The Battle of Hayes Pond, also known as the Battle of Maxton Field or the Maxton Riot, was an armed confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization and Lumbee people at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, United States, on the night of January 18, 1958. The clash resulted in the disruption of the rally and a significant amount of media coverage praising the Lumbees and condemning the Klansmen.
In 1956, James W. "Catfish" Cole, a KKK member from South Carolina, established the North Carolina Knights, a Klan organization aimed at defending racial segregation. In early 1958, Cole focused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County, North Carolina, which had a triracial population of Native Americans, whites, and blacks. Many of the Native Americans were members of the recently recognized Lumbee Tribe, a group having its origins in other Indigenous peoples but which had grown into a single community around the county. Cole oversaw two cross burnings meant to frighten the Lumbees from racial mixing, and scheduled a Klan rally which he hoped would have a large turnout.
Cole and his Klansmen widely advertised their event, driving throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker to broadcast their plans. The announcements infuriated the Lumbee community and some decided to try to disrupt the meeting. Fearing violence, local law enforcement officials pleaded with Cole to suspend his plans, but he refused. On January 18, 1958, Cole and about 50 Klansmen, most of whom were followers of his from South Carolina, gathered in a leased cornfield near Hayes Pond, a place adjacent to the town of Maxton. Several hundred Lumbees, many armed, arrived and encircled the group and jeered at them. After an altercation in which the single light in the field was destroyed, the Lumbees began firing their weapons and most of the Klansmen fled. Cole hid in a swamp while the Lumbees seized Klan regalia and carried them to Pembroke to celebrate. Police restored order on the field and arrested one Klansman.
Afterwards, Cole and the arrested Klansman were indicted and convicted for inciting a riot. The event was widely covered in the local and national press, which blamed the Klan for the disorder and praised the Lumbees for their actions. Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident. In 2011, the Lumbee Tribal Council declared January 18 a "Tribal Day of Historical Recognition".
Background Robeson County and the Lumbee Tribe
The Lumbee people in southeastern North Carolina originated from various Native American groups which were greatly affected by conflicts and infectious diseases dating back to the period of European colonization. Those who survived these disruptions grouped together as a homogeneous community. Culturally, this group was not particularly distinct from proximate European Americans; they were mostly agrarian, and shared similar styles of dress, homes, and music. They also spoke English and were mostly Protestants. Their identity was rooted in kinship and shared location. Through intermarriage, they acquired some white and black ancestry. In 1830, the United States government began a policy of Indian removal, forcibly relocating traditional-living, "tribal" Native American populations in the American South further west. Native Americans in Robeson County, North Carolina, owing to their assimilation into Euro-American culture, were not subject to removal. However, from this point on they were increasingly subject to racial discrimination.
In 1835, the Constitution of North Carolina classified the eastern Carolina Native Americans as "free persons of color". Under this system they were denied the right to vote, bear arms, or attend white schools. During the American Civil War, the Confederate States Army conscripted them for labor, though some resisted, leading to the Lowry War. In 1885, following Native Americans' refusal to attend black schools, the state of North Carolina recognized this group as Croatans and established a separate school system for them. This tripartite segregation was unique in the American South, though whites generally regarded both the Native Americans and blacks as "colored". Some other county facilities were separated for "Whites", "Negroes", and "Indians". In 1913, the North Carolina General Assembly reclassified the Indians as Cherokees.
Hundreds of Native Americans from Robeson County fought for the United States during World War II in white units (blacks were segregated into different outfits). Many returned with a willingness to pursue social change. Some of them, especially the war veterans, disliked Robeson County's segregation. Other leaders lobbied for the adoption of a unique name to identify their group. In the early 1950s, some led by minister D. F. Lowry formed an organization, the Lumbee Brotherhood, to unite the community. The chosen name, "Lumbee", was derived from the Lumber River, which ran through Robeson County. Lowry and his supporters argued that this was a suitable label, since the community had its origins in various indigenous groups but all resided near the river. In 1952 the name Lumbee was approved by the Native Americans in a referendum, and the following year the General Assembly formally recognized the label. In 1956, the United States Congress formally extended partial recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, affirming their existence as an indigenous community but disallowing them from use of federal funds and services available to other Native American groups. By 1958 Robeson County had a triracial population consisting of approximately 40,000 whites, 30,000 Native Americans (including Lumbees and Tuscaroras), and 20,000 blacks.
Ku Klux Klan activity In 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The ruling sparked a significant amount of pro-segregation activity among whites in the South, who formed various groups to oppose integration. It also led to a resurgence in Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activity. The Klan was a white supremacist and nativist movement which sought to defend racial segregation. It had different formal organizational incarnations, but all groups generally espoused white supremacy and a commitment to Protestant Christianity. The KKK was historically violent, and by the 1950s Klan violence was looked down upon by North Carolina officials. There had been a Klan presence in Robeson County in the early part of the decade before it was forced out under pressure from District Solicitor Malcolm Buie Seawell and the federal government.
In 1956, James W. "Catfish" Cole, a former member of the U.S. Klans, organized a new Klan chapter called the North Carolina Knights. With Cole leading them as their "Grand Wizard", they held their first rally in the small Robeson County community of Shannon, where Cole defended segregation. He was able to use segregationist rhetoric to grow his following throughout the following year. He also began promoting the Klan in the town of Monroe in Union County, where black civil rights activists were seeking to end segregation in public facilities. In October 1957 Cole's group attacked a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People member's house in the town, but were repelled by gunfire from armed black activists led by Robert F. Williams. In early 1958, Cole refocused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County. He hoped to use this campaign to shore up support for his organization.
On January 13, 1958, Cole and several Klansmen invited local journalist Bruce Roberts to cover their itinerary for the evening in Robeson. In St. Pauls, they burned a cross near the home of a Native American woman who was dating a white man. They also burned a cross in Lumberton, near the home of an Indian family that had recently moved into a white neighborhood. Cole informed Roberts that he was planning a large Klan rally the following Saturday night somewhere in or near the town of Pembroke, the center of Robeson's Lumbee community, where he would condemn the "mongrelization" of the races.
Roberts reported on the events and the planned rally in the January 14 edition of the Scottish Chief, the newspaper of the small town of Maxton. Nearby publications quickly repeated the story. Cole hoped the rally would attract hundreds or thousands of Klansmen. Rumors circulated that Robeson gun stores were selling large quantities of ammunition on Tuesday, raising fears of a violent confrontation. One Klansman went into the offices of the Scottish Chief and the Lumberton Post to ask them to advertise the rally. They also posted fliers to display their intentions. To further publicize the event, Cole and other Klansmen drove throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker, broadcasting their plans. The loudspeaker announcements infuriated the Lumbee community.
Fearing violence, Robeson County Sheriff Malcolm McLeod went to Cole's home in South Carolina and pleaded with him to suspend the rally, but Cole refused, telling him, "It sounds like you don't know how to handle your people. We're going to come show you." Unable to find someone willing to lease him land in Pembroke, Cole rented a small cornfield from a white farmer who lived near Hayes Pond. Hayes Pond was a former mill pond located along Big Shoe Heel Creek, south of Maxton, approximately from Pembroke. Maxton Chief of Police Bob Fisher, who was opposed to the Klan's presence, sent letters to state and federal authorities to ask for their assistance, while the town board of commissioners passed a resolution condemning the Klan and denouncing the rally.
At a barbershop in Pembroke, a group of Lumbee men met and suggested confronting the Klansmen in Maxton so that they would not disturb their town. Other Lumbees discussed the situation in the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall. Accounts of how organized the Lumbees were in their response vary. In the 1960s anthropologist Karen Blu interviewed several Lumbee participants, and none mentioned the names of any leaders in this effort. She wrote that "one man" who was cited as a leader by the press was frequently criticized by her respondents for apparently professing that role. According to local activist Willa Robinson, black people who worked in the same businesses with Klansmen and were familiar with the KKK gave the Lumbees intelligence about the meeting. National news organizations such as the Associated Press, United Press International, and the International News Syndicate crafted reports printed in North Carolina and across the country which spoke of potential violence at the rally.
Confrontation
Cole scheduled the rally to begin at 8:30 p.m. on January 18, telling his followers to expect a crowd of at least 500 supporters. At about 7 p.m. around 10 Klansmen drove up and parked in the middle of the field. They exited their vehicles carrying guns; one was wearing Klan robes. They were confident, and one of them told a reporter from The News and Observer, "You'd better be careful. We'd hate to shoot the wrong man." Numerous local and state newspaper journalists were present, as were photographers and some radio and television broadcast reporters, including personnel from WTSB-Lumberton. The Klansmen set up a light pole and a public address system both wired to a portable generator, a banner emblazoned with the letters "KKK", and a cross which they planned to burn. Sheriff McLeod arrived with 16 deputies to maintain order. He told them that if Lumbees attacked the Klan they should "take [their] time" in breaking up a clash. A further dozen North Carolina State Highway Patrol officers under Captain Raymond Williams, some armed with submachine guns, waited about a mile down the road out of sight, ready to mobilize in case of violence.