A Ku Klux Klan party
Title: A Ku Klux Klan party in Western North Carolina. (Could be in Polar, NC.)
Title: Plan of the contemplated murder of John Campbell
Date: 1871.
Photographer: Charles Emory Smith.
Source: Library Company of Philadelphia.
Description: Altered photograph depicting the “Plan of the Contemplated Murder of John Campbell.” Shows nine Ku Klux Klansmen (comical faces drawn on their hoods) surrounding a kneeling noosed white man - John Campbell - holding his hat.
Title: A Ku Klux Klan party in Western North Carolina. (Could be in Polar, NC.)
Title: Plan of the contemplated murder of John Campbell
Date: 1871.
Photographer: Charles Emory Smith.
Source: Library Company of Philadelphia.
Description: Altered photograph depicting the “Plan of the Contemplated Murder of John Campbell.” Shows nine Ku Klux Klansmen (comical faces drawn on their hoods) surrounding a kneeling noosed white man - John Campbell - holding his hat.
A Klansman holds the noose. Campbell was a leading member of the Republican Party in Poplar, North Carolina whose political affiliation was adjudicated a crime by the Klan.
On August 10, 1871, the Klan abducted and sentenced him to be hung in the woods near his residence.
A secret serviceman Joseph G. Hester had infiltrated the North Carolina order and stopped the hanging and arrested the Klansmen.
Soon thereafter Hester commissioned a photograph with Campbell reenacting the Klan tribunal with “actors” attired in the Klan’s confiscated regalia.
The actors have been purported to be the African American acquaintances of Campbell.
The photograph was distributed to the Northern press and authorities in Washington D.C. Engravings with commentary after the photograph were later issued and circulated.
Notes: Title from manuscript note on verso authored by Charles E. Smith.
Manuscript note on verso: A Klu Klux Klan party captured in Western N. Carolina in 1871 by a company of the 4th artillery, Captain F.G. Smith & photographed on the Spot. Charles E. Smith.
Manuscript note on verso: My nephew said that the prisoner would not stand still to be photographed, as he took off their disguises & put them on some of his own men.
A crowd of the natives stood around watching the operation.
One of them said- "I bet that them Yankees will send that picture up North" "& lie about it & say that it is took of we uns, while it is their own men insich, all the while-" "It's just like them mean yankees to do it"
Charles Emory Smith (1842-1908), was a United States Minister, was also a prominent political journalist and Republican delegate who as editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia newspaper, "The Press" cemented the journal's reputation as the leading Republican paper of Pennsylvania.
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McAllister Collection, gift, 1886.
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Variant photograph of the reenacted scene in the collections of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO.
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Genre: Albumen prints -- 1870-1880.
Mixed media -- 1870-1880.
Associated name: Hester, Jospeh G. 1840-1901, associated name.
Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Smith, Charles Emory, 1842-1908, former owner.
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| photo-unidentified-Associations [5779.F.153]
Accession number: 5779.F.153
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The Hawley Museum is passionately committed to uncovering and sharing the fascinating family stories that have influenced our state's and nation's history. We believe that every family has a unique story to tell, one that adds depth to the rich tapestry of North Carolina and U.S. History.
We encourage you to reflect on your own family narrative—did your ancestors play a pivotal role in these historical events? We invite you to become a part of our family curator team by sharing your family's history, whether it be through photos, videos, articles, or documents.
Let’s work together and weave a more comprehensive narrative that honors the roles families have played in our collective past to inspire future museum visitors.