George Applewhite

Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235453840/george-applewhite

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

THE FOLLOWING HISTORY OF GEORGE APPLEWHITE, THE ROBESON COUNTY OUTLAW RECENTLY CAPTURED IN GOLDSBORO IS GIVEN BY THE MESSENGER.

George Applewhite was born in Wilson County and was the slave of Council Applewhite. His half brother, Addison Applewhite, lives in Goldsboro. His mother now lives near Stantonsburg. George was afterwards given in marriage to Mr. William R. Peacock of Wythe and apprenticed to learn the plastering trade. He is a dark mulatto stoutly built about 34 years old. In 1866 he accompanied Mr. Peacock to Robeson where he worked in turpentine. It was there he married a sister of Henderson Oxendine, one of the Lowery Gang who was afterwards hung at Lumberton. Applewhite’s wife now lives in Robeson County being thrown by marriage in association with the outlaws then warring on the citizens of Robeson County he soon became one of the gang and is said to have been a most desperate character. In 1869 he was arrested on charges of being an accomplice in the killing of Sheriff Reuben King for which he was tried and convicted and sentenced to be hanged in Columbus County.

References

1. "George Applewhite and the Lowry Gang." < link >
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowry_War George Applewhite (depicted) shot Reuben King during a robbery