Camilla Massacre

Mitchell County · dedicated 2023 · At 11 West Broad Street in Camilla.

In one of the most violent episodes in Reconstruction Georgia, a rally in Mitchell County in September 1868 resulted in about a dozen freedmen being killed and several dozen wounded. Georgia had been re-admitted to the United States just two months prior. Leading up to the terrible events of September 19, White Democrats and Republicans in the Georgia legislature expelled all 28 African-American legislators. One of those expelled, Philip Joiner from southwest Georgia, led several hundred freedmen from Albany to Camilla for a rally in the Mitchell County seat. Upon arrival, the sheriff and other local Whites opened fire. Many Black voters stayed home for the 1868 presidential election two months later. News of the massacre circulated throughout the country, and Congress returned Georgia to military occupation and further Reconstruction.

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