About 500 St. Louisans gathered in 1914 for the dedication of a Confederate memorial in Forest Park, where Bennett H. Young, commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans Association, eulogized the bravery and bitter determination of the 600,000 Southern men who fought for a cause they believed to be right. Young, an apologist for the Confederacy, played a key role in littering the country with memorials to the Lost Cause, but, as in all things, his story is complicated.
Just 15 years earlier, this man who rode during the war with John Hunt Morgan and later authored a paean to Confederate horsemen, including Nathan Bedford Forrest, represented a formerly enslaved person in one of the most sensational trials of the Jim Crow era.
Its a story retold, with riveting details and context, in A Shot in the Moonlight, a new book by Ben Montgomery, former enterprise reporter for the Tampa Bay Times.
The story begins in 1897, when a group of white farmers in Simpson County, Ky., paid a nighttime visit to the home of George Dinning, a poor Black farmer, and accused him of stealing. They gave Dinning and his family 10 days to leave the county and abandon his 125-acre farm. Dinning insisted he was no thief, and reputable white men would back him up, but these night riders shot into the house, and Dinning was wounded. He returned fire, they unloaded their guns, then retreated. One of the party, a wealthy farmers son named Jodie Conn, was mortally wounded. Dinning turned himself in to the sheriff. While he was in custody, the vigilantes returned to his home, forced his wife and children to flee, then burned everything to the ground.
Dinning likely would have been lynched, except the sheriff quickly got him out of town. When Dinning was brought back to Franklin to stand trial, Gov. William O. Bradley, a Republican and outspoken foe of racial violence and lynching, ordered the Kentucky militia to protect the jail and courtroom.
Dinning was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years hard labor. But Dinnings cause, by then, had aroused statewide and even national sympathy and Bradley granted Dinning a full pardon, saying Dinning did no more than any other man would or should have done under the same circumstances.
Now a free man, Dinning and his family relocated to Jeffersonville, Ind. across the Ohio River from Louisville. Bennett Young, who had followed newspaper coverage of the Simpson County trial and who was among those who called on Bradley to pardon Dinning, agreed to take Dinnings case against his assailants to federal court. By testifying in the Simpson County case, Dinnings white neighbors had succeeded in implicating themselves.
Youngs courtroom performance, eviscerating the defenses arguments, was carried widely by sympathetic papers, including the Post-Dispatch, which said the old Confederate delivered a speech rarely equaled for passionate earnestness. On May 5, 1899, an all-white jury returned a verdict of $50,000 in Dinnings favor an astounding result, given the times and widely reported at the time.
Montgomery does more than resurrect this old story; he digs deep into trial testimony, newspaper records and archives and weaves a richly textured and dramatic story that underscores a truth of the Jim Crow era that Black people faced oppression with great courage and resilience, and that their fearlessness and moral rectitude made even unreconstructed apologists for an unjust system bend. But only to a point Youngs crowning lifetime achievement was the erection of a 351-foot obelisk honoring Jefferson Davis in Fairview, Ky., Davis birthplace.
Dinning, who at some point changed the spelling of his surname to Denning, died in obscurity in 1930 and is buried in a now-unmarked grave in Jeffersonville. He only received a fraction of the money he was awarded and never recovered his Kentucky property. Twenty years ago, part of his story was featured in an Associated Press series about Black farmers being driven off their land.
Asked recently whether Dinning and his family actually received justice, his great-grandson, Anthony Denning, paused a moment.
Thats a tough question. For me, no. He was forced to leave the farm he had farmed for 14 years, Denning said in an online discussion hosted by the Topeka, Kan., public library. He did sue, and he did win. But you have to read the book to get the rest of the story.
Related
Here is the original post:
- Letter to the editor: Honor Black citizens with grand counterpoint to Confederate monument - The Augusta Chronicle - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Graham Selby: Here's why the Confederate battle flag is offensive - Conway Daily Sun - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Andy Schmookler: The issue of the Confederacy in America today - Northern Virginia Daily - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Gwinnett County to vote today on removing Confederate monument in Lawrenceville - 11Alive.com WXIA - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Name of Virginias Camp Pendleton will be changed from that of Confederate general; new recommendation due next month - WAVY.com - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Debate to remove the Confederate Monument outside of the Iredell County Government Center - Greensboro News & Record - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- Confederate relics still standing at many Texas universities - The Texas Tribune - January 25th, 2021 [January 25th, 2021]
- The Real Reason the Confederate Flag Bothers Me | Opinion - Harvard Crimson - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- An Atlanta Suburb Removed a Confederate Monument That Featured an Apparently Fake Winston Churchill Quote About Heritage - artnet News - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- 2 Confederate statues were removed in Georgia within 3 days - CNN - February 11th, 2021 [February 11th, 2021]
- 6 Confederate memorials could be removed from the Texas Capitol if state bill passes - KXAN.com - April 20th, 2021 [April 20th, 2021]
- Local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp to hold memorial - The Albany Herald - April 20th, 2021 [April 20th, 2021]
- Allendale shouldnt have a Confederate statue any longer: Activists call for its immediate removal - MLive.com - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- Social Studies: Hollywood economics, the power of Confederate street names, and untimely arrests - The Boston Globe - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- The Confederate Flag A Symbol of Twisted Thinking - Voices of Monterey Bay - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- There are 9 Confederate memorials among the military academies, but their fate is unknown - Military Times - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- Death threats and the KKK: Inside a Black Alabaman's fight to remove a Confederate statue - Reuters - May 29th, 2021 [May 29th, 2021]
- Neo-Confederates worked with other far-right groups in failed efforts to preserve monuments - The Guardian - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- 'Drug deal gone bad' leads to shooting on Confederate Drive - Port City Daily - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- More heat in the West, Wimbledon finals, Confederate statues' removal: 5 things weekend - USA TODAY - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Mississippi might have to rethink Confederate statues in US Capitol - Stars and Stripes - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Charlottesville Removes Confederate Statues That Sparked A Deadly Rally - NPR - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Confederate flag enthusiast loses attempt to stop the return of beachfront property to the black family from which it was wrongly taken - Boing Boing - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Settlement reached after Jefferson City sued for removing Confederate-related stones - KOMU 8 - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- The Wolf of Crypto and the Confederate Statue Remover: The Week in Narrated Articles - The New York Times - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Tennessee County Gets Permission to Remove Confederate Flag from Seal - The Root - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Williamsburgs historic Bruton Parish Episcopal Church to ... - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- '53% Of' review examining the similarities on different sides of the aisle - New York Theatre Guide - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- What would you have done if a freedom seeker had knocked on your door? - York Daily Record - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- How to open your eyes to racism in the United States | Opinion - Deseret News - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Reactions to a post-Roe world and more Virginia headlines - Virginia Mercury - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Civil War buffs to gather Saturday in Westminster for annual commemoration of Corbit's Charge, a Civil War battle fought on Main Street - Baltimore... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Fairfax could rename Lee Highway, other roads due to Confederate ties - FOX 5 DC - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- West Badin residents want street names linked to Confederacy renamed - The Stanly News & Press | The Stanly News & Press - Stanly News &... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- CoastLine: Tony Rivenbark, 1948-2022: "All I've done is theater my whole life." - WHQR - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Warren Buffett's company part of historic deal after claims of racist jokes and redlining - Daily Kos - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- 62nd N.C. infantry: The remnant who fought on - The Mountaineer - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Confederate flag spurs Olmsted County rental change, but commissioners don't see need for further action - Rochester Post Bulletin - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- US Army division to keep patch referencing the Confederate Army - Fox News - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Oklahoma history: Why the Tribes sided with the Confederacy - Norman Transcript - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- WATCH LIVE: General counsel to meet with Jacksonville City Council over Confederate Monuments - Yahoo News - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Council to consider limiting powers of the mayor after removal of Confederate statue | Jax Daily Record - Jacksonville Daily Record - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Wisconsin was Home to a Confederate Spy, Thomas Jefferson's Illegitimate Son and a Failed Hollywood Producer - Shepherd Express - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Gastonia's Confederate Monument: A Symbol of Division Amid Legal and Political Strife - BNN Breaking - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Next battle: The Confederate monument bill that supposedly isn't about Confederate monuments - The Florida Times-Union - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- 'Are they trying to push people out of here?': Confederate flag with 'Welcome to Harrison' sign sparks debate - WCPO 9 Cincinnati - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- What those Confederate statues really symbolize - Tampa Bay Times - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]