A Lynching In Rockingham County--March 1878

This happened countless times in 
the post-Civil War South.

According to reports in local newspapers, Henry Sipe's barn in eastern Rockingham County burned to the ground February 28, 1878. A young African-American boy in the neighborhood, Jim Ergenbright, was first believed to have started the fire, but Charlotte Harris, also a person of color, was later accused of instigating the arson and was taken into custody March 6 at the Rockingham County Jail in the county seat of Harrisonburg.

Late that night a group of armed men disguised in black appeared at the jail and forced Ms. Harris to be handed over to them, then hanged her from a tree some 400 yards away.

Unlike many lynchings in the post-Civil War South, the Governor of Virginia actually offered a $100 reward for the capture of the men who lynched her, but a grand jury convened in the Rockingham Court House claimed they could not identify who was responsible for the crime, so no one was ever convicted in the case. Meanwhile the young boy first accused was acquitted of all charges.

According to my source, Dr. Gianluca De Fazio, Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at JMU, there was only one other known case of a lynching in Rockingham County, though there are hundreds of documented cases of mob lynchings in other areas of the Commonwealth with larger larger populations of former slaves. This second case involved a white woman who was allegedly hanged east of Cowen's Depot near the Massanutten range, supposedly because she socialized with Negroes. This hanging was later officially denied as ever having happened, even though it was reported by numerous area newspapers.

Dr. De Fazio has done extensive work to research and document the history of lynchings in Virginia. There are several upcoming events where he will be sharing his work, including a presentation at the Lucy Simms Community Center at 2 pm Friday, April 20. Learn more at:

https://www.valleyjusticecoalition.org/2018/04/lynching-in-virginia-events/