| Susan Lawrence Davis and Albert Pike
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| Susan Lawrence Davis has been cited by some anti-masonic writers as an authority for the claim that Albert Pike was a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. Her claims regarding Albert Pike are suspect, not because of her partisan reportage but because that partisanship allowed her to accept, unquestioningly, self-serving testimony without corroboration, confirmation, or documentation. In her Authentic History, Davis records the only claim that Albert Pike lead the Arkansas Klan, quoting the reminiscences of two Arkansas Klan organizers.2 A believer in the justness and righteousness of the Klan, and having known many members of the original Klan, Davis brings no critical analysis to the information gleaned from these Klansmen. “The purpose of the “Authentic History Ku Klux Klan, 1865-1877,’ is in justification of the men and measures adopted which led to the redemption of the Southern States from Radical, Carpet-bag and Negro rule as was imposed by the Federal Government’s reconstruction measures upon them after the surrender of the Confederate States Army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, 1865.” [p. v.] She later says, “…I recall the sense of protection afforded by the Ku Klux Klan in my childhood.” [p. 4.] She denigrates Ku Klux Klan, Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment, written by John C. Lester and D.L. Wilson, mainly because Wilson altered Lester’s manuscript to imply that the Klan had partially failed and that the Klan had disbanded in 1869 when in fact, she claims, the Klan disbanded in 1877, after completing the re-establishment of white supremacy of the South. She was also not pleased with Walter L. Fleming’s reprint of Lester and Wilson’s history: “Mr Flemming [sic] was born in Alabama in a country quite remote from the origin of the Ku Klux Klan, and seems to know very little about the work of the Klan; and certainly added nothing new in his edition save a few names of the members of the Ku Klux Klan. He chose to retain the erroneous impression placed in the manuscript by D.L. Wilson, who stated that the Ku Klux Klan disbanded in 1869 instead of 1877.” [p. 5.] In her Introduction she gives credit for much of the information in her Authentic History to Lester’s notes for an unpublished, rewritten and complete history, as well as “Major James R. Crowe [b. January 29, 1838 – d. July 14, 1911], Capt. John B. Kennedy [b. Nov. 6, 1841 d. Feb. 13, 1913], Judge William Richardson, Capt. Robert A. McClellan, Major Robert Donnel, Capt. DeWitt Clinton Davis, the wives and daughters of many of the original Ku Klux Klan, by my father, Colonel Lawrence Ripley Davis, Colonel Sumner A. Cunningham [b. 1843 – d. December 20, 1913] and General John B. Gordon, and other Ku Klux.” [p. 3.] John C. Lester and Davis differ on a number of points. Davis gives December 24, 1865 as the founding date of the Klan, Lester says May, 1866, while D. L. Wilson (in Century Magazine, July 1884) says June, 1866. Davis writes:”The parades which had attracted much attention were recommended by General Nathan B. Forrest to be continued, and he issued an order to the Grand Dragons of the Realms for a parade to be held in each province on the night of July 4, 1867.” [p. 89.] Note that Lester writes otherwise. General Order No. 1, issued according to Davis on October 20, 1869, but noted by Lester as being issued in January of that year, “was the only one written by General Forrest.” [p. 125.] It ordered the destruction of all masks and costumes and prohibited demonstrations, whippings, interference, terrifying, breaking and invading jails, and the writing of letters in the name of the Order. Although Lester refers to it as dissolving the Order, Davis says otherwise, allegedly quoting from the order: “This was not to be understood to dissolve the Order of the Ku Klux Klan, but it is hereby held more firmly together and more faithfully bound to each other in any emergency that may come.” [p. 126.] 3 She notes: “This order as above given was presented to me by Major Robert Donnell, who was Grand Scribe of the “Invisible Empire” in 1869, for this history, and he stated that the Ku Klux Klan was not disbanded until 1877, but this order was General Forrest’s method of misleading those who were attempting to dissolve it after the Anti-Ku Klux Act was passed.” [p. 128.]. Note that Lester writes otherwise. Davis makes a point of noting those of her heroes who were Freemasons:
In a biographical sketch of Forrest, Davis makes no mention of his brief masonic affiliation.
Davis concludes her book with what she terms the real disbandment of the Klan:
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Wyne Craig Wade. The Fiery Cross, The Ku Klux Klan in America. Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York: 1987. [p 405.] ISBN: 0-671-41476-3