Did high-ranking freemason, Albert Pike found the Ku Klux Klan?
No. There is no documentation or record that would suggest that masonic author, Albert Pike, was ever a member of the Ku Klux Klan, much less a founder or leader. The 19th century Ku Kux Klan was originally organized by six Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee in the spring of 1866. It obligated members only to “have fun, make mischief and play pranks on the public.” It was structured into a vehicle for Southern white resistance to Radical Reconstruction at a convention in Nashville, Tennessee in April of 1867 under the leadership of George Gordon. Several weeks later Nathan Bedford Forrest was offered the position of Grand Wizard. On August 28, 1868 Forrest granted an interview to a reporter from the Cincinnati Commercial, in which he confirmed the existence of the Klan, declared his sympathy and coöperation with them, but denied his membership. In January 1869 Forrest issued “General Order Number One”, the only directive to come from Imperial Headquarters, ordering the group be
