The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 10

Believing, therefore, that constant dwelling upon the evil of the past is unhealthful, both to the individual and to the nation, it is neither my intention nor purpose, in discussing the historical side of the original Ku Klux Klan to give vent to the pa.s.sions and prejudices of the South of the days immediately following the Civil War. In dealing with it, I am merely narrating facts as set forth by men recognized as authorities of American history, and these facts can, if need be, be verified by the reader.

It is a part of the tragedy of war that its termination is followed by a period of painful reconstruction. Every war ever fought in the world's history has had its inevitable aftermath of readjustment--the return from the abnormal to the normal. In some instances this has been so imperceptible as to entail but little hardship upon the people who have suffered the terrible effects of armed conflict; in others, the harshness of the conqueror to the conquered and the brutality of the victor toward the vanquished have left traces of hatred and l.u.s.t for vengeance that have survived for generations.

In the study of the history of the Anglo-Saxon race, there are two reconstruction periods that stand out in marked contrast. One was the reconstruction of the Southern States following the Civil War, and the other was the reconstruction of South Africa by the British government immediately after the Boer War. The former was handled in a stupid, ignorant, and insane manner, and based upon the l.u.s.t of spoils and upon the most wretched of partisan politics. The latter was disposed of in a wise, sane, and statesmanly fashion, with impartial consideration for the welfare of the British Empire and the peace and good will of the Boers.

The reconstruction of the Southern States following the Civil War was utterly stupid, and Americans of our generation--regardless of Northern or Southern birth--so consider it, and know that the manner in which the situation was handed was a political mistake.

The activities of the "carpetbaggers" and their negro allies after the Civil War were not confined merely to the looting of the public treasuries. Vicious white men organized the negroes into societies and stirred up their hatred against the white people, with the result that unspeakable crimes were committed in all parts of the South. Perhaps the most notorious of these organizations was that known as the "Loyal League," which operated in all parts of the South, and which was composed of negroes and low white men.

I quote from Mr. Wilson's work, the following clear and well-worded summary:

"The price of the policy to which it gave the final touch of permanence was the temporary disintegration of Southern society and the utter, apparently the irretrievable alienation of the South from the political party whose mastery it had been Mr. Stevens' chief aim to perpetuate. The white men of the South were aroused by the mere instinct of self-preservation to rid themselves, by fair means or foul, of the intolerable burden of governments sustained by the votes of ignorant negroes and conducted in the interest of adventurers: governments whose incredible debts were incurred that thieves might be enriched, whose increasing loans and taxes went to no public use but into the pockets of party managers and corrupt contractors. There was no place of open action or of const.i.tutional agitation, under the terms of reconstruction, for the men who were the real leaders of the Southern communities. The restrictions shut white men of the older order out from the suffrage even. They could act only by private combination, by private means, as a force outside the government, hostile to it, prescribed by it, of whom opposition and bitter resistance was expected, and expected with defiance.... But there were men to whom counsels of prudence seemed as ineffectual as they were unpalatable, men who could not sit still and suffer what was now put upon them.... They took the law into their own hands and began to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any course of public action."

The agency by which the South was saved from the devilish scheme of Thaddeus Stevens to Africanize it and convert it into a mongrel, half-bred section was the original Ku Klux Klan! Brought into being by chance, and used as an agency to meet the exigency of the hour, it served its purpose as many similar systems have served theirs, including the Western vigilantes, whose work has been commended by Theodore Roosevelt on the ground of public necessity. Then having restored the South to the control of its better element, it pa.s.sed away, to occupy a cherished place in the history of the Southern States, from which it can never be resurrected.

The reign of Ku Kluxism existed in the Southern States from the year 1866 until President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew the Federal troops from the South, during which period a number of its phases present themselves for study and investigation. In some of these, if one accepts the opinions of radical members of Congress from the Northern States, the whole system was nothing but evil; while if the extremely radical Southern viewpoint is accepted, the Ku Klux movement was as spotless as a lily and was responsible for no acts of lawlessness whatever. Somewhere between the extreme Northern condemnation and the extreme Southern justification lies the truth. In any case the Ku Klux movement was the exercise of extra-legal force for the purpose of meeting a revolutionary condition of society in a revolutionary manner. In the sense that it had no standing in law and took upon itself to enforce what its leaders saw fit to declare was the law, it was an outlaw organization. Taken by itself, in the light of our present system of government and law enforcement, it has nothing on which to stand; but, studied in the light of the reconstruction period, it is shown to have been the last desperate resort of the Anglo-Saxon to resist and overthrow the attempt to Africanize his country.

The movement was a revolution to meet a situation unparalled in this country's history, and the history of revolutions has never at any time manifested the character of pink teas or church socials. Personally I prefer to adopt the point of view that in a chaotic and despotic condition of society like the one forced upon the Southern people, the end justified the means, and would place the entire responsibility of what happened in the South upon the shoulders of Thaddeus Stevens and other radical leaders of Congress.

A careful investigation of the history of the original movement shows that it was divided into three separate and distinct periods. It was first organized as a secret society for the amus.e.m.e.nt of its members, without any serious attempt to act as a "regulator" of social and political affairs; it was then transformed into a great political-military movement, enforced law and order, drove the negro and the carpetbagger out of politics, and was then ordered disbanded; and lastly it attempted in unorganized fashion, without the authority of its former leaders, to rule many communities, and an enormous number of acts of violence were committed either by it or in its name.

There were several different organizations which sprang into existence in the South during the reconstruction periods, each one operating along the same general lines but bearing different names. There were the Ku Klux Klan, the White Brotherhood, the Pale Faces, the Const.i.tutional Union Guards, and the Knights of the White Camelia, which was larger than any of them. In the latter days of the reconstruction, when acts of lawlessness in the South were so bad that an investigation was held by Congress, the general name of Ku Klux was applied to all extra-legal Southern movements. As this narrative deals only with the Ku Klux Klan, a discussion of the other movements is unnecessary.

The Ku Klux Klan was organized in Pulaski, Tenn., in May, 1866. Several young men who had served in the Confederate Army, having returned to their homes, found themselves suffering from the inactivity and reaction that followed army life. There was nothing to do in which to relieve it. There was but little work to do, and but few had capital to engage in new mercantile or professional pursuits. The amus.e.m.e.nts and diversions of normal society were lacking, and to meet this situation, it was decided to form a secret society merely for the purpose of burlesque and fun-making.

After the society was organized, and a name was sought, one of the members suggested the word "_kukloi_" from the Greek word "_Kuklos_" meaning circle. Another member then suggested: "Call it 'Ku Klux,'" and this suggestion was at once adopted, with the addition of the word Klan.

The new society was a success from the start. The "joiner" of 1866 was no different from the "joiner" of 1921. The boys made the organization one of deep mystery; they adopted grotesque and hideous costumes which they wore to and from their places of initiation; they gave out hints of the wonders of the new society, which played on the curiosity of the public; and they had mysterious communications printed in the local newspapers. The members were required to maintain profound and absolute secrecy with reference to everything connected with the order, and went at their work with great glee, to the added mystification of the community. The result was that everybody in the city of Pulaski and all throughout the surrounding country, became possessed of the "joiner's itch" and sought admission. No applications were solicited for membership, because the organizers knew human nature well enough to know that if they gave out the impression that they wished to be exclusive the applications would be both voluntary and numerous. The organization grew very rapidly, and strangers coming to Tennessee from other Southern States learned of it, became members, and secured permission to start local organizations. By the fall and winter of 1866 the order had grown all over the South, and in nearly every community there was a "Den" of Ku Kluxes enjoying the baffled curiosity and wild speculations of a mystified public.

In March, 1867, the Reconstruction Acts were pa.s.sed by Congress, and in the month of April the actual work of reconstruction began. Then it was that the Ku Klux Klan underwent its second stage of development and became transformed into a band of regulators to handle the alarming situation that immediately followed. Perhaps the best available authority on the Klan in the country today is a little book written by Capt. John C.

Lester and Rev. D. L. Wilson, giving an insight into its organization and real history. Captain Lester was one of the six original organizers, and Mr. Wilson, while not a member, was a resident of Pulaski and was closely in touch with the entire movement. In this work they stated that the transformation of the society was effected in three ways:

(1) The impressions made by the order upon those who joined it; (2) the impressions made upon the public by it; (3) the anomalous and peculiar condition of affairs in the South at the time. The impression made upon the man who joined was that behind all the amus.e.m.e.nt features of the organization and, unexpressed in its ritualistic work, was a deep purpose--a solemn mission that would be undertaken later. What it was none knew, but the feeling existed that a mission existed, just the same. The impressions made upon the public immediately showed the Klansmen that the organization possessed a certain power that n.o.body had imagined it would possess. This power was largely one of fright and intimidation, and was shown in the case of the ignorant and superst.i.tious negro more than in that of the white people. Negroes would see the ghostly nocturnal Ku Kluxes and imagine that they were spirits of deceased Confederate soldiers, and the Klansmen were very quick to grasp the idea and use it to the fullest advantage. In some cases a figure in white would ride up to a negro's house, dismount and ask for a drink of water. The frightened negro would hand him a gourd, which the rider would pour into a rubber bag, concealed under his robe, and then demand a whole bucketful of water, which he would dispose of in the same way, remarking, "That was the first drink of water I have had since I was killed at Shiloh." In other cases the Ku Klux members would wear false heads, ride up to a negro and, removing the head, ask the negro to hold it. Skeleton hands would be fastened to the wrist and held out for a handshake, which procedure usually caused the terrified negro to make a hasty retreat. With the superst.i.tion and natural tendency of their race to magnify happenings, the negroes soon spread alarming tales among themselves as to the Ku Klux and its doings, until presently the name was one that invoked horror and terror. It is but natural, therefore, that knowing this new power of frightening the negro, the members of the strange order exercised it to the fullest extent.

In May, 1867, in order to form a strong sectional organization, a convention was secretly held at Nashville, Tenn., and the Prescript of the order was revised and amended by delegates from all of the States. Plans were made for extensive work, and for propagating the order in every community in the South. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, having previously heard of the organization made a careful investigation of it, and consented to become its head, a.s.suming the office of Grand Wizard immediately after the Nashville Convention. He had been one of the South's most successful and distinguished cavalry officers, was recognized as being able to handle men in a masterful manner, and was a person of coolness and clear-headed judgment. He at once set to work to reorganize the order, which had become more or less demoralized under loose management, and made it a real factor in handling the serious situation which grew more serious as the reconstruction proceeded. He brought the membership in Tennessee up to 40,000 and the total membership in the South to 550,000, and did all he could to keep the force in strong control.

A great many of the most prominent men in the South became members of the organization, and were either active in the work or served in an advisory capacity. Among them were Generals John B. Gordon, A. H. Colquitt, G. T.

Anderson and A. R. Lawton, of Georgia, Gen. W. J. Hardee, Gen. John C.

Brown, Capt. John W. Morton, Gen. George W. Gordon, and Gen. Albert Pike, who later became one of the foremost Masonic authorities in the country.

Gen. Pike was the chief judicial officer of the Klan.

Among the first policies inaugurated by General Forrest was the courting of widespread publicity, and an order was issued for a parade in full regalia on July 4, 1867. In every Southern city parades of the Ku Klux Klans were held, and served to act as an advertis.e.m.e.nt to the people of the South that they were being protected, and to serve notice on the carpetbagger and the negro that a new force had arisen for the purpose of meeting their encroachments upon the liberties of the white people.

Then began the reign of the mysterious organization that ended in the various restorations of the State government to the white people of the South, most of which occurred in 1870, the last States to throw off the yoke being South Carolina and Louisiana. What occurred during that time in the way of actual events is but vaguely stated.

The fact that the whole period was one of the bitterest of partisan politics makes it necessary to discount to a large degree the statements of both sides of the controversy. It has been told by some that the original Ku Klux Klan enforced its decrees and maintained law and order, not so much by the overt acts it committed but by reason of the vague fear and surmises on the part of the negro and carpetbagger as to what the Klan could do.

In an address before the Bar a.s.sociation of Texas in 1906, Hon. Thomas W.

Gregory, later Attorney-General of the United States, gave a history of the old Klan, and in speaking of its work said:

"It is safe to say that ninety per cent of the work of the Klan involved no act of personal violence. In most instances mere knowledge of the fact that the Ku Klux were organized in the community and patrolled it by night accomplished most that was desired. In the case of nocturnal meetings of the negroes, organized by scalawags and carpetbaggers, which proved disorderly and offensive, sheeted hors.e.m.e.n would be found drawn up across every road leading from the meeting place; and although not a word was spoken and no violence whatever offered, that meeting was usually adjourned _sine die_.... But masked riders and mystery were not the only Ku Klux devices. Carpetbaggers and scalawags and their families were ostracized in all walks of life--in the church, in the school, in business, wherever men and women or even children gathered together, no matter what the purpose or the place, the alien and the renegade, and all that belonged or pertained to them were refused recognition and consigned to outer darkness and the companionship of negroes.

"In addition to these methods, there were some of a much more drastic nature. The sheeted horseman did not merely warn and intimidate, especially when the warnings were not heeded. In many instances negroes and carpetbaggers were whipped and in rare instances shot or hanged. Notice to leave the country was frequently extended and rarely declined, and if declined the results were likely to be serious. Hanging was promptly administered to the house burner and sometimes to the murderer; the defamer of women of good character was usually whipped and sometimes executed if the offense was repeated; threats of violence and oppression of the weak and defenseless if persisted in after due warning met with drastic and sometimes cruel remedies; mere corruption in public office was too universal for punishment or even comment, but he who prost.i.tuted official power to oppress the individual, a crime prevalent from one end of the country to the other, especially in cases where it affected the widow and orphan, was likely to be dealt with in no gentle way, in case a warning was not promptly observed; those who advocated and practiced social equality of the races and incited hostility of the blacks against the whites were given a single notice to depart in haste, and they rarely took time to reply."

Whether one looks upon the methods of the Ku Klux Klan as wise and humane or as rough and cruel, the fact remains that its work was accomplished, and state governments under carpetbag control, negro militia, acts of Congress and proclamations of the President though backed by the army of the United States, made but little headway against the silent force of white men which was making a last desperate stand for all they held sacred.

Lester and Wilson in commenting on the work of the Klan, even before it was transformed into a movement of regulators say:

"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, 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. Up to this time, the majority had shown a fair appreciation of the responsibilities of their self-imposed task of preserving social order. But under any circ.u.mstances the natural tendency of an organization such as this is to violence and crime--much more under such circ.u.mstances as those then prevailing."

In September, 1868, Governor Brownlow of Tennessee called the legislature into session, and caused a drastic act to be pa.s.sed comparable only to the Reconstruction Acts of Congress. Under its terms a.s.sociation or connection with the Ku Klux Klan was punishable by a fine of $500 and imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than five years. Any inhabitant of the State was const.i.tuted an officer possessing power to arrest without process any one known to be or suspected of being a member of the organization; and to feed, lodge or conceal a member was made a criminal offense punishable by fine and imprisonment, and informers were allowed one-half the fine. In spite of this drastic law, the Klan continued to actively operate in Tennessee for over six months.

Partly because of this law, and partly because of the fact that in many cases some of the "Dens" had gone beyond their instructions in coping with the situation, and were showing a tendency to get beyond the control of the men who were trying to conduct the movement honestly, but princ.i.p.ally because the purpose of its regulation work had been accomplished and there remained no reason for its existence, General Forrest, in the latter part of February, 1869, issued a proclamation as Grand Wizard declaring the Ku Klux Klan dissolved and disbanded.

The substance of his order is included in his summary which reads:

"The Invisible Empire has accomplished the purpose for which it was organized. Civil law now affords ample protection to life, liberty and property; robbery and lawlessness are no longer unrebuked; the better elements of society are no longer in dread for the safety of their property, their persons, and their families. The Grand Wizard, being invested with power to determine questions of paramount importance, in the exercise of the power so conferred, now declares the Invisible Empire and all the subdivisions thereof dissolved and disbanded forever."

Thus ended the second period of Ku Kluxism in the South. A large number of "Dens," however, paid no attention to the order of General Forrest, but continued to act independently, and kept up their work until the late seventies. The "Pale Faces," the "Const.i.tutional Union Guards," the "White Brotherhood," "White League," and the "Knights of the White Camelia" were also kept up for several years after the organization of the Ku Klux Klan was officially abandoned, it being very likely that many of the Klan units joined in with these movements. It is generally understood that the work done by these organizations, and by the irresponsible people who still used the name of the old Klan, was more reckless and violent in its character and was the cause of more bloodshed than the original movement.

At any rate there was less justification for the movement after 1870 than in the first years of the reconstruction.

Ku Kluxism occupied a great deal of attention of Congress in 1870, 1871 and in 1872, the President issued proclamations against it backed by the army, committees were sent by Congress to visit every section of the South, volumes of testimony were taken, hundreds of speeches were made, in some instances martial law was declared, and a drastic act was pa.s.sed by Congress intended to check the movement. It went on, however, until the Federal troops were withdrawn, the carpetbaggers left the country, and all of the State governments were in the control of the white men of the South.

Mr. Gregory in summing up the whole Ku Klux movement said:

"Did the end aimed at and accomplished by the Ku Klux Klan justify the movement? The opinion of the writer is that the movement was fully justified, though he of course does not approve of the crimes and excesses incident to it.

"The abuses under which the American colonies of England revolted in 1776 were mere child's play compared to those borne by the South during the period of reconstruction, and the success of the later movement as a justification of a last resort to revolutionary methods was as p.r.o.nounced as that of the former.

"The Ku Klux machine has been stored away in the Battle Abbey of the nation as obsolete, we trust, as the causes which produced it; it will stand there for all time as a reminder of how useless is the prost.i.tution of forms of law in an effort to do that which is essentially unlawful, but it will also remain an eternal suggestion to the vigilance committee and the regulator."

CHAPTER XI

THE PRESCRIPT OF THE OLD KLAN

In the study of the original Ku Klux Klan, it is fortunate that there have been preserved doc.u.ments which fully set forth its structure and composition, and these doc.u.ments demonstrate conclusively that the modern organization has no claim whatever to recognition as the "genuine original Ku Klux." The most important of these doc.u.ments is the "prescript" or const.i.tution of the old Klan.

In its early stages, the old organization adopted a "Prescript," but this was in 1867 revised and amended, and the second doc.u.ment became the law of the organization, under which it functioned until it was disbanded. When General Forrest issued his order disbanding the Ku Klux Klan, all copies of the revised and amended prescript were ordered destroyed. One copy escaped destruction and is now in the library of Columbia University where it is carefully preserved as a valuable historic paper. As an exhibit in the case against the present organization, I give the "Prescript" in full.

It is a booklet of twenty-four pages, and at the top of each page is a Latin quotation. Without attempting to follow the typography of the original text, I am reproducing it as a continuous doc.u.ment, placing the quotations where they appear in the booklet, as follows:

"PRESCRIPT"

Exact copy of the Revised and Amended Prescript of the ORDER of the *