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,
12th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry 14. Scout from Pulaski to Florence, Ala., July 20–25 (detachment). Triune August 3–4. Florence August 10. Operations against Forrest in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee September 16-October 10. Richland Creek, near Pulaski, September 26. Pulaski September 26–27. Nashville Campaign November–December. On line of Shoal Creek November 5–20. Campbellsville and Lynnville November 24. In front of Columbia November 24–27. Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15–16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17–28. West Harpeth River December 17. Spring Hill December 18. Rutherford Creek December 19. Curtis Creek December 19. Lawrenceburg December 22. Lynnville and Richland Creek December