Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - August 25, 1985
by Georgia Jones
Vigo County Historical Society

19th century purse recalls raids of dastardly "Knights"

Sometimes a small, seemingly insignificant item in a collection has an interesting history and also recalls a long forgotten time in history.

Today's historical treasure from the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 South Sixth Street, is such an item. The small linen purse in shades of brown and maroon is trimmed with small, steel beads.

The purse, a gift from Mrs. Zoe Channey Bays, belonged to her grandmother, Jane Saucerman, in 1862 at the beginning of the Civil War. The history of this purse as told by Mrs. Bayes states: "At the time this story begins my grandparents were living on a farm. they had a 16-year-old boy they were raising.

"The morning of August 25, 1862, this boy went into town and enlisted in the Union Army. My grandfather, learning of his enlistment, rode horseback into town to have the boy released from this enlistment because of his age. He changed his mind and did not change plans for the lad, but enlisted himself, sending his horse back home with a neighbor, asking a neighbor to tell my grandmother to sell off all of the stock and move to the country seat.

"Grandmother sold the stock and concealed the money from the sale in an old boot in an outbuilding.

"At this time there was an organization in this and surrounding counties that called themselves 'The knights of the Golden Circle.' This organization was a secret society whose purpose was the disruption of the Union Cause. Barn burning, night raiding, terrorism, threats, opposition to the draft and even murder were its weapons. They were a lot of Southern sympathizers and some were downright treasonable.

"This band of of the Knights of the Golden Circle came on night to my grandmother's home. She was in bed with a 4-year-old daughter. They bludgeoned the door open and demanded the money she had received from the sale of the stock. In throwing a mother hubbard over her gown, some keys rattled in the pocket and they snatched them from her dress. They found a small coin purse with some change in it. Grandmother asked to keep the purse and I treasure it to this day. They were unable to locate the other money."

Not until 1862 did the Knights of the Golden Circle begin to be recognized for what they were: a secret order that had plans to resist or thwart the enlistments of volunteers for the Union Army, and bring the Civil War to a close by means of insurrection.

For each state that the circle operated, it was given its own identifying name. Indiana knew the order as the "Sons of Liberty." By the end of the year the secret organization was flourishing in the Wabash Valley.

In Terre Haute a newspaper plant was broken into and the presses were wrecked.

In 1863 there were about 50,000 members of the Sons of Liberty in Indiana.

The treasonable Order of the Sons of Liberty when passing from the valley left more than anguish with the loyal inhabitants. It left a huge public debt that necessitated years of taxation.