Note from Curator Pam Wilson: Jack Underwood and I am writing a book on the events that led to the Weaver-Hunter-Hampton massacre in Dec. 1864. If you have any information on these families and their history, please contact me. Also see our overview at https://www.geni.com/projects/Not-Very-Neighborly-the-1864-Political-Murders-in-Columbus-Polk-County-North-Carolina/31511.

FRANCIS A. WEAVER (1818-1864)

Born in Spartanburg District and raised in Greenville District, SC. Was a partner in the Cedar Hill factory "South Tyger Cotton Mfg Co" north of Greer, S.C. When he married Mahulda Williams in 1839, he left his family's textile industry and moved across the state line into Polk County, NC, where he accumulated considerable acreage when he settled at the 222 acre "Weaver Homestead" on Horse Creek near Columbus, NC. Was elected as county ranger when Polk County was first formed in February 1847. Was postmaster of Horse Creek, NC, near the present intersection of Hwy 108 and I-26, on the Old Weaver Place, later known as Weaverbarton and then as the Carolina Bird Sanctuary. He was the postmaster when Polk County was first organized.

Apparently killed when executed by the Home Guard in late December 1864 near Columbus, NC, along with his son-in-law Samuel Hunter, Sam's father Peyton S. Hunter, and a young man named Will Hampton. SEE BELOW.

Sources: Emily Aileen Scott Pennington's "The Weaver Family History, 1770-1977" (self-published; no publisher listed). Information about children from Weaver Family Record (Bible). Pennington also has a copy of his will dated 8 May 1863.

1860 Polk Co NC census Columbus Twp

• 35/35 F.A. Weaver 42 M Farmer 3000 2550 SC
• Mahuldy 39 F NC
• Maria 15 F NC
• M.A. 12 F NC
• John 10 M NC
• George 8 M NC
• M.L. 6 F NC
• Emily E 3 F NC
• F.L. 1/12 M NC

lived 2 houses from George Williams and John Garrison

Land in Polk Co, NC listed in estate inventory when he died:

• -Half of Town lot #5 in Columbus
• -50 acres on Tryon Mountain joining lands of Jackson Foster & others, including Horse Creek Falls
• -50 acres adj lands of JW Hampton known as Tallent tract
• -100 acres adj land of SH Hipps & others

necessary to sell all real estate to pay claims upon estate

---------------------------

Information from "The Cemeteries of Polk County, North Carolina": This cemetery is located on the west/north side of N.C. 1514, .6 mile from its intersection with N.C. 108, near Interstate 26. It is abandoned and nearly inaccessible. It is on a high bluff overlooking a sharp bend in Old Highway 19.
Buried here are graves for Francis A. Weaver (1818-1864), Mahulda Hannon Williams Weaver (1821-1892), and children Willie A. Weaver (b. Feb. 27, 1863, death date not legible), Matilda Lewisa Weaver (1855-1862).and daughter Sophie J. Hunter (1843-1888). There are several old field stones.

____________

I'm starting to find indications that several of my ancestors who were Columbus businessmen (they owned many lots of downtown Columbus and were probably merchants as well) were murdered in December 1864.

The men who were killed were Samuel M. HUNTER, his wife's father Francis A. (Frank) WEAVER, and Hunter's father Peyton S. HUNTER.

According to one oral tradition, Sam Hunter was hanged with two of his sons on Houston Road near Columbus (Polk County), NC, accused of being a Union sympathizer during the Civil War. Charges were later dropped and he was cleared posthumously, according to this tradition. His two sons may have been named Sam and Weaver, according to handwritten notes found in my grandmother's papers: "Sam and father and Weaver (hung)."

As I was writing this I looked up the father of Sophia Jane Weaver, who was Francis Asbury WEAVER. According to Emily Pennington's family history, F. A. Weaver died December 30, 1864, when he was shot by the Yankees, along with two other men. I'd never made the connection before--since one is being shot *by* Yankees and the other hanged for sympathizing *with* Yankees--but, given the twists and turns of oral history, these are likely just different versions of the same story. Here is Pennington's story:

"As told by Mildred Weaver McColl: During the year 1864 when "the big push of Yankees came through North Carolina in that particular area, George Weaver, who was 12 years old at the time, took some of his

father's best horses to a cave on the right side of the old Tryon-Saluda Road, some several miles up from Valhalla Valley. The women left behind buried the fine silverware and money. Years later, Mildred's father George Weaver was driving a buggy with her along, going from Tryon to Skyuka Mountain, and just outside Columbus, he stopped the buggy, showed her two large cedar posts. He told her that the Yankees stood his father, Francis Asbury Weaver, against one of the posts and shot him. They never did learn why he was shot. His father had come to the south from Rhode Island, but they did not know if that had anything to do with it. [PW: actually, his father was from RI; FA Weaver was born in Spartanburg Co, SC] Flora McFarland of Tryon said the Yankees found some sort of supplies on the property of the three men, and shot all three of them, one of whom was Francis A. Weaver, according to what she had
always heard."

On 1859 marriage bond, it says Samuel Hunter is "of Spartanburg SC." Since he did not come from the local community, his family origins are unclear. I'm wondering now if his family may have been connected with the Weaver family, which came from Coventry, Rhode Island between 1816-1821 and settled near Duncan (Spartanburg Co), SC, where according to Pennington he established the first cotton mill in the South near Traveler's Rest, SC. Called Weaver's Cotton Factory (later John Weaver Factory Place), it made cotton yarn sold to mills for weaving into cloth.

In Raleigh, in the loose estate files for Peyton Hunter and F. A. Weaver, I found clues that there was tension surrounding their deaths. Looking in the criminal court case files for 1865. I found the warrants issued in 1865 for the arrests of 3 Henderson County men in the murders: JL WARD, JR PONDER and Lee GRANT. The men were arrested at the insistence of the widows. I don't know yet if they were tried or if they were found guilty. I just have no idea what the circumstances were, and would really like to have more insight about what went on and why. Perhaps these men were members of the Home Guard.

What really happened in Columbus, NC on 30 December 1864? I've spent all evening reading through the various papers I culled from the loose estate records in Raleigh, and realize that the story of the deaths of these three ancestors of mine is a larger story. I would greatly appreciate hearing from someone who has some expert knowledge on the social issues in western NC during and after the Civil War.

After reading an accusation against leading citizen Columbus Mills by Mahulda Weaver, widow of Frank Weaver, for engineering her husband's murder, and a rambling but fascinating counter-accusation by Columbus Mills, I pulled Sadie Patton's "Sketches of Polk County" and found this paragraph, which I'd never really read closely before since it didn't have names. Now I know the names.

Patton (p. 46): "After the Civil War came to a close, peace returned slowly to the citizens of Polks County. During the months immediately following Lee's surrender, conditions which were considered by some to be a threat to the general public arose; a group of Home Guards from Henderson County was stationed for some time at the court house in Columbus. In an encounter between this band and citizens of Polk County, which occurred at the Chevalier House, later known as the Hotel, one man was killed, some wounded, and others were carried to a nearby site and there executed. No reason has been definitely assigned for this action, which at this late date seems hasty and unwarranted--and was perhaps the outgrowth of earlier events."

The next paragraph relates to Mills: "Sometime after the war had ended, a band of wandering renegades entered the home of Dr. Columbus Mills, which stood where the Mimosa Inn now is, and after robbing the inmates, so terrorized them that they left, and never returned as citizens of Polk County."

From what I can gather, Peyton Hunter, who I believe owned the Hotel, was the one killed in town, and his son Sam Hunter and his father-in-law Francis A. Weaver were shot (executed) outside of town near Houston Rd. In 1865, widows Huldah Weaver and Jane Hunter accused Lee Grant, JR Ponder and JL Ward of the murders of their husbands. Yet that doesn't seem to have been the end of things.

This case has become more and more complicated, the more I read. In 1870, six full years after the incident, Mahulda Williams WEAVER (widow of murdered F.A. WEAVER) sued Columbus MILLS for $10,000, charging him with engineering the murder of her husband. He vociferously denied it in his answer to her charge, and then counterattacked by claiming that Frank Weaver and Peyton HUNTER were the leaders of the marauding bands that had attacked *his* home and others, forcing him to remove to Cabarrus County. He also told a story of the events. Mills counter-sued Weaver's estate for a debt jointly owed by Weaver and Govan MILLS (C's brother) and for damages to his property. In the fall of 1870, the court recommended that both suits be dropped with a settlement of $150 paid by Mills to Mrs. Weaver, plus court costs, and included a stipulation that Mills claimed that he was innocent of the crime as accused.

I found another reference in Patton's book that mentions Weaver: "In the last few months of the War, soldiers came and went through here--Porter's Battery was captured over at the Turnpike, and then stragglers from Stoneman's Brigade raided several places. PRICE's oldest boys were killed, and ... WEAVER and his men were murdered at Columbus..." (p. 45). The date of Stoneman's Raid at Howard Gap was 23 April 1865, a full four months after the Hunter-Weaver incident.

Fain discusses the creation by the Confederacy of an independent Department of Western NC under the command of Maj. Gen. J.G. Martin of Asheville, and says that his command included all or part of several regiments (64, 62, 69, 79 and 80th): "While these troops participated in general fighting in the western theatre, they were frequently concerned with the protection of life and property from the roving bands, and frequently operated in small detachments in performance of this service." He also discusses the act of 7 July 1863 that provided for "Guard for Home Defense" composed of able-bodied males who had previously been exempted from Confederate service. Also, he notes, some of the roving bands were uniformed partially as soldiers, and "it is certain that some felt they were supporting the Union and regarded 'everyone a Rebel who had any valuables or lived in a painted house.'" Fain only discusses Henderson County, unfortunately, but lists many people who were killed by these bands.

Mills claimed that the military authorities in Asheville sent a unit to Polk County to maintain the peace and protect the public from the bands of roving marauders and anarchists, who he claimed were led by Hunter and Weaver. I assume this is the Home Guard unit Patton wrote about, though whether it was one of the Martin-commanded regiments or not is a good question. He said that a struggle broke out at the hotel, where Peyton Hunter was killed, and then Weaver and others were captured and being led back to Asheville when he (and presumably others, including Sam Hunter) was shot just outside Columbus, execution-style.

I don't know what to make of all this. Now, what I don't understand is this: these were ALL leading citizens of Polk County, well educated and holders of public office. Dr. Columbus Mills, of course, was a founding member of the county, and the town of Columbus was named for him. FA Weaver was the first county ranger and first postmaster, and was a local merchant. Peyton Hunter, a merchant, owned half the town of Columbus, including the hotel where he was apparently killed. Why would any of the leading citizens of the county be involved in marauding bands of thieves and looters, even during this lawless state of anarchy at the end of the War? In his "Partial History of Henderson County," James Fain attributes the "lawless bands who lived off the land and whose crimes included murder" to deserters, which implies a rootlessness that these Columbus leaders certainly did not have.

Of the three men who were first charged in Weaver and Hunter's murder in 1865--Lee Grant, JL Ward, and JR Ponder--it is interesting to note that:

JL Ward was Captain of the 16th Regiment, Co. G, commissioned in 1863 and resigned 7 Sept 1863. JR Ponder was a member of that company who enlisted 2 August 1862. JL Ward was also an early sheriff of Polk County.

Though Frank Weaver may have been a Unionist, his father born in Rhode Island, Peyton S. Hunter was not. He was 2nd Lt. of Co. K, 16th Regt, commissioned 20 Apr 1861 and resigned 21 June 1861. His son C.P. Hunter enlisted as a private in the same company 10 July 1861 and was discharged 20 July 1862. Columbus Mills was a private in the same company, enlisted 20 May 1861 and was promoted to surgeon 1 Jul 1861, then resigned March 1863. A John R. Ponder was a private in this Company as well, enlisting 20 May 1861.

Widows Mahulda Williams WEAVER and her daughter Jane Weaver HUNTER had the strong support of their extended family in their fight to find the killers of their husbands. Mahulda's brother-in-law John GARRISON was deeply involved, as was another brother-in-law Jesse RHOADS or RHODES.

Her brother PULASKI B. WILLIAMS (another one of my ancestors) was the first sheriff of Polk County. This family was also closely affiliated with the BALLENGER and HANNON families. Widow Mary HUNTER apparently moved back to SC, embittered.

Date:

            6 Jul 2002 09:29:17 -0600

From:
lacamby@yahoo.com
Reply-To:
NCPOLK-L@rootsweb.com
To:
NCPOLK-L@rootsweb.com
This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Classification: Query

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/jUB.2ACE/106.110

Message Board Post:

i don't know if this will be of any benefit to you.i came across this in the isothermal cc

library n.c. in an old newspaper on microfilm..can't remember but think it was old rutherford

co.news....henderson county n.c. court reports mrs. weaver of polk county against capt.jones

for damages for the killing of mrs.frank weaver in polk county in 1864. s.v. pickings appears

for mrs.weaver. $1,500 damages were awarded in plantifs behalf...superior court henderson co.

tuesday 9th 1873...it was in west-carolina record sept.20,1873

Date:

            Sat, 6 Jul 2002 13:13:58 -0400

From:
"Kathleen Summers" <ksummers55@mchsi.com>
Reply-To:
NCPOLK-L@rootsweb.com
To:
NCPOLK-L@rootsweb.com
References:
1
I ran across this case while doing the abstracts for my book. You will find a complete account of the case, some in the James W. Jones estate record and some in the F. A. Weaver estate record. It is a very chilling account.

Basically Capt. Jones was supposed to take the prisoners to Asheville but instead took them outside of town and had them all shot. Only two of the prisoners were named, F. A. Weaver and a young man by the last name of Hampton. Capt. Jones died in 1872 but the case continued with his eldest son Daniel Jones, as administrator of his father's estate. There are affidavits from people Capt Jones talked with regarding the shooting immediately following the event.

Kathy

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 10 2016, 5:26:43 UTC

Continuing Geni Project: https://www.geni.com/projects/Not-Very-Neighborly-the-1864-Political-Murders-in-Columbus-Polk-County-North-Carolina/31511