According to one account, he was part of a planned march of African American Republicans that was faced down by armed white supremacists allied with the
Democratic Party.[7] In 1875 he wrote seeking protection for Republican voters in areas where they were a great majority, expressing his expectation of intimidation and Democratic Party control over polling.[8] In 1875 he also conveyed a message from the Republican Caucus of Mississippi to President
Ulysses Grant seeking a change in the federal official overseeing
U.S. Marshals in the area.[9] He described how whites in
Aberdeen, Mississippi in
Monroe County welcomed
Klansmen home as heroes and lawyers offered them their services in defense against federal prosecution.[10]