when was the kkk founded

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded on December 24, 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, by six Confederate veterans. Initially formed as a secret social club, it quickly turned into a violent group aimed at opposing Reconstruction policies and maintaining white supremacy in the post-Civil War South. The founding leader of the KKK was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Confederate cavalry general.