Watch for New Book on KGC

[Laurie Verge]

Just putting you on alert to expect a new book on the Knights of the Golden Circle coming out in late-winter or early-spring from LSU Press. The author is David C. Keehn, and Surratt House staff worked with him during his research phase. He also spoke at a Surratt conference, and I was pleased to review his ms. pre-publication.

The KGC was a semi-secret organization that proposed extending the Southern sphere of influence through a "colonization" drive into northern Mexico. In April of 1860, thousands swarmed into south Texas to launch their drive. The Texas Knights alone pledged two regiments and a half-million dollars.

The General-in-Chief was George Bickley, who has gotten most of the attention by historians in the past -- maybe because he ended up as a failure and they could "write off" the KGC?

David Keehn, however, has dug further into the organization to focus on the key players - the powerful state military and political leaders who were the backbone of the organization. Some of the names and events will surprise you.

Their efforts helped force secession in key states like Texas and Virginia, and Maryland and Kentucky were on their radar also. They pursued a plan to seize Washington, D.C. and took over federal forts in the South, including twenty-one along the Texas frontier. They recruited their members into the Confederate army, instigated the Baltimore Plot of 1861, and are thought to have participated in the 1865 assassination of Lincoln. Booth may well have been a member of the KGC. Baltimore was a well-organized "Castle" of the organization, and Keehn has found documentation that Michael O'Laughlen's older brother (a good friend of Booth) was a member of the KGC.

More will be revealed...