Trained up in this school, and knowing by their later experience of men the precise extent to which the plantation darkey was controlled by the superstitious notions which he disseminated (for he was no hypocrite), the young white men of the South were at no loss in adopting countervailing forces when the Loyal League storm burst upon the country. The superstition of the negro was not a weakness, but a ruling characteristic; and at this central idea of his being the Ku-Klux movement was directed. Being thus addressed to his fears, it will be seen, by any one wishing information on the subject, that the latter was designed to whip him into obedience to what was then thought, but is now known, to be the ruling element in Southern politics. We do not assert that it was a just expedient; we cannot believe, in view of later developments in our local politics, that it was a wise one; but its transactions have passed into history, and it is with them that we are concerned.
CHAPTER VII.
DETAILS OF ORGANIZATION.
A Band of Regulators whose Force at this time numbered a Half Million well-organized and perfectly Drilled Men—Who composed its Draft—Considerations which recommended it to the Better Classes of Society—Its Haunts—Oath-bound Covenant, and Penalties attached—Panoply of Lower Regions—Its Raiding Rendezvous—Galloping forth to Predestined Conquest—It proceeded under a rigid Constitutional System—Territorial Subdivisions—Empire—Realm—Province—Den—Grand Wizard and his Cabinet—Grand Giant—The Commander of a Den—Grand Cyclops—Night-Hawks, etc.—Recruiting Agents—How Members were Initiated—Proposed Initiates might Retire if Displeased with the Conditions of Membership—How far the Klan was “Rebel” in its Draft—Members of State Legislatures, Congressmen, and Governors of States, took its Vows upon them—Its Political Suffrages—Compelling Ignorant Colored Men to relinquish the Franchise—K. K. K. Placards—Empty Coffins containing Ukase of Banishment Carted to the Doors of Obnoxious White Citizens—Its Ideas of Social Decorum.
The mystic order of K. K. K. had scarcely emerged from its swaddling-clothes, as things go in the material universe, ere it had developed into a giant that filled the Southern zodiac, as effectually as the almanac dummy comprehends in his physical outlines the cardinal points of the seasons. Moving from county to county, and from one State to another, it invaded the most remote communities—until within three months from the time that the slogan call had been sounded on the eastern shore of the Mississippi, its bannerets formed a cordon around the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and its dominion over the Trans-Mississippi country was undisputed. A band of regulators, whose force at this time numbered a half million well-organized and perfectly drilled men, it aimed at nothing less than the subjection of the pending elements in the Southern State governments, and as a means thereto, the total overthrow and dispersion of all secret subsidiary agencies. In its ranks all conditions of white society in the South were represented—attracted partly by the weighty political considerations upon which the movement rested, and in not a few instances by its outside of novelty and vague promise of sensation. Proceeding under an oath-bound covenant, it invoked, seemingly—by adopting the emblems of their rule—the powers of darkness to assume the protectorate over its affairs, and levied on the code of pirates for a rule of discipline that should awe the stoutest hearts into meek submissiveness. To break the least of its commandments was esteemed a crime for which death would be a weak expiation, and to retreat from its enterprises, good or evil, bold or weak, was to be exposed to a fate more horrible than the chain and vulture. Their periodical gatherings, or dark seances, were held in caves in the bowels of the earth, where they were surrounded by what might be aptly termed the panoply of the lower regions—rows of skulls, coffins and their furniture, human skeletons, ominous pictures copied from the darkest passages of the Inferno or Paradise Lost; and, brooding over all, that spell-like mystery which waited ever as an inspiration from the tomb upon the movements of the weird brotherhood. Here, habited in full regalia, and seated in alignment on raised benches, the members of the Order were wont to receive trembling initiates, commune together about affairs of government, and plan midnight raids against mortal enemies. Frequently these conferences were brief, but the fires were always lighted, in order that the still inspiration of the scene might not be wanting to the business of the evening—the ever-recurring raid on jail, or state-house, or Forest League. Gowned and helmeted, and mounted on strong chargers, invested, as far as possible, with the character of their riders, the ghostly phalanx galloped forth to predestined conquest, for an invisible host fought at its side, and each man bore a talisman in his outer garb which might have affrighted the armies of an empire from the field.
The government of the Klan proceeded under a rigid constitutional system that was rarely or never amended. Its chief officer, or ruler of what was known as the Empire, was elected to an unlimited term of office, and entrusted with the means of despotic rule. His official title was Grand Wizard, and he was, by virtue of his first appointment, commander-in-chief of the army or military force constituted under the Empire. The officers under the latter held their appointment from him, and composed his counsel, or cabinet. The Grand Division, or Empire, was subdivided into Realms, Provinces, and Dens. The geographical boundaries of the Realm corresponded with those of the congressional districts in the several States under Klan dominion, and hence were equal in number. The chief officer of a Realm was distinguished by the title of Grand Vizier. His territory, as we have indicated, was subdivided into Provinces, whose territorial limits were identical with those of counties in the same location. The ruler of a Province was termed a Grand Giant. Under Provinces, Dens were organized, which, so far as territorial dominion is concerned, had only a neighborhood signification. But they were really the executive force, and through them, as individuals, all the work was accomplished. The commander of a Den, contradistinguished from those of Realms and Provinces, owed his rank and authority to the suffrages of those whom he immediately ruled. He was entitled Grand Cyclops, and under him was an officer known as Exchequer, whose duties had a twofold signification, and applied to the administration of the treasury and recording secretaryship. There were from four to six scouts belonging to the Den, who performed courier duty, and to whom was applied the titular distinction of Night-Hawks; and in addition to these, and also in the non-commissioned rank, each thoroughly organized Den had its Conductors and Guardians, who were local, and the tenor of whose duties is sufficiently indicated by their titles respectively.
The Dens were the recruiting agencies, and the officers to whom was assigned this duty conducted the work with the utmost secrecy and caution. No individual was approached who was not known by his voluntary avowals to be in sympathy with the movement. When such a confession (which must have been made in public) was reported to the Den Council, if no objection was alleged against the individual, a committee was appointed to canvass the subject and report at some future day. Afterwards, if no local disqualifications were still urged, recruiting agents were sent to interview the candidate, who proceeded with such circumspection that they rarely failed to obtain a reply to the inquiries they brought without committing themselves or their cause. A candidate for membership who had been approved was conducted to the Den Council in the night season and by circuitous and unknown routes. He was also securely blindfolded, and the Conductors (officers of escort) were forbidden to communicate with him, until their destination had been reached. Arriving in some sequestered forest grove, he was commanded to dismount, and with eyes still bandaged, and the former policy of secrecy maintained in all particulars, was conducted into the presence of the council. Here, without being permitted to ask questions, he was requested to give heed to what was about to be said, and when the Cyclops, or some individual commissioned by him, had revealed to him the objects and polity of the organization known as K. K. K., and the quality of allegiance exacted from those who entered its ranks, he was requested to state whether he still wished to carry out his original design of connecting himself with the Order. If this interrogatory was replied to in the negative, some very positive oaths and threats enjoining secrecy as to what had transpired were delivered to him, and he was permitted to retire. [This policy was invariably pursued by the Klan, and it is not probable that its vows were ever committed to an individual who had not obtained the full consent of his mind to the concessions he was required to make.] On the contrary, if an affirmative reply was given, the ceremony of initiation was proceeded with,—a formula which we shall not describe in this place, further than to say that the vows, which were delivered in a kneeling posture, were of the most approved iron-clad pattern, and that to each was attached a string of penalties, categorically presented, which aimed at nothing less than the annihilation of the transgressor.
It is wrong to infer, as many have done, that because the political views maintained by the Klan corresponded to those which were avowedly held by ex-Confederate soldiers at that period, that the former was recruited from the latter in large measure, or, as the enemies of both were apt to suggest, as an entirety. Though occupying the territory in which they were domiciled, it is improbable that one-half the available force which the former boasted was derived from the latter source, and it is certain that a majority of the latter did not give their sanction nor countenance to the measures adopted by the Klan in seeking redress for alleged political wrongs. But a very large number of ex-Confederates entered its ranks, and, perhaps for prudential (not political) reasons, the administration of Klan affairs was, in a large measure, committed to this element. Its force, as has been anticipated, was recruited from the entire white population of the States which it occupied; and it certainly was not wanting in that respect for which such movements are almost wholly dependent on the character of their constituency. Members of State legislatures, congressmen, and governors of States, took its vows upon them, and were not unfrequently to be found at its midnight gatherings. In all National and State elections the Klan gave its political suffrages to members of the Order, or known sympathizers. Indeed, to effect its political ends (which were the ends of its organization), there were few extremes of contumacious conduct which it did not practise towards the existing State governments. Not only did it throw the weight of its suffrages in behalf of favorites—it forbade others the exercise of this privilege. Freedmen who were deemed too ignorant to cast an intelligent ballot were visited at their homes in the small hours of the night, and by measures of intimidation, which not unfrequently included the lash, were driven to accept an oath of lengthy abstinence from the League and the polls. White men, who were obnoxious because of their too active instrumentality in League affairs, or their excessive fondness for the class of society which they encountered at its meetings, were equally unfortunate. During the quiet hours of the night ghostly placards, bearing the caption K. K. K. in large letters, and inscribed with the escutcheon of the Order (skull and cross-bones), were posted on their doors, commanding them to “skip out” (a technicality invented by the Klan), or expect the utmost vengeance of the Order. Where the rank of the offender required that some more dignified means of notification be employed, or where the individual was deemed to represent very obdurate qualities of soul, instead of the ordinary method aforesaid, an empty coffin was carted to his door, and in this horrible symbol of its anathemas was placed the order of ejectment.