gued by a guerrilla war between the real and bogus Klans. The Klan was also coming under increased attack by Congress and theReconstruction state governments. The leaders of the Klan realized that the orders’ endwas at hand, at least as any sort of organized force. It is widely believed that Forrest ordered the Klan disbanded in January 1869, butthe surviving document is rather ambiguous (some historians think Forrest’s “order” wasjust a trick so he could deny responsibility or knowledge of Klan activities). Whatever the actual date, it is clear that as an organized body across the South, theKKK had ceased to exist by the end of 1869. That did not end the violence, however, and as atrocities became morewidespread, radical legislatures throughout the region passed harsher laws, imposedmartial law in some Klan-dominated counties, and actively hunted Klan leaders. In 1871 Congress held hearings on the Klan and passed a tough anti-Klan lawmodeled after a North Carolina statute. Under the new federal law, Southerners lost theirjurisdiction over the crimes of assault, robbery and murder, and the president wasauthorized to declare martial law. Night riding and the wearing of masks were expresslyprohibited. Hundreds of Klansmen were arrested but few actually went to prison. These laws probably dampened the enthusiasm for the Klan, but they can hardly becredited with destroying it. The fact was, by the mid-1870’s white southerners had retakencontrol of most Southern state governments and didn’t need the Klan as much as before.Klan terror had proven very effective at keeping black voters away from the polls. Someblack office holders were hanged and many more brutally beaten. White SouthernDemocrats won elections easily, and passed laws taking away many rights that blacks hadwon during Reconstruction. The result was a system of segregation that was the law of the land for over eightyyears. This system was calle...
