MAXTON — Nearly 100 Lumbee tribal members ignored the cold on Monday to honor the bravery of those who took on the Ku Klux Klan during a rally near Hayes Pond 58 years earlier to the day.
“This is a part of who we are,” Tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. said during a ceremony at Hayes Pond, near Maxton. “We drove the KKK out of Robeson County and they haven’t came back since. We need to use that energy to fight our battles today, but without the weapons.”
Godwin told the crowd that they were “standing on hallowed ground,” where on Jan. 18, 1958, several hundred Lumbee,many of them armed, met after word spread that Grand Dragon James “Catfish” Cole had organized a KKK rally near Hayes Pond.
Tribal Councilman Bobby Oxendine on Monday recognized tribal members like Woodrow Dial who was there that day.
“After Neill Lowery shot out the light, there was a scuffle and then the gunfire began,” said Dial, chairman of the Lumbee Regional Development Association’s board of directors. “Then came the tear gas from the Sheriff’s Office. Our eyes started burning.”
The Klansman retreated to the swamps and eventually made their way to South Carolina.
“We are lucky no one was killed that night,” said Charles Bryant, who was there that night. “That had a lot to do with a lot of those men had military experience.”
Lee Ancil Maynor brought 14 years of experience in the U.S. Army and Reserves with to the Battle of Hayes Pond.
“If we hadn’t done it, they would have soon been in our front yard,” said Maynor, who is now 83 years old.
Southern Sun drum group performed honor songs during the hour-long ceremony and Oxendine read a resolution passed by the Tribal Council in 2011 declaring Jan. 18 as a Tribal Day of Historical Recognition.
“Let’s continue to use these past events to make us stronger,” Godwin said. “This is what we talked about six months ago. We have several communities represented here today … united here today for a common cause.”
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