The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-16
GOLDEN CIRCLE KNIGHTS
"REMINISCENCES OF THE GREAT con-
SPIRACY OF WAR DAYS.
Its Scope and Purpose, and the Eff
fective Measures Adopted by Gov.
Morton for Its Destruction.


a man is dying in the poor asylum in the
little town of Shoals. Ind, whose name at
| one time was known to nearly everybody
in the United States. and who figured in a
trial on which most persons took Sides"
| This is Stephen Horsey. one of the cele-
| brated Indiana "conspirators'' of the days
| Of the war of secession. Horsey, with
Lambdin P. Milligan William A. Bowles.
! Horace Heffron and others was arrested
in Indiana in 1864 charged with being mem
bers of the Knights of the Golden Circle,
a secret organization which had many
aliases, and which was believed by a large
part of the loyal people of the country to
be endeavoring to aid the Confederacy to
overthrow the United States government
and destroy the Union. Horsey and the
other accused persons had several trials.
| beginning with military commission and
| extending up to the Supreme Court, reach
! ing the latter in 1866, which attracted
! great deal of attention throughout the
country. Some of the best lawyers in the
! United States including jeremiah S. Black
| David Dudley Field, Joseph L. Mcdonald
and James A. Garfield, appeared on the
side of the accused, and the fortunes of the
| latter as decreed by the various tribunals,
passed through the different mutations be-
tween death sentence, life Imprisonment
and acquittal, the acquittal stage being
reached last.
The doings or supposed dongs of the
Knights Of the Golden Circle, and the ar
rests and trials Of persons believed to have
| been connected with that organization,
form one of the many interesting episodes
| in the history of the war "A secret
ganization has been found" said Governor
Oliver +. Morton, of Indiana, in message
| to that States Legislature in june 1865,
which, by its lectures and its rituals, in
| culcate doctrines subversiye OF the govern
ment, and which, carried to their conse-
quences. would inevitably result in the de-
| struction of the Nation The members of
the organization were united by solemn
| oaths which, if observed bound them to
execute the orders Of their grand command
ers without delay or question however
Some Of the chief conspirators have
been arrested and tried by the government
and others have fed. Their schemes have
! been exposed and baff1ed."
A MAINTAINED ORDER.
OF course the secret organization which
Indiana's Governor spoke of was the
| Knights of the Golden Circle. This order
i had many designations. 1t was called the
American Knights, the knights of the
Mighty Host, the Mutual Protection So
ciety, the Circle of Honor, the Sons of
Liberty and various other names Some of
the men who were arrested on the charge
of belonging to it, and who acknowledged
|
Of it's appellations, denied that its purposes
were reasonable or that it was designed
to give aid and comfort to the Confederacy.
| The fact, though that all, or nearly all, the
men who were known to belong to it were
also known to be copperheads or Southern
| sympathizers, is in itself good evidence that
it's purposes were hostile to the govern
| ment. Among the well-known persons who
were popularity supposed to belong to the
| order were Clement l.. Vallandgham, Jesse
| d. Bright and Gen. Sterling Price The late
| Daniel w. voorhees, was also said to have
been a member. of it, and Adlai E. Steven
son, Vice President under Cleveland from
| 1898 to 1897 it used to be charged, belonged
for time to the order.
OF these persons, Bright and Vallandig-
ham had a national reputation before the
war began. Bright held several state
offices in Indiana and was one Of that
| States members of the Senate from 1916 to
1862, for several years of which time he
| was president pro tempore of that body.
He was expelled in 1862 on charge of dis
loyalty, the principal. evidence for the
charge being letter from him addressed
| to His Excellency Jefferson Davis, Presi-
dent of the Confederate States, introduce
ing to Davis an inventor who had an i'm
| proved sort of firearms Vallandighams
political service was shorter, the congress
| sional part of it extending from 1857 to 1863.
From 1861 to 1863 he was the leader of the
| element in Congress which opposed the
| Lincoln administration in the prosecution
of the war. He was the most conspicuous
! and extreme, and by far the ableSt of all
| the Northern enemies of the Union. Ban
| lshed to the Confederacy early in 1863 for
| disloyal utterances, he made his way to
| Canada and while there he was nominated
for Governor Of Ohio by the Democrats in
| the campaign of 1863. and was beaten by
John Brough, Republican, by 101 600 votes.
| the largest majority ever gained by any
| body in the United States in a governor
| ship canvass along to that time After the
war Vallandigham was out of harmony
with his party for several years, but in 1871,
| In the last year of his life, he played the
| Bolingbroke-Tory role of a century earlier
! OF acquiescence in results which could not
be changed, and advised the Democrats to
accept the war amendments and the gen.
eral reconstruction policy and make a new
| departure"
| of the Golden Circle originated in Indiana.
| The great number of arrests of persons in
the order, and it's activity in the State is
| responsible for this claim, and Horsey's
death, when it occurs, will probably revive
order called the Knights of the Golden Cir
! Gle existed in the South before the war; that
most of it's members, or all of them, ia
| were supposed to be hostile to the Union,
| although these were not made public. Early
! in the war days-in the latter part of 1861
| it is believed-the order got a foothold in
the border free States. particularly in the
southern parts of Indiana, Ohio and Illi-
| nois. In different parts of those States and
| at different times it had different names
| those mentioned in an earlier paragraph of
| this article being among the number. One
| of its objects was the liberation of Confed-
crate prisoners, and another Qrom 1868
| ward was resistance to the drafting of SOL
4
MORTON'S PROMPT ACTION.
| In Indiana, however, where Horsey Milli-
| gam Bowles and others were arrested and
| tried, the Knights were particularly active
| Happily, Indiana. in it's Cromwellian exec
utive, Oliver P. Morton the greatest of all
| the war Governors, had an official well quail
| flied, in courage and resourcefulness, to deal
with enemies from within or without. The
civil and military administration of the
State was conducted with vigor and ntelli-
| gence. Gen. A. Z. Hovey then in immediate
command of the Indiana district, issued an
| large numbers of men of suspected loyalty
| to the United States have immgrated and
| are still immigrating into the State of In
diana, and in some localities their open and
avoWed hatred to the government and trea-
sonable designs are freely expressed" He
therefore directed all provost marshals in
the State TO cause registry to be made
of all persons known as refugees within
| their respective jurisdictions, stating where
| tentions as to their future residence, and
| whether they are guilty OF any violation of
| any law of the United States or of the or
ders of the War Department" The order
| further set forth that lit is made the duty
of every officer in the military service of
| the United States in this district to arrest
| and send to these headquarters every ref
ugee who is guilty of disloyaI practices or
| of uttering seditious words Every person
| so sent will be accompanied by written
| charges and specifications, with the names
| of witnesses to prove the same
General Hovey's order shows some of the
perils from enemies within the State which