Plato Durham

Plato Durham (September 20, 1840 – November 9, 1875) was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. Raised on his father's farm in High Shoals, North Carolina, he studied law before joining the Confederate States Army following the outbreak of the American Civil War. Rising to the rank of captain, he fought in several battles before surrendering at Appomattox Courthouse. He completed his education after the war and opened a successful legal practice in Shelby. Involving himself in politics, he served in the North Carolina General Assembly and was a leader among the small contingent of Conservative delegates at the state's 1868 constitutional convention. He joined the Ku Klux Klan and was arrested for Klan-related activities by federal authorities in 1871 but never tried. He spent much of his time thereafter advocating for accused Klansmen, providing them with bail funds and legal defense, and pursuing clemency. Increasingly isolated from the rest of the state's Conservative Party, he mounted an unsuccessful congressional campaign in 1874 and served as a delegate to the state's 1875 constitutional convention before dying from pneumonia shortly thereafter.

Early life Plato Durham was born on September 20, 1840 in High Shoals, North Carolina to Micajah and Esther Baxter Durham. He was the fourth of 13 children.

Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, Durham enlisted in a Confederate States Army unit in Knoxville. He subsequently returned to North Carolina and joined a unit raised in Cleveland County, His father and two brothers also fought in the war and were killed. On April 9, 1868, he married Nora Catherine Tracy. The two had five children, including Plato Tracy and Robert Lee. A large funeral was held in his honor and several newspapers across the state printed obituaries for him. He was buried in Shelby's Sunset Cemetery. A granite tombstone erected at the initiative of Durham's son Robert describes him with the epitaph, "soldier, lawyer, statesman". A highway historical marker commemorating him was erected in Shelby in 1948.