In the summer of this year, the members of the legislature of Tennessee, in council assembled, pronounced the State a Ku-Klux barracks, and resolved themselves unsafe in their granite citadel at Nashville. The League head-quarters in various parts of the State were succumbing one by one to the new element of conquest, and, indeed, the State seemed on the eve of a revolution, by which, if no more serious results were attained, its territory would be rendered untenable for that class of its population which was known to its enemies as the dark-lantern faction. In this emergency, the leaders of the L. L. resolved to call a State council of the Order, over whose deliberations the Governor should preside, and whose object would be to devise ways and means for the destruction of their troublesome enemies. Great preparations were made accordingly, and without divulging their plans, it was resolved, at the conclusion of the secret proceedings, to hold a mass meeting at the capital which should review the whole subject. This body assembled at the specified date, but not before the rival party had become fully acquainted with its plans and purposes, and in convention assembled resolved upon counter measures.
On the very evening which the Council had set apart for its introductory proceedings (in the city of Nashville), the indefatigable K.’s had issued commands throughout the State requiring every member of the Order to report at his Den head-quarters for special service. A force of spies was dispatched to the neighborhood of the League Council, and the brief period which was to elapse before the Solons would arrive and enter upon the solemn business in hand was appropriated by these secret agents, and their co-conspirators in other neighborhoods, to the work of obtaining information from deserters, chance prisoners, etc., as to the exact location and surroundings of the League places of rendezvous throughout the State. Indeed, while the League had busied itself with a very red conflagration devoted to the Ku-Klux fat, whensoever they should overtake that slippery substance, the much persecuted “krookeds” had doubled back on them, and only awaited a fair wind to convert their little game into a “double reversible,” quite as complicated as any that had dawned upon the patent-machine mind previous to that date.
A war of extermination against the League had been resolved upon months before by the leaders of the Klan, but a favorable moment for a decisive blow, or the emergency requiring it, had not arrived, until both were visible in the proposed State council of the Order and the objects it would consider. Now, destiny seemed rushing upon them, and the time almost too brief to make an intelligent feint on the enemy’s front. But promptness of stratagem, and rapid development of passing advantages, was perhaps the strongest point in the military character of the distinguished leader of this movement, for where others halted, awed by the proportions of an undertaking, or the suddenness of combinations effected in their front, he only felt an inspiration to go forward. The force which participated in the attack on the evening of —— 19th, 1866, did not fall far short of one hundred thousand men, and yet, thirty-six hours previous to this time, the occasion had not presented itself to the mind of the veteran who planned the attack as suitable therefor. A well organized and lightly-equipped force proved unquestionably a sine qua non in rendering the dispositions of the commander successful; but we doubt if it would be fair to subtract this circumstance from the glory of the undertaking, if the reader is informed that it had been developed from the same ingenious source with special reference thereto.
In the attack which followed, each Den constituted an independent force, and was under the immediate command of the Grand Cyclops. Indeed, no other officer was known on the field, though it was sufficiently apparent, at the time, that each had received his allotted task from a superior, and it was afterwards divulged that they had acted under written orders. At ten o’clock precisely, the commands moved (from the various points of rendezvous selected), and were allotted one hour to each ten miles of distance to be traversed. They were in full uniform, and though they carried arms, were commanded not to fire, nor to return a fire, except under orders. En route they avoided public roads and dense settlements, and on approaching their destination changed the order of march (by twos) to close column by fours, when the command was “charge.” After the building, which formed the object of attack, came in view, no time was to be lost, and its investment completed as rapidly as possible. Attempted refugees were to be forced back within the walls, and in no event was an escape to be permitted. A party of six resolute men were detached from each squadron for special duty, in securing the papers, books, and other written documents of the League meeting, and this movement was so far pivotal in its character, that their comrades were commanded to keep their proceedings in view, and be ready at a signal to render them assistance. After a thorough search of the premises had been accomplished, the dismounted men without were commanded to take their station within the building, and form the hollow-square of the order.
As so much has been said concerning this feature of their drill, and so little really known, we give the exact figure in the cut below. It may be imitated by arranging two letters K with their backs to each other, and doubtless originated from this device.
Ku-Klux Hollow-square.
This ghostly evolution having been performed, and the trembling Leaguers finding themselves invested at every point, the Grand Cyclops had orders to ascend the rostrum, and from that elevated position deliver to the (constructive) culprits an oath whose principal features were as follows: To forever abjure all allegiance to the secret organization known as the Loyal League; to cease to employ the elective franchise as an instrument of oppression against the white population of the State; to forsake the acquaintance of all men, irrespective of party, who sought to profit by their votes; and finally, to abstain, under pain of the severest penalties; from all efforts to investigate or otherwise disturb the mystical beings who stood before them, and who, at some future time, if deemed expedient, would accord them further and more convincing proofs of their ghostly genealogy. This command having been executed, the lights were to be blown out at a signal, and the parties, disappearing by the most secret routes possible, to hasten forward to a point of rendezvous one mile distant.
Such was the plan of campaign resolved upon by the Grand Wizard and his advisers; and that it was successful in every particular is a fact which we need hardly repeat, in view of the numerous hints conveyed in the written history of those times. While the State Council of the Loyal League was guessing itself dry over the great “konundrum,” and, at the same time, making such a sine die disposition of its remains as was rendered feasible by broadsides of eloquence and sixthlies of courageous resolve, that lively “korps(e)” had frisked from its abode, and with the alacrity of a “monkey on a trapeze-bar” (in the language of the oil-regions) “went through them.”