ed nothing less thaninsurrection by a terrorist organization. Orders went out from state capitols and Unionarmy headquarters to supress the Klan. Unfortunately, it was too late. From middle Tennessee, the Klan was quicklyestablished in nearby counties and then in North and South Carolina. In some counties theKlan became the de facto law, an invisible government that state officials could notcontrol. When Tennessee governor William C. Brownlow attempted to plant spies withinthe Klan, he found the organization knew as much about his efforts as he did. OneBrownlow spy who tried to join the Klan was found strung up in a tree. Later another spywas stripped and mutilated, and a third was stuffed into a barrel in Nashville and rolledinto the Cumberland River where he drowned. With the tacit sympathy and support of most white citizens often behind, the Klanworked behind a veil that was impossible for Brownlow and other Reconstructiongovernors to pierce. But even though a large majority of white Southerners opposed theradical state governments, not all of them approved of the hooded order’s brand ofvigilante justice. “ During its first year, the Klan’s public marches and parades weresometimes hooted and jeered at by townspeople who looked upon them as a joke”. (3)Later, when the Klan began to use guns and whips to make its point, some civic leadersspoke out against the violence. But in the 1860’s white southern voices against the Klan were in the minority. Oneof the Klan’s greatest strengths during this period was the large number of editors,ministers, former Confederate officers and political leaders who hid behind its sheets andguided its actions. As the violence escalated, it turned into general lawlessness and some Klan groupseven began fighting each other. In Nashville, a gang of outlaws who adopted the Klandisguise came to be known as the Black Ku Klux Klan, and for several months middleTennessee was pla...
