Former New Albany Guardsman remembers ‘The Battle of Oxford’

Nearly 58 years ago a pivotal event in the U. S. civil rights saga happened a 40-minute drive from New Albany. James Meredith became the first African-American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but not without a protracted court fight that culminated in 15 hours of rioting. Two men were killed and an unknown number were injured (about 70 were treated at the campus infirmary, some with serious injuries). By the day of the registration, Oct. 1, a force of about 5,000 soldiers, Guardsmen and federal marshals were there, using tear gas and even rifle fire to quell the crowd of students and out-of-towners who threw items, burned vehicles and even commandeered a fire truck and bulldozer as weapons.

Most of what little New Albany residents knew about the event came from national TV coverage, but some of its citizens were there.

Along with state law enforcement and, later, federal forces, the local unit of the National Guard was federalized and sent to Oxford.

Byrne Phyfer was one of those Guardsmen.

“I wasn’t political at all,” he said. “All I cared about was girls and water skiing and partying.”

Phyfer was about 21, had been in the Guard since he was 17, and was working at the family Phyfer Furniture Company.

He said he barely knew anything was going on in Oxford, but that changed.

“I got a call about 6 p.m.,” he said. “They said put your uniform on and get to the National Guard Armory as quick as I could.”

About 18 Guardsmen showed up; others would drift in later.

“They squeezed us into the back of a deuce and a half truck and headed to Oxford. All we had was our M-1s and steel helmets,” he said.

They first took the New Albany Guardsmen to the armory, not the campus.

“I think Col. Raiford Williams, who was from New Albany, wanted to hold us in reserve,” Phyfer said.

“They couldn’t get us on campus because they were rioting already, burning cars, throwing Molotov cocktails.”

The Guardsmen stayed crammed in the back of the truck all night, and Phyfer was excited.

“I didn’t have any more sense. I wanted to get to the campus to see what was going on,” he said.

The next morning they brought in troops who had been on the front line. One had a broken shoulder, one had head injuries and others had other injuries.

“Capt. Guy Rogers came to me and said, ‘You boys better be careful. They will kill you up there.’”

“That was the first time I was scared,” Phyfer said.

His unit was pulled up to the campus the second day.

“We put in to bivouac where Sorority Row is – it may be a parking lot now – where there was grass and a tree then,” he said.

“Sgt. Jimmy Barkley and I talked,” he said. “We said we should get to the back of the truck and ride around the campus to stop trouble wherever we saw it.”

“I think the others thought we did this to protect them, but we knew they were throwing Molotov cocktails and we decided we would rather get shot than burned up.”

They rode around and saw the burned cars and other damage but it was relatively quiet. “By now, the rioters had moved to the square to get organized for the next night,” he said. A confrontation between the mob and troops also did take place on the square.

That night Phyfer was put on guard duty.

“Sgt. Barkley and some others went to a roadblock at the end of Sorority Row,” he said. “Around 1 or 2 a.m. all the troops were lying down. They only had blankets (no tents or sleeping bags). I had my M-1 and my one bullet – they only gave us one bullet each.”

“Across the street here comes a guy up the sidewalk with something in his hand,” Phyfer continued. “He saw all the troops asleep and bent over. I think he had a Molotov cocktail in his hand and was getting ready to light it.”

“I put that one bullet in my M-1,” he said. “I don’t know whether you know about M-1s but it makes a loud clicking noise. I raised up and put it on him, and he raised up and walked away.”

Phyfer never knew for sure the man has a Molotov cocktail but that is what makes sense. Other weapons were definitely found around the area.

“Sgt. Barkley said the next morning that he stopped one car that had a trunk loaded with all kinds of guns, getting ready for that night.”

He stayed on guard duty all night and then his unit settled in for a few days with things quieted down.

“They gave us C-rations or K-rations. I thought they were real good,” he said. “Except they were cold – and the ham and egg, they were powdered egg and we got rid of them when we could. That’s all we had for a couple of days.”

“Then they moved us out to Brown’s Farm (toward Water Valley),” he said. “They had a helicopter there and loaded some of us on the helicopter.”

“We had our weapon and helmet and only one strap was holding us in. The door was open and when they turned we were looking straight down at the ground,” he said. “We were just flying around the campus and town looking for trouble.”

Perhaps because the Guardsmen were local and not full-time troops, they avoided the most dangerous part of the riot.

“The first night, somebody was shooting at them with a .22 and they were trying to hide behind bushes and stuff,” he said. “I don’t think he was trying to hit them but these poor soldiers were trying the best they could to keep from getting hit.”

Eventually his unit was moved again.

We were by the Tri-Delt and Delta Gamma houses,” he said. “While we were there a regular army general showed up. He saw all those troops asleep. They stopped the Jeep and sent someone to ask who was in charge. It was Lt. Gerald Pannell who was told be better get all those troops up because the general wasn’t happy.”

The troops had a fondness for the girls on Sorority Row, Phyfer said. “There was one about 10 every night who started undressing to go to bed. When she would get to a critical point she would close the blinds. That was just a thrill for us old boys.”

Some of the girls knew Phyfer and others Guardsmen, and would bring them hamburgers. “They were some of the best-tasting things ever,” he said.

Phyfer was probably in real danger only a few times compared to those in the midst of the riot.

“I ended up with Capt. Guy Rogers and we were on University Avenue one day when we heard a couple of shots, we thought,” he said. “We stopped. He pulled his .45 out but we couldn’t find anybody.”

“They eventually moved us up close to the football stadium,” he said, where they finally received some minor comforts.

“We were given sleeping bags and two-man tents. We stayed there,” he said.

In fact the New Albany men were the last soldiers to leave the campus. “Maybe because we were closest,” he said.

“I don’t remember how long we were there but my birthday was Oct. 10 and we celebrated my birthday in the stadium,” he said. “For some reason we had to line up when the football players came to practice and they would bump us, you know.”

It was strange to be thought of as the enemy by students when Phyfer and others had been Ole Miss students shortly before. “I knew several of the girls and some were from New Albany,” he said.

Even with everything that was going on and how long the unit was there, it was easy to be isolated.

Phyfer never saw James Meredith.

“I don’t think Meredith was ever at the Lyceum (after the public registration confrontation),” he said. “He was at the dorm but I think they wanted people to think he was at the Lyceum (where most of the rioting occurred). He was well-guarded.”

Despite the magnitude of the event, it may be little-remember today, other than by those who were there. Many younger people do not even know who James Meredith is, but Phyfer said this is history that should be remembered.

For a good account of the riot and related events, the New York Times published a detailed story the following day.

Here is the link to that story:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/100262race-ra.html