North Carolina Gov. William W. Holden reacted forcefully to the murder of Wyatt Outlaw and the atrocities that followed. In part he duplicated actions in Arkansas where in 1868 the governor had mobilized the militia, including black soldiers, to smash the Klan, but Holden would neither rely on a predominantly black militia to protect black people nor trust white juries in the affected areas. Holden declared martial law, mobilized largely white Unionists of western North Carolina, and suppressed the Klan in nine counties.
