THE DECLINE.
For a while after the reorganization of the Klan, those concerned for
its welfare and right conduct congratulated themselves that all was
now well. Closer organization and stricter official supervision had a
restraining influence upon the members. Many things seemed to indicate
that the future work of the Klan would be wholly good.
These hopes were rudely shattered. Ere long official supervision grew
less rigid or was less regarded. The membership was steadily
increasing. Among the new material added were some bad men who could
not be--at least were not--controlled.
In the winter and spring of 1867 and 1868 many things were done by
members, or professed members, of the Klan, which were the subject of
universal regret and condemnation. In many ways the grave censure of
those who had hitherto been friendly to it was evoked against the
Klan, and occasion, long sought for, was given its enemies to petition
the intervention of the government to suppress it. The end came
rapidly. We must now trace the causes which wrought the decay and
downfall of the "Invisible Empire."
In regard to the doings of the Ku Klux two extreme positions have been
advocated. On the one hand, it is asserted that the Ku Klux committed
no outrages. On the other, that they were the authors of all the
depredations committed by masked and disguised men in the Southern
States from 1865 to 1869. The truth lies between these two extremes.
Great outrages were committed by bands of disguised men during those
years of lawlessness and oppression. And the fact must be admitted
that some of these outrages were committed, if not by the order and
approbation of the Klan, at least by men who were members of it.[47]
The thoughtful reader will readily understand how this came about.
There was a cause which naturally and almost necessarily produced the
result. Men of the character of the majority of those who composed
the Klan do not disregard their own professed principles and violate
self-assumed obligations without cause. We have seen that the Klan was
in the main composed of the very best men in the country--peaceable,
law-loving and law-abiding men--men of good habits and character--men
of property and intelligence.
We have seen that the organization had no political significance; they
expressly and in solemn secret compact declared their allegiance to
the constitution and all constitutional laws, and pledged themselves
to aid in the administration of all such laws. To see such men defying
law and creating disorder, is a sight singular enough to awake inquiry
as to the causes which had been at work upon them. The transformation
of the Ku Klux Klan, from a band of regulators, honestly trying to
preserve peace and order, into the body of desperate men who, in 1869,
convulsed the country and set at defiance the mandates of both State
and Federal governments, is greater than the transformation which we
have already traced.
In both cases there were causes at work adequate to the results
produced; causes from which, as remarked before, the results followed
naturally and necessarily.
These have never been fully and fairly stated. They may be classed
under three general heads: (1). Unjust charges. (2). Misapprehension
of the nature and objects of the order on the part of those not
members of it. (3). Unwise and over-severe legislation.
As has already been pointed out, the order contained within itself, by
reason of the methods practiced, sources of weakness. The devices and
disguises by which the Klan deceived outsiders enabled all who were so
disposed, even its own members, to practice deception on the Klan
itself. It placed in the hands of its own members the facility to do
deeds of violence for the gratification of personal feeling, and have
them credited to the Klan. To evilly-disposed men membership in the
Klan was an inducement to wrongdoing. It presented to all men a
dangerous temptation, which, in certain contingencies at any time
likely to arise, it required a considerable amount of moral robustness
to resist. Many did not withstand it. And deeds of violence were done
by men who were Ku Klux, but who, while acting under cover of their
connection with the Klan, were not under its orders. But because these
men were Ku Klux, the Klan had to bear the odium of wrongdoing.[48]
In addition to this, the very class which the Klan proposed to hold in
check and awe into good behavior, soon became wholly unmanageable.
Those who had formerly committed depredations to be laid to the charge
of the negroes, after a brief interval of good behavior, assumed the
guise of Ku Klux and returned to their old ways, but with less
boldness and more caution, showing the salutary impression which the
Klan had made upon them. In some cases the negroes played Ku Klux.
Outrages were committed by masked men in regions far remote from any
Ku Klux organizations. The parties engaged took pains to assert that
they were Ku Klux, _which the members of the Klan never did_. This was
evidence that these parties were simply aping Ku Klux disguises. The
proof on this point is ample and clear. After the passage of the Anti
Ku Klux Statute by the State of Tennessee, several instances occurred
of parties being arrested in Ku Klux disguises; but in every instance
they proved to be either negroes or "radical" Brownlow Republicans.
This occurred so often that the statute was allowed by the party in
power to become a dead letter before its repeal. It bore too hard on
"loyal" men when enforced.
The same thing occurred in Georgia and other States. (See testimony of
General Gordon and others before the Investigating Committee.)
_No single instance occurred of the arrest of a masked man who proved
to be--when stripped of his disguises--a Ku Klux._
But it came to pass that all the disorder done in the country was
charged upon the Ku Klux, because done under disguises which they had
invented and used. The Klan had no way in which to disprove or refute
the charges. They felt that it was hard to be charged with violence of
which they were innocent. At the same time they felt that it was
natural, and, under the circumstances, not wholly unjust that this
should be the case. They had assumed the office of Regulators. It was
therefore due society, due themselves, and due the Government, which,
so far, had not molested them, that they should, at least, not afford
the lawless classes facilities for the commission of excesses greater
than any they had hitherto indulged in, and above all, that they
should restrain their own members from lawlessness.
The Klan felt all this; and in its efforts to relieve itself of the
stigma thus incurred, it acted in some cases against the offending
parties with a severity well merited, no doubt, but unjustifiable.[49]
As is frequently the case they were carried beyond the limits of
prudence and right by a hot zeal for self-vindication against unjust
aspersions.
They felt that the charge of wrong was unfairly brought against them.
To clear themselves of the charge they did worse wrong than that
alleged against them.
The Klan from the first shrouded itself in deepest mystery; out of
this fact grew trouble not at first apprehended. They wished people
not to understand. They tried to keep them profoundly ignorant. The
result was that the Klan and its objects were wholly misunderstood and
misinterpreted. Many who joined the Klan and many who did not, were
certain it contemplated something far more important than its overt
acts gave evidence of. Some were sure it meant treason and revolution.
The negroes and the whites whose consciences made them the subjects of
guilty fears, were sure it boded no good to them.
When the first impressions of awe and terror which the Klan had
inspired, to some extent, wore off, a feeling of intense hostility
towards the Ku Klux followed. This feeling was the more bitter because
founded, not on overt acts which the Ku Klux had done, but on vague
fears and surmises as to what they intended to do. Those who
entertained such fears were in some cases impelled by them to become
the aggressors. They attacked the Ku Klux before receiving from them
any provocation. The negroes formed organizations of a military
character and drilled by night, and even appeared in the day armed and
threatening. The avowed purpose of these organizations was "to make
war upon and exterminate the Ku Klux." On several occasions the Klan
was fired into. The effect of such attacks was to provoke counter
hostility from the Klan, and so there was irritation and
counter-irritation, till, in some places, the state of things was
little short of open warfare. In some respects it was worse; the
parties wholly misunderstood each other. Each party felt that its
cause was the just one. Each justified its deed by the provocation.
The Ku Klux, intending wrong, as they believed, to no one, were
aggrieved that acts which they had not done should be charged to them;
and motives which they did not entertain imputed to them and outraged
that they should be molested and assaulted. The other party satisfied
that they were acting in self-defense felt fully justified in
assaulting them, and so each goaded the other on from one degree of
exasperation to another.
The following extracts from a general order of the Grand Dragon of the
Realm of Tennessee will illustrate the operation of both these causes.
It was issued in the fall of the year 1868. It shows what were the
principles and objects which the Klan still professed, and it also
shows how it was being forced away from them:
HEADQUARTERS REALM NO. 1,}
DREADFUL ERA, BLACK EPOCH,}
DREADFUL HOUR.}
_General Order No. 1._
WHEREAS, Information of an authentic character has reached these
headquarters that the blacks in the counties of Marshall, Maury,
Giles and Lawrence are organized into military companies, with
the avowed purpose to make war upon and exterminate the Ku Klux
Klan, said blacks are hereby solemnly warned and ordered to
desist from further action in such organizations, if they exist.
The G. D. [Grand Dragon] regrets the necessity of such an order.
But this Klan shall not be outraged and interfered with by
lawless negroes and meaner white men, who do not and never have
understood our purposes.
In the first place this Klan is not an institution of violence,
lawlessness and cruelty; it is not lawless; it is not
aggressive; it is not military; it is not revolutionary.
It is, essentially, originally and inherently a protective
organization. It proposes to execute law instead of resisting
it; and to protect all good men, whether white or black, from
the outrages and atrocities of bad men of both colors, who have
been for the past three years a terror to society, and an injury
to us all.
The blacks seem to be impressed with the belief that this Klan
is especially their enemy. We are not the enemy of the blacks,
as long as they behave themselves, make no threats upon us, and
do not attack or interfere with us.
But if they make war upon us they must abide the awful
retribution that will follow.
This Klan, while in its peaceful movements, and disturbing no
one, has been fired into three times. This will not be endured
any longer; and if it occurs again, and the parties be
discovered, a remorseless vengeance will be wreaked upon them.
We reiterate that we are for peace and law and order. No man,
white or black, shall be molested for his political sentiments.
This Klan is not a political party; it is not a military party;
it is a protective organization, and will never use violence
except in resisting violence.
Outrages have been perpetrated by irresponsible parties in the
name of this Klan. Should such parties be apprehended, they will
be dealt with in a manner to insure us future exemption from
such imposition. These impostors have, in some instances,
whipped negroes. This is wrong! wrong! It is denounced by this
Klan as it must be by all good and humane men.
The Klan now, as in the past, is prohibited from doing such
things. We are striving to protect all good, peaceful,
well-disposed and law-abiding men, whether white or black.
The G. D. deems this order due to the public, due to the Klan,
and due to those who are misguided and misinformed. We,
therefore, request that all newspapers who are friendly to law,
and peace, and the public welfare, will publish the same.
By order of the G. D., Realm No. 1.
By the Grand Scribe.
This order doubtless expresses the principles which the Klan, as a
body, was honestly trying to maintain. It also illustrates how they
were driven to violate them by the very earnestness and vehemence
with which they attempted to maintain them.
The question naturally arises, Why, under the embarrassing
circumstances, did not the Klan disband and close its operations?[50]
The answer is, that the members felt that there was now more reasons
than ever for the Klan's existence. They felt that they ought not to
abandon their important and needful work because they encountered
unforeseen difficulties in accomplishing it. It is an illustration of
the fatuity which sometimes marks the lives of men that they did not
perceive what seems perfectly clear and plain to others. Nothing is
more certain than that a part of the evils which the Klan was
combating at this period of its history grew out of their own methods,
and might be expected to continue as long as the Klan existed. Men are
not always wise. But even in cases where their conduct does not permit
of vindication and excuse, justice requires that a fair and truthful
statement be made of the temptations and embarrassments which
surrounded them. Placing all the circumstances before us fully, who of
us is prepared to say that we would have acted with more wisdom and
discretion than these men?
[Illustration: CARPETBAGGERS LISTENING TO A KU KLUX REPORT
Coon and Sibly of the Alabama Legislature. Cartoon from Screw's
"Lost Legislature."
FACING PAGE 113]
Matters grew worse and worse, till it was imperatively necessary that
there should be interference on the part of the Government. In
September, 1868, the Legislature of Tennessee, in obedience to the
call of Governor Brownlow, assembled in extra session and passed a
most stringent and bloody anti-Ku Klux statute.[51] This was the
culmination of a long series of the most infamous legislations which
ever disgraced a statute book.
It began in 1865, as we have seen, in the passage of the alien and
sedition act, and grew worse and worse till the passage of the anti-Ku
Klux statute in 1868. Sixteen years have passed since then, and many
into whose hands this book will come have never seen the "Anti-Ku
Klux Law." We quote it entire, to show the character of the
legislation of those times as well as for the sake of its bearing on
the matter in hand:
SEC. 1. _Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Tennessee_,
That if any person or persons shall unite with, associate with,
promote or encourage any secret organization of persons who
shall prowl through the country or towns of this State, by day
or by night, disguised or otherwise, for the purpose of
disturbing the peace, or alarming the peaceable citizens of any
portion of this State, on conviction by any tribunal of this
State, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars,
imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than five years, and
shall be rendered infamous.
SEC. 2. _Be it further enacted_, That it shall be the duty of
all the courts in this State, before the impaneling of any grand
jury or petit jury in any cause whatever, to inquire of the
juror, on oath, whether he shall be associated in any way
obnoxious to the first section of this act; and if such juror
shall decline to give a voluntary answer, or shall answer
affirmatively, such persons shall be disqualified as a juror in
any case in any court in this State.
SEC. 3. _Be it further enacted_, That, for the purpose of
facilitating the execution of the provisions of this act, it
shall be the duty of the Prosecuting Attorneys of this State or
grand jurors, or either of them, to summons or cause to be
summoned, any persons he shall have a well-grounded belief has
any knowledge of such organization as described by the first
section of this act, and if any person shall fail or refuse to
obey such summons, or shall appear and refuse to testify, such
persons so summoned shall suffer the penalty imposed by the
first section of this act; and if such witness shall avoid the
service of said subpoena or summons, the sheriff, or other
officer, shall return such fact on said process, when the court
shall order a copy of said process to be left at the last place
of residence of such persons sought to be summoned; and if such
person shall fail to appear according to the command of said
process, said court shall enter a judgment _nisi_ against such
person for the sum of five hundred dollars, for which _sci. fa._
shall issue, as in other cases of forfeiture of subpoena.
SEC. 4. _Be it further enacted_, That no prosecutor shall be
required on any indictment under the provisions of this act; and
all the courts of the State shall give a remedial construction
to the same; and that no presentment or indictment shall be
quashed, or declared insufficient for want of form.
SEC. 5. _Be it further enacted_, That it shall be the duty of
all the courts of this State, at every term, for two years from
and after the passage of this act, to call before it all the
officers thereof, who shall be sworn, and have this act read or
explained to them; and the court shall ask said officers if they
shall have any knowledge of any person of the State, or out of
it, that shall be guilty of any of the offenses contained in
this act, and that, if at any time they shall come to such
knowledge, or shall have a well-grounded belief that any person
or persons shall be guilty of a violation of this act or any of
its provisions, that they will immediately, inform the
Prosecuting Attorney for the State thereof; and if such
Prosecuting Attorney, upon being so informed, shall fail,
refuse, or neglect to prosecute such person or persons so
informed on, he shall be subject to the same penalties imposed
by the first section of this act, and shall be stricken from the
roll of attorneys in said court.
SEC. 6. _Be it further enacted_, That if any officer, or other
person, shall inform any other person that he or she is to be
summoned as a witness under any of the provisions of this act,
or any other statute or law of this State, with the intent and
for the purpose of defeating any of the provisions of this act,
or any criminal law of this State; or if any officer, clerk,
sheriff or constable shall refuse or fail to perform any of the
duties imposed by this act, upon conviction, shall suffer the
penalties by the first section of this act, and shall be
disqualified from holding office in this State for two years.
SEC. 7. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person shall
voluntarily inform on any person guilty of any of the provisions
of this act, upon conviction such informant shall be entitled
and receive one-half of the fine imposed; and if any officer,
three-fourths.
SEC. 8. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person, guilty of
any of the provisions or offenses enumerated in this act, that
shall appear before any jury or prosecuting officer of the
State, and shall inform him or them of any offense committed by
any person or persons against the criminal laws of this State,
such person or witness shall not be bound to answer to any
charge for the violation of any provisions of any law about
which such person or witness shall be examined; and the court
shall protect such witness from any prosecution whatever.
SEC. 9. _Be it further enacted_, That where any process shall be
issued against the person of any citizen in any county of this
State, for any violation of the provisions of this act, and such
shall be returned not executed, for any cause whatever, by the
sheriff or other officer, to the court from which it was issued,
with an affidavit appended thereto, plainly setting forth the
reason for the non-execution of such process, then it shall be
the duty of the clerk, without delay, to issue an _alias capias_
to the same county, if the home of the defendant shall be in
said county, either in part or in whole, when said sheriff or
other officer shall give notice to the inhabitants of said
county by posting such notice at the court-house of said county,
of the existence of said capias; and if the inhabitants of such
county shall permit such defendant to be or to live in said
county, in part or in whole, the inhabitants shall be subject to
an assessment of not less than five hundred dollars, nor more
than five thousand dollars, at the discretion of the court,
which said assessment shall be made in the following manner,
to-wit: When the sheriff or other officer shall return his
_alias capias_, showing that said defendant is an inhabitant of
said county, in part or in whole, and that the citizens thereof
have failed or refused to arrest said defendant, which every
citizen is hereby authorized to do or perform. Said court shall
order _sci. fa._ to issue to the proper officer to make known to
the chairman, judge, or other presiding officer of the County
Court, to appear and show cause why final judgment should not
have been entered up accordingly; which, if any County Court
fails or refuses to do and perform, any judge, in vacation,
shall grant a _mandamus_ to compel said County Court to assess
and collect said assessment, to be paid into the State treasury
for the benefit of the school fund; provided, said assessment
shall not be made of the sheriff or other officer, upon the
return of the original, or _alias_ writs, show cause why the
same cannot be executed, which may be done by his affidavit and
two respectable witnesses known to the court as such.
SEC. 10. _Be it further enacted_, That all the inhabitants in
this State shall be authorized to arrest any person defendant,
under the provisions of this act, in any county in this State
without process.
SEC. 11. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person or persons
shall write, publish, advise, entreat or persuade, privately or
publicly, any class of persons, or any individual, to resist any
of the laws of this State calculated to molest or disturb the
good people and peaceable citizens of the State, such persons
shall be subject to the penalties of the first section of this
act; and if an attorney at law, he shall be stricken from the
roll of attorneys and be prevented from practicing in any court
in this State.
SEC. 12. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person shall make
threats against any elector or person authorized to exercise the
elective franchise, with the intention of intimidating or
preventing such person or persons from attending any election in
this State, they shall be subject to the penalties inflicted by
the first section of this act.
SEC. 13. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person or persons
shall attempt to break up any election in this State, or advise
the same to be done, with a view of preventing the lawful or
qualified citizens of this State from voting, they shall be
subject to the penalties prescribed by the first section of this
act; and the attorney of the State in all convictions under the
provisions of this act, shall be entitled to a tax fee of one
hundred dollars, to be taxed in the bill of costs, and to be
paid by the defendant. And the attorney prosecuting for the
State shall keep all information given him a secret, unless it
shall be necessary, in the opinion of the court, that the same
should be made public.
SEC. 14. _Be it further enacted_, That it shall be the duty of
all the judges in this State to read this act to the grand
juries, and give it especially in charge to said juries.
SEC. 15. _Be it further enacted_, That the treasurer of this
State shall not be authorized to pay any judge in this State any
salary, or to any clerk, sheriff, or attorney, any fee or bill
of costs that may accrue to such parties under the provisions of
this act, until such judge or other officer shall have filed
with the comptroller or treasurer an affidavit plainly setting
forth that he has fully complied with the provisions of this
act.
SEC. 16. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person or citizen
of this State shall voluntarily feed, or lodge, or entertain, or
conceal in the woods, or elsewhere, any offender known to such
person to be charged with any criminal offense under this act,
such person shall suffer the penalty prescribed by the first
section of this act; provided, that this section shall not apply
to persons who, under the ancient law, might feed or conceal the
party charged.
SEC. 17. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person, guilty of
any of the offenses enumerated in this act, shall have, own or
possess any real estate held by deed, or grant, or entry, or by
fee, or entail in law, or equity, the same shall be bound for
costs, fines or penalties imposed by any of the provisions of
this act; and a lien is hereby declared to attach to all estates
in law or equity, as above, dating from the day or night of the
commission of the offense, which fact may be found by the jury
trying the cause, or any other jury impaneled for that purpose;
and if in the opinion of the court the defendant has evaded the
law, the jury shall find such fact, and the estate of the
defendant shall be made liable for the costs of the State; and
there shall be no limitation to the recovery of the same.
SEC. 18. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person or persons
shall be guilty of a violation of any of the provisions of this
act, to the prejudice or injury of any individual, the jury
trying the defendant shall, or may find such fact with the
amount of injury sustained, which shall be paid to the injured
party or person entitled to the same, by the laws of descent of
this State, with all costs, and who shall have the same lien on
the property of the defendant that is possessed or given to the
State by this act.
SEC. 19. _Be it further enacted_, That if any person shall
knowingly make or cause to be made, any uniform or regalia, in
part or in whole, by day or night, or shall be found in
possession of the same, he, she or they shall be fined at the
discretion of the court, and shall be rendered infamous.
SEC. 20. _Be it further enacted_, That in addition to the oath
prescribed by the constitution and oath of office, every public
officer shall swear that he has never been a member of the
organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, or other disguised body
of men contrary to the laws of the State, and that he has
neither directly nor indirectly aided, encouraged, supported, or
in any manner countenanced said organization.
SEC. 21. _Be it further enacted_, That the attorneys or
prosecuting officers for the State, shall be entitled to and
receive five per cent, on all forfeitures or assessments made by
this act, on compensations to be paid by the defendant.
SEC. 22. _Be it further enacted_, That the standard of damages
for injuries to individuals shall be as follows: For disturbing
any of the officers of the State or other person, by entering
the house or houses, or place of residence of any such
individual in the night, in a hostile manner, or against his
will, the sum of ten thousand dollars; and it shall be lawful
for the person so assailed to kill the assailant. For killing
any individual in the night twenty thousand dollars; provided,
such person killed was peaceable at that time. That all other
injuries shall be assessed by the court and jury in proportion;
and the court trying said causes may grant as many new trials as
may, in his opinion, be necessary to attain the end of justice.
SEC. 23. _Be it further enacted_, That all persons present, and
not giving immediate information on the offenders, shall be
regarded as guilty of a misdemeanor against the law, and shall
be punished accordingly.
SEC. 24. _Be it further enacted_, That it shall not be lawful
for any persons to publish any proffered or pretended order of
said secret, unlawful clans; and any person convicted under any
of the provisions of this act, shall not claim, hold, or possess
any property, real or personal, exempt from execution, fine,
penalty or costs, under this act; provided, that nothing herein
contained shall be so construed as to prevent or exempt any
person heretofore guilty of any of the offenses herein contained
from prosecution under the law as it now stands. This act to
take effect from after its passage.[52]
The same legislature passed a bill authorizing the Governor to
organize, equip and call into active service, at his discretion, a
volunteer force, to be known as the Tennessee State Guards; to be
composed of one or more regiments from each congressional district of
the State; provided always that said Tennessee State Guards shall be
composed of loyal men.
And it was further provided by the "Militia Law," that upon the
representation of "ten Union men, or three Justices of the Peace in
any county in the State," that the presence of these troops were
needed, that the Governor might declare martial law in such counties,
and send thither troops in such numbers as, in his judgment, were
necessary for the preservation of peace and order. And it was provided
that the expense of these troops to the State should be collected from
the counties where they were quartered.
The reader has now some insight into the character of the legislation
direct against the Ku Klux. He will not only note the general severity
and harshness of it, but the following features in particular:
(1). The anti-Ku Klux statute was _ex post facto_, as expressly
declared by Section 24 of it. (2). It presented no way in which a man
could relieve himself from liability to it, except by turning
informer, and as an inducement to do this a large bribe was offered.
(3). It encouraged strife, by making every inhabitant of the State an
officer extraordinary with power "to arrest without process" when he
had ground to suspect. (4). It must be remembered that in those days
in Tennessee "to be loyal" had a very limited meaning. It meant simply
to be a subservient tool and supporter of Governor Brownlow. If a man
was not that, no matter what his past record, or what his political
opinion, he was not "loyal." (5). While the law professed to be aimed
at the suppression of all lawlessness, it was not so construed and
enforced by the party in power. The "Union" or "Loyal" League was
never molested, though this organization met frequently, and its
members appeared by day and by night, armed, threatening and molesting
the life and property of as peaceable and quiet citizens as any in the
State. No attempt was ever made to arrest men except in Ku Klux
disguises. But as before remarked there is no instance on record of a
Ku Klux being arrested, tried and convicted. Invariably the party
arrested while depredating as Ku Klux turned out to be, when stripped
of their disguises, "loyal" men.
In some sections of the State a perfect reign of terror followed this
anti-Ku Klux statute. The members of the Klan were now in the attitude
of men fighting for life and liberty. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
them were not lawbreakers, and did not desire to be. There had been no
law against association with the Klan; they had conceived and done no
wrong during their connection with it. They had had no participation
in or knowledge of the excesses in which some of the Klan had indulged
or were charged with having indulged in. But now their previous
connection with the Klan was made a penal offense; and they had no
hope except on terms which to men of honor and right principle were
more odious than death.
These men were made infamous, made liable to fine and imprisonment,
exposed to arrest without process by any malicious negro or mean white
man; and even their wives and children were outlawed and exposed to
the same indignities; and it is no strange thing if they were driven
to the very verge of desperation. It is not denied that they did many
things for which the world has been exceedingly slow to accept apology
or excuse. But history is challenged to furnish an instance of a
people bearing gross wrong and brutal outrage perpetrated in the name
of law and loyalty with patience, forbearance or forgiveness,
comparable to that exhibited by the people of the Southern States,
and especially of Tennessee, during what is called the "Reconstruction
period," and since.
There may be in their conduct some things to regret, and some to
condemn; but he who gets a full understanding of their surroundings,
social, civil and political, if he is not incapable of noble
sentiment, will also find many things to awaken his sympathy and call
forth his admiration.
FOOTNOTES:
[47] See Major Crowe's statement on p. 22.
[48] "At this late day (1901) I am gratified to be able to say that my
company did much good service to Tuscaloosa county. Had these
organizations confined their operations to their legitimate object,
viz: Punishing impudent negroes and negro-loving whites, then their
performances would have effected only good. Unfortunately, the Klan
began to degenerate into a vile means of wreaking revenge for personal
dislikes or personal animosities, and in this way many outrages were
perpetrated, ultimately resulting in casting so much well-deserved
odium on the whole concern that about the year 1870 there was almost a
universal collapse; all the good and brave men abandoning it in
disgust. Many outrages were committed in the name of Ku Klux that
really were done by irresponsible parties who never belonged to the
Klan."--_Ryland Randolph._
[49] I have been told that in Tennessee several members of the Klan
were executed by its orders for committing evil deeds under name of
the Klan.--_Editor._
[50] Some of the "Dens" disbanded in 1868. "As soon as our object was
effected, viz., got the negroes to behave themselves, we
disbanded."--_Ryland Randolph._
[51] Most of the carpetbag and negro legislatures of the other
Southern States passed similar laws, and Congress enacted a series of
three "Force Laws" in 1870-1871. See Burgess' "Reconstruction and the
Constitution," pp. 253, 262; Fleming's "Civil War and Reconstruction
in Alabama," p. 695.--_Editor._
[52] This is a good specimen of the "Force Laws" which were meant to
uphold the Radical governments in the South against popular
disaffection.--_Editor._