Memphis, May 1–3, 1866: the House committee's recapitulation
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet provenDisputed: argued, often by a hostile witness
Year: 1866 · Places: Tennessee
SUMMARYMemphis, May 1–3, 1866: the House committee's recapitulation (Nov 8, 2026; TANASI line research). RECORD (U.S. House, Select Committee on the Memphis Riots, Memphis Riots and Massacres, July 25, 1866; as quoted with page numbers in Carden and Coyne, Mercatus working paper, 2010): Recapitulation (p. 36): 46 Black people killed, 2 whites killed, 75 wounded, 5 raped, 100 robberies, 91 houses and cabins burned, 4 churches burned, 12 schoolhouses burned; the posse "commenced an indiscriminate robbing, burning, and murdering" (p. 7); "there was no shadow of excuse for any further acts of violence on part of the police or posse" (p. 8); the mayor was "unequal to the occasion, either from sympathy with the mob, or on account of drunkenness during the whole time" (p. 23); the teachers were "guilty of no crime, engaged in a work of benevolence and Christianity"; Gen. Stoneman: the Black victims "had nothing to do with the riot, except to be killed and abused" (p. 58); witness Charles W. Anderson: "This is an unrighteous piece of business. The God of battles is just, and he is still in Memphis" (pp. 170–71)
RECORD (Library of America, Story of the Week, Jan. 2018)a three-member committee chaired by Elihu Washburne, appointed May 14, 1866
RECORD (Tennessee Encyclopedia, "Robert R. Church Sr.")during the riot "a white mob attacked Church's saloon, shot him, and left him for dead."
PATTERNone year after the war, the city's Black churches and schools were the targets; the federal report named the police and the mayor
DISPUTEDschool count 8 vs 12 (Wikipedia gives both); white deaths 2 vs 3 (LOA)
LENS (WW9)South Memphis, where the attacks fell, sits on the Chickasaw Bluff ground (P865); same river, new label (Lens, not Record)
OPENopen the report itself (HathiTrust record 100576356 failed to load) and confirm each quote and page; the "organized and bloody massacre of the colored people" wording (LOA paraphrase, not verified). Connects: P865, P867, P870.