Wyatt Outlaw

Wyatt Outlaw (1820 – February 26, 1870) was the first African-American elected to be Town Commissioner and Constable of the Town of Graham, North Carolina. He was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan on February 26, 1870. His death, along with the assassination of white Republican State Senator John W. Stephens at the Caswell County Courthouse, provoked Governor William Woods Holden to declare martial law in Alamance and Caswell Counties, resulting in the Kirk-Holden War of 1870.

Outlaw was apparently of mixed racial heritage. He was mentioned in a letter as being the son of a white Alamance County slave-owner Chesley F. Faucett, and apparently lived on the tobacco farm of Nancy Outlaw on Jordan Creek, northeast of Graham, NC. Sources conflict on the question of whether Outlaw was a slave or a free person of color.

Outlaw served in the 2nd Regiment U. S. Colored Cavalry from 1864-1866. He served in various engagements in Virginia and late in the Civil War was stationed on the Rio Grande in Texas until he was mustered out in February 1866.

After returning from his service in the Civil War, Outlaw became a prominent African-American in Alamance County. In 1868, Outlaw was among the a number of trustees who were deeded land for the establishment of the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Alamance County. He was also prominently involved in the Union League and the Republican Party.

Outlaw's prominent activities on behalf of African-Americans in Alamance County made him a target of the White Brotherhood, the Constitutional Union Guard and the Ku Klux Klan. As a prominent Republican in Alamance County, Outlaw was appointed to the Graham Town Council by Governor Holden and soon became one of three constables of the town - all three of whom were African-Americans. On one occasion in 1869, white residents of the area who were incensed by the prospect of being policed by an all African-American constabulary organized a nighttime ride in Klan garb through the streets of Graham in an effort to frighten the African-American constables. Outlaw and another constable opened fire on the night riders, but no injuries were sustained.

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