Morton, Governor of
Indiana, who was fired at, one night, as he was leaving the state
house. When Morton demanded an investigation of the Golden
Circle, the legislature refused to sanction it. On his own
authority and with Federal aid he made investigations and
published a report which, if it did not actually prove treason,
came dangerously near to proof. Thereafter, this society drops
out of sight, and its members appear to have formed the new Order
of the American Knights, which in its turn was eclipsed by the
Sons of Liberty. There were several other such societies all
organized on a military plan and with a great pretense of arming
their members. This, however, had to be done surreptitiously.
Boxes of rifles purchased in the East were shipped West labeled
"Sunday-school books," and negotiations were even undertaken with
the Confederacy to bring in arms by way of Canada. At a meeting
of the supreme council of the Sons of Liberty, in New York,
February 22, 1864, it was claimed that the order had nearly a
million members, though the Government secret service considered
half a million a more exact estimate.
As events subsequently proved, the societies were not as
formidable as these figures would imply. Most of the men who
joined them seem to have been fanciful creatures who loved
secrecy for its own sake.
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