Eutaw massacre

It was related to an extended period of campaign violence before the fall gubernatorial election, as white Democrats in the state used racial terrorism to suppress black Republican voting.

As in other states of the former Confederacy, Alabama citizens had been terrorized frequently by the Ku Klux Klan in the run-up to the 1870 gubernatorial election:[3] in Calhoun County, four blacks and one white had been lynched in July 1870.

The rally was attacked by Klansmen (supporting Democrats),[1] who first verbally harassed the attendees and then started shooting;[4] they left two to four blacks dead[1] and 54 people injured.

Bradley responded in January 1871, indicating he understood the real question: whether the rioters had violated the victims' constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech.

[10] United States Attorney General Amos T. Akerman, a former Confederate and slaveholder who became one of the Klan's most outspoken enemies, directed prosecution of the case.

Judge Wood's opinion, however, in overruling the demurrer, was notable for the latitude it gave to future federal prosecutors to draw indictments of private violations of fundamental rights under the Enforcement Acts.