Autograph letter signed by J. B. Anderson. Emory and Henry College, [Emory], Virginia, 18 April 1868. 3 pages, 8vo. 

A revealing early Reconstruction letter with fascinating content regarding the burgeoning Ku Klux Klan, post-war racial attitudes in Virginia, and the lingering scars of war. 

The author was a student at Emory & Henry College in southwestern Virginia. Writing to his brother, he details a trip to nearby Saltville, Virginia, which had been the most crucial supplier of salt to the Confederacy. He writes of his impressions and the remains of the salt works: "I examined the city of Saltville, didn't find much but broken boilers. There were some eighteen hundred of these broken by the Yankees during the war. The works are in opeartion making about two thousand bushels per diem."

Importantly, he writes what he has heard of the Ku Klux Klan: "The Ku Klux seem to be the general topic of conversation. I have not seen one as yet. Hear of them however at Marion and around in the adjoining counties. I presume Danville is full of them ere this. I cannot exactly see into the design of this organization. Maybe its simply to frighten the darkies."

He continues with a report of visiting Cherokee, in the process revealing his own attitudes toward racial integration: "We are to have some Indians, Cherokees, here in a few days. They are reported to be nearby and are going through the course here. Of course they will be a great curiosity - at least for a while. I can go to school with an Indian but with Sambo - not any in mine if you please."

A Reconstruction letter with uncommonly interesting content. 

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