Conspiracy theories are fascinating and the bread and butter of tabloid magazines and TV. This series explores these theories in a logical and scientific manner.
This is interesting because it had something to do with the Civil War. The KGC was a secret society based in the South but with many northern members, and it had a grandiose plan to bring all of the slave states and most of South America and the Caribbean into a dominant empire. The 'Golden Circle' refers to the territories of Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. The reason for forming this empire was to counter the superior military advantage of the North.
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Most of the members of this secret society were southerners, but there was some northern members. The founder, George W.L. Bickley was an Indiana-born doctor and he lived in Cincinnati. He organized the society on July 4, 1854, and the first convention was held in 1860, which is just about the time that abolitionists became more prominent. Supposedly a Confederate States Army general, Elkanah Geer created KGC castles in East Texas and Louisiana. A United States Senator Sam Houston introduced a bill in 1858 to essentially take over Mexico and much of South America and make them a protectorate of the United States. This was the ultimate goal of the KGC. Of course, Texas would have loved to take over Mexico after becoming free of their control.
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The conspiracy theory part of this is that the society went underground after the Civil War ended, and it tried to organize a new Confederate uprising. Also, John Wilkes Booth was a member, and he assassinated Lincoln. The Southern sympathizers in the North were called Copperheads. There is also a theory that the KGC accumulated millions in gold coins and have it buried somewhere. There is also a report that the James-Younger Gang was responsible for obtaining this gold.
This organization has several different names, one of which is The Order of American Knights, which supposedly still exits. Another name is The Order of the Sons of Liberty. There is a Facebook page for this organization and there are all sorts of sites that offer membership. That figures!
There have been many books written about this organization and there have been TV series about it, including one on The History Channel. There are also theories that most of the KGC members were also Masons.
My take on this is that there was an organization like the KGC, but I don't believe that they were organized enough or strong enough to have much of an influence on the outcome of the Civil War or instigate a new uprising after the end of the Civil War. The end of that war is sort of blurry. A lot of combat continued after Appomattox and there was the influence of the KKK in the South and eventually in the North. However, all of this counter culture associated with the Civil War eventually waned. Trying to maintain an interest in a new uprising by resurrecting a failed organization is not going to work.
Then again, we have the present political situation.
