The Knights Of The Golden Circle In Texas

The United States today is a divided nation and some say the country may be heading toward breakup, or possibly civil war. That has happened before and the result was disastrous. As many as 750,000 Americans perished during the Civil War. A study of the causes of our last Civil War may help to prevent another.The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) played a major role in starting the Civil War in the United States. Although intended to remain a secret organization of conspirators, it is perhaps the most well-documented conspiracy in United States history. The goal of the KGC was the creation of a new society separate from the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of slavery into Latin America.The KGC existed in almost every state in the Union, but nowhere was it as powerful and successful as it was in Texas. Several governors, many senators and military leaders were members, having taken an oath to support the organization and their fellow members. Most of the documents generated by the KGC were destroyed after the war ended as its members feared execution for treason. Not everything was destroyed, though. This book relies on documents created by the organization and its members that have not previously been used by researchers. Many members of this organization remained in positions of authority in state affairs after the abolition of slavery. This book goes far beyond previous published work in establishing the identities of the members of this organization who promoted and encouraged the most disastrous war in American history.Randolph W. Farmer is a native Texan from a family whose ancestors first came to Texas as early as 1817 when it was still a Spanish possession. He is the author of two previously published books on Texas history.

In 1860, during their first attempt to create the Golden Circle, several thousand Knights assembled in southern Texas to "colonize" the 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 prosecession 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 prosecession "fire-eaters," which included individuals such as Barnwell Rhett, Louis Wigfall, Henry Wise, and William Yancy.

An investigation into the lost treasures of Jesse James and the Freemasons and their connections to the Templars, Rosicrucians, and the Founding Fathers • Explains how Jesse James used techniques involving sacred geometry, gematria, and esoteric symbols to hide his treasures and encode maps • Provides instructions for using the encoding template employed by Jesse James and the Freemasons to hide and recover treasure and sacred relics • Shows how the encoding template confirms the existence of treasures on Oak Island and Victorio Peak and can be traced to a 16th-century book containing a secret map of the New World and the “hooked X” of the Knights Templar Jesse James left behind secret diaries and coded treasure maps. Working to decrypt these maps, Daniel J. Duke--the great-great-grandson of Jesse James--reveals hidden treasures yet to be recovered as well as connections between the infamous train robber and Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, the Founding Fathers, and Jewish mysticism. The author explains how Jesse James faked his death and lived out his final years under the name James L. Courtney. He uncovers James’ affiliation with the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society that buried Confederate gold across the United States, and shows how the hidden treasures coded into James’ maps were not affiliated with the KGC but with the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and the treasure of the Temple Mount. Using sacred geometry, gematria, and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life symbol, the author explains the encoded map technique used by the Freemasons to hide and later recover treasures, an esoteric template known as the “Veil”. He shows how the Veil template confirms the locations of Jesse James’ recovered treasures in Texas as well as other suspected treasure locations, such as the Oak Island Money Pit and Victorio Peak in New Mexico. Tracing knowledge of the Veil template back through the centuries, the author reveals the Veil hidden on the cover of a 16th-century book that contains a secret map of the New World and the “hooked X” symbol of the Knights Templar. He shows how the template was used not only to hide treasures but also sacred knowledge and relics, such as within the Bruton Vault, which originally contained secrets tied to Francis Bacon, the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians, and the founding of the United States. Applying the Veil template alongside the esoteric secrets of Poussin’s famous painting, Et In Arcadia Ego, and Cassini’s Celestial Globe, Duke shows how the template reveals other Templar and Freemason treasure sites scattered throughout America and around the world.

This book includes some startling information that has been brought to light recently that has led to investigating some of the old theories that have been taken for granted. For example: Were Jesse James and his gang members of the KGC? There is now good evidence that they were. Did they also bury some of their stolen loot to add to the KGC treasures that were being buried around the country to finance another Civil War? Again, there is good evidence that they did, especially since Jesse and his gang were devout Southerners. They were still angry over the outcome of the Civil War and were doing all they could to benefit the Confederacy. Did Bob Ford really shoot Jesse James? There is revealing new evidence in this book that he didn't! Maybe history should be rewritten! And what's the story on the old man who came to Lawton, Oklahoma in 1949. He said that he was the real outlaw, "Jesse James"--and had been living peaceably in Texas for many years under the alias of "J. Frank Dalton." He said that Bob Ford did not kill him, and that the whole thing had been a hoax so that he could escape from the law and Bob could claim the reward; although it was another person that was killed and buried in the grave in Missouri instead of him. The story does seem to fit with the circumstances. And interestingly enough, what does the name "J. Frank Dalton" reveal? It was noted that his body bore many signs that he had indeed lived a very rugged and dangerous life, including 32 scars from bullet wounds, scars around his neck from an attempted hanging, and burn marks around his feet caused by Union Soldiers when they tried to make him reveal where his older brother, Frank, was hiding, but Jesse never told them. Many people who had once known Jesse came to see and talk to the old man, and they all agreed that he really was Jesse James because they said that he knew information and could answer questions that only the real Jesse could have known. This book also shows numerous photos of the old man in Lawton. One chapter gives information about how a treasure hunter found one of the treasures that Jesse and his gang had buried near Lawton, Oklahoma. He found it by using several old maps. His interesting story is told, including photos of two of his maps. Another chapter gives important information on where to look for and how to recognize some KGC treasure signs. The Author can be seen on the recent History Channel's, two-hour special documentary: "Jesse James' Lost Treasure." He was also a consultant for the program.

The Knights of the Golden Circle (K. G. C.) was a secret society founded by George W. L. Bickley on July 4, 1854 with the expansionist goal of forming a slave-holding empire that operated like the East India Company by annexing Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, and Central America into the United States. They called this region the Golden Circle. This pamphlet was written in 1859 by the highest level of the K. G. C. known as the Knights of the Columbian Star (K. C. S.) and includes sections: - Proclamation - Laws of the American Legion, K. G. C. - Federal Constitution - Articles of War - Organizing and Working Castles - The American Colonization and Steamship Company of "1" - Armament of the K. G. C. - Military Maxims - Social, Moral, and Civil Maxims - Political Maxims 18 illustrations have been added, such as the K. G. C.'s legion and brigade flag designs, a K. G. C. commission, and items carried by George Bickley when he was arrested on July 17, 1863. Also included in the appendices are the K. G. C.'s ritual obligations, secret signs (hand gestures), grips (handshakes), tokens (emblems) and passwords of the three degrees: Knights of the Iron Hand, Knights of the True Faith, and the Knights of the Columbian Star.

During the agonizing days of the Civil War four secret political societies, often known as dark lantern societies, became household words throughout the North. Three of these groups--the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Order of American Knights, and the Sons of Liberty--supposedly were umbrellas for antiwar Democrats and were reportedly involved in treasonable activities. The Union League, on the other hand, was a patriotic political organization intent upon buttressing northern morale and giving support to the war program of the Lincoln administration. The accusations and counter accusations that passed between these opposing forces helped spread fantastic rumors about their power and influence. Treason trials held in Cincinnati and Indianapolis based convictions on hearsay, while the leaders of the Order of American Knights and the Knights of the Golden Circle spent much of the war in prison without benefit of trial. Today reputable reference sources still matter-of-factly credit these societies with large memberships and evil motives.In Dark Lanterns Frank L Klemment refutes past historical theories and shows quite clearly that these societies were never much more then paper-based organizations with vague goals and little ability to carry them out. Recounting the actual histories of these organizations, he shows how they were senationalized, even fictionalized, in both Republican and Democratic newspaper and magazine exposés. He also probes the trials arising from the supposed conspiracy to establish a separate confederacy in the Midwest and the so-called Camp Douglas conspiracy, which was intended to release the Confederate prisoners housed there. Despite the furor they generated, Klement concludes that these dark lantern societies were essentially engaged in nothing more than a war of words and that their alleged power was greatly exaggerated by political propaganda.Meticulously researched and lucidly argued, Dark Lanterns explores a controversial and puzzling aspect of the Civil war. It will be hard to dispute Klements' finding that generations of historians have swallowed whole a tale that was largely the product of myth and legend.

Colorfully known as the "Greyhound Division" for its lean and speedy marches across thousands of miles in three states, Major General John G. Walker's infantry division in the Confederate army was the largest body of Texans -- about 12,000 men at its formation -- to serve in the American Civil War. From its creation in 1862 until its disbandment at the war's end, Walker's unit remained, uniquely for either side in the conflict, a stable group of soldiers from a single state. Richard Lowe's compelling saga shows how this collection of farm boys, store clerks, carpenters, and lawyers became the trans-Mississippi's most potent Confederate fighting unit, from the vain attack at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, in 1863 during Grant's Vicksburg Campaign to stellar performances at the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry that helped repel Nathaniel P. Banks's Red River Campaign of 1864. Lowe's skillful blending of narrative drive and demographic profiling represents an innovative history of the period that is sure to set a new benchmark.

This unique history of the Civil War considers the impact of nineteenth-century American secret societies on the path to as well as the course of the war. Beginning with the European secret societies that laid the groundwork for freemasonry in the United States, Mark A. Lause analyzes how the Old World's traditions influenced various underground groups and movements in America, particularly George Lippard's Brotherhood of the Union, an American attempt to replicate the political secret societies that influenced the European Revolutions of 1848. Lause traces the Brotherhood's various manifestations, including the Knights of the Golden Circle (out of which developed the Ku Klux Klan), and the Confederate secret groups through which John Wilkes Booth and others attempted to undermine the Union. This book shows how, in the years leading up to the Civil War, these clandestine organizations exacerbated existing sectional tensions and may have played a part in key events such as John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Lincoln's election, and the Southern secession process of 1860-1861.