Leroy McAfee

Leroy Magnum McAfee (1837 – 1873) was an American Confederate veteran and politician. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. He later served as the inspiration for the protagonist of his nephew Thomas Dixon Jr.'s infamous 1905 play The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan and its 1915 film adaptation The Birth of a Nation.[2]

Leroy McAfee
BornDecember 17, 1837
North Carolina, U.S.
Died1873
York, South Carolina[1]
Resting placeMethodist church, York, South Carolina[1]
EducationUniversity of North Carolina
OccupationLawyer, politician
Known forKu Kkux Klan leadership
Spouse(s)Hattie Cameron
Agnes Adelaide Williams
RelativesThomas Dixon, Jr. (nephew)

Early life

Leroy Magnum McAfee was born on December 17, 1837 in North Carolina.[3] He graduated with first honors from the University of North Carolina in 1859; President James Buchanan was the featured speaker at the graduation.[4]

Career

McAfee worked as an attorney in Shelby, North Carolina.[3]

During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, McAfee served as an officer in the Confederate States Army.[3] He was commissioned as a Major on April 12, 1862, in the 49th North Carolina Infantry.[3] He was promoted to the rank of Colonel on November 1, 1862.[3]

McAfee served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1870 to 1873, representing Cleveland County, North Carolina.[3][5] He was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.[3][5] According to his nephew Dixon, McAfee helped impeach Governor William Woods Holden.[5]

Personal life, death and legacy

McAfee was married twice. His first wife was Hattie Cameron and his second wife, Agnes Adelaide Williams.[3]

McAfee's nephew, Thomas Dixon, Jr.,[6] dedicated his historical novel, The Clansman, "to the memory of a Scotch-Irish leader of the South, my uncle, Colonel Leroy McAfee, Grand Titan of the invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan."[7]

McAfee died in 1873 of tuberculosis ("consumption"),[8] and he was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina.[3] In 1916, his nephew Dixon planned to erect a statue of McAfee on the courthouse square of Shelby, North Carolina.[9][10] The project was initially met with enthusiasm,[9] until it was announced that Dixon wanted McAfee to wear a Ku Klux Klan mask in the statue.[10] Despite the controversy several Southern newspapers as well as The New York Times issued editorials in favor of the statue.[11]

References
  1. "Death of Col. L. M. McAfee". Yorkville Enquirer (York, South Carolina). September 25, 1873. p. 2.
  2. Corkin, Stanley (1996). Realism and the birth of the modern United States : cinema, literature, and culture. Athens: University of Georgia Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-8203-1730-6. OCLC 31610418.
  3. Allardice, Bruce S. (2008). Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. p. 258. ISBN 9780826218094. OCLC 227191547. Leroy McAfee 1837.
  4. Cook, Raymond Allen (1968). Fire from the flint; the amazing careers of Thomas Dixon. Winston-Salem, North Carolina: J. F. Blair. p. 19.
  5. Dixon, Thomas, Jr. (August 27, 1905). "The Ku Klux Klan: Some of Its Leaders". The Tennessean. p. 22. Retrieved September 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. In North Carolina, my uncle, Col. Leroy McAfee, was elected to the Legislature from Cleveland County, and as the representative of the Klan on the Judiciary Committee, impeached Gov. Holden, removed him from office and deprived him of his citizenship
  6. Dixon, Thomas, Jr. (August 27, 1905). "The Ku Klux Klan: Some of Its Leaders". The Tennessean. p. 22. Retrieved September 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. In North Carolina, my uncle, Col. Leroy McAfee, was elected to the Legislature from Cleveland County, and as the representative of the Klan on the Judiciary Committee, impeached Gov. Holden, removed him from office and deprived him of his citizenship.
  7. The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan by Thomas Dixon.
  8. "Death of Col. Leroy M. McAfee". Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, North Carolina). October 1, 1873. p. 2.
  9. "Cleveland Cullings". The Gastonia Gazette. Gastonia, North Carolina. September 22, 1916. p. 7. Retrieved September 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. The announcement that Thomas Dixon will erect a monument on the Shelby court square to the memory of Col. Leroy McAfee is hailed with delight.
  10. "Cleveland County Is Resenting Dixon's Plan". The Charlotte Observer. October 29, 1916. Retrieved September 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Whether or no Thomas Dixon suspected that such a project would meet with spirited opposition all over his home county and as a piece of news, become circulated widely by newspapers of the South, is another matter but if Mr Dixon wants to stir up things and keep his name before the public to better advertise his productive "The Fall of a Nation", he could not have selected anything more timely. Mr Dixon proposed to erect this monument to Colonel McAfee in Shelby, the county seat of Cleveland County, where "Tommy" was "brought up" and to include a Ku Klux masque.
  11. "A Kuklux Statue". The New York Times. 1916-09-26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
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