by Cathy Schultz Ph.D
History Professor University of St. Francis
EXCERPT: "Q. Are there really missing pages from John Wilkes Booth's diary?
A. Yes. Eighteen pages are lost from Booth's diary. They've never been found, and no one knows who tore them out. Was it Booth himself? The detective who found the diary on Booth after he was killed? Or maybe it was Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who had the diary in his possession for two years? One thing's for certain. It definitely wasn't Thomas Gates, the fictional ancestor of our fictional hero.
Q. Was Booth part of the Knights of the Golden Circle?
A. It sounds made up, but the Knights of the Golden Circle did exist, and Booth may well have been a member. A secret organization of Southern sympathizers, the Knights of the Golden Circle got their name from a cockeyed plan to annex territory in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico as Southern states, thus creating a "golden circle" of pro-slavery territory. Needless to say, it never happened."
http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/historyinthemovies/NationalTreasure2.htm
