General Gordon spoke of another matter often mentioned by the best class of ex-Confederate soldiers: the Southern soldier believed that the "Appomattox Program" had not been carried out. At Appomattox the magnanimity of General Grant and the victorious soldiers had impressed very favorably the defeated Confederates. The latter believed that if Grant and the soldiers who had defeated them had been allowed to settle matters, there would have been no more trouble. Instead, the politicians had taken charge and had stirred up endless strife. No effort at conciliation had been made; and the magnanimity of Grant gave way to the vindictive policies of politicians.[11] The whites believed that the "understanding of Appomattox" had been violated and that they had been deliberately humiliated by the Washington government. Such were some of the influences, in General Gordon's opinion, that caused the spread of the Klan in Georgia. He says that he heartily approved the objects of the order, that it was purely for self-protection, an organization for police purposes, a peace police, which kept the peace, prevented riots, and restrained the passionate whites as well as the violent blacks. Its membership was, he said, of the best citizens, mostly ex-Confederates, led by the instinct of self-preservation to band together. It was secret because the leaders were sure that the sympathy of the Federal Government would be against them and would consider a public organization a fresh rebellion. It took no part in politics and died out when the whites were able to obtain protection from the police and the courts. These were the explanations of men who were high in the order but who never attended a meeting and were never in actual contact with its workings. Private members--Ghouls they were called--could have told more thrilling stories. But deficient as the accounts of Gordon and Forrest are in detail they supplement the history of Lester and Wilson in explaining the causes that lay at the bottom of the secret revolution generally called the Ku Klux Movement.