t Memphis, Tennessee. The Grand Dragon commanded a State, the Grand
Titan a Congressional District, the Grand Giant a County, and the Grand
Cyclops a Township Den. The twelve volumes of Government reports on the
famous Klan refer chiefly to events which occurred after 1870, the date of
its dissolution.

The chaos of blind passion that followed Lincoln's assassination is
inconceivable to-day. The revolution it produced in our Government, and
the bold attempt of Thaddeus Stevens to Africanize ten great States of the
American Union, read now like tales from "The Arabian Nights."

I have sought to preserve in this romance both the letter and the spirit
of this remarkable period. The men who enact the drama of fierce revenge
into which I have woven a double love story are historical figures. I have
merely changed their names without taking a liberty with any essential
historic fact.

In the darkest hour of the life of the South, when her wounded people lay
helpless amid rags and ashes under the beak and talon of the Vulture,
suddenly from the mists of the mountains appeared a white cloud the size
of a man's hand. It grew until its mantle of mystery enfolded the stricken
earth and sky. An "Invisible Empire" had risen from the field of Death and
challenged the Visible to mortal combat.

How the young South, led by the reincarnated souls of the Clansmen of Old
Scotland, went forth under this cover and against overwhelming odds,
daring exile, imprisonment, and a felon's death, and saved the life of a
people, forms one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of the
Aryan race.

Thomas Dixon, Jr.

Dixondale, Va.
December 14, 1904.

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CONTENTS

BOOK I

THE ASSASSINATION

CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Bruised Reed 3
II. The Great Heart 19
III. The Man of War 33
IV. A Clash of Giants 38
IV. The Battle of Love 56
VI. The Assassination 61
VII. The Frenzy of a Nation 80

BOOK II

THE REVOLUTION

CHAPTER PAGE
I. The First Lady of the Land 90
II. Sweethearts 101
III. The Joy of Living 112
IV. Hidden Treasure