William Henry Harrison (September 1843-?) was in Sparta, Hancock County, Georgia, as Bill Thomas. His parents were Eliza and Harrison McLane. When his father passed away, he was enslaved at the age of 14 by Judge James Thomas, the father-in-law to Linton Stephens, the half-brother of Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy. Harrison served as Thomas’s body servant, a person who served as a personal care attendant to their enslaver. While it was illegal to teach African Americans to read and write, it was known that Bill Thomas was literate.
There isn’t a lot known about Harrison. Still, it is known that he was part of an attempted insurrection on September 13, 1863, in Sparta, GA, when approximately 100 enslaved people gathered together in a wooded area east of Sparta, GA. Identified as one of the ringleaders of this attempt, his life was spared but not without punishment. Likely due to his relationship with the Thomas and Stephens families, he did escape execution by hanging. Also, due to his relationship with Thomas, it is believed he would have been present for many discussions about the Confederacy and the Civil War at Thomas’s home.
After the war, Bill Thomas changed his name to William Henry Harrison. Harrison was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1868 and was elected state representative for Hancock County alongside Eli Barnes. In 1872, he testified to Congress on the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Hancock County. At this time, he shared that he would have to stay up late to guard his land from the KKK, and he often received threatening letters from them.
Members of Harrison’s family are said to be buried at the Brown Chapel AME Cemetery in Hancock County, but it is not known where Harrison is buried.
REferences:
“Insurrection in Hancock County: Revolt Forges a State Leader.” Reflections, Volume XIV, No 1. June/July 2017. p 1, 6.
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