The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan

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 regime.

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.