Pulaski, Tennessee the vicinity of Pulaski was the site of a number of skirmishes during the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. Union troops occupied the state from 1862. In 1863, Confederate courier Sam Davis was hanged in Pulaski by the Union Army on suspicion of espionage. In late 1865, during the early days of the Reconstruction Era, the city was the site of founding the first Ku Klux Klan (KKK) by six Tennessee veterans of the Confederate Army. John C. Lester, John B. Kennedy, James R. Crowe, Frank O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, and J. Calvin Jones established the KKK in Pulaski on December 25,
USS Tennessee (1865) USS Tennessee (1865) USS "Tennessee, originally USS "Madawaska, was a screw frigate built of wood at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, and launched as "Madawaska" on 8 July 1865. Powered by two Ericsson vibrating-lever engines, "Madawaska" departed New York City for sea trials 14 January 1867, Commander Francis A. Roe in command. Remaining at sea for one week, she steamed nearly 1,000 nautical miles (1,150 statute miles; 1,852 km) before returning when her supply of coal was exhausted. She was renamed "Tennessee" 15 May 1869 and timbered up to the necessary height to allow a spar