Evidences of the wide-spread defection are not wanting. That the various orders of the Ku Klux Klans, were guided by men of intelligence, is amply shown these pages; and the fact is corroborated by testimony taken before the Investigating Committee above referred to.
One of the witnesses before this Committee was Gen. N. B. Forrest, of Tennessee, late of the rebel army, and to whom a vast array of circumstances pointed as being the Grand Cyclops of the Ku Klux Orders. The fact that he was in receipt of from fifty to one hundred letters per day from all parts of the South upon the subjects of the Order; that he was present in person in districts of the South where its members were placed upon trial; that he had the general conduct and management of affairs at such trials, hovering near the courts, though not appearing in them; that when asked if he had taken any steps in organizing the Order, he made reply that he did not think he was compelled to answer any question that would implicate him in anything; that when asked if he knew the names of any members of the Order, he declined to answer, and finally said he could only recollect one name, and that was Jones; these, and numerous other circumstances which the investigations have developed, but which a want of space forbids reciting here, lead to the inevitable conclusion that Gen. Forrest was at the head of the Order.
Some care has been taken to arrive at this fact, as it is evident that a man of enlarged experience and liberal education, as General Forrest is known to be, would draw about him men of equal caliber, thus substantiating the assertions that the operations of the Ku Klux Klans were guided by men of intelligence, education, and influence, who had been violent secessionists, who had rebelled against the Government, and who were determined to thwart all its endeavors to restore peace and harmony to the distracted country.
General Terry, commanding military district of Georgia, makes report as early as August, 1869, to the Secretary of War, in which he says:
“There can be no doubt of the existence of numerous insurrectionary organizations, known as the Ku Klux Klans, who shielded by their disguises, by the secrecy of their movements, and by the terror which they inspire, perpetrate crimes with impunity. There is great reason to believe that in some cases the local magistrates are in sympathy with the members of these organizations.”
General Terry’s testimony is borne out by that of the United States officials and secret agents and the evidence of recanting members of the order. The cases of Harry Lowther, Ex-sheriff Deason, Susan J. Furguson, Edward Thompson, and hosts of others, show men to have been engaged in these murderous outrages, who were leading lights in the various communities in which they lived. It is not therefore true, as has been attempted to be made out by the Democratic party, that it is the rabble only who are engaged in the treasonable movement.
It is not contended here that all the Democrats of the South are Ku Klux, but it has been most conclusively shown that all the Ku Klux are Democrats, and that they are sworn to oppose the spread of Republican principles. They are determined to rule, and to rule with a rod of iron. They have settled in their minds that “no government but the white man’s shall live in this country, and that they will forever oppose the political elevation of the negro to an equality with the whites.”
The report of the above committee, alluding to this condition of affairs, very justly says:
“The facts demonstrate that it requires the strong arm of the Government to protect its citizens in the enjoyment of their rights, to keep the peace, and prevent this threatened—rather to say this initiated—war of races, until the experiment which it has inaugurated, and which many Southern men pronounce now, and many more have sworn shall be made a failure, can be determined in peace. The race so recently emancipated, against which banishment or serfdom is thus decreed, but which has been clothed by the Government with the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, ought not to be, and we feel assured will not be left hereafter without protection against the hostilities and sufferings it has endured in the past, as long as the legal and constitutional powers of the Government are adequate to afford it. Communities suffering such evils, and influenced by such extreme feelings, may be slow to learn that relief can come only from a ready obedience to and support of constituted authority.”
That communities in some portions of the South are still suffering from the evils herein referred to is an established fact, and the testimony is not confined to the cloud of witnesses herein cited. The existence of the Orders of Ku Klux Klans, and the allegations of the outrages perpetrated by its members, have been proven before courts of justice. The most learned advocates employed to defend these criminals have not attempted to deny it.