Advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. George Applewhite, a former black slave, was one of the most prominent members of the Lowry Gang, an outlaw group of mostly Lumbee Indians in North Carolina during and after the American Civil War. They operated between 1865 and 1872 in the Robeson County area, and George most often did the public speaking for the group. The gang fought for the rights of Indians, newly freed black slaves, and poor whites and often stole tax money and returned it to the people. The Lowry gang embarked on a series of robberies and murders with political overtones that would come to be known in North Carolina as the Lowry War. Large rewards for the gang members' capture, dead or alive, were offered. Despite the best efforts of law enforcement, however, it was impossible to stop, or even hinder the Lowry gang for years, largely due to their popular support. As a black man without a Robeson County accent (he was from Wayne County, North Carolina) and using his alias of William Jackson, George could often go places the Indian members of the gang could not. It was he who made the public demands of the gang. He was married to one of gang leader Henry Berry Lowry's first cousins. Pardoned under the Amnesty Act of 1873, George was the most prominent member of the gang to survive the Lowry War. He was a mason, bricklayer, and plasterer.
Advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. George Applewhite, a former black slave, was one of the most prominent members of the Lowry Gang, an outlaw group of mostly Lumbee Indians in North Carolina during and after the American Civil War. They operated between 1865 and 1872 in the Robeson County area, and George most often did the public speaking for the group. The gang fought for the rights of Indians, newly freed black slaves, and poor whites and often stole tax money and returned it to the people. The Lowry gang embarked on a series of robberies and murders with political overtones that would come to be known in North Carolina as the Lowry War. Large rewards for the gang members' capture, dead or alive, were offered. Despite the best efforts of law enforcement, however, it was impossible to stop, or even hinder the Lowry gang for years, largely due to their popular support. As a black man without a Robeson County accent (he was from Wayne County, North Carolina) and using his alias of William Jackson, George could often go places the Indian members of the gang could not. It was he who made the public demands of the gang. He was married to one of gang leader Henry Berry Lowry's first cousins. Pardoned under the Amnesty Act of 1873, George was the most prominent member of the gang to survive the Lowry War. He was a mason, bricklayer, and plasterer.
Bio by: Sharlotte Neely Donnelly
Advertisement
