James G. Patterson

James G. Patterson (Yazoo County)

State House: 1874-1875

Died: October 20, 1875

Teacher. Served on the house committees for public lands and benevolent institutions. Lynched by whites in 1875. According to articles about the murder, he was from Ohio, and his last request was for the money in his pockets to be sent to his sisters there.

“The hanging of Patterson has attracted some notice beyond the borders of Yazoo. He was my friend, an intelligent, cultivated, orderly, peace-loving man. He was one of the three members from our county in the State House of Representatives. I knew him personally and well. I never heard him use profane or vulgar language. His habits were exceptionally good. I never knew or heard that he used intoxicating liquors. It is said that as chairman of the Republican club in his neighborhood in former campaigns, he had made arrangements, regardless of the threats of the enemy, for a Republican meeting.”
(Albert T. Morgan, Yazoo; Or, on the Picket Line of Freedom, 1884)

Signature of James G. Patterson
Signature of James G. Patterson from an 1874 petition to Governor Ames

Links:
Senate testimony about the murder of James Patterson (search the Google book for “Patterson” to find the many references)

Petition to Governor Ames, Feb 12, 1874
Petition to Governor Ames, Feb 12, 1874
Clarion-Ledger, October 21, 1875
Weekly Mississippi Pilot, October 23, 1875
Weekly Mississippi Pilot, October 23, 1875
Clarion-Ledger, December 8, 1875
Longstreet testimony, 1876
A. T. Morgan testimony, 1876
Daily Evening Express, May 8, 1876
Wisconsin State Journal, Aug 12, 1878
Clarion-Ledger, September 3, 1879