KU-KLUX OUTRAGES
It does not fall within the limits of our subject to go into the general history of Ku-Klux Klan. This mysterious organization originated in Tennessee, but it soon spread beyond the borders of the State, and became the organ of all those who believed in resorting to violent measures to secure the emancipation of the Southern States from negro and carpetbag domination. Its history, therefore, belongs under the general history of Reconstruction. Nevertheless, the study of the civil disturbances in Tennessee resulting from the war would indeed be incomplete without some account of the operation of the Ku-Klux within the borders of the State. It formed the chief occasion for interferences with civil liberty, as well as for congressional legislation, which rendered the Radical government so hateful in the eyes of the ex-Confederates.
The first official reference to disturbances of an extraordinary character is found in Governor Brownlow’s first message to the Legislature. In this, he calls the attention of the Legislature to “the roving bands of guerrillas and squads of robbers and murderers who frequent those counties remote from the military forces.” He recommended that the criminal law of the State be so revised as to make house-stealing, and house-breaking, and highway robbery punishable with death. Acting upon his recommendations, the Legislature, in May, 1865, passed a bill to punish “all armed Prowlers, Guerrillas, Brigands, and Highway Robbers.” But as yet there were no indications, either in the message of the Governor or the action of the Legislature, that these early disturbances were of a political character.
The Ku-Klux Klan did not come into existence until the following year. The little town of Pulaski, in Giles County, claims the doubtful honor of being its birthplace. It seems to have originated with a coterie of young men, who banded together for the purpose of obtaining amusement by playing upon the superstitious fancies of the negroes. They organized themselves into a lodge, and adopted a fantastic ceremony and ritual. Their meetings were held at night, and they usually came together mounted on horseback, and wearing hideous disguises. They frightened the negroes by telling them horrible ghost stories.
It was quickly seen that the measures adopted purely for amusement could be turned into practical use in controlling the negro. The conditions were ripe all over the South for such an organization, so it spread like wildfire. Lodges sprang up in all parts of the Southern States, with the possible exception of Virginia. A loose bond of union was formed between them, but in different localities they assumed various names, such as “The Pale Faces,” “The Invisible Empire,” “The Brotherhood.” They were all finally denominated “The Ku-Klux Klan.”
Somewhat antedating the Ku-Klux Klan, and almost equally rapid in growth, were the Union secret societies. They also bore various names, the most popular being “The Loyal League” and “The Union League of America.” They were devoid of any fantastic features, and did not, as a rule, resort to violent measures, but their object was the same as the rival organization, namely, to secure political control of the negro.
In the spring of 1867, the Radical newspapers of Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis commenced to be filled with reports of outrages committed upon negroes and Union men. Upon investigation, these reports oftentimes turned out to be either wholly untrue or greatly exaggerated, but they served to throw the Radical party into a state of intense excitement. Their leaders believed, or professed to believe, that another general insurrection was threatened. Acting under this conviction, the Legislature passed a bill on the twentieth of February, 1867, to equip and call into active service, under the absolute command of the Governor, a State Guard to be composed solely of Union men. It also passed a joint resolution requesting the Governor to “apply to General Thomas, the commander of the department, for a sufficient force of United States soldiers to keep the peace and restore order and quiet in our State.”[14] In response to this application several regiments were furnished by General Thomas, but he cautioned that they should be used only in aid of the civil authority.
These Ku-Klux outrages followed closely upon the passage of the Arnell Franchise Law. This bill, as we have pointed out, made the political disabilities of the ex-Confederate absolute and perpetual. It destroyed the last hope of regaining political control of the State, through legal and constitutional means. As a natural result, public opinion commenced to tolerate acts of violence which till then had been strongly condemned. The best men of the communities, while they did not take active part in the Ku-Klux movement, gave it their approval by a policy of acquiescence. Juries refused to commit, even upon the clearest evidence, persons accused of offences against negroes or Union men.
A crisis was reached in the spring of 1868. Mr. S. M. Arnell, the framer of the election law and Congressman from the Eighth District, was made the object of a Ku-Klux raid. Having narrowly escaped hanging through flight and concealment, he sent the following dispatch to the Governor: “The Ku-Klux searched the train for me last night, pistols and rope in hand. Empower me to call upon the military here, if necessary in your name, to suppress all armed and masked parties in this vicinity. I propose to fight it out.“
Upon the receipt of this dispatch, Governor Brownlow made a second request for federal troops. This time he received an unfavorable response. General Thomas informed him that “the State of Tennessee, being in full exercise of the civil functions of a State, the military authority of the United States cannot legally interfere except in aid and support of the civil authority. For these purposes troops have been sent to various locations. These details, together with the present demand for troops to assist the United States officers in collecting revenue, have so exhausted the forces at my command as to prevent the complying with your request to send companies to the counties named.”