Grant’s aide Horace Porter visited Arkansas in December 1868 to determine the conditions there. The state had experienced severe political violence in 1868. This is Porter’s report. Pay attention to the last brief paragraph. It mentions an attack by the Ku Klux Klan on a boatload of rifles that was being shipped to beef up the militia in Arkansas. The shipment was intercepted by the Klan and the rifles reportedly thrown into the Mississippi.
NY Times January 8, 1869
