Terror in Reconstruction South

Northern Reconstruction politics became a catalyst for the widespread racism and hatred that freed people experienced throughout the South. Founded by a Confederate General in 1866, the Ku Klux Klan became known as the "invisible empire of the South" in which members represented the ghosts of the Confederate dead returning to terrorize blacks and Republicans. Although it was a covert organization, the Klan's displays of violence and intolerance were anything but discreet. Many murders and beatings were never reported due to fear of reprisal from the Klan.

This document is exemplary of the type of threats for which the KKK became known (GLC 09090). In this case, the target was Davie Jeems, a black Republican recently elected county sheriff in Lincoln County, Georgia. The language of the document evokes a ghostly menacing presence; even the handwriting is reminiscent of a ransom note. The word "notice" and the two holes at the top indicate that this note was most likely posted in a public place. The verso of the letter provides further information: "similar threats have prevented all the other Republican officers to take their [commissions]."

With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1871, the already weakened Klan became dormant and remained so until it resurfaced again in 1915.
 
Ana Ramirez Luhrs, Special Collections Librarian
The Gilder Lehrman Collection

Click to see the document.

GLC09090. Ku Klux Klan letter Autograph letter signed c. 1868.

Ku Klux Klan letter s.l., 1868 circa. Autograph letter signed, 1 page. Notice To Jeems, Davie, you, must, be, a good boy. and. Quit. hunting on Sunday and shooting your gun in the night, you keep people from sleeping. I live in a big rock above the Ford of the f Creek. I went from Lincoln County [struck: C] County during the War I was Killed at Manassus in 1861. I am here now as Locust in the day Time and. at night I am a Ku Klux sent here to look after you and all the rest of the radicals and make you know your place. I have got my eye on you every day, I am at the Ford of the creek every evening From Sundown till dark I want to meet you there next Saturday tell platt Madison we have, a Box. For him and you. We nail all, radicals up in Boxes and send them away to K K K – there is. 200 000 ded men retured to this country to make you and all the rest of the radicals good Democrats and vote right with the white people you have got it to do or leave this country no nigger is safe unless he Joins the Democratic Club then you will be safe and have friends. Take heed and govern yourself accordingly and give all your Friends timely warning. Ku, Ku, Klux, Klan [2] This man was elected in April to the Sheriffs Office of the County of Lincoln. Similar threats have prevented all the other Republican officers from taking their con

Carter, Dan T. When the War Was Over: The Failure of Self-Reconstruction in the South, 1865-1867. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985.

Dixon Jr., Thomas. The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1905.

Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.
 
Trelease, Allen W.  White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction.  New York: Harper & Row, 1971.