April 9, 1865
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
March 27, 1867
The Republican Party was officially formed in North Carolina on March 27, 1867.
February 3, 1870
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1870.
November 8, 1892
Populist and Republican votes exceed the votes cast for Democrats in statewide elections.
November 6, 1894
Populists and Republicans run together and Democrats lose control of both houses of the General Assembly.
November 3, 1896
Republican Daniel L. Russell is elected first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
1897
Following significant changes to the Wilmington, North Carolina charter by the 1897 state legislature, North Carolina’s Democratic Party decided to embark on a white supremacy campaign to try to drive Populist and Republican politicians out of office during the 1898 election.
May 12, 1898
A large Democratic rally in Laurinburg, North Carolina launches the “white supremacy” campaign.
May 17, 1898
The North Carolina Populist Party holds its convention in Raleigh and agrees to propose a fusion agreement with the Democratic Party.
May 20, 1898
A committee of leading Democrats rejects the Populist fusion.
May 26, 1898
The Democratic Convention meets in Raleigh.
July 20, 1898
The Republican Convention meets in Raleigh.
August 18, 1898
A controversial editorial is published in the Daily Record. While the editorial is published without attribution, it is generally credited to the newspaper’s owner, Alex Manly. The editorial challenges a speech made a few days prior by Rebecca Latimer Felton. In the speech Felton advocates for lynching of Black men claiming they are perpetrators of sexual violence against white women. The editorial challenges this notion and suggests many interracial sexual encounters are consensual.
October 1898
Red Shirts begin to appear at Democratic rallies in North Carolina.
November 8, 1898
Due to the success of the white supremacy campaign to include propaganda against Black men and intimidation tactics by the Red Shirts and other white supremacist groups, the Democrats had resounding victories in state elections.
November 9, 1898
The Secret Nine and Committee of Twenty-Five met in Wilmington to read, revise, and sign the “White Man’s Declaration of Independence”. After signing, the men identified 32 of Wilmington’s prominent Black citizens, naming the Committee of Colored Citizens, and shared the demands from the declaration with them.
November 10, 1898
Claiming he did not receive a response to the declaration and demands, Waddell gathered a group of approximately 500 men and marched to the Daily Record headquarters. The group broke down the doors of the building, vandalized the interior, poured kerosene all over the papers and equipment, and set the building on fire. Quickly, the group grew to more than 2,000 who then attacked Black communities, burning businesses, and killing Wilmington’s Black citizens. By the end of the day, the mayor, chief of police, and board of alderman had been ousted from their positions; Black and white fusionists were escorted out of town at gun point; and Waddell was “elected” the mayor of Wilmington. He served in this position until 1905.
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This lesson explores the Wilmington Massacre and Coup d’état of 1898 by examining the events and political environment leading up to and the people and groups involved in the massacre and coup.
