When Hettie Watkins was interviewed about her father, Louis Watkins (q.v.), she also told a story about her uncle, Sidney Graham. As the fieldworker writes, “Miss Watkins, while giving the sketch of her father to this writer, related a story of one of her uncles which I regarded as a reflection of that courage with which the colored ex-slave was called upon, on various occasions, to defend his newly acquired rights as an American citizen. By such acts the ex-slave showed he appreciated his freedom, although it was not a point to be proven more than had already been proven by the many who had run away to join the Northern army, thus paying for their own freedom.”
Ms. Watkins said that after the war, Sidney lived in Coltewah, Tennessee, and was employed in a powder mill on the farm of Peeler Parker. While working with some whites in the mill, Sidney accidentally splashed some hot water on a white man working near him. This caused some confusion, and at the close of the day some white men who were still incensed at Sidney told him that the Ku Kluxers would call on him that night. Knowing how the men felt, Sidney barricaded his house that night and prepared to take a firm stand.
In the middle of the night, sheeted forms approached the house, and a solemn voice called on Sidney to come out. Receiving no answer and growing impatient, the Ku Kluxers hurled themselves against the front door. It did not budge, so they attacked the rear door, which they broke through. The room was dark inside, and the Klansmen touched a torch to a big ball of cotton and threw the blazing ball into the middle of the room. Sidney shot and instantly killed the first man who tried to enter his house, so the Klansmen took the body and departed until dawn. In the meantime, Sidney slipped away, and later his family joined him in Nashville, Tennessee. He was never arrested.