Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-27
Proclamation. br the Gorernor.

WHEREAS, There exists, in the Middle anc
West divisions of this State, lawless band;
Of desperadoes, who are setting at defiance
civil law; and who, by threats and acts o.
violence, are forcing many of our citizens
to leave their homes and
! WHEREAS, In certain localities, in those
divisions Of the State named, il is entirely
impossible for the civil officers of the State
to enforce the laws thereof; and
WHEREAS, Those masked villains, called
Ku-Klux, are taking prisoners from the
county jails and hanging them without due
form of trial, and are entering Railroad
trains and abducting thence passengers
pursuing their legitimate business, and no.
tifying conductors, of Northern birth, that
they must leave the State, forthwith thus
having driven four conductors from one
road and
WHEREAS, Certain ambitious, disappoint-
ed and bad men have been engaged for the
last two or three years in making incendi
airy speeches, advising the overthrow of the
State government and thereby infusing an
insurreetionary spirit into the deluded
wretches who are thus breaking the laws
and destroying tie quiet and welfare of the
State and
WHEREAS, The leading rebel newspapers
OF this State have encouraged this state of
things first, by denying the existence OF
the klan-socondly, by ridiculing their
atrociouS acts, and further, by failing to
condemn and denounce their outrages,
showing, thereby, that at heart they ap-
prove their conduct and
WHEREAS, The Legislature now in ses-
sion, has SO amended the Militia Law of
Tennessee, as TO remove the restrictions
which heretofore crippled it, giving the
Governor full authority to meet such out
RACES with sufficient force
Now, therefore, |, William g. Brownlow,
Governor of Tennessee, do call upon all
good and loyal citizens, to enter the ranks
Of the State Guards and be mustered into
service, and assist in putting down these
lawless combinations and proceedings, and
bringing the offenders to Justice, so aiding
to preserve the peace of this common
" ealtb
Those enrolling under this call will be
subject TO the rules and regulations, as to
rank pay, &C., governing the United States
Military. Those enrolling in East Tennes-
see will be furnished with transportation to
Nashville, where they will be armed, equip
ped and distributed, under command of
Gen. Joseph A. Cooper. Companies, here
tofore organized, will be preferred.
This proclamation viii, in due time, be
followed by another, designating the coun-
ties over which shall declare Martial Law,
the effect of which will be to set aside civil
law, and turn offenders over to the Mill
tary, who will try them, and upon their
conviction, dispose Of them in summary
manner.
These outrages have been long borne
with, in the hope that they would be
abated by the public sentiment of the re-
spective communities concerned. Forbear-
ancc has now ceased to be virtue. The
Executive is not to be brow beaten, cajoled
nor terrified out of the discharge of the duties
demanded by existing exigencies.
All citizens who may not enroll under
this call, are hereby requested and enjoined
to use their utmost endeavors in conjunc-
ton with the State Guards, and otherwise, to
restore and preserve the peace and dignity
of this commonwealth, and all citizens are
also hereby warned against harboring those
masked marauder5 called Kuklux Klans,
or giving them aid and countenance,
The Governor is determined to make the
State Guards sufficiently numerous and ef-
fectivo, and to continue them in the field suf-
fciently long, until Middle and West Ten
nessee, areas orderly and secure, as, happi-
| ly, East Tennessee is to-day.
Papers in the State, authorized by law to
do the public printing are requested to
copy this Proclamation, three times,
In testimony whereof l have signed the
foregoing, and affixed the Great Seal of the
State, this twentieth day of January, A. d.
1869.
TsEABl WILLIAM q. BRowNLow.
/