A 19th Century War on Terror A rising wave of racist violence in the South prompted President Grant to take legal and military action against the Ku Klux Klan. Written by Guy Gugliotta Reviewed by Fergus M. Bordewich Wall Street Journal 8 July 2025 Amos Akerman may be the most consequential attorney general you’ve never heard of. Under President Ulysses S. Grant he gave federal teeth to the new 14th Amendment, personally leading a successful judicial battle against the Ku Klux Klan’s war of terror across the Reconstruction-era South.

Mr. Gugliotta narrates the story of the South Carolina campaign in vivid, anecdote-rich detail.  He strangely overlooks the Klan war across the rest of the South, a significant omission which undermines a full understanding of Grant’s policy.  However, he is especially deft when steering the reader through the tangled politics of Reconstruction, making good use of diaries and letters, contemporary newspaper accounts and congressional hearings.