A. P. Huggins Explained

Allen Pardee Huggins (1839–1916)^[1] was a Union Army soldier, Freedmen’s Bureau official, sheriff, county school superintendent, tax official, and state legislator in Mississippi.

He was born in Ohio and grew up in Niles, Michigan. Described as a “carpetbagger” who sympathized with African Americans, he served as Monroe County’s superintendent of education.^[2] He worked to establish public schools for African Americans.^[3]

He was attacked by Ku Klux Klan members who demanded he leave Monroe County.^{[4] [5] [6] [7]} Huggins refused and "was taken a quarter of a mile down the road and given 75 lashes with a stout leather stirrup strap.^[8] He testified about Ku Klux Klan activities.^{[9] [10]} Benjamin Butler reportedly waved his bloody shirt while speaking in the U.S. Congress.^[11] After Klan members arrested for harassing and intimidating a teacher were bonded they were given an ovation upon their return to Aberdeen. Huggins explained that they were men of society, culture, and standing in the community who had by their own account whipped a Yankee and killed a “few niggers”.^[12]

During the American Civil War he commanded troops in Aberdeen, Mississippi.^[13]

He attended an 1874 convention in Chattanooga as a representative from Mississippi.^[14]

The waving of his bloodied shirt became emblematic of the dismissal by many Southern whites of violence against Blacks and their allies. It is referred to in the title of a book by Stephen Budiansky about violence after the American Civil War during the Reconstruction era.^[15] He served as a revenue agent for the U.S. government.^[16]

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Bulletin. Sons of the Revolution California. Society. October 27, 1942. The Society.. Google Books.
2. Web site: Laws of the State of Mississippi . Mississippi . 1874 .
3. Web site: Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, Made to the Two Houses of Congress February 19, 1872: Testimony, Mississippi . 1872 .
4. Book: Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom . 9780807888971 . Williams . Heather Andrea . 20 November 2009 . Univ of North Carolina Press .
5. Web site: Reconstruction in Mississippi . Garner . James Wilford . 1901 .
6. Book: All Things Altered: Women in the Wake of Civil War and Reconstruction . 9781476603926 . Culpepper . Marilyn Mayer . 18 September 2014 . McFarland .
7. Web site: The Michigan Teacher. William Harold. Payne. October 27, 1871. Payne & Whitney.. Google Books.
8. Book: Randel, William Peirce . The Ku Klux Klan: A Century of Infamy . Chilton Company . 1965 . New York . 91 . en-us . 65013920.
9. Web site: Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society . 1906 .
10. Book: Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction . 9780807135358 . Snay . Mitchell . September 2010 . LSU Press .
11. Book: "Beast" Butler: The Incredible Career of Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler . 9781787204591 . Werlich . Robert . 28 June 2017 . Pickle Partners .
12. Web site: Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Testimony taken by the Joint Select Committee to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states: Mississippi (June 8-November 17, 1871) . 1872 .
13. Book: The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant: November 1, 1870-May 31, 1871 . 9780809321971 . Grant . Ulysses Simpson . 1998 . SIU Press .
14. Web site: Vicksburg Herald, October 18, 1874 – Against All Odds.
15. Web site: Reconstruction's bloody, racist history retold. April 13, 2008. 53. newspapers.com.
16. Web site: Mississippi: a Documentary History. Bradley G.. Bond. October 27, 2003. Univ. Press of Mississippi. Google Books.