Thirty-four scalawags, fifteen carpet-baggers, and forty-one negro Radicals came before the committee and subcommittee. Some of these were summoned by Blair or Beck, and a number of them disappointed the Republican members of the committee by giving Democratic testimony.[2013] The Radicals could only repeat, with variations, the story of the Eutaw riot, the Patona affair, the Huntsville parade, etc. Of the prominent carpet-baggers and scalawags whose testimony was anti-Democratic, most were men of clouded character.[2014] The testimony of the higher Federal officials was mostly in favor of the Democratic contention.[2015] The negro testimony, however worthless it may appear at first sight, becomes clear to any one who, knowing the negro mind, remembers the influences then operating upon it. From this class of testimony one gets valuable hints and suggestions. The character of the white scalawag and carpet-bag testimony is more complex, but if one has the history of the witness, the testimony usually becomes intelligible. In many instances the testimony gives a short history of the witness.
The material collected by the Ku Klux Committee, and other committees that investigated affairs in the South after the war, can be used with profit only by one who will go to the biographical books and learn the social and political history of each person who testified. When the personal history of an important witness is known, many obscure things become plain. Unless this is known, one cannot safely accept or reject any specific testimony. To one who works in Alabama Reconstruction, Brewer’s “Alabama,” Garrett’s “Reminiscences,” the “Memorial Record,” old newspaper files, and the memories of old citizens are indispensable.
There is in the first volume of the Alabama Testimony a delightfully partisan index of seventy-five pages. In it the summary of Democratic testimony shows up almost as Radical as the most partisan on the other side. It is meant only to bring out the violence in the testimony. According to it, one would think all those killed or mistreated were Radicals. The same man frequently figures in three situations, as “shot,” “outraged,” and “killed.” General Clanton’s testimony of thirty pages gets a summary of four inches, which tells nothing; that of Wager, a Bureau agent, gets as much for twelve pages, which tells something; and that of Minnis, a scalawag, twice as much. There is very little to be found in the testimony that relates directly to the Ku Klux Klan and similar organizations. Had the sessions of the subcommittee been held in the white counties of north and southwest Alabama, where the Klans had flourished, probably they might have found out something about the organization. But the minority members were determined to expose the actual condition of affairs in the state from 1865 to 1871. No matter how much the Radicals might discover concerning unlawful organizations, the Democrats stood ready with an immense deal of facts concerning Radical misgovernment to show cause why such organizations should arise. Consequently the three volumes of testimony relating to Alabama are by no means pro-Radical, except in the attitude of the majority of the examiners.[2016]
Below is given a table of alleged Ku Klux outrages, compiled from the testimony taken. The Ku Klux report classifies all violence under the four heads: killing, shooting, outrage, whipping. The same case frequently figures in two or more classes. Practically every case of violence, whether political or not, is brought into the testimony. The period covered is from 1865 to 1871. Radical outrages as well as Democratic are listed in the report as Ku Klux outrages. In a number of cases Radical outrages are made to appear as Democratic. Many of the cases are simply hearsay. It is not likely that many instances of outrage escaped notice, for every case of actual outrage was proven by many witnesses. Every violent death of man, woman, or child, white or black, Democratic or Radical, occurring between 1865 and 1871, appears in the list as a Ku Klux outrage. Evidently careful search had been made, and certain witnesses had informed themselves about every actual deed of violence. There were then sixty-four counties in the state, and in only twenty-nine of them were there alleged instances of Ku Klux outrage.
Table of Alleged Outrages compiled from the Ku Klux Testimony
| County | Killings | Outrages | Shootings | Whippings | Total |
| Autauga | — | 1 | — | — | 1 |
| Blount (k) | 2 | 3 | — | 6 | 11 |
| Calhoun | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Chambers (k) | 1 | — | 1 | — | 2 |
| Cherokee (k) | — | 2 | — | 1 | 3 |
| Choctaw (x) | 11 | 1 | 3 | — | 15 |
| Coosa | — | — | 1 | 12 | 13 |
| Colbert (k) | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 3 |
| Dallas (x) | 1 | 1 | — | — | 2 |
| Fayette (k) | 1 | — | — | 3 | 4 |
| Greene (x) | 11 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 19 |
| Hale (x) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Jackson | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Lauderdale | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Lawrence (k) | 2 | — | — | — | 2 |
| Limestone (k) | 7 | 1 | — | 1 | 9 |
| Macon (x) | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Madison (x) | 6 | 19 | 5 | 19 | 49 |
| Marshall (k) | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Marengo (x) | 1 | 6 | — | 4 | 11 |
| Montgomery (x) | — | 1 | — | — | 1 |
| Morgan (k) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Perry (x) | 2 | — | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Pickens (x) | — | — | — | 9 | 9 |
| Sumter (x) | 21 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 38 |
| St. Clair | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 |
| Tallapoosa (k) | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Tuscaloosa (k) | 8 | — | — | — | 8 |
| Walker (k) | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 258 |
(x) = black counties, and (k) = white counties, where Ku Klux Klan operated.
The Ku Klux Committee reported a bill[2017] providing for the execution of the Ku Klux Act until the close of the next session of Congress. It passed the Senate May 21, 1872, and failed in the House on June 6.[2018] The act of February 28, 1871, was amended by extending the Federal supervision of elections from towns to all election districts on application of ten persons. Other unimportant amendments were made.[2019]
The passage of these laws had no effect on the Ku Klux Klan proper, which had died out in 1869-1870. Nor did they have any effect in decreasing violence. It is quite likely that there was more violence toward the negro in 1871 and 1872 than in 1869-1870. But the laws did affect the elections. The entire machinery of elections was again under Radical control, and in 1872 the state again sank back into Radicalism. But it was the last Republican majority the state ever cast. The execution of these laws did much to hasten the union of the whites against negro rule.
Few cases were tried under the Enforcement Acts, though District Attorney Minnis and United States Marshal Healy were very active.[2020] Busteed, in 1871, testified that at Huntsville he had tried several persons for an outrage upon a negro, and that there were still untried two indictments under the Act of 1870. He stated that his jurors and witnesses were never interfered with. One of his grand juries, in 1871, encouraged by the attitude of Congress, reported that while there was no organized conspiracy throughout the middle district, there was such a thing in Macon, Coosa, and Tallapoosa. Two of the jurors—Benjamin F. Noble and Ex-Governor William H. Smith—objected to the report, and Busteed, the Federal judge, condemned it as unwarranted by the facts.[2021]