Joseph R. Holmes (ca. 1838-1869)

Charlotte County · dedicated 2020 · In front of Old Courthouse on Route 40

Joseph R. Holmes, formerly enslaved in Charlotte County, campaigned for civil rights and education after emancipation. He served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Party conventions in 1867 and 1869 and was elected to represent Charlotte and Halifax Counties in Virginia's Constitutional Convention of 1867-68, held as a precondition for the state’s readmission to the Union. On 3 May 1869 Holmes was shot dead here on the courthouse steps. Brothers John and Griffin S. Marshall, along with William T. Boyd and Macon C. Morris, all white, were charged with his murder. The men fled and were never tried. The murder drew international attention to the plight of freedpeople during Reconstruction.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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