"" actually consists of dozens of separate organizations, each with varying goals, tactics, and quality of leadership. The original Klan, which is not to be confused with the groups calling themselves by that name today, was organized in Pulaski, Tennessee, during the winter of 1865 to 1866, by six former Confederate army officers who gave their society a name adapted from the Greek word kuklos ("circle"). Its activities were directed against the Reconstruction governments and their leaders, both black and white, which came into power in the s ....