Knights of the Golden Circle

With tensions between the northern and southern states mounting Bickley decides to start promoting his organization that stood for a pro-slavery empire. He was widely accepted and setup 32 of his lodges which he called castles.

After being defamed by the failure to invade Mexico Bickley calls a meeting of the Knights of the Golden Circle in Raleigh, North Carolina. At the meeting he was re-confirmed as the leader of the secret society and put the goals of the group into writing.

The Knights of the Golden Circle kept pro-Union voters from voting in two elections. The first was the main election of November of 1860. The second was a referendum vote on secession in February 1860 which helped the succession movement.

Dr William Bowles of the Sons of Liberty met with Stidger to feel him out for admittance into the secret masonic order. Stidger was approved and initiated into the order five months later.

After three times of sending in request to be discharged the army requests his reasons for needing to leave. His reason was that he did not wish “to further participate in a war of which the ultimate result was to be the freedom of the negro” [Stidger].

In response Kalfus was striped of his rank, his shoulder straps cut off, put under arrest, and lead away at the point of a bayonet.

Stidger was robbed by Rebel guerrillas in front of his dying mother, and his brother had to flee Taylorsville because of death threats. Due to this Stidger decided to try and join the United States Government Secret Service.

He begins feeding intelligence about the groups to General Stephen Jones.

Stidger was dropping off intelligence report on rebel guerrillas to Captain Jones when Jones gives him a letter. The letter is from General Carrington stating that a treasonous order called the Sons of Liberty were planing to setup lodges in the state of Kentucky. The man leading the charge was Doctor William Bowles. The Secret Service was wanting to infiltrate and get information on this group, and Jones asks Stidger if he would be interested. Jones gives Stidger one month to make contact with Bowles and accumulate some info - if he failed to gain any knowledge Stidger would be let go.

After accepting the mission Stidger was briefed on the little data the Secret Service had on the group and sent on his way to gain access to the order.

Jones gave the job to Stidger based on a reference from John Terrell the day before (the 4th)

Stidger got off at Salem which was the wrong stop - he should have waited to get off in the town of Orleans which was 21 miles further down the track.

While waiting for the next train he meets a Sam Drom that noticed his “butternut” colored suit. Stidger identifies Drom as a member of the Sons of Liberty, and knows enough about the order to trick Drom into thinking he was a member too.

Drom asks Stidger if he is there to see Horace Heffren who is the Grand Commander of the Order of Sons of Liberty for the State of Indiana in which Stidger replies he where he was going, but he did not know who Hefferen was. Drom takes Stidger to meet Heffren who is expecting a member of the order from Kentucky. After Stidger tells Hefferen that he is looking to go to the French Link Springs to meet with Dr. Bowles.

After his conversations Stidger gets back on the train and arrives in Orleans.

When Stidger arrived in town Dr. Bowles was not there so he waited until he was back the next morning. In their conversation Bowles brags about how many troops the Sons of Liberty could muster, and take away union controlled confederate lands at any time.

Bowles give Stidger a history of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and it’s other names, and man named Dickerson who was able to go from Baltimore to the Confederate Capital of Richmond any time he liked.

Stidger stays with Dr Bowles for four days before returning to Louisville.

Upon returning to Louisville Stidger finds that his Secret Service contact Captain Jones had left to meet with Major General Stephen Burbridge.

Stidger not trusting the mail system goes to the train station and finds a military officer that says he knew Jones personally. Stidger sends the report with the officer to deliver the report by hand.

Stidger knowing that Henry Kalfus’ was dishonorably discharged from the Union army as a traitor for denouncing president Lincoln and the president’s mission to free the black population there was a good chance Kalfus would already be apart of the Sons of Liberty.

Stidger meets with Kalfus, Stidger says that he was able to discharge him self from the Union army for the same reason Kalfus did (even though he did it for his dying mother’s sake). Stidger also goes on to talk about this order that he had joined that was against blacks being free. Kalfus probes Stidger to confirm he has obtained degrees in the order, and then reveals him self to be a member of the Sons of Liberty also, and how much he likes it.

Once Jones was back in office from the front Stidger gets a meeting with him. In the meeting Jones calls Stidger a liar for his report because there was no way for someone to had made so many contacts and join the order as fast as Stidger had. Jones states that “he did not believe a word of it”, and “did not see, nor could not perceive nor understand how any man could so far ingratiate himself into the confidence of an entire stranger in so short a time”.

Stidger asks what his next assignment should be -- in which Jones responds “I do not know what to tell you to do. Do whatever you think is best, and tell me what you have done”. This ends up giving Stidger free reign of his undercover work, and the deep infiltrations he ends up getting.

In an attempt to dig up more sources and information Stidger gos back to the town of Bloomfield where he had worked for the store owner (and government informant) John Terrell. He convinces his old enemies that the war had changed his mind about the south, had become a sympathizer, and was a member of the Sons of Liberty.

Once back in Louisville Stidger goes to see Dr. Kalfus. Since Kalfus thought that Stidger was already a high level member of the Sons of Liberty Kalfus preformed an initiation of the second degree to another member. In fact Stidger had never took any oath to the order, but was now privy to the “secrets” of the second degree.

Stidger having convinced Kalfus that he was a higher level member of the Sons of Liberty preformed an initiation ceremony in front of Stidger. In fact Stidger had never taken any oath to the order, and the only info he had was given to him by the Secret Service, or gleaned from other high powered order members that though he was initiated.

On his way to meet with Dr. Bowles, Stidger stops in Salem to talk with the Grand Commander Heffren. Stidger learns of an emergency meeting of the Sons of Liberty being called June fourteenth, when the next should not have been till October twenty second. Heffren reported the number of members in Indiana was between seventy five and eighty thousand men.

Dr. Bowles went to Indianapolis to meet with heads (Grand Commanders) of the Sons of Liberty from surrounding states.

Among the attendees were Harrison Dodd the Grand Commander of Indiana, State Supreme Chief Justice Joshua Bullitt the Grand Commander of Kentucky, and James Barrett of Missouri. The men pledged men from their prospective states to help the rebel troops. This is also where they called the special meeting for the fourteenth of June.

This intelligence was gathered by admissions of Dr Bowles to Felix Stidger when Bowles arrived back in Salem.

Grant sent a letter requesting the expedient trial or release on bail of Dr. James Barrett. Grant knew Barrett had a practice and stated that his imprisonment was an inconvenience to local residents. Barrett was under charge of treason which Grant knew, but downplayed him to an idealist. Barrett was in fact a very high ranking official in the Sons of Liberty AKA Knights of the Golden Circle (It is unknown if Grant knew this or not).

Vallandigham was arrested while at home in Dayton Ohio. From there he was taken to Cincinnati and tried by Military Commission. He was found guilty for “Using Seditious Language in Public Speeches” [Stidger], they held him at Fort Warren after the trial.

Vallandigham was held at Fort Warren for two weeks after being found guilty in a military tribunal for free-speech. During this time President Lincoln decided to banish Vallandigham from the Union states. On the twenty fourth he was pushed across Confederate lines.

According to Dr. Bowles (Knights of the Golden Circle) the Confederate President Jefferson Davis said he would pay ten percent of any Union property destroyed by a Knights of the Golden Circle invention they called “Greek Fire”. This invention was really a Phosphorus and Carbon fire bomb.
Joshua Bullitt was one of the members of the Knights of the Golden Circle that knew how to make this bomb.

After giving Stidger a brief history of the Phosphorus and Carbon fire bomb weapon of the Knights of the Golden Circle, he requests Stidger to go out and Hype up the story to get more members into the order.

Major General William Sherman writes a letter of recommendation for Joshua Bullitt. The recommendation was for Bullitt to sit on the Kentucky Supreme Court. In the letter Sherman states that Bullitt was a loyal Union man who was best suited to take care of the rebellious elements (Confederates) in the state. Bullitt was a high level Knights of the Golden Circle member i.e. pro Confederate.

After returning to Louisville Stidger writes up his second intelligence report, but due to him gaining a high profile in the Sons of Liberty he did not wish to deliver the note in person. Instead he gives the report to his brother who then gives it to Captain Jones. Unlike the first report on the Sons of Liberty where Jones calls Stidger a liar the Captain is pleased with this report and the progress Stidger is making.

After returning to Louisville Stidger links backup with Doctor Kalfus. Stidger related the information about the “Greek Fire” to Kalfus, and then stated he had a private message from Doctor Bowles to give to Judge Bullitt, and asked if Kalfus could arrange a meeting in the near future. Kalfus sensing the message was urgent insisted Stidger meet the Judge as soon as possible. The two set out to find Judge Bullitt where they eventually find him in a bar. Stidger tells Bullitt in private about Andrew Humphreys accepting a Union Brigadier General position, and to take military leadership when the Order uprising was to occur.

On the second day of the job some members of the Sons of Liberty came to Stidger’s new office. Members included B.B. Piper, Doctor Chambers, Dent W. C. Whips, Doctor Kalfus, and Judge Bullitt. During the conversation it was brought up that a certain member of the order that went by the name of “Coffin” was a Union spy. Judge Bullitt gives Stidger a check for twenty five dollars, and tells him to go see Doctor Bowles and tell him that this man Coffin “is a Yankee Spy” and since Boweles let him into the order he needed to have Coffin “murdered”.

After the meeting where the heads of the Sons of Liberty plotted to murder the Union spy Coffin Stidger left the building and met with his Secret Service assistant Mr. Prentice. He told Prentice about the meeting, and gave him five dollars to travel to Indianapolis to notify the agent about his impending death.

After the meeting Stidger writes up a report to give to his new Secret Service report Colonel Fairleigh by way of Stidger’s brother.

Stidger arrives in Paoli and finds Doctor Bowles there. He delivers the message that a initiate in the order named Coffin was a union spy and the Grand Commander had requested that Bowles get Coffin into his county and have Coffin murdered. Bowles relays that hew knew the man and had his own suspicions, but he gave the impression that he though Coffin was harmless. Despite this fact he promised Stidger that he would dispatch two men after Coffin to have him killed.

Stidger delivers a leter of introduction from Grand commander Bullitt to Grand Commander Dodd. The two other men with Dodd at the time was Doctor Gatling, and news paper owner Joseph Bingham.

After introductions Stidger tells Dodd about the Union spy named Coffin, and how Doctor Bowles had dispatched two assassins after him.

Stidger also asks Dodd if he could get some Constitutions and By-Laws of the Sons of Liberty to take back with him as Bullitt did not have any and needed some to use to make copies from.

Dodd also goes over the first three degrees of initiation with Stidger. This is when Stidger gained knowledge of the Third degree having never taken any of the oaths.

After receiving the constitution and by-laws of the Order of the Sons of Liberty Stidger takes the copies to the Union Secret Service where he lets them keep them over night. The next day they had made exact copies of the papers.

During his time employed with the federal government working as a Secret Service Spy Stidger only receives thirty five dollars. After his employment officially ended Stidger had still not received any money so the first of September he sends a formal request of payment which goes ignored. In February of the next year he sends Mr. Prentice to confront the agency and Stidger is finally payed.