Front matter
Reading edition
THE CLANSMAN
The Illustrations Shown in This Edition Are Reproductions of Scenes from the Photo-Play of “The Birth of a Nation” Produced and Copyrighted by The Epoch Producing Corporation, to Whom the Publishers Desire to Express Their Thanks and Appreciation for Permission to Use the Pictures.
THE REIGN OF THE KLAN
THE CLANSMAN
AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE
OF THE KU KLUX KLAN
BY
THOMAS DIXON
AUTHOR OF
THE LEOPARD’S SPOTS, COMRADES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH SCENES FROM THE PHOTO-PLAY
THE BIRTH OF A NATION
PRODUCED AND COPYRIGHTED BY
EPOCH PRODUCING CORPORATION
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS :: NEW YORK
Copyright, 1905
By Thomas Dixon, Jr.
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
TO THE MEMORY OF
A SCOTCH-IRISH LEADER OF THE SOUTH
My Uncle, Colonel Leroy McAfee
GRAND TITAN OF THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE
KU KLUX KLAN
TO THE READER
“The Clansman” is the second book of a series of historical novels planned on the Race Conflict. “The Leopard’s Spots” was the statement in historical outline of the conditions from the enfranchisement of the negro to his disfranchisement.
“The Clansman” develops the true story of the “Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy,” which overturned the Reconstruction régime.
The organization was governed by the Grand Wizard Commander-in-Chief, who lived at Memphis, Tennessee. The Grand Dragon commanded a State, the Grand Titan a Congressional District, the Grand Giant a County, and the Grand Cyclops a Township Den. The twelve volumes of Government reports on the famous Klan refer chiefly to events which occurred after 1870, the date of its dissolution.
The chaos of blind passion that followed Lincoln’s assassination is inconceivable to-day. The revolution it produced in our Government, and the bold attempt of Thaddeus Stevens to Africanize ten great States of the American Union, read now like tales from “The Arabian Nights.”
I have sought to preserve in this romance both the letter and the spirit of this remarkable period. The men who enact the drama of fierce revenge into which I have woven a double love story are historical figures. I have merely changed their names without taking a liberty with any essential historic fact.
In the darkest hour of the life of the South, when her wounded people lay helpless amid rags and ashes under the beak and talon of the Vulture, suddenly from the mists of the mountains appeared a white cloud the size of a man’s hand. It grew until its mantle of mystery enfolded the stricken earth and sky. An “Invisible Empire” had risen from the field of Death and challenged the Visible to mortal combat.
How the young South, led by the reincarnated souls of the Clansmen of Old Scotland, went forth under this cover and against overwhelming odds, daring exile, imprisonment, and a felon’s death, and saved the life of a people, forms one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of the Aryan race.
Thomas Dixon, Jr.
Dixondale, Va.
December 14, 1904.
CONTENTS
BOOK I
THE ASSASSINATION
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Bruised Reed 3
II. The Great Heart 19
III. The Man of War 33
IV. A Clash of Giants 38
IV. The Battle of Love 56
VI. The Assassination 61
VII. The Frenzy of a Nation 80
BOOK II
THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The First Lady of the Land 90
II. Sweethearts 101
III. The Joy of Living 112
IV. Hidden Treasure 115
V. Across the Chasm 120
VI. The Gauge of Battle 131
VII. A Woman Laughs 136
VIII. A Dream 148
IX. The King Amuses Himself 152
X. Tossed by the Storm 162
XI. The Supreme Test 165
XII. Triumph in Defeat 179
BOOK III
THE REIGN OF TERROR
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Fallen Slaveholder’s Mansion 187
II. The Eyes of the Jungle 204
III. Augustus Cæsar 209
IV. At the Point of the Bayonet 218
V. Forty Acres and a Mule 235
VI. A Whisper in the Crowd 244
VII. By the Light of a Torch 254
VIII. The Riot in the Master’s Hall 263
IX. At Lover’s Leap 276
X. A Night Hawk 284
XI. The Beat of a Sparrow’s Wing 297
XII. At the Dawn of Day 305
BOOK IV
THE KU KLUX KLAN
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Hunt for the Animal 309
II. The Fiery Cross 318
III. The Parting of the Ways 327
IV. The Banner of the Dragon 337
V. The Reign of the Klan 341
VI. The Counter Stroke 351
VII. The Snare of the Fowler 358
VIII. A Ride for a Life 362
IX. “Vengeance Is Mine” 369
LEADING CHARACTERS OF THE STORY
Scene: Washington and the Foothills of the Carolinas.
Time: 1865 to 1870.
Ben CameronGrand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan
MargaretHis Sister
Mrs. CameronHis Mother
Dr. Richard CameronHis Father
Hon. Austin StonemanRadical Leader of Congress
PhilHis Son
ElsieHis Daughter
Marion LenoirBen's First Love
Mrs. LenoirHer Mother
JakeA Faithful Man
Silas LynchA Negro Missionary
Uncle AleckThe Member from Ulster
CindyHis Wife
Colonel HowleA Carpet-bagger
Augustus CæsarOf the Black Guard
Charles SumnerOf Massachusetts
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler Of Fort Fisher
Andrew JohnsonThe President
U. S. GrantThe Commanding General
Abraham LincolnThe Friend of the South
THE CLANSMAN
Book I—The Assassination