Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War

Prologue: The Shadowy Knights

1 prologue THE SHADOWY KNIGHTS S everal stock actors from Richmond’s Dramatic Star Company joined a secret society that was spreading across the country during the summer of 1859. Called the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC), it was dedicated to promoting southern rights and expanding American hegemony over the “Golden Circle” region that encompassed the Caribbean islands, Central America, and Mexico. Among the new recruits was a strikingly handsome twenty-year-old cast member from Maryland—John Wilkes Booth—whose now-deceased father was a theatrical icon. The Knights offered Booth, like other young men on the make, the chance for military adventure and foreign treasure wrapped up in the knightly mystique made popular by Sir Walter Scott. Growing up in Maryland, Booth had attended a military academy and been a member of the Know-Nothing Party. He relished involvement in secret societies as well as the chivalric code and military trappings.1 Young Booth (who, to assert his independence, went by the name “Wilkes ”) had been hired into the Richmond acting company of George Kunkel and John T. Ford in 1858 through the intervention of his well-known thespian brother Edwin. Wilkes had been welcomed into the upper echelons of Richmond society and basked in the gracious southern hospitality. By the summer of 1859, he was running around with similar high-spirited young men from the very best Richmond families, who were also enamored of chivalric mystique and military display. Many of them belonged to local militia units such as the prestigious Richmond Blues, whose members in- knights of the golden circle 2 cluded Obadiah Jennings Wise, the rambunctious son of Virginia’s thensitting governor.2 Over the next few years, Wilkes Booth would rise to become a prominent leader in the Knights. He would draw on his KGC connections to obtain special access and favors that, among other things, enabled him to witness the hanging of the abolitionist zealot John Brown at Harpers Ferry. During the Civil War, he would rely on his knightly brothers for help in carrying out clandestine smuggling operations on behalf of the South. At the end of the war, he would seek their assistance in carrying out his audacious plan to remove the American president. The Knights were a militant oath-bound secret society dedicated to promoting southern rights (including slavery) and extending American hegemony over the Golden Circle region. Membership was open to all southern men of good character as well as northern men who stood by the constitutional claims of the South. KGC recruiters told membership candidates, like Booth, that the society was dedicated to expansion southward and protecting constitutional liberties from the ravages of abolitionists and “Black Republicans.” But the higher degrees of the society were pledged to a further secret proslavery and empire-building agenda that was not fully shared with the lower degrees.3 By formulating their rituals around the real-world goals of Southern Hemisphere conquest and southern rights, the Knights were most like the revolutionary secret societies operating in Europe, such as “Young Italy” headed by Giuseppe Mazzini, which was dedicated to the reunification of Italy through insurrectionary action.4 Booth likely initially joined the First, or military, Degree, referred to as the “Knights of the Iron Hand.” This included the rank-and-file of the KGC’s army, which in 1859 was reported to number around seven thousand. The smaller Second Degree, known as the “Knights of the True Faith,” was the commercial and financial division dedicated to raising funds and providing the Knights’ army with logistical support including ammunition , horses, and other supplies. At the top of the hierarchy was the Third, or governing, Degree, known as the “Knights of the Columbian Star.” This degree established laws, policies, and overall objectives for the KGC and then passed them down to lower-degree members, who had sworn an oath to obey. Much of the Third Degree’s controversial ritual was kept oral, and prologue: the shadowy knights 3 its membership (which included loosely a∞liated politicians) was not even disclosed to those in the lower two degrees.5 Knights in a given area were organized into a lodge called a “castle” that often met at a local meeting hall, barn, or warehouse such as those along the Richmond waterfront. A sentinel guarded the entrance to prevent unauthorized intrusion, and members were required to supply the password for entry. The regular castle...