Talk:Knights of the Golden Circle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AKnights_of_the_Golden_Circle
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Talk about the KGC
Monday, December 17, 2012
Knights of the Golden Circle, Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War
Based on years of exhaustive and meticulous research, David C. Keehn’s study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret southern society that initially sought to establish a slave-holding empire in the “Golden Circle” region of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Keehn reveals the origins, rituals, structure, and complex history of this mysterious group, including its later involvement in the secession movement. Members supported southern governors in precipitating disunion, filled the ranks of the nascent Confederate Army, and organized rearguard actions during the Civil War.
The Knights of the Golden Circle emerged around 1858 when a secret society formed by a Cincinnati businessman merged with the pro-expansionist Order of the Lone Star, which already had 15,000 members. The following year, the Knights began publishing their own newspaper and established their headquarters in Washington, D. C. In 1860, during their first attempt to create the Golden Circle, several thousand Knights assembled in southern Texas to “colonize” northern Mexico. Due to insufficient resources and organizational shortfalls, however, that filibuster failed.
Later, the Knights shifted their focus and began pushing for disunion, spearheading pro-secession rallies, and intimidating Unionists in the South. They appointed regional military commanders from the ranks of the South’s major political and military figures, including men such as Elkanah Greer of Texas, Paul J. Semmes of Georgia, Robert C. Tyler of Maryland, and Virginius D. Groner of Virginia. Followers also established allies with the South’s rabidly pro-secession “fire-eaters,” which included individuals such as Barnwell Rhett, Louis Wigfall, Henry Wise, and William Yancey.
According to Keehn, the Knights likely carried out a variety of other clandestine actions before the Civil War, including attempts by insurgents to take over federal forts in Virginia and North Carolina, the activation of pro-southern militia around Washington, D. C. and a planned assassination of Abraham Lincoln as he passed through Baltimore in early 1861 on the way to his inauguration. Once the fighting began, the Knights helped build the emerging Confederate Army and assisted with the pro-Confederate Copperhead movement in northern states. With the war all but lost, various Knights supported one of their members, John Wilkes Booth, in his plot to abduct and assassinate President Lincoln.
Keehn’s fast-paced, engaging narrative demonstrates that the Knights proved more substantial than historians have traditionally assumed and provides a new perspective on southern secession and the outbreak of the Civil War.
David C. Keehn is an attorney from Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a history degree from Gettysburg College and a juris doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
Knights of the Golden Circle, Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War by David C. Keehn
320 pages / 6.00 x 9.00 inches / 14 halftones / April 2013
http://lsupress.org/books/detail/knights-of-the-golden-circle/
The Knights of the Golden Circle Research and Historical Archives
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle
http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.com
http://knightsofthegoldencircle.webs.com
Monday, December 10, 2012
Knights of the Golden Circle
The Knights of the Golden Circle was a Texas-based secret society. Their objective was to create a confederation of slave-holding states in parts of Mexico and the West Indies, extending slavery; the group's plan thus mirrored the objectives of secession, a cause they actively supported during the Civil War. Legend has it that they hid the fabled confederate gold allegedly sent off for safe keeping as the waning days of the war. Others have linked them to the KKK.
At the link below is a fascinating history of the KGC and the historical context, it is after all subtitled "A History of Secession from 1834 to 1861." It was written by a member of the order and published in 1861. The rituals and degree structure described in this book clearly indicate the influence of Freemasonry; whether it was founded by men who happened to be Masons is unclear, as Freemasonry is not mentioned in the text.
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/fraternalism/knights_of_the_golden_circle.htm
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012
History Up-Close: The Mysterious Knights of the Golden Circle
Caveat Lector!
http://www.tomrizzo.com/history-up-close-the-mysterious-knights-of-the-golden-circle/
History Up-Close: The Mysterious Knights of the Golden Circle
Words like powerful, secret, subversive, spy, and underground always grab my attention, but more so when their used in relation to American history. These kinds of words serve as emotional touchstones, promising hidden – but dark and foreboding – tales of action and adventure.
Words like powerful, secret, subversive, spy, and underground always grab my attention, but more so when their used in relation to American history. These kinds of words serve as emotional touchstones, promising hidden – but dark and foreboding – tales of action and adventure.
Stories of secrets and spies are great fun, and high adventure –from John le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, to Ian Fleming’s exotic and improbable James Bond. My first novel – Last Stand At Bitter Creek –
is about a Union Army spy whose mission is compromised, and finds
himself in the crosshairs of a relentless, rogue cavalry commander with
secrets of his own to protect.
SECRET, SUBVERSIVE, AND SOUTHERN
My imagination kicked into high gear when I recently came across a story about the little-known Knights of the Golden Circle.
The group, a “very large, powerful, secret and subversive southern
organization,” allegedly came close to changing the course of American
history with plans to restart the Civil War. But, mystery and skepticism
surrounds the history of the KGC.
Some say the KGC got its start in 1854 with the purpose of financing the “second rising of the South.”Others
point out that the Knights established depositories for major treasure
and goods in every state, Canada, Mexico, and various places in Central
and South America. In this book, The Mysterious and Secret Order of the Knights of the Golden Circle, Roy William Roush, contends the group left huge caches of gold throughout the country, still awaiting discovery.
JESSE JAMES INVOLVEMENT IN KGC DEBUNKED
In another book he wrote, Jesse James and Lost Treasures of the Knights of the Golden Circle, Roush suggests the James gang held membership in the KGC. The book, which sells for $24.90. however, came under stinging criticism by Leaves of Gas,
the official blog for the family of Frank and Jesse James. Reviewer
Nancy Samuelson said twenty-of the 81-page book are “either filled with
full-page photos or illustrations or left entirely blank.”
Samuelson’s review says there’s no evidence that Roush has “any acquaintance with any serious history” of the KGC or Jesse James.
She contends the book is laced with “drivel” about other issues
involving the outlaw, and warns that readers should take a pass on the
“utter nonsense” included in the book regarding his alleged involvement
in the KGC.
CIVIL WAR ENDS KGC PLANS
According to the Texas State Historical Association,
the secretive organization wanted to create “a golden circle of slave
states” that would span the southern US, West Indies, Mexico, and parts
of Central America. The term Golden Circle was
a geographical reference for this empire that would stretch about 2,400
miles in diameter, with its based of power in Havana, Cuba.
The Civil War, however, destroyed the KGC’s cause and its purpose, according to the association. Furthermore, no evidence exists that the KGC survived the war “in any meaningful way” and, essentially, dissolved.
Monday, December 3, 2012
The Knights of the Golden Circle by Jay Longley and Colin Eby
The Knights of the Golden Circle or K.G.C. had its beginnings in the formation of Southern Rights Clubs in various southern cities in the mid-1830s. These clubs were inspired by the philosophies of John C. Calhoun (1782–1850). Calhoun had an illustrious political career serving as a congressman from his home state of South Carolina , a state legislator, vice president under the administrations of both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and a U. S. senator. In addition to the Southern Rights Clubs, which advocated the re-establishment of the African slave-trade, some of the inspiration for the Knights may have come from a little-known secret organization called the Order of the Lone Star, founded in 1834, which helped orchestrate the successful Texas Revolution resulting in Texas independence from Mexico in 1836. Even before that, the K.G.C.'s roots went back to the Sons of Liberty of the American Revolutionary period.
The Knights of the Golden Circle was reorganized in Lexington , Kentucky July 4, 1854 , by five men, whose names have been lost to history, when Virginia-born Gen. George W. L. Bickley (1819–1867) requested they come together. Strong evidence suggests that Albert Pike (1809–1891) was the genius behind the influence and power of the Masonic-influenced K.G.C., while Bickley was the organization's leading promoter and chief organizer for the K.G.C. lodges, what they called “Castles,” in several states. During his lifetime, Boston-born Pike was an author, educator, lawyer, Confederate brigadier general, newspaper editor, poet, and a Thirty-third Degree Mason. From its earliest roots in the Southern Rights Clubs in 1835, the Knights of the Golden Circle was to become the most powerful secret and subversive organization in the history of the United States with members in every state and territory before the end of the Civil War. The primary economic and political goal of this organization was to create a prosperous, slave-holding Southern Empire extending in the shape of a circle from their proposed capital at Havana, Cuba, through the southern states of the United States, Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. The plan also called for the acquisition of Mexico which was then to be divided into fifteen new slave-holding states which would shift the balance of power in Congress in favor of slavery. Facing the Gulf of Mexico , these new states would form a large crescent. The robust economy the KGC hoped to create would be fueled by cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, coffee, indigo, and mining. These seven industries would employ slave labor.
In early 1860 newspapers across the country reported that the Knights of theGolden Circle were recruiting troops in numerous cities to send to Brownsville ,Texas Mexico . History is unclear about what went wrong with this invasion, but most historians agree that the well-laid plans never materialized and the invasion never happened. Some say that it failed because George Bickley was unable to provide adequate troops and supplies, but with a civil war looming on the horizon, the invasion’s failure may have been caused by the K.G.C. leaders believing they could not go to war on two fronts simultaneously. They called off their plans for Mexico and started preparing for war with the North.
When tensions between the North and South were at a breaking point and the Civil War had not yet begun, the Knights of the Golden Circle held their convention inRaleigh , North Carolina May 7–11, 1860 . George W. L. Bickley, as president of the K.G.C., presided at this historic event. The records of this convention have survived until the present day and provide an excellent view of this order's divisions or degrees, goals, accomplishments, and size.
The K.G.C.'s first division was described as being "absolutely a Military Degree." The first division is further divided into two classes: the Foreign and Home Guards. The Foreign Guards class was the K.G.C.'s army and was composed of those who wanted "to participate in the wild, glorious and thrilling adventures of a campaign inMexico ." Those of the second class or Home Guards had two functions: to provide for the army's needs and "to defend us from misrepresentation during our absence."
The second division or class was also divided into two classes which were the Foreign and Home Corps. The Foreign Corps was to become the order's commercial agents, postmasters, physicians, ministers, and teachers and to perform the other occupations that were vital to the achievement of K.G.C. goals. The second class of this degree was the Home Corps. Their job was to advise and to forward money, arms, ammunition, and other necessary provisions needed by the organization and its army and to send recruits as rapidly as possible.
The two classes of the third division or degree were the Foreign and Home Councils. The third division is described in the convention's records as being "the political or governing division." The responsibilities of the Foreign Council were governmental, and it was divided into ten departments similar to those of theUnited States federal government.
One little-known historical fact that is presented in the records from the 1860 K.G.C. convention is that the Knights had their own well-organized army in 1860, before the Civil War had even begun, so they were prepared in the event of war with the North. In May of 1860 the Knights of the Golden Circle reported a total membership of 48,000 men from the North, who supported "the constitutional rights of the South," as well as men from the South, with an army of "less than 14,000 men" and new recruits joining at a rapid rate.
Shortly before the Civil War began, the state of Texas was the greatest source of this organization's strength. Texas was home for at least thirty-two K.G.C. castles in twenty-seven counties, including the towns of San Antonio , Marshall , Canton , and Castroville. Evidence suggests that San Antonio may have served as the organization’s national headquarters for a time.
The South began to secede from the Union in January 1861, and in February of that year, seven seceding states ratified the Confederate Constitution and named Jefferson Davis as provisional president. The Knights of the Golden Circle became the first and most powerful ally of the newly-created Confederate States ofAmerica .
Before the Civil War officially started on April 12, 1861, when shots were fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and before Texas had held its election on the secession referendum on February 23, 1861, Texas volunteer forces, which included 150 K.G.C. soldiers under the command of Col. Ben McCulloch, forced the surrender of the federal arsenal at San Antonio that was under the command of Bvt. Maj. Gen. David E. Twiggs on February 15, 1861. Knights of the Golden Circle who were involved in this mission included Capt. Trevanion Teel, Sgt. R. H. Williams, John Robert Baylor, and Sgt. Morgan Wolfe Merrick. Following this quick victory, volunteers who were mostly from K.G.C. companies, forced the surrender of all federal posts between San Antonio and El Paso .
Perhaps the best documentation as to the power and influence of the Knights of the Golden Circle during the Civil War is The Private Journal and Diary of John H. Surratt, The Conspirator which was written by John Harrison Surratt and later edited by Dion Haco and published by Frederic A. Brady of New York in 1866. In this journal, Surratt goes into great detail when describing how he was introduced to the K.G.C. in the summer of 1860 by another Knight, John Wilkes Booth, and inducted into this mysterious organization on July 2, 1860 , at a castle in Baltimore ,Maryland Golden Circle began plotting to kidnap Abraham Lincoln in 1860, before Lincoln was even inaugurated in 1861, and continued throughout the Civil War, resulting in President Lincoln's assassination by fellow Knight Booth on April 14, 1865 .
After trying unsuccessfully to peacefully resolve the conflicts between North and South, the Knights of the Golden Circle threw its full support behind the newly-created Confederate States of America and added its trained military men to the Confederate States Army. Several Confederate military groups during the Civil War were composed either totally or in large part of members of the Knights of theGolden Circle . One notable example of K.G.C. military participation in the Civil War included the Confederate's Western Expansion Movement of 1861 and 1862 led by Lt. Col. John Robert Baylor and Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley.
In 1861 Albert Pike travelled to Indian Territory and negotiated an alliance with Cherokee Chief Stand Watie. Prior to the beginning of hostilities, Pike helped Watie to become a Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite Mason. Watie was also in the K.G.C., and he was later commissioned a colonel in command of the First Regiment of Cherokee Mounted Rifles. In May 1864 Chief Watie was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate States Army making him the only Native American of this rank in the Confederate Army. Watie's command was to serve under CSA officers Albert Pike, Benjamin McCulloch, Thomas Hindman, and Sterling Price. They fought in engagements in Indian Territory , Kansas Arkansas , Texas , and Missouri .
One of the most feared organizations of all Confederates, whose members were in large part Knights of the Golden Circle, was what was called Quantrill's Guerrillas or Quantrill's Raiders. The Missouri-based band was formed in December 1861 by William Clark Quantrill and originally consisted of only ten men who were determined to right the wrongs done to Missourians by Union occupational soldiers. Their mortal enemies were the Kansas Jayhawkers and the Red Legs who were the plague of Missouri . As the war raged on in Missouri and neighboring states, Quantrill's band attracted hundreds more men into its ranks. Quantrill's Guerrillas became an official arm of the Confederate Army after May 1862, when the Confederate Congress approved the Partisan Ranger Act. Other leaders of Quantrill's Guerrillas included William C. “Bloody Bill” Anderson, David Pool, William Gregg, and George Todd. Some of the major engagements this deadly guerrilla force participated in included the Lawrence , Kansas August 21, 1863 , the battle near Baxter Springs , Kansas Centralia in Missouri in September of 1864. The bulk of Quantrill's band wintered inGrayson County , Texas
The K.G.C. played the major role in what is referred to as the Northwest Conspiracy. The Confederate plan was to use the great numbers of Knights in the Northern states to foster a revolution that would spread across Indiana , Illinois ,New York , Ohio Kentucky , who was the mastermind behind the huge conspiracy.
Throughout the Civil War, one of the Knights of the Golden Circle 's most important roles came in its infiltration of Union forces. Nowhere in the country was this influence more apparent than in the state of Missouri where K.G.C. members filled the ranks of the Enrolled Missouri Militia which was commonly known as the Paw Paw Militia. A newspaper article from the Daily Times of Leavenworth , Kansas July 29, 1864 , serves as a good example in their interview with a member of the Paw Paw named Andrew E. Smith. Smith said:
I am 22 years old and live in Platte county, about two miles west of Platte City Golden Circle . I joined them at Platte City
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia atAppomattox on April 9, 1865 . Most historians accept this date of surrender as the official end of the Civil War. The Knights of the Golden Circle as an organization, however, continued to work to achieve their goals, which included a prosperous South, for many decades after the Civil War. What had been a secret society adapted to changing conditions and, after the war, became even more secretive than ever before.
In October 1864 U. S. Judge Advocate Joseph Holt submitted a detailed warning to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton about the dangers posed by the Knights of theGolden Circle that was, by that time, operating under various aliases. This document is commonly called the Holt Report, but its real title is A Western Conspiracy in aid of the Southern Rebellion.
After the war's end, the K.G.C. went underground and used many aliases to hide their activities which included making preparations for a second civil war should that option be necessary. Some K.G.C. members accompanied Confederate Gen. Joseph O. Shelby to Mexico . Some soldiers returned to their homes, while others relocated to more remote frontier areas like West Texas where they could help build towns and cities that conformed to their ideals. Some Knights like Jesse Woodson James, older brother Frank James, and Cole Younger turned to robbing Northern-owned railroads, businesses, and banks after the Civil War.
The Knights of the Golden Circle , according to most authorities, ceased its operations in 1916 for two primary reasons. The United States had entered World War I, and by that time most of the old Knights of the Golden Circle had died.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: An Authentic Exposition of the “K.G.C.” “Knights of the Golden Circle,” or, A History of Secession from 1834 to 1861, by A Member of the Order(Indianapolis, Indiana: C. O. Perrine, Publisher, 1861). Donald S. Frazier, Blood & Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1996). Warren Getler and Bob Brewer, Rebel Gold: One Man’s Quest to Crack the Code Behind the Secret Treasure of the Confederacy (New York : Simon & Schuster, 2004). Dion Haco, ed., The Private Journal and Diary of John H. Surratt, The Conspirator (New York: Frederic A. Brady, Publisher, 1866). Joseph Holt, Report of the Judge Advocate General on “The Order of American Knights,” alias “The Sons ofLiberty Raleigh , N.C. May 5, 2010 . Dr. Roy William Roush, The Mysterious and Secret Order of the Knights of theGolden Circle
Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery
Jay Longley and Colin Eby
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The Prescott Journal, Wisconsin November 5, 1862
The Prescott Journal
November 5, 1862.
CORRESPONDENCE.
SPARTA, October 28, 1862.
DEAR
LUTE :—Never were political circles, in this county, more agitated than
at the present moment. Sore-headed and addled-brained Republicans are
uniting with the pure Breckenridge democracy of the E. G. Ryan stripe, against the regular Administration nominee, and we are having a “gay and festive” time.
A
few days since Capt. G. A. Fisk, and Lieut. D. W. Wilson, of the 18th
Reg. Wis. Volunteers, returned from their long and dreary imprisonment
in Dixie. They were taken prisoners at the battle of Shiloh, on the
ever memorable Sabbath of April 6th, 1862. For nearly seven months they
endured sufferings, hardships and privations, a recital of which makes
the blood curdle in the veins. Fiendishness, such as no people under
Heaven making the least pretensions to civilization, ever dreamed of,
has characterized their treatment of these noble men, who are
sacrificing themselves upon the altar of their country’s only hope.
Wilson is an excellent speaker, and he, in connection with the Hon. M.
L. Rice, of Ky., late Adj’t General of the State, have spoken to the
people of this county, Tunnel City, Tomah, and Sparta. Immense crowds
were present at each meeting, and the wildest enthusiasm. Copper-headed
Democrats, of secession proclivities, shrink away from their terrible,
withering denunciations liked whipped curs. These unflinching patriots
have done efficient service there for the Union cause. Hanchett will
get a splendid vote from gallant Monroe. Our shoulders are all put to
the wheel, and we are doing the utmost to sustain the policy of Abraham
Lincoln. The success of the Knights of the Golden Circle in
Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania; the jubilant feeling manifested in
Southern periodicals over these results, and the macchinations of traitors at home, have awakened us to a realizing sense that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” and
and that we must pay the price if we wish to secure the blessing. To
our shame, it is said that we have men among us who talk blatant treason
in the streets, and as yet go unpunished! The reigns must be drawn
tighter. We must show that earnestness and determination in our efforts
to crush this hellish treason, which our enemies do, in their unholy
attempt to destroy the best government on earth.
The
dark thunder cloud of rebellion lowers, the shoals thicken around us,
the vortex yawns, and the boiling surge of traitorous despotism
threatens us all. But,
“Thank God ! that a limit is set.”
A
light breaks away on the lee bow. A grateful breeze from the Capitol
strikes the sails of the old ship of State. She feels it ! She feels
it ! ! The proclamation of Honest Old Abe paralyses the rebellion, the
serpent uncoils his shiny folds, and the glad light of UNIVERSAL
Emancipation breaks in upon the troubled earth.
“The memory of a glory passed away
Lingers in every heart, as in the shell
Ripples the bygone freedom of the sea,
And every day new signs of promises tell
That the great soul of man shall yet be free.”
Lingers in every heart, as in the shell
Ripples the bygone freedom of the sea,
And every day new signs of promises tell
That the great soul of man shall yet be free.”
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
And More Negros in the Ku Klux Klan
From "Jesse James and the Lost Cause"
by Jesse Lee James, published by Pageant Press, New York, 1961.
Excerpt: (Near St. Clair, Texas) "...It was right there, at this spot, that we decided then and there we would join the secret military police system of the old Southland. That organization was the original Klu- Klux-Klan. Some of us were already members of The Knights of the Golden Circle. A brand new idea came into being, since our faithful Negro cooks and camp tenders had helped us without fear. We elected to include into the Klu-Klux-Klan as many trusted Negroes as we could gather around us, so believe it or not, in time we had enlisted and trained nearly twenty thousand Negro KKK's into our police system, so they, the Negroes, could police and supervise their own race of people, thus freeing us for the more dangerous and critical details in dealing with the renegade whites, and those lousy Carpetbaggers."
The Knights of the Golden Circle Research and Historical Archives
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle
http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.com
http://knightsofthegoldencircle.webs.com
Negros in the Ku Klux Klan
I wanted to bring this to your attention because here is an unrelated source that gives some credence to a statement found in the book "Jesse James Was One of His Names" by Del Schrader.
Excerpt: Chapter 8 - The Odyssey of John Wilkes Booth
"Not many people in either the North or South knew that right after the end of the Civil War we recruited twenty-thousand Negro KKK members. They were the most intelligent and reliable blacks we could find. Our theory was that Negroes would take orders easier from other Negroes. They weren't burning crosses or flogging, they were giving counsel and even financial help to the freed, but bewildered slaves. They kept busy knocking stupid ideas out of Negro heads put there by unscrupulous Carpetbaggers."
Compare the statement from the book with the article written below.
Negro Members of the KKK
Updated 3/27/10
http://www.kkklan.com/negroklan.htm
My first source of Negro Klan membership is the book, "The Ku Klux Spirit", by J.A. Rogers, noted Negro historian of the 1920's. The Ku Klux Spirit was first published in 1923, by Messenger Publishing Co. It was republished in 1980, by Black Classic Press. On page 34 of his book we find the amazing passage: "A fact not generally known is that there were thousands of Negro Klansmen. These were used as spies on other Negroes and on Northern Whites."
Very interesting. In the 1920's, there were plenty of original Klansmen still living as well as many other people of both races who lived during the Reconstruction Era. J.A. Rogers would have been able to interview many. Why would a Black historian make such a thing up? And if he did make it up there would have been plenty of people who would have objected. His book would not have survived to this day. Yet, it did.
My second source is a book written by a Carpetbagger, Albion Winegar Tourgee (1838-1905). In 1880 he published his book, "A Fool's Errand", (New York: Fords, Howard and Hubert). It was republished in 1989 by Louisiana State University Press as, "The Invisible Empire". On page 79 of his book we find the passage: "There were no Colored men in the band (of Klansmen) that night. Their hands were not covered. I could see their boots and pants, and I could judge from their hands and feet. Most of them were genteel people, besides being white people. I could also have told by their language if there had been any Colored people among them. Their language was that of white men, and cultivated men."
OK, why claim that no Colored men were riding with the Klan that night unless the witness had seen Colored men with the Klan on another occasion? The men were in their robes since the witness had to look at their uncovered hands to see that no Colored men were among them. If he's not telling the truth, why would a Carpetbagger, of all people, ever make such a thing up?
My third source is, "Ku Klux Klan, It's Origins, Growth, and Disbandment", by J.C. Lester (one of the six original founders of the first Ku Klux Klan) and D.L. Wilson (another early Klansman). The book was first published in 1884. (I have an original copy). Reprints of this book are available from us for $7.00. The book was re-printed in 1905. In that edition, Walter L. Fleming, Ph.D., added an introduction. Again in 1905, there were still plenty of original Klansmen and others who had lived during the Reconstruction Era. In the introduction we find Fleming's statement: "Many of the genuine Unionists later joined in the movement (the KKK), and there were some few Negro members, I have been told."
Now here we are told that there were "some few Negro members". Above we were told that there "were thousands of Negro Klansmen." But that is relative. When one considers that the original KKK had over 400,000 members "some few Negro members" could have totaled several thousand!
My fourth source is an more modern book, "Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography", by Jack Hurst. On page 305 we find this interesting quote: "...(the Klan was) reorganized to oppose radical proponents (the Radical Republicans) of what it perceived to be Black domination, NOT to scourge Blacks themselves. Although it has been written that Ku Klux Klan ranks were open only to the more than 100,000 honorably discharged ex-Confederate veterans, the hierarchy in some areas and some instances seems to have accepted and even recruited Blacks, provided they went along with Conservative-Democratic political philosophy. In Memphis of late 1868, sixty-five Blacks organized a "Colored Democratic Club" under the watchful eye of Klansman-editor Gallaway - - who according to an account in the Appeal, "made a motion on behalf of the White men present, that they give employment and protection to Colored democrats."
So, the Klan not only accepted and recruited Blacks in some areas, but a Klan leader made a motion that White men give employment and protection to Colored democrats. That in itself speaks volumes. Yes, volumes of ignored facts of Klan, Negro, and American history.
That is all I have for documentation that there were Negro members of the original Ku Klux Klan. But, that in itself, is enough to prove their existence! The only thing to do now is to discover more documentation of what may very well be the least known chapter in Black American history. I said before that Americans do not know their own history. In time I will add this to my web page, but how many of you know that there were millions of White slaves (not bonded servants, but true slaves for life) in this country? That there were free Negroes who owned slaves? That there were free Negroes who fought gallantly for the Confederate States? That the Confederate Army did not discriminate against, or pay unequally its Negro soldiers? This and more, in time will be added. But for now, back to the Klan.
When the Klan was revived in 1915 it was originally just for Protestant White men. In time the Klan added the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, teenager and children's groups, groups for the foreign born and Colored men.
Concerning the Colored Klansmen of the 20th century my first source is, "Women of the Klan, Racism and Gender in the 1920's", by Kathleen M. Blee. (1991, University of California Press). On page 169, we find the passage, " Even more strangely, the Klan tried to organize an order of Black Protestants, a Klan "Colored division" in Indiana and other states. Despite promises that the new order would have "all the rights of membership" of the White Klan, much preparation went into ensuring that the values of white supremacy would be preserved as the Klan expanded its racial base. The group was to wear red robes, white capes, and blue masks and was prohibited from being seen in public with White Klansmen or handling any membership funds."
Well, if any of you ever find such a red, white, and blue robe in an antique shop or old trunk somewhere it would be as significant an historical find as discovering an original Klan robe. Likewise with any photos of the Colored Klansmen, newspapers articles, or anything else pertaining to them. Let me know if you do. (I think I'll make a couple reproductions of their robes for display.) It is presently unknown just how far the Colored Man's Klan went or how long they lasted. When the men's Klan had to disband in 1944, the separate Women of the Ku Klux Klan organization did not. They changed their name to the Women's Christian Patriotic Association and continued up to the 1960's. Could this order of Black Protestants have changed its name and still be with us to this day with its origins unknown to historians as well as its own present members?
Now to further add to this my next source of information is from the KKK, itself. In their book, "K.K.K. Friend or Foe: Which?", by attorney Blaine Mast and published in 1924 a chapter is dedicated to discussing the KKK and its relationship to the Black population. In this chapter we see the passage:
"The KKK claims that there is no good reason why the Colored people may not form a Ku Klux Klan of their own, and, as far as the writer knows, such an institution may exist in America. Indeed, we were credibly informed that some months ago a Klan gathering took place in an adjoining state, which was attended by some 20 colored men, for a general invitation had been extended. Those Negroes were so favorably impressed with what a distinguished speaker said, and with the general character and demeanor of the meeting, that they approached the speaker and others in authority and inquired if it were not possible for the Colored people to form a Klan of their own race. If they could get permission to organize they were anxious to do so and hoped for assistance from the officers of the KKK. So, in this particular instance, at least, some Colored men had no fear in associating with Klansmen."
The chapter then went on to outline the ground work for such a Black Klan. It is of interest that in the same book, another chapter is dedicated to discussing the possible formation of a Jewish branch of the Ku Klux Klan. A reprint of this book is available from us for $7.00.
We have recently made a new historical find concerning Negroes in the KKK that you will find surprising. It appears that in some cases Whites and Blacks belonged to the same local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. Our source of information is from the book: Hard Times by Studs Terkel (1970, New York). The book is about the conditions in this country during the Great Depression. On page 239 we read:
"The Ku Klux was formed on behalf of people that wanted a decent living, both black and white. Half the coal camp was colored. It wasn't anti-colored. The black people had the same responsibilities as the white. Their lawn was just as green as the white man's. They got the same rate of pay. There was two colored who belonged to it. I remember those two coming around my father and asking questions about it. They joined. The pastor of our community church was a colored man. He was Ku Klux. It was the only protection the working man had. ....... One time a Negro slapped a white boy. They didn't give him any warning. They whipped him and ran him out of town. If a white man slapped a colored kid, they'd have dome the same thing. They didn't go in for beating up Negroes because they were Negroes. What they did was keep the community decent to live in. What they did object to was obscenity and drinking."
http://www.kkklan.com/negroklan.htm
Friday, November 16, 2012
Setting the Record Straight: Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Boston Corbett and the Enid Connection
Yes, you read that right; Stanton exonerated Corbett.
CCC
Setting the Record Straight: Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Boston Corbett and the Enid Connection
http://www.wadeburleson.org/2008/08/setting-record-straight-abraham-lincoln.html
As one third of the manuscript on the book about the fiasco at the IMB nears completion, an enjoyable diversion has necessitated a post, breaking a three month blogging sabbatical. This post aims to correct the record of a startling connection between the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Enid, Oklahoma.
The historical account of the actual assassination of our sixteenth President of the United States is without factual dispute. What has been open for debate is the number of men (and women) involved in the conspiracy to either kill or kidnap President Lincoln. The Lincoln Conspiracy, a 1977 book by David W. Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr., seeks to prove that in 1865 Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War, and other Radical Republican allies, sought to kidnap Lincoln. They intended to hide Lincoln for a time while bogus articles of impeachment were drafted to remove him as President. The primary motivations for this plot were strong opposition to Lincoln's liberal Reconstruction plans and the loss of profits due to Lincoln's restrictions on the cotton trade during the U.S. Civil War. When the kidnapping was called off, famous actor John Wilkes Booth, one of the co-conspirators in the plot, took matters in his own hands and assassinated the President. After Booth's diary was found by the Union soldiers who shot him, the pages that would have implicated Stanton and others were removed by Stanton's War Department detective who was on the scene, accounting for the eighteen missing pages in Booth's diary. Many Lincoln conspiracy theories abound, as evidenced by the fictional/fantasy 2007 Hollywood movie based on one such conspiracy, entitled National Treasure 2. But most conspiracy theories have little or no credible basis and soon die for lack of scientific, historical, or ultimately public interest.
But one of the most bizarre Lincoln conspiracy theories seems to have very long legs. The New York Times and other international major newspapers continue to follow the story of the Enid Booth Legend.
Booth's Descendents Believe Booth Died in Enid, Oklahoma
The account of how John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., and then escaped by making his way to southern Virginia, where he hid with his accomplice David Herold in the Garrett family barn until Union troops discovered them both, is summarized here. It is without dispute that Union soldiers surrounded the Garrett barn and Herold gave himself up. He was later hanged by the United States government for conspiracy to commit murder of the President. It is in dispute, however, by Booth's descendents, whether or not John Wilkes Booth died at the Garrett barn on April 26, 1865, twelve days after he shot the President. Booth's family alleges that another man, holding Booth's belongings, was shot and killed by a Union soldier who had stuck his rifle through the wooden slats of the barn and fired. The Union soldier who fired his weapon, an evangelical Christian by the name of Boston Corbett, violated the direct orders of his superior officer by firing, but later explained his actions, according to modern biographer James Swanson, with these words; "Providence directed me." Boston Corbett was himself arrested for conspiracy to commit murder of President Lincoln, chiefly for killing the assassin who could have explained why he did what he did and identifying any others involved. But Boston Corbett himself was later exonerated by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who declared, "The traitor is dead. The patriot lives."
Booth's family believes Edwin Stanton and the War Department detective on the scene went to great efforts to cover up the identity of the man who was killed in Garrett's barn. They say that a simple farm hand, helping both Booth and Herold that night, was the man killed, and Booth was escaped. Their argument is summarized in the legal documents that comprise the 1994 lawsuit Kline vs. Green Mount Cemetery, where the Booth family urges exhumation of the body buried in Green Mount Cemetery to prove that another man, not Booth, was killed by Boston Corbett. In an attempt to prove the necessity to exhume the body, the plaintiffs in the case used the Enid Booth Legend as the basis for their belief that John Wilkes Booth actually committed suicide 38 years later in Enid, Oklahoma, at the age of 65.
The Most Famous Mummy Since King Tut
I've lived in Enid for sixteen years and am very familiar with the Booth legend. The History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and several Civil War authors have made their way to Enid in order to either film or research the story. I have taken several people to downtown Enid on field trips to explain the bizarre Booth legend and have recounted it countless times. A simple search of internet sites will bring you reams of printable material on the subject, but this blog is designed to give you a concise history of the Booth Legend in order to correct a recent error in the Oklahoma Historical Chronicle concerning Boston Corbett, the man historians say killed John Wilkes Booth.
Contemporary newspaper accounts for January, 1903, record for us that a man named David E. George killed himself by strychnine poisoning in room number 4 of the old Grand Hotel, which was located on the second floor of what is now Garfield Furniture in downtown Enid. Strychnine poisoning causes a very agonizing death, and when people heard the screaming from room 4, they couldn't get through the locked door, so they vaulted a young child through the transom above, and the door was unlocked from the inside. The adults sought to assist the dying David E. George only to be shocked at his audible confession that he was, in fact, John Wilkes Booth. George died shortly thereafter, and the furniture store owner across the street, who served as the funeral home director as well (as was common in those days), took possession of the body until next of kin could be located.
The body was carefully prepared by Penniman Furniture Store and Funeral Home, using materials now outlawed, and as a result, the body was mummified within hours. Stories circulated in newspapers across the United States that the real John Wilkes Booth had died in Enid, Oklahoma and was on display in the window of the Penniman Funeral home, awaiting next of kin to claim the body. Within ten days of his death, several prominent Enid businessmen had performed analysis of the handwriting on the George suicide note, comparing it with a note feartured in the Harper Brother's Pictorial History of the Civil War, that the United States Government says came from the handwriting of John Wilkes Booth. The similarities were uncanny. In addition, physicians examined the body and noticed similarities to wounds known to be consistent with wounds suffered by John Wilkes Booth, including a broken tibia, a facial/neck scar, and a crushed thumb.
An attorney in Memphis named Finis Bates read a newspaper account of George's death and made his way to Enid to see if David George was the same man he knew as John St. Helen in Granbury, Texas in the 1870's. It seems that Finis Bates, who by the way is the grandfather of actress Kathy Bates, was friends with John St. Helen, and on one occasion, when John St. Helen was seriously ill (he thought near death), he confided to Finis Bates that he was John Wilkes Booth. Upon recovery, St. Helen denied ever saying he was Booth. Yet, a while later, a United States Federal Marshall showed up in Grandbury, Texas, asking questions about John St. Helen. It seems when people went to look for Mr. St. Helen, he had mysteriously disappeared. Finis Bates never forgot his friend, and wondered if David George could be the same man.
Finis Bates rushed to Enid to check it out. Upon arriving in Enid, Bates headed to the Pennimann Furniture Store and Funeral Home to see the body of David E. George. Yes! This was the man he had known as John St. Helen. Finis Bates, an attorney and skilled at getting things accomplished, obtained the mummy and took it back to Memphis. He spent five years conducting research to prepare a book about this matter, all the while hiding the mummy in his garage during this time. In 1908, Bates released his book entitled The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth.
Soon the mummy was on display around the United States in special exhibits, including World Fairs, circus shows, and college campus lectures. At one time in the 1940's Henry Ford expressed interest in purchasing the mummy, but he soon publically revealed his own personal disbelief in the Enid Booth Legend. The mummy was eventually sold by Finis Bates to a travelling circus, but the trail of ownership eventually became lost, as well as the mummy itself, with the last public appearance being in the mid 1970's. Were the mummy to reappear because someone discovered stored in a warehouse, it would cause quite a stir on several fronts. In addition, the owner would stand to make millions because of the recent Booth lawsuit and publicity in light of modern advances in scientific analysis, including DNA.
The Sentence That Caused Me to Fall Out of My Chair
I am personally skeptical of the Enid Booth Legend. David E. George/alias John St. Helen/alias John Wilkes Booth is a fascinating person, but I remain unconvinced he was John Wilkes Booth. The man who really interests me is Boston Corbett, the soldier who shot the man alleged to be John Wilkes Booth in the Garrett barn. Not many people know much about Boston Corbett, including historians. However, he is a man that should be studied.
Particularly since the prestigious Oklahoma Historical Society wrote in its May 22, 2008 Historical Chronicle Magazine that "Boston Corbett is buried in Enid." This sentence is the last sentence of the article written by highly respected historian Dr. Guy Logsdon. I called Dr. Logsdon at his home in Tulsa and asked him for his source material for his statement. He assured me that he had it but it could possibly take a few weeks for him to find it. I respect Dr. Logsdon and look forward to him providing the source material for his statement, but until he does, I felt it appropriate to place the only source material I have on Boston Corbett's death on this blog. Dr. Logsdon's research may well prove mine to be insufficient, and if he is, indeed, correct on his assertion that Boston Corbett is buried in Enid, then other historians looking into the Lincoln assassination may not feel as inclined to call this fact "coincidence."
Truthfully, when I read the May 22, 2008 Oklahoma Historical Chronicle article that asserted Boston Corbett was buried in Enid, I about fell out of my chair. I am friends with the owner of Bass Construction, Bob Barry, whose grandfather, Henry B. "Heiney" Bass, was considered the premier historian on Abraham Lincoln in his day. Heiney was close friends with Carl Sandburg, Harry Truman and other lovers of history, and would make an annual trip to the Truman Library to discuss historical research regarding the Civil War. Heiney, who died in 1975, is in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and his entire library is in the Western Heritage Museum at Oklahoma University. This library contains the largest collection of Lincoln poetry in the world, including a few either written by Lincoln's own hand, or signed by Lincoln, that would be worth today millions of dollars.
Heiney's grandson, Bob, has donated to me a copy of his grandfather's personal journals where Heiney writes about Lincoln, Corbett, Booth, David George and the Enid collection. History records for us the bizarre antics of Boston Corbett (self-castration, growing his hair like Jesus, breaking up a mock Kansas Legislative Sesssion, etc.), but Heiney Bass tells us in his journal something that very few people know. He writes on February 15, 1959 that
Boston Corbett appeared in Enid, Oklahoma. Kansas authorities were relieved to be rid of the troublesome hero and made no effort to secure his return. For some time Boston Corbett peddled patent medicine for W.W. Garrit and Company of Topeka. Then his shadowy figure faded away. No authentic report of his ultimate fate has ever been recorded. Whether he died in Enid and found a burial place in a potter's field or drifted on seems to be veiled in eternal silence.
If Dr. Guy Logsdon has uncovered that Boston Corbett is actually buried in Enid, Oklahoma, then this little hamlet in northwestern Oklahoma may have much more to do with Lincoln's assassination than heretofore told.
Time will tell.
http://www.wadeburleson.org/2008/08/setting-record-straight-abraham-lincoln.html
The Knights of the Golden Circle Research and Historical Archives
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle
http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.com
http://knightofthegoldencircle.wordpress.com
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Search for buried treasure: The mystery of millions in lost Confederate gold
SEPTEMBER 18, 2012
BY: BARBARA SCHNEIDER
In April 1865, the Civil War ended for most Americans; however, the War and its various aspects continue to capture the interest and imagination of many Americans, who are fascinated by the conflict.
One of the big mysteries remaining is "what happened to the Confederate treasury" or "Confederate gold" that went missing during and after the American Civil War. For years, treasure hunters and historians have tried to solve this mystery, without too much luck.
Millions in gold said to have been lost during and after the Civil War – buried by individual plantation owners and even by the Confederate government to keep it out of the hands of the Union. $30 million dollars may have been buried
Photo credit: Various sources
One version of the story tells how Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, was attending church in Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday, April 2, 1865, when he learned that Lee’s defensive line at Petersburg had been broken and the evacuation of Richmond was imminent. President Davis pleaded with General Lee to form defense lines for just one more day. He then informed his cabinet that Richmond was to be evacuated and they would take the Confederate treasury with them. Lee advised Davis that he had until 8 p.m. to load the gold, valuables, and cabinet members onto two trains that would travel south on the only line still open. Confederate officials boarded the first train, while the second train carried a “special cargo” comprised of gold ingots, gold double eagle coins, silver coins, silver bricks and Mexican silver dollars.
When the train tracks ended, Davis and his staff traveled south on horseback. The treasure, placed into containers once used for sugar, coffee, flour, and ammunition, was loaded into in wagons for the trip to the old US Mint in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, somewhere in Wilkes County, Georgia, the wagon train was bushwhacked by stragglers from the Federal and Confederate armies, who had heard of the treasure. Residents of Wilkes County who witnessed the event said that the bushwhackers waded knee-deep in gold and silver coinage before loading it in all kinds of bags and sacks and riding away.
The belief that Confederate gold is buried in Wilkes County has persisted since the end of the war. However, searches conducted throughout the years have found nothing of value there.
Some of the Confederate treasures reportedly buried in light of Union take over were:
$30 Million in gold buried outside of Savannah, Georgia, a hub of minting, trading, and gold mining before it fell to Union forces. The rumor is that the gold was buried under the name of a confederate general between two false generals in a cemetery.
$500,000 in Confederate Gold bullion is said to be located in West Central Broward County, allegedly buried by Captain John Riley, who planned to have it shipped to Cuba but was being pursued by Union soldiers, and so he buried it.
$100,000 in Confederate gold went missing in Georgia in 1865, when two wagon trains filled with gold were robbed at Chennault Crossroads in Lincoln County. There are different theories about what happened to the gold. Apparently, it never left the county, and after heavy rains, many gold coins have been found along the road to Chennault Plantation.
Another treasure tale about hidden Confederate gold has the Confederacy moving money to Columbia, Tennessee. By all accounts, $100,000 in gold and silver coins was being transported by wagon in two wooden crates. As the men transporting the money neared Athens, Alabama, the wagon became stuck in a muddy “bog hole.” As they tried to free the wagon, they were warned that Union soldiers were on the way. Afraid that the money would fall into Union hands, the men buried the crates of gold and silver about a half mile west of an old stream crossing, about four miles north of Athens, Alabama in Limestone County. And as the story goes, the coins have never been recovered.
Canada may also hold millions in Confederate gold. Southern spies preparing for a Confederate resurgence after the Civil War are said to have buried millions of dollars in gold at sites across Canada in the 1860s. Canada was an important haven for Confederate operatives during the Civil War, who went on to form the nucleus of a secret society -- the Knights of the Golden Circle -- that kept the South's dream of independence alive for decades after the Union army's victory.
By war's end, exiled Confederates and Knights of the Golden Circle operating out of Canada had amassed a treasury estimated to be more than $2 million in gold and silver coins. Because of the strict secrecy surrounding the cash reserves and the generations that have passed since the money was buried, no one can for say for sure where the treasure is.
So whether the treasure was squirreled away for the day when the “South would rise again,” or simply hidden or lost, the fact remains there may be a fortune in Confederate gold buried across not only a dozen states in the South, but in Canada as well.
Happy treasure hunting!
BARBARA SCHNEIDER
http://www.examiner.com/article/search-for-buried-treasure-the-mystery-of-millions-lost-confederate-gold
The Knights of the Golden Circle and their importance to Arkansas History
BY: TOMMY TABLER
The Knights of the Golden Circle over the past few years have become an explored topic of military history that people are curious about. For most people when the the KGC is brought up the idea of treasure is not far behind. The K.G.C 's defintion is not as cut and dry as what encyclopedia's have made them sound. Encyclopedia.com refers to the K.G.C as being a "secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War." No doubt exist that their were men tht were operatng in the North to do to harm to the Union.
The next few articles this week will examine the K.G.C. The articles this week will also attempt to answer the question as to whether or not the K.G.C. were using the Fort Smith, Arkansas and surronding areas to the South as places to leave money for what was the eventual plan of starting another Civil War. Recently, the History Channel performed a look over the K.G.C. that studied the question as to whether or not their is buried treasure throughout the former Confederacy. Names that have been linked to the K.G.C. will also have their own articles and it will be examined whether those men had key roles in attempting to store money so that the South could rise again. The names such as Albert Pike, Jesse James, and Frank James are worthy of study because their is simply too much smoke for their not to be a fire and evidence of those men having taken part in some K.G.C. activity.
The Knights of the Golden Circle are a group that did their best to not be found and remain hidden but over time evidence of their existence has come out. A large number of people think that their code has been cracked in how and where they hid their money for starting a new military and government to go against the Federal system that was put into place. The question as to whether or not John Wilkes Booth was a member will also be studied and examined this week. The articles that are written over the next few days are not just going to apply on a local Fort Smith front but will also expand a bit to both theaters of the Civil War in the West and the East. The people that love conspiracy and military history should enjoy the next week or so greatly. To the folks that are skeptical of the K.G.C we will both go on an interesting ride.
For more information on the Knights of the Golden Circle:
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-knights-of-the-golden-circle-and-their-importance-to-arkansas-history
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle.aspx
Knights of the Golden Circle. Possible Names
The Knights of the Golden Circle while being active in both the North and the South had some major names that are connected with the organization. The rumors and conspiracy that swarm around some of the men that will be named in this article are just that rumors fo.r the time being. Why is this important to the Fort Smith, Arkansas area? The answer to that question is very simple. Men like Albert Pike, Jesse James,Frank James, and General Ben McCulloch were known to be in the area during the Civil War.
Albert Pike was a Confederate officer and served at the Battle of Pea Ridge. In Bob Brewer’s work Rebel Gold Pike is sighted as being the brains behind the Knights of the Golden Circle instead of George Bickley who is thought to have founded the group. An open mind is key to the study of Pike because the K.G.C. was heavy into the use of Masonic symbols. Pike was a Master Mason and the possiblity looms that he at least wrote some of the codes for the K.G.C. Pike may have been against slavery but the possiblity looms that he may have been more heavily involved in the K.G.C. than what most historians are willing to give him credit for.
With Jesse and Frank James it is no mystery why their names are linked with the K.G.C.. Jesse and Frank were both in favor of taking the fight to the Federal forces and both served in guerrila forces. Jesse and Frank are known to have robbed several stagecoaches here in Arkansas and the idea was to use and bury as much money as they could so the South could rise again. K.G.C. leadership knew that starting another war was simply not possible after the Civil War so most were going to take their time and wait to strike when the time was right. Their is simply not enough none right now as to what the James boys were up to but again Bob Brewer has cracked the code of the K.G.C. and has identified James symbols in the treasure sites he has discovered.
General Ben McCulloch was another K.G.C. leader and in Texas was in charge of the surrender General Twigg’s U.S. forces. McCulloch. At the outbreak of the war the K.G.C. leadership clamied to have numbers near the 65,000 mark. McCulloch met his end at Pea Ridge but he was another member of the K.G.C. The number of members that were known and thought to be members are secondary when it is possible that the clear numbers of people in the organzation are simply not know. Anger was still deep in the South and anyone could have been a part the K.G.C..
For more information read:
http://www.examiner.com/article/knights-of-the-golden-circle-possible-names
Keehn, David Strong Arm of Secession The Knights of the Golden Circle in tthe Crisis of 1861North and South Vol 10 Num 6
Brewer, Bob Rebel Gold 2003 Simon & Schuster New York, New York
Grand Jury Indicts Knights of the Golden Circle
The United States Grand Jury of the Indiana District
Present the Orsanization as Treasonable.
August 7, 1862
The Grand Jury of the Circuit and District Court of
the United States for the District of Indiana has just made the following
presentment:
In the District Court of the United States, for the
District of Indiana, May Term, 1862.
The Grand Jurors of the United States of America,
within and for the District of Indiana, impanneled, sworn and charged in said
District at said May Term thereof, having about completed their labors, (and
being now ready to adjourn,) feel it their imperative dutyto announce, in a
respectful manner, to this Honorable Court, the general features of some
startling developments made during their investigations. These developments,
when considered in connection with the disturbed condition of the country, by
reason of the causeless and atrocious rebellion against the Constitution and
laws of the land, are deemed of the gravest importance, and should be made
known, that prompt and efficient measures may be taken by the civil and military
authorities to meet and ward off the effect of the wicked and treasonable
designs of those connected with such developments.
A recent act of Congress made it the duty of the
Grand Jury to inquire into any combinations or conspiracies formed by
individuals within the jurisdiction of the Court to prevent the execution of any
law of the United States. Having heard that organizations with this object in
view existed in certain localities, witnesses were sent for, and brought before
the Grand Jury. These witnesses came from many counties, and lived in various
parts of the State. After a careful and diligent examination of the testimony
from witnesses well acquainted with the facts deposed, and having a personal
knowledge of the matters, said Grand Jury are constrained to say that a secret
and oath-bound organization exists, numbering some fifteen thousand in Indiana,
as estimated by the members of their Order, commonly known as Knights of the
Golden Circle, and even in the same localities by different names. Their lodges,
or "Castles," as they denominate them, are located in various parts of the
State, yet they have common signs, grips, and words whereby the members are able
to distinguish each other, and passwords to enable the member to enter the
castle in which he was initiated, or any other which such member may choose to
visit. They have signals by which they can communicate with each other in the
day, or the night time; and, above all, they have a signal or sign which may be
recognized at a great distance from the person giving it. This last signal, we
regret to say, was invented for the use of such members as should, by means of
the draft or otherwise, be compelled to serve in the ranks of the army. In such
case, members of the Order serving in opposing armies receiving the sign are
reminded of their obligation not to injure the member giving it. This signal is
given in every instance upon the initiation of a new member, and its observance
is strictly enjoined upon every individual belonging to the Order. By the
teachings of the organization, it is the duty of its members engaged in the
present war, although arrayed on opposite sides, upon the signal being given, if
they shoot at all, "to shoot over each other." Many members of the Order,
examined before us, admit the binding force of the obligation, and pretend to
justify it as correct in principle.
Said Grand Jury would respectfully submit that the
effect of such obligation is to set aside the oath taken by every soldier when
he enters the service of the United States. The obligation imposed by the
organization alluded to is inconsistent with the duties of a soldier who in
battle dare not spare the person of his enemy. We must either disarm or destroy
him, and especially so long as the rebel may be seeking to take the life of the
loyal soldier. To do otherwise would be grosly treacherous, and justly subject
the guilty party to a traitor's doom.
From the evidence introduced before said Grand
Jury, it would seem that the Order called the Knights of the Golden Circle had
their origin in some of the Southern States, and was introduced into this State
from Kentucky. Its primary object, when it [???] was to organize the [???] of
the institution of African Slavery in the United States, for the purpose of
[???] more territory in Mexico and the Central American States, and also the
acquisition of Cuba, thereby to extend and [???] a great slave empire, even
thought it should dye those countries in human blood. Hence the various raids
made upon those countries which have called forth from time to time the
proclamations of our former Presidents, denouncing such attempts and threatening
the exercise of the power of the Government to put them down. Wicked as these
hellish schemes were, said Grand Jury would not have troubled this Honorable
Court with this [???] had the [???] of the Knights of the Golden Circle been
confined solely to their original designs. Finding how useful such an
organization was for the purposes originally intended, said Grand Jury believe
that it not only extends at present through every part of the South, and every
department of the rebel army, but during the last Winter and Spring was
introduced into the State of Indiana and other Northern States. Since that time
it has made alarming progress in our midst, when entirely new features attached
to it in view of the unnatural conflict now desolating our country. Not only are
the loyal soldiers in the army to be treacherously betrayed in the bloody hour
of battle, by the signals before referred to, but said Grand Jury have abundant
evidence of the membership binding themselves to resist the payment of the
Federal tax and prevent enlistments in the armies of the United
States.
It is a fact worthy of note, and conclusively
shown, that in localities where this organization extensively prevails there has
been a failure to furnish a fair proportion of volunteers. Said Grand Jury,
after a thorough examination on that point, have been unable to find any
instance where a member of said organization had volunteered to fight for the
Union under the late requisition for volunteers. Said Grand Jury were informed
that an individual of the Order had proposed to make up a company to be called
"Jay Hawkers." composed exclusively of "Knights of the Golden Circle." But said
Grand Jury believe that at no time was the proposition seriously entertained,
but in fact only intended as a cover to hide their treasonable purposes when
they found they were about to be discovered.
The meetings of the Order referred to are hold on
in by-places, sometimes in the woods, and at other times in deserted houses. Its
members frequently attend with arms in their hands, and in almost every instance
armed sentinels are posted to keep off intruders. Youths not more than sixteen
years of age are in many cases introduced and initiated into its mysteries. The
credulous and unwary are often allured into the fold of the Order, upon the
pretext that it was instituted for no other purpose than the better organization
of their party. Its real character and teachings are sedulously concealed until
the oath of secrecy has been in due form administered. Having taken the first
degree, the initiate is familiarized with the obligations and opinions of his
associates, and is gradually prepared for the second degree. When he is further
taught, and found apt to learn, and ready to adopt its principles and teachings,
he is obligated in the highest degree, and is turned out upon the country a
thorough traitor, with the wicked purposes already specified. Said Grand Jury
are happy to know that in many cases individuals, after their first introduction
into the Order, seeing its evil tendencies,have abandoned it, although
unwilling, on account of their obligations of secrecy, and for fear of personal
violence, are reluctant to fully expose its treacherous principles.
Since said Grand Jury began said investigation, it
has been discovered that the Order exists among the prisoners of war now in Camp
Morton, who refuse to testify, upon the ground that it may implicate the members
of their Order in Indiana, and thereby injure the cause of the Southern
Confederacy.
For the purpose of evading any legal liability, in
case of judicial investigation, it appears that their signs are to be used to
enable them to get members of their Order on the jury, in case of criminal
charges being preferred against them, and by changes of venue, and appeals from
a Judge who does not belong to the Order, to create judicial delays, until they
can find a Judge or juror belonging to this Order, and thus escape all legal
liability.
Said Grand Jury have no doubt that the Order of the
"Knights of the Golden Circle" exists in many localitics in Indiana where their
vigilance has not been able to penetrate. They have labored under many
difficulties in their researches, and have drawn evidence in most of the cases
from unwilling witnesses. Judicial oaths have but little binding force where
individuals once consent to abandon the allegiance they owe their country. The
general facts, however, so far as they have come to the knowledge of the said
Grand Jury, have been submitted to this honorable Court. They feel it their duty
to do so. The safety of the country in this hour of peril and civil strife
demands it at their hands. The power of such an organization to do harm, acting
as one man, with one purpose in view, with their influence, may be appreciated
by the honorable Court. It is the place where treason is concocted -- the nest
where traitors are hatched.
The Grand Jury, therefore, respectfully ask this
Court that this their presentment may be spread upon the records.
WILLIAM P. [???], Foreman; Charles H. Test, George
Moon, Wm. A. Montgomery, James Blake, T.B. McCarty, Daniel Sigler, Leonidas
Sexton, Ben. G. Stout, James Hill, Daniel Sagre, H.D.Scott, Robt. Parrett, Fred.
S. Brown.
The Knights of the Golden Circle Research and Historical Archives
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle
http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.com
http://knightofthegoldencircle.wordpress.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle
http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.com
http://knightofthegoldencircle.wordpress.com
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