General Lee was lynched on January 13, 1904, near Reevesville, Dorchester County, South Carolina
In 1904, a man named General Lee was accused of knocking on a
white woman's door in Reevesville, South Carolina. He was lynched by a
white mob
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General
Lee was lynched on January 13, 1904, near Reevesville, Dorchester
County, South Carolina. He was an African American man, approximately
thirty years old, with a wife named Henrietta and six children named
Willie, Curtis, Bertha, Timothy, Nellie, and Lila. At the time of his
death his estate did not exceed $50.
He
reportedly had a bad reputation among the other African American people
in his neighborhood, with The Manning Times reporting that members of
his community expressed surprise that he had not been lynched earlier
due to his behavior. He was accused of the attempted burglary and rape
of Miss A.P. Wimberly, a white widow, in her home.
He had allegedly been stalking her at the store she owned before
attempting to burglarize her home and rape her. Wimberly claimed that
she frightened him away by her cries for help. Several pieces of
evidence that indicated he was the assailant, including footprints that
matched his shoes and step, were reported. Brass knuckles were found
outside Wimberly’s door.
He was arrested and
kidnapped from custody on the way to jail. A mob of about 50 unknown men
hanged and shot him. Governor Heyward, moved by Lee’s lynching,
delivered an anti-lynching message to the General Assembly on January
20, 1904. He recommended that the state pass special legislation that
would give power back to law enforcement officials and provide more
effective measures to apprehend lynchers who take the law into their own
hands.
Heyward knew that he, as governor, did
not have the power to create such legislation, so he also asked that the
governor be given a fund for “suppressing lynching, accomplished by
offering rewards for obtaining evidence against lynchers.
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