Editing Nathan Bedford Forrest (section)

====Election of 1868 and Grant====
[[Image:George W. Ashburn.jpg|right|thumb|Prominent Republican organizer [[George Ashburn]] was murdered in Georgia by the Ku Klux Klan on March 31, 1868.]]
During the presidential election of 1868, the Ku Klux Klan, under the leadership of Forrest, and other terrorist groups, used brutal violence and intimidation against blacks and Republican voters.<ref name="Grant, Reconstruction and the KKK 2018">{{cite web|title=Grant, Reconstruction and the KKK|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kkk/|date=2018|access-date=April 15, 2018|publisher=American Experience |website=pbs.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Chernow|2017|p=588}} Forrest played a prominent role in the spread of the Klan in the Southern United States, meeting with racist whites in Atlanta several times between February and March 1868. Forrest probably organized a statewide Klan network in Georgia during these visits.{{sfn|Bryant|2002}} On March 31, the Klan struck, killing prominent Republican organizer [[George W. Ashburn|George Ashburn]] in [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]].{{sfn|Bryant|2002}}

The Republicans had nominated one of Forrest's battle adversaries, U.S. war hero [[Ulysses S. Grant]], for the presidency at their convention held in October. Klansmen took their orders from their former Confederate officers.{{sfn|Chernow|2017|p=588}} In Louisiana, 1,000 blacks were killed to suppress Republican voting. In Georgia, blacks and Republicans also faced a lot of violence. The Klan's violence was primarily designed to intimidate voters, targeting black and white supporters of the Republican Party.{{sfn|Bryant|2002}} The Klan's violent tactics backfired, as Grant, whose slogan was "Let us have peace", won the election and Republicans gained a majority in Congress.<ref name="Grant, Reconstruction and the KKK 2018"/> Grant defeated [[Horatio Seymour]], the Democratic presidential candidate, by a comfortable electoral margin, 214 to 80.{{sfn|Calhoun|2017|p=55}} The popular vote was much closer: Grant received 3,013,365 (52.7%) votes, while Seymour received 2,708,744 (47.3%) votes.{{sfn|Calhoun|2017|p=55}} Grant lost Georgia and Louisiana, where the violence and intimidation against blacks were most prominent.