Columbia, Tennessee. General Albert Pike, who stood high in the Masonic order, was the chief judicial officer of the Klan.
General Forrest heard of the order after it began to spread, and after investigation consented to become its head as Grand Wizard. He was initiated by Captain John W. Morton, who had formerly been his chief of artillery. Under him the order, which was becoming demoralized, was reorganized. As soon as it had done its work he disbanded it. An enterprising newspaper reporter interviewed General Forrest, in 1868, on the subject of Ku Klux Klan and extracted much information;[8] but when before the Ku Klux Committee of Congress, in 1871, the General would make only general statements and he evaded some of the interrogatories. To the committee he appeared to be wonderfully familiar with the principles of the order, but very ignorant as to details. The average member of Congress, ignorant of Southern conditions, did not understand that the members of the order considered themselves bound
