James Rufus Bratton (November 12, 1821 - September 2, 1897) was a doctor, army surgeon, civic leader, and leader in the Ku Klux Klan where he perpetuated numerous crimes. Bratton trained in medicine in Philadelphia in the 1840s but spent most of his life in Yorkville, South Carolina. He joined the Confederate Army as an assistant surgeon in April 1861, the opening month of the US Civil War. After the war he became an opponent of reconstruction and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. He was a leader in the lynching and killing of local black leader Jim Williams in a string of violent attacks which eventually led to a large group of York County blacks emigrating to Liberia. He fled to London, Ontario to escape prosecution, but later was able to return to South Carolina where he pursued his career in medicine for the rest of his life.
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