HELENA, TEXAS The Toughest Town on Earth

by Barry Harrin

  The Abolition Plot in Texas.

  We extract the following from a letter to the Houston Telegraph, from Dallas, giving further particulars of the extensive Abolition plot discovered there a few days ago:

  The outhouses, granaries, oats and grain of Mr. Crill Miller, were destroyed a few days after the destruction of Dallas. This led to the arrest of some white men, whose innocence, however, was proved beyond a doubt. Several Negroes belonging to Mr. Miller, were taken up and examined, and developments of the most startling character elicited. A plot to destroy the country was revealed, and every circumstance even to the minutiae, detailed. Nearly or quite a hundred Negroes have been arrested, and upon a close examination, separate and apart from each other, they deposed to the existence of a plot or conspiracy to lay waste the country by fire and assassination—to impoverish the land by the destruction of the provisions, arms and ammunition, and then when in a state of helplessness, a general revolt of the Negroes was to begin on the first Monday in August, the day of election for the State officers. This conspiracy is aided and abetted by abolition emissaries from the North, and by those in our midst.

  The details of the plot and its modus operandi, are these: each county in Northern Texas has a supervisor in the person of a white man, whose name is not given; each county is laid off into districts under the sub-agents of this villain, who control the action of the Negroes in the districts, by whom the firing was to be done. Many of our most prominent citizens were singled out for assassination whenever they made their escape from their burning homes. Negroes never before suspected, are implicated, and the insurrectionary movement is widespread to an extent truly alarming. In some places the plan was conceived in every form shocking to the mind, and frightful in its results. Poisoning was to be added, the old females to be slaughtered along with the men, and the young and handsome women to be parceled out amongst these infamous scoundrels. They had even gone so far as to designate their choice, and certain ladies had already been selected as the victims of those misguided monsters.

  Fortunately, the country has been saved from the accomplishment of these horrors; but then, a fearful duty remains for us. The Negroes have been incited to these infernal proceedings by abolitionists, and the emissaries of certain preachers who were expelled from this county last year. Their agents have been busy amongst us, and many of them have been in our midst. Some of them have been identified, but have fled from the country; others still remain, to receive a fearful accountability from an outraged and infuriated people. Nearly a hundred Negroes have testified that a large reinforcement of abolitionists are expected on the first of August, and these to be aided by recruits from the Indian tribes, while the Rangers are several hundred miles to the North of us. It was desired to destroy Dallas, in order that the arms and ammunition of the artillery company might share the same fate.

  Our jail is filled with the villains, many of whom will be hung and that very soon. A man was found hung at our neighboring city of Fort Worth, two days ago, believed to be one of those scoundrels who are engaged in this work. We learn that he had stored away a number of rifles, and the day after he was hung a load of six-shooters passed on to him, but were intercepted. He was betrayed by one of the gang, and hence his plans were thwarted. Many others will share his fate.

  I have never witnessed such times. We are most profoundly excited. We go armed day and night, and know not what we shall be called upon to do.

  In order to educate you further on what really was in people’s minds, I offer this newspaper letter to the Editor in the Port of Indianola. Remember this was only days before the dreaded election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency … a southern nightmare to be sure.

  INDIANOLA [TX] COURIER, October 27, 1860, p. 2, c. 3 Correspondence of the Crisis.]

  Anti-Wide Awakes.

  Saluria, Texas, Oct. 10, 1860.

  Messrs. Editors:—Feeling a deep and abiding interest in the wellbeing of the South and its institutions, and the perpetuity of the Union—hallowed by so many glorious achievements—founded upon integrity, honor, and a just regard to the equality and rights of the several States constituting it, and the feelings and prosperity of their citizens; entertaining an abhorrence of the rapine, murder, insurrection, pollution and incendiarism which have been plotted by the deluded and vicious of the North, against the chastity, laws and prosperity of innocent and unoffending citizens of the South; and regarding with irrepressible indignation and contempt, a threat conveyed in a speech recently delivered by W. H. Seward, of N. Y., in which he exults in the early advent of the “irrepressible conflict,” (of which he is the arch instigator,) which he declares to be already on hand; congratulates the “Wide-Awakes” upon their timely organization, and exhorts them to maintain it until after the election; and believing that Lincoln is the chosen champion for this conflict and this organized Northern canaille for “repressing” and degrading the South; the undersigned respectfully submits to his fellow-citizens of Texas, the following propositions, commending them to the true men of the North and South.

  1st. That in the event of Lincoln’s election as President of the United States, in November next, the undersigned will contribute one thousand dollars towards arming and equipping the first company of anti-Wide Awakes, of one hundred men, that may be raised, officered and uniformed, in the State of Texas.

  2d. That he will give said company, or any other of like character that may be raised in Texas, one hundred dollars each, not exceeding ten in number, who may expel from this State any appointees, who may accept office under Lincoln. Believing them to be the most dangerous enemies to the peace, prosperity and continued Union of the States.

  The above propositions are separate and distinct, and I ask you to retain this, my obligation, and deliver it to the company or companies entitled to its benefits and who claim its execution. To the fulfillment of which I hereby pledge my sacred honor; and solemnly appeal to my fellow citizens, whether the times do not call for action, not resolves, when four hundred thousand Northern bayonets are bristling, ready to be plunged into the best blood of the South?

  Hugh W. Hawes.

  The majority of Texans along with a majority of voters in 10 other slave states cast their Presidential vote for Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. As the results below clearly show, the slave states were on the losing end of the election and their worst nightmare became reality.

  In Texas and throughout the country, the Knights of the Golden Circle formed the heart of the secession military machine as the crisis of the Union deepened.

  The KGC gathered troops at the Rio Grande on two occasions for a planned invasion of Mexico but these attempts bore no fruit. The KGC did have great success in the takeover of all Federal “Union” facilities in Texas virtually without a fight. On February 18, 1861 “Castles from many parts of Texas including Helena took part after forcing General David E. Twiggs to surrender all U.S. military posts in Texas, including the headquarters in San Antonio.120

  Very few Americans today have ever heard of the KGC, This organization at one point is believed to have expanded to several hundred thousand members throughout the south, the west and to a lesser extent the north during the Civil War. They were organized into lodges called “castles,” with Masonic signs, grips, and passwords.

  As mentioned earlier very few accounts of the Civil War make any reference to the Knights of the Golden Circle nor its covert activities to terrorize and demoralize the north throughout the war.

  The government of Abraham Lincoln was so concerned about the KGC that they infiltrated the organization. Felix Stidger was an undercover United States Government Secret Service Agent who infiltrated the KGC and rose to the level of Grand Secretary of State Order of Sons of Liberty, State of Kentucky, 1864.121 His testimony was later used to convict members of the organization on charges of treason.

  In the north and border-states there were thousands of supporters known as Copperheads. The North considered them like the
poisonous snake. They were actually peace democrats seeking a peace treaty with the south while in many cases supporting the KGC goals. There were many secret missions by the KGC and Confederate secret service that wreaked much havoc in the north and may have extended the war by tying up significant numbers of Union troops.

  Here are just a few of those missions and plots:

  Little known today and rarely ever seen in any history of the Civil War, a bold plan formulated by a number of Southern “castles” with support from northern “castles” in Indiana, Ohio and New York. The plan was to assassinate Lincoln at his inauguration, seize Washington D.C., and loot the U.S. Treasury striking terror into the hearts of the Northern abolitionists “and thus secure the entire field in advance.”122

  “The plan called for about a thousand men armed with bowie knives and pistols to meet secretly in Baltimore where they were to secure the services of the Plug Uglies (a violent street gang and political club). Thence proceed to Washington on the day preceding the inauguration, and stop at hotels as private citizens, after which their leaders were to reconnoiter and select the most effective mode of operations for the succeeding day.” The plot was discovered and General Scott had sufficient troops and artillery to remove the winds from the sails of the plotters.

  A group of thirty Confederate raiders on 19 October 1864 attacked the town of St. Albans, Vermont. Although they succeeded in terrorizing the citizens and robbing the town’s banks they failed in their objective of burning the town to the ground. Although some of the raiders were captured after returning to Canada the Canadians refused to extradite them back to the United States.123

  Confederate agents tried “to set New York City aflame.” On 25 November 1864 the plot was put together by Robert Martin. He and seven other Confederate agents, including his second-in-command John W. Headley, made their way from Canada to New York City. The saboteurs set fires to more than a dozen buildings but all of the fires were extinguished without major damage. The eight arsonists made their way back to safety in Canada. Later one of them, Robert Cobb Kennedy, was captured in Detroit, transported back to New York, tried and hanged.124

  There was a variety of weapons and techniques used by the KGC and Confederate Secret Service agents and operatives to wreak havoc and cause terror in the north and the south. Here are a few actual devices used by agents meant to sap the will of the Union to continue the war.125

  EXPLANATIONS of the INFERNAL MACHINES

  Figure 1 A seemingly harmless portmanteau or hand valise. Figure 2 Shows the same opened, and its arrangement. An alarm clock with the bell removed, set to any given time, when running to that time springs the lock of the gun, the hammer of which striking and exploding a cap placed upon a tube filled with powder fires a train connected with a bottle of Greek Fire. The explosion of these combustibles ignites a bunch of tow saturated with turpentine with which the remainder of the valise is filled.

  This innocent looking but vicious valise can be taken to ones room in a hotel, aboard a steamboat, or into a business house, or anywhere.

  The clock wound up and alarm attachment set for any future time of from ten minutes to ten hours, the valise closed and locked, and at the time for which the alarm is set the slight explosion will occur without even attracting the attention of those nearby until the fire has been set and under full headway.

  Figure 3 shows a conical shell 3 1/2inches in diameter and 8 inches long. Figures 4 and 5 show the bottom and top part of Figure 3 when unscrewed at the base of the cone: Figure 6 is a shorter shell into which Figure 7 is screwed, the space between figures 6 and 7 to be filled with the liquid Greek Fire: figure 7 is a case to contain powder, with a nipple for a cap at the upper end: figure 7 screws into figure 6 containing the Greek Fire, and the two forming an inner shell fitting loosely into figure 3, into which it is placed. When the figure 3 shell is discharged from a gun on striking any object the cap on figure 7 explodes and ignites and explodes the powder, bursting the shell and igniting the Greek Fire, and setting on fire anything with which it may come into contact.

  Figure 8 shows a spherical shell or hand grenade ready for use: Figure 9 and 10 show the same shell or grenade unscrewed in the center for placing in it the interior shell: Figure 11 is a shell enough smaller than Figure 8 to admit the placing of nine nipples on the outside of it and have caps on each of them, and still work loosely enough that upon the shell or grenade dropping onto or striking anything one or more of the caps will explode: figure 12 is a small vial to contain Greek Fire.

  The vial (figure 12) containing the Greek Fire is placed inside the smaller shell (figure 11) and the space between the vial and (figure 11) is filled with powder, and the two halves screwed together, and with the caps on the nipples figure 11 is placed in figure 8, which is then screwed together. The dropping of this shell or grenade eight or ten inches on the floor or any solid substance will invariably explode one or more of the caps, no matter which way it falls: or it can be thrown by hand, and on striking a building, or any object, one or more of the caps would explode, igniting the powder and bursting the shell, and the Greek Fire would set fire to a building or any other inflammable object with which it may come into contact. The string attached to figure 8 will enable a person to throw it a greater distance as a sling with less danger of its explosion in his own hand.

  There have been a multitude of investigations alleging that many famed characters from the Civil War era, including John Wilkes Booth and Jesse James, belonged to and acted under the influence of the KGC.126 A number of investigators argue that the KGC buried millions of dollars stolen from U.S. Army payrolls, banks, stage coaches and trains across the Southwest. Their claim is that this stolen money (now worth billions) continued to be guarded into the mid-twentieth century and maybe to this day.127

  At this point you might be thinking what does all this have to do with Helena and Karnes County? Karnes County and the County seat of Helena became a hot bed of pro-secession activity … well before the start of the Civil War. Some of the pro-secession attitudes can be attributed to radical anti-abolitionist newspapers. However, the major factor in radicalizing the County and creating a hatred for Abraham Lincoln and the north was the KGC.

  The KGC had a major “castle” in Helena giving it significant “boots on the ground” in its campaign to gently nudge any Unionist’s or wavering secessionist as to the error of their ways … if you get my meaning.

  Although there were about 32 KGC “castles” in the State of Texas by late 1860, as you can see from the following newspaper article the “Castle” at Helena appears to have been a prominent KGC center of power.

  MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [MEMPHIS, TN], May 7, 1861, p. 2, c. 4

  Knights of the Golden Circle.

  Headquarters, Army of K. G. C., Louisville, Ky., May 1, 1861.

  1. Commandants of K. G. C. castles throughout the various States of the South, excepting Texas, are hereby ordered to forward, without delay, to general headquarters, at Louisville, Ky., complete muster rolls of military companies. If the military organization of a castle is not completed, the commandant will take immediate steps to have it done. Each company, when organized, shall consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, two second lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, two musicians and ninety privates.

  2. Castles belonging to the Texas division will report to Gen. Geo. W.Chilton, marshal of di[illegible]on, at Tyler, Smith county, Texas, or to Col. Charles A. Russell, acting adjutant general, at Helena, Karnes County, Texas. The president begs the order to respond fully and promptly to the call of Generals Chilton, Ford, Wilcox and Green, and stand on the defensive until our national troubles are ended.

  3. All general, field and staff officers of the American legion will report immediately by letter or otherwise, to the president at Louisville, Ky.

  4. The president begs to state for the information of the order that since the first of February last he has been laboring in Kentucky—principally in the city of Louisville
—and has added to the order 1,483 members, 534 of whom have been sent to the army of the Confederate States. Two regiments are now being formed in the State to be held subject to the orders of the Governor. The order has now 17,643 men in the field, and the president has no hesitation in saying that the number can be duplicated if necessity requires.

  George Bickley, K. G. C.,

  President of American Legion.

  Charles A. Russell the original Karnes County surveyor is shown as an acting adjutant general of the KGC. A number of other prominent citizens of Karnes County were both Mason’s and members of the Helena “castle.” One of the more well known members was John Littleton.

  Littleton owned two slaves and had a background as Karnes County Sheriff, Texas Ranger, Indian fighter, veteran of the Cortina wars, Karnes County delegate to the Texas Secession Convention and later as heroic Confederate cavalry officer.

  Although there were many prominent members of the KGC “castle” in Helena most of the membership records have either become unavailable or were destroyed to protect the guilty and occasionally the innocent.

  Chapter 16: The Civil War

  The American Civil War remains as the bloodiest war in American history. The war resulted in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Ten percent of all northern males 20–45 years of age died as did 30 percent of all southern white males aged 18–40.128