There were no commands save in a very low tone or in a mysterious language, and usually only signs or whistle signals were used.
Such pacific methods were successful to a considerable degree until the carpetbaggers and scalawags were placed in office under the Reconstruction Acts.

Then more violent methods were necessary.

The Mans patrolled disturbed communities, visited, warned, and frightened obnoxious individuals, whipped some, and even hanged others.

Until forbidden by law or military order, the newspapers were accustomed to print the mysterious proclamations of the Ku Klux.

The following, which was circulated in Montgomery, Alabama, in April 1868, is a typical specimen: K.K.