By KATHY LISTON

Following the defeat of the Confederacy, the Reconstruction era (1865-1877) saw the power structure across the South upended. With growing resentment, whites saw Black men being elected or appointed to positions of authority. In his memoir, Mississippi journalist-legislator H. C. Williamson, Sr., who was born and raised in Charlotte County, Virginia, expressed the prevailing sentiment:

“The splendid civilization…lay prostate beneath the black heel of the ignorant African, who, coming from his native jungle where no conception of civil government had ever dawned, and kept in bondage through all the years of his residence here, had never learned the first letter of the alphabet and had not the faintest idea of personal self-government, much less the science of civil government. Bound and helpless, the once proud master lay beneath the political feet of the unscrupulous ‘carpetbagger’ and former slaves…”

Despite the presence of Union troops tasked with protecting the newly-won freedoms of Black citizens, the hostility and bitterness against those the vanquished Confederates still viewed as “property” often turned violent. White supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camellia, the Knights of the Golden Circle and later, the White League and Red Shirts initiated a reign of terror against the freedpeople and their supporters. Say the word “lynching” and most people think of a lawless mob hoisting a Black man to his death at the end of a rope, often in the dead of night, or sometimes in front of an enthusiastic crowd of thousands. But a lynching in Charlotte County was perpetrated by only four white men, with guns, in the middle of the afternoon, in front of the courthouse, before an unsuspecting crowd that included the sheriff, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and judges. On May 3, 1869, Joseph R. Holmes, an elected delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867-1868, was assaulted, then fatally shot by John Marshall, Griffin Stith Marshall, William Townes Boyd, and Macon Cabell Morris. With the help of local citizens, all four made their escape and, despite being charged with murder, would never see the inside of a jail.

Letter from Joseph Holmes to Thomas Leahy. Virginia Freedmen’s Bureau Letters of Correspondence

Joseph “Joe” R. Holmes was born into slavery in Charlotte County circa 1838, one of at least four children of Peyton and Nancy Holmes. Some stories state that Joseph was a butler or body servant to Judge Hunter Holmes Marshall of Roxobel plantation (and father of John and Griffin Marshall), but to date I have found no documents to support this assertion. In about 1865, Joseph Holmes married Mary Clark, daughter of Simon and Joanna/Jina Clark, and they quickly had four children: Peyton, Louisa, Joseph Jr., and William R. Holmes. Holmes was a shoemaker with his own shop, but when his son William was born in August 1868, his occupation was listed as “Radicalism.” After the Civil War, Holmes became an outspoken supporter of the radical wing of the Republican Party which demanded equal political and legal rights for all, as well as public schools for the newly freedmen. He gained notice by the party and was named a delegate to the Virginia Republican convention held in Richmond in August 1867. As a rebelling state, Virginia was required by Congress to write a state constitution incorporating the rights of freedpeople as a condition of rejoining the Union. On Oct. 23, 1867, Holmes was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention as one of three Black delegates representing Charlotte and Halifax counties. The convention met in Richmond from Dec. 3, 1867 through Apr. 17, 1868. Holmes served honorably, almost always voting for the most radical reforms. Although deemed “good-natured” by some in the press, newspapers such as the Richmond Daily Dispatch also ridiculed and belittled Holmes, portraying him as a figure of comic relief, thus amplifying the racial stereotypes of that time. Even Union General John M. Schofield, commander of the 1^st Military District, impugned his reputation describing Holmes as “Colored. Shoemaker. Can read & write a little. Ignorant. Bad character. Radical.” These descriptions would follow him after his death, often as a way to justify his murder. That Holmes was far from ignorant is evidenced by a surviving well-written exchange of letters with Thomas Leahy of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Holmes worked with the Bureau to establish a school for freedpeople in Keysville.

Following the convention, Holmes returned to Charlotte County and resumed his work as a shoemaker. Still, the ridicule from white citizens continued. A letter that appeared on November 23, 1868, in the Richmond Whig above the signature “Roanoke” states:

“I passed by the shop of our former representative, “Hon.” Joseph Holmes, a few days ago; he was busily at work pegging away at a pair of boots. I told him I thought he was much better at making boots than a constitution; and as he was anxious to make a pair for me, I believe, he agreed with me.”

Holmes continued to speak out for reform and the rights of the freedmen, and in March 1869 once again represented Charlotte County as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Convention in Petersburg. He intended to run for the House of Delegates that summer. That did not sit well with many white citizens of the County. In his memoir, Charlotte County native H. C. Williamson described the “presumptuous” Holmes as “insolently asserting his equality ‘with any white man’…” and denouncing “in public harangues throughout the county, the men who had lately been the masters…” Williamson went on to write that such a situation prevailing across the Southern States prompted the organization of the Ku Klux Klan. He described with approbation seeing a picture of a skull-and-crossbones – “the sign of the Ku Klux Klan” – nailed to the door of Holmes’s shop.

Charlotte Court House, 1907

Joseph Holmes’s campaign for justice and equality was brought to a halt on May 3, 1869, when he was shot to death on the courthouse steps in Charlotte Court House. Brothers John Marshall and Griffin Stith Marshall, William T. Boyd and Macon C. “Mac” Morris were indicted by a jury for the murder.  According to court records, on June 9, 1869, a “true bill” was returned against all of them except Griffin Marshall, and warrants were issued for their arrest. But it was too late – the Marshall brothers and Boyd had made their escape immediately following the shooting and Mac Morris, who had been arrested at the scene, had skipped bail and likewise disappeared. Differing accounts of the murder were published in newspapers as far away as Australia. Through the years most Southern writers have blamed Holmes for the incident, painting the accused men as unfortunate victims of circumstance, some even declaring them totally innocent. My 2012 discovery at the Charlotte County Clerk’s office of original manuscript pages of witness statements made to the justices of the peace the night of the attack and the following day tell a different story. Unfortunately, the first six pages are missing, but the remaining statements together with a published interview with one of the witnesses whose sworn statement was in the missing papers reveal the truth.

New York Herald, May 5 1869, page 7

It was about 5 o’clock in the afternoon on a court day and the small village was crowded. Accounts differ as to why Joseph Holmes was there that day, but it appears to have been connected to an altercation between John Marshall and another Black man earlier in the day. Marshall had shot at the man and boasted that he had killed him (the man survived). Holmes spoke out publicly about the incident, saying this shooting on the streets had to stop, he wanted peace. John Marshall believed that Holmes was going to the courthouse to obtain a warrant against him. One informant stated that Marshall’s party had boasted in the days leading up to the shooting that they would kill eight of the leading Black Republicans, and that John Marshall was heard specifically asserting his intention to kill Holmes. John Marshall, Griffin Marshall, William Boyd and Mac Morris confronted Holmes near the stile (steps) that crossed over the fence into the courthouse yard. Words were exchanged and then Boyd struck Holmes with his cane. John Marshall pulled out his pistol and struck Holmes on the head with it. Holmes fell back a few steps and then John Marshall fired point-blank, hitting Holmes in the breast. As Holmes clambered over the stile, he was hit by a second bullet and he cried out “Oh, Lord!” Holmes ran up the courthouse steps and partially turned towards his attackers. He was shot a third time. Holmes staggered into the courthouse doorway and collapsed, dead. Witnesses agreed that John Marshall fired the first shot and that the two other shots came from the group but differed as to who fired, some accusing Griffin Marshall, others Boyd or Morris. They also disagreed as to whether or not Holmes had a pistol, one witness claiming that Holmes had one in his hand before he got to the courthouse door, while others saying they never saw it until the doctor took it from his dead hand. No one said Holmes fired. The Marshall brothers and William Boyd fled immediately, but the sheriff grabbed Mac Morris by the coat collar on the courthouse porch and placed him under arrest in the building. The next day Morris was freed on bail and disappeared.

A post-mortem examination of the body was conducted by two doctors, but their testimony is in the missing pages. Local cabinet maker John N. Schmidt was paid $29 by the court for the burial expenses of Joseph Holmes. It does not say where he was buried, but it was likely in the small family burial plot that is on the land Holmes owned near Keysville, in Charlotte County. The assassins of Joseph Holmes were never brought to justice. But then the authorities never looked that hard for any of them. Arrest warrants were issued almost every quarter for John Marshall and William Boyd, the last one in February 1873. Although many people knew where they lived, they were not pursued. It is not surprising that the four men were able to escape so easily, as they were all very well ‘connected.’ Charlotte County natives John and Griffin Marshall were sons of Judge Hunter Holmes Marshall, a former slaveholder and prominent member of the Virginia Bar. William Boyd’s family, also slaveholders, had founded Boydton, the county seat of nearby Mecklenburg County. John Marshall and Mac Morris had served together in the Charlotte Cavalry during the Civil War, along with the sheriff, Paul V. Adams, and several deputy sheriffs. All four men went on to live long lives in other places, with two of them becoming lawmen.

Daily Dispatch, June 23,1869, page 2

A few days after the murder of Joseph Holmes, several prominent Black Republicans came to Charlotte County to meet with local Black citizens. As reported in the Richmond Daily Dispatch on June 23, 1869, four of these men, Ross (White) Hamilton, George Tucker, John Watson, and A. P. Lathrop were arrested and charged with “feloniously conspiring one with another to incite the colored population of the county and State to make war against the white population, by acts of violence and war…” The indictment linked them to the burning of several houses in the County belonging to white people. With the County in an uproar, Holmes’s killers still at large, and their boast that they would kill the leading Black Republicans, the jailed men rightly feared for their safety. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus alleging the prisoners were illegally detained was presented by their supporters to Judge Alfred Morton of the Sixth Judicial Circuit at Richmond. The writ was granted, the prisoners were brought before Judge Morton, and ultimately released on bail. On August 2, 1869, the charges against the four men were dropped by order of General John M. Schofield, commander of the First Military District.

But the harassment did not end there. In April 1871, arrest warrants for the original charges were again issued for the four men. Tucker and Lathrop were not found. John Watson had died in December 1870, after having won a seat in the House of Delegates in July. However, Ross Hamilton, who had been elected to serve the balance of Watson’s term, was arrested. A writ of habeas corpus was presented to Judge Robert C. Bouldin of Charlotte County and was immediately granted. Hamilton was released and the matter ended there. Hamilton would go on to serve seven consecutive terms in the House from 1870 through 1883. Although the murder of Joseph R. Holmes was reported around the world, the story was quickly corrupted and ultimately forgotten. Modern-day people, born and raised in Charlotte County, Black and white, had never heard of him.

That injustice was corrected on October 23, 2021, when a Virginia State Historical Marker for Joseph R. Holmes was unveiled on the courthouse green in Charlotte Court House. The large crowd in attendance included many collateral descendants of Holmes. The marker reads:

Joseph R. Holmes – Historical Marker

Joseph R. Holmes

(ca. 1838 – 1869)

Joseph R. Holmes, formerly enslaved in Charlotte County, campaigned for civil rights and education after emancipation. He served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Party conventions in 1867 and 1869 and was elected to represent Charlotte and Halifax Counties in Virginia’s Constitutional Convention of 1867-1868, held as a precondition for the state’s readmission to the Union. On 3 May 1869 Holmes was shot dead here on the courthouse steps. Brothers John Marshall and Griffin S. Marshall, William T. Boyd and Macon C. Morris, all white, were charged with his murder. The men fled and were never tried. The murder drew international attention to the plight of freedpeople during Reconstruction.

Here are my closing remarks at the unveiling:

“It is a recognition of the accomplishments of Joseph R. Holmes, who overcame immense hardship to fight for the freedoms and rights he believed everyone deserved. It is long overdue justice for Joe Holmes, revealing the truth about his death and the men responsible. And it is a homegoing for Joe, a man I have come to know at least a little and feel great admiration for. Rest well, Joe, you will not be forgotten again.“

Kathy Lee Erlandson Liston is an archaeologist and historian living in Charlotte County, VA. Kathy can be contacted at kle1993@gmail.com