J. Rufus Bratton
He joined the Confederate Army as an assistant surgeon in April 1861, the opening month of the American Civil War.
Bratton fled to London, Ontario, to escape prosecution, but later was able to return to South Carolina, where he pursued his career in medicine for the remainder of his life.
[2] His paternal grandparents were Martha and Colonel William Bratton, famous for his victory over Captain Huck of the British army during the American Revolution.
He was then placed in charge of the Fourth Division of the Winder Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, where he served three years and was promoted to the rank of surgeon.
He requested lighter duty and was transferred to the 20th Regiment of Virginia surgeons under General Braxton Bragg at Milledgeville, Georgia.
After Union General William T. Sherman marched his army through Georgia, the hospital was dismantled and Bratton was furloughed and returned to Yorkville.
Williams suggested that he would be willing to relinquish his militia weapons, and Black Union League leaders agreed to cease nighttime meetings.
The truce was broken the next day when a race riot broke out involving 500 to 700 whites in neighboring Union County, killing eight blacks.
Caldwell used a knife to hack at William's fingers until he released, whence he "died cursing, pleading and praying all in one breath.
[7] The mob visited several other homes of men involved in the Union League militia, succeeding in gathering 23 guns but no other members.
Companies B, E, and K of George Armstrong Custer's Seventh U.S. Cavalry led by Major Lewis Merrill arrived in the area to try to quell the violence,[11]: 1–5 Elias Hill stepped in to lead the league, now in disarray.
Eight days after the attack, Merrill met with community leaders demanding change, although violence continued over the summer.
[9] Shortly after these events, Bratton and Avery were placed on the federal government's most wanted list for the murder of Jim Williams.
About the time he was purchasing a large tract for his coal business, he had to flee again, moving to Memphis, Tennessee, with his brother John, who was also a fugitive.
The House almost unanimously agreed Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister, sent formal inquiries to the British Parliament in London.
This resulted in Queen Victoria herself intervening, the Canadian government would also send a complaint to the Office of the British Ambassador in Washington, D.C., claiming that America had violated international law and had ignored the proper steps needed for extradition.
he was placed in the cells at the London Police Station and the preliminary hearing was held on June 13, all who had witnessed the abduction of Bratton testified at the trial.
With testimony from Bratton himself, who had been released two days before the trial began, Cornwall was sentenced to 3 years in Kingston penitentiary for his role in the kidnapping.
[14] Bratton's Klan activities are said to be the inspiration for Thomas Dixon Jr.'s novel The Clansman, which was the basis of the movie The Birth of a Nation.
