Oh, the Red Shirts, that I think is one of the first groups I encountered in this year's long research. Wearing masks for them was cowardly. The most famous one for my money lead the murderous double slaughter in the election of 1876 using a written insurrectionist plan written up by Harvard lawyer Witherspoon Gary. His name was Senator Tillman and he led the killing in Hamburg and Ellenton South Carolina before the election, where over 100 black American men died--including black American federal soldiers and a fairly elected black state senator.

Talking about cheating to win. He also urged every white citizen to surround the polls with guns to keep the black Americans form voting. He went on to become Governor and Senator for his fearless efforts to overthrow democracy. His efforts helped block the 1876 presidential election and directly led to the Compromise of 1877.

Today this hero of anti-democracy, who bragged in the Senate in 1901 according to his biographer "We used to kill negroes and stuff ballot boxes" (he meant that literally), has a statue proudly erected of him in front of the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. If there is one statue that should be ripped down, it is his. Although he was a confederate soldier and returned to lead the Democratic Party in his state to victory and help draft a state constitution, he was a U.S. Senator and Governor. His evil should never be forgotten. He makes today's red shirts look feckless by comparison.

Thanks for bringing real history to light.