1870 Alabama gubernatorial election

The 1870 Alabama gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1870, in order to elect the governor of Alabama. Incumbent Republican William Hugh Smith was narrowly defeated by Democrat Robert B. Lindsay.

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1870 Alabama gubernatorial election

← 1868 November 8, 1870 1872 â†’

Nominee Robert B. Lindsay William Hugh Smith Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 77,723 76,282 Percentage 50.47% 49.53%

County results Lindsay:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Smith:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election William Hugh Smith Republican Elected Governor Robert B. Lindsay Democratic

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The run-up to the election was marred by political and racist terrorism by the Ku Klux Klan, in support of Lindsay. This violence included the lynching of four blacks and a white in Calhoun County, the murder of two blacks (one a Republican politician) in Greene County, and the October Eutaw massacre.^[1] In Greene County, for instance, the violence in Eutaw is credited with swaying the vote in that county toward Lindsay: in the 1868 presidential election, Greene County had voted for Ulysses S. Grant by a margin of 2,000 votes; in the 1870 gubernatorial election it voted for Robert B. Lindsay by a margin of 43.^[2]