committed in ordinary times [...] I am in favor of amnesty, oblivion, and mercy to the guilty." During the impeachment trial the General Assembly repealed the Shoffner Act and greatly revised the militia law. Though they subsequently passed a measure prohibiting secret organizations, Klan activity persisted in southwestern North Carolina into 1872. Caldwell, who had assumed the governorship upon Holden's removal, was wary of taking any harsh measures and instead simply made public appeals to reject the Klan. He also relied more on the army to take action, which it did due to encouragement from Congress. Meanwhile, in the latter part of 1872, Judge Albion W. Tourgée issued indictments against 14 to 18 men for the murder of Outlaw. In 1873 the General Assembly passed the Amnesty Act, which pardoned persons found responsible for political violence in the preceding years; the Conservative-backed measure was designed to protect members of the Klan, and ended Tourgée's efforts. Federal military occupation in North Carolina ended in 1877. Legacy Although no Klansmen arrested in the affair were ultimately convicted of any crimes, Klan activity ceased in Alamance and Caswell counties after the Kirk–Holden war. On January 1, 1871, Holden sent Grant a collection of documents including his proclamations, affidavits, trial records, and Klan confessions. Grant turned the documents over to Congress, and the U.S. Senate subsequently appointed a select committee to investigate the events in Alamance and Caswell counties. Testimony about Klan activity in Alamance and Caswell before congressional committees also informed the passage of the Enforcement Act of 1871, and the seriousness of events there convinced Grant to pursue more direct federal action that year. The Republican Party in North Carolina was crippled by the image of the Kirk–Holden war and Holden's impeachment. Holden was the first governor in the United States to be impeached and removed from office. Caldwell, a Republican, was elected to a full term as governor in 1872, but Democrats retained control of the General Assembly and severely curtailed his influence. Another Republican was not elected to the governorship until 1896. Holden defended his actions in his memoirs (written in 1889/1890 and published posthumously), writing that "the object of all this [was] to restore peace and good order. Every citizen, no matter of what color, or how poor or humble, has a right to labor for a living without being molested; to express his political opinions without let or