Knights of the White Camelia
Knights of the White Camelia | |
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White Camelia | |
African-Americans | |
The Knights of the White Camelia was an American political organization that operated in the Southern United States in the late 19th century. Similar to and associated with the Ku Klux Klan, it supported White supremacy and opposed freedmen's rights.[1]
History
The Knights of the White Camelia (named apparently for the camellia, a type of flower) was founded by Confederate States Army Colonel, Alcibiades DeBlanc, on May 22, 1867, in Franklin, Louisiana. Author Christopher Long stated, "Its members were pledged to support the supremacy of the White race,[1] to oppose the amalgamation of the races, to resist the social and political encroachment of the so-called carpetbaggers, and to restore White control of the government".[2][3] Historian Nicholas Lemann calls the Knights the leading terrorist organization in Louisiana.[4] Their tactics, (which included "harassment, floggings, and sometimes murder") "produced a reign of terror among the state's black population during the summer and fall of 1868."[5] The estimated death toll of their terror campaign may have been as large as 1,800 people, with an even larger number being wounded by them. The double murder of pro-Republican Judge Valentine Chase and Sheriff Henry H. Pope of St. Mary Parish may have been committed by them.[6]
Chapters primarily existed in the southern part of the
Legacy
In 1939,
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Fleming, Walter Lynwood (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 942. . In
- ^ Christopher Long, "KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE CAMELLIA", Handbook of Texas Online, accessed 17 February 2017
- ^ Similarly, author Beth Rowland in an article titled, "Home Grown Terrorists " at http://www.historynet.com/home-grown-terrorists.htm wrote, " WHILE THE ACTIVITIES of the KGC [Knights of the Golden Circle] might have fanned post-war flames, two other Southern secret societies employed outright terror and violence to stoke the fire. Both the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia resolved to reverse the changes that were imposed on the South and return Southern society to its prewar order, especially when it came to White supremacy."
- ^ Nicholas Lemann, "Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War", 2006, p. 25.
- ^ James G. Dauphine, "The Knights of the White Camelia and the Election of 1868: Louisiana's White Terrorists; A Benighting Legacy", Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring, 1989), pp. 173-190.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-7818-9.
- ^ George C. Rable, "But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction", 2007 edition, p. 75.
- ^ Dauphine. (1989). 180.
- ^ Christopher Long, "KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE CAMELLIA", Handbook of Texas Online, accessed 28 June 2010
- ISBN 978-1-46713-689-1.
References
- Dictionary of Louisiana Biography vol 1, pg. 222
- Dictionary of Louisiana Biography vol 2, pg. 1-760-805-7018