In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

193 NOTES PROLOGUE: THE SHADOWY KNIGHTS 1. William C. Edwards and Edward Steers Jr., eds., The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 347: statement of Samuel Knapp Chester; ibid., 1391–92: statement of George Wren. This volume reproduces and systematizes the U.S. government’s Lincoln assassination evidence file located in the National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the O∞ce of the Judge Advocate General (Army), together with the assassination trial proceedings, which have been photographed onto sixteen reels of microfilm designated Microcopy No. 599. It will hereafter be cited as Lincoln Assassination Evidence. John Rhodehamel and Louis Taper, eds., “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me”: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 45–46; Nora Titone, My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth That Led to an American Tragedy (New York: Free Press, 2010), 142–43. 2. Titone, My Thoughts Be Bloody, 178–83; Stanley Kimmel, The Mad Booths of Maryland (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1940), 151–55; Angela Smythe, “Has He Been Hiding in Plain Sight? John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays,” May 10, 2010, 16–17, 31 n. 9, www .morningfourstars.com/JWB/Hiding_In_Plain_Sight/. 3. Ollinger Crenshaw “The Knights of the Golden Circle: The Career of George Bickley,” American Historical Review 47, no. 1 (October 1941): 30–35. 4. Alan Axelrod, The International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders (New York: Facts on File, 1997), vii–xiii, 270; Mark A. Lause, A Secret Society History of the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2011), 11. 5. Walter H. Bell, “Knights of the Golden Circle: Its Organization and Activities in Texas Prior to the Civil War” (master’s thesis, Texas College of Arts and Industry, 1965), 207–17; “The Order of the Knights of the Golden Circle—Important Revelation,” Louisville Journal, July 18, 1861; J. W. Pomphrey, A True Disclosure and Exposition of the Knights of the Golden Circle (Cincinnati: printed for the author, 1801). 6. K. G. C. First, or Military Degree, Castroville, Texas, Castle (San Antonio: Herald Steam Press, ca. 1860; Bell, “Knights of the Golden Circle,” 135–39, reproducing “By-Laws of the San 194 notes to pages 3–6 Antonio Castle, K. G. C”; “Rules for the Castle,” in Rules, Regulations, and Principles of the K. G. C., issued by Order of the Congress of the K. C. S. and the General President, HeadQuarters , Washington City, D.C. (New York: Benj. Urner, Printer), 39, in Bickley Papers, National Archives, Judge Advocate General O∞ce, Washington, D.C., Record Group 153 (hereafter cited as “Bickley Papers, National Archives”). 7. Degree Book: First or Company Degree of 28, Bickley Papers, National Archives; K. G. C. First, Degree. 8. Robert C. Tyler letter, April 6, 1860, in K. G. C.: A Full Exposition of the Southern Traitors, the Knights of the Golden Circle: Their Startling Schemes Frustrated (Boston: E. H. Bullard, 1861[?]), 2. 9. Berry Craig, “The Jackson Purchase of Kentucky in the Secession Crisis of 1860–1861” (master’s thesis, Murray State University, 1973), 77; Louisville Journal, August 12 and 20, 1861. 10. Rules, Regulations and Principles of the K. G. C., 9, Bickley Papers, National Archives; Columbus (Ohio) Crisis, December 30, 1863; Bell, “Knights of the Golden Circle,” 11–12, citing Bickley’s Statement of Fact in Crisis, August 1, 1863. 11. Horace Greeley, American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion (Hartford: O. D. Case, 1865), 1: 350, 492–93; 2: 18–19. Focusing on minor discrepancies and partisan a∞liations, historian Frank Klement attempts to discredit the secret society and conspiracy findings of Greeley and multiple generations of historians and observers (including direct participants) as myths. With respect to the KGC, a southern society, Klement was generally looking in the wrong place (the Midwest rather than the South or Border States) at the wrong time (during rather than before the Civil War) (see Frank L. Klement, Dark Lanterns: Secret Political Societies, Conspiracies, and Treason Trials in the Civil War [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984], 12–33, 234–44). 12. An Authentic Exposition of the “K. G. C.” “Knights of the Golden Circle”: or, A History of Secession from 1834 to 1861 by a Member of the Order (Indianapolis: C. O. Perrine, 1861), 34–43; A. Sanford, Treason Unmasked: An Exposition of the Origins, Objects and Principles of the Knights of the Golden Circle (Albion, N.Y.: John Marsh, 1863), 6–9, 17...

Share