Major General Meade's Report On The Ashburn Murder

MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE

Publication: Headquarters Third Military District, Department of Georgia, Florida and Alabama, 1868, NP

7 1/4" x 4 1/2." 130 pp. George W. Ashburn was a Georgia politician assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan in Columbus, Georgia, for his pro-African-American sentiments. He was the first murder victim of the Klan in Georgia. "The following Official Report is published that the truth in regard to the arrest, confinement and trial of the persons charged with the murder of G.W. Ashburn, of Columbus, Georgia, may be fully known, and the facts set forth in regard to their treatment and that of the witnesses in the case." At the end of the Civil war Ashburn returned to Columbus, Georgia, and was appointed a judge by the military Governor, George G. Meade. In this capacity he authored the provision in the new Georgia Constitution provisions that assured civil rights to blacks. At the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1867, Ashburn suggested that the new Constitution should be implemented even if the people of Georgia didn’t agree. Considered a scalawag by his white Columbus neighbors, he worked with the Freedmen's Bureau and alongside African American leaders, quickly garnering the attention of the Ku Klux Klan, which established their Columbus chapter on March 21, 1868. On the night of March 30, 1868, Ashburn participated at huge gathering of blacks and Republicans at Temperance Hall in Columbus, Georgia. Just after midnight he was murdered by a group of five well-dressed men wearing masks. During the time of Ashburn’s murder Georgia was still under the military governorship of General George Meade of the Third Military District who, upon hearing of the murder, implemented martial law in Columbus, removing the mayor from office, and ordering the immediate arrest of all suspects. The trial, beginning on June 29 gained national attention as over twenty persons were arrested and held at Fort McPherson. The Federal government was pushing for Georgia to ratify the 14th Amendment, while the Georgia legislature was resisting it. The defenders of the KKK saw here an opportunity for a bargain. On July 21, as the trial progressed, Georgia agreed to ratify the 14th Amendment in exchange for General Meade's termination of the prosecution of the murder. All prisoners made bail and returned to Columbus. Not one man was ever prosecuted! Water stain to right edge of booklet for first few pages and Errata and with small chip missing to top corner and top edge of last sheet as well as a small chip missing to bottom of corner of last sheet else very good, housed in a quarter cloth and boards binder with titles stamped in gold gilt on the front cover.