10/13/2026
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Betty Hoover DiRisio
Recently while reviewing and cataloging photos at the Historical Society, I came upon this one that bears a caption: "Residence of Judge W. B. Cunningham”. Not appearing to be a home located in the County, I searched our indexes for Judge W. B. Cunningham to no avail. With the help of the Internet I was able to learn that a William Bennett Cunningham was born in New Castle in 1838, the son of Judge Joseph T. and Jeannette Cunningham of Wayne Township.
W.B. married a local woman, Sarah C. Morehead, (daughter of Rachel Falls Morehead of New Castle). At the outbreak of the Civil War, W. B. was studying law in New Castle in the offices of S. W. Dana. He would serve as an assistant Federal Paymaster during the Civil War.
At the end of the war he remained in the South, relocating his home to Calhoun Station, Madison County, Mississippi. As part of Reconstruction, 15 circuit courts were established in Mississippi and W. B. was appointed to a judgeship by Governor Alcorn. W. B. was a White Republican in Mississippi, a rarity of the times. (The Republican party was founded in 1854 by Anti-Slavery activists. In the South, the party was composed primarily of Blacks and conversely the Democratic Party was made up almost entirely of Whites.)
As a Northern lawyer, W.B. would have been considered by some as a carpet bagger or “Scalawag”, but others would believe that he was among the great majority who were intelligent, upright, and brave men from the North who were entirely incorruptible, and who, in peril of their lives, struggled against serious odds to maintain their political opinions and to secure a just administration of the Government.
During the Reconstruction Era the Republicans had taken over control of most governing bodies in the South and in both the US House and Senate. In 1875 White Democrats in Mississippi were determined to regain political power at every level during the next election. White militias were formed, (considered the military arm of the Democratic Party).
An advertisement in the local newspaper carried an inciting notice that prompted White men to band together in small armed groups and disrupt Republican political gatherings:
“There are those who think that the leaders of the radical party [Republicans] have carried this system of fraud and falsehood just far enough in Hind County, and that the time has come when it should be stopped—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary.”*
The Democrats intended to carry the election “at all hazards.” It was a concerted effort to scare and intimidate the Negroes to keep them from voting. At a political gathering in Clinton, Mississippi some three thousand Republicans, primarily Blacks, gathered for a BBQ and political rally when about 100 armed Whites showed up.
A riot commenced where approximately 10 men, half of them White, half of them Black were shot or killed. “Following the riot at Clinton, the country for the next two days was scoured by detachments from these democratic military organizations over a circuit of many miles, and a large number of unoffending persons [Blacks] were killed. The number has never been ascertained correctly, but it may be estimated fairly as between thirty and fifty.” *
In the neighboring county of Madison, White Democratic party officials had approached Sheriff R. J. Ross (originally from Pittsburgh and former Captain of 100th Regiment Roundheads) and Judge W. B. Cunningham, both considered prominent leaders of the Republican Party for that county. Ross and W. B. were presented with a “compromise”. If the Sheriff and the Judge would tell the Negroes to vote a split-ticket allowing Democrats to gain certain positions, they would promise that there wouldn’t be any violence from the Whites at the election.
During this time frame, unknown armed White men had been seen in the area around the Judge’s home and the Blacks in his neighborhood were alarmed. W.B. had been approached by some White men telling him to deal with the Negroes and make them quit beating their drums or there would be trouble. (W.B. had so cautioned his Black friends to remain quiet. )
Mrs. Cunningham, in the home seen in this photo, (China Grove Plantation) received a package that had been sent in the mail. Opening it she discovered a four-foot rope with a hangman’s noose at the end. It was wrapped in the employment section of a New York Herald newspaper, with “appropriate jobs” for the Judge circled. W.B. had written it off as a sick joke.
But with the killings in Hinds County and the threats being made in Madison, rioting and bloodshed were all but guaranteed if the Republicans didn’t acquiesce. W. B. knew that the vast majority of the Negroes in his area were unarmed, and the few that were, had poor weapons. W. B. would agree to the White Democrat’s compromise in an effort to save lives in his District. He instructed the Negroes in his District to vote the split ticket accordingly.
W. B. Cunningham testified before a Bipartisan US Senate Hearing on the interference by the Democratic party into these and other elections that year. The Committee concluded that force, fraud, and intimidation were used generally and successfully in the political elections of 1875 in Mississippi by the Democrats in violation of the 15th Amendment.
After this election the Democrats gained control of the Mississippi legislature and passed an act that changed the judicial districts enabling the Democrats to get rid of certain judges. W. B. found that he was a judge without a District. He and his family relocated to Chicago where he opened a successful law practice. He died there in December 1912.
*United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee to Inquire into the Mississippi Election of 1875.
