Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend in Indiana During the Civil War

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Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend in Indiana during the Civil War

Frank L. Klenzent"

Indiana contributed more than any other state to the building of the legend that the Knights of the Golden Circle, as a subversive society, existed in the upper Middle West during the Civil War years. No one in Indiana made as great a contribution to the Golden Circle fantasy as Henry B. Carrington, onetime politician, soldier, and man of letters. When Governor Oliver P. Morton appointed Carrington, in midyear of 1862, to speed up the recruitment and organization of Indiana troops, the ex-Ohioan could look back upon an active and checkered career. He had practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, with considerable success. He had dabbled in the study of military tactics, contributing a guide on regulations and troop maneuvers. He had become an avowed aboli- tionist and had helped to bring the Republican party into being in Ohio. Then, when William Dennison had become governor of Ohio, he had named Carrington, a onetime law partner, as his adjutant general. The highhanded tactics of the two created considerable resentment and also ruffled the feelings of the Secretary of War.= Carrington defied the orders of Secretary Simon Cameron, for he organized more regiments than Ohio's quota early in 1861. When David Tod replaced Dennison in the governor's chair early in 1862, Carrington sought an army commission; and he received the colonelcy of the Eighteenth Regiment, United States troops. Shortly thereafter, Governor Morton secured the services of Colonel Carrington; and he came to Indianapolis to a desk and a duty.e

*Frank L. Klement is Professor of History at Marquette Uni- versity, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of Copperheads in the Aliddle West and various articles. 1William T. Coggeshall Diary, June 1 and 16, 1861, Coggeshall Collection, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus; U.S., War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (128 vols., Washington, 1880-1901), Ser. 1, Vol. XXIII, Part 2, p. 193. Hereafter The War of the Rebellion will be cited as Official Records. *No satisfactory study of Carrington exists. "Henry Beebee Car- rington," Dictioncvry of American Biography (20 vols., New York, 1928- 1937), 111, 621, is sketchy and incomplete. The Henry B. Carrington Papers, Archives Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, include a bound volume of items selected and collected to justify his Indiana career; included are some letter-press books. 32 Indiana Magazine of History

Even before Carrington came to Indiana, stories of Golden Circle activity had circulated throughout the country. War psychosis enabled the gullible to see fact in fiction and to build mountains out of molehills. Tales of Golden Circle activity dated back to the prewar years and revolved around the name of George W. L. Bickley, charlatan extraordinary and whimsical wanderer. Bickley drifted to Cincinnati in the early 1850’s and used his glib tongue and a facile pen to try tours as lawyer, lecturer, doctor, editor, and promoter. He married a widow and lost favor when he tried to transfer her property into his own name. Then, in 1859, he served as mid- wife to the Knights of the Golden Circle, bringing the organization into being with his pen and his imagination, and hoping to pyramid a fortune out of ten-dollar membership fees. He devised a ritual and n great seal, appropriated the title of “General,” and published copies of a booklet entitled Rules, Regulations, and Principles of the K.G.C. (New York, 1859) .3 He announced that the Golden Circle would “colonize and finally annex northern Mexico to the Dominion of the United States.”* Early in 1859 Bickley left Cincinnati, eluding his credi- tors and skedaddling out of town on a midnight train. He sought K.G.C. membership fees and publicity for his filibustering fantasy in New York, Washington, and Baltimore. He drifted to Richmond, Atlanta, and New Orleans, getting sym- pathy but no followers or funds for his scheme ultimately to annex Mexico and impose “the superior Anglo-American civilization” upon her. He next drifted to Texas and found some gullible Texans who took the roving windbag seriously.6 The filibustering scheme, however, collapsed because of lack

BBickley contradicted himself nearly every time he put pen to paper or spoke for publication, so every statement of his should be questioned. The Bickley story can be reconstructed, in part, from the George W. L. Bickley Papers, War Department Records, National Archives, Washington ; Bickley’s “own story” as reported in the Colum- bus, Ohio, Crisis, Dec. 30, 1863; the Bickley letters in the John Nicolay- John Hay Papers, Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield; and the exposks in the Louisville Daily Journal, July 18, 1861, and in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Aug. 6, 1863. Also see Ollinger Crenshaw, “The Knights of the Golden Circle: the Career of George Bickley,” American Historical Review, XLVII (Oct., 1941), 23-60. 4 George W. L. Bickley, “Statement of Facts,” Aug. 8, 1863, Bickley Papers. 6 Jimmie Hicks (ed.), “Some Letters Concerning the Knights of the Golden Circle in Texas, 1860-61,” Southwestern Histom’cal Quarterly, LXV (July, 1961), 80-86. Cctrrington und the Golden Circle Legend 33 of funds and followers, and the garrulous pretender set his feet in motion again. As secession sentiment swept the South, Bickley waved his wand and tried to transform his paper-based society into an organization dedicated to repelling a Yankee invasion and guaranteeing Southern rights. He drifted toward Tennessee, taking his daydreams and a packet of clippings with him. While “General” Bickley tramped and talked in the south- west, mmormongers in the North began to build the Golden Circle legend. Jittery Washington residents heard reports that a Southern-based secret society might seize the capital city and prevent Lincoln’s inauguration. The Knights of the Golden Circle received top billing. A congressional inquiry found no basis for the rumors, and the committee report allayed the ill-founded fears.c The next set of K.G.C. rumors emanated from Kentucky, where an apprehensive electorate awaited the August, 1861, elections while the state tried to maintain a policy of neu- trality. Bickley, who had reached Clarksville, Tennessee, by middune, tried to promote both his and K.G.C. aspirations by issuing a circular entitled “Volunteers Wanted” and offering to accept Kentucky volunteers for a proposed “In- dependent Corps”-troops which might double as soldiers and Knights. “It is,” Bickley wrote from Tennessee, “exceed- ingly desirable and important to organize the State of Ken- tucky before the August elections. . . .”7 The Kentucky legislature dignified Bickley’s aspirations with an investigation,8 and the self-styled “General,” pleased with the free publicity, countered with an open letter claiming a statewide membership of eight thousand K.G.C.’s in KentuckyQ- another of the many falsehoods fashioned by the wandering windbag.

6 U.S.,House of Representatives, House Report No. 79, 36 Cong., 2 Sess., 1860-1861, pp. 5, 45. 7 “Volunteers Wanted” (dated “Headquarters, American Legion, K.G.C.,” Clarksville, Tennessee, June 29, 1861), circular quoted in the Dr. A. A. Urban expos6 of the Golden Circle in the Louisville Daily Jozirnal, July 18, 1861. 8 Kentucky, Journal of the Called Session of the House of Re- presentatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Frankfort, 1861), 138; Kentucky, Senate Journal (Frankfort, 1861), 146. 9 Clipping from Louisville Daily Journal (n. d.), letter to editors, June 6, 1861, Bickley Papers. 34 Indiana Magazine of History

Three expos&, all depicting the Golden Circle as a traitorous organization, appeared in short order. The first, claiming to be the work of a former “Governor General” of the Golden Circle in Kentucky, bore a Cincinnati copyright; and the pamphlet sold like hot cakes at twenty-five cents a copy.’O An Indianapolis Democrat, Dr. J. AT. Hiatt, wrote another “as- tounding disclosure,” also pretending he had been a member of the K.G.C.” The third exposQ,the work of Dr. A. A. Urban, appeared in the columns of the Louisville and it credited the K.G.C. with an influence and importance in Ken- tucky which it never had. The three expositions, broadcast over the upper Midwest, made the Knights of the Golden Circle a household term and established the foundation upon which politicians in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio could build air castles. The appearance of John C. Brain in Indiana in September, 1861, gave further publicity to the Knights of the Golden Circle. Brain, another quixotic rover, had swindled parties in Pittsburgh and Chicago before trying to ply his trade in Laporte County, Indiana. One of Brain’s many claims was that he was a K.G.C. agent with the duty of securing revolvers and volunteers for the Southern army. He also claimed that the United States had ceased to exist, so he favored establish- ing a monarchy, “like in France.” Excited Laporte citizens, unaware that Brain was more fool than traitor, appealed to authorities; and a federal marshal arrested the idle babbler in Michigan City. Newspapers featured headlines that a prominent Golden Circle member had been arrested, but the officials soon realized the prisoner was a fellow of mischie- vous bent and low mentality.”’

10 J. W. Pomfrey, A True Disclosure and ExpositiorL of the Knights of the Golden Circle, Including the Secret Signs, Grips, and Charges, of the Third Degree as Practiced bg the Order (Cincinnati, 1861). 11 [Dr. J. M. Hiatt], An Authentic Exposition of the Knights of the Golden Circle: A Histoyl of Secession from 1834 to 1861 by a Member of the Order (Indianapolis, 1861). Bickley at a later date denied the authorship of the speeches and bulletins which Dr. Hiatt attributed to him and implied that the pamphlet was published to catch pennies. George W. L. Bickley to Abraham Lincoln, July 10, 1864, Nicolay-Hay Papers. 12 Louisville Daily Journal, July 18, 1861. 1s John B. Thomas (attorney) to “Sheriff of La Porte County, Ind.,” Sept. 7, 1861, John C. Brain Papers, Civil War Political Prisoners’ Records, State Department Division, National Archives, Washington; “Arrests for Disloyalty,” Civil War Political Prisoners’ Records, State Department Division, National Archives, Washington. Cnwington and the Golden Circle Legend 35

Governor Morton received word about K.G.C. imposters from another quarter the following month. Calvin Fletcher, a wealthy Indianapolis banker whose advice Morton often sought, received word that his soldier-son had been captured by Confederates in western Virginia. Soon after, three different knaves called upon the millionaire-banker, each claiming connections with the Knights of the Golden Circle and each asking for a substantial cash gift in return for securing the son’s release. Banker Fletcher dismissed each of the three blackmailers curtly, but their claims that they had Golden Circle ties fitted into the public concept about the pro- Southern secret ~0ciety.I~ Reports of activity of the Knights of the Golden Circle also floated in on the minds of rumor from each of Indiana’s four neighboring states. The Golden Circle tales in Ohio seemed to be centered in Marion County where an 1861 pre- election expos6 led to the arrest of several prominent Demo- crats. After the election returns were in, it developed that the Ohio expos6 was compounded of false affidavits, bogus oaths, and forged letters-simply “a diabolical electioneering scheme.’’’5 The Golden Circle stories which came out of Michigan revolved around a hoax letter and pre-election charges made by Republican editors. In the end the writer of the hoax letter explained his motives, and no Knights were found in the Democratic closets.16 The Golden Circle tales originating in Illinois mere the work of Joseph K. C. Forrest, an aide of Governor Richard Yates. Forrest fabricated Golden Circle reports because he wanted to discredit a Democratic- dominated state constitutional convention and because Re- publicans needed a strawman to defeat the proposed constitu- tion.17 The Kentucky expose of 1862 took the form of a

14 Calvin Fletcher Diary, Aug. 21, 29, 30, Sept. 26, 1861, Fletcher Papers, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis. 13 Columbus, Ohio, Crisis, Nov. 28, 1861; Cleveland Leader, Oct. 16, 18, 1861; “Grand Jury Report,” Columbus Ohio Statesman, Oct. 16, 1861. IsGuy S. Hopkins to William H. Seward, Nov. 29, 1861, Guy S. Hopkins Papers, State Department Division, National Archives, Wash- ington. The hoax letter, dated Oct. 5, 1861, and signed in code, is in the Hopkins Papers. The Golden Circle legend, as it affects Michigan, is treated in Frank L. Klement, “The Ho kins Hoax and Golden Circle Rumors in Michigan, 1861-1862,” Mickgan Hisfoiy, XLVIZ (Mar., 7963), 1-14. “The role of Joseph K. C. Forrest in building K.G.C. air castles is treated in Frank L. Klement, “Copperhead Secret Societies in Illinois during the Civil War,” Journal of the Illinois StntP Hisforicnl Society, XLVIII (Summer, 1955), 152-80. 36 Indiana Magazine of History pamphlet, intended to stimulate the organization of the patriotic and secret Union League. Patriots needed an excuse to justify organizing the Union Leagues, so they dressed up the 1861 K.G.C. scarecrow in new clothes and exhibited it to the public.1s Berry R. Sulgrove, editor of the Indianapolis Journal and a member of Governor Morton’s political coterie, reported the K.G.C. stories which originated in the neighboring states and offered some secret society stories of his own. He claimed that a subversive society, the M.P.S. (Mutual Protective Society), existed in many Democratic counties and supposed it “an offshoot of the ‘K.G.C.’ association.” In an earlier issue Sulgrove had featured an editorial entitled “Treason At Work! A Secret Society Exposed!” and had contended that a secret society for the purpose of opposing the war had been organized in Indiana. In March, 1862, Sulgrove again aired M.P.S. charges and flatly asserted that “a secret treasonable league exists in our midst.”lg Editor John J. Bingham of the Indianapolis Sentinel lashed back at Sul- grove’s suppositions, suggesting that the M.P.S. and K.G.C. stories were “manufactured out of whole cloth, to advance partisan and political purposes.” The Sentinel editor added, “The political profligates who invent these vile slanders will find out that they will return to plague them.”20 After Carrington’s arrival in Indiana the tempo of K.G.C. charges in the Hoosier state increased considerably. The “Judge Hughes Letter” and a grand jury report both seemed to give credence to Governor Morton’s charges that a subversive secret society undermined Indiana’s war effort. Judge James Hughes, holding a judgeship in the United States Court of Claims, came to Indianapolis to deliver a couple of fiery political speeches and visit political friends in June, 1862. After returning to Bloomington, Judge Hughes wrote a letter to Governor Morton to the effect that a traitorous secret socie-

18 K.G.C., An Authentic Exposition of the Origin, Objects, and Secret Work of the Organization Known as the Knights of the Golden Circle (published by the United States National Union Club, Feb. 20, 1862). This pamphlet included the Louisville Daily Journal’s expos6 of July 18, 1861. 19 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Dec. 30, 1861, Mar. 28, 1862. 20 Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Apr. 7, 1862. The accident occurred because a soldier on furlough took a free ride on a railroad freight car on a siding and parked the car, loaded with a couple of rails, too close to the main tracks. Carrington nnd the Golden Circle Legend 37 ty-“understood to be hostile to the payment of direct taxes to support the war”-existed in Indiana and was “rapidly spreading throughout the State.”21 Judge Hughes cited no evidence to substantiate his contentions, merely making vague and general charges. Governor Morton read Judge Hughes’ letter to the Republican State Convention (June 18) and used it as a club to manhandle Democrats and lambast the Golden Circle. The grand jury report was as strange as the “Judge Hughes Letter.” It too bore the marks of partisanship. All fourteen members of the grand jury (District Court of the United States, District of Indiana, May term, 1862) were practicing Republicans. A politically minded federal marshal impaneled the jury, and an active Republican party member directed the probe. More than a hundred persons appeared before the grand jury to testify on a dozen different matters -from corruption to murder to disloyalty. The grand jury returned forty-seven indictments-none however for partici- pation in secret society activity-and then the jurymen tacked on an obiter dictum of their own creation. The incidental opinion, unrelated to the indictments presented, dealt with the activity of the Knights of the Golden Circle in Indiana. The strange report suggested that fifteen thousand Hoosiers belonged to treasonable organizations-strongest in those counties which failed to furnish a fair proportion of volunteers. It supposed that many rebels in the Confederate armies also belonged to the K.G.C. and that some of the Confederate prisoners held in Camp Morton evidently belonged to the order. It suggested that members of the Golden Circle who met on the battlefields deliberately “shot over each others’ heads.” Northerners who were K.G.C. members belonged to “dens” or “castles” and bore sidearms when attending meetings in “bye places”-sometimes in the woods and sometimes in deserted houses. The Golden Circle, the obiter dictum report concluded, “is a place where treason is concocted-the nest where traitors were hatched.” The report admitted that

91 James Hughes to Oliver P. Morton, June 16, 1862, published in the Indianapolis Daily Journal, June 19, 1862. Judge Hughes held a Court of Claims appointment. He was an opportunist who could change from being a Buchanan Democrat to a rabid Radical Republican. Democratic newspapers (see the Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, June 24, 1862, for example) called the letter a campaign document and rightly criticized it as most non-judicial. 38 Indiana Magazine of History tangible evidence was lacking but suggested that witnesses who testified before the grand jury and who could have revealed K.G.C. activities held their oaths in the orders to be superior to their civil oaths. The lack of cooperation of some witnesses was taken as proof of the complicity of the witnesses in the serpentine societies. The jurymen, therefore, used the lack of proof as evidence that the K.G.C. existed in Indiana.22 Democrats, of course, attacked the obiter dictum section of the grand jury report with vigor, calling it “a Munchausen presentment” and a document prepared by Republicans who had visited never-never land. Bingham of the Sentinel was sure that the “partisan document” was intended to discredit the Democratic party. He was positive that it was no coin- cidence that the grand jury report was published while the Democratic State Convention was in session.28 Democratic critics of the grand jury report failed to guess why Governor Morton needed a bogeyman. He was trying to organize the Union League in Indiana, and he found apathy evident every- where. If Governor Morton expected the “Judge Hughes Letter” or the obiter dictum section of the grand jury report to check the Democratic tide of October and November, 1862, he was badly mistaken. Military defeats, depressed farm prices, the state draft of 1862, and popular opposition to President Lincoln’s emancipation policy underwrote the Democratic upsurge. Indiana Democrats elected nine of the fourteen members of Congress and secured control of both houses of the state legislature. Fortunately for Indiana Republicans, the governorship was not at stake in the election: Morton had come into a four-year term when Governor Henry S. Lane was elected to the United States Senate in 1861. Governor Morton, aware that he would face a hostile legislature, felt duty bound to reorganize the badly battered

22“Report of the United States Grand Jury, in District Court of the United States, for the District of Indiana, May term, 1862,” in “United States District Court Order Book, May 21, 1860 to November 24, 1863,” Federal Building, Indianapolis, 224-48. 231ndianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Aug. 6, 6, 1862. The Sentinel editor ridiculed the grand jury report, stating, “The silly document placed on file by the Grand jury of the District Court has caused more fun than alarm on the streets . . . and the twaddle it contains will appear supremely ridiculous when the idle fears of the old woman who got it up is [sic] dissipated.” Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Aug. 5, 1862. Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend 39

Republican party. He marshaled a coterie of aides to give a hand in muffling Democratic critics and discrediting the Democratic party. The coterie, which could be called the “Tndianapolis junta,” included Carrington, in process of be- coming Morton’s man Friday; William H. H. Terrell, adjutant general of the State of Indiana; William R. Holloway, the Governor’s private secretary and brother-in-law; and Sul- grove, editor of the Journal. Governor Morton, as titular head of the Republican party in Indiana, took steps to organize the Union League and the “Loyal Legion” and to initiate a smear campaign against the opposition party. He publicly charged that “a widespread political and secret order,” which had as its object the establishment of a “Northwest Confederacy,” existed in Indiana and that prominent Democrats flirted with treason.24 He instructed Carrington, charged with recruiting troops, to convince Washington authorities that the secret society posed a threat, in order to get arms for the Loyal Legion and in order to justify strong-handed measures he might have to take in the months ahead. Public pronouncements of prominent Democrats gave Morton and Carrington a chance to develop the “Northwest Confederacy” thesis. Harrison H. Dodd of Indianapolis, for example, said that the West knew what she wanted and would not become New England’s slave and Lambdin P. Milligan of Huntington spoke the language of Western sectionalists by plumping for free trade and by wishing to check the course of the industrial revolution in America.26 Colonel Carrington, aiding in the building of the secret society legend, wrote a letter to Stanton. In his letter to the Secretary of War Carrington charged that a serpentine society brought about “alarming desertions” in Indiana. “A secret society,” Carrington wrote, “exists in this vicinity to incite desertion of soldiers with their arms, to resist arrest of deserters, to stop enlistments, to disorganize the army, to prevent further drafting-in short, a distinct avowal to stop

24 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Oct. 31, 1862; Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Oct. 31, 1862. 26 Indianapolis Daily State Sewtinel, Jan. 28, 1863. 20 Huntington Democrat, Dee. 18, 1862, quoted in the Indianapolis I)rrily Stntc Sfntinel, Dec. 25, 1862. 40 Indiana Magazine of History this war.”27 Instead of blaming war weariness, or his own inefficiency, for the lack of recruits Carrington pointed his finger at the K.G.C. As the Democratic-dominated state legislature turned to blind partisanship-it tried to set up a committee to usurp the Governor’s military power and it tried brazenly to gerrymander the state to benefit the Democrats2*-the ener- getic Governor intensified his war against the alleged Knights of the Golden Circle and the opposition party. He attacked the Golden Circle in a speech at a Union meeting in Indian- apolis on January 14 and accused the Democratic party of supporting a scheme to establish a “Northwest C~nfederacy.”~~ Soon after, he repeated the charges at Shelbyville and enlarged upon them, and he served the same menu at other Republican

Members of Morton’s “junta” joined the fight against the K.G.C. shadows. Sulgrove of the Journal pitched in with a two-column story exposing and condemning the nefarious Knights, mixing insinuations, innuendos, and misrepresenta- tion in equal portions.31 William R. Holloway arranged for the publication of a K.G.C. expos6 by Asher & Company; Morton’s private secretary gave the pamphlet a statewide distribution in order to nudge Republicans into organizing Union Leagues.32 Carrington contributed “a special report,” intended for President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton; the five-page letter dwelt upon the dangers which the secret societies held for law and order in Indiana. He was sure that the K.G.C. hoped to effect “national ruin” in the Hoosier State. Since Colonel Carrington had defied a writ of habeas corpus issued by the Chief Justice Samuel E. Perkins of

27 Henry B. Carrington to Edwin M. Stanton, Dec. 22, 1862, Official Records, Ser. 2, Vol. V, p. 108. 28 The feud between Morton and the state legislature is admirably treated in Kenneth M. Stampp, Indiana Politics duving the Civil War (Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XXXI; Indianapolis, 1949), 158-86. 20 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Jan. 15, 1863. 80 Ibid., Jan. 25, Feb. 13, 1863. 31 Ibid., Jan. 19, 1863. Y2The Henry I(. English Papers, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, contain some items concerning the establishment of the Union or Loyal League in Indianapolis. The Asher-published K.G.C. expos&and the charter of the Indianapolis Union League are in these papers. Carrington a.nd th.e Golden Circle Legend 41

Indiana, Morton’s military aide stated that firmness and force (rather than adherence to constitutional principles and civil processes) could crush treason on the home front. The em- boldened Colonel closed by reciting a Republican article of faith: God had designed “trial by war” to test the nation, but the fruits of emancipation were noble and manifold.33 Democratic members of the state legislature inadvertently played into the hands of Carrington, Sulgrove, and Morton by tabling resolutions “to investigate the facts in relation to said secret organizations.” Democratic legislators viewed an investigation as a device to turn attention from the burning issues of the day-abolitionism and the centralization of government. Furthermore, since a grand jury was being organized, such an inquiry fell within its jurisdiction. Instead of smoking out the rumors, Democratic legislators shelved the resolutions to investigate the secret societies-giving Republicans thereafter an opportunity to claim that Morton’s political enemies had something to hide.34 When Washington authorities transferred Colonel Car- rington to another assignment, Governor Morton used his influence to keep his man Friday in Indianap~lis.~~General Horatio G. Wright, a close personal friend of Governor Morton and commander of the Department of the Ohio, created a sub- ordinate District of Indiana and named Carrington to command it.36 Carrington also gained a brigadier’s star early in 1863, and he would repay those who helped him in Indianapolis by contributing generously to the Golden Circle legend. Carrington assumed command of the District of Indiana with an officious proclamation, telling the people how they could become loyal citizens.37 Then the newly named general jumped into water over his head. Carrington sent two sergeants into Illinois, which was outside his jurisdiction, to

33Heniy B. Carrington to Abraham Lincoln, Jan. 14, 1863, Robert Todd Lincoln Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Wash- ington. 34 Indiana, House Journal . . . 1863 (Indianapolis, 1863), 120, 125- 26; Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Jan. 23, 1863. 35 Oliver P. Morton to Edwin M. Stanton, Jan. 2, 1863, typewritten copy of letter, Carrington Papers. S6Oj’ficial Records, Ser. 1, Vol. XXIII, Part 2, p. 168. 37 Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Mar. 27, 1863. 42 Indiana Magazine of History arrest four “deserters.” The sergeants caught up with the “deserters” in Marshall, Clark County, Illinois. Clark County authorities resented the “invasion from Indiana,” and the sheriff arrested Carrington’s two sergeants as “kidnappers.” Judge Charles H. Constable (of the Fourth Judicial District of Illinois) ruled against Carrington’s sergeants, setting bail at five hundred dollars and ordering them to appear before a grand jury to answer the charge of kidnapping Illinois citizens.38 Embarrassed because he had bungled by sending two of his officers outside his jurisdiction, Carrington blamed the Knights of the Golden Circle for his dilemma. He dispatched a telegram to Governor Richard Yates of Illinois stating that the four “deserters” had been assured that the Clark County lodge of the Golden Circle “would not let them be taken into the army.”3o Carrington then called upon Governor Morton to help him free the two sergeants and to get him out of the web of Illinois law. Governor Morton and Carrington next called upon General Horatio Wright for permission to take arbitrary action to free the imprisoned sergeants. Wright authorized Carrington to rescue the two sergeants and re- arrest the f our deserters. With Falstaff ian finesse Carring- ton commandeered a special train, took a force of 250 soldiers into Marshall, Illinois, rescued the two sergeants, seized anew the four “deserters,” and, for good measure, made Judge Constable a prisoner of state. In time Judge Constable gained his freedom and a fellow-judge, Samuel H. Treat of the Southern District of Illinois, reprimmanded Carrington. Morton’s man Friday covered his bungling by singing a K.G.C. refrain-blaming his troubles upon a subversive secret society rather than his own ineptness.’O Carrington saw the black arm of the Golden Circle behind dozens of Indiana incidents. Whenever deserters evaded authorities, Carrington supposed that members of the Golden

38 Appleton’s Annual Cgclopedi&, and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1863 (New York, 1864), 472-73. 39Henry B. Carrington to Richard Yates, Mar. 10, 1863, telegram, Yates Papers, Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield. 4OCarrington’s side of the story can be found in “The Constable Case,” typewritten account, Carrington Papers. Carhgton and the Golden Circle Legend 43

Circle had given the fugitives aid and en~ouragement.’~ When volunteering lagged, the commander of the District of Indiana blamed Knights of the Golden Circle for exercising treasonable influence.42 When a gunsmith in Greencastle reported that his shop had been looted, Carrington concluded that Golden Circle members were stealing to arm themselve~.~~ When backwoods feuds erupted or murders occurred, Carring- ton blamed the K.G.C. rather than personal vendettas or jealousy and revenge. When soldiers, disgusted with in- competent officers or tired of army life, went AWOL Carring- ton claimed that Golden Circle influence was at work. When Democrats met in secret caucus, Carrington’s imagination and blind partisanship transformed the political session into a K.G.C. He saw shadows in every woods and ghosts under every bed. When it looked as if the Secretary of War would force Carrington to join his old regiment and go to the front, Car- rington composed a “Memorandum of Conditions of Public Affairs in Indiana” to submit to Washington authorities as evidence that he was needed in Indianapolis. Carrington claimed that Knights of the Golden Circle held meetings in Indiana to encourage “the desertion of soldiers and their arms.” He recited instances of violence and defiance which he linked to the Golden Circle. He wrote at length about supposed oaths, signs, passwords, degrees, and objectives of the K.G.C. He charged that, “about the time of the draft,” Knights of the Golden Circle organized “to break up the army.” Morton’s right bower wrote, “The fact is that the order has grown faster than the party leaders wished and has assumed a shape and bitterness that may not be controlled

41 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Feb. 26, Mar. 27, Apr. 6, 1863; Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Feb. 3, 1863; Henry B. Carrington to Brig. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, Feb. 2, 1863, Carrington Papers. 42 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Mar. 25, 1863. 43 Ibid., Mar. 23, 1863. 44George King to Oliver P. Morton, Feb. 18, 1863, John Hanna Papers, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington; [William H. H. Terrell], Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana (8 vols., Indianapolis, 1865-1869), I, 262, 278-93; Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Apr. 20, 1863 ; Winchester Randolph County Journal (n.d.), in New Castle Courier, May 19, 1863 (clipping in “Newspaper Readings” in the History of New Castle, Indiana, compiled for the In- diana Historical Society. 44 Indiana Magazine of History

if it breaks forth, even by them.” Carrington added a para- graph about the need of firmness on the home front and the need of military victories in the field.4S In addition to trying to convince authorities in Washing- ton that Indiana was endangered by Golden Circle schemes and widespread opposition to the draft, Carrington and Morton tried to sell the same bill of goods to Indiana residents. The two called a council of prominent citizens, including some Democratic leaders, and set March 21 as the date to discuss the state of affairs and to consider measures “to soothe the popular excitement.” Governor Morton was “unwell” on the day scheduled for the meeting, so Carrington took charge of the conference. He reported, with a straight face, that “27,000 arms,” mostly revolvers, had been imported into Indiana by secret society members and that a civil war loomed on the horizon. Carrington expressed a desire to draft an address, urging citizens to accept the draft, obey the laws, and respect his military proclamation^."^ The Democratic members who attended the conference believed that Carrington exaggerated for effect, and they refused to subscribe to the tales about Golden Circle a~tivity.~‘Carrington, nevertheless, promised that he would have an address ready if the “advisory council” would meet again in two days. When the “council” met on March 23, most of the same members were present; and Carrington urged them to sign the address he had prepared. The Democratic members dis- agreed with Carrington’s contentions and criticized the address as partisan and untrue-based upon fiction rather than fact. Even though Carrington amended the document, the Democratic members still refused to add their signatures to the proposed public ~tatement.~~They refused to help Car- rington fashion a K.G.C. fantasy.

45 Henry B. Carrington, “Memorandum of Condition of Public Af- fairs in Indiana, to be Submitted to the President and the Honorable Secretary of War,” Mar. 19, 1863, Robert Todd Lincoln Papers, Manu- script Division, Library of Congress, Washington. 46 Calvin Fletcher Diary, Mar. 21, 1863, Fletcher Papers. 47 Carrington, for example, stated that an agent of Confederate “guerrilla” John H. Morgan had visited Indianapolis “in disguise” and then escaped by stealing a horse and catching the cars. Calvin Fletcher Diary, Mar. 23, 1863, Fletcher Papers. 48 Ibid. Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend 45

Carrington thus failed to sell his bill of goods to local Democrats as well as to Secretary Stanton. Since the War Department had no confidence in Carrington, Major General Henry W. Halleck, general in chief, felt compelled to challenge Carrington’s assignment in Indianapolis. Halleck wrote an unofficial letter to General Ambrose E. Burnside, who had replaced Wright as commander of the Department of the Ohio: It is reported in the newspapers that you have formed Indiana into a separate military district, placing General Carrington in command. The Secretary of War is of the opinion that General Carrington is entirely unfitted for such a command. From my conversations with Governor Tod and Morton, I think the Secretary is right. I do not know General Carrington personally, but, from the best information I can get of him, he has not sufficient judgment and brains to qualify him for the position . . . .49 General Burnside took Halleck’s hint, placed General Milo S. Hascall in command of the District of Indiana, and assigned General Carrington to Cleveland as commandant at Camp Cleveland. But Burnside had failed to consult with Governor Morton. The strong-minded executive found excuses to keep Carrington in Indianapolis, and he appealed his case to Secretary Stanton. He found a number of reasons to ex- press displeasure with General Hascall, and he wanted Car- rington at his side. He succeeded in having Hascall assigned elsewhere, and General Orlando B. Willcox took over the re- defined military district. He also succeeded in having Car- rington reassigned to Indianapolis, reporting for duty “to the Governor of Indiana.”sn Governor Morton, meanwhile, kept up his attack against the Knights of the Golden Circle at every opportunity. Early in April, 1863, the Governor took a trip to Washington, plunked a copy of Carrington’s memorandum on Lincoln’s desk, and added his own warning to that of his military aide.O1

43 Henry W. Halleck to Ambrose E. Burnside, Mar. 30, 1863, Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. XXIII, Part 2, p. 193. 50 Calvin Fletcher Diary, Apr. 23, 24, May 17, 1863, Fletcher Papers; Official Records, Ser. 2, Vol. V, pp. 724, 741; ibid., Ser. 1, Vol. XXIII, Part 2, p. 369; Indianapolis Daily Journal, June 8, 1863; J. D. Cox to Henry B. Carrington, July 1, 1863, typewritten copy of letter, Carrington Papers. 61 Oliver P. Morton to Henry B. Carrington, Apr. 4, 1863, telegram, Carrington Papers. 46 Indiana Magazine of History

Then, after the aggressive Governor returned to Indianapolis, he called a meeting of state officers to consider the challenges which the Golden Circle offered to the administration. He expected the meeting to consider measures for suppressing the secret society. He publicly proclaimed that the order was widespread, powerful, and disloyal.s2 Democratic newspaper editors debunked Governor Morton’s contentions. “It is the hight [siclof folly,” stated Bingham of the Indianapolis Sentinel, “to even suppose that such a society exists in In- ~liana.”~~ In July, 1863, two events alarmed Indiana citizens and gave widespread publicity to the Knights of the Golden Circle, seeming to give some substance to the Carrington-Morton contentions that a subversive society existed in the Hoosier State. The first of the two events took the form of General John H. Morgan’s invasion of Indiana. The rebel raiders crossed the Ohio River on July 8 and headed for Corydon, collecting horses on the way. Morgan’s men routed local legionnaires and kept Indiana authorities guessing as to their plans. General Willcox ordered Carrington with a trainload of troops to intercept Morgan and his raiders near the Ohio- Indiana border. Carrington, however, became intoxicated while the train was being readied, and he never left Indian- apolis. Morgan, meanwhile, crossed into Ohio; and Indiana troops lost an opportunity to capture the rebel raiders because of Carrington’s “drunkenness and ineff i~iency.”~“Gen- eral Willcox ordered Carrington arrested and removed from command.66 Governor Morton again came to Carrington’s defense. He used his influence to get General Willcox (who had arrested Carrington) assigned elsewhere and to get his man Friday restored to command of the District of Indiana. Strangely, Carrington was never tried by a court martial for his sins of omission and commission.

8s Indianapolis Daily Journal, Apr. 21, 1863; Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Apr. 21, 1863. 53 Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, Apr. 21, 1863. 84 Milo S. Hascall, “Report,” Sept. 25, 1863, Hascall Manuscript, Archives Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis. This is a brief account of Hascall’s services while he served as commander of the District of Indiana. 6Ll I Ed. Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend 47

Carrington’s friends covered up for him as best they could. Adjutant General Terrell doctored Hascall’s report when it was published in the postwar years.66 The Indian- apolis “junta” did not let word of Carrington’s drunkenness and arrest get out of the city on the telegraph wires. The Indianapolis Journal, meanwhile, insinuated that Knights of the Golden Circle had aided Morgan;5T and Morton and Carrington contended that Morgan’s raid was intended to coincide with an uprising of the Golden Circle in Indiana- a myth which gained respectability in the postwar years.68 Carrington had a personal interest in building a bigger and better K.G.C. story. He used it effectively to distract attention from his own failures, and he used it to justify Governor Morton’s dictatorial tactics. The second event of July, 1863, which gave Carrington and Morton an opportunity to give publicity to the Golden Circle, centered around the arrest of Bickley in Indiana. After his name had made headlines in Kentucky in 1861,

56General Milo S. Hascall’s manuscript account of his Indiana assignment was doctored before publication as “Document No. 80” in Terrell, Report of the Adjutant General, I, 276-77. In explaining why Morgan was not captured in Indiana, Hascall wrote, “He [Carrington] was ordered to proceed by 3 P.M. on the afternoon of the-[13th.] of July, 1863 and the troops and trains were all in readiness at that time. At nine o’clock at night however he was not gone and upon Gen’l Willcox taking means to ascertain the reason, found unfit to trust with that or any other duty. He [Willcox] forthwith placed him in arrest and ordered me [Hascall] to proceed with the troops which I did, arriving just in time [in Hamilton, Ohio] to ascertain beyond all question that the opportunity of intercepting Morgan had been lost by Carrington’s drunkenness and inefficiency.’’ In published form (with changes made to save Carrington’s reputation) the report read : “He [ Carrington] was ordered to proceed at three o’clock on the afternoon of the 13th of July, and the train; were said to have been in readiness at that time. At nine o’clock at night, however, he had not gone, and General Willcox thereupon suspended him from command and ordered me [Hascall] to proceed with the troops, wvch I did, arriving at the point of destination ‘just in time to be to late. The few hours lost in starting from Indi- anapolis gave the rebel marauder ample time to pass the proposed point of attack without detention, and the last opportunity offered to Indiana troops to inflict chastisement on the fleeing enemy was thus lost.” 57 Indianapolis Daily Joumal, July 15, 22, 25, 1863. 58 Terrell, Report of the Adjutant General and William Dudley Foulke, Life of Oliver P. Morton: Including His Zmportant Speeches (2 vols., Indianapolis, 1899) contributed to the building of the legend in the postwar years. Jeannette Covert Nolan, Hoosier City: The Story of Indianapolis (New York, 1954) and James D. Horan, Con- federate Agent (New York, 1954) carry the legend into the twentieth century. Horan’s readable book is a combination of fact, fiction, and conjecture; he swallowed the Golden Circle legend in its entirety. 48 Indiana Magazine of History

Bickley settled down with a backwoods belle near Tullahoma, Tennessee-never telling his new lady friend that he had deserted a wife in Cincinnati. Bickley apparently was unaware that the Knights of the Golden Circle, originally designed to help colonize and annex Mexico, had become a political fantasy and that General Carrington had contributed considerably to the building of the legend. “As to the bogus Political organization of the Northwestern States,” Bickley later wrote, “I am as ignorant as a man from China. I have not been north since such a thing was known there and have had nothing to do with it in any possible way, either directly or indire~tly.”~~ As Major General William S. Rosecrans’ army pushed southward into central Tennessee, Bickley, who had ignored a Confederate order to report to the army of General Braxton Bragg, found himself within the Union lines.s0 He presented himself on July 6 at the Union headquarters of Brigadier General Richard W. Johnson in Tullahoma and requested a pass for himself and his family (a baby had been born to the bigamist and his backwoods belle) in his own name. When General Johnson inquired whether the applicant were the in- famous George W. L. Bickley of the Knights of the Golden Circle, Bickley brazenly denied any knowledge of the secret order.s1 Like a dunce, however, he gave the name of Eli Kinney of Cincinnati as a reference. (It was Kinney’s sister whom Bickley had once married and deserted.) General Johnson, suspicious of the oily-tongued applicant, related his fears to his superior, Major General Rosecrans; and the latter telegraphed to Cincinnati to check Bickley’s references.02 General Rosecrans, nevertheless, directed that Bickley be given a pass on condition that he report to Major General Burnside in Cincinnati. Rosecrans also ordered an officer to trail Bickley and arrest him if he deviated from a prescribed route.68

59 George W. L. Bickley, “Statement of Facts,” Aug. 8, 1863, Bickley Papers; Columbus, Ohio, Crisis, Dec. 30, 1863; Frank L. Klement, Cop- perheacls in the Middle West (Chicago, 1960), 157-59. 60 Special Order No. 23, Office of Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, Richmond, Jan. 28, 1863, Bickley Papers. 01 Willis Williams, “Report,” July 20, 1863, ibid. 82 Statement of Eli Kinney and Daniel K. Cady, Feb. 7, 1864, ibid. 6SReport of Maj. William S. Rosecrans, Feb. 12, 1864, ibid. Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend 49

Bickley, in keeping with his character, violated in- structions and headed for New Albany, Indiana, instead of going directly to Cincinnati. Rosecrans’ detective therefore arrested Bickley and seized his trunk and his papers. Bickley again blatantly denied any knowledge of the Golden Circle, but the contents of his trunk proved he was a brazen liar. The agent put Bickley in handcuffs and took him to Louis- ville, where he was confined in a military prison. Authorities listed the items found in Bickley’s trunk: the great seal of the K.G.C., several Bickley-written addresses, a packet of letters, newspaper clippings, three packages of powder (later analyzed as gum gambage, opium, and rhubarb), a pamphlet containing the rules and regulations of the K.G.C., words to a song entitled “Land of My Birth,” and miscellaneous material.64 Federal officials released news of Bickley’s arrest to the press; and Republican editors made the most of the story, using it to buttress the K.G.C. tales they had circulated earlier.66 Carrington, of course, used Bickley’s arrest as proof that his K.G.C. contentions were valid and that his Golden Circle tales had a truthful base. By setting foot upon Indiana soil in July of 1863, Bickley inadvertently aided Morton and Carrington in developing the legend that a subversive society, widespread and dangerous, existed in Indiana. As interparty bitterness increased in Indiana and as Governor Morton outwitted and out-maneuvered Indiana Democrats, Harrison H. Dodd of Indianapolis decided to promote the organization of the Sons of Liberty as a patriotic and secret arm of the Democratic party-to win elections, to preserve civil and individual rights, and to counteract the activities of the Union League. Dodd hoped that his paper- based organization would become an agency through which Peace Democrats might bring about the nomination of a “Peace” man in 1864. Dodd’s creation, the Sons of Liberty, was in no way related to the Knights of the Golden Circle; and

64‘‘List of Items Found in the Possession of G. W. L. Bickley,” July 17, 1863, ibid. 66 Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, July 21, 1863; Indianapolis Daily Journal, July 20, 21, 1863; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Aug. 6, 1863. 50 Indiana Magazine of History only a handful of Dodd’s friends took his order seriously.66 Meanwhile, in Missouri, a man named Phineas C. Wright pro- jected an organization he called the Order of American Knights, intended as an instrument to promote fellowship, preach peace, teach states’ rights doctrine, and combat “Black Republicanism.” Wright, even more than Dodd, failed to sell his bill of goods to his Democratic colleagues; and the O.A.K. also languished on the vine.67 Republican propagandists, however, took what information and rumors they could collect about both the Sons of Liberty and the Order of American Knights and brought forth grandiose exposes during the 1864 presidential campaign.68 Although Republicans centered their attack upon the Sons of Liberty and the Order of American Knights in the remaining months of the war, they occasionally also rattled the bones of the K.G.C. skeleton. Once a writer charged that Camp Morton contained a large number of Confederate prisoners who belonged to the Knights of the Golden Circle and that the ugly monster was again raising its head.69 Then in November, 1863, an illiterate farm hand named Elliott

66 S. Corning Judd to Abraham Lincoln, Mar. 3, 1865, Nicolay-Hay Papers; testimony of Clement L. Vallandigham, Mar. 29, 1865, before the Cincinnati Military Commission, Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Mar. 30, 1865. The definitive story of the Sons of Liberty awaits someone in- terested in historical detective work. Gilbert R. Tredway, “Indiana against the Administration, 1861-1865” (Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of History, Indiana University, 1962) contended that the Sons of Liberty were numerous in the Midwest and treasonable in design. Klement, Copperheads in the Middle West, 161-205, challenged the traditional story and exposed the expositors. 67P. Casius Urbanus (pseudonym of Phineas C. Wright), “Oc- casional Address of Supreme Commander,” Dec. 8, 1863, John P. Sanderson Papers, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus; statement of P. C. Wright, Apr. 27, 1865, Joseph Holt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington; S. Corning Judd, testimony before the Cincinnati Military Commission, Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Apr. 2, 1865. Klement, CoppeTheads in the MiddEe West, 167-205, summarizes the rise of the O.A.K. and debunks the expos6 devised by John P. Sanderson. 68 John ,:. Sanderson, “Conspiracy to establish a Northwestern Confederacy, Sanderson Papers. This expos6 was first published in the St. Louis Missouri Democrat, July 28, 1864, and then in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, July 30, 1864. Sanderson’s concoction became the chief source of Holt’s famous “Report” (Joseph Holt to E. M. Stanton, Oct. 8, 1864), published in Official Records, Ser. 2, Vol. VII, pp. 930-53. 69 Robert M. Littler to Samuel J. Kirkwood, Nov. 11, 1863, Kirkwood Papers, State Department of History and Archives, Historical Library, Des Moines, Iowa. Carrington and the Golden Circle Legend 51

Robertson testified that he had attended a Golden Circle meeting in Greenforks Township, Randolph County, Indiana; and he signed a statement that seventy-seven Democrats belonged to the K.G.C. lodge which he had visited. “The last election,” Robertson stated, “was secretly managed by the K.G.C.” The imaginative affiant, a former Ohio resident, even claimed that he had been offered the command of one hundred men to help in bringing Clement L. Vallandigham back home in case the exile-in-Canada were elected governor of Ohio.70 Robertson’s many questionable statements included his story that he was expelled from the Greenforks Township chapter of the Golden Circle because he had volunteered for the army. The records reveal that he did not enroll as a recruit until August 24, 1864.71 The following year Robertson signed another affidavit-expos6, one which told of the treasonable activities of the Sons of Liberty.72 The context and content of Robertson’s two reports were the same, but he changed the name (from Knights of the Golden Circle to Sons of Liberty) to keep up to date with the stories which Carrington and Morton were selling to a gullible public. The Knights of the Golden Circle, then, existed more in fancy than in fact. It was a pre-war, paper-based creation which George W. L. Bickley hoped would bring him fame and fortune. But Bickley had neither the ability nor the character nor the resources to make his dream come true. Carrington and Morton seized upon on opportunity-and a climate pro- duced by war psychosis-to transform a name into a bogeyman, bringing a Civil War myth into being. Wartime charges that Knights of the Golden Circle existed in Indiana appear to disintegrate under close scrutiny through the historical microscope. Evidence discovered to date fails to convince the skeptical that any castles of the Knights of the Golden

70 Robertson’s exlsosk. filled with manv lsreDosterous statements. was published in the Eaton, Ohio, Gazette, Jd; 7,*1864, and republished in Official.. Records, Ser. 2, Vol. VII, pp. 742-44. 71 Adjutant .General’s Records,-Indianapolis, Indiana. Elliott Robert- son was enrolled on Aug. 22, 1864, as a private in the Sixteenth Regi- ment, Indiana Volunteers, and was mustered out the following May. 72 Elliott Robertson, “Statement,” Aug. 23, 1864, in A. J. Werner Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society Library, Cleveland, Ohio. 52 Indiana Magazine of History

Circle existed in Indiana-or, for that matter, in the entire Old Northwest. Henry B. Carrington contributed more to the building of the K.G.C. myth than anyone else, although Governor Morton also made a major contribution. Morton needed a bogeyman in order to justify his high-handed measures, to win elections, and to discredit the Democratic opposition. Carrington needed a scarecrow to repay Morton’s favors, to justify his Indianapolis assignment, and to cover his own bungling. The Golden Circle story, like many others, was truly “much ado about nothing.”