Half-length studio portrait albumen CDV. New York: Brady, [1875]. Photographer's imprint to mount recto and verso. Canceled red two-cent stamp to mount verso. Inscribed and SIGNED by Waddell to mount verso. 

WITH vignetted studio bust portrait of Waddell's first wife, Julia. New York: Gurney & Son, mid-19th century. Photographer's imprint to mount recto and verso. Modern pencil inscription identifying subject to mount verso. 

A studio photograph of Alfred Moore Waddell (1834-1912), taken by Mathew Brady. The cancel on the stamp to the back of the photograph appears to have the year 1875, so this would have been taken in the middle of Waddell's term in the U.S. House of Representatives (1871-1879), representing North Carolina's third district. However, he is remembered instead for leading the only successful coup d'état on U.S. soil. 

Waddell was a staunch Conservative Democrat; while in the House, he served on the Ku Klux Klan committee. As Reconstruction began across the United States, Waddell and other Democrats in North Carolina developed a plan to restore "home rule," which was the idea of returning to a pre-Civil War North Carolina. But also at this time came the Fusion Coalition, a combination of the Populists with Black Republicans, who sought after self-governance, free public education and equal voting rights for Black men. In 1894 and 1896 North Carolina, the Fusion party won every statewide office, which terrified the Democrats. 

By the 1898 campaign, the Democrats wanted to regain their home rule. To do this, the party's chairman created a speakers bureau, of which Waddell was a part of, and began inciting white citizens with the idea of Black men uncontrollably lusting for white women. In one speech, Waddell proclaimed "We will never surrender to a ragged raffle of Negroes, even if we have to choke the Cape Fear River with carcasses." This became a rallying cry for white supremacists — it was printed and quoted around the state, and inspired the Red Shirts to ride through and terrorize Black citizens. 

When Election Day 1898 came, the Democrats won the election in Wilmington by 6,000 votes, yet the Fusion party remained intact. So, on 9 November 1898, Waddell went to the county courthouse with his "White Declaration of Independence," complete with the goal of "asserting the supremacy of the white man." He told a crowd of 600 that white Wilmington citizens would never permit Black political participation. The next morning, Waddell accompanied around 2,000 white men to the Wilmington armory and armed themselves with rifles and a Gatling gun. They then went to a local Black newspaper and set it on fire; moreover, white vigilantes went into Black neighborhoods and began killing and assaulting their inhabitants, as well as destroying Black businesses and property. While violence ensued, Waddell forced Republican Mayor Silas P. Wright to resign at gunpoint. Waddell then became the mayor of Wilmington, a position he held until 1906. 

It is believed Waddell's coup led to the murder of between 60 and 300 Black people and the banishment of around 20 more. A few weeks later, Waddell penned an article for Collier's Weekly about the overthrow, in which he tried to frame himself as an accidental hero. The article was entitled "The Story of The Wilmington, North Carolina, Race Riots." His article helped usher in the Solid South political movement, as well as set the precedent for the application of the phrase "race riot," which is still used today. 

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