and order, the laws of God, the principles of 1776, and the political and social supremacy of the white race—in short, to oppose African influence in government and society, and to prevent any intermingling of the races.
During the Reconstruction the people of the South were divided thus: nearly all native whites (the most prominent of whom were disfranchised) on one side irrespective of former political faith, and on the other side the ex-slaves organized and led by a few native and Northern whites called respectively scalawags and carpet-baggers, who were supported by the United States government and who controlled the Southern state governments. The Ku Klux movement in its wider aspects was the effort of the first class to destroy the control of the second class. To control the negro the Klan played upon his superstitious fears by having night patrols, parades and drills of silent horsemen covered with white sheets, carrying skulls with coals of fire for eyes, sacks of bones to rattle, and wearing hideous masks. In calling upon dangerous blacks at night they pretended to be the spirits of dead Confederates, “just from Hell,” and to quench their thirst would pretend to drink gallons of water which was poured into rubber sacks concealed under their robes. Mysterious signs and warnings were sent to disorderly negro politicians. The whites who were responsible for the conduct of the blacks were warned or driven away by social and business ostracism or by violence. Nearly all southern whites (except “scalawags”), whether members of the secret societies or not, in some way took part in the Ku Klux movement. As the work of the societies succeeded, they gradually passed out of existence. In some communities they fell into the control of violent men and became simply bands of outlaws, dangerous even to the former members; and the anarchical aspects of the movement excited the North to vigorous condemnation.[1] The United States Congress in 1871–1872 enacted a series of “Force Laws” intended to break up the secret societies and to control the Southern elections. Several hundred arrests were made, and a few convictions were secured. The elections were controlled for a few years, and violence was checked, but the Ku Klux movement went on until it accomplished its object by giving protection to the whites, reducing the blacks to order, replacing the whites in control of society and state, expelling the worst of the carpet-baggers and scalawags, and nullifying those laws of Congress which had resulted in placing the Southern whites under the control of a party composed principally of ex-slaves.
Authorities.—J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson, Ku Klux Klan (New York, 1905); W. L. Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (New York, 1905), and Documentary History of Reconstruction (Cleveland, 1906); J. W. Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi (New York, 1901); W. G. Brown, Lower South in American History (New York, 1901); J. M. Beard, Ku Klux Sketches (Philadelphia, 1876); J. W. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution (New York, 1901). (W. L. F.)
KUKU KHOTO (Chinese Kwei-hwa), a city of the Chinese province of Shan-si, situated to the north of the Great Wall, in
40° 50′ N. and 111° 45′ E., about 160 m. W. of Kalgan. It lies
in the valley of a small river which joins the Hwang-ho 50 m. to
the south. There are two distinct walled towns in Kuku Khoto,
at an interval of a mile and a half; the one is the seat of the civil
governor and is surrounded by the trading town, and the other
is the seat of the military governor, and stands in the open
country. In the first or old town more especially there are
strong traces of western Asiatic influence; the houses are not
in the Chinese style, being built all round with brick or stone
and having flat roofs, while a large number of the people are
still Mahommedans and, there is little doubt, descended from
western settlers. The town at the same time is a great seat of
Buddhism—the lamaseries containing, it is said, no less than
20,000 persons devoted to a religious life. As the southern
terminus of the routes across the desert of Gobi from Ulyasutai
and the Tian Shan, Kuku Khoto is a great mart for the exchange
of flour, millet and manufactured goods for the raw products
of Mongolia. A Catholic and a Protestant mission are maintained
in the town. Lieut. Watts-Jones, R.E., was murdered
at Kwei-hwa during the Boxer outbreak in 1900.
Early notices of Kuku Khoto will be found in Gerbillon (1688–1698, in Du Halde (vol. ii., Eng. ed.), and in Astley’s Collection (vol. iv.)
KULJA (Chinese, Ili-ho), a territory in north-west China; bounded, according to the treaty of St Petersburg of 1881, on
the W. by the Semiryechensk province of Russian Turkestan, on the N. by the Boro-khoro Mountains, and on the S. by the
mountains Khan-tengri, Muz-art, Terskei, Eshik-bashi and Narat. It comprises the valleys of the Tekez (middle and
lower portion), Kunghez, the Ili as far as the Russian frontier
and its tributary, the Kash, with the slopes of the mountains
turned towards these rivers. Its area occupies about 19,000
sq. m. (Grum-Grzimailo). The valley of the Kash is
about 160 m. long, and is cultivated in its lower parts, while
the Boro-khoro Mountains are snow-clad in their eastern
portion, and fall with very steep slopes to the valley. The
Avral Mountains, which separate the Kash from the Kunghez,
are lower, but rocky, naked and difficult of access. The
valley of the Kunghez is about 120 m. long; the river flows
first in a gorge, then amidst thickets of rushes, and very small
portions of its valley are fit for cultivation. The Narat Mountains
in the south are also very wild, but are covered with
forests of deciduous trees (apple tree, apricot tree, birch,
poplar, &c.) and pine trees. The Tekez flows in the mountains,
and pierces narrow gorges. The mountains which separate
it from the Kunghez are also snow-clad, while those to the
south of it reach 24,000 ft. of altitude in Khan-tengri, and are
covered with snow and glaciers—the only pass through them
being the Muzart. Forests and alpine meadows cover their
northern slopes. Agriculture was formerly developed on the
Tekez, as is testified by old irrigation canals. The Ili is formed
by the junction of the Kunghez with the Tekez, and for 120 m.
it flows through Kulja, its valley reaching a width of 50 m. at
Horgos-koljat. This valley is famed for its fertility, and is
admirably irrigated by canals, part of which, however, fell
into decay after 55,000 of the inhabitants migrated to Russian
territory in 1881. The climate of this part of the valley is,
of course, continental—frosts of −22° F. and heats of 170° F.
being experienced—but snow lasts only for one and a half
months, and the summer heat is tempered by the proximity
of the high mountains. Apricots, peaches, pears and some
vines are grown, as also some cotton-trees near the town of
Kulja, where the average yearly temperature is 48°.5 F.
(January 15°, July 77°). Barley is grown up to an altitude of
6500 ft.
The population may number about 125,000, of whom 75,000 are settled and about 50,000 nomads (Grum-Grzimailo). The Taranchis from East Turkestan represent about 40% of the population; about 40,000 of them left Kulja when the Russian troops evacuated the territory, and the Chinese government sent some 8000 families from different towns of Kashgaria to take their place. There are, besides, about 20,000 Sibos and Solons, 3500 Kara-kidans, a few Dungans, and more than 10,000 Chinese. The nomads are represented by about 18,000 Kalmucks, and the remainder by Kirghiz. Agriculture is insufficient to satisfy the needs of the population, and food is imported from Semiryechensk. Excellent beds of coal are
- ↑ The judgment of the historian William Garrott Brown, himself a Southerner, is worth quoting: “That violence was often used cannot be denied. Negroes were often whipped, and so were carpet-baggers. The incidents related in such stories as Tourgée’s A Fool’s Errand all have their counterparts in the testimony before congressional committees and courts of law. In some cases, after repeated warnings, men were dragged from their beds and slain by persons in disguise, and the courts were unable to find or to convict the murderers. Survivors of the orders affirm that such work was done in most cases by persons not connected with them or acting under their authority. It is impossible to prove or disprove their statements. When such outrages were committed, not on worthless adventurers, who had no station in the Northern communities from which they came, but on cultivated persons who had gone South from genuinely philanthropic motives—no matter how unwisely or tactlessly they went about their work—the natural effect was to horrify and enrage the North.”
