Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
Has anyone ever heard of this or have we discussed this before and I've forgotten it? I know we have talked a bit about the Copperhead and the Fifth Column but I am drawing a blank on this "Golden Circle".
Knights of the Golden Circle - A secret society formed in 1854 by George W.L. Bickley, a quack Cincinnati physician, the Knights were dedicated to supporting pro-slavery policies and promoting the American conquest of Mexico. Allied with the Copperhead segment of the Democratic party, the Knights co-ordinated terrorist rides and other illegal activities throughout Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. At one point, General Ulysses S. Grant had to disband a unit of the Illinois militia because it was virtually a branch of the Knights.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.
Knights of the Golden Circle
A secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War. Its members were known as Copperheads. Dr. George W. L. Bickley, a Virginian who had moved to Ohio, organized the first “castle,” or local branch, in Cincinnati in 1854 and soon took the order to the South, where it was enthusiastically received. Its principal object was to provide a force to colonize the northern part of Mexico and thus extend proslavery interests, and the Knights became especially active in Texas. Secession and the outbreak of the Civil War prompted a shift in its aims from filibustering in Mexico to support of the new Southern government. Appealing to the South’s friends in the North, particularly in areas that were suffering economic dislocation, the order soon spread to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. Its membership in these states, where it became strongest, was largely composed of Peace Democrats, who felt that the Civil War was a mistake and that the increasing power of the federal government was leading toward tyranny. They did not, however, at this time engage in any treasonable activity. In late 1863 the Knights of the Golden Circle was reorganized as the Order of American Knights and again, early in 1864, as the Order of the Sons of Liberty, with Clement L. Vallandigham, most prominent of the Copperheads, as its supreme commander. Only a minority of its membership was radical enough—in some localities—to discourage enlistments, resist the draft, and shield deserters. Numerous peace meetings were held. A few extreme agitators, some of them encouraged by Southern money, talked of a revolt in the Old Northwest, which, if brought about, would end the war. Southern newspapers wishfully reported stories of widespread disaffection, and John Hunt Morgan’s raid (1863) into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio was undertaken in the expectation that the disaffected element would rally to his standard. Gov. Oliver P. Morton of Indiana and Gen. Henry B. Carrington effectively curbed the Sons of Liberty in that state in the fall of 1864. With mounting Union victories late in 1864, the order’s agitation for a negotiated peace lost appeal, and it soon dissolved.
See G. F. Milton, Abraham Lincoln and the Fifth Column (1942, repr. 1962); R. O. Curry, A House Divided (1964).
__________________ Thea
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The Knights seem to be as will o' the wisp in the North during the war as was servile insurrection in the South- and much less effective in providing aid and comfort where it wished. They appear to be the forerunners to today's hollywood activist, MSM, & east coast elitist liberals to the current chimera of the Democratic Party.
Has anyone ever heard of this or have we discussed this before and I've forgotten it? I know we have talked a bit about the Copperhead and the Fifth Column but I am drawing a blank on this "Golden Circle".
Thea,
We have discussed the Knights a little. They were the northern backers of the Filibusters. William Walker etc. Before the war they were pretty much wealthier people hoping to get even wealthier by helping to fund adventurers. But the problem with rich folks is they do not tend to usually get rich by such actions. They throw a few thousand token dollars away on the long shot but rarely continue with the good money after bad. During the war I have little doubt these gentlemen we the ones speculating on smuggled cotton and the like.
As a secret organization it wasn't much. Unless.....hmmmmm well, I suppose in theory they could be so powerful and so secret that we never heard much more from them. Hmmmmm in which case I say I think they are a great bunch of guys.
Just came across this tidbit about the Knights of the Golden Circle that I did not know previously. Started at a time when slaveholding territory looked hemmed in to the west and north, the slaveholding powers looked to the rest of the Americas for new lands to bring into their domain. The 1850's saw the undertaking of numerous philibustering expeditions, warmly endorsed by the Southern states and the Knights- the Lopez & Quitman Cuba adventures, William Walker's Sonoma & Nicaragua ventures, which last actually succeeded for a time. The 'Golden Circle' referred to an arc of new slave territory extending from northern Mexico, through Latin America, the South American Caribbean rim, and on through the West Indies to Cuba and linkage on Key West. The goal, to quote Bickley- "We shall have in our hands the Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar, Coffee, Rice, Corn, and Tea lands of the continent, and the world's great storehouse of mineral wealth." (from McPherson's BCOF.)
Thomas P. Kettell authored History of the Great Rebellion in 1866. He had this to say about the Knights of the Golden Circle in regards to the 1856 presidential race Fremont vs Buchanan:
"In order to accomplish this change several things were necessary.
The minds of the prominent men in the South must be prepared for it,
without creating excitement or apprehension on the part of the North.
For this purpose a secret society, the "Knights of the Golden Circle,"
having for its primary object the extension and defense of slavery, was
organized, and several degrees, in the Masonic order, were open to
the aspirant for high rank in it. To the initiated of the highest rank
only was the whole plot revealed, and the others, with but an imperfect
idea of its purposes, were employed to further its designs. Among the
officers and members of the higher degrees of the order were, it was
said, cabinet and other officers of the Government, and prominent citizens of all the Southern and of some of the Northern States.
The conspirators also sought to procure arms and money in aid of the secession movement, which they had resolved should take place immediately after the next presidential election. This was a comparatively easy task. Three of the members of Mr. Buchanan’s Cabinet were their friends and at their service."
The head of the KGC was from MS. He was a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason. He was a Brid. Gen in the CS Army. He resigned after his army was accused of atrocities (in Arkansas I think). The organization had ties into the North. Ever wonder what became of all the money Jesse James stole? There are no records of where he might have spent it. How many others stole and catched the loot?
Perhaps this explains why homes in the South were spared destruction by Northern officers? The 'Masonic' secret sign is often referred to as given by Southern officers to Northern officers, in 1864 Georgia, and the home wasn't burned.
ewc (Ed),
I completely agree with your post # 2 regarding the present Democratic party and Hollywood, liberals, MSM and the whole shebang! Eeek! ;-)
In every struggle in US history, there is usually found a group that supports the opponent. This is usually any "anti-war" group in existance.
__________________ F. S. Powers
Union Ancersor: Pvt Arnuah Norton, 60th Ohio. (G-G-G Grandfather) Died at Salisbury NC, November 3, 1864
Confederate Ancestors: Captain Thomas A. Morrow, 29th Texas Cavalry (G-G-G- Uncle) and 2LT George W. Morrow, 31st Texas Cavalry (G-G-G Grandfather). Both survived the war
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