THE KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE CAMELIA

AFTER the destruction by Congress of the President's work of "restoration" in the South, the white people of that section stood listlessly aside to see how the plan of "reconstruction" would work. As soon, however, as the purpose of Congress was clearly understood and after a short experience of Reconstruction, the whites resolved in self defense to resist. And resistance was necessarily secret since open opposition of any kind would be considered rebellion. The secret and successful revolution (or, from the Southern point of view, conquest of revolution) that followed has been called the Ku Klux Movement. In this movement many secret organizations-hundreds perhaps-took part. The great majority of these bodies were of local extent only; several extended their operations over counties or even a state; the Ku Klux Klan (the Invisible Empire) planned to include the entire South; and the Knights of the White Camelia aimed to extend their organization over the entire United States. The last named order had a larger membership and embraced a larger territory than any other similar body. It began as a federation of local organizations that sprang up in Lousisana after the war, and was formally established on May 23, 1867, in New Orleans. A convention of the order met in New Orleans in 1868, framed an elaborate federal organization, and on June 4, promulgated a constitution and a ritual for the use of officers. The White Camelias*, as they were usually called rapidly extended their rule throughout the states of the late Confederacy.

There were many reasons for this secret movementt: a "disordered society and a bewildered people;" corruption and tyranny in every department of government by the alien, renegade and negro; the bad influence of the teachings of Northern missionaries and teachers who worked among the black population, spreading what the negroes took to be doctrines of social equality; threats by the dominant party of confiscation; the insolent and lawless behavior of the blacks under the control of unscrupulous adventurers; the fear of negro insurrection; the operations of the Freedmen's Bureau and its ally and successor, the Union League, a Radical secret order controlling the blacks with an iron discipline; the constant use of Federal troops to uphold the plundering rulers, to disperse or influence legislatures and make arrests, and to surround the polls for the purpose of encouraging the blacks and intimidating the whites; frauds in elections committed by the alien rulers in order to

*Named from the white camelia or japonica, a well known flower in the Gulf States. A similar order in Mississippi bore the name "White Rose." Camelia is spelled as the members spelled the word. In Louisiana the French form was used.

†See article by W. G. Brown in the Atlantic Monthly, May, 1901, and also chapter IV of Brown's Lower South.

retain control in the South; the organization of negro militia when arms were refused to whites; and in general, the utter disregard of the interests of the intelligent and tax-paying part of the population. With a knowledge of these conditions, one may, after reading the declarations of the Invisible Empire and the Knights of the White Camelia, understand what was in the minds of the Southern men who formed the secret orders which had for their purpose the destruction of the Reconstruction.

The various bodies that entered into the Ku Klux movement were not directly connected. In every part of the South where the conditions described prevailed the movement took form spontaneously. The White Camelia absorbed smaller orders; local bands of regulators hearing of the White Camelia took its name; other societies took part of the White Camelia membership and imitated its methods; the White Brotherhood and the White League in Alabama, and the Council of Safety in South Carolina arose later than the White Camelia and were modelled after it. The White Camelia was a Black Belt organization, rarely having branches in white counties. Consequently, it did not encroach to any great extent upon the territory of Ku Klux Klan which operated principally in the; white counties, On the borders the two orders sometimes existed side by side and cooperated in their work, No circles or councils were established in districts where they were not needed; and as soon as order and good government were restored in a county or a state, there the White Camelia was disbanded. The stringent laws enacted against such organizations had little effect in breaking it up. It existed as long as the conditions that produced it existed. Its secrets were well kept and the general public never knew much more about it than the name.

The methods employed to enforce law and order were similar to those used by the Klan but were not borrowed from it; every person knew how to play upon the superstitious fears of the darkey. Silent horsemen covered with white sheets, rode through the neighborhood when the blacks were becoming turbulent; ghostly night riders called trembling negroes from their sleep and informed them that they were just from Hell, the fiery pit having frozen over to afford them passage on their way to warn the negroes of the consequences of bad conduct; not having had a drink since they were killed at Chickamauga or Shiloh they were thirsty and a rubber or raw-hide sack under the shroud enabled the ghosts to drink several gallons; effective use was made of human skulls, bags of cow bones, skeleton heads of horses and cows with live coals in eyes and nostrils; silent night parades and night drills of cavalry companies exercised a quieting effect upon the negroes for miles around, In the day time a silent band of whites at the polls so disturbed the blacks that few dared to "repeat." A threatening message sent to a carpet-bagger who had become unbearable was sufficient to cause him to resign or to sell his office. In extreme cases there were whippings and killings, but such instances were rare, simply because the milder methods were usually effective. The former commander of the Central Circle in Perry county, Alabama, says: "I have no knowledge of a single case of violence by the Camelias and I was in a position to know if there were

any. All we desired was to keep down lawlessness, ' and this was done by the methods described above. "Its organization and discipline were," he states, "as perfect as human ingenuity could have made [them]; four hours would have been ample time to secure the assemblage, at any central point, of a thousand resolute men who would have done the bidding of their commander whatever it might have been been, yet in this time [three years] no single act of violence was committed on the person or property of a negro or alien by its order, or with its sanction or endorsement,"*

The authority of the commander was absolute, and his bidding wa done by members unknown to the other members of the circle. The work for one community was performed by a circle from another community. In the Black Belt every white man of undoubted discretion was a member-judges, preachers, teachers, planters, etc. It was no credit to a man not to be a member, but very young men were advised not to join. The personnel of the membership was better than that of the Ku Klux Klan, and less violence was committed. The name and disguise of the Camelias were sometimes used by rascals and thieves, white and black, to cover their crimes. After the exodus of the carpet-baggers the order was gradually disbanded.t

The Constitution and the Ritual here reproduced were preserved by Dr. Reid, of Marion, Alabama, who, when the order was disbanded, buried his papers in the dirt floor of a smoke-house, and did not exhume them until 1900. The best preserved printed copies known to be in existence are those presented by Dr. Reid to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. These have been examined for me by Mr. R. G. Thwaites, and do not differ from the ones here reproduced, except in the titles of officials. In the printed copies the titles of officers are not set out in full but are indicated by initial letters, and in the Wisconsin copies the initials are in several instances incorrect. Manuscript copies, and extracts and memoranda made by members serve to correct the printed editions and to furnish the full titles of officials. Dr. Reid has furnished me with a number of titles. The Constitution and the Ritual of the White Camelia were never discovered and published in the newspapers as were those of several similar orders. They are here reprinted for the first time. To show the similarity of the secret orders the initiation oaths of the White Brotherhood and the Invisible Empire are also reprinted.

*Statement of Dr. George P. L. Reid, of Marion, Perry county, Alabama. See also Brown, Lower South, 212, 215.

†I am indebted to Dr. G. P. L. Reid, of Marion, Alabama, for much information in regard to the White Camelia. Other ex-members have related to me their recollections of the order and its methods of operation. The Ku Klux Testimony gives but little information concerning this organization. But see Alabama Testimony, 9, 1282, 1283, and South Carolina Testimony, 23, 25, 102-105, 122. Coburn-Buckner Report (on Alabama in 1874,) 882, 883, The Children of Issachar (anonymous) published by Putnams, gives the popular outside conception of the White Camelia. Brown's article in the Atlantic Monthly, May, 1901. reprinted in his Lower South, is the best account of the Ku Klux Movement and the conditions that caused it.

PREAMBLE.

WHEREAS, Radical legislation is subversive of the principles of the Government of the United States, as originally adopted by our fathers:

And whereas, our safety and our prosperity depend on the preservation of those grand principles and believing that they can be peacefully maintained: Therefore, we adopt the following

CONSTITUTION.

Title I.-Division of the Order.

Art. 1. This Order shall consist of a Supreme Council of the United States, and of Grand, Central and Subordinate Councils.

Title II.-Supreme Council.

ART. 2. The Supreme Council shall be organized as soon as five States shall have established each a Grand Council.

ART. 3. This Council shall be composed of delegates from each State in which a Grand Council shall be established. ART. 4. Each State shall send to the Supreme Council five delegates, whose appointment shall continue for one year, and who shall be elected, from their own bodies, by the several Grand Councils of the Order.

ART. 5. All P[ast] G[rand] C[ommanders] in good standing shall be ex-officio members of the Grand Council, and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the members of that body.

ART. 6. The Supreme Council shall hold its sessions in the city of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, but may, by a vote of two-thirds of its members, change its place of meeting to any other city in the United States.

ART. 7. The Supreme Council shall be the head of the Order and the court of last appeal in all matters of disagreement, except in cases hereinafter specified. It shall make all laws for the general government of the Order; shall take cognizance of all acts, and shall be the arbiter of all disputes which may arise between the Grand and central councils of any State, and Grand Councils and their G[rand] C[ommanders].

ART. 8. The Officers of the Supreme Council shall be as follows: 1. S[upreme C[ommander], 2. S[upreme] L[ieutenant] C[ommander], 3. S[upreme] S[entinel], 4. S[upreme] C[orresponding] S[ecretary], 5. S[upreme] T[reasurer].

ART. 9. The officers of the Supreme Council shall be elected by ballot, and a majority of the votes shall be necessary to elect. If one candidate only be nominated for any office, he may be declared elected by acclamation.

ART. 10. In all elections where there shall be two or more candidates put in nomination, the S[upreme] C[ommander] shall appoint two tellers, who shall receive and count the votes.

ART. 11. No blank or double vote, or vote cast for other than the candidates regularly put in nomination shall be counted.

ART. 12. The Supreme Council shall hold an annual session in the city of New Orleans, or in such other place as may be designated according to Article 6 of this Constitution, the time to be fixed by the first Supreme Council.

Called sessions shall be held upon application of three Grand Councils; and the S[upreme] C[ommander], with the concurrence of the S[upreme] L[ieutenant] C[ommander], may, in all cases of emergency, convene the Supreme Council, giving to the several Grand Councils due and timely notice of such convocation.

ART. 13. The S[upreme] C[orresponding] S[ecretary], shall be a resident of the city in which the Supreme Council shall be located.