The Great Winnsboro Shootout

Content Warning: Rape, Murder, Lynching, Racism, and Strong Language. 

 

Scope of work

The focus of this article is twofold. First, it attempts to understand the facts as they are recorded in the newspapers, legal documents, and historical records from the time of the shooting and trials. Second, it attempts to answer the question of how such a thing could happen, in broad daylight, in front of 40 witnesses, and no one was convicted of a crime. Personal recollections and anecdotes, recorded many years after the event by descendants or acquaintances of those involved, are not included here as there is no way to determine their historical accuracy. The reader should bear in mind that the historical record as it exists today is incomplete, contains inaccuracies, and likely reflects the bias of the newspapers carrying the stories. Perhaps, the future discovery of additional documents will shed new light on

The Great Winnsboro Shootout 
by Jim Young

In 1915, the roads were dirt and cars were scarce, so it must have been quite a sight when on June 14^th two of them pulled up to the jail yard in Winnsboro. A small crowd had gathered at the courthouse across the street to await the arrival of Sheriff A. D. Hood and eight deputies who were returning from the State Penitentiary in Columbia with a prisoner who was on trial for his life that day. 

The trouble began a few months earlier on April 12, 1915, when Jules Smith, an African-American farm hand was accused of Criminal Assault (i.e. rape) of a woman the newspapers only described as the wife of a prominent farmer. Smith allegedly tried to steal a firearm from the home, accidentally discharged it, and alerted the community to his presence. For the next three days Smith avoided both the sheriff's posse and a lynch mob but on April 15^th, D.B Boney, a local merchant, spotted Smith walking along the railroad tracks in Blythewood, which is in Richland County. Boney ordered Smith to stop, and when he didn't, Boney telephoned Sheriff McCain of Richland County. Sheriff McCain, along with Columbia Police Chief W. C. Cathcart, Jule Isom, a dog handler, and some bloodhounds, drove up to Blythewood to have the dogs pick up the scent. Sheriff Hood also drove down from Winnsboro. By the time the lawmen arrived, a citizen, J.M. Hawley, had taken Smith into custody and turned him over to the constable of the local magistrate, Dr. Langsford. Sheriff Hood, fearing a lynching back in Winnsboro, took Smith to the penitentiary in Columbia for safe keeping. As we shall soon see, that precaution was futile. There, Smith allegedly made a full confession of his crimes to Chief Cathcart and Sheriff Hood. W.C. Cathcart came up to Winnsboro on the morning of the trial to testify about the confession. However, we will never know exactly what Smith confessed to or under what circumstances as the trial never took place.

As the cars pulled into the Jail Yard, the crowd in front of the court house assumed it would all be over in a few minutes. Smith would be found guilty, sentenced to the electric chair, and returned to Columbia to await execution, but that didn't happen.

The building at the lower right is the death house at the South Carolina Penitentiary in Columbia, SC as it appeared mid 20^th century. Since Jules Smith allegedly made a full confession of his crimes, the people in Winnsboro expected he would be found guilty, sentenced to death, and returned to Columbia to await his fate in the electric chair, but that didn't happen. (Photo by courtesy of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame)

What did happen next is not exactly clear. As one newspaper put it, they could not find two witnesses who told the same story. In addition, the earliest reports in the newspapers drew largely from the proceedings of both the Grand Jury and Coroner's Jury which did not have the benefit of cross examination by or testimony of those who would be indicted. Therefore, the first reports were extremely one-sided. What follows here is a combination of the various articles from the time of the incident. When we get to the trial, we will hear what the defense had to say.

When Sheriff Hood and the eight deputies got out of the cars, the sheriff appointed another twelve men as special deputies. The sheriff said, “All right boys, now let's all get around him.” and the posse started across the street. The task seemed simple enough. All they had to do was to walk about 75 feet across the street, up the stairs on the front of the courthouse, and into the courtroom on the second floor...but it wasn't as simple as it seemed.

The old Winnsboro Jail stood across the street from the courthouse.
 ( courtesy of the Fairfield County South Carolina Historical Museum.)

As the posse was crossing the street, Clyde Isenhower, the husband of the alleged victim was walking back and forth in front of the group with his coat jacket over his arm. Sheriff Hood and some of the deputies kept pushing him back, away from the prisoner. When they reached the steps at the north end of the building (right side of the photograph), a couple of deputies, Deputy Beckham being one of them, went up the steps first. Sheriff Hood was on the left side of the stairs closest to the street, Jules Smith was in the middle, Deputy W.L Haynes was on the right side closest to the wall, and the remaining deputies trailed behind. The sheriff went up a few steps, crossed the landing, turned to go up the remaining stairs, and after going up one or two more steps, the shooting started. One witness claimed that Jesse Morrison, the brother of the alleged victim said, “Now is the time.” Clyde Isenhower then produced a gun from under his jacket. Sheriff Hood reportedly said, “Oh no you don't,” and Clyde Isenhower then shot Jules Smith once in the stomach. Isenhower then turned his gun on the sheriff, hitting him once or twice before the sheriff pulled out his own gun. As we will see later, the defense disputed this version of events.

These two photographs illustrate how the stairs at the front of the courthouse looked at the time of the shooting. Sheriff Hood and the posse were going up the north stairs, which are to the right side of these photographs. The stairs started behind the column and went straight toward the wall for a few steps to a landing. There they turned ninety degrees and went up alongside the wall through an opening on the second floor balcony. Sheriff Hood had just passed the landing and had gone up one or two more steps when the shooting erupted. The wall behind where he, Smith, and Deputy Haynes were standing was covered in bullet holes. The courthouse was remodeled in the 1930s. The stairs were moved to their current location and a window was placed in the wall at approximately the spot that was covered with the bullet holes. 
(Photographs by courtesy of the Fairfield County South Carolina Historical Museum.)

The sheriff and Clyde Isenhower then stood with the barrels of their guns less than eighteen inches apart, firing until their guns were empty. Simultaneously, a general melee broke out. The reports of the shooting vary widely. They say that the mob was as small as five men or as large as one hundred, and the incident lasted from a few seconds with less than forty shots fired to several minutes with more than a hundred shots fired. One thing is for sure: based on the number of bullet holes in the courthouse wall and the number of people wounded, there were more than just two people shooting that day. Deputy Haynes stated that when the shooting started he froze, and it is a good thing he did as the bullet holes in the wall completely surrounded where he was standing.

This is a close up of the lower picture mentioned above. Unfortunately, it may be the best existing picture of the bullet holes in the courthouse wall. Deputy Haynes was next to the wall when the shooting started. He said that he froze and it is a good thing he did. If he had moved, he likely would have been shot. If anyone has a clearer copy of this picture, please donate it or a copy to the Fairfield County Historical Museum. The original appeared on the front page of the June 16, 1915 edition of The State. This edition of the paper is now in the Public Domain.

One version of events states that Sheriff Hood carried his mortally wounded prisoner up the remaining steps and placed him in the docket of the courtroom before collapsing in a corner with the words, “Well, they've got me. I've been shot.” However, Deputy Beckham, who was further up the stairs when the shooting started, stated that Smith ran past him so fast he could not catch him. As they said at the end of the 1962 movie Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” and so the legend of a mortally wounded Sheriff Hood carrying his prisoner up the stairs is the one that is best remembered.

Deputy J. Raleigh Boulware went up the stairs after the sheriff, came back out of the court room, and started down the steps. The State's witnesses testified that as Boulware was coming down the steps, Clyde Isenhower's brother Ernest stepped out from behind the north column, said, “You're the SOB I have been looking for” and shot Deputy Boulware as he was waving his hands and mouthing the words, “Don't shoot me.” Boulware then went back up the stairs, lay down on a table in the courtroom, asked for a doctor, and told Deputy Cauthen that Ernest Isenhower had shot him.

Sheriff Hood and Deputy Boulware. This may be the only picture of 

Raleigh Boulware that was in the newspapers.

A few minutes after the shooting stopped, Jules Smith died. He was approximately 21 years old. Sheriff Hood sat in a corner of the courthouse with 5 punctures in his body, having been shot 3 times. Clyde Isenhower had stumbled into the Sheriff's office on the first floor of the courthouse and collapsed while trying to reload his pistol. He had been shot seven times and had thirteen punctures in his body. Deputy Boulware lay on a table, shot once in the stomach. Deputy Beckham was shot once through the calf. Deputy Earl Stevenson was shot once or twice in the left arm so severely that at first they thought he would bleed to death and later thought he would lose his arm. A half dozen or more people were injured less severely either from bullets, bullet fragments, or flying pieces of masonry. The town's doctors came out immediately and began tending to the wounded. 

Mayor Robinson, fearing a general riot, telegraphed the Governor's Office for permission to call out the local militia. Captain Doty assembled his Winnsboro company, but realizing he did not have enough ammunition, telephoned to Columbia for more. Major J. Shapter Caldwell, the Assistant Adjutant General of the State Militia organized a convoy of two cars, ten armed guards, 4,800 rounds of rifle ammunition, and 700 rounds of pistol ammunition. The convoy proceeded to Winnsboro at breakneck speed over the rural roads. They made the trip in one hour and fifteen minutes.. By the time they arrived, it was all over, and had been over for quite some time. They stayed in town for a few hours, then drove back to Columbia, and Captain Doty had his troops stand down.

In 1915, the rails were the smoothest and quickest way from Columbia to Winnsboro and a special train was sent carrying Dr. LeGrand Guerry and several surgeons with instructions to begin treating Sheriff Hood at once and do whatever they could for him. The doctors decided that the best thing they could do was to get the sheriff back to Columbia and operate. As the sheriff's stretcher was being loaded onto the train, he spoke his last words, “I expect that I will die, but I have done my duty.” He then lapsed into unconsciousness. Mrs. Hood, Deputy Boulware, Deputy Beckham, and several of the walking wounded rode the train as well. The train stopped at Hampton Street, near the hospital, and Sheriff Hood, still unconscious, was immediately taken into surgery. The doctors repaired 12 perforations in his bowels, but he never awoke from the anesthesia. He came out of surgery at 10 pm and died later that night. He was 46. Raleigh Boulware was also taken into surgery and had seven perforations in his intestines sewn up. He survived the surgery, but remained hospitalized in very critical condition.

Clyde Isenhower was placed on a board and laid under a tree in the courthouse yard. He reportedly was very brave and never moaned or complained. He had time to speak with his brother J.P., a preacher, about the state of his soul as well as financial arrangements for his infant child. Isenhower also spoke to Mr. Rabb who would later testify that Clyde Isenhower told him he did not intend to shoot the sheriff and only did so because the sheriff shot him first. Later in the day a northbound train took Clyde Isenhower and Deputy Stevenson to Dr. Proctor's Clinic in Chester. Later that night, a newspaper erroneously reported that Clyde Isenhower had died. He had not. He lasted another whole day. One report stated that when Isenhower got the news that Sheriff Hood had died, he smiled.

Newspapers around the country picked up the story. It even made headlines in Hawaii. Most newspapers carried sensational headlines such as The Great Winnsboro Tragedy, The Great Winnsboro Massacre, or the Great Winnsboro Shootout. 

Early in the afternoon of the 14^th, both the Grand Jury and the Coroner's Jury went to work. Judge Wilson and Solicitor Henry made impassioned pleas to the Grand Jury to do their duty and take action against the assault on justice itself that had occurred that day. Just three years earlier, the “Allen Clan” shot up the courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia, killing the judge, the sheriff, the prosecutor, a juror, and a witness. Two of those men, Floyd Allen and his son Claude, went to the electric chair and many people expected the same for those responsible for shooting up the courthouse in Winnsboro. The two juries very quickly developed the same story of what had happened. Five men were named as the assailants: Clyde Isenhower, his brother Ernest, his brother in law Jesse Morrison, James Rawls (who had no apparent connection to anyone and may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time), and a fifth, unknown man whom no one had seen before, but they would surely recognize if they saw him again. At Morrison's command, Clyde Isenhower shot Jules Smith and the other men began firing, ducking around the northernmost column of the courthouse. Clyde Isenhower and the Sheriff emptied their guns into one another and then the sheriff carried Smith into the courtroom followed by Raleigh Boulware. When the shooting stopped, Raleigh Boulware started down the steps and Ernest Isenhower stepped out from behind the column and shot him.

On the afternoon of June the 14^th, the Grand Jury recommended indictments against the four men for the murder of Jules Smith and an assault upon Sheriff Hood. After Sheriff Hood died, the assault charge was changed to murder and after Clyde Isenhower died, he was dropped from the indictments. 

This is the first page of the official record of the Coroner's Inquest over the body of Jules Smith. Deputy Haynes was to the right of Smith. The wall immediately behind Haynes was marked with bullet holes. The entire record including all of the witnesses testimony is now in the files of the Fairfield County Historical Museum. 
(Image by courtesy of the Fairfield County Clerk of Court.)

Ernest Isenhower, Jesse Morrison, and Jim Rawls were arrested and placed in the Winnsboro jail until Governor Manning became concerned for their safety and had them moved to the state penitentiary in Columbia. The three men who were accused of murdering Jules Smith were then sitting in the same prison Smith had left a few days earlier.

On the morning of June the 15^th, Sheriff Hood's body came back up the tracks from Columbia. It was carried to his home for preparation for burial. On June the 16^th the town shut down to mourn the sheriff. Gov Manning and everyone who was anyone was there. Rev. Oliver H. Johnson and Rev. A.B. Travick officiated the service at First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro after which Sheriff Hood's body was taken to the First United Methodist cemetery and buried with Masonic rites. Later that afternoon, Rev. Johnson rode out to the Wateree Creek community to Mt. Olivet Church and officiated the funeral for Clyde Isenhower, thus burying, in the same day, the two men who had shot each other to death.

The top photo is of the Woodmen of the World's procession carrying Sheriff Hood's body to the cemetery. The bottom photo is of the graveside service. 
 (Photos courtesy of Fairfield County Historical Museum.)

This is the stone over the grave of Cyde Isenhower in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery 
(Photograph courtesy of Fairfield County Museum and Genealogy Room.)

In the days and weeks immediately following the shooting, there was a great outpouring of both outrage and a desire for action. The newspapers were filled with eyewitness accounts, of which there were many, as well as calls for swift justice, and memorials for Sheriff Hood. The State newspaper in Columbia began collecting donations for a memorial. The Sheriff's Association sent a letter to every sheriff in the state asking for $10 for a memorial to Hood. The Bankers association also called for a memorial, and schoolchildren held plays to raise money for a memorial in honor of the fallen sheriff.

There were also letters to the editor praising Clyde Isenhower and calling for a memorial to honor him.

Raleigh Boulware lingered near death for three weeks. On July the 3^rd, the day after his 30^th birthday, he finally succumbed to sepsis. His remains were buried in the Lebanon Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Fairfield Co. The juries met again and this time they decided that Ernest Isenhower alone was responsible for Bouleware's death. This raised an interesting point that would later come up at trial. How could it be that all three of the men were responsible for the deaths of Sheriff Hood and Jules Smith, but only Ernest Isenhower was responsible for the death of Raleigh Boulware? 

This is part of the first page of the official record of the Coroner's Inquest over the body of Raleigh Boulware. The entire record including all of the witnesses testimony is now in the files of the Fairfield County Historical Museum. (Image by courtesy of the Fairfield County Clerk of Court.)

This is the stone over the grave of Raleigh Boulware in the Lebanon Cemetery. Raleigh lingered for almost three weeks after the shooting and died one day after his thirtieth birthday. 
 (Photograph courtesy of Fairfield County Museum and Genealogy Room.)

The summer months of 1915 were a time of legal maneuvering in preparation for the upcoming trial. The defendants retained counsel and were released on bail.

Ernest Isenhower made an interesting choice of counsel. He hired former Governor Coleman Blease as his defense attorney. Blease was a larger than life character whose stunts could fill many pages, but he was also an excellent defense attorney. In 1903,when Lt. Governor Jim Tillman shot and killed unarmed newspaper editor Narciso Gonzales in broad daylight in front of many witnesses, it was Blease who got him acquitted.

As Governor, Blease once made a speech at a governor'sconference in which he asserted that lynching was a duty and the law should not stand in the way. When one of the other governors asked Blease how he could say such a thing when the State Constitution required him to provide equal protection under the law, Blease replied that the constitution could, “go to hell.” To Blease's way of thinking, lynching was even better for the prisoner as it spared him the humiliation of a trial and the agony of sitting on death row waiting for the inevitable. 

 

This is just one of numerous newspaper articles regarding controversial speeches made by Coleman Blease. This article quotes him as saying that the constitution of South Carolina could go to hell if it stood in the way of lynching. The headline also reads that "disgusted women leave." The newspaper accounts of Blease's last campaign speech of the 1916 election have the women of Winnsboro moving out of earshot.

In 1914, Blease ran for governor against Richard Manning and during that campaign Blease vowed that he would never turn the Government over to Manning, a progressive. After losing the election, it seemed that he would have to break that promise, but a few days before Manning's inauguration in January of 1915, Blease resigned from office forcing his Lt. Governor to make the transition of power to Manning.

In those days, elections were every two years. Blease saw his role as Ernest Isenhower's defense attorney as an opportunity to get back at Manning. He blamed Manning for the Winnsboro tragedy, and in 1916 Blease once again ran against Manning for the governor's office.

In September of 1915, as the fall session of court was approaching, the defendants applied for a change in venue claiming that they could not get a fair trial in Winnsboro. The judge granted the motion and the trial was moved to the new courthouse in York. Solicitor Henry said that he would rather that the people in Fairfield be allowed to finish what had been started there, but that he would try the case in York. 

In 1915, the trials were moved to York County, South Carolina and were held in the then new courthouse . The above picture shows the actual room where the trials were held as it looks after its recent restoration. The jury box is in the right front of the picture. 
(photograph by Aaron Reel, used by courtesy of the York County, SC Clerk of Court.)

In November the case came to trial and many people from Fairfield traveled to York to watch. Sheriff Brown of York took extra precautions to ensure that there was no violence in his courthouse. Each person entering the court room was frisked for weapons. W.L. Haynes, a former deputy in Fairfield, and a witness for the state, was found in possession of a pair of brass knuckles. Blease later made good use of this fact to discredit Haynes when he had him on the witness stand. Up until the day of the trial, everyone expected that all of the men would be tried together, but for reasons that were not explained in the newspapers, the three trials were separated, and Ernest Isenhower was tried first for the death of Raleigh Boulware, and for carrying a concealed weapon. Even though this trial was for the murder of Bouleware, Blease did not miss an opportunity to fill the newspapers with information that he would later use as a defense in the trials for the murders of Sheriff Hood and Jules Smith. Blease's talking points were: his client had not shot anyone. If he did it was only in self-defense during the confusion of everyone shooting at everyone else, and even then it was not wrong as the whole thing was the sheriff's fault. The deputies had been drinking on the way to Columbia. The deputies were not all wearing badges so it was not possible to know who was shooting at whom, and finally, if Sheriff Hood had not interfered with Clyde Eisenhower's right to avenge his wife, none of this would have happened.

The State called five witnesses who all told pretty much the same story as that recounted above, i.e. that Clyde Isenhower fired the first shot which struck Jules Smith. Then a general melee broke out during which Clyde Isenhower and Sheriff Hood shot each other. Sheriff Hood then carried Jules Smith up to the courtroom, followed by Raleigh Boulware. Some said the firing had stopped, others that it had slowed down, and others that it was still ongoing when Raleigh Boulware started back down the steps. His gun was not drawn. Ernest Isenhower then stepped out from behind the column and, according to S.Y. Ross, said, “You are the SOB I have been looking for.” Boulware was waving his hands and mouthing the words, “Don't shoot me.” Ernest Isenhower fired one shot which struck Boulware in the side. Boulware then turned and went back up the steps. Other variations to the story are that Boulware placed either his right or left hand over his side when he was shot, and that he either reached for or pulled his pistol out after he was shot. Doctor Douglass testified that he did not find the bullet that killed Raleigh Boulware but that it had entered his left side and ranged upward toward the right. O.C. Cauthen testified that after Boulware was shot, he told Cauthen that it was Ernest Isenhower who shot him.

The defense only called a few witnesses: W.C. Cathcart, who stated that the whole affair was over in three minutes and who was not allowed to testify to the alleged confession Jules Smith made in his presence; E.C. Latham who testified that he saw Raleigh Boulware shooting at Ernest Isenhower before Boulware himself was shot; J.P. Isenhower, who testified that he had not cautioned his brothers about engaging in trouble with the officers before the shooting; T.J. Rabb who after some legal wrangling was allowed to testify that the mortally wounded Clyde Isenhower told him that he did not intend to shoot the sheriff but did so because the sheriff shot him first; and Ernest Isenhower himself who told a much different story than the State's witnesses. Isenhower admitted that even though he was not in the habit of carrying a gun, he put one in his pocket as he headed into town that day. He said there was no particular reason to do so, but perhaps he thought if the prisoner tried to escape, he could aid in the capture. Isenhower said that when the trouble broke out and everyone was shooting at his brother Clyde, he pulled his pistol and ran up to the column to try and help his brother. There, he said, Raleigh Boulware, who was coming down the stairs, shot at him twice with one bullet going through his coat. Isenhower said that Raleigh Boulware then started back up the steps, stopped, and turned to level his pistol and fire at Isenhower again, and that is when Isenhower shot at Boulware, but doubted he hit him. Isenhhower further testified that the general shooting had not ended at this time and other people were still firing their guns. He also denied cursing at Boulware, or having any discussions with his brother about, nor intentions of causing trouble that morning.

Each side was given 2 hours for summation and Coleman Blease, the lead defense attorney, used an hour and ten minutes of that. The newspaper tells us that he examined the facts in the case, but does not give us much detail as to which facts he examined or what he pointed out. There is one mention of him calling attention to the ballistic evidence. The papers are clear, however, that Blease used the summation for one last attempt at jury nullification. (That is, even if Ernest Isenhower was guilty as charged, the jury should acquit him as the law was wrong.) He told the jurors that the whole state of South Carolina would be watching to see if they would support white women.

Both Solicitor Henry in his closing arguments and Judge Rice in his charge to the jury told them that they could not decide the case on some higher unwritten law but must decide based on the statutes of the state and the testimony they heard.

The case was given to the jury and court adjourned for the afternoon recess. When the session resumed at 3:30 PM on November 15^th, the jury returned with their verdict: not guilty. The newspaper was able to interview one juror who stated that they had acquitted on the murder charge in the first ten minutes of deliberation, but one of the jurors asked what they should do about the concealed weapon charge. They deliberated this charge for the remainder of the lunch break and finally decided that since neither the solicitor nor the judge mentioned it during either the summation or charge to the jury, they would acquit on that charge as well.

At first it might seem that Blease's attempts at jury nullification worked, and they may have, but if we look closely at the evidence before the jury, there was a serious problem with the State's case. All of the State's witnesses testified that Raleigh Boulware was coming down the steps when he was shot. He then stopped, turned, and went back up the steps. Dr. Douglass testified that he did not find the bullet that killed Boulware, but the bullet entered about the middle of the stomach and ranged upward and to the right. He further added that whoever shot Boulware was standing below him and to his left. As Boulware was coming down the stairs, his left side would have been toward the wall and his right side toward the street. As Boulware was coming down the stairs, Ernest Isenhower was standing below him and to his right. The shooting of Boulware could not have happened as the State's witnesses said it did. This coupled with the fact that there was no ballistic evidence to tie the gun Ernest was using to the bullet that killed Raleigh Boulware, may have given the jury reasonable doubt. This may have been the ballistic evidence that Blease examined in his closing arguments. If Solicitor Henry made any attempt to resolve this discrepancy between the eye witness testimony and the ballistic evidence, there is no record of it in the newspaper reports as they exist today. 

This is part of the True Bill indicting Ernest Isenhower for the murder of Raleigh Boulware. Note the not guilty verdict. The full document is now in the files of the Fairfield County Historical Museum. (Image by courtesy of the York County Clerk of Court.) 

There was not enough time in the fall session of court to try the men on the remaining charges for the murders of Sheriff Hood and Jules Smith. Those trials were continued until the spring1916 session and then again until the fall of 1916.

During the governor's race of 1916, Blease used his campaign speeches to both bash Manning and lay the groundwork for his upcoming defense of Ernest Isenhower for the murders of Sheriff Hood and Jules Smith. Blease claimed that the Winnsboro affair was a terrible tragedy brought about by Governor Manning and Sheriff Hood himself. During the 1914 campaign, Manning had said that if any sheriff allowed a lynching to occur, Manning would remove them from office. Blease expanded on this by claiming to have a letter written by Sheriff Hood to Clyde Isenhower stating that Governor Manning told Sheriff Hood that if he did not get Jules Smith to trial, Governor Manning would remove him from office. As he made his stump speech, Blease would reach over and tap his breast pocket to indicate he had the letter with him, but said he wouldn't take it out as he did not want to politicize the upcoming trial, which was exactly what he was doing. Blease further stated that if elected, he would put an end to the lawlessness in the state which was the result of Governor Manning interfering with a higher justice. The campaign came to an end in August with the last stop in Winnsboro. The newspapers reported that Gov. Manning paid a beautiful tribute to the dead sheriff and laid flowers on his grave. Blease, on the other hand, was said to have made the bitterest speech of the entire campaign, using language so offensive that many of the women in the audience retired beyond earshot. Once again, Blease blamed the whole incident on Gov. Manning, citing the letter allegedly written from Sheriff Hood to Clyde Isenhower.

In November of 1916, Ernest Isenhower, Jesse Morrison, and James Rawls were brought back to York to stand trial for the murder of Sheriff Hood. The State's case was the same as before. As Sheriff Hood and his posse started up the courthouse steps, Morrison said, “Now is the time”. Clyde Isenhower then pulled a gun, and Hood said, “You can't do that” or “Don't do that.” Then Clyde fired the first shot, striking Jules Smith in the stomach. A general fusillade then broke out during which Hood and Isenhower stood with the barrels of their pistols only eighteen inches apart firing into each other. The witnesses collectively identified Clyde Isenhower, Ernest Isenhower, Jesse Morrison, and James Rawls as the men who were shooting at the posse. Deputy Scott testified that as the posse crossed the street, Clyde Isenhower kept getting in front of them. He pushed Clyde off to the left and when they got to the stairs, Clyde pulled the gun. Drs. Buchannan and Douglass testified that the bullets that killed both Jules Smith and Sheriff Hood were .32, the same caliber Clyde Isenhower was using. Dr. Buchannan added that Sheriff Hood had been shot three times and had five perforations in his body.

The defense then presented its case. Rev. J.P. Isenhower, Clyde's brother, testified that after the shooting, he spent some time with his brother as he lay mortally wounded. Clyde told him that he never intended to shoot the sheriff and only did so after Sheriff Hood had shot him in the arm. He also said that he did intend to shoot the prisoner as God had told him to do it.

James Rawls was the first of the three defendants to take the stand. He testified that he was no relation to either the Isenhowers or the Morrisons and had no particular interest in the trial. He came to town with his neighbor Frank Neil that day to make some purchases and went into the store where J.W. Hood worked. There J.W. Hood returned a pistol he had borrowed from Rawls the previous week. Rawls stated that he placed the pistol in his pocket with the barrel up and never took it out. After the incident was over, he went to the store of Palmer Mathers (perhaps Matthews), and left the pistol there. The coroner's jury examined the pistol immediately after the shooting and determined that the gun was fully loaded, but three chambers were fouled. They could not determine if the gun, a .32 caliber, had been used that day or sometime prior. Mr. Neil took the stand and testified that he had been hunting with Rawls the previous week and Rawls had fired that weapon three times.

Jesse Morrison then took the stand. He admitted to having two pistols in his buggy seat, but stated that he did not have them on him at the courthouse. He had his hair cut immediately before the shooting and returned to the barber shop immediately after to have the hair shaved from a wound on his temple. The barber, James Aiken, testified that he didn't see a gun on Morrison either time. Morrison also testified that he did not anticipate any trouble when he went to Winnsboro that morning and did not have any knowledge that Clyde Isenhower intended to shoot Jules Smith. When asked if he had any ideas about how Deputies Stevenson, Richardson, and Beckham got shot, he stated that they probably shot each other.

Ernest Isenhower then took the stand in this the second trial for his life and told much the same story as before. He was a school teacher in Florence County and came home to visit his mother during the summer break. He had purchased a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson for home protection some time previous to the trouble in Winnsboro. He rode into town that day at the request of his mother to meet with Solicitor Henry and ask him not to require Mrs. Clyde Isenhower to testify in court as she was physically unable to do so. He saw the posse arrive and cross the street and then saw his brother Clyde shoot the prisoner. Sheriff Hood shot Clyde, and Clyde then shot the sheriff. As Ernest was walking towards his brother, Raleigh Boulware started shooting at him, and he pulled his pistol and fired one shot in Boulware’s direction. Isenhower also said that he did not go to town that morning with the intention of hurting anyone, he had always been a supporter of Sheriff Hood, and he never threatened the sheriff or cursed at Raleigh Boulware. W.L Haynes, who said that he heard Ernest do both, was recalled to the stand and while his exact words are not recorded, the newspaper simply stated that he did not contradict Ernest's testimony.

The defense rested and the case moved into the closing arguments. Once again, Blease used everything he had, especially jury nullification, to get an acquittal for Ernest. He argued that the whole affair was Sheriff Hood's fault. If Smith had been lynched as soon as he was caught, there would not have been any trouble. Hood had no right to interfere with Clyde Isenhower's right to kill the prisoner. Hood and his deputies made no attempt to arrest or detain Clyde as he was getting in their way crossing the street. The sheriff had no business shooting Clyde after Clyde shot the prisoner as there was no longer a prisoner to protect. Finally, the bullet that killed the Sheriff came from Clyde's gun, a .32 caliber, not Ernest's .38 caliber.

J.W. Hannahan, James Rawls’ attorney, then argued that the state had failed to show a conspiracy. There was no relation between Rawls and either the Isenhowers or the Morrisons, and Rawls had no interest in the case. Hannahan further argued that if there had been a conspiracy, as the State suggested, everyone named Isenhower or Morrison would have been in town shooting that day and they were not.

John R Hart then argued for the defense that it had been proved beyond a doubt that it was Clyde Isenhower who had killed both the sheriff and the prisoner. He also argued that the constitution gives men the right to carry arms and the fact that the defendants had guns that day does not prove a conspiracy. He then he quoted a Bible story about the sons of Jacob lynching Shechem for ravishing Dinah (another attempt at jury nullification). He seemed to be implying that the defendants did not kill the sheriff, but even if they had, they had a right to as the sheriff was interfering.

Solicitor Henry then closed for the State imploring the jury to uphold the rule of law, which does not give an individual the right to avenge his own wrongs, and in so doing to protect both the future and the officers who uphold the law.

It took the jury ten minutes to acquit. 

This is part of the True Bill indicting Ernest Isenhower, Jesse Morrison, and James Rawls for the murder of Sheriff Hood. Note the not guilty verdict. The entire True Bill is now in the files of the Fairfield County Historical Museum. (Image by courtesy of the York County Clerk of Court.)

In 1915, when the incident first happened and the papers were full of reports from the proceedings of the Coroner's and Grand Juries, it seemed as if the State had a strong case against all the men. The attack on the posse was coordinated as indicated by Morrison's alleged signal, the simultaneous eruption of firing, and the sheer number of bullet holes in the wall where the prisoner, the sheriff, and Deputy Haynes had been standing. Eyewitnesses, some of whom had been in the thick of things, identified the accused as the shooters. Clyde Isenhower, Ernest Isenhower, and James Morrison all were related to the alleged victim. Clyde, as he lay dying, admitted to shooting both the prisoner and the sheriff. James Rawls picked up a gun at one store before the shooting and left it at another just after the shooting where it was found with three fouled chambers. Ernest Isenhower had a gun, admitted that he fired a gun, and hid it behind a piece of furniture in a store where it later disappeared. As far as the newspapers were concerned, the three men who had survived were guilty and should go to the electric chair, but the jury didn't see it that way.

Unfortunately, we don't have any interviews with the jurors to explain the deliberations, and we are left to wonder if they were swayed by the defense attorneys' appeal to a higher law or if they simply had reasonable doubt concerning the men's guilt. If we go back and look at the charges brought against the men, it seems that the State itself may have provided reasonable doubt. If all of the men were part of a conspiracy and therefore all were guilty of the death of the sheriff and the prisoner, then why was Ernest Isenhower alone charged with the murder of Deputy Boulware? If all of the men were part of a conspiracy but only one was responsible for Raleigh Boulware's death, then why wouldn't it be, as the defense attorneys claimed, that Clyde Isenhower alone was responsible for the death of the sheriff?

We will probably never know why the jury acquitted. All we can factually say is that they did. The three defendants asked for and received permission to thank the jury. They as well as Coleman Blease shook each juror's hand and personally thanked them for the decision. Solicitor Henry immediately declared that he would be back in April of 1917 to try the men again for the murder of Jules Smith and Coleman Blease immediately declared that another trial would be a farce as no jury would convict them. It appears that Solicitor Henry must have come to agree with Blease as there is no record of a third trial ever taking place.

After the trial, Ernest Isenhower returned to Florence County where he was a model citizen. He taught school, he ran the Post Office in Lake City, he was a deputy sheriff, and when he died in 1954, he was the Clerk of Court. His obituary made no mention of the fact that he faced the electric chair three times and won.

Coleman Blease went on to represent South Carolina in the United States Senate where he continued to espouse his supremacist views. There, he introduced legislation to make interracial marriage a Federal crime and he protested when Mrs. Hoover invited an African-American woman to tea in the White House by writing and reciting a racist poem on the Senate floor. The poem was not entered into the Congressional Record.

There is no further mention of either Jesse Morrison or James Rawls in the newspapers.

There is no further mention of Jules Smith in the newspapers and the location of his grave is unknown.

After the acquittal, most of the newspapers were pretty reserved in their reporting in comparison to the outrage and sensationalism immediately following the shootout. Most just reported the facts of the acquittal and left the story there. The State in Columbia did print a moving editorial stating that some day the history of Fairfield County would be written, and with it the story of Sheriff Hood, and school children would be taught to honor his name, but that didn't happen. If you stop a young person on the street in Winnsboro and ask them if they know who Sheriff Hood is you are very likely to receive a blank stare.

It appears that in spite of the calls from several different groups to raise a monument to Sheriff Hood, only two were erected at that time. In June of 1916, the State Banker's Association erected a tablet in the Winnsboro Court Room to honor Sheriff Hood and Deputy Boulware. In December of that same year a monument was placed on Sheriff Hood's grave in the First United Methodist Cemetery in Winnsboro with the inscription stating that it was erected by Woodsmen of the World and Citizens. It is not clear if the various groups raising money for a monument contributed to the one on the grave and are the citizens the inscription refers to, or if there are other monuments out there. The newspaper in Columbia that was collecting funds for a memorial did not respond to the author's requests for further information to identify where those funds went. Both the South Carolina Sheriff's Association and the Woodmen of the World responded that their records did not go back that far, so there is no way of knowing if the funds raised by the Sheriff's Association or the school children went toward the monument on the grave. And so it seems that after 100 years the memories of Sheriff A.D. Hood, Deputy J. Raleigh Boulware, and the sacrifice they made are simply fading away.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, there were numerous calls to raise funds to erect a monument to the fallen officers. The State newspaper in Columbia collected funds. The South Carolina Sheriff's Association asked each sheriff to contribute $10. School Children staged plays to raise money, and the South Carolina Banker's Association commissioned the plaque for the Court House, shown in the bottom photograph. The top photograph shows the monument that was placed on Sheriff Hood's grave in the United Methodist Cemetery by The Woodmen of the World and Citizens. As records for that period no longer exist, it is not clear if the citizens mentioned in the inscription include the various groups that were raising money at the time or, perhaps, there are other monuments that have not yet been located. 

(Photographs courtesy of Fairfield County Museum and Genealogy Room.)

There is, however, one place in the state dedicated to keeping alive the memories of Sheriff Hood, Deputy Boulware, and all of the Law Enforcement Officers who have died in service to South Carolina. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame on Broad River Rd. in Columbia has a memorial room with a plaque and descriptive information for over 300 officers who have died in the line of duty since 1797. 

The Rotunda at the Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame in Columbia, SC has a memorial plaque and biographical information, if available, for each of the over 300 line of duty deaths in South Carolina.

Here is an interview with Marsha Trowbridge Ardila describing the memorials to Sheriff Hood and Deputy Boulware at the Hall of Fame Memorial Room.  
           

As we contemplate the Great Winnsboro Shootout, it may seem like it all happened such a long time ago in a world that is much different than it is today, but was it really so long ago? Were things then really so different than today?

Every day, men and women, just like you, me, Sheriff Hood, and Deputy Boulware, get up to go to work, kiss their families goodbye, and sometimes don't come back home. When the events are fresh in the public's mind, there is a great outpouring of emotion, but as time goes by, the memories fade and people go back to their regular routine. Then, it happens again.

If you are passing through Winnsboro, please stop and visit the graves of Sheriff Hood and Deputy Boulware, view the tablet erected by the Banker's Association in the Fairfield County Courthouse, and contemplate what happened and what it means. If you are in Columbia, please drive out to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame and spend some time in the memorial room contemplating what each plaque represents: A person who gave their life to uphold the rule of law: A person who deserves to be remembered.

In the newspaper accounts of 1915 and 1916, one question kept coming up. What does it say about a society that asks men and women to give their lives to uphold the state's constitution and then forgets about them when they are gone?

Indeed! What does it say? 

 

This article would not have been possible without the help and previous research many people.

The author wishes to thank The Fairfield County Historical Museum, The Fairfield County Genealogical Society, The South Carolina Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame. The South Carolina State Library, The South Carolina State Archives, The Fairfield County South Carolina Clerk of Court, The York County South Carolina Clerk of Court, and The McCelvey Center in York South Carolina for generously sharing their existing research and helping with additional research.

Thank you to Pelham Lyles, Greydon Maechtle, and Laura Mayer, for their patience and expertise in proof reading.

Thank you to Kasse Horn for his excellent work with lights, cameras, and sound at the Law Enforcement Officer's Hall of Fame. 

From Yorkville to Little Bighorn and Back

Custer stood on the peak known as the Crow's Nest and peered through his binoculars but couldn't find what his scouts assured him was ahead: the largest Indian village they had ever seen. Nevertheless, Custer decided to attack immediately instead of waiting for the reinforcements that were on their way. He was afraid the Indians were running away. They were not! It was the morning of June 25, 1876 and it was to be the worst day in Custer's life, but for Lt. George Wallace of Yorkville, South Carolina, it would, by a strange twist of fate, be his luckiest.

Lt. George Daniel Wallace

George Daniel Wallace started his journey on this earth on June 29, 1849 in a house that is still standing at 1632 Old Pinckneyville Rd. In York (then Yorkville) South Carolina. Wallace's parents were Alexander Stewart (A.S.) Wallace and Nancy Lee Ratchford. A.S. was a state legislator who opposed secession, a position that made him unpopular with some of his neighbors. When South Carolina seceded, A.S. returned home to the farm.

George Daniel was too young to serve in the Civil War, but his older brother Robert M went to Texas and joined the cavalry known as Terry's Texas Rangers. His first cousin, James Wylie Ratchford, was an Adjunct to General D.H. Hill CSA. As Yorkville was located near major river crossings, there is no doubt that the young Wallace would have seen troop movements during the war, the most spectacular of which occurred in spring of 1865 as Jefferson Davis, accompanied by 3,000 cavalry troops, passed through town on his flight from Richmond. We can only imagine what it was like for a 15 year old boy to stand on his porch and watch the procession of riders taking hours to pass. Surely, these things contributed to George Wallace's desire to enter the service himself.

After the war, A.S. returned to the state legislature and in 1868 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In September of that same year, the first one the U.S. Military Academy accepted candidates from the re-admitted southern states, George Daniel Wallace reported to West Point. His roommate there was Charles Varnum, a serendipitous assignment that would later save Wallace's life. Upon graduation in 1872, Wallace was appointed as a 2^nd Lt. in the Seventh Cavalry, and reported for duty to Laurens, South Carolina where the Seventh was enforcing Martial Law.

For the next four years, Wallace traveled the country and held various posts in the Seventh Cavalry. In the summer of 1876, he found himself at Ft. A Lincoln in the Dakota Territory as part of the Yellowstone expedition. In 1874 Wallace accompanied Custer on an expedition that discovered gold in the Black Hills, which were not only sacred to, but also belonged to the Indians by treaty. The government wanted to change the treaty to open up the area for mining, and many Indians left the reservations in protest. The government declared that any who did not return would be considered hostile. In 1876 a military expedition led by General Alfred Terry, who is known from the second battle of Ft. Fisher, was sent out to bring them back to the reservations. Terry's plan was to have columns converging from different directions on the suspected location of the Indians and catch them in a pincer movement. Custer's column was to enter the Little Bighorn valley from the south and move northward, or downstream, along the river. Terry's column was enter the valley from the north, where the Little Bighorn flows into the Yellowstone, and proceed south. As Custer had the shorter route, he would have to wait until Terry was in position. However, General Terry gave Custer permission to engage the Indians if he felt he should.

2^nd Lt. George Daniel Wallace was normally assigned to Co. G, but on this occasion, he was detached to General Custer as his acting Engineering Officer. In this capacity, Wallace had the responsibility of recording the details of the march; the start and stop times, the distances traveled, the terrain, and weather, etc. This role required Wallace to be near Custer's command. A proximity that proved fatal to many. On June 22^nd, Custer held an officer's meeting in which his demeanor was different than ever before. After the meeting, Wallace told Lt Godfrey that he believed Custer was going to be killed. A few days later, Custer's personal guidon was blown down. Once again, Wallace saw impending doom.

When Custer came down from the Crow's Nest, he divided his command into smaller units. A decision that many of his critics claim was a fatal mistake. Captain Benteen was given companies D, H, and K. Major Reno was given companies M, A, and G, Wallace's usual company, and Custer kept companies C, E, F, I, and L for himself. Captain McDougall of B Co. had fallen asleep before the Officer's Call and as punishment was assigned to bring up the rear with the pack train. That nap was another serendipitous event that may have saved McDougall's life. Benteen's battalion was sent on a scout to the west. Custer wanted him to ride in that direction until he got to the river and then turn north. Twice Custer sent out riders to tell Benteen to keep going, even if he thought he had gone far enough. However, from his perch on the Crow's nest, Custer's view was blocked by some hills, and he could not see that the river made a sharp bend to the west. To carry out his order, Benteen would have to travel some fourteen miles over broken ground to reach the river. Benteen eventually decided he was on a fool's errand and returned on a diagonal to rejoin Custer's trail ahead of the pack train. Had he not returned when he did, the loss of life would have been greater. Had he returned sooner, it might have been less.

The Custer and Reno Battalions rode together toward the north. The river was winding to the northeast on their left. When they reached a point on the trail now known as the Lone Tepee, Custer sent Reno ahead and to the left. The two columns were riding parallel to each other some 300 yards apart. Lt Varnum, Wallace's roommate from West Point, was in charge of the Indian Scouts that day. He returned from a scout and rode up to Custer to give his report. Varnum asked Custer where Reno was going and Custer told him to begin the attack. As Varnum started to ride off to catch up with Reno, he turned to his old friend Wallace and calling him by his nick name, said, “Hey Nick! Why don't you come ride with the real fighting men instead of those old coffee coolers.” (Army slang for loafers.) Custer got the joke and shook his fist in mock anger at Varnum. He then told Wallace to go join his friend if he wanted to. Varnum later quipped that Wallace was the only man in the history of the U.S Army who had his life saved by a joke. Reno would later testify that Wallace rode up to his left laughing and joking that he was coming along as a volunteer aide. A short while later, Custer's Adjunct, Lt. Cooke, rode over to Reno and gave him the order to cross the river and attack the village from the south. Cooke added that Reno would have the support of the entire outfit. However, he did not specify how that support was to come. Reno took his men to the river where they stopped for a few minutes to water their horses and cinch up their saddles. They counted off in fours with number four being the designated horse holder when the soldiers dismounted to fight. They then spread out in a charge formation and began galloping up the valley toward the village some three miles away. Each man was armed with a single shot breech action carbine and a revolver with one empty chamber under the hammer. They had one hundred rounds of carbine ammunition and 24 rounds of pistol ammunition divided between their cartridge belts and saddle bags. Custer had had them leave their sabers back at Ft. Lincoln as they made too much noise. As Reno's Battalion charged up the valley, Reno saw a large number of Indians coming out to meet them. Twice he sent a messenger back to Custer to inform him of this. Custer did not acknowledge the messages. Instead, he continued to follow the trail up the east side of the river.

As they got closer to the village, Reno saw a large number of Indians riding back and forth in front of him. They were kicking up dust to obscure the village behind them. He also noticed Indians disappearing into a swale that was in his path. Reno was afraid that he was riding into a trap so he had his men dismount and form a skirmish line. A decision that his critics claim cost Custer his life. The right end of the line was up against a wooded area that ran down to the river and the left was up against a little hill. Every fourth man stayed mounted, took the reins of the other three horses, and rode into the woods. This removed the horses, and the ammunition in their saddle bags, from the soldiers on the line. The Indians in front of the line kept riding back and forth, just out of range, and they would occasionally feint a charge toward the soldiers. These actions prevented the soldiers from seeing clearly the full extent of the village, but more importantly it kept them firing ineffectively. This used up the precious little ammunition they had on their belts and it caused their carbines to get hot. The Indians knew that when the carbines got hot, they began to jam.

A group of Indians came out of the village and riding out of range to the left, began to circle in behind the skirmish line. The left end of the line pivoted around to guard against this threat and soon the soldiers were fighting back to back. Reno then ordered all the men into the woods. While in the woods, Reno's men remained under attack from rifles, arrows, and smoke from the fires the Indians were setting to burn them out. Some of Custer's men, perhaps his scouts, were visible up on the bluffs on the other side of the river cheering Reno's men on. If Reno was expecting the full support of the Custer, so far this was as much as he had seen.

As Reno's battalion was engaged on the valley floor, Custer's battalion continued up the bluffs on the east side of the river. Custer started to realize the enormity of the village and twice he sent messengers back to find Benteen and the pack train with the extra ammunition, and hurry them up. The first messenger was Sgt. Daniel Kanipe of Marion, NC. The second was Giovanni Martini (John Martin) an Italian Immigrant who spoke broken English. Lt. Cooke gave Martini a note telling Benteen, “Big Village, Come quick! Bring Packs, P.S. Bring Packs.” As these men rode back up the trail, Reno's men were still engaged on the valley floor. Benteen's battalion had just rejoined the trail and the pack train was still some distance down the trail. As Martini handed Benteen the note, Benteen pointed out that Martini's horse had been shot and had him fall-in with Benteen's battalion.

Down on the valley floor, an Indian scout standing next to Reno was shot in the head spattering blood and gray matter on Reno's face. After that, Reno became visibly shaken. He had the men mount, then dismount, and then mount again. Reno later said that he realized they could not stay in the woods and he ordered a charge back up the river. Some say they heard an order to charge passed down the line. Some say they never heard such an order, and still others say that Reno just mumbled that anyone who wanted to live needed to follow him out of the woods. What Reno called a charge, others called a retreat and still others a rout. Wallace later said, “Now was the terrible slaughter.” As the men left the woods, they were surrounded by Indians and had to fight their way back to the river. They could not make it as far as their original crossing. They entered the river at a place where their horses had to jump ten to fifteen feet into the water and then scramble up the other side taking hot fire all the way. One account has Wallace bravely throwing a wounded man over his saddle and getting him across the river, however Wallace himself does not mention this. It does seem that Lt,s Wallace, Varnum, Hodgson and McIntosh rode near the end of the column and tried to provide covering fire as best as they could. Both Hodgson and McIntosh were killed during this retreat.

Reno's decision to leave the woods was another for which he would receive much criticism as he lost a great many men in the flight. As they scrambled up the bluffs, Reno thought that he had lost half his command. Many were dead with Co. G, Wallace's company, taking the heaviest losses. Still others were hiding in the woods waiting for a better time make their escape.

As Benteen's column moved up the trail, he saw the activity in front of him. At first, he thought the Indians were coming toward them and the men drew their pistols to prepare for a fight, but then Benteen realized that it was Reno's bloodied battalion in front of him. Reno's men were scrambling up the bluffs, trying to establish a defensive position, and still taking fire. When Benteen left for his scout to the left, Reno and Custer were together. Now, he had a note from Custer's Adjunct to come forward with the ammunition, and he found Reno's men on the hill. Wondering what happened, he asked Reno where Custer was and Reno just pointed to the north. Benteen showed Reno the note and Reno, who was Benteen's superior, implored Benteen to stay and help him. Benteen did, and this was a decision for which both of them would later be criticized. Benteen's men shared their ammunition with Reno's men, and helped set up a perimeter. The Indians who had been pursuing Reno started to withdraw, heading north on the valley floor to meet Custer's threat at the other end of the village. The pack train arrived and the men opened the spare ammunition. Some of the men were anxious to ride further north and find Custer. Captain Weir eventually took his company and struck out on his own. The other companies assumed they were moving out and began to follow. Reno sent a messenger ordering Weir to establish communications with Custer, but Weir only got as far as the point that now bears his name. There he could see a great deal of activity a few miles ahead. Indians were riding around, making dust, and firing into the ground. It is likely that Weir was witnessing the aftermath of Custer's defeat. The Indians saw Weir on the point and began to ride toward him, and Weir's company as well as all those who had followed made a hasty retreat back to where Reno's men had scrambled up the hill.

Benteen ordered Wallace to take Co. G and begin to form a defensive line. Wallace replied that he could only find three men from Co. G. Benteen then told Wallace to get started and he would send him more men. The Indians, who had already finished off Custer, soon arrived and for the next 36 hours, Lt. Wallace and the remnants of the Seventh Cavalry remained under siege. Wallace later said that the bullets were as thick as hail. At times, the Indians were so close to the line that they could touch the soldiers with their coup sticks. Several times, Benteen had the soldiers charge out of their defensive positions to drive the Indians back from the line.

During this time, the men wondered where Custer was. Some assumed he had been driven from the field and went north to join up with Terry's column. Others assumed that he would soon come to their rescue. None imagined the terrible fate that had befallen him and the 200 men who rode with him.

Eventually, the Indians broke off the siege and began dismantling the village and leaving. The men on Reno hill feared it a trick and assumed the warriors would be back to launch a big attack. Then the men noticed clouds of dust to the north. Terry's column was approaching and surely, Custer would be with him. Major Reno sent Lt.s Wallace and Hare out to meet General Terry and tell him what happened. It was Terry who informed Wallace of the fate of Custer and five companies of the SeventhCavalry.

The dead had been stripped of their clothing and their comrades had to identify each man. Their names were written on a slip of paper that was inserted into a spent shell casing and placed under a wooden marker over the shallow graves. When it came time to bury Custer. It was Lt. Wallace who supervised the burial and who wrote Custer's name on the paper. In a few days, Wallace would turn 27 and find himself acting as the Adjunct for the regiment replacing Lt. Cooke, the man who gave Reno the order to charge. The man who had written Benteen to come quick.

The dust had not yet settled on the battlefield when the controversy and conspiracy theories began to take shape. Custer and five companies had been lost and surely someone was to blame. Lt. Wallace, by virtue of the facts that he was there, he survived, and he later testified at The Reno Court of Inquiry was naturally swept up in the controversy.

More has been written about the Battle of the Little Big Horn than any other military engagement. Unfortunately, much of it is just speculation, and the bulk of it takes one side or the other in the controversy. Each side tends to select information that supports its position while avoiding the information that does not. Therefore, everything we read has to be viewed with knowledge that it is most likely biased and must be verified. The controversy simply comes down to this. There are those who believe that Custer's death was due to the failure, perhaps betrayal, of his subordinates Reno and Benteen, and there are those, including President Grant, who believe that Custer brought about his own demise through a combination of over aggressiveness and mistakes. The two sides have since become entrenched. Instead of looking for a truth that may lie somewhere in the middle, each side tends to view the other as being, at best, misinformed and at worst liars who are part of a vast conspiracy, and this is where Lt. Wallace gets dragged into the controversy.

Reno grew tired of the attacks on his character and asked the Army to convene a Court of Inquiry to investigate his behavior and to hopefully clear his name. Custer's supporters hoped that it was Custer who would be cleared and Reno would be referred for a Court Martial. The Inquiry was held in Chicago in 1879. One of Custer's biographers was present and even gave the Court the questions he would like to see Reno and the others answer, questions he was sure would expose Reno and Benteen's failures. However, the Court of Inquiry did not exonerate Custer. Wallace's testimony largely supported Reno, and therefore, Wallace came under attack by Custer's supporters. Some have gone as far as accusing Wallace of perjuring himself to protect Reno who promoted him to the position of Adjutant of the Regiment.

If we go back to the events at the Lone Tepee, we will find several different versions of those events given by different persons and at different times. Both Wallace and Reno testified under oath that Wallace was with Reno when Lt. Cooke came over and gave Reno the command to charge the village. Varnum stated that he came back from a scout, rode up to Custer to make his report, noticed Reno riding ahead, asked Custer where they were going, Custer replied to begin the attack, and that is when Varnum called over, jokingly, to Wallace to come with them. Those who wish Wallace's testimony to be wrong point out this apparent discrepancy over where Wallace was when the command to attack was given as either an error or a lie on Wallace's part, and therefore the rest of what he said should be dismissed. However, there are still other versions that say that Reno was told to ride ahead and Custer would catch up to him. It is possible then that all three versions are accurate when viewed from different times and different positions on the field. First, Reno is told to ride ahead, then Varnum comes along and is told that Reno is going to begin the attack. Varnum and Wallace then ride over to Reno's battalion, which was riding some 300 yards away, then Lt. Cooke rode over with the formal command to attack. What some see as fraud and conspiracy, others see as bending the facts to suit an agenda.

There are so many different accounts of the battle written at different times and for different purposes that it is likely that we will never know exactly what happened. Some accounts were written soon after the battle, and some many years later. Some were in formal reports, others in informal letters to friends, some written by news men and authors trying to sell papers and books, and some were given under oath at the Court of Inquiry. This makes it easy to take any given point, find something that seems counter to it, and then dismiss it to suit any particular agenda. The attacks on Wallace's truthfulness and integrity must be understood in this context.

Both Wallace and Varnum remained in the Seventh Cavalry and over the years they both progressed to the rank of captain. On December 29, 1890 the two men rode into another Indian village and this time even Varnum's humor could not save his old friend. Captain George Daniel Wallace was the only officer killed at Wounded Knee that day.

Wallace's brother Robert went out to Ft. Riley Kansas to accompany the body home to Yorkville for burial. The train arrived at the depot in Yorkville at 11pm. An honor guard provided by the Jenkins Rifles escorted it to the church and stood watch over it all night. At 11 AM the next day, Yorkville, the town that once shunned the Wallace family, closed down to attend the service and mourn Captain Wallace. His body was then taken to section B of the Yorkville, now Rose Hill, Cemetery where the Jenkins Rifles fired a salute as their fallen brother was laid to rest and the earthy journey of George Daniel Wallace from Yorkville to Little Big Horn and back came to an end.

There is so much information, misinformation, and disinformation about the Battle of the Little Big Horn that it is likely that we will never know exactly what happened, and the controversy will go on for many years to come. There are a few facts, however, that no one can deny. A large number of soldiers rode into the valley that day. Significantly fewer rode out. George Daniel Wallace of York, South Carolina did both. 

Also known as the Yorkville Cemetery.  Located in York, SC

Wallace Family Plot.  L to R, Father Alexander Stuart, George Daniel, Robert McCaslan

Capt. George Daniel Monument Front

Capt. George Daniel Monument Rear