Amy Spain

March 10, 1865 - The last slave was "legally" executed on this day.

The Civil War was almost over. As Union troops swept through Darlington, South Carolina, all the town's white men fled. Amy Spain was a seventeen-year-old slave, and legend has it she shouted, "bless the Lord, the Yankees have come!"

Apparently the Union commander informed the newly liberated slaves that they could help themselves to the possessions of their former masters, so Amy and many others started gathering up the goods. 

Unfortunately for Amy, the Union Army soon moved on and the Confederates reoccupied Darlington. Amy was captured and arrested for stealing mahogany furniture, linens and other items. A military tribunal found her guilty of "treason and conduct unbecoming a slave."

She was hung from a sycamore tree in the Darlington town square.