John Walter Stephens was born in Guilford County, North Carolina on October 14, 1834.  Prominent in the tobacco business and representing groups such as the Republican Party, the Freedman's Bureau, and the Union League, Stephens served in the state senate, representing Caswell County from 1868 to 1870. Stephens' pro-Republican and pro-African American stances made him a target for white supremacists in Caswell. On May 21st, 1870, whilst watching a Democratic Convention at the Caswell County Court House, Stephens was led into a back room, where the Ku Klux Klan executed him. His death spurred Governor William Woods Holden to declare Caswell and Alamance Counties in a state of insurrection.