The source that I found in the
archives in the EKU library is called “Home Rule-The Klan Way”, and presents an
interesting, if biased, perspective of events surrounding the activities of the
Ku Klux Klan in Madison County, Kentucky, seemingly focused on the year of 1868. Now, I have heard of the Ku Klux Klan, as I
live in a southern town in Kentucky.
However, I am not sure if any Klan activity in my area has been as
violent as that which is described in this article, written by Green Clay on
January 27, 1950. While reading through
the source, I found that there are significant parallels between it and Redemption,
along with basic ideas derived from Confederate Outlaw, particularly
focusing upon Southern hostility to Northerners arriving in the South, the idea of
continuation of guerilla warfare, and the treatment of those who took the law
into their own hands in the Reconstruction period.
A
connection I found particularly interesting is the idea of “outsiders, devoid
of morals” trying “to organize the ignorant negroes recently turned loose on
the community by act of Congress” (page 96).
It may not explicitly mention the Republican Party, but this sounds like
the actions described by Lehmann. The
hatred the Southerners held for these “outsiders”, most likely Northerners who
had relocated to the South, is telling as a population who feels that they are
being invaded, and that these recent transplants to their area are attempting
to turn their world upside down and ruin the natural order of things. The Southerners would never think that blacks
could actually come up with actions by themselves, so they used the Northerners
as scapegoats in that situation, so that they wouldn’t have to believe that
blacks were capable of independent thought.
To
continue, another connection I found is with that of Champ Ferguson’s story,
mainly on how the guerrillas inspired such fear and terror during the Civil
War. This article mentions something
that would also inspire those feelings within a population (particularly for
those who supported black rights), and that is, on all of the murders the Klan
committed, they left “a white card… marked K.K.K.” (page 103) on the
corpse. It must have been terrifying to
see a body, perhaps someone you knew, with that small white card attached to
their clothing, leaving no doubt in one’s mind what had happened to them. This is also telling in how unafraid of
punishment the K.K.K. was in the area; if they could simply leave the evidence
of what they had done, even boast about it with their card, one can conclude
that they clearly weren’t concerned about being caught or tried for
murder. A specific example, the
execution of a man named Frank Searcy, shows that the local population was
terrified of the Klan: They hung this
man (a white man who basically betrayed them), and left one of the little cards
on his coat that said “Don’t cut him down until tomorrow-KKK.” (page 106). The locals were witnesses to the execution,
but they certainly did not cut the body down until the next day. This serves to show that the Klan was very
nearly a dictatorship during that time, as people were too afraid to go against
the group’s wishes to cut down a dead man who had been hung from a tree.
Going
off from the idea of the Klan leaving white cards on those they had killed, the
KKK was technically a law unto itself, and behaved as such. In looking at how the group viewed itself,
after the murder of a man referred to only as “Squire X” was the clan
formed. They joined together, it is
said, because “not since the war began has there been any real law enforcement
in our community” (page 98). Once again,
this description is of a group of men taking matters into their own hands, like
the guerillas during the Civil War. They
perhaps thought that their cause was noble, and the biased author of this
article seems to agree, writing this statement: “Virtue spread over the land
and peace prevailed. There was never a
clash between the Klan and the county or state officers” (page 105). Since the KKK took the law into their own
hands, they had no fear of repercussion from the actual law itself, such as the
local sheriff or another law officer.
Overall, it would have been a terrifying time to be anyone who opposed
the Klan, since one couldn’t exactly run to the nearest official for help. This short period in Madison County’s history
was dangerous for anyone who wasn’t a white Southerner, and illustrates the
idea of men trying whatever method was necessary to retain the natural order of
their environment during a difficult period, Reconstruction.
Source:
Clay, Green. Madison County Chronicles. 2. Manchester, IN: Heckman Bindery Inc., 1966. 93-107. Print.
Source:
Clay, Green. Madison County Chronicles. 2. Manchester, IN: Heckman Bindery Inc., 1966. 93-107. Print.
Wow, this was really interesting and something I never really thought much about (the KKK being so prominent in Kentucky, even though of course they were). Where at exactly in Madison County were some of these murders/lynchings? Or was it just general Madison County? Either way, I think it brings a different prospective to the otherwise "neutral" label that Kentucky often gets during Civil War lectures. It shows that though officially declared as neutral, the state was still divided just like the others, as described via "Confederate Outlaw". The little white cards they left are interesting to learn about too, claiming the murders for themselves. Again, something I never really thought about before.
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