It does not fall within the limits of our subject to go into the general history of Ku-Klux Klan. This mysterious organization originated in Tennessee, but it soon spread beyond the borders of the State, and became the organ of all those who believed in resorting to violent measures to secure the emancipation of the Southern States from negro and carpetbag domination. Its history, therefore, belongs under the general history of Reconstruction. Nevertheless, the study of the civil disturbances in Tennessee resulting from the war would indeed be incomplete without some account of the operation of the Ku-Klux within the borders of the State. It formed the chief occasion for interferences with civil liberty, as well as for congressional legislation, which rendered the Radical government so hateful in the eyes of the ex-Confederates. The first official reference to disturbances of an extraordinary character is found in Governor Brownlow’s first message to the Legislature. In this, he calls the attention of the Legislature to “the roving bands of guerrillas and squads of robbers and murderers who frequent those counties remote from the military forces.” He recommended that the criminal law of the State be so revised as to make house-stealing, and house-breaking, and highway robbery punishable with death. Acting upon his recommendations, the Legislature, in May, 1865, passed a bill to punish “all armed Prowlers, Guerrillas, Brigands, and Highway Robbers.” But as yet there were no indications, either in the message of the Governor or the action of the Legislature, that these early disturbances were of a political character. The Ku-Klux Klan did not come into existence until the following year. The little town of Pulaski, in Giles County, claims the doubtful honor of being its birthplace. It seems to have originated with a coterie of young men, who banded together for the purpose of obtaining amusement by playing upon the superstitious fancies of the negroes. They organized themselves into a lodge, and adopted a fantastic ceremony and ritual. Their meetings were held at night, and they usually came together mounted on horseback, and wearing hideous disguises. They frightened the negroes by telling them horrible ghost stories. It was quickly seen that the measures adopted purely for amusement could be turned into practical use in controlling the negro. The conditions were ripe all over the South for such an organization, so it spread like wildfire. Lodges sprang up in all parts of the Southern States, with the possible exception of Virginia. A loose bond of union was formed between them, but in different localities they assumed various names, such as “The Pale Faces,” “The Invisible Empire,” “The Brotherhood.” They were all finally denominated “The Ku-Klux Klan.”