Ku Klux Klan: Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment. John C. Lester
and was educated at Waterbury Academy and Giles College. When the Civil War began he was studying law in Marion, Alabama, and enlisted at once in the Marion Rifles, Company "G," Fourth Alabama Infantry. Later he was transferred to the 35th Tennessee Infantry. He was in the battles of Manassas, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Shelton's Hill, White Farm, Richmond, Perrysville, and others of less importance. Three times he was severely wounded and twice discharged for disability. He was captured with Sam Davis and both were tried as spies; Crowe was acquitted and Davis was hanged. He has held high rank in the Masonic order and has been an official in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. (3) John Kennedy, the only survivor of the original six except Major Crowe. He was a soldier in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War, is a Presbyterian, and an honored citizen of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. (4) Calvin Jones, son of Judge Thomas M. Jones, was a lawyer, and a member of the Episcopal Church. He was Adjutant of the 32nd Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War. (5) Richard R. Reed was a lawyer, a Presbyterian, and during the war had served in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. (6) Frank O. McCord was editor of the Pulaski Citizen, a Methodist, and had been a private soldier in the Confederate service. Two others came in at the second or third meeting—Capt. J.L. Pearcy, later of Nashville, now of Washington, D.C., and James McCallum.[5] The founders were all of Scotch-Irish descent and most of them were Presbyterians.
In regard to the founding of the Pulaski Circle, Major J.R. Crowe says: "Frank O. McCord was elected Grand Cyclops, and James R. Crowe, Grand Turk. A committee composed of Richard R. Reed and Calvin Jones[6] was appointed to select a name for the organization. The Greek for circle was chosen. We called it Kuklos (Κυκλοσ), which was changed to Ku Klux afterward when the name was proposed to the Circle. John Kennedy suggested that we add another K, and the order was then called Ku Klux Klan. … The mysterious lights seen floating about the ruins (See p. 61) presented a weird and uncanny appearance and filled the superstitious with dread of the place; so we were never disturbed, and it only required a quaint garb and a few mysterious sounds to convince the uninitiated that we were spirits from the other world. We were quick to catch on to this idea and we governed ourselves accordingly. … During our parades or appearances in public the darkies either hid out or remained close in their houses. … The origin of the order had no political significance. It was at first purely social and for our amusement. It proved a great blessing to the entire South and did what the State and Federal officials could not do—it brought order out of chaos and peace and happiness to our beloved South. … The order was careful in the admission of members and I have never known of a betrayal of the secrets of the order. I am proud to say that I never knew of one single act done by the genuine Ku Klux Klan that I am ashamed of or do not now endorse."
Major Crowe and other members repeatedly mention the fact that the membership of the Klan was largely of Scotch-Irish descent. This was bound to be the case since in the territory covered by the Klan proper the great majority of the Scotch-Irish of the South were settled. The Ku Klux Klan extended from Virginia to Mississippi through the white county section—the Piedmont and mountain region. It seldom extended into the Black Belt, though it was founded on its borders. There another similar order—the Knights of the White Camelia—held sway. In the Piedmont region before the spread of the Klan, there were numerous secret protective societies among the whites, and these were later absorbed into the Klan. The Klan led a more strenuous existence than the Black Belt orders. In most of its territory, social conditions were worse than in the black counties. It is a mistake to consider that in 1865–1870, the whites in the densest black districts were in the place of greatest danger. There the blacks were usually the best behaved; there the whites were never divided and never lost their grip on society; there the negro still respected the white people as beings almost superhuman. But race relations were worse in the white districts where there was a lower class of whites, some of whom mistreated the negro and others encouraged him to violence. Here the negro had never had the great respect for all whites that the Black Belt negro had, and here the whites were somewhat divided among themselves. During the war the "tories," so called, or those who claimed to be Union sympathizers and the Confederates, alternately mistreated one another, and the close of the war brought no peace to such communities. To this region escaped the outlaws, deserters, etc., of both armies during the war, and here the wreckage of war was worst. Such was the nature of the country where the Klan flourished. It was a kind of ex-Confederate protest against the doings of the "tories," Unionists and outlaws, and the negroes banded in the Union League. For several years neither the Federal Government nor the State Government gave protection to the ex-Confederates of this region, and naturally secret associations were formed for self-defense. This method of self-defense is as old as history.[7]
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.
Some well-known members of the Klan were General John C. Brown, of Pulaski, Tennessee; Captain John W. Morton, now Secretary of State of Tennessee; Ryland Randolph, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, editor of the Independent Monitor, the official organ of the Klan in Alabama; General N.B. Forrest and General George W. Gordon, of Memphis, Tennessee; Generals John B. Gordon, A.H. Colquitt, G.T. Anderson and A.R. Lawton, of Georgia; General W.J. Hardee, of Alabama; Colonel Joseph Fussell, of Columbia, Tennessee. General Albert Pike, who stood high in the Masonic order, was the chief judicial officer of the Klan.
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;[8] 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.
General N.B. Forrest
Grand Wizard of Ku Klux Klan