Falkenstein Golden Circle
The Knights of the Golden Circle
by Michael 2 wks ago
http://asmrb.pbworks.com/Falkenstein%20Golden%20Circle
While the South may have been lost the War Between the States at Appomattox in 1865, there are still Southern patriots who work to free their land from domination by carpetbaggers and Northern industrial interests. The 'Knights of the Golden Circle' is an organization of these Southerners, and includes such famous persons as Gen. Albert Pike, Jesse James, and William Quantrill. This organization has powerful friends such as Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the Twenty Nations, the Bavarian Illuminati, the British 'Steam Lords', and of course the KKK and other Secessionist groups. Outside of the United States, there are many agents in Toronto, Canada; Mexico City, Mexico; St. George's, Bermuda; and London, England.
Masterminds
General Nathan Bedford Forrest (b. 1821) is a fierce and cruel man, dedicated to the cause of white Southern supremacy, and the driving force behind the Knights of the Golden Circle. His durability and cunning are legendary; his plantation near Memphis, Tennessee is the headquarters of the 'Golden Circle.' Melanie Forrest is a niece of this famous general, and one of the Secessionist’s most important agents in Europe.
General P. G. T. Beauregard (b. 1818), the “Little Creole”, always has an open mind regarding novel weapons and infernal devices. He employed or encouraged many of the more inventive Southerners during the War, and does the same now for the inventors who have offered their services to the Knights of the Golden Circle. Currently, he is the Louisiana state Adjutant-General, in charge of her militia, and also president of a railroad.
Captain Thomas E. Courtnay (b. 1822) commanded the Confederate Secret Service Corps of spies and saboteurs during the war. Originally an Irish-American cotton broker from St. Louis, he combined skill and ruthlessness in employing ‘infernal devices.’ His agents operate all over the globe. He is fond of paying his agents by ‘commission’ (a sort of prize money), and actually worked with gamblers during the war to finance his operations. The devious ‘coal torpedo’ was his invention. Now living with his family in London, England, he is in charge of the 'Golden Circle's' covert operations outside of the Americas. The United States government has not yet provided sufficient proof of Courtnay's crimes to have him arrested by the British government.
Judah P. Benjamin (b. 1811), held the offices of Secretary of War and (the final) Secretary of State in the Confederacy. His portrait appeared on two different issues of $2 Confederate notes! A Louisianan and a Sephardic Jew, he is now a high-priced barrister in England (minimum fee, 300 guineas), considered one of the most learned legal scholars in Britain. He was suspected of somehow being involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Covertly, he is the connection between the 'Golden Circle' and such influential persons as the Rothschilds, the 'Steam Lords', etc.; his contacts with Courtnay are very sub rosa. Separated from his wife, but his daughter sees him often (she was married in 1874). A member of the Junior Athenaeum club.
Agents
Jesse James (b. 1847) a Missourian who (along with his brother Frank) followed George Quantrill into battle; after the War, famous as a train and bank robber.
Captain James T. Calhoun of the Confederate Navy, a famous blockade runner. He has recently appeared as the owner of a magically-levitated steamboat, the 'Sumter Cannonball' (whose name alone indicates his allegiance to the South), and is a Masonic sorcerer of some skill.
General E. Kirby Smith (b. 1824) was the last commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and departed to Mexico at the end of the War. Working in Mexico with the tacit approval of Emperor Maximilian, Smith can organize a force of nearly a thousand veterans on short notice.
Inventors
General Gabriel J. Rains (b. 1803) invented a series of powerful electrically and automatically triggered ‘subterra shells’ (or land mines) for use in the War; he is a bitter anti-Yankee, ready to employ ‘terroristic’ weapons without notice. If a booby-trapped bomb is needed, with complicated chemical and mechanical fusing, Rains is the man to provide it. He lives in New Bern, North Carolina, and works at the U.S. Quartermaster Depot in Charleston -- as the chief clerk.
Captain Francis D. Lee (b. 1827), of a leading Charleston family, was an inventor of naval and military items for the South. He produced new explosives, fuzes, and the first ‘David’ type torpedo rams. He has been in the service of the French Empire, and was a great influence on French naval strategy, but now lives in St. Louis, employed as an architect. The ‘torpedo boat’ and the larger ‘torpedo boat destroyer’ are essentially his inventions.
Captain Matthew Fontaine Maury (b. 1811) of Virginia is a very reluctant supporter of the Underground. He is a famous scientist, oceanographer, and inventor (his electrically-fired mines caused much havoc among Federal vessels in the war). Since the war, he has served as Emperor Maximilian’s chief Admiralty scientist. If Mexico or the 'Golden Circle' develop a submersible, Captain Maury will no doubt be involved somehow.
Lieutenant Hunter Davidson (b. ca. 1821) was Maury’s chief aide during the War. He has been working for South American governments, inventing naval devices.
Dr. William Norris was a Major in the Confederate Army during the War, and the South’s leading practical inventor.
Captain Ambrose McEvoy, of the Army, was born in Ireland and came to the South before the War. He invented many ingenious and deadly weapons for the South -- artillery fuzes, electically fired mines, etc.
Useful Sources: 'Infernal Machines', by Milton F. Perry, LSU Press, Baton Rouge 1965; 'Encyclopedia Britannica', 11th Edition, ed. by Hugh Chisholm, 1911; website Handbook of Texas Online.
