Constitutional Union Guard (C.U.G.) was a white supremacist organization in the United States. It was one of several loosely organized groups established to promote and restore white supremacy during the Reconstruction era.[1] The group was discussed at the impeachment trial of North Carolina governor William W. Holden in the North Carolina House of Representatives. According to testimony given by a man who identified as a member, the group was dedicated to restoring the U.S. to abide by its constitution before the 14th and 15th amendments.[2] It was organized along with other white supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan (also referred to as the Invisible Empire) and White Brotherhood to counter Union League activities.[3] It was opposed to Reconstruction era programs.[4]
In Lenoir County it was established in 1869.[5] The Regulators was a predecessor group.[6]
Contemporary accounts and a 1919 history of North Carolina treat the Ku Klux Klan, White Brotherhood, Invisible Empire, and Constitutional Union Guard as distinct but kindred groups that employed similar means.[7] More recent accounts have grouped them all as Ku Klux Klan organizations. The groups as well as the Pale Faces attacked and terrorized white and blacks who did not submit to a "conservative white governing structure".[8] Mark Bradley describes the group names as being regional.[9]
References edit
- ^ "The North Carolina Historical Review". North Carolina Historical Commission. July 30, 2014 – via Google Books.
- ^ Holden, William Woods (July 30, 1871). "Trial of William W. Holden: Governor of North Carolina, Before the Senate of North Carolina, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdeameanors". "Sentinel" printing office – via Google Books.
- ^ "North Carolina historical review [1938 : July]". digital.ncdcr.gov.
- ^ Holden, William Woods (July 30, 1871). "Trial of William W. Holden: Governor of North Carolina, Before the Senate of North Carolina, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdeameanors". "Sentinel" printing office – via Google Books.
- ^ Bogue, Jesse Parker (July 30, 1973). "Violence and Oppression in North Carolina During Reconstruction, 1865-1873". Bogue – via Google Books.
- ^ Hayden, René (July 30, 2003). "Root of Wrath: Political Culture and the Origins of the First Ku-Klux Klan in North Carolina, 1830 to 1875". University of California, San Diego – via Google Books.
- ^ Connor, Robert Digges Wimberly; Boyd, William Kenneth; Hamilton, Joseph Grégoire de Roulhac (July 30, 1919). "History of North Carolina: North Carolina since 1860, by J. G. de R. Hamilton". Lewis Publishing Company – via Google Books.
- ^ Novkov, Julie (September 11, 2009). Racial Union: Law, Intimacy, and the White State in Alabama, 1865-1954. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472022878 – via Google Books.
- ^ Bradley, Mark (January 30, 2009). Bluecoats and Tar Heels: Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813173061 – via Google Books.