Louisiana State University Press, Date: 2013-04-15. 1. Hardcover. Used: Good. 2013. Louisiana State University Press ISBN 0807150045 9780807150047 [US]

ISBN10: 0807150045, ISBN13: 9780807150047, [publisher: LSU Press 2013-04-30, Baton Rouge] Hardcover Language: ENG
[London, United Kingdom] [Publication Year: 2013]

Hardback. New. Based on years of exhaustive and meticulous research, David C. Keehn's study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret southern society that initially sought to establish a slave-holding empire in the ""Golden Circle"" region of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Keehn reveals the origins, rituals, structure, and complex history of this mysterious group, including its later involvement in the secession movement. Members supported southern governors in precipitating disunion, filled the ranks of the nascent Confederate Army, and organised rearguard actions during the Civil War. The Knights of the Golden Circle emerged around 1858 when a secret society formed by a Cincinnati businessman merged with the pro-expansionist Order of the Lone Star, which already had 15,000 members. The following year, the Knights began publishing their own newspaper and established their headquarters in Washington, D. C. In 1860, during their first attempt to create the Golden Circle, several thousand Knights assembled in southern Texas to ""colonise"" northern Mexico. Due to insufficient resources and organisational shortfalls, however, that filibuster failed. Later, the Knights shifted their focus and began pushing for disunion, spearheading pro-secession rallies, and intimidating Unionists in the South. They appointed regional military commanders ...