In opposition to then recent problems caused by the American Tobacco Company trust, owned by James B. Duke, tobacco planters formed a protectionist Dark Tobacco District Planters' Protective Association of Kentucky and Tennessee in opposition to the corporate monopoly then held by Duke's trust in that region. Many farmers found that they could no longer sell their tobacco crop at a profit and that the ATC was the region's only buyer, now that the many tobacco companies had formed the trust using that agency to purchase all tobacco from any farmer at a fixed price. [2] Upon establishing the protective association and rivalling the monopoly by practicing boycotts of tobacco sales, some farmers formed the Silent Brigade in an effort to apply social pressure for the purpose of terrorizing farmers into joining the Association against the Trust and holding to its boycott of raising no tobacco or selling no tobacco. The Silent Brigade was later to be infamed as the Night Riders, assembled and regulated by suspected leader Dr. David A. Amoss. [4] The Night Riders, as they were called, were sometimes regarded as heroes by farmers whom they helped although they were often known for violence by some members within their ranks and their organized fight against the changing tobacco industry [1].

Sources:

[1] http://www.thinkwestkentucky.com/community/info_counties/princeton.html [2] http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/border/bs9/gregory.htm [3] http://www.nkyviews.com/Other/text_night_rider%20movement.htm [4] http://www.kyseeker.com/christian/night.html