The Democrats had an Armed Wing of the Party?

I am in the middle of a book entitled "Redemption:  The last Battle of the Civil War" by Nicholas Lemann.  This book is entirely disturbing to me as it discusses a period of history I, and I suspect most of us, know very little about.  The time frame is the early to mid 1870's in the post-Civil War South, at the tail end of reconstruction.  It's basically detailing the methods that white terrorist organizations used to essentially reverse the outcome of the civil war, returning the black populations to effective slavery or serfdom.   

These terrorist organizations were known as white leagues and they were, as the book describes, essentially armed adjuncts to the democratic party, working through intimidation and violence to unseat the Republican party which they considered to be full of carpetbaggers and negroes.  This shameful and shocking period is described, and includes murder and thuggery that one would never imagine possible in our country.  It makes me wonder if what is going on in Iraq right now is all that different from what went on in Mississippi and Louisiana not much more than 100 years ago.   No matter how messed up we think this country is, it is ironic to me that the first major party to run a black candidate is the very same party that worked to impose virtual slavery on the freed blacks less than 150 years ago.  

I'm still in the middle of this book; but so far I find it completely fascinating and it really makes you think.  Check it out here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/books/review/Wilentz.t.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/L/Lemann,%20Nicholas