Who were the Knights of the Golden Circle? ?

Question

Think Civil War!

Answer 1

Knights of The Golden Circle, American secret society organized in the South in 1855 to promote slavery and to extend it, particularly into northern Mexico. Later, during the American Civil War, the society spread to Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana and also functioned in the border states of Kentucky and Missouri. During the war, the Northern members pressed for peace and for reducing the increasing powers of the federal government. Public charges were made that the Northern groups were engaged in treasonable activities such as spying and planning armed insurrections against the Union. In 1863 the organization was renamed the Order of American Knights, and early in 1864 the group was reorganized as the Sons of Liberty under the leadership of the American politician Clement Laird Vallandigham. In 1864 the membership reached a maximum, estimated to be between 200,000 and 300,000.