The period of organization and development of the Ku Klux movement was from 1865 to 1868; the period of greatest activity was from 1868 to 1870, after which came the decline.
The name is generally applied not only to the order of Ku Klux Klan, but to other similar societies that existed at the same time, such as the Knights of the White Camelia, a larger order than the Klan; the White Brotherhood; the White League; Pale Faces; Constitutional Union Guards; Black Cavalry; White Rose; The '76 Association; and hundreds of smaller societies that sprang up in the South after the Civil War.
The most important orders were the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camelia.
The Ku Klux movement in its wider aspects was the effort of the first class to destroy the control of the second class.
Nearly all southern whites (except "scalawags"), whether members of the secret societies or hot, in some way took part in the Ku Klux movement.
