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Manly McCauley

Manly McCauley was an 18-year-old Black man who lived and worked on Milton and Maggie Brewer's farm a few miles west of Chapel Hill, in the area where he was born. A mob of white men seized him on October 30, 1898, and lynched him; his body was found near today's Hatch Road and Old Greensboro Road.

Source: James Madison University, Memorializing Racial Terror: The Lynching of Manly McCauley

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StorylineRacial-terror lynchings in Orange County1869–1898 · 41 events · Six people are documented as lynched in Orange County: Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow, Daniel Morrow, Wright Malone and Cyrus Guy in 1869, and Manly McCauley in 1898. Sworn testimony before Congress in 1871 gives the same count for 1869, four men hanged and one shot (Josiah Turner Jr.), or five Black men killed (constable W. G. Turrentine), though names differ: the Senate committee's list and two Orange witnesses name a man called Wood, hanged east of Hillsborough, and two sources a William Guy, who may be Cyrus Guy. In September 2022 the county commissioners apologized for racial-terror lynchings and approved markers, citing five cases without naming the victims. StorylineThe 1898 white supremacy campaign in Orange County1898 · 9 events · Orange County's 1898 election came during the Democrats' white supremacy campaign, and in its last weeks masked men lynched a young Black farmhand west of Chapel Hill. Populists nominated Devereux Turner for the state Senate, and the Democrats ran Samuel M. Gattis for the House. On October 26 Manly McCauley, 18, left Milton Brewer's farm with Brewer's wife; a posse overtook them, and as the officer Jesse King brought McCauley back alone, masked men took him and lynched him. His body was found on November 6. On election eve W. A. Guthrie appealed to white voters at Chapel Hill. King was later tried for letting the mob take his prisoner and was acquitted.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Manly McCauley and Maggie Brewer leave the Brewer farm west of Chapel Hill On a Wednesday afternoon Maggie Brewer, wife of the farmer Milton Brewer, left the family farm four miles west of Chapel Hill with Manly McCauley, an eighteen-year-old Black farmhand who had worked there about a year. A posse of eighteen men led by her husband set out after them on Friday and overtook the pair beyond Jonesboro. People: Manly McCauley Place: Orange County · Also named: Maggie Brewer, Milton BrewerDigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), November 17, 1898, page 5
  2. Manly McCauley is lynched near Carrboro Manly McCauley, an 18-year-old Black farmhand, left Milton Brewer's farm west of Chapel Hill with Brewer's wife on October 26, 1898. A posse caught them beyond Jonesboro, and on the way back masked men took McCauley from the officer holding him and hanged him. His body was found on November 6, about three miles west of Chapel Hill. People: Manly McCauley Place: Carrboro · Also named: Milton BrewerJames Madison University, Memorializing Racial Terror: The Lynching of Manly McCauley · Also: The News (Chapel Hill), November 4, 1898, p. 1
  3. Manly McCauley's body is found hanging from a tree three miles west of Chapel Hill A farmer, Thomas Myrick, found McCauley's body hanging from a bent dogwood beside the public road some three miles west of Chapel Hill, a week after masked men had taken him from the officer bringing him back. Coroner Jordan was telegraphed to hold an inquest. People: Manly McCauley Place: Orange County · Also named: Thomas MyrickDigitalNC: Charlotte Daily Observer, November 8, 1898, page 4
  4. Jesse King, the officer who held McCauley, is tried and acquitted at Hillsborough King, returning alone to Chapel Hill with his prisoner, was met by masked men who overpowered him and hanged McCauley from a dogwood. Tried at Hillsboro for permitting the prisoner to be taken from him by the mob, he was acquitted; the News and Observer used the trial to confirm that the lynching had in fact happened. People: Manly McCauley Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Jesse KingDigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), November 17, 1898, page 5
  5. The Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition collects soil at the site of Manly McCauley's lynching On a Saturday morning on Carl Drive, McCauley family members, clergy and coalition members gathered at the spot where he is believed to have been hanged; elders of Hickory Grove Missionary Baptist Church blessed soil that was jarred for the family. A program with the Equal Justice Initiative followed at the church. People: Manly McCauley Place: Chapel HillNews of Orange County: Orange County Community Rememberance Coalition holds ceremony to honor Manly McCauley (November 20, 2019)
  6. Carrboro unveils a marker honoring Manly McCauley On February 18, 2024, the Town of Carrboro, the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition and the Equal Justice Initiative unveiled a historical marker beside Carrboro Town Hall for Manly McCauley. McCauley, an 18-year-old Black farmhand, was lynched by a white mob in 1898 near Hatch Road and Old Greensboro Road, west of Carrboro. People: Manly McCauley Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Carrboro Town HallChapelboro: Carrboro, Remembrance Coalition Unveil Marker to Manly McCauley 125 Years After His Lynching

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