The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 546
728 p. : maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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546
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
raised cotton without the help of the Negro. Detailing facts and
figures of this unheard of phenomenon, Frederick L. Olmsted
offered the German farm culture as proof that slavery was both
foolish and unprofitable.7 Cognizant of the problem, the Knights
took pride in the fact that by 1858, castles, or lodges, had been
built in Texas which
showed themselves worthy of their calling, and, if anything, rather
distanced those of the Gulf States in promotion of the "good cause."
[They did this in spite of the] one great obstacle . . . the large,
free-laboring German population.s
And Bickley, armed with his own imposing and interesting set
of calculations, openly sought to refute the Olmsted theory.?
?Olmsted, A Journey Through Texas, 433. Due to cleaner picking, "German
cotton yielded a higher price in the markets of the world.. . ." Weston Joseph
McConnell, Social Cleavages in Texas; a Study of the Proposed Division of the
State (New York, 1925), 165. For an Appraisal of Olmsted's "free-soil" enthusiasm
see Laura Wood Roper, "Frederick Law Olmsted and the Western Texas Free-Soil
Movement," American Historical Review, LVI (October, 1950), 58-64.
8An Authentic Exposition of the "K. G. C.", "Knights of the Golden Circle"; or
A History of Secession from 1834 to 1861 (Indianapolis, 1861), 12-15; hereafter
cited as An Authentic Exposition. Although evidence, especially in newspapers, is
scarce concerning the origin and early history of the KGC, this expos, contains
several chapters dealing with KGC activity in 1855, 1856, 1857, and 1858, and
quotes (pp. 9, 1o) data from the New Orleans castle, which supposedly existed
prior to 1859. The Knights themselves published some historical information in
a basic KGC document, Address to the Citizens of the Southern States (n.p., n.d.),
a rather lucid statement drawn up by Knights assembled in convention in 186o.
This paper, hereafter cited as Raleigh Address, states (p. 17) that the KGC was or-
ganized at Lexington, Kentucky, on July 4, 1854, by five men who answered a call
from Bickley. What could the Knights gain by falsifying the date of origin? If these
men-some of whom did not like Bickley-accepted the date 1854, it must be close
to the truth. Bridges accepted the date and used it in his article. Bridges also
found evidence of a castle which was operating in 1859 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Did this lodge spring into existence without the benefit of historical development?
Also, printed materials in the Bickley Papers carrying the date 1859 indicate that
the KGC was a going concern by September, 1859. Moreover, as early as 1858,
Bickley "organized" the American Colonization and Steamship Company to serve
as a financial nucleus around which he could try to gather capital for carrying
out KGC objectives. The point is that it does not seem logical to assume that an
organization such as the KGC would spring into existence full blown in 1859 or
on any other date. Rather, the KGC began much in the way outlined in the Raleigh
Address-as a small, ineffective group gathered around Bickley. Then through the
years the movement spread over the South. It should be remembered that this was
a secret and revolutionary group with little desire for publicity in the early stages
of development. This probably explains the absence of "proof of existence" in news-
papers, 1858 and earlier.
'Bickley did this in a speech. A fragmentary copy of the speech is in the Bickley
Papers. Following the war, many Knights admitted that abolition was a good thing,
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967, periodical, 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101199/m1/576/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.