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,
Casimir Pulaski in United States are named after him, as are numerous streets, parks and structures, such as the Pulaski Bridge or the Pulaski Skyway. There is also a number of educational, academic, and Polish-American institutions named after him. A US Navy submarine, , has been named for him, as was a 19th-century United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter. A Polish frigate, ORP "Generał Kazimierz Pułaski", is also named after Pulaski. Fort Pulaski, active during the American Civil War, is named in honor of Casimir Pulaski. A statue commemorating Pulaski titled General Casimir Pulaski stands at the eastern end of Freedom Plaza