Stories and Folktales – Lafayette’s Planned Invasion of Hartsville?
Stories and Folktales – Lafayette’s Planned Invasion of Hartsville?
During Reconstruction, several competing secret paramilitary organizations rose up in the South. The Loyal League (also called the Union League) began in the North during the Civil War and was established in the South after the war’s end. The organization (which had both black and white members) and the Ku Klux Klan were mortal enemies. The belief was that the Loyal League had members in Macon County and that they were preparing to make a military-type strike on Klansmen in the area.
On March 24, 1868, a letter was mailed from Lafayette to Frank M. Duffy of the Hartsville Vidette. The letter stated:
“I write this to inform you I have information that a raid will be made on your town from the northern portion of this county with intent to break up the organization called Ku Klux Klan by them, and to commit other depredations with that for an excuse. The raid will be probably during the coming week. It would not be safe for my name to be known, I therefore sign incognito . . . Please give the K.K’s warning.”
Duffy took the letter seriously. He immediately released a special edition of the Vidette in which he printed the letter under the headline:
“PREPARE FOR WAR!”
Duffy added:
“The people of Hartsville are warned in due time. Every Negro or white man absent from home between this time and Saturday night will be counted as a member of the invading clan and treated accordingly. Radicals, white and black, are notified to govern themselves accordingly.”
There were several tense days in Hartsville, but the truth was that the warning letter was either a hoax or the result of an unfounded rumor. There is no evidence that any group in Lafayette ever planned to unleash an army against Hartsville.