On November 3, 1874, Black voters gathered at polling stations in Eufaula, Alabama, to participate in an election that would determine political control of Barbour County. Instead of exercising their voting rights peacefully, they were met with armed white men who opened fire on them. At least six Black people were killed in Eufaula, and between 70 and 80 others were injured. The violence, which also spread to nearby Spring Hill, became known as the Eufaula Massacre or the Election Massacre of 1874.
The massacre took place during Reconstruction, the period following the American Civil War when formerly enslaved Africans began exercising political and civil rights. The ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 prohibited denying men the right to vote because of race.
In Barbour County, Black residents formed a majority of the population and had become an important voting bloc. Their support helped Republicans win elections and gain control of local government. In 1870, Black voters helped elect Elias Keils, a white Republican who supported Reconstruction, as a judge of the City Court of Eufaula.
By 1874, white Democrats were determined to regain political control. Their campaign included intimidation, open threats against Black workers and attempts to discourage Black residents from supporting Republican candidates. White employers reportedly dismissed workers who intended to vote for Keils. Armed white groups also stockpiled weapons near polling places.
The violence was part of a wider campaign by white supremacist paramilitary organisations, including the White League, which worked to restore Democratic political dominance across the South by attacking Republican meetings and intimidating Black voters.
Keils anticipated trouble and appealed to state and federal authorities for protection. Although federal troops were stationed in Eufaula, their commander maintained that military orders prevented them from intervening in local elections.
The Attack on Black Voters
On the eve of the election, hundreds of Black Republicans gathered outside Eufaula. Rumours circulated among white residents that Black voters were planning to invade the town, although there was no evidence of such an attack being planned.
On election day, hundreds of Black men went to the polling station. Some were arrested on allegations of voter fraud. Around midday, white men forced a Black voter into an alley and threatened him over his political choices. When other Black residents protested, a gunshot was fired.
Armed white men then retrieved weapons they had previously stockpiled and opened fire on the unarmed crowd. The shooting lasted only minutes, with approximately 400 shots fired. Black voters ran for safety, leaving dead and wounded people behind. Historical accounts differ on the exact death toll. The Equal Justice Initiative records at least six Black people killed, while military records cited by the Encyclopedia of Alabama give a figure of seven or eight. Between 70 and 80 people were injured.
The Attack on Spring Hill
The violence continued at another polling station in nearby Spring Hill, where Judge Keils was supervising the election.
Armed white men had gathered around the polling place throughout the afternoon, intimidating Black voters. When the polls closed, Keils locked the building to protect the ballots. However, a group of armed men forced their way inside, extinguished the lights and opened fire.
Keils and his 16-year-old son, Willie, hid behind a counter. Willie was struck by four bullets and died two days later. The attackers also seized the ballot box and burned more than 700 ballots, most of which represented votes from the predominantly Black district.
The Aftermath and Legacy
The attacks prevented many Black residents from voting and helped Democrats take control of Barbour County. Republican votes were suppressed, ballots were destroyed and Democratic candidates took the county offices. The violence also attracted national attention and led to a congressional investigation.
Despite testimony identifying members of the mob, no white perpetrator was convicted. Instead, a Black witness named Hilliard Miles, who identified men involved in the violence, was prosecuted for perjury and imprisoned. Miles identified Braxton Bragg Comer among those involved. Comer later became governor of Alabama in 1907.
The consequences extended beyond election day. Approximately 1,200 Black residents had voted in Eufaula in 1874, but by the 1876 election, only 10 Black residents cast ballots there. Threats and violence had made political participation dangerous.
The Eufaula Massacre was part of a wider campaign of racial violence that weakened Reconstruction and helped restore white Democratic control across the South. In Alabama, the 1901 state constitution introduced measures including poll taxes and literacy tests that effectively disenfranchised most Black voters.
More than a century later, Alabama’s own commemoration of the events left much of the story untold. In 1979, the state erected a historical marker near Old Spring Hill, at the junction of U.S. Highway 82 and Barbour County Road 49 near Comer. The marker remembered the attack on Judge Keils and his son, but said nothing about the Black voters who had been ambushed and killed in Eufaula earlier that same day.
The marker also made no mention of the reported role of wealthy landowners Wallace Comer and his brother, Braxton Bragg Comer, in leading the mob at Spring Hill. It also ignored the earlier massacre of Black voters in Eufaula and the wider campaign to prevent Black residents from exercising their right to vote. The failure to acknowledge the full extent of the violence has helped keep the massacre out of public memory, including Alabama’s state history curriculum.
Sources:
https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/election-riots-of-1874/
https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/nov/3
On This Day in History, White Mob Wages Violence Against Black Voters
