Posseman Samuel Waite Seawell

Samuel Waite Seawell

Posseman Samuel Seawell was shot and killed in Cumnock, Lee County, North Carolina, after he and other officers raided an illegal still site in Moore County and confiscated the still and equipment.

The owner of the still had learned of the seizure and set out after the officers and located them at the Euphronia Church, near Cumnock. The man dismounted his horse, immediately shot Posseman Seawell, and then held the other officers at gunpoint as he ordered them to handover the equipment.

The man fled but was later captured in Bennettsville, South Carolina. He was returned to North Carolina where he was convicted of murdering Posseman Seawell and was sentenced to five years in prison. Following his release from prison he was arrested again for moonshining. He was sentenced to one year in federal prison in New York where he later died while serving the sentence.

Posseman Seawell served as a major in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was survived by his wife, two children, and his parents and is buried at Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery in Carthage, North Carolina.