Llano County (KGC treasure area)

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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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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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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For anyone interested in this topic: My article on Llano County being a possible KGC treasure area will be published in the June 2011 edition of Lost Treasure Magazine.

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