Shamrock

Founded by a group of Confederate veterans in a small town in Tennessee soon after the succession of hostilities, their numbers would swell until they became a shadow government. Although subversive, with tentacles extending into the nation's capitol, it would influence politics on both the local and federal level well beyond the middle of the next century.

While it could be argued that due to conditions imposed upon the South immediately after the war, such an organization was bound to emerge, it is also true that it grew beyond anyone's expectations.

Although the organization did much to level the playing field in the post-war years, with its darker side soon overshadowing any good it might do, the rest is history.