Charles Caldwell (politician)

Biography

Charles Caldwell (1830 or 1831 – December 30, 1875) was a Reconstruction era political and state militia leader in Mississippi. He held office as a state senator and county commissioner before being assassinated in 1875. A former slave, he was a delegate to Mississippi's 1868 Constitutional Convention. He worked as a blacksmith in Clinton, Mississippi, a small town about 12 miles from Jackson in Hinds County, Mississippi. Political violence in Clinton included the Clinton Riot after a political rally of African Americans. Governor Adelbert Ames authorized a militia in response and put Caldwell in charge of it in Clinton but later backed down and disbanded it. The U.S. Congress reported on election violence and Caldwell's assassination. A plaque commemorates his life.

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