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INTRODUCTION. BY WALTER L. FLEMING. 13

KU KLUX KLAN.

BY J.C. LESTER AND D.L. WILSON.

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APPENDICES.

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Index 199

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INTRODUCTION

WALTER L. FLEMING

INTRODUCTION.

Professor of History in West Virginia University.

Twenty-one years ago there was privately printed in Nashville, Tennessee, a little book by J.C. Lester and D.L. Wilson, that purported to be an account, from inside information, of the great secret order of Reconstruction days, known to the public as Ku Klux Klan. It attracted little notice then; and since that time it has not been given the attention it deserved as a historical document. At the time of writing, sectional feeling was still inflamed; the Northern people were not ready to hear anything favorable about the Ku Klux Klan, which they considered a band of outlaws and murderers; and the Southern people were not desirous of being reminded of the dreadful Reconstruction period. Many of the members of the Klan who had been hunted for their lives, and who were still technically outlawed, were unwilling to make known their connection with the order and some even considered their oaths still binding. But since the book was printed, the Prescripts or Constitutions of the order have come to light, and the ex-members are now generally willing to tell all they know about the organization. As yet, no other member has written an account of the Klan, though several have been projected, and Lester and Wilson's History seems likely to remain the only one written altogether from inside sources.

The authors, Capt. John C. Lester and Rev. D.L. Wilson, were in 1884, when the booklet was written, residents in Pulaski, Tennessee, where the first Den of the Klan was founded. Major Lester was one of the six original members of the Pulaski Den or Circle. He made a fine record as a soldier in the Civil War in the Third Tennessee Infantry, and afterwards became a lawyer and an official in the Methodist Church, and was a member of the Tennessee legislature at the time of writing the book. Rev. D.L. Wilson, who put the account into its present form, was born in 1849, in Augusta County, Virginia. He went to school to Jed Hotchkiss and was graduated as valedictorian of his class from Washington and Lee University, in 1873, and a year later from the Union Theological Seminary, near Hampden-Sidney, Virginia. From 1874 to 1880 he was pastor of a Presbyterian church at Broadway, Virginia, and from 1880 to 1902 he served a church in Pulaski, Tennessee. He died in 1902 after a six months' residence in Bristol, Tennessee, as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. He was not a member of the Klan, but was acquainted with the founders and with many other former members, and had access to all the records of the order that had not been destroyed. In addition to information received from other members, Wilson was assisted by Captain Lester, who furnished most of the facts used, revised the manuscript and the book was printed with both names on the title page.

As a general account of the Ku Klux movement Lester and Wilson's History leaves something to be desired. It is colored too much by conditions in Tennessee. No knowledge is shown of other organizations similar to Ku Klux Klan, when in fact there were several other very important ones, such as the White Brotherhood, the White League, the Pale Faces, the Constitutional Union Guards, and one, the Knights of the White Camelia, that was larger than the Klan and covered a wider territory. Then, too, in an attempt to make a moderate statement that would be generally accepted, the authors failed to portray clearly the chaotic social, economic and political conditions that caused the rise of such orders, and in endeavoring to condemn the acts of violence committed under cloak of the order they went too far in the direction of apologetic explanation. Consequently, the causes seem somewhat trivial and the results not very important. It would seem from their account that after a partial success, the movement failed in its attempt to regulate society, and degenerated into general disorder. This is a superficial conclusion and is not concurred in by the survivors of the period and those who understand the conditions of that time. The remnants of such a secret, illegal order were certain to degenerate finally into violence, but before it reached this stage it had accomplished much good in reducing to order the social chaos.

The members of Ku Klux Klan are nowadays inclined to consider that their order comprehended all that took shape in resistance to the Africanization of society and government during the Reconstruction period. As one ex-member said: "Nearly all prominent men--ex-Confederates--in all the Southern states were connected in some way with the Klan." This is true only indirectly. Nearly all white men, it may be said, took part in the movement now called the "Ku Klux Movement." But more of them belonged to other organizations than were members of the Klan. The Klan had the most striking name and it was later applied to the whole movement. The more prominent politicians, it is said, had no direct connection with any such orders. Such connection would have embarrassed and hampered them in their work, but most of them were in full sympathy with the objects of the Ku Klux movement, and profited by its successes. Many of the genuine Unionists later joined in the movement, and there were some few negro members, I have been told. Some prominent men were honorary members, so to speak, of the order. They sympathized with its objects, and gave advice and encouragement, but were not initiated and did not take active part. General John B. Gordon, of Georgia, and General W.J. Hardee, of Alabama, were such members. The active members were, as a rule, young men. In this respect the Klan differed from the order of White Camelia, which discouraged the initiation of very young men.

General Forrest heard of the order after it began to spread, and after investigation consented to become its head as Grand Wizard. He was initiated by Captain John W. Morton, who had formerly been his chief of artillery. Under him the order, which was becoming demoralized, was reorganized. As soon as it had done its work he disbanded it. An enterprising newspaper reporter interviewed General Forrest, in 1868, on the subject of Ku Klux Klan and extracted much information; but when before the Ku Klux Committee of Congress, in 1871, the General would make only general statements and he evaded some of the interrogatories. To the committee he appeared to be wonderfully familiar with the principles of the order, but very ignorant as to details. The average member of Congress, ignorant of Southern conditions, did not understand that the members of the order considered themselves bound by the supreme oath of the Klan and that other oaths, if in conflict with it, were not binding. That is, the ex-Confederates under the command of Forrest, Grand Wizard of the Invisible Empire, were obeying the first law of nature and were bound to reveal nothing to injure the cause, just as when Confederates under Forrest, Lieutenant-General of the Confederate Army, they were bound not to reveal military information to the hostile forces. The government, in their view, had not only failed to protect them, but was being used to oppress them. Consequently they were disregarding its claim to obedience.

Now that General Forrest's connection with the Klan is known it is amusing to read the testimony he gave before the Ku Klux Committee of Congress in 1871. Though evading questions aimed to elicit definite information, yet he was willing to speak of the general conditions that caused the development of the organization in Tennessee. He stated that it was meant as a defensive organization among the Southern whites to offset the work of the Union League, which had organized, armed and drilled the negroes, and had committed numerous outrages on the whites; to protect ex-Confederates from extermination by Brownlow's "loyal" militia, to prevent the burning by negroes of gins, mills, dwellings, and villages, which was becoming common; to protect white women from criminal negro men; in short to make life and property safe and keep the South from becoming a second San Domingo. He stated that about the time the order arose he was getting as many as fifty letters a day from his old soldiers who were suffering under the disordered conditions that followed the war, whose friends and relatives were being murdered, whose wives and daughters were being insulted, etc. They wanted advice and assistance from him. Not being able to write himself, on account of a wounded shoulder, he kept a secretary busy answering such letters. Most of the defensive bodies, Forrest stated, had no names and had no connection with one another. He admitted that he had belonged to the Pale Faces, and that he fully approved of the objects of the Klan. A copy of the original Prescript was shown to him and he was able to say that he had never seen it before. In his day, the Revised and Amended Prescript was used, which was never discovered by any investigating committee. He maintained that the order was careful in admitting new members, only sober, mature, discreet gentlemen being allowed to join. At one time, Forrest estimated, so a newspaper reporter stated, that the Klan had 40,000 members in Tennessee and 550,000 in the entire South. This estimate was probably not exaggerated if the entire membership of all the orders similar to the Klan be counted in. Forrest refused to give the names of members. It is likely, from several bits of evidence, that he had much to do with consolidating the order, giving it a military organization, and making its work effective.

General John B. Gordon, the most prominent military man, next to Forrest, who was connected with the Klan, gave a clear account of the conditions in Georgia that led to the organization of the defensive societies of whites. In Georgia the state of affairs where General Gordon lived was in some respects unlike conditions in Tennessee. In Tennessee the whites were somewhat divided among themselves and there were not so many blacks. In Georgia, according to Gordon, the principal danger was from blacks, incited to hostility and violence by alien whites of low character. The latter organized the negroes into armed Union Leagues, taught them that the whites were hostile to all their rights, and that the lands of the whites were to be, or ought to be, divided among the blacks. Under such influences the negroes who had not made trouble began to show signs of restlessness; some of them banded together to plunder the whites, and serious crimes became frequent, especially that of rape, and men were afraid to leave their families in order to attend to their business. The whites feared a general insurrection of the blacks, and as Gordon stated, "if the sort of teachings given in Georgia had been carried out to its logical results the negroes would have slaughtered whole neighborhoods." That they did not do so, was, in his opinion, due to the forbearance and self-control of the whites, and to the natural kindness and good disposition of the negroes and their remembrance of former pleasant relations with the whites. There was no great danger, as one can see today, of the negro uprisings, but the whites thought then that there was. The religious frenzy of the blacks during the year after the war also alarmed the whites. The black troops stationed in Georgia were frequently guilty of gross outrages against white citizens and were a constant incitement to violence on the part of their fellow blacks. The carpetbag government pardoned and turned loose upon society the worst criminals. There was no law for several years. The whites were subject to arbitrary arrest and trials by drumhead courts-martial; military prisoners were badly mistreated. In general, society and government were in a condition of anarchy; the white race was disorganized, and the blacks organized, but not for good purposes.

General Gordon spoke of another matter often mentioned by the best class of ex-Confederate soldiers: the Southern soldier believed that the "Appomattox Program" had not been carried out. At Appomattox the magnanimity of General Grant and the victorious soldiers had impressed very favorably the defeated Confederates. The latter believed that if Grant and the soldiers who had defeated them had been allowed to settle matters, there would have been no more trouble. Instead, the politicians had taken charge and had stirred up endless strife. No effort at conciliation had been made; and the magnanimity of Grant gave way to the vindictive policies of politicians. The whites believed that the "understanding of Appomattox" had been violated and that they had been deliberately humiliated by the Washington government.

Such were some of the influences, in General Gordon's opinion, that caused the spread of the Klan in Georgia. He says that he heartily approved the objects of the order, that it was purely for self-protection, an organization for police purposes, a peace police, which kept the peace, prevented riots, and restrained the passionate whites as well as the violent blacks. Its membership was, he said, of the best citizens, mostly ex-Confederates, led by the instinct of self-preservation to band together. It was secret because the leaders were sure that the sympathy of the Federal Government would be against them and would consider a public organization a fresh rebellion. It took no part in politics and died out when the whites were able to obtain protection from the police and the courts.

These were the explanations of men who were high in the order but who never attended a meeting and were never in actual contact with its workings. Private members--Ghouls they were called--could have told more thrilling stories. But deficient as the accounts of Gordon and Forrest are in detail they supplement the history of Lester and Wilson in explaining the causes that lay at the bottom of the secret revolution generally called the Ku Klux Movement.

As to the success or failure of the movement, Lester and Wilson, condemning the violence that naturally resulted from the movement, cause the impression that the main result was disorder. Such was not the case, nor was it the intention of the writers to create such an impression. The important work of the Klan was accomplished in regaining for the whites control over the social order and in putting them in a fair way to regain political control. In some States this occurred sooner than in others. When the order accomplished its work it passed away. It was formally disbanded before the evil results of carpet bag governments could be seen. When it went out of existence in 1869, there had been few outrages, but its name and prestige lived after it and served to hide the evil deeds of all sorts and conditions of outlaws. But these could be crushed by the government, State or Federal. In a wider and truer sense the phrase "Ku Klux Movement" means the attitude of Southern whites toward the various measures of Reconstruction lasting from 1865 until 1876, and, in some respects, almost to the present day.

"LAPS D. MCCORD."

It will be noticed on comparing the two Prescripts that there are some considerable differences between the two. The Revised and Amended Prescript is eight pages longer than the other; the name of the order is longer; the poetical selections that introduce the first are omitted from the second; the second has Latin quotations only at the top of the page; and the second Prescript throws much more light on the character and objects of the order; the register is changed, and important changes in the administration are provided for.

Opposite p. 196 is a typical warning sent to persons obnoxious to the Klan. It is taken from the Ku Klux Report, Alabama Testimony.

The costumes represented opposite p. 58 were captured in Mississippi and were worn both in Mississippi and in Western Alabama. The costumes represented opposite p. 97 were captured after the famous Ku Klux parade in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1868. Federal soldiers donned the captured disguises and were photographed. During the campaign of 1868 the pictures were reproduced in the Reconstructionist newspapers.

Miss Cora R. Jones kindly furnished a drawing of the badge worn by the higher officials of the Klan, and a sketch of the room in which the Klan was founded. Her uncle, Calvin Jones, was one of the founders, the father, Charles P. Jones, was also a member and the badge mentioned belonged to him.

The text of the Lester and Wilson History is reprinted without change.

FOOTNOTES:

Cutler, in his "Lynch Law," p. 139, is the first writer outside of the South who has paid serious attention to this history of Ku Klux Klan.

The Constitution and Ritual of the Knights of the White Camelia have been printed in West Virginia University Documents relating to Reconstruction, No. 1.

Tourgee's "Invisible Empire" gives the carpetbagger's view of the Ku Klux movement, and, though filled with worthless testimony from the Ku Klux Report, it shows a very clear conception of the real meaning of the movement and a correct appreciation of its results. The best later interpretation is that of Mr. William Garrott Brown in "The Lower South," Ch. 4.

For a full account of its work in Alabama see Fleming's "Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama," Ch. 21.

Charles P. Jones, brother of Calvin Jones, joined later. He now lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Examples in European history are the Carbonari of Italy, the Tugenbund and the Vehmgericht of Germany, the Klephts of Greece, Young Italy, the Nihilists of Russia, the Masonic order in most Catholic countries during the first half of the Nineteenth Century, Beati Paoli of Sicily, the Illuminati, etc. The "Confr?ries" of Medieval France were similar illegal societies formed "pour d?fendre les innocentes et reprimer les violences iniques."--Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, Vol. 2, p. 466.

See Ku Klux Report, Vol. 13, p. 32.

Ku Klux Report, Vol. 13, Florida and Miscellaneous, p. 3.

See Ku Klux Report, Georgia Testimony, p. 304.

General Clanton, of Alabama, complained that the Southern people had passed "out of the hands of warriors into the hands of squaws." General Edmund W. Pettus, now U.S. Senator from Alabama, said that the entire Reconstruction was in violation of the understanding made at the surrender of the Confederate armies. The Confederate soldier surrendered with arms in hand and in return a certain contract was made in his parole according to which, as long as he was law-abiding, he was not to be disturbed. This contract had been violated. The government of the United States had made a promise to men with arms in their hands and had violated this promise by passing the Reconstruction measures, which amounted to punishment of individuals for alleged crime without trial by law. See Ku Klux Report, Alabama Testimony, pp. 224, 377, 383.

KU KLUX KLAN

ITS ORIGIN, GROWTH AND DISBANDMENT

J.C. LESTER AND D.L. WILSON

KU KLUX KLAN

THE ORIGIN.

There is no stranger chapter in American history than the one which bears for a title "Ku Klux Klan." The organization which bore this name went out of life as it came into it, shrouded in deepest mystery. Its members would not disclose its secrets; others could not. Even the investigation committee, appointed by Congress, were baffled. The voluminous reports containing the results of that committee's tedious and diligent inquiry do not tell when and where and how the Ku Klux Klan originated. The veil of secrecy still hangs over its grave. We propose to lift it.

The time has now arrived when the history of the origin, growth and final decay of "The Invisible Empire" may be given to the public. Circumstances not necessary to detail have put it in the power of the writer to compile such a history. For obvious reasons the names of individuals are withheld. But the reader may feel assured that this narrative is drawn from sources which are accurate and authentic.

The writer does not profess to be able to disclose the secret signs, grips and pass-words of the order. These have never been disclosed and probably never will be. But we claim to narrate facts relating to the order, which have a historic and philosophic value. It is due to the truth of history; to the student of human nature; to the statesmen, and to the men who were engaged in this movement, that the facts connected with this remarkable episode in our nation's history be frankly and fairly told.

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