Ku Klux Klan founded at Pulaski, Tennessee

Background. Pulaski, the county seat of Giles County on Tennessee's central-southern border, was named after Polish-born Revolutionary War general Casimir Pulaski. During the Civil War, Union control of Tennessee in 1862 led thousands of African Americans to join Union lines for refuge. In 1863, Confederate courier Sam Davis was hanged in Pulaski as a spy by the Union Army, setting a tense local context for post-war developments.

Founding. In late 1865, six Tennessee veterans of the Confederate Army founded a secret society in Pulaski, later known as the Ku Klux Klan. The group was established on December 24, 1865, by former officers including Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, and John Kennedy. Historians widely identify the Klan as one of the earliest terrorist groups in the United States due to its organized use of violence and intimidation.

Naming. The name Ku Klux Klan was probably formed in 1865 by combining the Greek word kyklos, meaning circle, with clan. The organization was known for a short time as the Kuklux Clan. It was one of several secret, oath-bound organizations in the South that used violence to pursue political objectives, alongside groups like the Southern Cross and the Knights of the White Camelia.