KU-KLUX OUTRAGES
It does not fall within the limits of our subject to go into the
general history of Ku-Klux Klan. This mysterious organization
originated in Tennessee, but it soon spread beyond the borders of the
State, and became the organ of all those who believed in resorting to
violent measures to secure the emancipation of the Southern States
from negro and carpetbag domination. Its history, therefore, belongs
under the general history of Reconstruction. Nevertheless, the study
of the civil disturbances in Tennessee resulting from the war would
indeed be incomplete without some account of the operation of the
Ku-Klux within the borders of the State. It formed the chief occasion
for interferences with civil liberty, as well as for congressional
legislation, which rendered the Radical government so hateful in the
eyes of the ex-Confederates.
The first official reference to disturbances of an extraordinary
character is found in Governor Brownlow’s first message to the
Legislature. In this, he calls the attention of the Legislature to
“the roving bands of guerrillas and squads of robbers and murderers
who frequent those counties remote from the military forces.” He
recommended that the criminal law of the State be so revised as to
make house-stealing, and house-breaking, and highway robbery
punishable with death. Acting upon his recommendations, the
Legislature, in May, 1865, passed a bill to punish “all armed
Prowlers, Guerrillas, Brigands, and Highway Robbers.” But as yet there
were no indications, either in the message of the Governor or the
action of the Legislature, that these early disturbances were of a
political character.
The Ku-Klux Klan did not come into existence until the following year.
The little town of Pulaski, in Giles County, claims the doubtful honor
of being its birthplace. It seems to have originated with a coterie of
young men, who banded together for the purpose of obtaining amusement
by playing upon the superstitious fancies of the negroes. They
organized themselves into a lodge, and adopted a fantastic ceremony
and ritual. Their meetings were held at night, and they usually came
together mounted on horseback, and wearing hideous disguises. They
frightened the negroes by telling them horrible ghost stories.
It was quickly seen that the measures adopted purely for amusement
could be turned into practical use in controlling the negro. The
conditions were ripe all over the South for such an organization, so
it spread like wildfire. Lodges sprang up in all parts of the Southern
States, with the possible exception of Virginia. A loose bond of union
was formed between them, but in different localities they assumed
various names, such as “The Pale Faces,” “The Invisible Empire,” “The
Brotherhood.” They were all finally denominated “The Ku-Klux Klan.”
Somewhat antedating the Ku-Klux Klan, and almost equally rapid in
growth, were the Union secret societies. They also bore various names,
the most popular being “The Loyal League” and “The Union League of
America.” They were devoid of any fantastic features, and did not, as
a rule, resort to violent measures, but their object was the same as
the rival organization, namely, to secure political control of the
negro.
In the spring of 1867, the Radical newspapers of Knoxville, Nashville,
and Memphis commenced to be filled with reports of outrages committed
upon negroes and Union men. Upon investigation, these reports
oftentimes turned out to be either wholly untrue or greatly
exaggerated, but they served to throw the Radical party into a state
of intense excitement. Their leaders believed, or professed to
believe, that another general insurrection was threatened. Acting
under this conviction, the Legislature passed a bill on the twentieth
of February, 1867, to equip and call into active service, under the
absolute command of the Governor, a State Guard to be composed solely
of Union men. It also passed a joint resolution requesting the
Governor to “apply to General Thomas, the commander of the department,
for a sufficient force of United States soldiers to keep the peace and
restore order and quiet in our State.”[14] In response to this
application several regiments were furnished by General Thomas, but he
cautioned that they should be used only in aid of the civil authority.
These Ku-Klux outrages followed closely upon the passage of the Arnell
Franchise Law. This bill, as we have pointed out, made the political
disabilities of the ex-Confederate absolute and perpetual. It
destroyed the last hope of regaining political control of the State,
through legal and constitutional means. As a natural result, public
opinion commenced to tolerate acts of violence which till then had
been strongly condemned. The best men of the communities, while they
did not take active part in the Ku-Klux movement, gave it their
approval by a policy of acquiescence. Juries refused to commit, even
upon the clearest evidence, persons accused of offences against
negroes or Union men.
A crisis was reached in the spring of 1868. Mr. S. M. Arnell, the
framer of the election law and Congressman from the Eighth District,
was made the object of a Ku-Klux raid. Having narrowly escaped hanging
through flight and concealment, he sent the following dispatch to the
Governor: “The Ku-Klux searched the train for me last night, pistols
and rope in hand. Empower me to call upon the military here, if
necessary in your name, to suppress all armed and masked parties in
this vicinity. I propose to fight it out.“
Upon the receipt of this dispatch, Governor Brownlow made a second
request for federal troops. This time he received an unfavorable
response. General Thomas informed him that “the State of Tennessee,
being in full exercise of the civil functions of a State, the military
authority of the United States cannot legally interfere except in aid
and support of the civil authority. For these purposes troops have
been sent to various locations. These details, together with the
present demand for troops to assist the United States officers in
collecting revenue, have so exhausted the forces at my command as to
prevent the complying with your request to send companies to the
counties named.”
Governor Brownlow now had recourse to an extra session of the
Legislature. His message was couched in the most violent language.
“The rebel element of the State,” he said, “were secretly arming
themselves, and perfecting a military organization, known as the
Ku-Klux Klan, composed of ex-rebel soldiers, and those in sympathy
with them, thus violating their paroles at the time of their
surrender, and violating the laws of the State, and plotting and
planning mischief in every respect.
“These men have been arming and organizing for a year past, with an
eye to the overthrow of the State government, and, ultimately, to
carrying the State in the presidential election. Organized upon the
same basis, and having the same dark designs in view that found a fit
culmination in Booth’s assassination of Abraham Lincoln, it works in
secret with signs, symbols, and pass-words, hatching plans to scatter
anarchy and permanent disorder wherever it may have an existence. I
recommend, most emphatically, that these organized bands of assassins
and robbers be declared outlaws by special Legislature, and punished
with death wherever found.”[15]
The violent language of the message aroused the greatest alarm among
the Democratic leaders of the State. They feared that if the measures
recommended by the Governor were adopted, civil war would indeed
result. A meeting was held at Nashville in August, and a memorial to
the Legislature was framed, by the following men, all of whom had been
generals in the Confederate army: N. B. Forrest, B. F. Cheatham, W. B.
Bate, J. C. Brown, Bushrod Johnson, Gideon J. Pillow, W. A. Quarles,
S. R. Anderson, G. G. Dibrell, and George Maney.
In this memorial they expressed a deep solicitude for the peace and
quiet of the State, protested against the charge of hostility to the
State government, or of a desire for its overthrow by revolutionary or
lawless means, as well as against the charge that those who had been
associated with them in the past days contemplated any such rashness
or folly; nor did they believe that there was in Tennessee any
organization, public or secret, which had such a purpose, and that, if
there was, they had neither sympathy nor affiliation therewith. They
further declared, that the peace of the State did not require a
military organization; that such a measure might bring about and
promote collisions rather than conserve the harmony and good order of
society; and finally that they would pledge themselves to maintain the
order and peace of the State with whatever influence they possessed,
and would uphold and support the laws and aid the constituted
authorities in their execution, trusting that a reciprocation of those
sentiments would produce the enactment of such laws as would remove
all causes disturbing society.
“For,” they continued, “when it is remembered that the large mass of
white men in Tennessee are denied the right to vote or to hold office,
it is not wonderful or unnatural there should exist more or less
dissatisfaction among them. And we beg leave respectfully to submit to
your consideration that prompt and efficient action on the part of the
proper authorities, for the removal of the political disabilities
resting upon so many of our people, would heal all the wounds of our
State, and make us once more a prosperous, contented, and united
people.”[16]
This memorial came too late to allay the excited minds of the
Radicals. On the 10th of September, the Legislature passed a bill “to
preserve the public peace.” This bill imposes “a fine of not less than
five hundred dollars, and imprisonment in the penitentiary for not
less than five years, and renders infamous any person who shall unite
with, associate with, promote or encourage any organization of persons
who shall prowl through the counties and towns of this State, by day
or night, for the purpose of disturbing the peace or alarming the
peaceful citizens of any part of the State. In order to secure the
proper execution of this act, the same punishment is to be meted out
to any person summoned as a witness, who shall fail or refuse to obey
the summons, or who shall appear and refuse to testify; the same to
any prosecuting attorney who shall be informed of the violation of the
act, and fail or refuse to prosecute the person informed on; the same
to any officer or other person who shall inform any other person that
he was to be summoned as a witness, with the intent of defeating any
of the provisions of the act; the same to any one who shall feed,
lodge, or entertain or conceal in the woods, or elsewhere, any one
known to such person to be charged with an offence under the act.”
The act further provides, that “no indictment shall be required for
prosecution, and no indictments held insufficient for want of form;
that where any sheriff or other officer shall return process issued
under the act, unexecuted, an alias shall issue, and the officer shall
give notice to the inhabitants of the county of such alias by posting
a notice at the court-house door, and if the inhabitants shall permit
the defendant to be or live in the county without arrest, they shall
be subject to an assessment of not less than five hundred dollars and
not more than five thousand dollars; that all the inhabitants of the
State shall be authorized to arrest offenders under the act, without
process; that every public officer shall swear that he has never been
a member of the Ku-Klux Klan.“ The measure of damages was as follows:
For entering the house or place of residence of any officer at night,
in a hostile manner, or against his will, ten thousand dollars; and
for the killing of any peaceable individual at night, twenty thousand
dollars. All other damages were to be assessed in proportion.[17]
Even the passage of this extraordinary law did not satisfy Governor
Brownlow. Under his guidance, the Legislature re-enacted the military
laws, and conferred upon him the power to declare martial law whenever
and wherever he saw fit. He did not suffer this prerogative to remain
idle. On the 20th of January, 1868, he called the State Guards into
active service. Several days later he issued the following
proclamation:
“_Whereas_, There are now sixteen hundred State Guards at
Nashville armed and equipped under the command of Joseph
Cooper; and _Whereas_, These troops are intended to preserve
peace and enforce the laws in counties heretofore in partial
rebelion.
“Now, therefore, I, W. G. Brownlow, Governor of Tennessee,
do hereby proclaim martial law in and over the following
named counties, to wit: Overton, Jackson, Maury, Giles,
Marshall, Lawrence, Gibson, Madison, and Haywood.
“And I further direct that General Cooper distribute these
troops at once and continue them in service until
unmistakable evidence is given by all parties of a
disposition to keep the peace.
“W. G. BROWNLOW,
“_Governor of Tennessee_.”
The counties named in the proclamation were among the richest and most
populous in the State. Their prominent citizens were unanimous in
condemning what they conceived to be the tyrannical and arbitrary
action of the Governor. The following is a fair sample of the numerous
protests made through the public press[18]:
“NASHVILLE, February 21, 1869. I see that martial law is
declared over the county of Lawrence, the county I have the
honor to represent, which I must acknowledge greatly
astonished me, for I know of no person or persons who
complained of any depredations in the county, or that there
was any difficulty at all in enforcing the law in said
county; but on the contrary, the people of the said county
are at this time, and have been for some months past, more
peaceable, quiet, and law-abiding than they have been for
the past ten years; and only a few days ago James H. MacKay,
sheriff, Ira J. Brown, clerk of the Circuit Court, and other
officials of said county in a written communication to the
Governor, stated that there was no difficulty in enforcing
the civil law in said county, and consequently no necessity
for the militia or other troops to enforce law, all of whom
are men of respectability and worthy of credit, and the
persons specially named above were soldiers of the Federal
army during the late Rebellion, and are all now, and always
have been, members of the Radical Republican party.
“I am at a loss to know why troops should have been
quartered upon the people of my county without consulting
their immediate Representative. I think surely some person
or persons have made misrepresentations to the Governor, and
sincerely hope that the order will be revoked and save my
people the mortification and expense of having troops
quartered amongst them in times of profound peace. ‘Let us
have peace.’
“W. P. H. TURNER,
“_Representative, Lawrence County_.”
Governor Brownlow answered these protests by declaring his intention
to further extend the sway of martial law. But fortunately for the
peace of the State, only a few days of his term as Governor remained.
Under his successor the troops were withdrawn and the military laws
were repealed. A state of tranquillity quickly ensued.
[14] Acts of Tennessee, 1867-68, p. 22.
[15] Acts of Tennessee, Extra Session, 1868.
[16] See _Why the Solid South_, by Hilary Herbert, and others.
[17] Acts of Tennessee, Extra Session, 1868, p. 18.
[18] _Union and American_, February 21, 1869.