Knights of the Golden Circle
The Columbia Encyclopedia,
Sixth Edition 2008 Copyright

Knights of the Golden Circle 
Secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War. Its 
members were known as Copperheads. Dr. George W. L. Bickley, a Virginian who 
had moved to Ohio, organized the first "castle," or local branch, in Cincinnati 
in 1854 and soon took the order to the South, where it was enthusiastically 
received. Its principal object was to provide a force to colonize the northern 
part of Mexico and thus extend proslavery interests, and the Knights became 
especially active in Texas. Secession and the outbreak of the Civil War 
prompted a shift in its aims from filibustering in Mexico to support of the new 
Southern government. Appealing to the South's friends in the North, 
particularly in areas that were suffering economic dislocation, the order soon 
spread to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. Its membership in 
these states, where it was enthusiastically received. Its principal object was 
to provide a force to colonize the northern part of Mexico and thus extend 
proslavery interests, and the Knights became especially active in Texas.
Secession and the outbreak of the Civil War prompted a shift in its aims from 
filibustering in Mexico to support of the new Southern
government. Appealing to the South's friends in the North, particularly in 
areas that were suffering economic dislocation, the order soon spread to 
Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri.
Its membership in these states, where it became strongest, was largely composed 
of Peace Democrats, who felt that the Civil War was a mistake and that the 
increasing power of the federal government was leading toward tyranny. They did 
not, however, at this time engage in any
treasonable activity. In late 1863 the Knights of the Golden Circle was 
reorganized as the Order of American Knights and again, early in
1864, as the Order of the Sons of Liberty, with Clement L. Vallandigham, most 
prominent of the Copperheads, as its supreme commander. Only a minority of its 
membership was radical enough-in some localities-to discourage enlistments, 
resist the draft, and shield deserters. Numerous peace meetings were held. A 
few extreme agitators, some of them encouraged by Southern money, talked of a 
revolt in the Old Northwest, which, if brought about, would end the war. 
Southern newspapers wishfully reported stories of widespread disaffection, and 
John Hunt Morgan's raid (1863) into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio was undertaken 
in the expectation that the disaffected element would rally to his standard. 
Gov. Oliver P. Morton of Indiana and Gen. Henry B. Carrington effectively 
curbed the Sons of Liberty in that state in the fall of 1864. With mounting 
Union victories late in 1864, the order's agitation for a negotiated peace lost 
appeal, and it soon dissolved.


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