The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 266
ix, 294 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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266 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
The deliverance of the people of the Confederate States from
Negro rule and dominion, considering the manner and means of
its accomplishment, reads more like a fairy tale than sober reality.
It stands without a parallel in the history of any nation or people.
It was not accomplished by bloodshed or violence, but in a great
measure by the silent, mysterious, and visible manifestations of
the Ku Klux Klan, which appeared to the ignorant and super-
stitious Negroes as the messenger of a supernatural, irresistible
force, opposition to which would be to encounter the awful power
of the spirits that people the earth, air, and water; and from such
an encounter they shrank, as they would from a visible hand
to hand conflict with Old Satan himself.
The writer has no knowledge that the Ku Klux Klan of which
General Nathan Forest was the chief, under the title of the Grand
Wizard, included Texas in its organization. He only knows that
there was one Klan organized, which was done in a local and in-
dependent way, having no official connection with any other Klan.
Doubtless other Klans of the kind were organized in other counties
in Texas, as the people of all of the Confederate States had speed-
ily come to realize the efficiency of this organization to impress,
control, and regulate the Negro.
In the village of Centreville, Leon county, Texas, the Negroes
had become impudent, and were constantly prowling around
the houses of the whites at night, to the great annoyance
and alarm of the white women and children. Under these circum-
stances, and in view of the threatening aspect of the Negroes,
especially a few of the leading ones in the town, it was deemed
necessary by the whites, for the safety of their families, that some-
thing should be done to regulate the Negroes and curb their in-
solence.
The papers of the day contained descriptions of the dress and
manner of operation of the Ku Klux Klan, so some eight or ten
of the white citizens of the town got together and proceeded to pre-
pare the regalia of the Klan along the lines of this description.
'There were in the town two Negroes who seemed to be leaders
in encouraging impudence towards the whites and in the night
prowling. It was concluded to try the effect of the Klan in full
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906, periodical, 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101036/m1/270/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.