5fish
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Here is George Washington Gordon, a Lost Cause promoter and Klan organizer... He was known in his day for promoting the Lost Cause and Forrest apologist... or heading the Klan in Tennessee...
Here is a good article about his post civil war years...
jacksonianamerica.com
snip...
Following the Civil War, Gordon became a lawyer in Pulaski, Tennessee. He was one of the earliest members of the Klan that formed in that Middle Tennessee town, quickly rising to the position of Grand Dragon of the Realm of Tennessee in 1867, a position second only to the Grand Wizard. Gordon also allegedly wrote the Klan’s revised Prescript, the handbook that governed its activities.
snip...
This background is interesting, but what has fascinated me most about Gordon is his role in shaping the Lost Cause, the set of beliefs that argued, among other things, that the Civil War was not about slavery and that the Confederacy was a noble cause. As a member of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), he gave speeches at the unveiling of the Nathan Bedford Forrest memorial in Memphis and the Sam Davis memorial in Pulaski
snip... his words about Forrest...
Gordon’s speeches at these two events were quintessential Lost Cause rhetoric. In his speech in Memphis, he called the Civil War an “unavoidable and defensive war.”[3] He ignored Forrest’s career as a slave trader, saying only that he “actively engaged in live stock trading and mercantile pursuits” and “successfully established himself as a dealer in live stock and real estate” prior to the war.[4] He denied that the Fort Pillow massacre occurred and skipped completely Forrest’s involvement in the Klan.[5] Gordon concluded that Forrest was an “American Mars” who “accomplished more with the resources at his command than any commander developed by the war.”[6] At the dedication of the Sam Davis memorial, he called the young man a “hero” and told the audience that “every schoolboy in the land should hear the story of Samuel Davis, and learn therefrom the beauty of fidelity, the glory of honor, and the grandeur of courage.”
snip... his wife's tell all...
An interesting postscript to Gordon’s life came via his widow, Minnie. After winning election to Congress, George W. Gordon died in 1911. Several years later, Minnie Gordon wrote an unpublished manuscript that claimed that her husband, not Forrest, was the Klan’s first Grand Wizard. In that manuscript, she also went even further than her husband in Lost Cause rhetoric. “I make bold to lay down this proposition,” she wrote, “that those in authority in the Southern States during Reconstruction, in affiliating with that element of camp followers and carpet-baggers who came south to pilfer and prey upon a conquered people, in protecting them in instigating the negroes to violence and outrage, became themselves the lawbreakers.” In the face of this chaos, the Klan, in her view, “became the enforcers and conservators of the law and came to the defense of social and civil order.” She concluded, “The proposition is not asserted in contentious spirit or to accuse, but because the facts attest it and because it is absolutely true.”[9]
Here is wiki take...
en.wikipedia.org
snip...
George Washington Gordon (October 5, 1836 – August 9, 1911) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he practiced law in Pulaski, Tennessee, where the Ku Klux Klan was formed. He became one of the Klan's first members. In 1867, Gordon became the Klan's first Grand Dragon for the Realm of Tennessee, and wrote its "Precept," a book describing its organization, purpose, and principles. He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 10th congressional district of Tennessee.
Here is a good article about his post civil war years...
George Washington Gordon, the Klan, and the History of Confederate Memorials
Unless you are a student of Civil War military history, you’ve probably never heard of Confederate general George Washington Gordon. Yet, he was a seminal figure in the early years of the Ku …
jacksonianamerica.com
snip...
Following the Civil War, Gordon became a lawyer in Pulaski, Tennessee. He was one of the earliest members of the Klan that formed in that Middle Tennessee town, quickly rising to the position of Grand Dragon of the Realm of Tennessee in 1867, a position second only to the Grand Wizard. Gordon also allegedly wrote the Klan’s revised Prescript, the handbook that governed its activities.
snip...
This background is interesting, but what has fascinated me most about Gordon is his role in shaping the Lost Cause, the set of beliefs that argued, among other things, that the Civil War was not about slavery and that the Confederacy was a noble cause. As a member of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), he gave speeches at the unveiling of the Nathan Bedford Forrest memorial in Memphis and the Sam Davis memorial in Pulaski
snip... his words about Forrest...
Gordon’s speeches at these two events were quintessential Lost Cause rhetoric. In his speech in Memphis, he called the Civil War an “unavoidable and defensive war.”[3] He ignored Forrest’s career as a slave trader, saying only that he “actively engaged in live stock trading and mercantile pursuits” and “successfully established himself as a dealer in live stock and real estate” prior to the war.[4] He denied that the Fort Pillow massacre occurred and skipped completely Forrest’s involvement in the Klan.[5] Gordon concluded that Forrest was an “American Mars” who “accomplished more with the resources at his command than any commander developed by the war.”[6] At the dedication of the Sam Davis memorial, he called the young man a “hero” and told the audience that “every schoolboy in the land should hear the story of Samuel Davis, and learn therefrom the beauty of fidelity, the glory of honor, and the grandeur of courage.”
snip... his wife's tell all...
An interesting postscript to Gordon’s life came via his widow, Minnie. After winning election to Congress, George W. Gordon died in 1911. Several years later, Minnie Gordon wrote an unpublished manuscript that claimed that her husband, not Forrest, was the Klan’s first Grand Wizard. In that manuscript, she also went even further than her husband in Lost Cause rhetoric. “I make bold to lay down this proposition,” she wrote, “that those in authority in the Southern States during Reconstruction, in affiliating with that element of camp followers and carpet-baggers who came south to pilfer and prey upon a conquered people, in protecting them in instigating the negroes to violence and outrage, became themselves the lawbreakers.” In the face of this chaos, the Klan, in her view, “became the enforcers and conservators of the law and came to the defense of social and civil order.” She concluded, “The proposition is not asserted in contentious spirit or to accuse, but because the facts attest it and because it is absolutely true.”[9]
Here is wiki take...
George Gordon (Civil War general) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
snip...
George Washington Gordon (October 5, 1836 – August 9, 1911) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he practiced law in Pulaski, Tennessee, where the Ku Klux Klan was formed. He became one of the Klan's first members. In 1867, Gordon became the Klan's first Grand Dragon for the Realm of Tennessee, and wrote its "Precept," a book describing its organization, purpose, and principles. He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 10th congressional district of Tennessee.