The Knights of the Golden Circle, or the K.G.C, originally was founded around the mid-nineteenth century by a man named George W.L. Bickley. Records suggest the organization began in Lexington, Kentucky on the 4th of July in 1854. However the first castle, local branch, was established in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854. After the Mexican-American war of 1846, they wanted to expand their pro-slavery interests by providing force to colonize the West Indies and the northern part of Mexico. The original goal of this organization was to annex, to add, territories in Mexico, Cuba, north South America, Central America, and the Caribbean as slave states for the U.S. ,and to increase the power of the Southern slave-holding upper class to such a degree that it could never be dislodged. Tensions rose after the outcome of the Dred Scott case, so members proposed to create a separate confederation of slave states. States that would be South of the Mason-Dixon Line would secede and join with other seceded states to be formed from the golden circle. On May 7-11 1860, the K.G.C. held their convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. 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. It was reported they had about 48,000 members in the North of men who supported the south plus the additional, yet rapidly growing, 14,000 men in the South. 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 of America. After the outbreak of the Civil War, on April 12, 1861, they changed plans to help support the Confederacy. Before the war had even begun the K.G.C. had already had their own well-organized army.
During the Civil War, southern sympathizers were imprisoned for supposedly belonging to the Knights of the Golden Circle.
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 on February 15, 1861. In May 1861, The K.G.C. attacked and burned down a pro-union newspaper, the Alamo Express.
During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, scam artists in south-central Pennsylvania sold Pennsylvania Dutch farmers $1 paper tickets allegedly to be from the Knights of the Golden Circle. Along with a series of secret hand gestures, these tickets were supposed to protect the horses and other possessions of ticket holders from seizure by invading Confederate soldiers. However, they took what they needed anyway. embers of the Knights of the Golden Circle in San Francisco outfitted the schooner J.M. Chapman as a Confederate privateer in San Francisco Bay, with the object of raiding commerce on the Pacific Coast and capturing gold shipments to the East Coast. Their attempt was detected and they were seized on the night of their intended departure.
In late 1863 they reorganized as the Order of American Knights. Then in 1864, the Order of the Sons of Liberty. In most areas only a minority of its membership was radical enough to discourage enlistments, resist the draft, and shield deserters. The K.G.C. held numerous peace meetings.
It is believed the K.G.C. went underground to become a secret society. They claim that the KGC's new mission was to support a second, former confederate, uprising against the U.S. Federal Government. However, these superstitions cannot be supported with evidence.
Supposed Members:
John Wilkes Booth - Assassinated Abe Lincoln
Jesse James - Outlaw
Buckner Stith Morris - Mayor of Chicago (1838-1839)
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 on February 15, 1861. In May 1861, The K.G.C. attacked and burned down a pro-union newspaper, the Alamo Express.
During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, scam artists in south-central Pennsylvania sold Pennsylvania Dutch farmers $1 paper tickets allegedly to be from the Knights of the Golden Circle. Along with a series of secret hand gestures, these tickets were supposed to protect the horses and other possessions of ticket holders from seizure by invading Confederate soldiers. However, they took what they needed anyway. embers of the Knights of the Golden Circle in San Francisco outfitted the schooner J.M. Chapman as a Confederate privateer in San Francisco Bay, with the object of raiding commerce on the Pacific Coast and capturing gold shipments to the East Coast. Their attempt was detected and they were seized on the night of their intended departure.
In late 1863 they reorganized as the Order of American Knights. Then in 1864, the Order of the Sons of Liberty. In most areas only a minority of its membership was radical enough to discourage enlistments, resist the draft, and shield deserters. The K.G.C. held numerous peace meetings.
It is believed the K.G.C. went underground to become a secret society. They claim that the KGC's new mission was to support a second, former confederate, uprising against the U.S. Federal Government. However, these superstitions cannot be supported with evidence.
Supposed Members:
John Wilkes Booth - Assassinated Abe Lincoln
Jesse James - Outlaw
Buckner Stith Morris - Mayor of Chicago (1838-1839)