History of Benton: A town of Culture, the First World War and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (1910 - 1920

Disclaimer: This chapter of “The History of Benton” deals with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Because the author wishes to deal fairly with this matter. And wants to present a very accurate picture of that time and place the author is not shying away from strong words that might be offensive to some people. The views presented here are not of the authors. But were only written so the darkest period of the township can be brought to light. The author feels that honest is the best policy and that only being honest can we achieve growth. The author hopes you the reader will understand this.

In 1910 the township of Benton welcomed a new hospital, the hospital was a state of the art, modern hospital that boasted one hundred rooms. A staff of four highly trained down and twelve skilled nurses. The hospital was located in the heart of the thriving “Garden District”. The hospital was named “King's Daughters Hospital” after the charitable organization that had brought the land, and raised funds for the construction and oversaw the work.

The following year of 1911 saw another milestone of the township being reached. The Freemasons established a lodge in Benton. Lodge No. 48. Later that same year the local Methodist Church organized a local boy scout troop to educate the young men of the town. The town had grown in both modern day convinces, population and now it seemed in culture. Benton was considered by many to be a thriving little town, a mini Yazoo City. But things started to change. Darker days were in store for Benton a storm was once more starting to brew. A storm that would test the moral fabric of the town. And strain the friendship of many of the older more settled families.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand cut little ice in the small town. June 28, 1914 was just another day for the people of Benton. Nobody cared much about Europe and only the wealthy planters of the area traveled there. But on August 4, 1914 when the The British Empire declared war on the German Empire, all the church bells in Benton started to ring. The churches were once more filled with people as they rushed to fill the pews and pray for peace and offer their prayers. America was not a war, but its neighbor to the north was. And so a plan was hatched among the young men of the town. They would band together and travel north, and then cross into Canada and once there they would enlist in their armed forces.

Many of these young men considered the war a grand adventure, a chance to prove themselves in a battle. A chance that came only once in a generation. Many had grown up listening to fireside stories of battles told to them by their grandfathers about the American Civil War, and their fathers too about the Spanish American War. Many considered this war a chance, a chance to prove themselves worthy of the family a name. They would not let this once in a lifetime chance slip through their fingers.

And so around one hundred young men from Benton, most Episcopalians and Roman Catholics left for Vicksburg were many like minded fellows were gathering from all across the Delta. All told around twelve hundred young men left their settled homes in the Delta for Canada, they came not only from tiny Benton, but from Rolling Fork, Greenville, Yazoo City, Jackson, Belzoni, Leland and Vicksburg.

Churches as St. George in Yazoo City, St. John the Blind in Leland, St. Thomas of Greece in Belzoni, St. Katherine's in Vicksburg, and even tiny St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Benton, all Episcopal churches gave up the flower of their congregations to service of freedom. The Catholic churches too responded to the call. St. Mark's in Greenville, St. Leo in Leland, All Saint's in Belzoni, St. Paul in Vicksburg, St. Mary's in Yazoo City and All Saints in Benton too gave up the flower of their congregations to serve the Empire so far away.

What became of these twelve hundred men. Nobody really knows. A handful returned home with a chest full of metals, many though vanished into the fog of war, never to be heard from again. Among those who left home was a young lawyer named James Christopher Potter. A young man who in the years to come would find himself fighting a war of shadows. Going to war with him was his best friend.

A son of a local planter. Albert Jones Brewer. Who in the coming war of shadow would fight alongside him and remain loyal to him through shadow of the years to come. Another young man, James Alexander Bell, a shy fellow, unfit for war, pale with bright pink eyes joined the band. His dream was not battlefield glory, but the Episcopal Priesthood. His Father had forced him to join, hoping to war would toughen his son and make a man out of him. The latter was noted for holding Episcopal Services under fire and would thrice decorated for bravery under fire. He too would stand beside his friends in the coming fight.

While the world bleed in the muddy fields of France. Chances were taking place in Benton. On February 8, 1915 The Birth of a Nation, a silent drama film that was directed by D.W Griffith that also starred Lilliam Gish premiered at the DixieLand Place. Benton's only playhouse. Tickets to the film cost a whopping two dollars per ticket and the show ran for a unheard of three and a half hours. The film glorified the Ku Klux Klan and gave fuel to the growing “Lost Cause” ideology that was already taking root in the minds of many southerns.

And so while volunteers from the Delta bleed on the Western Front. Other Delta men dawned white sheets and loose fitting cloth masks and started to ride around the countryside. Houses were burned, crosses were set ablaze, lynchings, floggings and hanging became all too common. The goal of the Klan was to “Clean Benton Up!” as one Klan newspaper promised. “A return to old Southern values. Of a simpler, better way of life. Like the one we enjoyed before the Civil War and before the wrath of the North was released upon our humble homesteads” read one pamphlet that was published by the Klan and handed out at the annual country fair.

Klan propaganda also promised to, “Put the Irish, the German's, Italian's, Jews in their place and let them stay there. We are going to clean this town up. We are going to put a halt to boys who take them girls car riding. We are going to close all those dance halls, all those pool halls, all those saloons. We are going to enforce the ban of trading on the Sabbath. We are here to promote a peaceful town, one that is full of God fearing men and women.”

Then on May 7, 1915 the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine. 1, 195 people were killed in the sinking. Including 128 Americans. The death of so many innocent civilians at the hands of the Imperial Underwater German Navy galvanized American support for entering into the war on the Allies side. And soon war was indeed declared. News of war being declared brought a brief moment of peace to Benton

The townspeople put aside their differences and shifted all their energies to “Defeating the Hun!” And for a blessed moment all the Klan Madness was forgotten about.

Once more the difference between Northern and Southern had been forgotten, once more the country was united behind a common goal. America's army was remodeled, volunteers streamed into training centers all across the country. Farm boys, shopkeepers, steel mill workers and construction works all flocked to the colors. The name given to this collection of forces was The American Expeditionary Force, The force left for Europe on September 12, 1915 and was in the front lines a few months later. The force fought well under its commander General John J. Pershing and launched many more offensives as an independent army.

The “Forces” as it was nicknamed fought well alongside its battle hardened allies the French and the British. And in the end turned the tide of war. Fitting enough many of the early volunteers who had left Benton at the outbreak of the war were allowed to join their countrymen, these handful of men, who had endured some of the hardest fighting quickly rose through the ranks. Many of them received commissions and served as officers. Of the three mentioned above James Christopher Potter was commissioned and rose to the rank of Captain. Noel Brewer was commissioned and also rose the rank of Captain. And James Bell, who was the last to be commissioned but rose the furthest reached the rank of Major.

The German Empire formally surrendered on November 11, 1918 and all the nations agreed to a cease fire while the terms of peace were being negotiated. Then On June 28, 1919, The German Empire and the Allied Nations (including The British Empire, The French Empire, Italy, The Russian Empire and The United States of America) signed the Treaty of Versailles formally ending the war to end all wars.

And so Potter, Brewer and Bell returned home to find the world they left changed. With the return of peace, the Klan Madness returned. And a long shadow had been cast over the township of Benton and the surrounding tiny farms and settlements. And upon their weary shoulders would the cause of Fighting the Klan fall. And so Potter, Brewer and Bell would come together and swear an oath, an oath that would bind the three families together, and forge a bind that endures to this day.