Victim ID: VA1880010201
Victim Name: Columbus Miles
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and riddled with bullets
Accusation: Outraging a young unmarried white woman
Date: 1880-01-02
City: Amherst
Mob Composition: 30-40 armed men
Summary: Columbus Miles, a black-mulatto man, was lynched in Amherst, Virginia on January 2nd, 1880, accused of having assaulted a white woman.
Columbus Miles worked for Mr. Miller, “a poor, but highly respected citizen of Amherst County” (Staunton Spectator). Miles told Miller’s daughter that he was meant to escort her to a party. Miller’s daughter agreed to accompany Miles on a horse, but Miles allegedly made some improper advances to the young lady. After Miller’s daughter was able to escape, Miles followed her back to her home where Miles drew a pistol on the Miller family. Miles eventually “forced the young lady to a schoolhouse, some distance away, where he brutally outraged her person” (Staunton Spectator). Miles fled, but was caught outside of Lexington and was required to stand trial before Justice Goodwin. Miles was ordered to jail and guarded by seven or eight men. While approaching Sandidge Mills, 30 to 40 armed men took Miles from the guards after having exchanged gunfire, and then hanged him on a tree, near a black church. Miles body was found on Sunday morning, still hanging from a tree. The Staunton Spectator claimed that “Though a summary retribution, the general impression seems to be that [the lynching] was richly merited.”
News Coverage: Baltimore Sun, Daily Register, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Staunton Spectator.
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator published on 1880-01-13)
There appears to be no documentation in the only article cited to support the date given for the lynching as January 2, 1880 so I find myself wondering how this date was determined? Also, my research shows Sandiges Mills to be in Amherst County, where the article reports the hanging to have occurred, some 27 miles from Lexington which lies in Rockbridge County. Because the article refers to a “Justice” Goodwin as having “tried” Miles, I find myself wondering if he might have been a magistrate who ordered Miles subsequent return to a jail in the county where the crime is alleged to have been committed, to await trial. Any and all help deeply appreciated.
Rosemary, several other sources indicate that Miles was lynched on January 2nd (for instance see here: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86551652/columbus-miles-1880/). Sandidge’s Mill is indeed in Amherst County, on route 610; the black church mentioned in the article is most likely the Emmanuel Baptist Church on Sandidges Road. Justice Goodwin was most certainly a judge that ordered that Miles be tried in Amherst County. I hope this helps!
Piney Hill is the African American church likely near the route they were taking and near Sandidges