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Henry L. Muldrow

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Henry L. Muldrow
First Assistant United States Secretary of the Interior
In office
July 1, 1885 – April 1, 1889
PresidentGrover Cleveland
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Mississippi's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1885
Preceded byLucius Q. C. Lamar
Succeeded byJohn M. Allen
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office
1875
Personal details
Born
Henry Lowndes Muldrow

(1837-02-08)February 8, 1837
Lowndes County, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedMarch 1, 1905(1905-03-01) (aged 68)
Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, U.S.
Cause of deathHeart failure
Resting placeOdd Fellows Cemetery,
Starkville, Mississippi, U.S.
33°27′45.0″N 88°48′24.3″W / 33.462500°N 88.806750°W / 33.462500; -88.806750
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Eliza Dick Ervin
​
(m. 1860)​
Alma materUniversity of Mississippi (BA, LLB)
Military service
AllegianceConfederate States
BranchArmy
Years of service1861–1865
RankLieutenant-Colonel
Commands11th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment (acting) (1865)
Battles

Henry Lowndes Muldrow (February 8, 1837 – March 1, 1905) was an American politician who served as the First Assistant Secretary of the Interior in the first Cleveland administration. Prior to this he served as U.S. Representative from Mississippi's 1st congressional district, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives and as an officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded a cavalry regiment in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. He was "Grand Cyclops" of the Oktibbeha County Ku Klux Klan den.

Early life and education

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Muldrow was born in Lowndes County, Mississippi, on February 8, 1837, the sixth child of Simon Connell (1809–1868) and Louisa Adaline (née Cannon; 1798–1853) Muldrow. He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1858.[1] The next year he graduated from the law school of the same university; being admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Starkville in the year after. He was appointed second lieutenant in Company C, 14th Mississippi Infantry Regiment in 1861; later attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the 11th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment.[2] Afterwards he served as the attorney for the sixth judicial district of Mississippi and became a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1875. While serving as the attorney for the sixth district, he was a member of the Oktibbeha County Ku Klux Klan den, serving as its "Grand Cyclops". As author Michael Newton points out, "Three dens terrorized Oktibbeha County, led (and defended in court when need be) by Henry Muldrow".[3] Oktibbeah County voters sent Ku Klux leader Henry Muldrow to the state legislature "as a check upon the ignorant negroes in that body".[4] Muldrow won his seat, in part thanks to the intimidation of black voters via threats of violence. Muldrow is also noted, among others, for his public oratory which "persuaded most white Democrats that Klansmen were their champions in a life-or-death struggle to preserve southern society".[5] From 1876 to 1898 he was a trustee of his alma mater.[6][7]

Political career

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Muldrow was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1885). He also served as chairman, Committee on Territories (Forty-sixth Congress), and on the Committee on Private Land Claims (Forty-eighth Congress). He also helped to introduce a bill that proposed that the U.S. change to use a modified version of the metric system for coinage.[8] During the first administration of President Grover Cleveland he was appointed to the office of First Assistant Secretary of the Interior. He resigned in 1889 and resumed his law practice. Muldrow was also a delegate to the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890. As Newton points out, "The convention's final product, imposed on Mississippi without a popular vote, established a two-dollar poll tax, mandated two years' residency in the state and one year in the would-be voter's district, and denied ballots to convicted felons or tax-defaulters. Section 244 further required that any voter must "be able to read any section of the constitution of this State; or he shall be able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof." The net effect, by 1892, was to remove 138,400 blacks and 52,000 whites from the state's electoral rolls."[9] The official constitutional record of the 1890 convention reads that "It is the manifest intention of this Convention to secure to the State of Mississippi 'white supremacy".[10] Muldrow was appointed chancellor of the first district of Mississippi in September 1899; serving until 1905. He died on March 1, 1905 of heart and organ failure.[6][7]

Honors

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Muldrow, Oklahoma, and Colonel Muldrow Avenue in Starkville, Mississippi are named after him.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Historical Catalogue of the University of Mississippi, 1849-1909. Nashville, Tenn.: Marshall & Bruce Company. 1910. p. 103. LCCN 10033416 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Estes, Claud (1912). List of Field Officers, Regiments and Battalions in the Confederate States Army, 1861-1865. Macon, Georgia: J. W. Burke Company. p. 92. LCCN 26020215. OCLC 1728286. OL 6694735M – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ Newton, Michael (2009). The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History. McFarland. p. 27.
  4. ^ Newton, Michael (2009). The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History. McFarland. p. 42.
  5. ^ Newton, Michael (2009). The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History. McFarland. p. 44.
  6. ^ a b Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Embracing an Authentic and Comprehensive Account of the Chief Events in the History of the State and a Record of the Lives of Many of the Most Worthy and Illustrious Families and Individuals. Vol. II. Part I. Gretna: Firebird Press. 1999 [1st pub. The Goodspeed Publishing Company:1891]. pp. 480–483. OL 25931969M – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ a b Leftwich, George J. (1909). Riley, Franklin L. (ed.). "Henry Lowndes Muldrow". Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society. Vol. X. Oxford, Mississippi: Mississippi Historical Society. pp. 269–278. ISSN 0885-792X. LCCN 10020861. OL 22890925M – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "The Popular Science Monthly". April 1879. p. 758. ISSN 0161-7370. Retrieved November 6, 2016. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  9. ^ Newton, Michael (2009). The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History. McFarland. p. 53.
  10. ^ Pittmam, Ashton (June 29, 2021). "Two Mississippi Reps Vote To Keep White Supremacist Statues In U.S. Capitol". Mississippi Free Press. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
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