TAKEN FROM THE KU KLUX, AN EXTRAORDINARY 1868 HUNTSVILLE CDV OF CONFISCATED KLAN REGALIA

Full-length albumen CDV studio portrait of two unidentified men posed in front of a painted backdrop, both wearing masks and floor-length robes, the man on the left armed with a small firearm and the other holding a double barrel percussion shotgun. [Huntsville, AL]: Robinson & Murphy, [ca late 1868-1869]. Period ink inscription to verso reads: "Photographs of Uniforms &c / taken from Ku Klux / by Lt. L. E Campbell 33 Inf / on the night of Oct 31st 1868 / To. Genl Barstow / With compliments of / Lt. Campbell."

An exceedingly scarce and important view depicting the confiscated regalia of Huntsville, Alabama, Klan members who had been captured by members of the US 33rd Infantry; perhaps the earliest photograph of Ku Klux Klan disguises.

The first iteration of the KKK emerged in late 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, approx. forty-five miles northwest of Huntsville, AL, where this photograph was taken. Though initially originating as a social fraternal club, by 1867 these loosely organized clubs or "dens" had transformed into a secretive, violent organization targeting African Americans and Republicans in the Reconstruction-era South. Tasked with reigning in the violence, enforcing Civil Rights, and protecting freedmen, Federal troops under the First Reconstruction Act occupied portions of the South, including Huntsville, Alabama. Civil War veteran Lt. Lafayette E. Campbell (1845-1919) of the 33rd Infantry, US Army, was part of this federal occupying force when it clashed with Klan members on 31 October 1868. 

Lafayette E. Campbell was born in Ohio, and was a Republican with strong sympathies for freedmen. As a newly promoted first lieutenant with the U.S. 33rd Infantry, Lafayette served under the command of General Thomas H. Ruger, head of the military district of Alabama. On 31 October, just three days before the 1868 presidential election, a group of Republicans held a campaign rally at Madison County Court House in Huntsville. The occasion  turned violent when approximately 100-150 armed riders, members of the Ku Klux Klan, entered the city and a conflict erupted killing one Black man and a probate judge. According to Lt. Lafayette's report on the disturbance, "Report on Ku Klux Klan disturbance, November 7, 1868" (copy in Special Collections Research Center, Morris Library, Southern Illinois Carbondale; location of original manuscript report unknown), Klan riders then headed out of the city and Lt. Campbell was given verbal orders to patrol the streets of Huntsville for KKK members. Campbell's report further indicates that he apprehended three men who were taken to the police where their possessions were confiscated, including guns, masks, and KKK disguises for both horses and men. These men subsequently escaped leaving behind their disguises and weapons. 

Though Campbell's report does not specifically mention a photograph, the details of the report align with the inscription on the CDV offered here which specifies that the photograph shows items taken from the Klan members on the night of the 31st, and not Klan members themselves. The identities of the two individuals wearing the confiscated items remains unknown. The recipient of the CDV, "Genl Barstow," may be Bvt. Brig. General Simon Forrester Barstow (1817-1882), a Civil War veteran who, like Campbell, continued his service in the army after the war. 

Photographs associated with the immediate post-war Ku Klux Klan are scarce. Historian Frances Osborn Robb has identified five prints of this image, all dating from late 1868-1869, several with the later addition of "KKK" in the negative above the heads of the subjects. These prints are held by the Western Americana Collection in the Princeton University Library; the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Southern Illinois University's Special Collections Research Center; the Louisiana Historical Association; and one in the private collection of a Huntsville family. Two of these prints contain inscriptions to verso, both of which reference Lt. L.E. Campbell. The inscription on the CDV (also by Robinson & Murphy) in the collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum, appears to be in the same hand as the one offered here and includes nearly identical text: "Photograph of Uniforms &c taken by Lt. L.E. Campbell 33d Inf on the night of 31st of October 1868. These were worn by Ku Klux on night of the fight."

The earliest version of this image, without "KKK" in the negative, was reproduced in a 19 December 1868 issue of Harper's Weekly which incorrectly captioned the engraving, "Two Members of the Ku-Klux in Their Disguises." This engraving accompanied a story about Klan intimidation, and has since been widely reproduced in association with discussions of early Klan violence.

Lafayette Campbell continued to serve for another twenty-five years following the incident in Huntsville. He accompanied the Hayden Expedition to Yellowstone National Park and was stationed at various western outposts during the course of his military career which ended with his retirement from the Army in 1893. Campbell was married to Margaret Lynde Dent (1854-1921), the daughter of General Frederick Dent, and niece of Julia Dent Grant and President Ulysses S. Grant. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Reference: This description draws heavily from the research conducted by Frances Osborn Robb, "Who Are These Masked Men?: The Early Ku Klux Klan, a Photograph, and a Northern Alabama Family." The Princeton University Library Chronicle. Vol. 75, No. 2 (Winter 2014), pp. 201-224.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, CDVs, Carte de Visite] [Reconstruction, African Americana, Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation]