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 24. King's Gap, near Pulaski, December 25. At Gravelly Springs, Ala., until February 1865. At Eastport, Miss., until May. Moved to St. Louis, Mo., May 15–17, thence to Rolla, Mo., June 20–26, and to Fort Riley, Kan., June 29-July 8. The regiment lost a total of 226 men during service; 5 officers and 28 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 191 enlisted men died of disease. 12th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry The 12th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The 12th Tennessee Cavalry was