As the time of state election approached in 1870, Governor HOLDEN decided to make a bold move against the Ku Klux, thus strengthening his chances of re-elction. He prepared to raise two regiments of troops and to send them into the Ku Klux territory. George M. KIRK, a 33-year-old Tennessean who had been a Colonel in the North Carolina Volunteers during the recent war was given the command of the special troops. KIRK immediately raised 670 men and marched them to Company Shops. On July 15, 1870, Colonel Stephan A. DOUGLAS Jr., acting Adjutant General and aide to the Governor and son of the famed Illinois senator, went to Company Shops and mustered the troops into the service of the state. On the same day, George B. BERGAN, a New Jersian who was KIRK's aide, arrested James S. SCOTT, a Graham merchant, James E. BOYD, the Conservative candidate for teh Horuse, and Adolphus G. MOORE, also of Graham. Without giving them a reason for their arrest. BERGAN placed the prisoners in confinement. Several prominent citizens went before Chief Justice PERSON of the State Supreme Court the following day and petitioned for teh freedom of the arrested men. Justice PEARSON granted a writ of habeas corpus but KIRK refused to honor it. He said he was holding the prisoners on Governor HOLDEN's orders. When Judge PEARSON communicated with the Governor, he received a reply which stated: " No one goes before me in respect for the civil law, or for those whose duty it is to enforce it, but the condition of Alamance County, and some other parts of the State has been . . . such that . . . I have been forced to declare them in a state of insurrection. "For months past there has been maturing in these localities under the guidance of bad and disloyal men, a dangerous secret insurrection. . . "To the majority of the people in these sections the approach of night is like the entrace into the vally of the shadow of death." HOLDEN charged that "not less than 100 persons" had been taken from their homes in Alamance County and whipped in the preceding twelve months, and that the Ku Kluxers controlled the government in this county and refused to investigate Klan activities or to turn guilty parties over to the State. The Governor was well aware taht most of these charges were untrue, but the political campaign was in full swing. Meanwhile, KIRK's men occupied the courthouse at Graham and at Yancyville in Caswell County. They terrorized the section, robbing, and plundering without hindrance. It became their custom to undress and bathe in full sight of the town, and women did not appear on the streets for fear of insult. Eighty-two men were arrested, confined, and treated with great brutality and cruelty. Several men, including Lucian MURRAY, the confederate veteran, were threatened with hanging unless they revealed secrets of the Ku Klux activities in the county. Jacob A. LONG was arrested for the murder of Wyatt OUTLAW, but a grand Jury could find no evidence that he had taken part in this crime, and he was released. Citizens of the county appealed to President GRANT, but he replied that he would use Federal troops to aid HOLDEN, if he were resisted. Most of the Northern newspapers bitterly criticizzed Governor HOLDEN for his actions. On August 2, 1870, The New York Times editorialized: "The people of Noth Carolina are not wholly unknown, and they are known NOT to be either thieves or assassins, or the aiders and abettors in robbery and murder . . ." HOLDEN was defeated in the election of 1870, but he continued his purge until the time his successor was to take office. KIRK's men were sent to Hillsboro to arrest Jacob A. LONG once again. but LONG, who was studying law there, learned that they were coming, and left town on the same train which brought his would-be captors. Josiah TURNER Jr., editor of the Raleigh Sentinel, in which he had severely criticized HOLDEN, was less fortunate. He was brought under guard to Company Shops and absurdly charged with being the King of the Ku Klux, and was later confined in a dingy cell at Yancyville. At last the courts stepped into the conflict. Judge George W. BROOKS of the U.S. District Court went over the Governor's head and issued a writ of Habeas corpus commanding Colonel KIRK to bring his prisoners before the civil courts. HOLDEN appealed to President GRANT for a reversal of the ruling, but GRANT now refused to intervene. The prisoners were brought into court, and when insufficient evidence was presented against them, they were released. KIRK, BERGAN and several others were also tried but were released. Then, on November 10, 1870, Governor HOLDEN attempted to retire grecefully by issuing a proclamation declaring that the insurrection in Alamance and Caswell was at an end. The KIRK-HOLDEN War was over, and now the citizens of Alamance County could live peacefully for the first time in a decade. ==== NCORANGE Mailing List ==== Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com - Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list Orange Co, NC USGenWeb site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange GENDEX at http://www.gendex.com/gendex/ has over 1500 databases on line