Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction (The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era) - Softcover

Book 9 of 15: The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era

Martinez, J. Michael

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9780742550780: Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction (The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0742550788 ISBN 13: 9780742550780
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007

Synopsis

In some places, the Ku Klux Klan (K.K.K.) was a social fraternity whose members enjoyed sophomoric hijinks and homemade liquor. In other areas, the K.K.K. was a paramilitary group intent on keeping former slaves away from white women and Republicans away from ballot boxes. South Carolina saw the worst Klan violence and, in 1871, President Grant sent federal troops under the command of Major Lewis Merrill to restore law and order. Merrill did not eradicate the Klan, but they arguably did more than any other person or entity to expose the identity of the Invisible Empire as a group of hooded, brutish, homegrown terrorists. In compiling evidence to prosecute the leading Klansmen and by restoring at least a semblance of order to South Carolina, Merrill and his men demonstrated that the portrayal of the K.K.K. as a chivalric organization was at best a myth, and at worst a lie.This is the story of the rise and fall of the Reconstruction-era Klan, focusing especially on Major Merrill and the Seventh Cavalry's efforts to expose the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan to the light of day.

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About the Author

J. Michael Martinez is the author or editor of 20 books on American history and law including the Rowman & Littlefield titles A Long Dark Night: Race in America from Jim Crow to World War II (2016), Terrorist Attacks on American Soil: From the Civil War Era to the Present (2012), Coming for to Carry Me Home: Race in America from Abolitionism to Jim Crow (2011), and Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux, Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire during Reconstruction (2007). He teaches political science at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

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Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publication date
2007
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0742550788
ISBN 13 
9780742550780
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
288
Rating
  • 3.88 out of 5 stars
    24 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780742550773: Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction (The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  074255077X ISBN 13:  9780742550773
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Hardcover