Trouble was brewing in Jefferson, Texas, on the night of October 4, 1868. The Civil War had ended, and the riverport city was occupied by Federal troops to keep the peace. George Webster Smith, a carpetbagger who had become involved in local politics had been sequestered in the city jail - the calaboose - for his own safety. Four freedmen, Cornelius Turner, Lewis Grant, Richard Stewart, and Anderson Wright, were locked in with him for the same reason. The local authorities had posted guards to protect those in the calaboose from any harm. Suddenliy, a handful of men burst into the jail yard, disarming the guards, and making way for what was said to be about one hundred masked vigilantes - suspected to be members of a local organization called "The Knights of the Rising Sun." The events that followed that evening set the stage for one of the most predominant trials in Jefferson's history. Some of the men accused of the crimes that night were pillars of the community, and the number of suspects was so large that a stockade was built near Big Cypress Bayou on the south side of town to house them. Even thoughthe "Stockade Trial"--As it was called - attempted to determine the exact events of that murderous night, the truth may never be known ... but the story of that October evening will live forever in Jefferson's history." -- Cover.