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.
Because of his common name, I haven’t been able to identify Patterson on the 1870 census. I have a hunch that he could be the James Patterson, age 26, birthplace Washington, DC, who was listed in Xenia, Ohio, as a student at Wilberforce University. That Patterson, according to the 1871 Wilberforce catalog, lived in Foster’s Crossing, Ohio. This is nothing more than a hunch at this point, however.
“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)
Links:
Senate testimony about the murder of James Patterson (search the Google book for “Patterson” to find the many references)
This page was last updated on January 8, 2026.