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Post by Tom Nuckols on Jan 30, 2010 4:41:19 GMT -5
I'm intrigued about KGC. I never heard of it 'til a few weeks ago when one of the documantary channels (A&E maybe?) had a piece on Jesse James' treasure. It talked about KGC and showed photos with James brothers/associates throwing a KGC hand sign. This week, I watched the American Experience piece on Wyatt Earp and it talked about Earps being KGC and showed pics where it appeared to me that Earps and/or associates were throwing KGC signs. I'd love to hear anything y'all know about KGC.
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Post by Kevin Young on Jan 30, 2010 8:56:36 GMT -5
Well, my work on the KGC is the real organization that was before created by George Bickley before the war in the 1850's. I guess I could do the usual line and say, "see my book, To The Tyrants Never Yield, which has a couple of chapters on the subject,:" But, I will try to give you an outline on what I have in the files, so feel completely free not to read the book, but instead ask questions.
I never got into all the supposed activities of an after the War KGC. Most writers on the subject pretty much believe that the KGC died with the start of the Civil War, and after that point that are loose associations to any "behind the lines" activities of pro-Southern or Copperheads as being KGC. This is furthered along by the fact that the original KGC founder, George Bickley was captured in on Northern soil after Morgan's Raid.
So, the KGC was a movement that taped into the concept of a pro-southern Empire or at least a pro-Southern network of states and nations streaching from the southern parts of Illinios, Indiana, Ohio and then making the loop down through Mexico, and sweeping up through the northern part of South America and back. This took in all of Latin America, Cuba, Haiti, and Santo Domingo. The areas still under European control would be liberated and then turned into pro-Southern nations. The same would happend to the already independent nations. The KGC rule book gave you all the "information" on how to set up your military, fiancial and political elements to do this.
Because Texas was closest to Mexico, the KGC took off there with Elkanah Greer of Marshall being the leader of the orginzation within the state. Albert and Pryor Lea of Goliad (yes-the same Pryor Lea that gave Davy Crockett so much trouble back in Tennessee) were also involved, and they are the ones that contract both Robert E. Lee (then commander of the Department of Texas) and Sam Houston(Governor) about supporting and leading a KGC back expedition into Northern Mexico. Both declined. Lee really had no use for them at all whileit may have been more politically based for Houston.
Now, many writers have the opinion that Bickley was in this for the money-in particular the membership dues that were required. The orhanization was fast getting out of his control, and in a rare move, there was actually a KGC convention in Raleigh, NC thst kept Bickley in control.
The KGC rites and rituals resemble Masonic traditions, but this is probably because Bickley borrowed from every other secret oraganization around. The local groups were organized in Castles, with the majority of the membership in the military order. We do have the rules books, but actually membership lists are hard to find. Yes, there were all sorts of secret signs.
Austin, La Grange, Brenham, Chappell Hill, Houston, Navoasota, Huntsville, Rusk, Marshall, Booneville, Independence, Caldwell, Eagle Lake, Gonzales, Goliad, Castroville, Owensville, Seguin, and San Antonio all had KGC castles. Bickley moved the national headquarters to San Antonio in 1860.
With the 1860 election, the KGC went to goal number two-helping a Southern State project its rights, In Texas, it was the armed KGC Castles who were the armed support behind the capture and surrender of the the US Military Headquarters in San Antonio.
Hope that is a start.
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Post by mustanggray on Feb 1, 2010 10:43:33 GMT -5
Cool... I'm smack dab in the middle of a KGC hotbed judging from the towns you listed!
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Post by Kevin Young on Feb 1, 2010 11:29:38 GMT -5
Cool... I'm smack dab in the middle of a KGC hotbed judging from the towns you listed! Oh yes-the KGC was very activie in your area before the war.
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Post by Tom Nuckols on Feb 14, 2010 3:27:26 GMT -5
Interesting. I can see the James boys keeping the KGC torch alive after the war, since they were vanquished Southerners. But the Earps are typically portrayed as being more Union-oriented, while the cowboys they opposed were sympathetic to the South. Were the Earps just trying to play both sides of the fence?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 14, 2010 9:49:05 GMT -5
Interesting. I can see the James boys keeping the KGC torch alive after the war, since they were vanquished Southerners. But the Earps are typically portrayed as being more Union-oriented, while the cowboys they opposed were sympathetic to the South. Were the Earps just trying to play both sides of the fence? The Earp story is more complicated, especially in Tombstone. They did ally there with the Republican faction, comprising business interests and town folk. I don't know if the Cowboys were actually rivals because they were Democrats, because they were southerners, or because their business interests were threatened by the town faction (especially their cattle rustling). I don't think this was a big deal; the real trouble started when stages were held up, men were killed, and both Wyatt Earp and some Cowboys began playing politics. Earp wanted to be sheriff and saw a great opportunity in capturing the stage holdup men. He did a deal with Ike Clanton, a prominent "Cowboy," whereby Clanton could keep the reward if he told Wyatt who and where the holdup men were. Wyatt would get the glory and publicity of bringing them in, Ike would get the dough, and Wyatt would never rat out Ike to his Cowboy buddies. It all went south when the holdup men were killed before Wyatt could get to them and Ike became paranoid with fear that Wyatt would reveal their little secret. The best book on Earp is "Wyatt Earp: the Life Behind the Legend" by Casey Tefertiller. Allen
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Post by Kevin Young on Feb 14, 2010 13:47:58 GMT -5
So, what is the actual documentation of the Earps being involved in the KGC?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 14, 2010 20:04:19 GMT -5
I didn't know they were; come to think of it, what are the Earps doing in this thread???
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Post by Tom Nuckols on Feb 15, 2010 3:06:30 GMT -5
So, what is the actual documentation of the Earps being involved in the KGC? Don't know. The A&E (?) documentary on the James gang's treasure showed period photos of the gang members in which they were making a distinctive gesture with their hands. The narrator explained it was a code signal for KGC members. PBS's American Experience OK Corral piece made reference to KGC and had period photos in which it appeared to me that Earps or associates were making the same hand gesture. I just did a google search of earp and kgc and there's clearly a connection in some folks' minds. Seems to be as many doubters, though.
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Post by Tom Nuckols on Feb 15, 2010 3:10:06 GMT -5
I didn't know they were; come to think of it, what are the Earps doing in this thread??? quinceymorris made reference to KGC in a 1/23 post on filibusters, about the same time I saw the A&E James piece and the PBS Earp piece that both mentioned KGC. I started this thread to see what the connectoin between filibusters, KGC, Jameses, and Earps was.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 15, 2010 10:30:00 GMT -5
Well, that reference in the PBS special must have gone right over my head. I've queried the guys on Jim Wright's "Texas" website forum to see if the KGC-Earp connection rings any bells with them.
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Post by Kevin Young on Feb 15, 2010 11:23:23 GMT -5
Well, I did some checking with the James folks and looked at who is saying what. The History show is being denounced from near and far as total BS. As to the Earps, they were Unionists-the older brothers served in the Union Army! It is unfortunatly now common to make the KGC the massive secret organization that buried items all over the place. I have delt with treasure hunters for years that have been "tracking down" loot that the "KGC" buried. There is suppose be a sealed cave with items the KGC stored for the return of the Confederacy...I notice there has been an up swing in all this KGC stuff since the last National Treasure movie came out.
So, I am not buying the James or the Earp connections. If you want a copy of the KGC "secret signs" shoot me a PM with you slow mail and I will send it to you.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 15, 2010 12:10:47 GMT -5
Kevin, thanks for reminding me that the Earps were Unionists and that served in the Union army (Wyatt didn't as he was considered too young to go).
Jim Wright posted the following item from the Handbook of Texas Online over on his website.
Allen
KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret antebellum organization that sought to establish a slave empire encompassing the southern United States, the West Indies, Mexico, and part of Central America, an area some 2,400 miles in diameter-hence the name Golden Circle. The Knights hoped to control the commerce of the area and have a virtual monopoly on the world's supply of tobacco, sugar, and perhaps rice and coffee. The association was organized in 1854 by George W. L. Bickley, a Virginia-born doctor, editor, and adventurer living in Cincinnati. It grew slowly until 1859 and reached its height in 1860. The membership, scattered from New York to California, was never large. Like other such secret societies, the Knights had an elaborate ritual, but the organization was poorly financed and even more poorly led. Bickley's main goal seems to have been the annexation of Mexico. Hounded by creditors, he left Cincinnati in the late 1850s and traveled through the East and South promoting a filibustering expedition to seize Mexico and establish a new domain for slaveholders. He found his greatest support in Texas and managed within a short time to organize thirty-two "castles," or local chapters, in cities that included Houston, Galveston, Austin, San Antonio, Jefferson, and La Grange. Among his prominent Texas supporters were Alfred M. Hobby, Elkanah Greer, George Cupples, Trevanion Teel,qqv and Capt. John B. Lubbock. Bickley received some favorable newspaper coverage in the Texas papers, and for a time courted Governor Sam Houston, who was reportedly initiated into the group. Houston, however, was opposed to the KGC's anti-Union stand and ultimately refused to throw his support behind it.
In the spring of 1860 the group made the first of two attempts to invade Mexico from Texas. A small band reached the Rio Grande, but Bickley failed to show up with a large force he claimed he was assembling in New Orleans, and the campaign dissolved. In April some KGC members in New Orleans, disgusted by Bickley's inept leadership, met and expelled him, but Bickley called a convention in Raleigh, North Carolina, in May and succeeded in having himself reinstated. He attempted to mount a second expedition to Mexico later in the year, but with Abraham Lincoln's election he and most of his supporters turned their attentions to the secessionist movement. Bickley served for a time as a Confederate surgeon and was arrested for spying in Indiana in July 1863. He was never tried but remained under arrest until October 1865 and died, broken and dispirited, in August 1867.
The KGC quietly dissolved during the war. Some at the time claimed that the organization operated as a fifth column in the North, and in the 1864 political campaign Republicans accused some antiwar Democrats of being secret members of the group. The charges, however, were largely unfounded, and although KGC forms and symbols were sometimes used by other groups, the Knights evidently had no organization in the Northern states; they did operate in Kentucky, a "border state." After the war sporadic reports of KGC activities cropped up, some of them as far west as West Texas and Oklahoma Territory, but by that time, for all intents and purposes, the organization had ceased to exist.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ollinger Crenshaw, "The Knights of the Golden Circle: The Career of George Bickley," American Historical Review 47 (October 1941). Roy Sylvan Dunn, "The KGC in Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 70 (April 1967). Jimmie Hicks, ed., "Some Letters Concerning the Knights of the Golden Circle," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 65 (July 1961). Robert E. May, The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire, 1854–1861 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973).
Christopher Long
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Post by Kevin Young on Feb 15, 2010 12:42:07 GMT -5
Good summary of the KGC.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 15, 2010 13:47:05 GMT -5
Mark Boardman has posted this addtiional, helpful info on Jim Wright's forum. From what I've seen, it seems highly unlikely that there would have been a connection between the Earps and KGC in Tombstone, or anywhere else. Aside from the fact the Earps were northern Unionists who had served in the Union Army, is there any evidence that the KCG was even around by the 1880s, or had a presence in Tombstone?
Allen
Midwest Component Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:29
Allen,
The Knights also had a relatively strong Midwestern presence, stemming from Bickley's original organization in Cincinnati. Southern sections of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois--which were mainly populated by the descendants of pioneers from the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia--tended to favor a peaceful resolution to the conflict, including allowing the South to secede.
In some cases, they actually undertook acts of sabotage to hinder the Northern war effort. General John Hunt Morgan's invasion of Kentucky/Indiana/Ohio was intended, in part, to unite the Southern sympathizers in those states to help bring an end to the war.
Other states had somewhat smaller KGC groups (or similar outfits)--including Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Iowa.
Late in the war, the Northern KGC evolved into the Order of the Sons of Liberty, which was led by Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandingham.
In 1864, the head of the order in Indiana and a couple of others were arrested on treason charges and tried before a military court in Indianapolis. They were found guilty and sentenced to hang. But a couple of years later, the Supreme Court on a split vote determined that US civilians could not be tried by military tribunals in times of war. The cases were overturned and the men freed.
Best,
Mark Boardman
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