as to the number of those who have been the victims of outrages
perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klans, are necessarily meagre.
Many of them are recorded alone in the blood of the unoffending victims;
thousands of mouths that could speak the unwelcome truth, have been
sealed, and are sealed to-day, through fear, and dare not make the
terrible revelations; but sufficient have come to light to afford an
approximate idea of the extent to which the pernicious designs of the
Order have been carried.
With all the figures before us, and with a desire to keep within, rather
than exceed the bounds, the awful truth must be confessed, that _not less
than twenty-three thousand persons_, black and white, have been scourged,
banished, or murdered by the Ku Klux Klans, since the close of the
Rebellion: an average of more than two thousand in each of the States
lately in insurrection.
Great care has been had in arriving at these figures. All the available
sources of information have been exhausted by research, and the facts
obtained have been in a manner borne out by collateral evidence, tending
to confirm the accuracy of the statement.
The committee appointed by the Legislature of Tennessee (special session
of 1868), to investigate the subject, reported to that body, that:
"The murders and outrages perpetrated in many counties in Middle and West
Tennessee, during the past few months (1868), have been so numerous and of
such an aggravated character, as to almost baffle investigation. The
terror inspired by the secret organizations, known as the Ku Klux Klans is
so great, that the officers of the law are powerless to execute its
provisions. Your Committee believe that, during the last six months, _the
murders alone_, to say nothing of other outrages, would average _one a
day_, or one for every twenty-four hours."
Gen. Reynolds, as commander of the Fifth Military District--comprising the
State of Texas--in his report to the Secretary of War, 1868-9, says:
"Armed organizations, generally known as Ku Klux Klans, exist in many
parts of Texas but are most numerous, bold, and aggressive east of the
Trinity River. The precise object of the organization in this State, seems
to be to disarm, rob, and in many cases, murder Union men and negroes.
_The murder of negroes is so common as to render it impossible to keep
accurate account of them._"
Gen. O. O. Howard, reporting to the Secretary of War (1868-9), says, of
the State of Arkansas:
"Lawlessness, violence, and ruffianism, have prevailed to an alarming
extent. Ku Klux Klans, disguised by night, have burned the dwellings and
shed the blood of unoffending freemen."
In the Louisiana contested election cases (1868), the terrible extent to
which these outrages were carried, was shown by most conclusive evidence.
One of the members of the Committee selected to take testimony in those
cases, says:
"The testimony shows that over _two thousand persons_ were killed,
wounded, and otherwise injured in that State, within a few weeks prior to
the presidential election; that half of the State was overrun by violence;
that midnight raids, secret murders and open riots, kept the people in
constant terror until the Republicans surrendered all claims, and then the
election was carried by the Democracy."
Referring to the well-authenticated massacre by the Ku Klux, at the parish
of St. Landry, in 1868, the report says:
"Here (St. Landry) occurred one of the bloodiest riots on record, in which
_the Ku Klux killed and wounded over two hundred Republicans in two days_.
A pile of twenty-five bodies of the victims was found half buried in the
woods. The Ku Klux captured the masses, marked them with badges of red
flannel, enrolled them in clubs, marched them to the polls, and made them
vote the Democratic ticket."
It is estimated that, in North and South Carolina, not less than five
thousand were scourged and killed, while more than that number were
compelled to flee for their lives. In Florida and Georgia, the outrages
were not so numerous, but they were marked with greater atrocity and
brutality.
In further consideration of this question, the numbers and extent of the
various orders of the Ku Klux Klan, may be taken as a partial guide. The
testimony of Gen. N. B. Forrest is pertinent to the point. His position as
GRAND CYCLOPS of the Order, lends to his testimony the probability of
truth which it would not otherwise possess; and when it is considered that
he gave it with the greatest reluctance, one readily arrives at the
conclusion that his figures are by no means exaggerated. According to the
statements made by Gen. Forrest, the Order numbered not less than _five
hundred and fifty thousand men_. According to his estimate, there were
_forty thousand Ku Klux in the State of Tennessee_ alone, and he believed
the organization still stronger in other States.
Here, then, we have a vast array of men banded together with the secret
purpose of banishing from the country, or scourging and murdering all who
differed from them politically. In view of the numbers and extent of this
organization, and the positive evidence of the fearful work of its
members, the statement that twenty-three thousand persons have suffered
scourging and death at their hands, may be considered under, rather than
over, the real numbers.
In North Carolina alone, eighteen hundred members of the Order stand
indicted for their participation in outrages upon persons and property.
In South Carolina, the number reaches over seven hundred. Florida,
Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, and other States, swells the
aggregate to more than five thousand, and the investigations upon which
these indictments have been procured, disclose a condition of affairs,
which, it is difficult to conceive, could exist in a civilized
community;--much less in a Republic, noted among the nations of the earth
for its liberality, its progression, its enlarged freedom, the security of
life, liberty, property, and the equal rights of all.
THE EXISTENCE OF THE EVILS herein enumerated is placed beyond all doubt
and cavil. In the light of the recorded and corroborated facts, the nation
will demand to know:--
_First._ How far the present administrators of the Government have
fulfilled the duties and responsibilities confided to them by the
people?
_Second._ What has been done to remedy the evils that have made life
in Southern communities intolerable and unsafe?
_Third._ What steps are necessary to prevent a recurrence of these
evils in the future?
Happily the first two questions have been amply answered in the acts of
the administration.
A careful study of the necessities of the case, the enactment of
appropriate laws, applicable thereto, and their vigorous, but humane
enforcement, constitute a plan, the successful elaboration of which gives
answer to the third question, of "how a recurrence of these evils may be
prevented in the future."
To those who may have entertained the idea, that the work of restoring
order and securing to _all_ the citizens equal rights, nothing can be more
comprehensive than the language of the committee of investigation. In
alluding to this point, the report says:--
"Looking to the modes provided by law for the redress of all
grievance--the fact that Southern communities do not yield ready
obedience at once, should not deter the friends of good government in
both sections of the country, from hoping and working for that end.
"The strong feeling which led to rebellion and sustained brave men,
however, mistaken in resisting the Government which demanded their
submission to its authority; the sincerity of whose belief was
attested by their enormous sacrifice of life and treasure, this
feeling cannot be expected to subside at once, nor in years. It
required full forty years to develop disaffection into sedition, and
sedition into treason. Should we not be patient if in less than ten,
we have a fair prospect of seeing so many who were armed enemies,
becoming obedient citizens?"
DURING THE THREE BRIEF YEARS in which the present administration has held
sway over the destinies of the nation, what has been accomplished? Upon
its accession to power, the people of the South were struggling under
political disabilities, and a consequent social condition that had
detached them from the onward march of civilization, and was hurrying them
back to anarchy and ruin. They had become morose, bigoted, violent.
The law of revenge had usurped that of order. They writhed under the
results of the war and the downfall of their cherished institutions, and
they had sworn that what could not be gained by a war upon the nation at
large, should be had by a local war of extermination upon the--to
them--offensive portions of the races, black and white, that opposed, or
would not coincide with them.
It was a delicate question; but the wisdom of the newly chosen leaders of
the nation have been equal to the emergency, and, to-day, light begins to
dawn in the dark places; the supremacy of the law is being established,
and by a continuation of the same wise and humane policy in the future,
the people of _all_ the States may abundantly hope for the restoration of
peace and harmony in the South, where, but so recently, all was chaos and
confusion.
In view of what has thus far been said, I call upon my countrymen,
everywhere, not to be deceived as to the real issues of the hour.