The Jaybird-Woodpecker War 1888

A reader wrote to tell me that I should stay away from writing about politics and stick to talking about history. But history includes politics. Or at least, what took place as a result of politics. 

For example, as a result of politics, Thomas Jefferson stopped the importation of African slaves into the United States in 1808, Andrew Jackson conducted the Trail of Tears, Texans fought for their independence, California was allowed into the Union as a "free state," Kansas turned into a bloody mess, and we fought the Civil War. It was politics that prompted the Copperhead Democrats to call for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. It was politics that motivated Democrat John Wilkes Booth to do the dirty deed and assassinate President Lincoln.

As a result of political strive in America, we saw riots and innocents killed. It was because of the Democrat Party's desire to obtain political power that they created the Ku Klux Klan, the Red Shirts, the White League, and other groups as their militant arm. They did so to terrorize and murder their political opponents, the Republicans, and intimidate freed slaves after the Civil War. And yes, Democrats lynched both blacks and Republicans during the Reconstruction Era.

Democrats fought to stop blacks and women from obtaining equal rights for more than a hundred years after the Civil War. They attacked black Union soldiers in a number of incidents after the Civil War. Later they created Jim Crow laws. They created Segregation. They intimidated and attacked blacks in a terrorist campaign to stop them from voting. Since 1867, Democrat fought against the passage of every civil rights legislation for blacks. Yes, including conducting an 83 hour filibuster to stop the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Even in the 1980s, Democrats fought against women's rights by defeating the Equal Rights Amendment.

My writing about this is really not my attempt to bad mouth Democrats, it's all historically factual and I find it interesting. Fact is there are some really interesting stories because of politics in our history. Take for example, the Jaybird–Woodpecker War fought from 1888 to 1889.

The Jaybird–Woodpecker War

The Jaybird–Woodpecker War was a political war turned in a shooting war as a result of a political feud between two factions within the Democrat Party in a county in Texas. No kidding, it was as nasty as politics can get as murders were committed against Democrats of each faction in 1888 and 1889. They fought each other over political control of Fort Bend County, Texas.

One faction of Democrats were known as Jaybirds. The Jaybirds actually represented the majority of the white Democrat population of Fort Bend County. The other Democrat faction was known as Woodpeckers. The Woodpeckers are said to have been almost the entire black Democrat population of that county.

So now, you're probably wondering why were they called Jaybirds and Woodpeckers? Well, it's said that a local former slave by the name of Bob Chapel used to sing about jaybirds and woodpeckers. Thus, the names were given to identify the political factions. The Jaybirds were 90 percent of the wealthy white Democrats who opposed allowing blacks in local politics. That is, even though those blacks were by then also Democrats.

Republicans had gained control of the county during Reconstruction. Republicans gained political power in that county because they were voted into office by black Republicans. And when the political winds shifted to favor of Democrats after Reconstruction, black Republicans registered as Democrats. What's interesting is that Woodpeckers are said to have controlled the county government by winning elections for the Republicans for almost 20 years.

Why did Black Democrats vote for Republicans instead of voting for Democrats? It's because most of the Democrat candidates were former-slave owners.

Those black Democrats who voted Republican became known as Woodpeckers. And to repay their support, Woodpeckers were put into positions of authority as county officials. Yes, all because they helped to turn out the black vote for the Republican ticket. It was all politics in that the Woodpeckers did what benefited them. The knew that the white Democrats would never allow them to stay in their positions, even though they were Democrats. This set Democrat against Democrat.

The Jaybirds wanted to get rid of the Republicans who held office and control of that county's government. They accused the Woodpeckers, the black Democrats, of still being Republicans as many had been during Reconstruction. Soon, all of the animosity between the two Democrat factions boiled over and led to friends, neighbors, and even relatives becoming bitter enemies. Believe it or not, shootings involving members of both Democrat factions became common place. Remember, these were Democrats fighting Democrats.

The election of 1888 resulted in all sorts of problems as violence increased between rival Democrat candidates. In fact, as result of the infighting, on August 2, 1888, a Jaybird leader was killed. Then, during the following month, another Jaybird leader was seriously wounded.

In response to this, the Jaybirds held a huge meeting in Richmond, Texas, on September 6th, 1888, What came out of that meeting was a surprise to many there. The white Democrats ordered the black Democrat leaders to leave Fort Bend County. The Jaybirds told Woodpecker leaders to leave the county within ten hours, and take their white allies with them -- or die. Many did and left out of fear for their lives.

It is said that the feud crossed racial, social and politics lines. Assassination and violence had become commonplace. Fort Bend County Sheriff Tom Garvey was a leader of the Woodpeckers opposed the efforts of the Jaybirds to return to power through violence. He wasn't scared off and sadly died for standing up to those who would impose their will on others through violence and threats.

The Battle of Richmond

Fort Bend County was founded in 1837. It organized in 1838. It's named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The county seat is the city of Richmond. During the development of Fort Bend County, a large number of black slaves were brought in to work on plantations. The county saw very successful crops of cotton, sugar, corn and other products being produced there. 

In 1850, Walter Moses Burton was brought to Fort Bend County, Texas, as a slave from North Carolina. His owner was Thomas Burke Burton who actually taught Walter how to read and write by the age of 21. After emancipation, Thomas sold Walter several large plots of land. With that, Walter Moses Burton became wealthy and influential in Fort Bend County. 

During the Reconstruction Era, black Republicans were elected to county offices. In 1869, Walter Moses Burton became the first elected black County Sheriff in the United States. Later, he would became a state senator in Texas. Burton was among a few black Americans who held office and ran the government for about twenty years.

On November 6th, 1888, all of the Woodpecker candidates were elected or reelected to office. This fueled revolt and altercations between the two parties. During that election, the city of Richmond, which was the county seat, saw members of both Democrat factions arm themselves to the teeth. As a security measure, the Texas Rangers were brought in to be on hand to quell anything that might take place. 

Thought the election had a heavy turnout, it was said to have relatively few problems. The result was predictable since the Democrat Party there was split. Republicans held on to control of the county government and the black Democrats kept their positions. The Woodpeckers were left in control.

After the election, the two Democrat factions really went to war. Soon arguments turned to assaults, and then there were two more killings. A black Democrat, a Woodpecker, who was the county tax assessor killed white Democrat, a Jaybird, on June 21, 1889. Then a week later that Woodpecker was killed by another Jaybird.

Everything came to a head on August 16, 1889, at what became known as the "Battle of Richmond." That was when a number of people were killed and the Woodpeckers were ran out of the county.

What became known as the "Battle of Richmond" took place at the county courthouse, the National Hotel, and other parts of that city. This wasn't a 30 second gunfight like that which took place at Tombstone Arizona in 1881. Those folks in Texas shot it out for 25 to 30 minutes. Yes, that was a full on battle.

At one point, the Jaybirds faced the Woodpeckers in front of the courthouse. County Sheriff James Thomas "Tom" Garvey and a crowd of armed men warned the Texas Rangers to get out of the way since it was none of their business. With that a Texas Ranger Sergeant and four privates who were on horseback tried to get in the middle and block the two factions.

When the gun battle erupted, Sheriff Tom Garvey, his uncle, former Sheriff J. W. Blakey, Jaybird leader H. H. Frost, and an innocent bystander were all either killed or wounded. Texas Ranger private Frank Schmid, Jr., was severely wounded, and died from his wounds a few years later on June 17, 1893. Pictured above is Texas Ranger Frank L. Schmid in 1888.

Sheriff Tom Garvey was appointed to his position in October of 1886. He was elected County Sheriff on November 2, 1886. He was re-elected on November 6, 1888. He was 29 years old when he was gunned down. Sheriff James Thomas "Tom" Garvey sounds like he was a very good man. Texas Ranger Sergeant Ira Aten who was there that day trying to maintain order in Richmond was appointed the new County Sheriff by the Jaybirds on August 21, 1889.

It is said that many of Woodpeckers retreated into the county courthouse when the shooting started. From there is was a siege until the Woodpeckers turned the city and county over to the Jaybirds. And really, that was for good reason since Jaybirds from all over the county are said to have made a dash to Richmond when the white Democrat population heard about what was taking place there.

The Texas governor had been alerted and in response to the situation, Texas Governor Lawrence S. Ross sent the militia in and declared martial law. The Houston Light Guards militia is believed to have been on their way as the arrived first to establish martial law. The next day, August 17th, the Brenham Light Guards arrived to back them up.

Governor Ross arrived and stayed in Richmond for a number of days while acting as a mediator between the Jaybirds and the Woodpeckers. In the end, with the collaboration of the governor, the Jaybirds had a number of black Democrats and other Woodpecker county officials escorted out of the county. So after a lengthy gun battle broke out at the county courthouse in which four people were killed, including the County Sheriff, white Democrats overturned an honest election and successfully overthrew the local government.

A meeting was held at Richmond on October 3, 1889, to form a permanent organization to maintain white Democrat control of the county. The Jaybirds passed a resolution to appoint a committee to draft a constitution for an association of the white people of Fort Bend County to control county affairs. A second meeting on October 22, 1899, did in fact establish the Jaybird Democratic Organization of Fort Bend County.

In all, 440 white Democrats signed on as members of that organization. They then selected Jaybirds, white Democrats, to fill the positions at the county offices. After more than twenty years of fighting, white Democrats controlled the county government. They established a "white-only pre-primary," and disenfranchised blacks from competing for county offices.

Believe it or not, the Jaybird Democratic Organization of Fort Bend County stayed in political power in that county until 1953 when the Jaybird primary system of excluding blacks was declared unconstitutional. Imagine that.

Tom Correa

The Kidder Massacre 1867

Second Lt. Lyman Kidder was born in Braintree, Vermont, on August 31, 1842. His father was Jefferson P. Kidder who was a lawyer, judge, a Congressman, and later served as a Democrat Lieutenant Governor of Vermont.

In 1857, Jefferson Kidder moved his family to St. Paul, Minnesota. It was there that he joined the fairly recently formed Republican Party. The Republican Party was formed in Wisconsin in 1854. Jefferson was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1862 and 1863. Then in 1865, after Abraham Lincoln appointed him an associate justice to the territorial Supreme Court, he moved his family to Vermillion in the Dakota Territory.

His son Lyman Kidder fought for the Union Army during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. On May 18th, 1867, almost two years to the day after the end of the Civil War, Lyman Kidder was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. Right after that, 2nd Lt. Kidder was assigned to the U.S. 2nd Cavalry at Fort Sedgwick, Kansas.

Fact is, 1867 was a tough year on the frontier. The Indian Wars were in full, and Lt. Kidder's unit was taking part in the campaign known as "Hancock's War." Named as such after U.S. Army General Winfield S. Hancock who was in command during that period. What became known as "Hancock’s War," was an unprecedented season of violence on the Kansas plains. 

Some say General Hancock had an eye on politics even then. Some say he sought a victory in the Indian Wars as a way to catapult himself into the White House. He was already considered a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the newspapers liked him. His idea to intimidate the Cheyenne into submission didn't pay off, and instead, he created even more hostilities when he had a village torched. 

Hancock's War was no mercy warfare, and battles soon raged across Kansas from Fort Dodge on June 12, to Fort Wallace from June 21 to 22, to Baca's Wagon Train on June 22, to Pond Creek Station and another at Black Butte Creek on June 26. Then there was the Kidder Fight, which we also know as the Kidder Massacre. 

On June 29th, 1867, while at Fort Sedgwick, Lt. Kidder was ordered to take dispatches from General William Sherman to Lt. Col. George A. Custer. At the time, Custer's command was patrolling to the south based out of a camp on the Republican River. It was about 50 miles from Fort Sedgwick. It was well known that making that distance was filled with danger. 

Lt. Kidder was in command of a detachment of ten seasoned enlisted men and an experienced Sioux Indian scout. While some say his men were part of the 7th Cavalry, all were in fact members of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry.  

As for finding Lt. Col. Custer, he never found him. In fact, it was later determined that Lt. Kidder's party did in fact arrive at Lt. Col. Custer's encampment on the Republican River. But after arriving, Lt. Kidder learned that Lt. Col. Custer moved his force to the south. Lt. Kidder is believed to have thought that Custer took his unit south to Fort Wallace. What Lt. Kidder did not know was that Custer took his men south and then turned them to the northwest

So while en route to Fort Wallace, Lt. Kidder and his troops were spotted by Lakota Sioux braves hunting buffalo. They returned to their camps on the Beaver Creek, Colorado, and alerted everyone that soldiers with pack mules were headed their way. The camps consisted of both Sioux and their allies the Northern Cheyenne. Chiefs Pawnee Killer and Bear Raising Mischief were in the Sioux camps. Chiefs Tangle Hair, Howling Wolf, and Tobacco were in the nearby Cheyenne camp. The Cheyenne were said to be Dog Soldiers. Among them were Two Crows and Good Bear who later gave the only eyewitness reports of what took place. 

On June 29, when Lt. Kidder's men spotted the approaching Dog Soldiers, they raced off at a gallop in search of a defensible position and soon dismounted and sought shelter in a depression. The Dog Soldiers circled the soldiers, shooting at them while the Sioux dismounted and approached the soldiers on foot.

According to Northern Cheyenne reports, Lt. Kidder's Sioux scout Red Bead supposedly called out in an effort to be spared but he was ignored by Sioux warriors who considered him a traitor. As a matter of fairness, Red Bead was said to have seen a great deal of action during the Indian Wars and never showed an once of cowardice. So frankly, that claim is hard to accept. 

All of Lt. Kidder's men are said to have fought a running battle south until they were forced to make a last stand in a small ravine. In the short battle, two of the circling Northern Cheyenne warriors had their ponies shot from under them by gunfire coming from the soldiers. Two Sioux were killed in the fight. One of them was Chief Yellow Horse. All members of Lt. Kidder's detachment were killed. 

In the aftermath, the Indians stripped the dead, scalped them, and dismembered them. Actually, the Sioux scalped and ritually mutilated the soldiers as well as the Sioux scout Red Bead. The idea was that their bodies being mutilated in this life would stop them from being able to fight in the afterlife. Or as they called it, the after-world. 

On July 12th, one of Custer's scouts, Will Comstock, found a dead horse. The horse had US Army markings. Soon after that, Custer's patrol found the mutilated bodies of Lt. Kidder's party. Kidder's command had been attacked and wiped out by a large group of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians. The bodies of Kidder and his men, including his Sioux scout, were scalped, dismembered, and decomposing in the July sun when found. It's said the scene was a grisly sight.  

How bad were the mutilations? Well, all of the soldiers and the scout had their skulls smashed, the sinews of their arms and legs were slashed, and their noses and genitals were cut off. Also, all of that took place while many were still alive. Then each body was shot with arrows. All in all, it was a torturous way to die.

As I said before, Lt. Kidder's Sioux scout Red Bead was scalped as well and dismembered as well. The difference in how Red Bead was treated is interesting in that unlike the scalps of the soldiers which were kept to hang from tepees, Red Bead's scalp was thrown into the dirt and found next to him. This was said to be a gesture of contempt for him since he was a scouted against his fellow Sioux.

Because all of those killed were stripped to nothing, all were hard to identify. In fact, Lt. Kidder's body was only identified because of a small scrap of the flannel shirt which his mother had sent him. The incident became known as the Kidder Massacre. And frankly, while we all know that there were atrocities on both sides during the Indian Wars, it was scenes like that which the soldiers found that simply confirmed the thoughts of American settlers and soldiers who saw the Indians as "savages."

In his book, My Life on the Plains, Lt. Col. Custer described finding those killed in the Kidder Massacre like this, "Each body was pierced by from 20 to 50 arrows, and the arrows were found as the savage demons had left them, bristling in the bodies."

For me, I believe the sort of mutilations that took place only served to enrage the American troops. Because of such treatment of their wounded and dying comrades, soldiers and their commanders took a stance of give no quarter. As I said before, it was no mercy warfare.  

The battle took place near what is present-day Goodland, Kansas. And while some sources say all were originally buried in a mass grave at the site, other sources say the bodies of the soldiers were taken to Fort Wallace and buried there. Either way, they were later dug up and then reburied at Fort Leavenworth's Cemetery after Fort Wallace was closed in the mid-1880s. Because his father had a lot of political clout, Lt. Kidder's body was taken back to Minnesota. Lt. Kidder is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Tom Correa