Samuel Nuckles

Samuel Nuckles
South Carolina House of Representatives
In office 1868–1872
Personal details
Resting place	Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church
Political party	Republican

Samuel Nuckles was an American legislator in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He represented Union County. Nuckles was a state representative for Union County from 1868 until 1872. He is buried at Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} His photograph was included in a montage of Radical Republican South Carolina legislators. ^[5]

Testimony on KKK Intimidation

A Republican, he gave testimony about a campaign of intimidation used by Democrats and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870 election. ^[6] In July 1871, Nuckles testified before the Joint Senate Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. At that time, he was an elected official and a refugee in Columbia, along with one hundred and fifty others from Union County. Knuckles reported to the committee that the first instance of intimidation occurred during the 1870 election:

Mr Byars was standing talking to me, and he said, “Nuckles, I’ll bet you $500 that in two years from to-day there’ll not be a colored man voting in the town.” I said, “How do you know?” He says, “You’ll know by waiting. By God, there will not be a colored man voting in the town.” I said, “Why, will they run away?” He says, “You’ll know by waiting.” Several were around, and some said, “Nuckles, I wouldn’t talk with Byars. ^[7]

References

1. "Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church".
2. "Mulberry Chapel". SC Picture Project. April 7, 2014.
3. "Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church, Cherokee County (582 Asbury Rd., Pacolet vicinity)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
4. Evan Alexander Kutzler (May 2012). "Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places nomination. NRHP. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
5. "Radical Members of the South Carolina Legislature" (photograph and description). National Museum of African American History and Culture. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 1868. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
6. http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/cherokee/S10817711024/S10817711024.pdf page 9-12
7. Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, made to the two Houses of Congress February 19, 1872