Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-19
AN AMERICAN ADVEN FURER.


sketch Of George Buckley. the Origi-
major Of the knights. of the Golden
CireIe-Grand Enterprises and Fail
urss-His Genius and TncapacIiy.
etc, etc.
From the Memphis Avalanche, 17th..
Several of the papers notice the death,
recently, in Baltimore, of a singular per-
sonage, from whose life instructive lessons
might be drawn This was the notorious
George Buckley, the founder ofthe Knights
of the Golden Circle man to whom
more properly belonged the title of adven-.
turer than any other individual in this
country. He was man in whose character
there were many flaws, but his best iusti-
fication would be a truthful statement of
his life, and some time when the history
of the early stages of the great rebellion
are fully written, the true character of the
talented, handsome, vain and unserupulous
George Washington Buckley may serve TO
illustrate it, Few lives have been more
eventful than his. An orphan boy in
! Virginia, he ran away at the age of twelve
! years, and went to New Orleans, and from
! that time TO his death, when considerably
/ over forty years Of age, he lived a life of
| adventure, success, rever5es and vicissi-
| tudes. With grand ideas, great projects,
! immense speculations, he held that sue
cess in great undertakings, was scarcely
more difficult than in those of
more limited character, and in some
respects results justified his theory.
! Beginning life with many disadvantages,
he attained good English and fair cas-
! sical education. He wrote a very good
! work on poisonE and their antidotes he be-
came a successful professor in a respectable
medical college; he wrote number of ex-
cellent medical works, of which another
party got the credit; he Established, and
for some time edited a very able mechan-
ics' paper; he wrote many creditable ar
ticles in medical journals, daily papers and
literary magazines he edited for some time
a lady's magazine; he originated the foun-
dation of great institution of learning
he was on terms of friendship and intimacy
with many distinguished politicians pro
fessional characters and literary gentlemen.
He engaged, at one time, exclusively in
agriculture and vine growing. Hefounded
and, by years devoted Of labor, made the
knights of the Golden Circle to grow until
it had branches in fourteen States, and
comprised an aggregate membership of
seventeen thousand individuals Lastly,
he married and ran through the for
tunes of three wealthy women. A man
who could do all this must have been a per
son Of more than ordinary activity, and it
cannot be said that his life was wholly
blank. Before the war he had many grand
projects. At one time he expected to real
Ize colossal fortune by the grant
Of coal mines in the Dominican Repub-
lie; at another unbounded wealth
was to be obtained by a monopoly of the
Introduction of American agricultural i'm
plements into Russia. In the formation of
the Knights of the Golden Circle, his
inspiration probably came from General
Quitman and Mr.. Yancey, but Mr. Bick-
ley did not intend to be the tool Of any po-
litcal combination. He actually planned,
and his remarkable success for a time
| seemed toiustify his hopes to found great
military government in Mexico, of which
| he should be Emperor The care with
which his plans were elaborated, the Gu
rious system of laws, institutions, checks
and balances which he had devised, showed
that the hope of grasping an empire was
! the ruling idea of his life. Fate stood in
his way. We have seen letters written to
| him by both Miramon and Juarez, profer-
~
| great advantages. They wished to have
the help of his Knights without incurring
| the odium of publicly inviting them into
| the Mexican country. The failure of a
| negotiation to purchase steamships from
George Law, and the decided stand of our
government in forbidding armed emigra-
tion to Mexico, delayed Bickley's plans.
| Then the war broke out, and the order of
| ., IL e H.
| composed of Southern men who were una
bic 10 leave the country, drifted into the
| rebellion movement, and became for a
| time one of its most efficient promoters.
Buckley was INSCRIPTIONS and un7
| prinCipled. Nature and education
| had conspired to encourage these
traits in his character 1t would not
| be much use for any man who was not un
| scrupulous and unprincipled to aspire to
/ be an Emperor He had warm Southern
sympathies, but so logical turn of mind
that he appreciated fully the blunders made
| by both the great parties of the country.
| This brief sketch does not exhaust-in
| fact, it scarcely does more than suggest the
eventful life and curious character of the
/ subject of our sketch, whose fecundity of
! projects has been rarely equaled. The sug-
! gestion of a new discovery in science, or
| some new application in art, at once in
spired him with some grand scheme for
controlling it. The most ordinary incl
dents were seized by him as presenting FL
Doradoes for adventures. CHANGING to be
detained at Napoleon, Arkansas, on one oc-
casion, he was informed by an intelligent
gentleman from Little Rock of the lament
abl4 condition of the State finances and
the general desire to repudiate the State
| debt. Buckley at once suggested q comblr
/ nation to buy, on time, an interest IN every
| paper in the State, the other proprietors to
| have entire control and profit, except that
| they should advocate measures to advance
the State credit. Taking advantage Of this,
the parties combining would buy State in
| dcbtedDess at low figures and bull it up so
as to realize millions on the operation. We
could give dozens Of similar illustration s,
but we have, perhaps, exhausted the pa
thence of our readers and said enough about
this singular fellow, Buckley, who was for
some years a military pioneer and has lived
| in obscurity since.