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Offline foolsgold
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« Reply #20 on: June 16, 2010, 09:20:32 am »
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sounds great, will be looking forward to updates and the finished product, sounds like your doing it right!

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Offline AngeloRayTopic starter
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« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2010, 11:00:33 am »
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Over the past few weeks I have been reading two books that were written by uncover Federal agents who had managed to inflitrate the Knights of the Golden Circle. From what I have gathered, the KGC was indeed extremely powerful before the Civil War. As I have been reading these two books, I have uncovered that the Knights did have a large amount of money, members, and weapons that were going to to use in conquering Central America, the northern countries of South America, and Cuba for their grand empire of slavery.

How they got this money was from membership dues (which were very expensive), robbery, and strangely enough possibly foregin nations such as England and France. England may have been a very strong supporter of the KGC, for during the war England was the nation that furnished most of the weapons for the Confederate Army (the standard issued musket in Hood's Texas Brigade was the Enfield), also after the war many of the leading officials of the KGC fled to England and into its territories in Canada where they were protected by the English Government even after the U.S. Government tried to force "the traitors" back to face trials of treason.

France may have also been a supporter of the Knights. I read a letter that had been printed in of the two books that had been written by a head member of the organization that stated "France will conquer Mexico and annex the Southern states". Strangely enough it was during the Civil War that France invaded Mexico to try and regain a western footing, as France once had.

So far, for those of you in Texas reading this update, I have only been come across several letters that tell exactly where KGC lodges (or castles as they were known as) were located. Mostly the organization (in Texas) was dominate along the Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande. The furthest documented western castle was located at Hico, which is in north-eastern Central Texas near Meridan but by the time the war began in 1861, the KGC established hundreds of more castles across the state and across the nation basically anywhere that strong Southern support could be gained. 

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Offline foolsgold
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« Reply #22 on: July 06, 2010, 07:14:26 am »
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very interesting stuff...

would love to know which books you have been reading, for my own research purposes, and also for those that may have doubts on the activities of the KGC.

also, im sure you will, but please continue to keep us posted on your findings, you are doing a lot of great work on this, will be real anxious to hear about and hopefully read a copy of the finished work.  you are really hitting this one hard!!

good work!

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Offline AngeloRayTopic starter
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« Reply #23 on: August 18, 2010, 02:14:43 pm »
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Thanks for the support. The two books I have been reading are:

1. "An Authentic Exposition on the Knights of the Golden Circle" (printed in 1861)
2. "Treason History of the Order of the Sons of Liberty..." (printed in 1908 by Felix G. Stidger who was a Federal agent that managed to reach one of the highest ranks in the KGC which had changed its name to the Order of the Sons of Liberty in 1864).

Both of these can be found on Google Books, downloaded, and printed off for free because the copywrite was a hundred years ago. "An Authentic Exposition..." was published by an unknown author who was once a member of the organization before the Civil War. How I found out that he was an uncover agent was by reading another book that had the Knights in it titled, "The Great Conspiracy" which was printed in the late 1800s (and can also be found on Google).

I am greatly enjoying this project and hopefully in the end I will be able to present an extremely good and authentic essay on the history of the K.G.C. I'll defiantly try to keep posting updates every chance I get. Thanks again for everyone's support.
Hello folks, sorry about the late update but I've been busy with work, researching, writing, and getting things ready for this upcoming semester. Well as most of y'all know I have been researching the Knights of the Golden Circle all summer and have uncovered some interesting details about the organization after the Civil War.

As most treasure hunters have heard the K.G.C. supposedly hid vast amounts of money all across the South and the West after the war was over in order to support a second Civil War. From what I have gathered from primary sources, historical documents, writings, and secondary sources that have to deal with the organization; these legends are both true and untrue.

To brifely summarize the history of the organization in a nutshell, it was founded by George Bickley in the late 1850s and became very popular in Texas by 1860. In fact, Texas in 1860, was the most Knight populated state with over 20 lodges (or castles as the members referred to them as) and with quite possibly over 16,000 members that came from every level of the Southern society. San Antonio became the national headquarters of the organization in that same year and was under the control of Bickley's nephew Charles. In the eastern portions of the state the grand "General Bickley" himself was touring, giving speeches, and recruiting new members by the masses. In 1861, after Texas had left the Union, a combined force of Knights and State Militiamen under the command of Colonel Ben McCulloh gathered in San Antonio and successfully forced the Union commander of all Federal outposts, arsenals, and holdings in the state to surrender all Federal claims in the state. Afterwards, it was mostly the military members of the K.G.C. who had been training in military drills and tactics since 1860, that became the Texas Army until the state could gather enough troops itself. These men seized control of all the Union forts in Western, South, and Central Texas.

During the war, the organization in the state seemed to have vanished. It is claimed that the reasons behind this is because the members of the organization lost their unifyed identies as they were spread out into the Confederate Military. Also it is claimed that after the epic failure of Sibley's New Mexico Campaign of 1862-1863, in which most of the soldiers of that theatre were Texans, that the morale of the members faded which eventually led to its disapperance. However in the North-Eastern portion of the nation another organization known as the Order of the Sons of Liberty began forming and these members used the same rituals and symbols of the K.G.C. in their operations and were also much more hostile towards the Union.

After the war was over, the organization had officially ended in both the North and the South. George Bickley died in 1867 and the only last major doings of the original K.G.C. was the hiding of the rest of the Southern currency which is supposedly buried in a bog in Van Zandt County, Texas. But though the original organization was gone, other more criminally based organizations were formed under the same title and even used some of the same symbols but these newer Knights were not from the same organization that Bickley had started. I have found evidence of these new Knights in several books and in a newspaper clipping from the Dallas Morning News.

It is most likely from these other organizations known as the Knights of the Golden Circle that the treasure legends have came from. This is where I am at in my research of the organization and hopefully soon I will be getting an article published in Lost Treasure Magazine that tells of these other Knights and the loot they buried.

I will keep y'all updated on the process.

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Offline newbee
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« Reply #24 on: August 19, 2010, 11:16:49 pm »
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Q: What does Pancho Villa have to do with the KGC ?

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Offline AngeloRayTopic starter
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« Reply #25 on: August 21, 2010, 06:28:13 pm »
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The legend of Smoothing Iron Mountain is that it was Pancho Villa who hid the treasure there, but historical evidence goes completely against that claim because Villa would have never made it to Llano County.That fact alone puts the legend in danger of being proven untrue and impossible. But findings on a ranch near the mountain shows that it possibly could have been the Knights who were the ones hiding the treasure. Villa had nothing to do with the organization, most likely had never even heard of the Knights of the Golden Circle. In historical reality, from the facts uncovered in this research, it may help this legend be considered historically true. In my opinion, that only makes me want to investigate this treasure myth further because there might actually be something to find in the end.

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Offline jrferrell0120
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« Reply #26 on: November 13, 2010, 10:37:41 am »
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Thanks for the interesting Post. It looks like I will have to do some studying of my own into this.

Posted on: November 13, 2010, 09:37:19 AM
Now I Really have to do some looking into this organization... Thanks for getting my interest piqued

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« Reply #27 on: August 28, 2011, 01:31:08 pm »
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interesting thread. i am just getting started in the KGC in Texas research and I appreciate all the info. here. I live in Burnet County Texas which is located next to Llano County so I am very interested to see how the "essay" is coming.

Also it was suggested here that the KGC may have merged with the KKK. In one of the previous posts there was mention of a KGC castle in Hico, Texas. Hico was a KKK town by all accounts. To this day there is a resteraunt who's sign read "Koffee Kup Kafe" with the K's enlarged. The sign was changed in recent years but it still goes by this name they just changed the 3rd "K" with a K-shaped Cowboy sitting at a table. I went to college 30 minutes from there and attended a KKK rally ( just out of curiosity )on the court house steps in Stephenville in 1993. Also while attending college a black man was found hanging from the historic "hanging tree" the photo was on the front page of the Empire Tribune. Also famous KGC member Jesse James is said to be burried there. Coincidence?Huh?

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Offline AngeloRayTopic starter
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« Reply #28 on: August 28, 2011, 05:17:29 pm »
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Hello artifactshack,

Glad to hear that you are interested in the story. In June of this year, my essay over the KGC in Llano County was published in "Lost Treasure Magazine". You may be able to order a copy of it from their store on-line. The Knights are an extremely fascinating organization to research into, but finding historical material about them is a little tough because:
1) There is hardly any records, other than newspaper articles, about them.
2) They are so wrapped in myth, legend, and lore that their real activities have been polluted or forgotten.
3) Because they were very top secret about their members, activities, etc.

In researching them, I was able to turn up a compiled listing of the counties that were known to have a castle at one time. I remember seeing Hico on there because it was listed as the furthest western castle county. They mostly stayed around the Gulf of Mexico and the border counties of Texas that had been established by the 1850s. However, this listing had been compiled in the late 1960s so it is a little outdated.

I believe it was in 1856 that over two hundred members of the organization marched to Encinal County, which was located in present day Webb County, and were ready to invade Mexico. They made camp somewhere along Encinal Creek, and remained there for about two days awaiting the order to invade, which never came because the organization was experiencing internal difficulties at the time.

In my research notes, I have a copy of a letter that was written from the commander of a KGC unit in an East Texas county to the Governor of Alabama. It was written shortly before Texas left the Union and it states that the commander had at least 200 trained, equipped, and ready to fight for the South, volunteers who were excellent calvary men. This is only one instance that I have come across that gives an example of how popular the organization was in antebellum Texas.

It is likely that Burnet County did not have a castle, if it did then it was very small, because when Governor Houston ordered a vote on secession, Burnet favored to remain in the Union. However, just across the Colorado River, Llano County was the only area out of the surrounding counties, except San Saba, that voted in favor of leaving the Union. This is odd to me because the vast majority of Llano County citizens in 1861 were of German descent and most Germans at that time were against breaking away from the U.S.

I hope this helps out a little, please feel free to email me or reply to this post for some other information.

AngeloRay.   

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« Reply #29 on: August 29, 2011, 03:54:12 am »
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Quote:Posted by artifactshack
Also famous KGC member Jesse James is said to be burried there. Coincidence?Huh?


Just a rational observation here... Jesse James has never been proven to be a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle. This myth/rumor is constantly posted on internet message boards.

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