History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 22

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724

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KU KLUX KLAN. A militant secret order in the Southern States, organized at Pulaski, Tenn., in May, 1866, by six young men of the town, James R. Crowe, Richard R. Reed, Calvin Jones, John C. Lester, Frank O. Mc- Cord, and John Kennedy. These young men had no other object than to found a society for their intellectual entertainment and im- provement, and it was several months after the organization of the club before the idea of adapting it to the work of "regulation" was conceived. In fact, it may be said to have been an accident that the effect which the club's mysterious conduct and grotesque disguises had upon the negroes of Pulaski was noticed at precisely the time when serious men were seeking some method of counter- acting the influence of carpethaggers, scala- wags, and the loyal league. Before any gen- eral organization had been formed, various local "dens" of the Ku Klux had been insti- tuted in other towns and neighborhoods of Tennessee and northern Alabama. By the

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early part of 1867, the necessity for some sort of defensive measures against the activities of the undesirable white persons and the negroes who were under their influence had become apparent even to conservative southern men. Accordingly, a convention was held at Nashville, in May, 1867, a general organiza- · tion formed, and a constitution and ritual adopted. Its character and objects are thus stated in the revised and amended prescript: "This is an institution of Chivalry, Humanity, Mercy and Patriotism; embodying in its genius and its principles all that is chivalric in con- duct, noble in sentiment, generous in man- hood, and patriotic in purpose; its peculiar objects being, First: to protect the weak, the innocent and the defenceless, from the indig- nities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers."

Very soon after the formation of the orig- inal den at Pulaski, local dens were organized at several places in north Alabama. It is probable that the first Alabama den was at Huntsville, and among the earliest was the one at Tuscaloosa. Ryland Randolph, for a long time grand cyclops of the Tuscaloosa den, states that he first heard of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama in the winter of 1866. He must, however, have referred to the local societies patterned after the original den at Pulaski, for the order did not take on its serious character until the spring of 1867.

As has been stated, the Ku Klux Klan proper was formed purely for defensive pur- poses; but it was nevertheless thoroughly organized with military features, and its dis- cipline was equal to that of any army. The supreme control of the order was vested in a grand wizard, assisted by a staff of 10 general officers, called genii. Each State was in charge of a grand dragon and a staff of 8 hydras; each congressional district, in charge of a grand titan and a staff of 6 furies; each county, of a grand giant and a staff of 4 goblins. Each local lodge or den was com- manded by a grand cyclops and 2 couriers or messengers, called night hawks; a grand magi, a grand monk, a grand scribe, a grand exchequer, a grand turk, and a grand sentinel. The individual members of the order were known as ghouls. The general order had a tribunal of justice known as the grand coun- cil of yahoos, before which charges against officers were tried. This principle extended down through all the subdivisions of the organization, including the individual dens. It may safely be said that the invariable prac- tice of the original or true Ku Klux Klan was to submit every case of proposed correc- tion or punishment to a regularly designated court before taking action. Apparently this did not always hold true in the later years of the organization's activity, when it had gone out of the hands of its original members. The true clan was disbanded by formal decree of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the grand wizard, in the early spring of 1869. The

members of the original order referred con- temptuously to the members of the later organization, by whom most of the reprehen- sible deeds were done for which the true, as well as the false, Ku Klux Klan has been criticised, as the "new Ku Klux."

While the Ku Klux Klan was the most prominent and best known of the defensive secret organizations that were active during Reconstruction, it was not the only one. There were several others, some of which had almost or quite as many members as the Ku Klux Klan. One of these was the Knights of the White Camelia, which was active in the Cot- ton States, particularly in Mississippi and Louisiana. Its organization and ritual were somewhat different from those of the Ku Klux Klan, but its principles, objects and methods were similar. Because the Ku Klux was the first and best known, its name was given to the whole movement.

The objects of the clan, the methods used to attain them, the conditions which made some such organization necessary, were prac- tically the same in Alabama as in Tennessee, where it originated. The order kept no rec- ords. Its most effective weapon was the pro- found secrecy with which it surrounded all its activities. For these reasons, little is known of the details of its history. The State depart- ment of archives and history enjoys the unique distinction of possessing in its large collection of Ku Klux documents a copy both of the orig- inal and the revised prescript. It is probable that one or more dens existed in Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Jackson, Morgan, Law- rence, Franklin, Winston, Walker, Fayette and Blount Counties, in northern Alabama, and possibly in all the counties of central Ala- bama. The clan in Alabama became more active after the elections of 1868.

After the disbandment of the original clan, the organization in Alabama began to de- generate, as was the case in all the other States. Irresponsible and unscrupulous men obtained control, and used it to further their own political ambitions, or to wreak venge- ance upon their personal enemies. In many cases atrocities charged to the clan were found to have been perpetrated by "carpetbaggers," "scalawags," or even by negroes. By 1870, the organization was virtually extinct, al- though sporadic outbreaks occurred in isolated communities, which may or may not have been incited by former members of the clan.

Methods of Operation .- The Ku Klux Klan was organized primarily to combat the activi- ties of, and if possible to destroy, the Union, or "Loyal League," a secret oath-bound so- ciety, consisting mainly of negroes, and offi- cered by whites of the lowest class who, in secret sessions held usually at night under the protection of sentries mounted at a distance of 40 yards on all sides of the building, incul- cated in the minds of the ignorant and credu- lous negroes the belief that the property belonging to their former masters would be confiscated by the Government and divided among the freedmen. The negroes were also trained in the use of arms, and taught inde-

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pendence in their attitude toward the southern whites. The fruit of this teaching soon be- came manifest in the increased insolence and disorder among the bolder negroes. Often the quiet of night was disturbed by shouting and the firing of guns in the hands of negroes returning from the league meetings, and threats of bodily harm, or even death, were made against white men who had incurred their ill will, or more often the ill will of their carpetbagger leaders. In some of the leagues the negroes were taught that the only way to make their new-found freedom permanent was to intimidate the whites by killing off several of the most prominent men and putting the torch to their possessions. Political and social equality was advocated by many of the white leaders in the leagues and intermarriage of the races was not only suggested, but pro- phesied as a condition soon to obtain. These things could not do otherwise than have the most regrettable effect upon a race which has never been characterized by the exercise of sober second-thought in repressing its im- pulses, and their insolent attitude toward the whites became more marked. Women and children were frequently crowded from the sidewalks, even in daytime. The bravest dared not venture out at night. These condi- tions, daily growing worse, and caused by the agitation of undesirable alien whites, brought home to the southern white man, as nothing else could have done, the necessity for some effectual way of thwarting the designs of the political adventurer, protecting the southern whites, and saving the negro from the con- sequences of the course he was pursuing. And it was in the effort to accomplish these results that the idea accidentally originated at Pulaski was adopted and adapted and de- veloped to meet the general need, with what success the results of the election of 1875, and the conditions since obtaining, bear witness.

In most cases it was only necessary for the Ku Klux to show themselves in full regalia in the neighborhood of a meeting of the Union League in order to break up the meeting. When news came to the leaders of a den that a meeting was in progress, a number of men would disguise themselves and their horses, frequently muffling the horses' feet so that the procession moved without noise, thus heightening the effect of ghostliness, and simply ride by the meeting place, maintaining profound silence. The league sentinels lost no time in reporting the passage of the weird cavalcade, and usually the reports were no sooner received than the meeting stood ad- journed. After a time, however, the negroes became accustomed to the mystery and weird- ness surrounding the activities of the Ku Klux, and more drastic methods sometimes had to be used in bringing the bolder spirits under control.

One of the most famous of the Ku Klux "outrages" in Alabama, was the so-called Huntsville riot which occurred on the night before the general election on November 3, 1868. A political speaking was going on,

and large crowds of negroes were gathered at the courthouse; also a good many whites, most of them Radical politicians who were engineering the raising of enthusiasm among their colored constituents. At 10 o'clock a party of about 150 Ku Klux in full panoply, men and horses, rode into the public square and made a circle around it. Each man had a rifle or shot gun lashed to his saddlebow, and two large revolvers in his belt. As the head of the column neared the point at which it had entered the square, firing commenced near the north gate of the courthouse yard. Immediately the Ku Klux wheeled into line of battle and stood for a few moments at at- tention, the while maintaining profound silence. The firing for a time became general and Judge Thurlow was mortally wounded. A negro was killed and two others severely wounded. As soon as the firing ceased, the Ku Klux wheeled into column and rode off, not having discharged a gun, nor made any demonstration beyond their mere presence. Testimony before the Congressional Ku Klux Committee established with reasonable cer- tainty that no part in the melée was taken by any of the disguised horsemen; that the firing was done among the negroes and per- haps a few of the white men in the crowd. Nevertheless, this occurrence was heralded in the North as a most flagrant outrage, and the number of killed and wounded was multiplied many times over.

Attempts at Suppression .- The legislature of 1868 convened for its third session on the morning of the day on which the Huntsville . episode took place. A week later Gov. Wil- liam H. Smith sent a special message to the legislature, in which he stated that there was in the files of his office ample evidence of the existence in some parts of the State of an organization, whose members when in disguise had committed acts which showed conclu- sively that it aimed at the accomplishment of purposes wholly unwarranted by law. He suggested the appointment of a joint com- mittee to investigate these organizations and recommend such legislation as might be neces- sary to stop them. A joint resolution was adopted November 14, appointing a joint committee "to investigate the recent alleged outrages perpetrated upon members of this legislature, and other good and law-abiding citizens of this State, and to report by bill or otherwise, at the earliest day practicable, what measures may be necessary for the vin- dication of the law and future powers of the State." The committee was empowered to adjourn from time to time, and from place to place, to send for persons and papers, and to punish for contempt "any one who may refuse to obey, or attempt to evade or avoid its mandates, or in any other way .obstruct its investigations." Soon after the creation of this committee, probably before its report had been made, an act, "For the suppression of secret organizations, of men disguising themselves for the purpose of committing crimes and outrages," was passed. This act penalized the appearance of any person away

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from home by night, or by day, alone or in company, wearing a mask, or disguised in other costume, by a fine of $1,000 and im- prisonment in the county jail not less than six months nor more than one year, at the discretion of the trial court. Penalties were also provided for assaults, or attempted as- saults, by disguised persons, and for the destruction of property. To insure its en- forcement, a fine of $500 and forfeiture of office were prescribed for any magistrate, sheriff or other officer who refused or neglected to carry out its provisions. The act was approved December 26. Two days later another act "to suppress murder, lynch- ing, and assault and battery," became a law. The latter enactment was somewhat unique in its provision that the widow or the husband or the next of kin of any person killed in any county of the State by any outlaw, or person or persons in disguise, or mob, should be entitled to recover in the county in which such assassination occurred, the sum of five thousand dollars as damages, to be distributed among them according to the laws regulating distribution of estates of intestate decedents. The law prescribed with considerable detail the method of procedure in such cases, and also prescribed penalties against officers who failed to perform their duty under its terms. Considerable opposition to the passage of this bill was developed in the legislature. Senator Worthy was one of its most active op- ponents. The bill, he said, was unconstitu- tional, and could not be enforced, as nine- tenths of the white people of the State were opposed to it. It would also, he thought, offer an inducement to the amount of $5,000 to every wife who was tired of her husband, to every derelict husband, to every son who wanted his father's estate, to every next of kin who valued money more than he did the life of him who stood between him and the coveted money, to arrrange and to accomplish the assassination of such person. He be- lieved that for $5,000 many a man could be found who would submit to a sound beating, prearranged by him and his friends, who would be sure to touch no vital point nor break any bones. "The whole bill," he said, "is a bonus offered for assassination and per- jury. If its provisions are enforced crime will be increased a thousand fold.

No man will be safe at home or abroad, and the name of Alabama will be a scorn and reproach throughout the christian world." Notwithstanding these cogent reasons why the bill should not pass, it was very promptly enacted. It does not appear that the State, either through legislative committees, or through the executive department, made any very energetic or continuous efforts to break up the Ku Klux Klan. A few subofficials were dispatched from time to time, after "out- rages" had been reported, to hold investi- gations; but little was thus accomplished. About the same time laws providing severe penalties against newspapers which published Ku Klux notices or warnings were passed. These laws hampered the operation of the

clan to some extent. The only really effective measures toward preventing the activities of the clan were those enacted by Congress, which were enforced by the miltary. It seems to be beyond question that the increased dan- ger of apprehension by the United States military authorities after the passage of the Congressional Ku Klux laws had a deterrent effect upon the members. However, the clan continued active until its work was done- until the things had been accomplished which were necessary to insure the restoration of good government.

See Freedmen's Bureau; Reconstruction; Union League.

REFERENCES .- The principal authorities for the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama, as elsewhere, are the works of Dr. Walter L. Fleming: Civil War and Reconstruction in - Alabama (1905), pp. 653-709; Documentary his- tory of Reconstruction (1906), 2 vols., passim; Lester and Wilson, Ku Klux Klan (Fleming's ed., 1905); Hilary A. Herbert, ed., Why the Solid South? (1890), pp. 29-69; and "How we redeemed Alabama," in Century Magazine, Apr. 1913, vol. 85, No. 6, pp. 854-862; Eyre Damer, When the Ku Klux rode (1912), pp. 61-74; Brewer, Alabama (1872), pp. 61-74; Committee on Affairs in Insurrectionary States, Report on Ku Klux conspiracy, 1872 (H. Rept. 22, 42d "Jong., 2d sess.), pp. 20, 61-73; Ibid, Alabama testimony, 3 vols .; Independent Monitor, Tus- caloosa, circa, 1868-1870; Acts, 1868, pp. 444, 452, 593; Gov. W. H. Smith, "Message," Nov. 9, 1868 (S. Jour., 1868, pp. 246-248) ; Huntsville Advocate, Oct. 28, 1870.

KULUMI. An Upper Creek town in Elmore County, situated on the Tallapoosa River, just below and contiguous to Fusihatchi. It lies along the elevated lands about a half mile from the river and west from old Ware's Ferry. The corn fields of Kulumi were on the opposite side of the river. These fields were unfenced. The town had cabins on the south side of the river also, used in hunting and also during the planting season. During the harvesting period practically the entire com- munity moved across the river temporarily.

The name is spelled Coulommie on De Crenay's map, 1733, and is located on the east bank of the lower Coosa River. This lo- cation, may however, be a mistake on the part of the topographer in placing it nearer to the Coosa than to the Tallapoosa River, since the two rivers flow near each other at this point. On Belen's map, 1744, however, Colomin is placed on the west side of the Altamaha, just below the Atasees. This may indicate that the inhabitants of the town were originally seated in that region, and that they later migrated to the Coosa, and still later removed their town to its well known site on the north bank of the Talla- poosa. In 1762, the American Gazetteer places the Culloomies on the west side of the Chattahoochee above the Attasees, and Colume Town is located on the east side of the lower Tallapoosa. These references suggest either two separate divisions of the

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town, or two successive seats, first on the Chattahoochee, and later on the Tallapoosa. Under the English trade regulations of 1763 Kulumi, with 50 hunters was assigned to James Germany. The French census locates the Colomés 4 leagues from Fort Toulouse, with 50 warriors. In 1777 Bartram visited the town, where he stayed two days. Mr. Germany was the principal trader at the time. Of the town Bartram says in 1791:

"Here are very extensive old fields, the abandoned plantations and commons of the old town, on the east side of the river, but the settlement is removed, and the new town now stands on the opposite shore, in a charm- ing fruitful plain, under an elevated ridge of hills, the swelling heds or bases of which are covered with a pleasing verdure of grass, but the last ascent is steeper, and towards the summit discovers shelving rocky cliffs, which appear to be continually splitting and bursting to pieces, scattering their thin ex- foliations over the tops of the grassy knolls beneath. The plain is narrow where the town is built; their houses are neat, commo- dious buildings, a wooden frame with plas- tered walls, and roofed with cypress bark or shingles; every habitation consists of four oblong square houses, of one story, of the same form and dimensions, and so situated as to form an exact square, encompassing an area of court yard of about a quarter of an acre of ground, leaving an entrance into it at each corner. Here is a beautiful new square or areopagus, in the center of the new town; but the stores of the principal trader and two or three Indian habitations, stand near the banks of the opposite shore on the site of the old Coolome town. The Tallapoosa River is here three hundred yards over, and about fifteen or twenty feet of water, which is very clear, agreeable to the taste, esteemed salu- hrious, and runs with a steady, active cur- rent."

The signification of the name has not been ascertained, but Gatschet suggests that it may be connected with Ahkolumäs, meaning "I clinch." After the Creek Indian War of 1813- 14, the Kulumi went direct to Florida, and joined the Seminoles.

REFERENCES .- Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), p. 401; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), pp. 25, 33, 52; Handbook of American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 734; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile (1910), p. 190; Shea, Charlevoix's History of New France (1900), vol. 6, p. 11; Mississippi Provin- cial archives (1911), p. 94; Georgia, Colonial Records (1907), vol. 8, p. 523; Winsor, The Westward Movement (1899), p. 31; Bartram, Travels (1791), pp. 396-397.

KUNSHA CHIPINTA. Indians in their every day talk are prone to elide vowels and con- sonants in place names, when these names are long by such elision, an economy of speech is secured. Kunsha chipinta is thus abbreviated into Kunshapinta, which appears on De Crenay's map as Conchapita. "Kun- sha Chipinta" means Little Reed Brakes. It

was the name applied to Gum Cypress Lake in Autauga County, and to the reed braker enveloping the lake.

REFERENCES .- Mms. records in Alabama De- partment Archives and History.

KUSA. See Cosa.

LABOR DAY. See Special Days.

LADIES' MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, MONTGOMERY. patriotic organization founded on April 16, 1866, in Montgomery. It was the result of an appeal of April 14, 1866, made by the Alabama historical and monumental society to the ladies of Montgom- ery to hold fairs, concerts, etc., in order to help in defraying the expenses necessary in the proper and decent burial of Alabama soldiers. Thus it will be seen that the Ladies' memorial association was the outcome of the Alabama historical and monumental society. A meeting was held at 10 o'clock on the morning of April 14, of that year, at the Court Street Methodist Episcopal church.

"At a meeting of the ladies of Montgom- ery held pursuant to notice at the Methodist Episcopal Church on Monday, the 16th day of April, 1866, to devise ways and means for raising funds to have the remains of Ala- bama soldiers, now lying scattered over. the various battlefields of the war, collected and deposited in public burial grounds, or else- where, where they may be saved from neglect, Mrs. Judge Bibb was requested to preside over the meeting and Mrs. Dr. Baldwin re- quested to act as Secretary.

"The object of the meeting was explained by the Chair, and on motion of Mrs. Dr. Bald- win a committee of five was appointed by the Chair to consider and report some plan that might best promote the objects of the meeting, and to recommend the names of suitahle persons as permanent officers of this Society. The Chair appointed on this com- mittee Mrs. Dr. Baldwin, Chairman; Mrs. Wm. Johnston, Mrs. Judge Rice, Mrs. Dr. Holt and Mrs. Dr. James Ware, who retired and after consultation suggested the follow- ing names as permanent officers, and on mo- tion of Mrs. Wm. Pollard they were unani- mously elected: Mrs. Judge Bibb, President; Mrs. Judge Phelan, Vice President; Mrs. Dr. Baldwin, Secretary; Mrs. E. C. Hannon, Treasurer.

This committee, after suggesting permanent officers, reported the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

1. RESOLVED, That it is the sacred duty of the people of the South to preserve from desecration and neglect the mortal remains of the brave men who fell in her cause, to cherish grateful recollection of their heroic sacrifices and to perpetuate their memories.

2. RESOLVED, That we earnestly request our country women to unite with us in our efforts to contribute all necessary means to provide a suitable resting place and burial

Dr. Jerome Cochrane

Dr. J. Marion Sims

Dr. William H. Sanders

Dr. J. C. Nott

EMINENT PHYSICIANS

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for our noble and heroic dead; that we will not rest our labors until this sacred duty is performed.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 22

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 724

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724