The Ku Klux Klan began in 1866 as a small circle of former Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee, with the trappings of a fraternal club. As formerly enslaved men voted and held office under the Reconstruction Acts, the Klan turned to nighttime rides, whippings, and murder.

This episode traces the first Klan from its founding to the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871, President Grant's suspension of habeas corpus in South Carolina, the trials that produced some 140 convictions, and the Klan's collapse by 1872, then looks ahead to its revival on Stone Mountain in 1915.

Key Takeaways

• The Klan was founded in May or June 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by former Confederate soldiers. Its name joined kuklos, the Greek word for circle, with “clan,” respelled with a K for alliteration, and its oaths were borrowed from fraternal orders like the Masons.

• The first Klansmen were young professionals, not plantation owners. Their costumes drew on carnival, Mardi Gras, the circus, and fraternal traditions: horns, blackface, fake beards, polka-dotted hats, animal skins, and gowns.

• In April 1867 representatives met at Nashville's Maxwell House Hotel, still under construction. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate cavalry commander, was identified as the first Grand Wizard. Local dens operated independently, with no national headquarters and no standard uniform.

• The Klan's purpose was political. The Reconstruction Acts and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments had transformed the Southern electorate. Formerly enslaved men now voted and held office, and Klansmen saw Republican victories, Union Leagues, Black militias, and white Southern Republicans as threats to a racial and political order.

• The violence was organized. Republican organizer George Ashburn was murdered in Columbus, Georgia, on March 31, 1868. In Georgia alone, the Freedmen's Bureau recorded 336 murders or assaults with intent to kill against freedpeople between January and mid-November of that year. South Carolina legislator Wade Perrin was re-elected on October 19, 1870, and murdered the next day.

• Louis Foy, who had emerged from slavery to own a twenty-acre farm in Terrell County, Georgia, was beaten and shot in his own house in 1870 and wrote to President Grant: “I now wish to appeal to you, as my President.”

• With Grant's support Congress passed three Enforcement Acts between 1870 and 1871. The third, the Ku Klux Klan Act of April 20, 1871, authorized the president to use extraordinary power against conspiracies that deprived citizens of constitutional rights.

• Grant suspended the writ of habeas corpus in several South Carolina counties and on October 17, 1871, declared nine of them in rebellion. Federal troops and marshals, assisted by Major Lewis Merrill of the Seventh Cavalry, arrested suspected Klansmen; hundreds surrendered and others fled. The South Carolina trials produced about 140 convictions.

• Attorney General Amos Akerman, a former Confederate officer and enslaver who became a Republican, secured thousands of indictments across the South. By 1872 the first Klan was broken as an organized force, and in 1875 Grant signed the Civil Rights Act protecting against racial discrimination in public places.

• The second Klan was born in 1915: D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation recast Reconstruction's terrorists as heroes, and on Thanksgiving night William J. Simmons and sixteen associates burned a cross on Stone Mountain, Georgia.

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Questions & Answers (FAQ)

Q1: When and where was the Ku Klux Klan founded?

In May or June 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by a small circle of former Confederate soldiers. At first it resembled a secret social club with mysterious ceremonies, absurd titles, disguises, and practical jokes, borrowing its oaths and initiations from fraternal orders like the Masons.

Q2: What does “Ku Klux Klan” mean?

The name joined kuklos, the Greek word for circle, with “clan,” respelled with a K for the sake of alliteration. One of the fraternal models its founders drew on was the Kuklos Adelphon, Greek for Circle of Brothers.

Q3: Who was the first Grand Wizard?

Nathan Bedford Forrest, the celebrated and notorious Confederate cavalry commander, was identified as the first Grand Wizard after representatives met at Nashville's Maxwell House Hotel in April 1867. Local dens operated independently, with no national headquarters and no standardized uniform.

Q4: Why did the Klan turn violent?

The Reconstruction Acts and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments had transformed the Southern electorate. Formerly enslaved men now voted and held office, and Klansmen saw Republican victories, Union Leagues, Black militias, and white Southerners who supported Republican efforts as threats to a racial and political order. Its methods included nighttime rides, robbery, arson, beatings, public whippings, sexual assault, and murder.

Q5: What was the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871?

The third of three Enforcement Acts passed by Congress between 1870 and 1871 with President Grant's support. Signed April 20, 1871, it authorized the president to employ extraordinary power against conspiracies that deprived citizens of their constitutional rights, including suspending the writ of habeas corpus.

Q6: Did Grant really suspend habeas corpus?

Yes. Grant suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in several South Carolina counties, allowing federal authorities to hold suspected Klansmen without immediately bringing them before a court. On October 17, 1871, he declared nine South Carolina counties in rebellion after warning Klansmen to surrender their arms and disguises.

Q7: How was the first Klan defeated?

Federal troops and marshals, assisted by Major Lewis Merrill of the Seventh Cavalry, arrested suspected Klansmen; hundreds surrendered and others fled. The South Carolina Klan trials produced about 140 convictions, and Attorney General Amos Akerman secured thousands of indictments across the South. By 1872, prosecutions, military pressure, internal disorder, the suspension of habeas corpus, and public exposure had broken the first Klan as an organized force.

Q8: How did the second Klan begin?

On February 8, 1915, D. W. Griffith released The Birth of a Nation, which recast Reconstruction's terrorists as romantic heroes. On Thanksgiving night that year, William J. Simmons and sixteen associates climbed Stone Mountain, east of Atlanta, burned a cross, and proclaimed a new Klan.

A Circle in Pulaski, Tennessee

The Ku Klux Klan began as a small circle of former Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee. Founded in May or June 1866, initially it resembled a secret social club, with mysterious ceremonies, absurd titles, disguises, nighttime rides, and practical jokes. The group's name joined kuklos, the Greek word for circle, with “clan,” respelled with a K for purposes of alliteration. Its founders borrowed the oaths and initiations common to fraternal organizations like the Masons, the Sons of Malta, and the Circle of Brothers, or, in Greek, the Kuklos Adelphon. Yet, as the defeated society of America's South confronted emancipation, Black citizenship, and Republican government, costumes and secrecy soon turned sinister.

Who the First Klansmen Were

The KKK emerged at a time when Black Americans were not only free from slavery, they were directly participating in Reconstruction, electing delegates to state constitutional conventions, and being elected to public offices. The first Klansmen were not plantation owners, nor tied to the plantation economy. Rather, they were young professionals. The first Klan costumes drew upon several traditions: carnival, Mardi Gras, the circus, and fraternal groups. They included horns, blackface, fake beards, polka-dotted hats, animal skins, and gowns. Originally, the disguises were matters of fraternity and entertainment. They quickly turned dark.

Nashville, 1867: Nathan Bedford Forrest

The Klan grew in membership. In April 1867, representatives met at Nashville's Maxwell House Hotel, which was still under construction. The hotel had been established by Confederate Colonel John Overton Jr., who named it after his wife, Harriet Maxwell Overton. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the celebrated and notorious Confederate cavalry commander, was identified as its first Grand Wizard. Local dens operated independently. There was no national headquarters, nor was there a standardized uniform as there would be later.

The Klan's Purpose: A New Electorate

The Klan's purpose was not obscure. The Reconstruction Acts and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which protected citizenship, due process, equal protection under the law, and voting rights regardless of race, color, or former enslavement, had transformed the South's electorate. Formerly enslaved men now voted and held office. Republican victories, Union Leagues, Black militias, and Southern whites who supported Republican efforts all appeared to Klansmen as threats to a racial and political order.

So did “carpetbaggers” like Albion W. Tourgée, a Union veteran and civil-rights advocate who moved from Ohio to North Carolina after the Civil War, and “scalawags” like James Lusk Alcorn, governor of Mississippi and U.S. senator, one of the most prominent white Southern Republicans.

Methods and Murders

The KKK's methods included nighttime rides, robbery, arson, beatings, public whippings, sexual assault, and murder. In Georgia, organized political terrorism became conspicuous on March 31, 1868, when Republican organizer George Ashburn was murdered in Columbus. It was likely the first Klan-related murder in that state. Between January and mid-November of that year, in Georgia alone, the Freedmen's Bureau recorded 336 murders or assaults with intent to kill against freedpeople. In South Carolina, state legislator Wade Perrin was re-elected on October 19, 1870. The next day, he was murdered by a white Democratic mob associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

Louis Foy Appeals to President Grant

Louis Foy had emerged from slavery to own a twenty-acre farm in Terrell County, Georgia, but armed white men invaded his home in 1870. He appealed directly to President Grant: “I was badly beaten and shot in my own house by some white rebels. I now wish to appeal to you, as my President.”

The Enforcement Acts and the Ku Klux Klan Act

With Grant's support, Congress passed three Enforcement Acts between 1870 and 1871. The third was the Ku Klux Klan Act of April 20, 1871, which authorized the president to employ extraordinary power against conspiracies that deprived citizens of constitutional rights. Among other measures, Grant suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in several South Carolina counties, allowing federal authorities to hold suspected Klansmen without immediately bringing them before a court to justify their detention.

Nine Counties in Rebellion

On October 17, 1871, Grant declared nine South Carolina counties in rebellion after issuing a warning that Klansmen surrender their arms and disguises. Federal troops and marshals, assisted by Major Lewis Merrill of the Seventh Cavalry, arrested suspected Klansmen as hundreds surrendered and others fled. The South Carolina Klan trials produced approximately 140 convictions. Attorney General Amos Akerman, a former Confederate officer and enslaver who became a Republican, directed marshals and soldiers against the Klan, and secured thousands of indictments across the South. Three Klansmen from Mississippi were captured in their costumes.

The First Klan Broken

By 1872, federal prosecutions, military pressure, internal disorder, the suspension of habeas corpus, and public exposure had broken the first Klan as an organized force. President Grant signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which established protections against racial discrimination in public places.

The Birth of a Nation and Stone Mountain, 1915

In the early part of the twentieth century, however, the second organized Klan emerged. On February 8, 1915, D. W. Griffith released his epic film The Clansman, which he soon renamed The Birth of a Nation. As the story of Southern whites defending their culture from Black former slaves and from white invaders from the North, the film transformed Reconstruction's terrorists into romantic heroes. Later that year, on Thanksgiving night, William J. Simmons and sixteen associates climbed Stone Mountain, fifteen miles east of Atlanta, Georgia, burned a cross, and proclaimed the establishment of a new Klan. Three days later, the Atlanta Constitution ran an article on the event. It incorrectly reported the Klan's motto as Silba Sed Anthar. The full motto, in pseudo-Latin, is Non Silba Sed Anthar, which, in a darkly ironic turn, was intended to mean: “Not for oneself, but for others.”