"The murders and outrages perpetrated in many counties in Middle and West Tennessee, during the past few months (1868), have been so numerous and of such an aggravated character, as to almost baffle investigation. The terror inspired by the secret organizations, known as the Ku Klux Klans is so great, that the officers of the law are powerless to execute its provisions. Your Committee believe that, during the last six months, _the murders alone_, to say nothing of other outrages, would average _one a day_, or one for every twenty-four hours." Gen. Reynolds, as commander of the Fifth Military District--comprising the State of Texas--in his report to the Secretary of War, 1868-9, says: "Armed organizations, generally known as Ku Klux Klans, exist in many parts of Texas but are most numerous, bold, and aggressive east of the Trinity River. The precise object of the organization in this State, seems to be to disarm, rob, and in many cases, murder Union men and negroes. _The murder of negroes is so common as to render it impossible to keep accurate account of them._" Gen. O. O. Howard, reporting to the Secretary of War (1868-9), says, of the State of Arkansas: "Lawlessness, violence, and ruffianism, have prevailed to an alarming extent. Ku Klux Klans, disguised by night, have burned the dwellings and shed the blood of unoffending freemen." In the Louisiana contested election cases (1868), the terrible extent to which these outrages were carried, was shown by most conclusive evidence. One of the members of the Committee selected to take testimony in those cases, says: "The testimony shows that over _two thousand persons_ were killed, wounded, and otherwise injured in that State, within a few weeks prior to the presidential election; that half of the State was overrun by violence; that midnight raids, secret murders and open riots, kept the people in constant terror until the Republicans surrendered all claims, and then the election was carried by the Democracy." Referring to the well-authenticated massacre by the Ku Klux, at the parish of St. Landry, in 1868, the report says: "Here (St. Landry) occurred one of the bloodiest riots on record, in which _the Ku Klux killed and wounded over two hundred Republicans in two days_. A pile of twenty-five bodies of the victims was found half buried in the woods. The Ku Klux captured the masses, marked them with badges of red flannel, enrolled them in clubs, marched them to the polls, and made them vote the Democratic ticket." It is estimated that, in North and South Carolina, not less than five thousand were scourged and killed, while more than that number were compelled to flee for their lives. In Florida and Georgia, the outrages were not so numerous, but they were marked with greater atrocity and brutality.