The Knights of the Golden Circle

The History and Legacy of One of 19th Century America’s Most Notorious Secret Societies

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Colin Fluxman

In 1934, a pair of teenagers from Baltimore by the names of Theodore Jones and Henry Grob embarked on what they thought would be another lazy summer afternoon. They popped in at the soda shop and idly browsed through the aisles of few local mom-and-pop stores, but when they could not kill their boredom, they decided to return to Grob's place for an impromptu treasure hunt. Clunky metal detectors in hand, they roamed around the backyard, discovering and delighting in odd metal knickknacks along the way. What started out as just another slow-moving summer's day turned out to be anything but when one of the detectors began to go off.

Intrigued, the pair grabbed a spade each and shoveled like their lives depended on it. What they found was none other than a rusted pot of 5,000 glittering gold coins, with the mysterious words “Great Seal of the K'S of the G.C.” stamped onto the edges of each token. What ensued was a bitter dispute over the ownership of said coins, one that is still raging on via the parties' descendants to this day. But who were these “K's,” and why was this treasure so coveted?

As it turned out, the boys had stumbled upon artifacts left over by an ambitious secret society that operated in the midst of the American Civil War, with no less an aim than to establish a brand new sovereignty composed of territories in Mexico, Central America, the Confederacy, and the Caribbean.

©2017 Charles River Editors (P)2017 Charles River Editors

History you don’t know

I enjoy learning about history behind the scenes. Good book for that. Bit slow at times but very informative. Minor attempt to link this group to the Freemasons was tenuous at best. Good book overall.

No treasure hunt

Reading the teaser I thought there would be a successful treasure hunt involved.
It is a story about KGC founder George WL Bickley. He might have single handedly both spurred and thwarted Southern Cessation by usurping another organization.