The Ku Klux Klan and the White League (Edexcel A-Level History): Revision Notes
The Ku Klux Klan and the White League
Introduction: white backlash in the former Confederacy
Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the former Confederacy faced enormous challenges. The war had claimed the lives of 25 percent of white adult males, devastated large areas including Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia, and left the economy in ruins. The abolition of slavery cost slave owners approximately $2 billion in property value. Additionally, the Civil War Amendment and other federal legislation brought about revolutionary changes in civil rights and race relations.
From 1867 onwards, the former Confederate states experienced military occupation to ensure compliance with these dramatic changes. In such circumstances, a violent white backlash was almost inevitable. This opposition took many forms, including random attacks and lynchings of black Americans, implementation of Black Codes by provisional state governments, and vitriolic attacks in southern white newspapers.
The combination of economic devastation, massive loss of life, and the complete overturning of the social order created conditions in which violent resistance to Reconstruction became widespread across the former Confederacy.
The Ku Klux Klan
Origins and formation
On 24 December 1865, a group of former Confederate soldiers met in Pulaski, Tennessee, to form an organisation designed to protect the southern white population and intimidate southern black people. They called it the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a name derived from the Greek word for circle, Kuklos. The organisation claimed to uphold chivalry, humanity, mercy and patriotism.
Etymology of the Ku Klux Klan
The name "Ku Klux Klan" derives from the Greek word Kuklos, meaning circle. The choice of this name reflected the organisation's secretive, closed nature and its members' desire to create an exclusive group united by white supremacist ideology.
What began as a group of pranksters engaging in light-hearted intimidation of black Americans quickly evolved into a major terror organisation. The KKK was one of several southern white vigilante organisations that emerged during this period, all sharing the common goal of enforcing the pre-Civil War social system in which black Americans were treated as inferior to white people.
Leadership and organisation
In spring 1867, at a convention in Nashville, Tennessee, the KKK elected former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest as Grand Wizard. Forrest had been one of the most successful and feared cavalry generals of the Civil War. Another senior Confederate general, John C. Gordon, also became a prominent member of the organisation.
The KKK developed an elaborate structure and system of intimidation. Members maintained anonymity by wearing hoods and robes, and the organisation featured elaborate rituals and titles such as Grand Cyclops. This secrecy and theatricality served to heighten the terror they inflicted on their victims.
The KKK's elaborate structure, rituals, and disguises served multiple purposes: maintaining member anonymity to avoid prosecution, creating a theatrical atmosphere of terror, and establishing a hierarchical organisation that could coordinate activities across multiple states.
Evolution and methods
The KKK rapidly transformed from a group of pranksters into a sophisticated terror network. According to Colonel de Blanc of the Knights of the White Camellia, writing in 1868, white terror groups believed that black Americans were guilty of crimes against white people, including arson, attacking white women and murdering white Americans. This racist ideology provided the justification for their violent activities.
The KKK used various methods of intimidation and violence, including beatings, arson, murder and lynching. Members operated under cover of darkness, using their disguises to avoid identification and prosecution. Their activities were designed to terrorise black Americans into submission and to undermine Republican political control in the South.
Targets of KKK violence
The KKK and related white terror groups targeted several categories of people:
- Black Americans – the primary victims of KKK violence
- Carpetbaggers – northerners who had moved to the South during Reconstruction
- Scalawags – southern white people who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party
- Republican Party members – both black and white
- Federal government officials – those attempting to enforce Reconstruction policies
Example: Emanuel Fortune
Emanuel Fortune was driven out of Jackson County, Florida, by the KKK. He claimed that the object of the organisation was to kill all leading Republicans who had taken a prominent stand against the unfair treatment of black Americans. His experience typified the systematic targeting of Republican political leaders by white terror groups.
In 1870, Klansmen murdered three scalawag members of the Georgia legislature and drove a further ten from their homes. That same year, an armed mob of white men attacked a Republican Party rally, killing four black people and wounding 54 others.
Peak period of violence
The height of KKK violence occurred between 1869 and 1871. Black institutions became particular targets for attack. In autumn 1870, following ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment (which gave black adult males the vote), nearly every black church and schoolhouse in Tuskegee, Alabama, was burned down.
Scale of Violence During Peak Period
In 1871, 500 masked men laid siege to Union County Gaol and lynched eight black prisoners. Lynching of black Americans became a regular and terrifying feature of Reconstruction. The first major period of lynching ran from 1865 to 1871, beginning as a purge of black Americans who had joined the Republican Party.
During the 1868 elections, white terror groups attacked and lynched potential voters to prevent ratification of new state constitutions. In total, approximately 1,300 potential voters, both black and white Republicans, were murdered. Between 1868 and 1876, the incidence of lynching stood at 50-100 per year.
This declined after federal intervention through the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
Evidence from a former slave
Ben Johnson, born a slave in 1848 in Orange County, North Carolina, provided vivid testimony about KKK activities when interviewed 65 years later. He described how he witnessed the sale of his brother Jim and the trauma of never hearing from him again. Johnson recalled seeing large numbers of Union soldiers (Yankees) in Hillsboro who, in his words, had no respect for God, man, nor the devil.
Testimony: Ben Johnson on KKK Violence
Johnson's most powerful memories concerned KKK violence. He described the lynching of Cy Guy, who was accused of insulting a white woman. The KKK came for him 100 strong, tried him in the woods, and wrote in his blood that he should hang between the heavens and the earth till he is dead, dead, dead, and that any black person who took down the body would also be hanged.
The body hung over the road for four days with the sentence displayed above it. Nobody dared touch it until the sheriff finally removed it on the fourth day. Johnson also recalled Ed and Cindy, former slaves who were dragged from their beds on a cold night, whipped in the woods, and thrown into a pond, breaking through the ice. Ed survived and came to Johnson's house, but Cindy was never seen again.
The White League
Formation and purpose
The White League was another important white supremacist, paramilitary group formed in March 1874 in Louisiana. It functioned as the military arm of the Democrat Party whilst Louisiana remained under federal military occupation. The White League represented a more organised and politically focused form of white resistance compared to the KKK.
The Coushatta massacre
The Coushatta Massacre (August 1874)
Perhaps the most notorious act attributed to the White League was the Coushatta massacre in August 1874. The incident was sparked by a dispute between the White League and Marshall Twitchell, a northern carpetbagger who had become a Louisiana state senator.
Members of the White League forced six Republican Party officials to resign, then murdered them along with five black Americans. This incident demonstrated the White League's willingness to use systematic political violence to eliminate Republican leadership.
The Battle of Liberty Place
A month later, on 14 September 1874, the White League achieved its greatest triumph in what became known as the Battle of Liberty Place. The opportunity arose when President Grant removed most federal troops from Louisiana due to a yellow fever outbreak.
The Battle of Liberty Place (14 September 1874)
The White League assembled in New Orleans and demanded the resignation of Republican governor William Kellogg and his replacement by John McEnery, the unsuccessful Democrat candidate in the disputed 1872 gubernatorial election.
In the confrontation that followed, 5,000 members of the White League routed 3,500 members of the New Orleans Metropolitan Police and ousted the Republican governor.
President Grant responded by dispatching federal troops to restore order and reinstate the Republican governor. Although the White League had overthrown the city government of New Orleans for three days, no charges were brought against any member of the group.
Both white and black voters in Louisiana were denied voting rights until the Compromise of 1877, with Louisiana remaining under federal military rule throughout this period.
Other white supremacist groups and incidents
Variety of white terror organisations
The KKK was part of a network of white vigilante organisations operating across the former Confederacy. These included:
- Knights of the White Camellia – operating in Louisiana
- Red Shirts – active in South Carolina
- Knights of the Rising Sun – present in Texas
- White Line – operating in Mississippi
- White League – active in various states
All these groups shared the same fundamental aim: enforcing the social system that had existed before the Civil War, in which black Americans were treated as inferior to white people.
The Colfax massacre
In 1873, an incident in Colfax, Louisiana, attributed to the Knights of the White Camellia, led to the single biggest loss of life of black Americans during Reconstruction. Black people in the area had begun drilling with weapons in fear of attack by white terror groups.
The Colfax Massacre (1873)
On Easter Sunday, armed white men with a small cannon and rifles launched an assault. When black Americans attempted to surrender under a flag of truce, the massacre continued. In total, 280 black Americans were killed in what became known as the Colfax massacre.
This horrific event demonstrated the extreme violence that white supremacist groups were willing to employ and represented the single greatest loss of black American lives during the Reconstruction period.
Federal government response
Enforcement Acts
Faced with widespread violence and murder, the US Congress attempted to protect black Americans and their white supporters through legislation. Three key acts were passed:
The Three Enforcement Acts
The 1870 Enforcement Act placed penalties against anyone who interfered with a citizen, either black or white. This was the first major federal attempt to combat white terror.
The Second Enforcement Act (also 1870) placed the election of congressmen under the surveillance of federal election officials, attempting to protect voting rights.
The 1871 Third Enforcement Act (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act) gave federal troops the power to suspend habeas corpus and arrest suspected KKK members. It also outlawed activities closely associated with KKK activity, such as forming secret conspiracies, wearing disguises and intimidating officials.
Definition: Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus is a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court, especially for investigation of a restraint of the person's liberty, used as a protection against illegal imprisonment.
The suspension of habeas corpus under the Ku Klux Klan Act was controversial but proved essential in allowing federal authorities to arrest and detain suspected terrorists without the normal legal protections that made prosecution difficult.
Impact of federal intervention
President Ulysses Grant used the Ku Klux Klan Act in October 1871 to declare martial law in nine counties of western South Carolina, which led to mass prosecutions. These acts helped to break the back of most of the terror activities of the KKK and other white supremacist groups.
Effectiveness of Federal Intervention
The incidence of lynching black Americans declined rapidly after passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Whereas approximately 1,300 people were murdered in the 1868 election period, in the years 1868 to 1876, the incidence of lynching stood at 50-100 per year – still horrifically high, but significantly reduced from earlier peaks.
Impact on Reconstruction and the restoration of Democrat control
Undermining Republican Party organisation
White terror group activity had a devastating effect on Republican Party organisation in the Deep South. In the 1875 elections in Mississippi, local Democrat Party rifle clubs paraded in black areas and provoked riots in which hundreds of black people were killed. Historian Kenneth Stampp, who wrote extensively on Reconstruction, noted that on election day many black Americans stayed hidden away, too frightened to vote.
The combination of terror tactics, political organisation and white resentment proved highly effective in undermining Republican control. Violence and intimidation systematically destroyed the Republican Party's political infrastructure in the South, making it impossible for black Americans and their white allies to exercise their constitutional rights.
Return of Democrat control
Resentment of military occupation and the impact of black participation in elections and local politics alienated many white voters. The combination of terror tactics, political organisation and white resentment proved highly effective in undermining Republican control.
By 1875, only Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina had Republican-controlled state governments. All other former Confederate states were controlled by the Democrat Party, which opposed Reconstruction. The white backlash, spearheaded by organisations like the KKK and White League, had largely succeeded in rolling back the gains of Radical Reconstruction.
Key Points to Remember:
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The Ku Klux Klan was founded on 24 December 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by former Confederate soldiers and evolved from pranks to a major terror organisation led by Nathan Bedford Forrest as Grand Wizard.
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Multiple white supremacist groups (KKK, White League, Knights of the White Camellia, Red Shirts, etc.) used violence, intimidation and lynching to enforce white supremacy and undermine Republican control in the South.
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The peak period of KKK violence was 1869-71, with approximately 1,300 people murdered during the 1868 elections and 50-100 lynchings per year between 1868-76.
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The federal government responded with three Enforcement Acts (1870, 1870, 1871), culminating in the Ku Klux Klan Act which allowed suspension of habeas corpus and declaration of martial law, significantly reducing terror group activity.
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By 1875, white terror campaigns had successfully undermined Republican Party organisation and restored Democrat control in all former Confederate states except Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina, effectively ending meaningful Reconstruction.