The Knights of the Flaming Circle was a militant organization founded in 1923 to fight the

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestantism, Protestant states, ...

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

. They were part of an opposition that included politicians, labor leaders and immigrant groups. Membership was open to anyone who opposed the KKK and was "not a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

". They had significant support amongst various ethnic groups in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Bryce Bauer has written that, "Instead of only admitting white, native-born Protestants as the Klan did, the organization vowed to accept anyone who was anything other than that." They were one of a number of national organizations in the US organized in the 1920s in opposition to the growing influence of the KKK. Notable outbreaks of violence took place in the

Mahoning Valley The Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH–PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, typically known as the Mahoning Valley (and historically the Steel Valley), is a metropolitan area in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania the United States, with t ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and in "

Bloody Williamson ''Bloody'', as an adjective or adverb, is a commonly used expletive attributive in British English, Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and a number of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. It has been used as a ...

" county of

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

Prohibition Era

During the early to mid 1920s the Klan primarily targeted

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and immigrants instead of blacks. They supported the

Volstead Act The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was an act of the 66th United States Congress, designed to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919), which established the prohibition of alcoholic d ...

during the era of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, and were willing to enforce the liquor laws through vigilantism. They blamed Catholics for bootlegging, and informed on

moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

rs to local law enforcement. They blamed the lack of enforcement of the Volstead Act on corrupt law enforcement. One Klan member wrote the following, referring to Catholics as ''fish eaters'' (a derogatory reference to the Catholic practice of eating fish on Fridays): "We have a Klan Sheriff but our prosecuting attorney is a fish eater and will do anything he can to fish the Klan". At times, the Klan burned crosses in front of Catholic homes. The name "Knights of the Flaming Circle" refers to the Klan's burning cross. In 1923, the same year that the organization was founded, the editors of ''Catholic World'' wrote that Catholic citizens would act against the Klan in "self-defense, even to the extent of bloodshed." In some parts of the country, Catholic members of the Red Knights responded with "mass, armed counterattacks" significant enough for the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

to be called during at least one of these actions.

Ohio

On August 15, 1923, a Klan motorcade from

East Liverpool, Ohio East Liverpool is a city in southeastern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,958 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Ohio River within the Upper Ohio Valley and borders Pennsylvania to the east and West Virginia to the ...

, and

Chester, West Virginia Chester is a city in northern Hancock County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. Sharing a border with Ohio and lying about west of Pennsylvania, Chester is the northernmost city i ...

, came downriver to

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a 1 ...

, where they met at a hotel for dinner. The opponents of the Klan, members of the local Flaming Circle, gathered outside the hotel. Six or seven cars were overturned and the Klansmen were attacked with bricks, bottles and clubs. Reports noted between 2,500 and 3,000 people participated in the melee. Although many injuries were reported, no deaths seemed to have taken place. In May 1924,

Niles, Ohio Niles is a city in southern Trumbull County, Ohio, United States, situated at the confluence of the Mahoning River and Mosquito Creek. The city's population was 18,443 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan a ...

, the Ku Klux Klan paraded through the city. Violence prevented a second parade from taking place the next month in June. The Klan rescheduled for November 1, 1924, and the Knights of the Flaming Circle announced plans for a competing counter-march, promising 10,000 participants. On October 29, someone bombed the home of the city's mayor because he refused to revoke the parade permit. Tensions escalated and resulted in 18 hours of full-blown rioting ended only with 10 days of martial law. Only in the last few years has research focused on Italian-American resources and eyewitness accounts.

New Mexico

Both the Klan and Flaming Circle were active in

Raton, New Mexico Raton ( ) is a city and the county seat of Colfax County, New Mexico, Colfax County in northeastern New Mexico. The city is located just south of Raton Pass. The city is also located about 6.5 miles south of the New Mexico–Colorado border and 85 ...

. Both the fiery cross and a flaming circle appeared in early April 1925 in the days before the local school board election. Both organizations each backed a slate of candidates.

Civil Rights Era

The organization disappeared in the 1930s as the second version of the Klan faded from the public spotlight. It resurfaced in some areas a few decades later though during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. In 1965, Thomas Jordan, a former councilman from Wanaque,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, announced plans to reorganize the Knights of the Flaming Circle after the re-appearance of the Klan in New Jersey. Following telephone death threats from a voice with a Southern drawl, local police provided Jordan with protection. On June 9, 1970, Rev. Herman Mohney and Percy McIntyre touched off a burning cross on McIntyre's 44-acre farm near Templeton, Pennsylvania, as part of a ceremony for the Flaming Circle. The pair claimed to have more than 500 followers signed up. The organization planned to join with unions and the unemployed and would fight for widows and poor people. The pair "disclaimed any relations to Nazis, Communists or the Ku Klux Klan." The organizers claimed connection with hard-hat construction unions and included a number of honorably discharged military veterans. McIntyre served as the organization's commander. Mohney served as chief of chaplains. The group did not appear to be connected with the earlier Knights of the Flaming Circle, but used both elements of the Klan and the Flaming Circle in its operations.June 10, 1970. "Cross-burning Group Vows More of Same." ''Simpson's Leader-Times'' (Kittanning, Penn.). 1-2; and June 10, 1975. "Pages From The Past." ''Simpson's Leader-Times'' (Kittanning, Penn.). 4.

Notes

References

* * *{{Cite book, publisher = Oxford University Press, isbn = 978-0-19-509836-5, last = MacLean, first = Nancy, title = Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan, date = 1995 Anti-racist organizations in the United States 1923 establishments in the United States