State militia forces restored order in Springfield, Illinois, after nearly three days of racial violence that exposed the depth of racial hostility in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown and helped trigger a new national civil rights movement. The Springfield Race Riot began on August 14 after a white crowd gathered outside the Sangamon County Jail seeking two Black prisoners, Joe James and George Richardson. James had been accused of killing white mining engineer Clergy Ballard in July, while Richardson had been accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, Mabel Hallam. Sheriff Charles Werner secretly removed both prisoners from Springfield to prevent their lynching. Richardson’s accusation was later discredited when Hallam withdrew her allegation.
Unable to seize the prisoners, members of the crowd turned their violence against Springfield’s Black population. The mob first attacked the automobile and restaurant of Harry Loper, the white businessman who had helped transport James and Richardson from the jail. Violence then spread into the Levee, a commercial district containing Black-owned businesses, and the Badlands, a predominantly Black residential neighborhood near the railroad tracks. Rioters looted businesses, burned houses, assaulted residents, and drove families from their homes.
The violence soon became lethal. Scott Burton, a Black barber, was lynched after attempting to defend his property. On the night of August 15, rioters attacked William K. Donnegan, an elderly Black Springfield resident who had lived in the city since the 1840s. Donnegan had worked as a shoemaker, had performed work for Abraham Lincoln, and had assisted freedom seekers traveling through Springfield before the Civil War. The mob beat him, cut his throat, and hanged him from a tree. Police and National Guard personnel found Donnegan alive the following morning, but he died at St. John’s Hospital on August 16.
Governor Charles S. Deneen responded to the breakdown of local authority by mobilizing the Illinois state militia. Approximately 3,700 militia troops were ultimately called into Springfield. Soldiers established positions throughout the city, guarded threatened neighborhoods, patrolled streets, and camped on the Illinois Statehouse grounds. By August 16, the concentration of military forces had suppressed organized mob activity and restored civil order. The National Park Service records the riot as lasting from August 14 through August 16 and credits the state militia with helping end nearly three days of violence.
The material destruction was severe. Federal historical accounts estimate that Black-owned businesses suffered approximately $100,000 in property damage in 1908 dollars. Local historical research estimates that about forty Black-occupied homes and approximately two dozen Black-owned businesses were destroyed. Thousands of Black Springfield residents fled or sought refuge during the violence. The Library of Congress records that approximately 3,000 Black residents left the city and that more than seventy Black and white people were injured. Death totals vary according to whether historians count only people killed directly during the rioting or include deaths connected to its causes and aftermath.
The restoration of order did not produce comparable success in the courts. Authorities arrested approximately 150 people, and dozens were indicted, but very few received meaningful punishment. Fifteen-year-old Roy Young, who admitted participating in theft and arson, was sentenced to a state reformatory. Abraham Raymer faced several trials for offenses connected with the riot, including the killing of Donnegan, but juries repeatedly refused to convict him of major charges. By the following year, prosecutors had largely abandoned the remaining riot cases.
The national importance of Springfield extended far beyond the destruction itself. The violence occurred in the city most closely identified with Lincoln, whose home and tomb had made Springfield a national symbol of emancipation and Union. National newspapers therefore treated the riot as evidence that racial violence and lynching were not confined to the American South. Journalist and social reformer William English Walling traveled to Springfield and published “The Race War in the North” in The Independent in September 1908. His account helped stimulate an interracial campaign for organized action against racial discrimination and violence.
That campaign contributed directly to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. Figures associated with the emerging organization included W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Walling. The Library of Congress and National Park Service identify the Springfield riot as a major catalyst for the NAACP’s creation.
The events ending on August 16 thus occupy a critical position in Illinois and American history. Military intervention stopped the immediate destruction, but Springfield’s deeper significance emerged from the national response. The riot demonstrated the persistence of racial violence in the North, exposed failures of local law enforcement and criminal justice, and helped generate an organization that became one of the central institutions of the twentieth-century American civil rights movement. In recognition of that history, the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument was established on August 16, 2024, exactly 116 years after the violence ended.
References / More Knowledge:
Library of Congress. “Springfield, Illinois, Race Riots, 1908.” NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/prelude.html
National Park Service. “Learn About the Park: Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument.” U.S. Department of the Interior. https://www.nps.gov/spra/learn/index.htm
National Park Service. “Secretary Haaland Applauds President Biden’s Designation of Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument in Illinois.” August 16, 2024. https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/secretary-haaland-applauds-president-biden-s-designation-of-springfield-1908-race-riot-national-monument-in-illinois.htm
Sangamon County Historical Society. “Race Riot of 1908.” SangamonLink: History of Sangamon County, Illinois. https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/race-riot-of-1908/
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division. “William K. Donnegan.” Digital DNR Archive. https://dnrhistoric.illinois.gov/research/digital-dnr/digital-dnr-archive.william-k-donnegan.html