Note 32 — Chapter II · ToC

"It originated with returned soldiers for the purpose of punishing those negroes who had become notoriously and offensively insolent to white people, and, in some cases, to chastise those white skinned men who, at that particular time, showed a disposition to affiliate socially with negroes. The impression sought to be made upon these latter was that these white-robed night prowlers were the ghosts of the Confederate dead, who had arisen from their graves in order to wreak vengeance on an undesirable class of both white and black men."—Ryland Randolph.