Reactions 3 2 Legal proceedings 3 3 Impact on the Ku Klux Klan 4 Legacy and commemoration 5 Explanatory notes 6 Citations 7 Works citedBackground EditRobeson County and the Lumbee Tribe Edit The Lumbee people in southeastern North Carolina originated from various Native American groups which were greatly impacted by conflicts and infectious diseases dating back to the period of European colonization Those who survived these disruptions grouped together as a homogeneous community 1 Culturally this group was not particularly distinct from proximate European Americans they were mostly agrarian and shared similar styles of dress homes and music They also spoke English and were mostly Protestants Their identity was rooted in kinship and shared location 2 Through intermarriage they acquired some white and black ancestry 3 In 1830 the United States government began a policy of Indian removal forcibly relocating traditional living tribal Native American populations in the American South further west 4 Native Americans in Robeson County North Carolina owing to their assimilation into Euro American culture were not subject to removal 5 However from this point on they were increasingly subject to racial discrimination 5 6 In 1835 the Constitution of North Carolina classified the eastern Carolina Native Americans as free persons of color Under this system they were denied the right to vote bear arms or attend white schools 1 During the American Civil War the Confederate States Army conscripted them for labor though some resisted leading to the Lowry War In 1885 following Native Americans refusal to attend black schools the state of North Carolina recognized this group as Croatans and established a separate school system for them 7 This tripartite segregation was unique in the American South though whites generally regarded both the Native Americans and blacks as colored 8 Some other county facilities were separated for Whites Negroes and Indians 9 In 1913 the North Carolina General Assembly reclassified the Indians as Cherokees 10 Hundreds of Native Americans from Robeson County fought for the United States during World War II in white units blacks were segregated into different outfits Many returned with a willingness to pursue social change 11 Some of them especially the war veterans disliked Robeson County s segregation 12 Other leaders lobbied for the adoption of a unique name to identify their group 10 In the early 1950s some led by minister D F Lowry formed an organization the Lumbee Brotherhood to unite the community The chosen name Lumbee was derived from the Lumber River which ran through Robeson County Lowry and his supporters argued that this was a suitable label since the community had its origins in various indigenous groups but all resided near the river 10 13 In 1952 the name Lumbee was approved by the Native Americans in a referendum and the following year the General Assembly formally recognized the label 10 In 1956 the United States Congress formally extended partial recognition to the Lumbee Tribe affirming their existence as an indigenous community but disallowing them from use of federal funds and services available to other Native American groups 14 By 1958 Robeson County had a triracial population consisting of approximately 40 000 whites 30 000 Native Americans including Lumbees and Tuscaroras and 20 000 blacks 15 Ku Klux Klan activity Edit In 1954 the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v Board of Education ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional The ruling sparked a significant amount of pro segregation activity among whites in the South who formed various groups to oppose integration 16 It also led to a resurgence in Ku Klux Klan KKK activity The Klan was a white supremacist and nativist movement which sought to defend racial segregation It had different formal organizational incarnations but all groups generally espoused white supremacy and a commitment to Protestant Christianity 17 The KKK was historically violent and by the 1950s Klan violence was looked down upon by North Carolina officials 18 There had been a Klan presence in Robeson County in the early part of the decade before it was forced out under pressure from District Solicitor Malcolm Buie Seawell and the federal government 19 In 1956 James W Catfish Cole a former member of the U S Klans organized a new Klan chapter called the North Carolina Knights With Cole leading them as their Grand Wizard they held their first rally in the small Robeson County community of Shannon where Cole defended segregation 20 He was able to use segregationist rhetoric to grow his following throughout the following year 9 He also began promoting the Klan in the town of Monroe in Union County where black civil rights activists were seeking to end segregation in public facilities In October 1957 Cole s group attacked a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People member s house in the town but were repelled by gunfire from armed black activists led by Robert F Williams 21 22 In early 1958 Cole refocused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County 9 He hoped to use this campaign to shore up support for his organization 18 nbsp Klansmen in robes with burning cross This photo was probably taken on January 13 1958 in either St Pauls or Lumberton 23 On January 13 1958 Cole and several Klansmen invited local journalist Bruce Roberts to cover their itinerary for the evening in Robeson In St Pauls they burned a cross near the home of a Native American woman who was dating a white man a They also burned a cross in Lumberton near the home of an Indian family that had recently moved into a white neighborhood Cole informed Roberts that he was planning a large Klan rally the following Saturday night somewhere in or near the town of Pembroke the center of Robeson s Lumbee community where he would condemn the mongrelization of the races 24 Roberts reported on the events and the planned rally in the January 14 edition of the Scottish Chief the newspaper of the small town of Maxton Nearby publications quickly repeated the story Cole hoped the rally would attract hundreds or thousands of Klansmen Rumors circulated that Robeson gun stores were selling large quantities of ammunition on Tuesday raising fears of a violent confrontation 24 One Klansman went into the offices of the Scottish Chief and the Lumberton Post to ask them to advertise the rally 25 They also posted fliers to display their intentions 18 To further publicize the event Cole and other Klansmen drove throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker broadcasting their plans The loudspeaker announcements infuriated the Lumbee community 18 24 Fearing violence Robeson County Sheriff Malcolm McLeod went to Cole s home in South Carolina and pleaded with him to suspend the rally but Cole refused 26 telling him It sounds like you don t know how to handle your people We re going to come show you 18 Unable to find someone willing to lease him land in Pembroke Cole rented a small cornfield from a white farmer who lived near Hayes Pond 24 Hayes Pond was a former mill pond located along Big Shoe Heel Creek south of Maxton 27 approximately 10 miles 16 km from Pembroke 24 Maxton Chief of Police Bob Fisher who was opposed to the Klan s presence sent letters to state and federal authorities to ask for their assistance 28 while the town board of commissioners passed a resolution condemning the Klan and denouncing the rally 29 At a barbershop in Pembroke a group of Lumbee men met and suggested confronting the Klansmen in Maxton so that they would not disturb their town 21 b Other Lumbees discussed the situation in the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall 18 Accounts of how organized the Lumbees were in their response vary In the 1960s anthropologist Karen Blu interviewed several Lumbee participants and none mentioned the names of any leaders in this effort She wrote that one man who was cited as a leader by the press was frequently criticized by her respondents for apparently professing that role 31 According to local activist Willa Robinson black people who worked in the same businesses with Klansmen and were familiar with the KKK gave the Lumbees intelligence about the meeting 32 National news organizations such as the Associated Press United Press International and the International News Syndicate crafted reports printed in North Carolina and across the country which spoke of potential violence at the rally 33 Battle Edit nbsp Hayes Pond the location of the battle in 2019Cole scheduled the rally to begin at 8 30 p m on January 18 telling his followers to expect a crowd of at least 500 supporters At about 7 p m around 10 Klansmen drove up and parked in the middle of the field They exited their vehicles carrying guns one was wearing Klan robes 34 They were confident and one of them told a reporter from The News and Observer You d better be careful We d hate to shoot the wrong man 35 Numerous local and state newspaper journalists were present as were photographers 36 and some radio and television broadcast reporters including personnel from WTSB Lumberton 37 The Klansmen set up a light pole and a public address system both wired to a portable generator a banner emblazoned with the letters KKK 35 and a cross which they planned to burn 18 Sheriff McLeod arrived with 16 deputies to maintain order He told them that if Lumbees attacked the Klan they should take their time in breaking up a clash 9 A further dozen North Carolina State Highway Patrol officers under Captain Raymond Williams some armed with submachine guns waited about a mile down the road out of sight ready to mobilize in case of violence 38 Over the course of the next hour more Klansmen drove into the field to join those already present 35 Some of them brought their wives and children though they remained in their cars to keep warm 26 39 Most of them were from South Carolina and few if any were from Robeson County 18 At the same time cars carrying three to six Lumbees each began parking along the side of the road They remained in their vehicles to stay warm By 8 p m the Klansmen numbering about 50 realized they were outnumbered and grew anxious Cole rehearsed his speech which condemned racial integration while the public address system played Christian hymns At about 8 15 p m the Lumbees exited their vehicles and began streaming towards the field Historian Christopher Oakley estimated that 300 400 Lumbees were present most of them men 35 Historian Malinda Maynor Lowery listed the presence of 500 Lumbee men many of them World War II veterans and 50 women 26 Some accounts recall 1 000 Native Americans present 28 Many of the men were armed with rifles shotguns pistols and knives As the Lumbees drew closer they began to jeer the Klan shouting We want Cole and God damn the KKK 26 The Klansmen responded by calling the Lumbees half niggers 26 McLeod pulled Cole aside and said Well you know how it is I can t control the crowd with the few men I ve got I m not telling you to not hold a meeting but you see how it is 35 According to The News and Observer reporter Charles Craven Cole told the sheriff I want to get my wife and babies out Somebody s going for them My little babies 40 nbsp Lumbees confronting Klansmen around the light poleCole refused to suspend the meeting and by 8 25 most of the Klansmen and Lumbee had circled around the light pole 35 Sources disagree on how the physical confrontation started According to Oakley shortly before 8 30 two young Lumbee men ran forward smashed the light pole and shut off the public address system This plunged the field into darkness and led to a momentary silence 38 According to Sanford Locklear he and his brother in law Neil Lowry approached Cole and asked him why he was there Cole said We come to talk to these people to which Locklear responded Well you re ain t gone sic talk to these people tonight 26 Cole reaffirmed his intention to speak which Locklear again rejected Locklear then pushed Cole with his rifle and said And don t you move If you do well I ll kill you 26 Lowry then shot out the light on the pole and Locklear kicked the public address system 26 Initial newspaper reports of the affair stated that one Lumbee smashed the light with the butt of his shotgun and this version corresponded to media photographs Newsweek was the first publication to report that the light had been shot out 41 The Lumbee then began firing their guns mostly into the air 42 and shouting 26 Some fired at the tires of the Klansmen s cars 43 News photographers then began taking photos of the ensuing commotion 39 Cole quickly retreated into the nearby swamp leaving his wife Carolyn and his three children behind 26 According to Oakley most of the Klansmen did the same 39 while Lowery wrote that many of them got in their cars and drove away erratically in an attempt to escape some crashing into ditches 26 Carolyn got her car stuck in a ditch Lumbee oral tradition maintains that they had to help her push her car out while Craven recalled seeing her run away with her three children as several Lumbee men jokingly pretended to free her car from the rut 44 45 nbsp Sheriff Malcolm McLeod left and Captain Raymond Williams right urging the crowd to disperseRobeson County sheriff s deputies then fired two tear gas grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd 39 43 Several minutes later Williams led the highway patrol officers onto the field and restored order 39 McLeod announced over loudspeaker that there was still time to go home and watch Gunsmoke on television 43 He also found Klansmen hiding in the brush and directed them out of the area 18 By 9 p m the wind had dissipated the tear gas and the crowd had been cleared The police confiscated two trunkloads of firearms from the Lumbees and Klansmen 39 James Garland Martin a Klansman who served as Cole s sergeant at arms 46 was found by deputies lying in a ditch 47 and subsequently arrested for public drunkenness and carrying a concealed weapon 48 c Cole remained in hiding for two days 46 Four Klansmen received minor gunshot wounds during the affair 8 Three reporters were also injured as was a Lakota U S Army soldier who had traveled from Fort Bragg to witness the events 50 After the shooting stopped several Lumbee spoke with the press and posed for photographs Some took the Klan s public address system 51 and their cross 49 Simeon Oxendine a World War II veteran and the son of Pembroke s mayor and Charlie Warriax stole the KKK banner 46 Later that night Lumbees celebrated in Pembroke driving in a motorcade and marching through the streets 18 before gathering in front of the police station in Pembroke to hang and burn an effigy of Cole 51 Oxendine and Warriax drove to the city of Charlotte with the KKK banner and entered the offices of The Charlotte Observer shortly after midnight They gave an interview with the reporter on duty and posed with the banner in the photography studio 52 One picture from the shoot of Oxendine and Warriax wrapped in the banner was sent to other newspapers over the Associated Press wire and published a week later on a full page spread in Life 53 Aftermath EditReactions Edit nbsp nbsp North Carolina Governor Luther H Hodges left condemned the actions of the Ku Klux Klan and Alabama Governor Jim Folsom right issued a statement praising the Lumbees The local black community was pleased with the results of the clash while the white community was relieved 54 North Carolina Governor Luther H Hodges responded to the incident by calling Sheriff McLeod and Pembroke Mayor J C Oxendine to assure them of his help if the situation required it He then released a statement to the public condemning the Ku Klux Klan as a violent group 55 and stating that responsibility for the disorder rests squarely on Klan leaders 46 Other white observers both locally and nationally had mixed feelings about responsibility expressing sympathy for the Lumbees actions but suggesting that Cole s First Amendment rights may have been violated 46 Mayor Oxendine received telegrams letters and phone calls of approval from Native and non indigenous Americans from around the United States Alabama Governor Jim Folsom issued a statement reading The white man has mistreated the Indian for 400 years This is one time I m glad to see and hope the Indians continue to beat the paleface 56 The day after the failed rally large North Carolinian newspapers such as The News and Observer and The Charlotte Observer ran stories on the clash 36 Most were favorable to the Lumbees and portrayed the Klansmen as antagonists Initial reports in state and national newspapers were melodramatic and portrayed the Lumbees using stereotypes associated with Western Plains Indians 57 The Santa Fe New Mexican misidentified the Lumbees as part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians 58 The local media in Robeson County did not publish on Sundays thus it was not until later in the week that the Scottish Chief and The Robesonian released their reporting 33 Their stories covered the affair and preceding events in detail and avoided the use of caricatures treating the Lumbees as they did other community residents 59 On January 23 the Scottish Chief issued an editorial titled Setting the Record Straight which criticized the national sensationalism saying all too frequently news mediums are searching for a colorful angle to a story and in doing so stretch or add to the facts 60 Local editorials sided with the Lumbees framing the clash as a conflict between locals and outsiders though the editorial board of The Robesonian downplayed local discontent with segregation proclaiming there was no racial rift between Native Americans and whites in Robeson County 61 Editorial pieces from around the United States ridiculed the Klan for their behavior The Anti Defamation League reported that the affair sent a ripple of laughter clear across the country 42 Reflecting on the national praise for the Lumbees actions at Hayes Pond in contrast to the muted response to the armed black resistance to the KKK in Monroe in 1957 Robert Williams wrote The national press played up the Indian Klan fight because they didn t consider this a great threat the Indians are a tiny minority and people could laugh at the incident as a sentimental joke but no one wanted Negroes to get the impression that this was an accepted way to deal with the Klan 62 Legal proceedings Edit On January 20 Sheriff McLeod declared that he would seek the arrest of Cole for the disorder The following day a Robeson County grand jury indicted Cole Martin and others unknown to the state for inciting a riot Cole who was by then in South Carolina posted bail declared his intent to fight extradition back to North Carolina and said he would host a new rally saying It will be the greatest rally the Klan has had I expect there will be more than 5 000 Klansmen there and probably more Klansmen all over the South are pretty upset 63 This never occurred 64 Cole was eventually extradited with the permission of the South Carolina governor and held on bond 65 On January 23 Martin was tried for the drunkenness and weapons charges 64 before the Recorder s Court in Maxton by Judge Pro Tem Lacy Maynor the second Native American in Robeson County to ever be elected to a judgeship Martin denounced the Klan for abandoning him in the field and vowed that he would leave the organization 47 Maynor thought that the circumstances of the situation were tragic 66 and gave Martin a suspended 60 day sentence and a 60 fine 64 In his sentence the judge told him You have helped to bring about nationwide advertisement to a people who do not want that kind of advertisement who only want to create a community that would be an asset to our nation If your organization had something worthwhile to offer we would be happy to have you But the history of your organization proves that it has nothing to offer 66 Cole and Martin both faced the riot charges in the Robeson County Superior Court in Lumberton 46 Cole argued in his defense that he had legally rented the field had a right to hold a rally and that the Lumbees had provoked the situation while McLeod had provided inadequate security The prosecutors argued that the Klan had aggravated public sentiment by burning crosses in the county and employing inflammatory speech billed the rally as a public event thus it was not a private meeting and that according to statements made by Martin had encouraged Klansmen to bring weapons with them 64 About 350 Lumbees sat in the gallery during the trial The prosecutor asked the jury Gentlemen you had better stop this If you don t there will be more bloodshed 46 He then pointed to the audience and said If you think you can take any Kluxer and drive that crowd around you ve got another think a coming 46 In March the jury found Martin and Cole guilty 64 d The judge delivered Cole the most stringent sentence of 18 24 months incarceration while Martin was given a lesser punishment 46 Cole appealed his case and was freed on bond pending its reconsideration 68 Impact on the Ku Klux Klan Edit Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident 46 e In the wake of Cole s and Martin s arrests as well as some disagreements about organization finances some members of the North Carolina Knights split off and created their own Klan chapters 70 Cole attempted to rebrand his organization as a militant fighting outfit and used this to recruit new members across the state with some success 68 Throughout North Carolina Klan leaders told their members to expect armed resistance to their work and prepare themselves accordingly 55 In early 1959 Cole was arrested in South Carolina for posing as a private investigator and shortly thereafter lost his appeal in North Carolina for the riot charge and was imprisoned 71 His incarceration curtailed Klan recruiting and though the North Carolina Knights elected a new grand wizard to replace him coordinated policing by the State Bureau of Investigation and other agencies encouraged by Hodges led to a decline in Klan membership 72 North Carolina KKK organizations later resurged in the mid 1960s 73 In 1966 Klansmen declared their intent to hold another rally at the same field near Maxton 74 provoking the ire of Lumbees 75 State authorities received reports of Lumbees stockpiling weapons and a superior court issued an injunction prohibiting the meeting 74 Klan challenges to the order were dismissed 76 North Carolina Knights Grand Dragon Bob Jones told the press We want to ally with the Indian and see he gets some civil rights from the government The Indians have never had an ally and if we re going to give civil rights to the Niggers we re going to give them to the Indians 74 Simeon Oxendine was dismissive of these remarks saying I don t think Jones is in a position to give anything to anyone I think the constitution gives us our rights 74 and the Native Americans in the county were unreceptive to the invitation 77 Legacy and commemoration EditOur histories will long recordThat perilous advance When many a Klansman left the fieldWith buckshot in his pants Excerpt from Malvina Reynolds 1958 song on the event The Battle of Maxton Field 78 The clash has been generally remembered under two monikers the Battle of Hayes Pond or the Battle of Maxton Field 79 The media dubbed it the Maxton Riot 80 The incident brought national attention to the Lumbee people with Lumbee historian Adolph Dial later saying Until the Klan thing people didn t even know there were Lumbees 81 In the aftermath of the battle most Lumbees recalled it as a purely local affair and an action of self defense for their community from hostile outsiders they did not see it as a symbolic protest an attempt to gain national attention or as a component of the larger American civil rights movement 82 Local whites also tended to view the Klan rally as the work of outsiders from South Carolina 83 In 1958 California based folk singer Malvina Reynolds wrote a song about the incident entitled The Battle of Maxton Field which satirized the Klan 8 and was later covered by folk musician Pete Seeger to commercial success 79 nbsp Battle of Hayes Pond highway markerSince 1958 several Lumbee authors have written accounts of the battle and the Lumbee Tribe included a recounting in its 1987 petition for full federal recognition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs 36 Newspapers in North Carolina have periodically cited the clash in their discussions of the Klan and white supremacy 8 In 2003 the Lumbee Tribe presented 100 Lumbee Warriors persons verified to have been involved in the Hayes Pond battle with a medal of honor 37 84 In 2011 the Lumbee Tribal Council passed an ordinance declaring January 18 a Tribal Day of Historical Recognition 85 86 On June 26 2018 North Carolina erected a highway historical marker at the convergence of NC Highway 130 and Maxton Pond Road near Maxton to commemorate the event 8 In October 2021 politician Charles Graham a Lumbee from Robeson County released a video advertisement for his 2022 campaign in North Carolina s 9th congressional district which recounted the battle 87 The video went viral on the internet garnering over 4 million views within 24 hours 88 and 8 million within three days on the social media platforms Twitter Facebook and TikTok becoming the most viewed congressional advertisement ever 89 Graham said he used the event in his campaign to showcase history where people of all walks of life came together to stand against absolute evil 90 Explanatory notes Edit According to historian Malinda Maynor Lowery the cross was burned near the home of a white woman who was dating a Native American man 21 Unlike Pembroke Maxton had few Lumbee residents and it was not regarded as an Indian place 30 Martin maintained that he was not drunk and only disorientated due to tear gas 49 Lowery described the jury as all white 46 while Oakley wrote that it was triracial 64 Craven reported the final jury to be all white as two Indians in the jury pool were struck for cause by the judge while the defense struck two more Indians and one black person 67 According to Lowery no known Klan rallies have taken place there since 46 The News amp Observer reported that a Klan rally was held in the county in 1984 69 Citations Edit a b Ahearn 2016 pp 10 11 Ahearn 2016 pp 11 12 Lowery 2010 pp 12 14 Dial amp Eliades 1996 p 39 a b Williams 2009 p 49 Dial amp Eliades 1996 p 41 Ahearn 2016 p 11 a b c d e Coffey Mike Agan Kelly 2020 The Lumbee Organize Against the Ku Klux Klan January 18 1958 The Battle of Hayes Pond Maxton N C Anchor North Carolina Government amp Heritage Library Archived from the original on December 6 2021 Retrieved 7 October 2021 a b c d Cunningham 2013 p 33 a b c d Oakley 2008 p 58 Oakley 2008 pp 57 58 Oakley 2008 p 72 Ahearn 2016 p 13 Ahearn 2016 pp 132 136 Ahearn 2016 pp 130 131 Cunningham 2013 pp 30 31 Cunningham 2013 pp 30 32 a b c d e f g h i j Jacobs Chick Jenkins Venita January 18 2008 The Night The Klan Met Its Match The Fayetteville Observer Archived from the original on February 14 2008 Retrieved October 10 2021 Chalmers 2005 p 10 Cunningham 2013 p 32 a b c Lowery 2018 p 137 Oakley 2008 p 79 State Archives of North Carolina February 10 2009 Klansmen in robes with burning cross State s Exhibit No 4 Flickr Retrieved October 28 2021 a b c d e Oakley 2008 p 60 Ahearn 2016 p 181 a b c d e f g h i j k Lowery 2018 p 138 Waters 1977 p 19 a b Battle of Hayes Pond Routing of the KKK The Museum of the Southeast American Indian University of North Carolina at Pembroke Archived from the original on October 8 2021 Retrieved October 7 2021 Indians on the Warpath The Charlotte News January 16 1958 p 1 Lowery Malinda Maynor January 20 2020 During Civil Rights Era Native American Communities in the South Armed Themselves Against the Klan Scalawag Magazine Archived from the original on October 11 2021 Retrieved October 8 2021 Blu 2001 pp 157 158 Lowery 2010 p 252 a b Ahearn 2016 p 179 Oakley 2008 pp 60 61 a b c d e f Oakley 2008 p 61 a b c Oakley 2008 p 69 a b Medal of Honor to be presented to Indian Warriors who participated in the 1958 Ku Klux Klan Rally The Carolina Indian Voice Vol 31 no 27 July 3 2003 pp 1 3 Archived PDF from the original on October 23 2021 via DigitalNC a b Oakley 2008 pp 61 65 a b c d e f Oakley 2008 p 65 Ahearn 2016 pp 184 185 Ahearn 2016 p 186 a b Cunningham 2013 p 34 a b c Ahearn 2016 p 178 Lowery 2018 pp 138 139 Ahearn 2016 p 185 a b c d e f g h i j k l Lowery 2018 p 139 a b Ahearn 2016 p 127 Oakley 2008 pp 65 67 a b Ahearn 2016 p 206 Ahearn 2016 pp 189 190 a b Oakley 2008 p 67 Ahearn 2016 pp 199 200 Ahearn 2016 pp 200 201 Lowery 2010 p 253 a b Batchelor 2015 p 69 Oakley 2008 p 78 Oakley 2008 pp 70 72 Oakley 2008 p 74 Oakley 2008 pp 70 71 Oakley 2008 p 77 Oakley 2008 pp 71 72 Oakley 2008 pp 79 80 Oakley 2008 pp 67 68 a b c d e f Oakley 2008 p 68 KKKole Trial To Be First On March 10 Court Docket The Robesonian Vol LXXXIX no 6 February 25 1958 p 1 Archived from the original on October 29 2021 via Newspapers com a b Ahearn 2016 p 128 Craven Charles March 12 1958 Klan Leader s Trial Is Begun In Robeson The News amp Observer Vol CLXXXVI no 71 pp 1 2 via Newspapers com a b Cunningham 2013 p 36 Barkin Dan April 15 2014 The story behind an old picture from a Klan rally The News amp Observer Archived from the original on August 26 2015 Retrieved November 12 2021 Cunningham 2013 pp 34 36 Cunningham 2013 p 37 Cunningham 2013 pp 37 38 Cunningham 2013 p 39 a b c d Bury The Old Tomahawk Join urn Up With The Klan The Daily Tar Heel Associated Press March 22 1966 p 1 via Newspapers com Blu 2001 p 158 Blu 2001 pp 158 159 Klan Rally Ban Heads For Hearing The Robesonian Vol XCVII no 36 March 31 1966 p 1 via Newspapers com Smith Charles H 2006 The Battle of Maxton Field Western Kentucky University Archived from the original on October 5 2021 Retrieved October 11 2021 a b Ahearn 2016 p 133 Oakley 2008 p 56 Bledsoe Jerry August 22 1971 Routing Klan Is Best Known Act The Robesonian p 4B Oakley 2008 pp 68 69 Blu 2001 p 160 Tribal Government hosts food awards and rally during Lumbee Homecoming The Carolina Indian Voice Vol 31 no 28 July 10 2003 p 1 Archived PDF from the original on October 21 2021 Tribe Commemorates 58th anniversary of Battle of Hayes Pond LumbeeTribe com Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina 18 January 2016 Archived from the original on November 2 2021 Retrieved October 11 2021 Tribe recalls rout of KKK The Robesonian January 19 2016 Archived from the original on October 21 2021 Retrieved October 19 2021 Jones Reuben October 22 2021 Candidate for Congress goes viral raises awareness of Lumbee Tribe history Spectrum News 1 Charter Communications Archived from the original on October 27 2021 Retrieved October 26 2021 Spectrum News Staff October 13 2021 N C congressional campaign ad strikes chord goes viral Spectrum News 1 Archived from the original on October 28 2021 Democrat announces bid for Congress from new 4th District Johnstonian News December 6 2021 Archived from the original on January 9 2022 Retrieved January 9 2022 It became the most viewed congressional launch ad of all time he said with more than 8 million views on Twitter Facebook and TikTok in three days Bella Timothy October 5 2021 Campaign ad recalls defeat of KKK cross burning by Native Americans who refused to be afraid The Washington Post Archived from the original on October 6 2021 Works cited Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Hayes Pond Ahearn Lorraine 2016 Narrative Paths of Native American Resistance Tracing Agency and Commemoration in Journalism Texts in Eastern North Carolina 1872 1988 PhD thesis University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill OCLC 1105761379 ProQuest 1805650883 Batchelor John E 2015 Race and Education in North Carolina From Segregation to Desegregation Baton Rouge Louisiana University Press ISBN 978 0 8071 6137 1 Blu Karen I 2001 The Lumbee Problem The Making of an American Indian People reprint ed Lincoln University of Nebraska Press ISBN 978 0 8032 6197 6 Chalmers David Mark 2005 Backfire How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement reprint ed Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 0 7425 2311 1 Cunningham David 2013 Klansville U S A The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights era Ku Klux Klan illustrated reprint ed Oxford University Press USA ISBN 978 0 19 975202 7 Dial Adolph L Eliades David K 1996 The Only Land I Know A History of the Lumbee Indians 1st Syracuse University Press ed Syracuse Syracuse University Press ISBN 978 0 8156 0360 3 Lowery Malinda Maynor 2018 The Lumbee Indians An American Struggle Chapel Hill UNC Press Books ISBN 978 1 4696 4638 1 Lowery Malinda Maynor 2010 Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South Race Identity and the Making of a Nation Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press ISBN 978 0 8078 3368 1 Oakley Christopher Arris 2008 When Carolina Indians Went on the Warpath The Media the Klan and the Lumbees of North Carolina PDF Southern Cultures 14 4 55 84 doi 10 1353 scu 0 0022 ISSN 1068 8218 S2CID 143772906 Waters T L ed 1977 US 74 Construction from Laurinburg Bypass to US 74 and SR 1362 Intersection Scotland Robeson Counties Environmental Impact Statement Raleigh North Carolina Department of Transportation Williams Walter L ed 2009 Southeastern Indians Since the Removal Era Athens University of Georgia Press ISBN 978 0 8203 3203 1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Battle of Hayes Pond amp oldid 1175301413, 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