knights of the golden circle members list

Converts came from all strata of Bell County society: prominent Belton physician, Salado planter, judges, powerful county politicians and prosperous merchants. In either case, the goal was to increase the power of the Southern slave-holding upper class to such a degree that it could never be dislodged.[3]. Knights of the Golden Circle Despite this, conspiracy theorists such as David Icke and Was Penre, have argued that the Bavarian Illuminati survived, possibly to this day, though very little reliable evidence can be found to support the idea that Weishaupts group survived into the 19th century. William Yeats, and Aleister Crowly are two of the more famous members of the group. The KGC are the villains of the graphic novel Batman: Detective No. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law. Abraham Lincoln sent his secretary, John Hay, to investigate. The K.G.C. In the William Martin novel The Lincoln Letter (2012), the KGC are a group of conspirators in Washington, DC, during the Civil War. Discover more about Copperhead opposition to Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. presidential election of 1864, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Knights-of-the-Golden-Circle, Texas State Historical Association - Handbook of Texas - Knights of the Golden Circle. Section 107 related to Copyright and Fair Use for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. Appealing to the Confederacy's friends in the North and in the border states, the Order spread to Kentucky as well as the southern parts of such Union states as Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. In an angry letter to Seward, Pierce denied that he knew anything about the KGC, and demanded that his letter be made public. WebThe Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society originally founded to promote the interests of the Southern United States. The Hashshashin, or Nizari, were a mysterious band of Muslim assassins that operated in the Middle East during the 13th century. Secret society in the mid-19th-century US, Plans to seize Lincoln and inaugurate Breckinridge as president. In the summer of 1863, Congress authorized a military draft, which the administration soon put into operation. The Secretary of War, John Floyd and of Treasury, Howell Cobb, were members of the circle, in addition to Vice President John Breckenridge. As anti-slavery agitation increased after the Dred Scott Decision was issued, the members proposed a separate confederation of slave states, with U.S. states south of the Mason-Dixon line to secede and to align with other slave states to be formed from the golden circle. accessed May 01, 2023, Reports of K.G.C. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. 2: Fellow Craft, this is an intermediate degree in which you are meant to develop further knowledge of Masonry. This list represents a tiny portion of the KGC's hundreds of thousands of members but it Within a short time, Bickley and his disciples organized 32 Knights chapters in Texas, called castles, as they wooed prominent businessmen, landowners and politicians to their cause. Various clandestine actions were undertaken to accomplish this, including a plan in 1861 to intercept Abraham Lincoln in Baltimore and kidnap him before he could take the Oath of Office (which Allen Pinkerton scuttled). None of them can be reliably documented, Campbell added. WebThey 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 It was concentrated in the Deep South, on large plantations devoted to the commodity crops of cotton and sugar cane, but it was the basis of agricultural and other labor throughout the southern states. Once Texas seceded in March 1861, individual Knights participated in the actions that displaced the authority of the United States in Texas, leading some Unionists such as James P. Newcomb to emphasize the role of the organization in destroying the Union. Rumors spread that the slaves and abolitionists had planned to add mass murder, poisonings and rapes to the arson. WebThe Knights of the Golden Circle was a mysterious southern-based society that set out in 1859 to establish a slave empire in Mexico. During the American Civil War, some Southern sympathizers in the Northern states such as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, were accused of belonging to the Knights of the Golden Circle, and in some cases they were imprisoned for their activities. The Effect is the death of President Lincoln, whose profile portrait at right is framed by swags of black drapery. These investigators also allege that many famed characters from the Civil War era, including John Wilkes Booth and Jesse James, belonged to and acted under the influence of the Knights. A Confederate Empire: The Knights of the Golden Circle Knights of the Golden Circle Researchers This would, according to Bickley, protect the Southern states from being overwhelmed by the industrial and commercial interests of the North. Several members of President James Buchanan's administration were members of the order, as well as Virginia's secessionist Senator James M. Mason. to continue reading. During his lifetime, Boston-born Pike was an author, educator, lawyer, Confederate brigadier general, newspaper editor, poet, and a Thirty-third Degree Mason. The plan was to prevent Lincoln from reaching Washingt His plot was discovered and led to greater distrust of secret societies and Copperheads in general. [1] Floyd used his position as Secretary of War to move munitions and men to the South towards the end of Buchanan's presidency. In 1859 George Bickley, a freebooter and adventurer, launched a fraternal order which proposed the establishment of military colonies of Americans in Mexico. The KGC held numerous peace meetings. Richards Alfred Marmaduke Hobby (1836 - February 5, 1881) was a famous Texas merchant, politician, Confederate officer, and poet. Records of the K.G.C. Sam Houston, who reportedly became an initiate. In 1854 a small group of pro-slavery sympathizers formed the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society whose goal it was to create a vast new empire for slaveryone that traced a golden circle from the deep South through Mexico, Central America, parts of South America, and the Caribbean. [10] Although a Unionist, United States Senator Sam Houston introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate in 1858 for the "United States to declare and maintain an efficient protectorate over the States of Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and San Salvador." The slave population there had continued to grow due to natural increase even after the ban on international trade. If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. 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. [5] Some Knights of the Golden Circle active in northern states, such as Illinois, were accused of anti-Union activities after the Civil War began in 1861. You must log in or register to reply here. Some rites (such as the Scottish rite) list up to 33 degrees of membership. He later increased his claims to 115,000, but such numbers were widely dismissed as fanciful. The leaders were sentenced to death or imprisonment by military commissions, but the sentences were suspended, and in 1866 the convictions were overturned by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cavalry commander J.E.B. Many members held dual memberships in local Masonic lodges, where the castles met, but the official Order of Free and Accepted Masons and its related organizations disavowed any connection. Several members of President James Buchanan's administration were members of the order,[8] as well as Virginia's secessionist Senator James M. You have permission to edit this article. In response to the increased anti-slavery agitation that followed the Dred Scott decision (1857), the Knights changed their position: the Southern United States should secede, forming their own confederation, and then invade and annex the area of the Golden Circle to vastly expand the power of the South. According to a few fringe historians, after the Civil War, the KGC went underground and became a secret society. Warne and Pinkerton learned that they planned to kill Within days, Austria-Hungary had declared war on Serbia, and after the allies of both countries joined the fray, the small dispute managed to escalate into WWI. Both Baylor and Trevanion Teel, Sibley's captain of artillery, had been among the KGC members who rode with Ben McCulloch. Every dollar helps. You can read that document here. Members of the Masonic Knights Templar do not claim a direct connection to the medieval group, but merely a borrowing of ideas and symbols. The 10 Most Elite Secret Societies In History - Elite Daily This program is over. First order of business was Bickleys plan to annex Mexico, which had outlawed slavery in 1829. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the origins of these documents. Armstrong Many religions frown upon membership of the Masons, and the Roman Catholic Church forbids Catholics to join under pain of excommunication. Bell had several units of home guards, also called rangers, to protect residents. Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, - The History List argued that their empire would have a virtual monopoly on the worlds supply of tobacco and sugar and perhaps cotton and have the strength to preserve slavery in the South from constant attacks by northern Abolitionists. They opposed the U.S. governments war policy, actively encouraged desertion, prevented enlistments, and resisted the draft. Knights of the Golden Circle. Written By: Knights of the Golden Circle, a semi-military secret society that was active in the Midwestern states during the American Civil War. In 1859 George Bickley, a freebooter and adventurer, launched a fraternal order which proposed the establishment of military colonies of Americans in Mexico. Golden Knights Hounded by creditors, he left Cincinnati in the late 1850s and traveled through the East and South, promoting an expedition to Mexico. Hope you didn't miss it! The order and its alleged influence sparked the formation of Union League clubs to carry on counterpropaganda. List of many KGC members - Knights of the Golden Circle "Mike" Campbell, Bickley, who served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army before being arrested as a spy in Indiana in July 1863 and held until October 1865, died in August 1867. Other members included Jefferson Davis, Bedford Forrest, and William Quantrill (leader of the Confederate guerilla outfit Quantrill's Raiders, with whom James rode). The group was originally started as a means of addressing a streak of anti-Americanism that was spreading through Europe following WWII, but over the years it appears to have morphed into a more broad discussion on reaching mutual understanding between cultures. Knights of the Golden Circle That kind of secrecy, along with the intense security of the meeting sites, which often feature armed guards, police, and even fighter jets patrolling the skies overhead, has produced a number of conspiracy theories centered on the conference.

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