"Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

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Butch50
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"Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Butch50 »

“Major” Lewis Redmond, a late 19th century mountain outlaw and bootlegger. Redmond had gained such national fame as a romantic hero that he had a "dime novel" border romance based on his life by the time he was 26-years-old, and a book-length biography at age 28. He provided copy for the National Police Gazette and most major newspapers of the day, eventually making page one of the New York Times. Here’s his story.

Redmond was born in the mid-1850s, in the Maple Springs section of present Swain County, North Carolina His family was residing in the Middle Fork community of Transylvania County by 1856, at which time the future hero-villain was two years old.

He was given the honorary nom de guerre "Major" as a youth while hanging out around army camps during the Civil War. "The complimentary nickname stuck, and was said to be most appropriate in later years because of his extraordinary ability to lead and organize men," observed Brevard writer Jim Bob Tinsley in an overview of Redmond’s life .

Tutored by Wash Galloway and his father, Redmond was an experienced distiller of moonshine by the time he was 21. When in 1876 he began making home deliveries of the product, federal revenue officers obtained an arrest warrant. On March 1, he was apprehended at gunpoint by Deputy U.S. Marshall Duckworth while driving a wagonload of the stuff across the Lower Creek ford of Walnut Hollow Road in the East Fork section of Transylvania County.

After Duckworth read the warrant, Redmond told him, "All right, put up your pistol, Alf. I will go along with you."

As Duckworth lowered his weapon, Redmond produced a small derringer and from point-blank range gunned the officer down with a bullet that entered his throat, carrying with it a collar button.

As Redmond fled, "Duckworth staggered to the ford ... and bent over for a drink, but the water leaked out through the bullet hole in his throat." The 24-year-old officer died shortly thereafter.

Thus began a violent and unlikely career during which Redmond became a national hero—a species of Robin Hood—for those who opposed federal revenue laws governing the manufacture of whiskey. Described as "a ladies’ man" who "was part Indian, having hawk-like eyes and raven black hair" and "a superb specimen of manhood, being six feet tall, stoutly built, very strong and active as a cat," he was quite willing to play the romantic hero role in which he was cast.

"His name was a rallying cry, and fellow distillers were eager to ride with the man who was fighting the revenue officers and winning," wrote Tinsley, who noted that "many of the influential state newspapers openly supported his activities," while the less friendly northern pro- revenue press labeled him "the bloated brigand of the Blue Ridge."

The lines were drawn and the stage set for a high country whiskey war. And, whatever one might think of Redmond as an individual, he was undeniably ready and able to carry on a pitched battle that raged across the Carolina mountains and front pages of national tabloids for five tumultuous years until the final bloody shootout on the banks of the Little Tennessee River in Swain County on April 7, 1881.

In January 1877, Redmond and his wagoner, Amos Ladd, were tricked to a house near Liberty, South Carolina, where they thought a delivery was to be made. While asleep with their boots off, they were arrested by officers who stormed the place.

The resourceful Redmond escaped almost immediately. Angry that he had been tricked, he hounded the officers from ambush with gunfire until Ladd was also free. Still fuming a week later, he invaded one of the same officer’s home and abducted his wife and two of his best horses. He subsequently returned the wife and one of the horses, but rode off on the other horse, after buying a round of drinks at a local bar.

Upward of thirty men rode with Redmond’s various gangs through the years. They were pursued "with a hail of bullets" by dozens of revenue officers through the Blue Ridge to little avail despite the $1,000 reward posted for Redmond’s arrest. As one of his specialties was raiding the homes of the officers who pursued him, he must have cooled off many a would-be captor.

Still, things were hot enough in his usual haunts around the junction of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia that in the spring of 1879 he moved three days west to Maple Springs on the Little Tennessee, several miles west of the little village of Charleston, North Carolina, which changed its name to Bryson City a decade later. So famous was he that a highly fictionalized account of his life by R.A Cobb was published in that same year.

With Redmond’s arrival illegal moonshine traffic made a quantum leap in Swain County almost overnight. Concerned citizens filed complaints in Washington, D.C. Three raids were made on his hideout, which consisted of a cabin set against a cliff with a view of the only approach and a canoe at a landing on the river below.

In 1879, having been forewarned, he headed downstream 20 minutes before his would-be abductors arrived. The second raid in 1881 found him going out a small escape hole in the rear of his house as the officers came in the front door. No doubt he once again used the canoe to escape downriver. During the third raid later that year, Redmond came out with a gun. Realizing he was surrounded, he attempted to run.

"Within a few steps he fell with six bullets in him," read one account. The New York Times prematurely reported his death, but Redmond had a tough constitution that fully complemented his rowdy disposition. He survived to live another 25 years.

After the arrest, he was taken to Charleston (Bryson City), where his wife during a visit managed to slip him a pistol concealed under a pillow. The officers found out about it and confronted Redmond with the advice that if he moved he would be killed, which was exactly the sort of language he understood. After surrendering the pistol, he was moved to Asheville and then on to Greenville, South Carolina, for trial.

Redmond spent almost three years in prisons in New York and South Carolina until being granted a pardon by President Chester A. Author in 1884. He died near Seneca, South Carolina, in 1906, leaving a wife, two sons, and seven daughters, who had inscribed on his gravestone: "He was the sunshine of our life."

Ironically enough, shortly before his death—as a law-abiding man during a period when whiskey production had become legal—he was hired by a government distillery at Walhalla, South Carolina, to oversee its production, which was of poor quality. Whatever his other deficiencies, Redmond was recognized—even by federal officials—as a man who knew how to make good stuff. For the government, he turned out a "special blend" distributed by a Charleston, South Carolina, company with a picture of the infamous "Major" Lewis R. Redmond right there on the barrel heads and bottle labels for all to see and contemplate.
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Post by theholymackerel »

Sounds more like a Hellion to me than a Hero.
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Post by Butch50 »

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Post by HookLine »

Interesting story, but he doesn't strike me as an honourable, respectworthy man.
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Post by Butch50 »

He was apparently quite the folk hero of his time, and even received a presidential pardon, which has to be very unusual for someone who actually killed a law man.

I seem to recall that there is some controversy; some accounts say the marshall that arrested him did not have a warrant and the arrest was not legal and that he was not actually a marshall but a deputized citizen, and controversy as to who shot first, etc....

I think there are variations on how many time Redmond was shot when he was finally captured, with some going to as high as 16 times.

He was also apparently more famous, or infamous if you prefer, than billy the kid. During that time period the law was often sorely abused by law officers and inflicted upon people who were proud and independent and did not take kindly to government intereference in their lives.
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yeh

Post by Uncle Jesse »

To people at the time he was shirking tyrannical authority. We may not (or maybe we do) see it that way now but it's not an isolated incident where an 'outlaw' becomes a folk hero.
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Post by Butch50 »

It seems that criminals who become folk heros probably have to exist in an evironment where the goverment is abusing it's authority - otherwise there would be no need for a hero who is anti-government. That is probably over simplistic, but there seems to be a need first.

Who are the folk heros of today? Popcorn Sutton? Junior Johnson? Moonshining has a long and venerable ethos of righteous independence from bureaucratic law interference. Other than the moonshiners who made posinous concoctions, I think of all moonshiners as being heros of a sort. The kind of people that would prefer to be left alone and not taken advantage of. Libertarians in a way.

I can't recall of having ever heard of a drug dealer being a folk hero, but then it may be the circle that I stay in.
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Post by HookLine »

Butch50 wrote:It seems that criminals who become folk heros probably have to exist in an evironment where the goverment is abusing it's authority - otherwise there would be no need for a hero who is anti-government.
Some truth in that.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Hillbilly Rebel »

I don't know about being a hero, but one that I sure respect a lot is (was) Golden Pond. He was a moonshiner, didn't raise a fuss about it, didn't seek publicity but was true to his upbringing and his roots. He didn't mind helping others and giving advice when asked, but never tried to step in where he wasn't invited. I don't know about you guys, but I will take him over the others every time. Besides, I miss him.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by vajravarahi »

It certainly was a different era back then (second half of 19th century). I certainly can't judge someone of those times by the times we live in today. I'm sure glad we don't have the government making whiskey for us these days.

And I for one had never heard of President Chester Arthur before.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by goose eye »

how many of yall ever herd of percy flowers.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Dnderhead »

Moonshiner, if remember right from NC late cot late 70 -- early 80s ? big time - no 5gal still for that guy-
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by smokerscully1 »

I heered Ole Percy was grossing a million a year back when a million meant something.
I believe them boys in Franklin Co, Virgina was big-time too.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Hillbilly Rebel »

I read the other day that the South Carolina Public Television did a show about Redmond a couple of years ago called "Prince of Dark Corners". Did anyone catch it!
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Post by blanikdog »

HookLine wrote:
Butch50 wrote:It seems that criminals who become folk heros probably have to exist in an evironment where the goverment is abusing it's authority - otherwise there would be no need for a hero who is anti-government.
Some truth in that.


A bloody lot of truth in that, Hook. :)

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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by blanikdog »

goose eye wrote:how many of yall ever herd of percy flowers.

Not I, goose. But I'd never heard about Popcorn until two or three years ago. :)

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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by nealhutcheson »

I was surprised to find this comment thread about Lewis Redmond; not everyone has forgotten him it seems. I made a documentary film about him called The Outlaw Lewis Redmond that weighs much of this out in the context of the times he lived in. It was inspired by Gary Carden's play The Prince of Dark Corners, which Gary and I adapted for the TV production. At some point they will show The Outlaw Lewis Redmond on public television in NC and SC. It has been accepted for broadcast, but not scheduled. There are video previews, etc on my site at:
http://www.suckerpunchpictures.com/Outl ... dmond.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Hillbilly Rebel »

I found the book, [i]King of the Moonshiners : Lewis R. Redmond in Fact and Fiction by Bruce E. Stewart[/i], at Barnes and Noble on the net. Here is the link; http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... distilling" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. If that doesn't work, go to their site and do a search under "distilling".


* ISBN-13: 9781572336407
* Pub. Date: 02/01/2009
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Daniel128 »

That is an interesting story. Not much of it is true. The names are right but the facts are rather twisted. Duckworth did not have a warrant. Duckworth shot first, thinking Redmond was unarmed. That is why Redmond was never prosecuted for killing Duckworth. Ladd (Redmond's brother-in-law) was unarmed when he was murdered by revenue agents who also had no warrant. Local law enforcement refused to help the feds capture or retain Redmond. The "ladies-man" stories were fabricated by yankee newspapers looking to make a buck off of Redmond's fame. Another reason Redmond was never charged with killing Duckworth was because killing a revenue agent was not considered a crime, or so my Grandmother would tell us. I used to love to sit with my Grandmother and listen to her talk about Redmond, my Great-Great-Grandfather. My mother still has the original copy of the Pardon releasing Redmond from prison. It says he was "in the final stages of consumption" (due to the bullets in his lungs) and should be allowed to go home to die. He fathered five children after he was released including my Great-Grandmother, Millie.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by LWTCS »

Thanks for that Daniel. Hope you will share more.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Samohon »

Never the Less guys... Facinating Story...Thanks...
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Beginners should visit The New Distillers Reading Lounge and the Safety and Related Issues among others...
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by blanikdog »

Great story Daniel. Thanks.

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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by 81ShadowDistiller »

goose eye wrote:how many of yall ever herd of percy flowers.
Heard of him, yep, he was/is the local "King of Moonshine" as he is referred to in Monshine History. I live roughly 10mile from where is land and "shining" became legendary. On the day he passed, be died cash broke but land acreage FILTHY RICH. He is buried under the gazebo across from the "Flower's Store where Hwy 42 and Buffalo Rd. meet. To this today, some of his still sites are still being found. In the book about him "Lost Flowers" written by one of his son's, one of his stills known as "Little Giant" was capable of producing 250 gallons of shine daily! :esurprised:
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Bushman »

Thanks for sharing I love reading these old stories, I wish the OP would have listed his resources as I like researching the history of our hobby and is why I started the following thread a couple years ago.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... +of+whisky
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by 81ShadowDistiller »

Here's the book, https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Flowers-Sto ... 1482346672" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Here's a short film of the book, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42k3G3vFbwI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Local excerpt from the Raleigh, NC newspaper, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/ ... 75971.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Book reviews, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1790 ... cy-flowers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by Bushman »

Thank you for the links, I read the newspaper article and might buy the book as it sounds interesting.
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Re: "Major" Lewis Redmond - Outlaw and Bootlegger

Post by 81ShadowDistiller »

It's a great book for sure, the funny thing is that the store is still there to this very day, but if one were to go inside and look for this book, it will not be found nor will it ever be sold out of that store. Percy Flowers is a LEGEND around here, MANY people know how him and his family became FILTHY rich of of his shine and "sipping whiskey" decades ago, but is daughter Jennifer Flowers will deny any and all of Percy's past, she feels she is "above" your average person today.
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