With the government that ruled over them arbitrary and capricious, the stage was set for a new kind of trouble. While none could yet imagine its size or brutality, its symbol would come in the form of a fiery cross. Born of men in hoods and robes, known by many names, it would be the Klan. Founded by a group of Confederate veterans in a small town in Tennessee soon after the succession of hostilities, their numbers would swell until they became a shadow government. Although subversive, with tentacles extending into the nation's capitol, it would influence politics on both the local and federal level well beyond the middle of the next century.
While it could be argued that due to conditions imposed upon the South immediately after the war, such an organization was bound to emerge, it is also true that it grew beyond anyone's expectations.
Although the organization did much to level the playing field in the post-war years, with its darker side soon overshadowing any good it might do, the rest is history.