Joseph Adkins

Joseph Adkins (February 5, 1815 – May 10, 1869) was a minister and state senator in Georgia during the Reconstruction Era after the American Civil War. He was a Republican

Critics of Adkins considered him a scalawag, someone disloyal to the Confederacy. He supported civil rights for blacks. He also supported posted a statutory bond for someone hated by the Klan and conservatives, Sheriff John Norris in April 1868. He also reported racist crimes and the name of a suspect, Ellis Adams, who was a member of the Klan. Violence continued into 1869, Before he died, he was able to name one of the gang who shot him, Ellis Adams.

His wife, Sallie Adkins (identified as Sarah Adkins in some official documents), submitted a petition to the United States Congress about the events.

Aftermath There were unsubstantiated rumors questioning Adkins' honor and fidelity. Adams died in December 1869, not having been charged for the murder of Adkins. Violence by the Klan and other violent persons continued through much of 1871, the year of the Ku Klux Klan Act.

Stephen Ward Angell reported that Ayer and Adkins had been "brutally slaughtered because they dared to be Republicans, and possessed such an amount of integrity that they defied both bribes and threats."