Who founded the Ku Klux Klan?

In
opposition to federal agencies such as the Freedman's Bureau, the Ku Klux Klan was born of
ex-Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee 1866. Interestingly, its first leader referred to
as the Grand Wizard was the ex-Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. By the following year
local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan began springing up throughout the south. By the 1870's the
Klan organization was fracturing. They did have a resurrgence in 1915 with William Simmons
emerging as the new leader. In 1922, under Hiram Evans, the first Imperial Wizard Klan there
were over 4 million members to the organization. Since the 1920's Klan membership has greatly
declined but there are a couple of thousand members in the United States still
today.