The Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling Details Part 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES A. WILKINSON, Past Grand Seignior of the Chicago Temple of the Sons of Liberty, and one of those who brought the "b.u.t.ternuts" to Chicago "to vote and to fight."]

They not only had their spies, one might almost say, in Camp Douglas, but in the telegraph offices, and were in or so near Post Headquarters, that they were able to chronicle nearly every event of any importance to them, that transpired, in any of those places.

On the third day of the Convention, it was announced from rebel headquarters at the Richmond House, that the expedition was a failure, that owing to the precautions taken by the military authorities, and the non-arrival of a thousand or two of other Copperheads, who had promised to be in Chicago, ready to a.s.sist in the undertaking, and owing to the want of sufficient discipline and organization among the Copperheads, who were on hand, that an attempt at that time upon the garrison of Camp Douglas would involve the destruction of the lives of too many prisoners, and perhaps the killing and capturing of all those who made the attempt to release them. As soon as it was generally known among the rebels that they had failed in attaining the objects for which they came to Chicago, Col. Grenfell and Capt. Castleman made their appearance among them, and stated that it had been generally agreed upon that all who were willing should go to Southern Illinois and Indiana, to drill and organize the Copperheads for the coming struggle, which they thought would take place very soon, or in other words, as soon as Gen. Lee should have Gen. Grant's army in full retreat towards Was.h.i.+ngton city, or should have inflicted some other almost irreparable disaster upon the Union arms, which event both they and the Copperheads with them, were not only wis.h.i.+ng to take place, but confidently expecting every day; that they with Hines and others were going home with some delegates to the Convention, where they could live quietly and work to a great advantage. On the fourth day of the Convention, the men and officers were paid various sums from twenty to one hundred dollars, and it was left to their option whether they would go to Southern Illinois, Indiana, or return to Canada. Some fifteen or twenty went to Canada, and about fifty went to Southern Illinois and Indiana. Thus ended the first attempt to release the rebel prisoners of war at Camp Douglas. It was certainly a bold movement, both on the part of the rebels, who exposed themselves to such great risk of suffering a disgraceful and ignominious death, and the citizens who aided them in their nefarious designs.

But it seemed that an angel of an all-seeing Providence stretched its protecting wings over the fair city, which was doomed by the rebels and their friends at the North first to see and feel the demoralizing influence of an insurrectionary force. What expression, or what degree of contempt is most appropriate for the citizens connected with these rebel efforts;--persons owing a true and faithful allegiance to the Government, yet aiding and abetting its public enemies, persons who while professing a common fealty with their fellow citizens, would welcome to their homes incendiaries, and incite them to murder and plunder those very fellow citizens, and compel them to suffer all the horrors of a cruel warfare! No epithets that human ingenuity could heap upon them would be too harsh, or too undeserved, no contempt too humiliating for a people so devoid of honesty and all the qualities essential to render them prosperous and happy.

CHAP. XII.

SECOND ATTEMPT--HINES IN COMMAND AGAIN--COPPERHEADS AGAIN TO BE THE MAIN FORCES TO BE RELIED UPON--REBEL GENERALS TO TAKE COMMAND OF THE RELEASED PRISONERS AND THE INSURRECTIONARY FORCES--THE DAY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION APPOINTED AS THE ONE MOST PROPER FOR THE UPRISING--THE CAPTURE OF SOME OF THE REBEL LEADERS AND THEIR SYMPATHIZING FRIENDS.

At the time the rebel officers and soldiers left Chicago, after the Convention, none of them had any idea of ever coming back again, except Capt. Hines and a few of the leaders who consulted with him. He was shrewd enough to see that any effort at that time would be fruitless, and determined, so far as possible, to have all the Copperheads who would a.s.sist him in any second affair of the kind, drilled and organized, and men able to render effective a.s.sistance. It was for this purpose that he, with his comrades, went to Southern Illinois and Indiana with cavalry and infantry tactics and all the appliances for instructing others in military matters. The conspirators having failed at Chicago during the convention to make their starting point, having failed to make the great bonfire, which was to be the signal for thousands of others not quite so large, to burn up brightly from almost every hill-top in Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, it was necessary for their leaders to meet again, and determine upon a new programme. It appears that they did meet again, and again the starting-point of the whole conspiracy was the release of the rebel prisoners of war at Chicago, and from facts brought to light by the evidence before the great military commission held in Cincinnati, Ohio, the plan of operations was nearly the same as that of the first. The prisoners being released at Chicago, those at Johnston's Island, Camp Morton, Camp Chase and other places were to be released by their friends, and then all were to be immediately placed under the command of rebel generals sent here for the purpose of heading the rebellion, when it once broke out. This may seem like fiction to some; the idea of rebel generals being here in the North for the purpose of aiding and taking the lead of the conspirators; but it is nevertheless true, as disclosed by one of the prisoners taken at Chicago; and it also appears that these generals had several states part.i.tioned off into districts and departments, of which, each department commander was to have exclusive control.

The new programme having been adopted, all that was necessary was to fix upon the day. The day must be one upon which more than the usual number of visitors would be in the city, in order that their coming and staying would not be noticed, and it seemed they selected the day of election, as the one most suitable for their purposes; and if possible a day when the military and civil authorities would be most likely to be caught off their guard. For several days before the 8th of November last, their spies had been coming into the city, in order to get suitable quarters for the men when they arrived, and in parts of the city where they would be least liable to suspicion. In the efforts to secure suitable boarding houses for these incendiaries, various citizens of Chicago took an active part, and even went to the depots to receive them, and escort them into the bosom of the city they were so soon to attempt to destroy.

It was not until the Sat.u.r.day just before the election, that Gen. Sweet had positive information of the _rebels_ being in the city, and received full information of the details of their plans, and began to take measures quietly to capture them. This he did at once, and at the same time had every preparation made to repel any attack upon the garrison of Camp Douglas; and he succeeded admirably, following up his information with such energy, that before daylight of the Monday morning following, he had captured enough of the rebel leaders (and their friends in such connexion as to leave no doubt of their guilt,) to make every disloyal man quake in his boots. The captures of the military and police were not confined alone to the conspirators, and in addition to them were captured immense military stores of all kinds, boxes of guns already shotted, cart loads of army pistols loaded and ready for the b.l.o.o.d.y work expected of them, holsters, pistol belts, cartridges by the cart load, and enough munitions of war to have started an a.r.s.enal of moderate size.

These arms were not taken from the rebels, but found in the houses of citizens of Chicago, who can produce witnesses upon the stand (of pretended loyalty and standing, some of them being office-holders under the Government,) to swear that they themselves are, and have always been loyal and true to their allegiance. In the house of Charles Walsh, most of these arms were taken, and also there were captured two rebel soldiers, Captain George Cantrill and Charles Travis Daniels, who were shortly after identified; and Cantrill partly confessed his views, and his complicity with the Copperheads. This man Cantrill had been one of those who had come to Chicago during the Convention, for the same purpose, and averred that then and at the election, the Copperheads had offered and held out to them every inducement to get them here. That had it not been for them he would never have come here. It may be well here to publish a little incident, showing fully the kindred feelings existing between the conspirators and the inmates of Camp Douglas. It was a well known fact, that there were several thousand of John Morgan's desperadoes confined in this prison, and the Copperhead conspirators, to show their refinement of feeling, their accommodating dispositions, and their attention to the worst of these men, had purchased for their use exclusively, the finest cavalry carbines then made in the United States, and had them stored in the immediate neighborhood of the prison, when upon being released they could at once begin to revel in a carnival of blood. Happy, happy for the people of Chicago, having pa.s.sed through one of the most critical periods of their existence, without knowing that they were threatened with any disaster, ignorant that there was a mine beneath their feet, just ready to be sprung at any moment, with their own fellow citizens pulling at the spring, willing to involve them in general and complete ruin--willing to subject them to the ravages of such bloodthirsty villains as the inmates of Camp Douglas. The people of Chicago never can appreciate, to its fullest extent, the danger through which they have pa.s.sed, for several reasons. First, because they were ignorant of it at the time, and the conspirators had and have now at their command, a bitter partizan press in their interests, and entirely subservient to their views, whose interests it is to prevent these facts from becoming generally believed, and when they are presented to the public with the naked truth, to hiss at and cry them down as emanating from the brains of lunatics, or a conspiracy of detectives to ruin the reputation of innocent and guiltless persons. Secondly, because they never experienced the horrors which must necessarily have followed had the conspirators been successful.

CHAP. XIII.

FIRST ATTEMPT OF THE REBELS TO CAPTURE UNITED STATES STEAMER MICHIGAN CARRYING EIGHTEEN GUNS--MODUS OPERANDI--WHY THEY FAILED, &c., &c.--UNITED STATES COMMERCE UPON THE LAKES TO BE DESTROYED--NORTHERN CITIES TO BE LAID UNDER CONTRIBUTION, &c.

Canada, occupying the geographical position and belonging to another nation as it does, has been ever since this war broke out, the rendezvous of thousands upon thousands of the vagabond and criminal population of the United States, together with the rebels and refugees, until its population far exceeds what it had in 1860; almost every business occupation is crowded to such an extent that it is almost impossible to obtain employment of any kind, many persons being obliged to keep from starving by begging, for their food, and the clothes they wear upon their backs. Some of this refugee population have means, others are supplied by their friends and families at home; but by far the greater number are without any occupation or visible means of support, habitue of the gambling h.e.l.ls, drinking saloons, &c., in favor of any crime or villainy to supply their depleted purses, and furnish them with the means of living at ease and idleness. Under such circ.u.mstances and among such a cla.s.s of population, is it anything strange, that the robbery of banks, the pillaging of the inhabitants of the Northern border, that raids with all the necessary plundering and so forth, found plenty of advocates and supporters, and when the time arrived to carry them into execution, plenty of desperadoes, fit tools for such infamous projects. The great difficulty in Canada was not in getting enough of these men to partic.i.p.ate in matters of this kind; but to prevent too many of them from knowing of them, so that there would be a smaller number among whom to divide the spoils and plunder thus obtained, so that the chief difficulty lay in getting together just enough of the most desperate characters to carry out an expedition.

During the Chicago Democratic Convention the efforts of the rebels were not confined alone to Camp Douglas; but simultaneously with their efforts in Chicago, they were to make an attempt to capture the United States Steamer Michigan, carrying eighteen guns, stationed on Lake Erie, the steamer permitted by the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, for the better protection of rebel prisoners confined at Johnston's Island.

The prisoners of war at Chicago, Illinois, being released, and the great conspiracy in the North once fairly inaugurated, the capture of the steamer Michigan was to be one of the combined movements that were to startle the country, and aid the conspiracy in overturning the authority of the United States Government, With the "Michigan" in their hands, the conspirators would have a powerful auxilliary in their pernicious designs upon the country, and be able to render effective aid to the Southern Rebellion; ruining the commercial status of the United States on the great lakes, and effectually closing all the ports on their borders, and in addition to this, their laying all the large towns and cities on the northern portion under contributions, and exacting from them enormous sums of money, through fear of bombardment. The plan of the conspirators to get possession of the Michigan was by bribery and by surprise. Mr. Thompson, in his efforts to seize the vessel, secured the services of a man named Cole, of Sandusky City, who, whilom, had been a citizen of Virginia, but who still retained his sympathies for the rebellion, and took an active part in aiding it whenever he had an opportunity, and a woman, said to have been his paramour, who carried dispatches backwards and forwards between the parties. This man Cole seems to have been the most wiley conspirator of them all, and played his infamous part of the plot with the most adroit shrewdness; and the defeat of the whole scheme was not owing to any blunder of his, but rather the blunder of those who employed and furnished him with the means. Having been well supplied with money by Mr. Thompson, and no limit put to his expenses, he began his work with a will. He seems to have begun by getting generally well acquainted with the officers of the vessel, by feasting them, and now and then lending them money, or accommodating them in some other way, until he had won the confidence of all those in command of the steamer, as well as those in charge of Johnston's Island. After a time, he found out those who were most vulnerable on the money question, and those whom he did not dare to approach upon the subject. Of the latter cla.s.s, there is one mentioned in particular by the rebels, whose suspicions they did not care to arouse, and which they made every attempt to lull. This was an officer named Eddy, from Ma.s.sachusetts. Of the former cla.s.s, whom they bribed, the rebels mentioned particularly the chief engineer, who, they said, had agreed, for twenty thousand dollars in gold, to get the machinery out of order, and otherwise aid in the vessel's capture, and one or two others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRIG. GEN. CHARLES WALSH,

A citizen of Chicago, he was at one time the Democratic candidate for Sheriff of Cook County, in which is the city of Chicago, during the earliest part of the war he was very active in helping to raise what was called the Irish brigade. He afterwards became a bitter democratic partizan and was connected with the Sons of Liberty. Just before and during the Convention be received into his family several rebel soldiers who were there during the day and night time, making cartridges for the expected release of the rebel prisoners of war at Camp Douglas. He was arrested in his own house on the morning of the 7th of November, as was also his son, and two Rebel soldiers and taken to Camp Douglas. In his house and on his premises were an immense numbers of guns of several kinds and also immense military stores, consisting of powder, buckshot, cartridges, with two or three cast braces of army revolvers, all these guns and pistols were loaded and ready with the exception of being capped. Charles Walsh is of Irish extraction and about forty years of age, and a fine looking man. He is generous, impulsive, rather easily influenced, agreeable in conversation, and except in the character he a.s.sumed as an enemy to his country was possessed of qualities which would win for him many friends. There are as bad men, in our opinion, as Mr. Charles Walsh, to day at liberty and talking treason in our midst.]

Of the remainder of the officers of the Michigan, they thought their well-known Democratic faith and sympathy with the rebellion, would prevent them from seeing or knowing _too much_, until too late to avoid the disaster. Of these last, the conspirators did not seem to entertain the least fear, some of them being Southern men by birth, and at most, but pa.s.sive in their fidelity to the government. The men of the vessel who were loyal, were also tampered with, and the rebels in Canada looked for a.s.sistance from them, and claimed that some of their own men from Canada had enlisted on board of her for the purpose of aiding to capture her. Of these rebels, however, there were but few. As the writer has stated before, the attempt on the steamer Michigan was to be simultaneous with that at Chicago, Ill., and while the rebels and their friends were a.s.sembling in Chicago, they were also gathering in Sandusky City, for the capture of the Michigan. The exact number of conspirators in Sandusky, at that time, is not known to the writer, nor the details of their plans; but let it suffice to say, _that they were there, armed and ready_. When the time of action arrived, however, the engineer and his accomplices were no where to be found, and after waiting for nearly two days, the rebel portion of the conspirators, with the exception of Capt. Beall, returned to Canada. On their return, they said that the persons whom they had bribed were afraid to toe the mark--that is, were afraid to carry out their infamous and hazardous part of the contract.

The rebels were in great fear, lest something had happened that would put an end forever to their hopes, in regard to the steamer, but in a few days after this, the non-appearance of the engineer and friends, were duly explained, and the alarm caused by it quieted, and another time set for the attempt; the sequel will show how _much_ they intended, and how much they ventured to effect their aims. It is a well known fact that the rebels while in Sandusky city, were feasted and toasted in the houses of some of the prominent citizens and business men, and encouraged in every way by them. The day being set once more, preparations were again made to capture the vessel, and this time occurred what was called the _Lake Erie Piracy_, nearly everything connected with which was so disgraceful to the United States service, that although the government hastened to remove all the reprehensible officers, and retain those who deserved well of their country, yet seems to have endeavored to keep some of the facts connected with it, from being made public. About one week before the time set for the second attempt arrived, Capt. Beall returned from Sandusky to Windsor, Canada West, and announced that all was ready for the capture, and immediately telegraphed to Jacob Thompson, who was then at the Queen's Hotel, in Toronto, who at once answered that he would come to Windsor that night, and desired not to be recognized. That evening he arrived at Windsor, and without apparently being known got into a carriage waiting, and was taken to the residence of a Col. Steele, about a mile below Windsor, where he was expected. During this week all the men who were to partic.i.p.ate in the affair were notified, and this time the services of some of the men who had been to Chicago during the Convention, were called into requisition. The officers of the rebel army could be seen running about, here and there, to the different boarding houses where the men were stopping, carrying ominous looking carpet bags, distributing from them pistols, ammunition and other things, deemed necessary for the undertaking, which was to be made on the night of the following Monday. Most active in these efforts to incite these men to deeds of desperation, were Col. Steele and Jake Thompson--or when he used his a.s.sumed name, Col. Carson. The plans of the pirates were as follows, and the writer gives them just as he heard them from the lips of two of the rebel officers who partic.i.p.ated in the affair, commanding detachments on board of the "Philo Parsons." Part of the men, amounting in all to about seventy-five, were to go from Canada to Sandusky city by rail, another party were to cross the river at Detroit early on Monday morning, and take pa.s.sage on the steamer "Philo Parsons" for Sandusky, another portion were to take pa.s.sage on her from Sandwich, Canada, about two miles below Detroit, and still another party of them, consisting of about fifteen (with eight or ten citizens who knew nothing of what was contemplated), on Sunday morning were to charter a small steamer called the "Scotia," plying between Windsor and Detroit, ostensibly for the purpose of taking a pleasure ride to Malden, Canada, about twenty miles below Detroit, and near the entrance of the river into the lake, when they were also on Monday to take pa.s.sage for the same place on the Parsons. At Kelley's Island, one of the points at which the boat touched in her daily trips, they were to receive a messenger from Cole, letting them know, that up to that time everything was going on smoothly in Sandusky; upon receiving this information, all the different portions of the gang were to unite and seize the steamer, before she reached the next landing, at which she generally stopped. The engineers and pilots were to be forced, by threats of instant death if they refused, to still occupy their respective places; the pa.s.sengers were to be put off at some out of the way place, where it would be impossible for them to give any information to the authorities, and after dark they were to run down into Sandusky bay, where they would see certain signals, made by those conspirators on the sh.o.r.e, when they would land, take on board all those who had come by rail from Detroit, and some Copperheads from Cincinnati, Ohio, and other places, and at once would immediately turn the prow of the Parson for the steamer Michigan. Cole was to give a champagne supper on board the Michigan that evening, to the officers, and was to be there himself with a party of rebels, who had also become well acquainted with the officers, and was invited at the request of Cole, to join in the festivities of the occasion. It was intended for the Philo Parsons to reach hailing distance of the Michigan about eleven or twelve o'clock that night, in order that by this time as many of the crew as possible, through the champagne, would be incapable of rendering any resistance, when the Parsons was hailed by the watch on board the steamer, and Cole and his a.s.sociates were at once to take possession of a gun, which would sweep the whole decks, to prevent that portion of the crew who were not rendered incapable of it by drink, from attempting any effectual resistance to the conspirators boarding her from the Parsons. Once in possession of this vessel of war, the prisoners on the island were to be immediately released, landed at Sandusky, when the Sons of Liberty, Illini and other secret societies were to seize the opportunity of rising up, and a.s.serting their peculiar doctrines, under the protection of this powerful man of war. The same course was to be pursued at Cleveland and other places, along the lake coast, where their secret societies were in full blast, the conspirators exacting an enormous tribute of the loyal portion of these communities to save their property from the dangers of bombardment. This expected tribute of ten millions of dollars, (to be divided equally among them,) from the border cities, was the greatest inducement held out by the rebel leaders before leaving Canada, to their desperadoes, in order to excite their cupidity and zeal, and inflame their minds to such a pitch, that they would render a strict obedience to their officers, and hesitate at no act of violence.

These were the plans of the conspirators, and although they may seem almost ideal and improbable, yet are very possible even to the most minute details, when one will take time to stop and consider the great chances of success the pirates had in having a portion of the crew bribed, and their prospects of having the remainder too excited by liquor, to make any effectual opposition--the surprise, the chaos and confusion of the crew at finding those whom they supposed their friends, as well as their own comrades and fellow-soldiers, fighting them hand to hand. Under such circ.u.mstances as these, it is very easy to conceive of the capture of a vessel by a band of desperadoes, who would hesitate at no act of bloodshed or villainy to accomplish their objects. In addition to this, they were rendered more desperate, if such a thing could be, by the certainty that if they failed and were captured, a speedy and disgraceful death awaited them. The Michigan being captured, it is also easy to conceive that all the other portions of their plans could have been carried out, perhaps to a greater extent than already mentioned, that contributions could have been levied and exacted from the people, and especially that the Sons of Liberty and other secret societies would joyously seize such an opportunity as the protection of this man-of-war afforded them, to throw off the mantle of secrecy and darkness from their h.e.l.l-born principles, and parade them to the view of the public in all their hideousness. We will now follow up the plans of the conspirators, and mention the facts as they occurred. On Sunday the --th of September, just preceding the attempt, although it was a rainy and very disagreeable day, in accordance with orders, the Scotia was chartered and conveyed her part of the pirates, together with some arms to Maiden, C.W. It is due to the citizens who were with the pirates, to say here, that they had no idea that the piracy was contemplated, and thought that it was only a fis.h.i.+ng excursion, which at that time was a very common occurrence with the Southeners at Windsor. That evening when the Scotia returned, they alleged that it was so unpleasant that they would wait until the next day before going back to Windsor, in this way lulling everything like suspicion in the minds of those who had only been invited to go with them, the more effectually to conceal the real objects of the pirates. On Monday, on the arrival of the Steamer _Philo Parsons_ at Malden, those who had taken pa.s.sage from Detroit and Sandwich, were seen in very conspicuous places on the decks, by those on the wharf, who immediately boarded her in the capacity of pa.s.sengers. It was not the intention of the pirates to seize the vessel until nearly to Sandusky, and in the event they received no messenger from _Cole_, at Kelley's Island, they were not to take possession of her at all, but continue in their characters as pa.s.sengers to Sandusky, and there learn the cause of his failure to communicate with them. But as subsequent events will show, they were compelled to change their whole plan of operations. Shortly after the vessel left Malden, the frequency with which all of these men patronized the bar of the boat, attracted the suspicions of some of the pa.s.sengers, as well as the officers, one of whom, from some remarks let fall by one of the men, thought they were a suspicious set, and said that as soon as the boat arrived at Sandusky, he would have them arrested and taken care of. Some of the pirates happened to hear this remark, and as soon as it was generally known, created the greatest consternation among them, and upon arriving at Kelley's Island and not receiving the messenger promised by _Cole_, they were in a very unenviable position. To go to Sandusky they would be arrested; the only course they could take to save their own lives and liberty, was that which they eventually adopted. Capt. Beall, after hearing this report, quickly determined to seize the vessel, which was accordingly done, to the great terror of the pa.s.sengers and crew. One or two of the crew who refused to obey the orders given by the pirates, were severely wounded. Finding that there was only wood enough on board to last for a short time, she was run to Put-in-bay to get a supply, and it was at this landing that they seized the Island Queen, which happened to be there also, for the same purpose. This vessel, after removing her valuables, was immediately scuttled and left floating with the current in a sinking condition. After dark that night, the pirates ran down into Sandusky Bay, but failing to see the signals agreed upon, and after waiting a short time, again returned to the open lake, convinced by this time that something had happened to their friends in Sandusky. Capt.

Beall then seeing that something had happened which would prevent them from capturing the Michigan, announced his determination to cruise on the lake as long as possible, burning and destroying all he could, and endeavored to induce his men to go with him; but they were already scared, and begun to fear the consequences of their act, and insisted upon going back to Canada. This is what Capt. Beall himself told Mr.

Thompson on his return to Canada, that "if it had not been for these mutinous scoundrels, I could have run that boat on these lakes for two weeks, burning and destroying all the vessels we met with, before the Yankees could have made us take to land." The owners of s.h.i.+pping upon the great lakes, can now if they never could before, appreciate fully the danger to their vessels at that time. The day before the rebels left Windsor, C.W., the United States authorities had been notified of the expedition, and fully placed upon their guard, and if the plans of Lieut. Col. Hill, the efficient commander of the post at Detroit could have been followed, he would have captured the whole gang. However, he telegraphed to Sandusky, and had Cole arrested while he was sitting at the table, taking dinner with the officers on board the Michigan. This effectually prevented Cole from communicating with the conspirators.

Col. Hill's plans were to let the pirates take the _Parsons_, and then before they had time to do any damage, have the Michigan meet them on their way to Sandusky and capture them all together, and thus relieve the Government from any farther trouble with this most desperate band of incendiaries. Col. Hill telegraphed to the commander of the Michigan, requesting him to do this, and it is generally understood that the reason why he did not do it was that the machinery of the vessel was out of order, thus showing how well those who had been bribed had done their duty. In addition to these attempts to capture the steamer Michigan, was the celebrated St. Albans raid, which among others, was one of the rebel modes of carrying the war into Africa and harra.s.sing the northern border.

This raid, which has become so famous in the history of this war, was first started by a Texan, named _Bracey_, belonging to one of the rebel Texan regiments. This man, for four or five years before the war, had been going to one of the schools or colleges (according to his own account of himself,) in St. Albans, and was well acquainted, both with the city and country, in the immediate neighborhood. He gave all the information he could, and offered to return there to get more, which he, with one or two rebel soldiers did, and obtained all the necessary information that would, in any way, aid them in their criminal designs.

Upon their report, on their return to Canada, the fitting out the expedition immediately began--the money, arms, etc., being furnished by the rebel agents in Montreal or Quebec. Of the details of this affair, as carried out, the people have been fully advised by the newspapers, and, to all intents and purposes, the raid has been a success, or has operated in this manner by the winding and twisting course of the Canadian law courts, which seem to be actuated by no fixed principles, but wavering between the fear of the public opinion of the American people, and their desire to aid the rebels in overturning the government--and had it not been for the sudden turn the war has taken in the last six months, the people along the northern border would have been subjected to numerous other and similar raids. The St. Albans raid was only a part of one grand scheme of the rebels, for the past two years, to inaugurate a new mode of warfare, entirely beyond the pale of that waged by civilized nations, and a relic of the more barbarous ages.

This new mode of warfare, or incendiarism, as it is generally called, was first started by the rebel government, after the fall of Memphis, Tenn., for the purpose of destroying vessels, loaded with government property, and cut off the communications of the armies in the lower countries, with their depots of supplies; with this end in view, companies of men were regularly enlisted for the purpose, and after a time, the sympathies and the aid rendered the rebellion by certain cla.s.ses of the people at the North, justified them in extending its pernicious effects further North. Companies were enlisted and sent through the lines, with orders to burn public buildings, army stores, and supplies, wherever they could find them. Thus far, secret agents of the rebels were scattered all over the North, in small squads, wherever there was a prospect of doing injury to the government; and it is to the efforts of these men, that the country is indebted for the wholesale destruction of steamboat and other property at St. Louis, Cairo, and other places on the western rivers. These men performing the incendiary acts frequently upon information furnished them by their sympathizing friends. The public are already well aware of the manner in which some of these acts of incendiarism terminated, most especially the attempt of Capt. Kennedy and others, holding commissions in the rebel service, to burn New York city. If ever a man deserved his fate, this man Kennedy certainly did, and the public, having been saved, unscathed, can never fully appreciate the enormity of his crime. One, knowing the facts of these men being in the North for this purpose, can readily appreciate the punishment awarded them; but upon reviewing all the facts in the case, will as readily say that they are now less guilty than the citizens of the North, who aided them in their designs, by furnis.h.i.+ng them information and a.s.sociating with them, and even receiving them into their families, while they were yet public enemies, and in arms against the country.

CHAP. XIV.

SABBATH EVENING IN INVINCIBLE CLUB HALL---A SCENE NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN--PLANS REHEa.r.s.eD--ARMS INSPECTED--REPORT OF THE BRIG.-GEN. OF THE SONS OF LIBERTY--REVOLUTION AND BLOODSHED WITHIN THE NEXT THIRTY-SIX HOURS--DISTRIBUTION OF FIREARMS UPON OUR STREETS.

The evening of the 3d of November, 1864, found a large representation of the Sons of Liberty in their lodge room in Chicago, for as the time drew near for the Presidential election--the period fixed for the carnival of crime--the members of the organization realized the importance of the utmost vigilance--lest their plans should be discovered--and of the most entire concurrence with their leaders, and concert of action in obeying the commands that might be given. At this meeting, the Brigadier-General of the Order was present, as were also Captains and Lieutenants of the Invincible Club, and a more exciting meeting had rarely ever been held in the Temple. Speakers were vehement and earnest, and their theme was the proposed uprising. As had ever been their policy, certain important facts were withheld from the fledglings in treason, who had not yet tried their wings, but there was no discord, no dissention, and all exhibited enthusiasm and confidence. Brig.-Gen. Walsh called a meeting of the Order, to be held in the hall of the Invincible Club, on Sunday evening November 6th, the hour being fixed for eight o'clock. All were exhorted to be "on hand," as the Brig.-General had an important communication to make. Friday and Sat.u.r.day an immense number of pistols, and much ammunition were sold, and many were given away in quarters, where it was certain material aid might be expected, when the time should arrive for the inauguration of revolution. To the few of us having the interests of the country at heart, who were cognisant of the acts, preparations and intentions of the Order, it will readily be believed the days were tedious, and the nights sleepless. So well had the princ.i.p.al secrets of the Order--the details of the uprising---been kept from the lower degree of the "Sons," that but few of the members had a definite idea of the infamous part they were expected to perform, and it was to communicate enough information to secure harmony among the men, and that concert of action which promised the most complete success of the terrible scheme of villainy before them, that the meeting was called for Sabbath evening. It will be seen by the report of Gen.

Sweet's testimony, before the military commission, to what peril the city was exposed. With but a handful of men to garrison the post, without the ability to obtain adequate reinforcements, with ten thousand veteran rebels in a camp, so incomplete in its structure, with the certainty that our secret enemies were upon the railroads already, and seeking positions in the post-office, in telegraph offices, if, as there was good reason to apprehend, the telegraph stations were not already under their control, that by Judge Morris' official report to the Temple, two full regiments of Sons of Liberty, all well armed and disciplined, were ready at an hour's notice, and that a third regiment was almost complete, the knowledge also that the entire body of Copperheads in the State, and in the northwest, would rise simultaneously with the traitors in our city, with good reason to believe it impossible to safely communicate with the head of the State military department--in this most unenviable position, to know that the fatal moment was fast coming, when the infernal machinery was to be set in motion, and to make arrangements to avert the catastrophe so quietly as not to arrest attention, or excite the alarm of the leaders of the plot, which would have instantly been executed, had it become apparent that the movements of these traitors were watched; these considerations and the discharge of the fearful responsibilities resting upon the only parties who could then hope to avert the danger, occupied the mind and hands of the commandant of the post, and employed the utmost vigilance of the writer and able a.s.sistants. Every few hours orderlies and special couriers were despatched to the headquarters of the camp, with such reports as could be obtained. We have read Eastern tales of travelers, when accident had discovered them in closest proximity to the deadly cobra de capello, the breathless horror with which they contemplated its motions, and saw it slowly coiling itself upon their limbs, or upon a table at their bedsides, and knowing that a single motion on the part of the imperilled person would be but to invite certain death, the vigilance and eager solicitude, the distressing anxiety with which they regarded the movements and intent of the venomous creature, but never till a full realization of our position in regard to this organized band of traitors, did we ever experience sensations akin to those of the unfortunate traveler; and when the loathsome reptile had got into a position where it was safe to attempt its destruction, and when this attempt was successful, no greater relief or deeper emotions of grat.i.tude could have been felt by him--a moment before exposed to instant and terrible death--than were experienced by us when the danger had been averted.

Sunday evening came. Our citizens wors.h.i.+ping in the churches, or in peaceful repose in their own residences, little knew of the imminent peril to which they were exposed, or of the gathering of their fellow citizens in the Invincible Club Hall to arrange the details which, if successful, would bring ruin, desolation and death to thousands of our unsuspecting people. Up the entrance to the hall, cautiously crept the members of the order, peering behind them, and advancing one by one, or in groups of two or three, till they reached the hall. The door was guarded by a sentinel, so that intrusion was out of the question. At nine o'clock, the a.s.semblage was called to order by Obadiah Jackson, Jr., Esq., the Grand Seignior. Patrick Dooley, Secretary, was in his place on the right of the Grand Seignior. The meeting was large, and a more desperate looking collection of men have rarely a.s.sembled in a convention in our city. Such desecration of the evening of the Sabbath has never before been witnessed here. After the opening of the meeting, one of the members took early occasion to remark substantially, that it must have been noticed by all present, as well as himself, that the city was full of strangers, and that he had noticed many of them were dressed in b.u.t.ternut clothes, and had good reason to believe that they were Abolitionists in disguise; that it was advisable to watch them, it being his confident opinion that they had come to the city for the purpose of fraudulently voting the Abolition ticket; and the speaker was proceeding in this strain, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the members of the higher degree, to whom the men in b.u.t.ternut clothes were no strangers. The speaker had scarcely taken his seat, when James A. Wilkinson, Past Grand Seignior, rose and stated that the suspicious looking persons were "our friends," and that he himself had brought a company of sixty of them to the city, and that they were ent.i.tled to every attention, as they would do good service for "us," and stated that he was going back for more.

The strangers who were the subject of discussion, were from the counties in the Southern part of the State, and all bore the same general appearance of vagabonds, cut-throats, felons, bounty-jumpers and deserters. They had all seemed to appear simultaneously in our city, unheralded even to the "Sons," and their advent was as much a subject of remark, as would have been a shower of toads and tadpoles. They did not take up their quarters at respectable hotels and private houses, but sneaked away stealthily to the lowest dens of vice, and resorts of criminals unwhipped of justice. They came to help perform infamous work, and had a part of the price of their guilt upon their persons, or had already invested it for the poorest quality of intoxicating liquors.

They had been collected together from the various country towns in the Southern part of the State, where they had been in training under the command of rebel officers, and many of them were the same parties who had come to Chicago at the time of the Democratic National Convention, hopeful and confident of the uprising, and who had been so wofully disappointed, and turned their backs so reluctantly upon our banks and stores, from which they had intended to glut their avarice, and amply remunerate themselves with the property of our citizens. Nothing on earth is more positively certain than, had the work not been arrested at the moment it was, these devils would have pillaged every bank and rifled every storehouse in Chicago; and it is equally certain that beyond Colonel Sweet and the writer, with his a.s.sistant, Robert Alexander, none knew of the intricate deadly plot in detail, although Major-General Hooker, Brig.-Gen. Paine, Governor Yates, Hon. I.N.

Arnold, and William Rand, Esq., of the _Tribune_ had been informed by the writer of the general intent of the organization. But to return to the secret convention at the hall. The explanation of J.A. Wilkinson not being satisfactory to Mr. Hull, some curt remarks were banded between the speakers, which Obadiah Jackson, Jr., Esq., the Grand Seignior could not well control, Brig.-Gen. Charlie Walsh rose to his feet and said unhesitatingly, that he had by his own order "brought these men here _to vote and to fight_," and he added, "by G.o.d they will vote early and often, and they will fight." Gen. Walsh desired that all the "brethren"

would extend the hospitalities of the city to the visitors, for they were "our friends." While this discussion was going on, there was a Confederate officer in the hall, and within ten feet of Walsh. The joy upon the announcement by Walsh, found expression in a rude and boisterous manner. It having been definitely settled that the wretches who had been the subject of discussion were good for any number of votes, and fully prepared to take part in the attack, so soon to startle our city; the convention proceeded to ascertain who among its members were unarmed, and to supply such delinquents forthwith. The members generally exhibited revolvers of various patterns, but upon inspection by the officers, preference was expressed for the pattern like those which were subsequently found in the house of Walsh, by the officers, at the time of his arrest. There were several who had not the approved pattern, and such persons were instructed to apply next morning at the store of James Geary, corner of Wells and Madison streets, and they would be supplied, but upon consultation it was remarked by Geary, that as he was already suspected he feared it would hardly be expedient for Walsh to send arms to him for distribution, and it was agreed by J.H.

Hubbard, the treasurer of the Invincible Club, that he would receive possession of the revolvers, and give them to all who might apply, and such persons were to call at the door of the Invincible Club hall, at 9 o'clock the next morning, when they would be supplied. It was arranged that a guard of not less than fifty or one hundred men, all well armed, should remain all day on Tuesday, (election day,) at the polls in each ward, making not _less_ than one full regiment in the aggregate, thus detailed for special "service."

To distinguish friends and members at a time when trouble should break out, was a subject now raised for debate, and it was finally agreed that the members should wear McClellan badges upon the left breast, attached by _red and white_ ribbons. It was understood that orderlies were to be constantly reporting from each ward at the headquarters of Gen. Walsh, and thus a regular line of communication would be kept up, which in case of trouble, would be greatly to the advantage of these ruffians. They were all advised to deposit their vote with one hand, and present their revolver with the other. It was confidently a.s.serted by individuals, but with how much truth we know not, that an Invincible Club from Philadelphia, would also be present and help do the voting, but as no Philadelphia Roughs were reported in the city, the help expected from Philadelphia probably did not arrive. The most violent secession speeches were made by Duncan, who was then connected with the Mercantile agency in McCormick's block, Walsh, Wilkinson, and many others.

The meeting adjourned at a late hour, and many of the leaders, prominent among whom was James Geary, proceeded to a secure retreat, and then in the quiet hours of Sunday night, gave away a great number of revolvers of the same style and pattern with those subsequently seized by the authorities.

CHAP. XV.

ARRESTS--GREAT EXCITEMENT--GENERAL CONSTERNATION OF THE COPPERHEADS--NEW VICTORIES IN THE FIELD--DEATH-BLOW OF JEFF. DAVIS' SECRET ORGANIZATION AND HOPES IN THE NORTH--FINDING OF ARMS--THE EFFECT ALL THROUGHOUT THE NORTH-WEST.

Before the morning of Monday, November 7th dawned, a dispatch, embracing the most important features of the Sunday night meeting, had been prepared by the writer, and forwarded to the commandant of Camp Douglas, who, during the night, arrested Judge Morris, Brig.-Gen. Charles Walsh, and others, and a large number of "b.u.t.ternuts," who had been the subject of discussion at the Sunday night meeting, and these prisoners were safely lodged in Camp Douglas. The news of the arrests, and the charges upon which they were made, caused intense excitement among all cla.s.ses, loyal men rejoicing for the promptness and wisdom of the measure, while the Copperheads howled fearfully, and denounced it as a fresh evidence of "Lincoln's tyranny." As the facts became generally known, there was an unanimous expression of approval on the part of all good, loyal citizens. The consternation of the Copperheads was truly great; they felt that, notwithstanding their many precautions for secrecy, the eye of the government had been upon them in their most secret places, and this consternation was not by any means relieved when they read in the morning papers an extract of Brig.-Gen. Charles Walsh's speech before the order in the Invincible Club hall. They felt certain that they were watched, and that they were under careful espionage, and the effect was precisely what we had expected and desired. It was telegraphed in every direction, that the government bad a complete knowledge of their designs and proceedings, and such a tremor and quaking with fear the Copperheads had not previously exhibited. It completely deranged their designs, and caused an utter abandonment of the plot, for the leaders in Chicago having been arrested, no one knew how soon his turn would come, and it is a general and well-established fact, that however sanguinary and fiendish a rabble may prove when attacking their victims by surprise, the ma.s.s of such beings lose their brute courage when discovering, to a certainty, that the details of their strategy are known, and the party upon whom an a.s.sault is contemplated is prepared, and will repel the attack with that fury, vigor, desperation and perseverance that will surely carry death to many of the a.s.sailants. They lack zeal, because they know their cause is a bad one, just as one honest man will put three rogues to flight. It was telegraphed that the heads of the government were fully advised of the conspiracy, and that officers were freely visiting all the more important temples in the North-West, mingling in the "business" of these meetings, and apprising the military leaders of every move which had been made, which was being made, and which was contemplated. Suspicion was aroused, and so general did this distrust soon become, that no one was willing to trust his neck in a halter, and any one of his a.s.sociates having possession of the other end. Suddenly a most wonderful reform was apparent, as rats disappear from view after a few have been captured. Those who were at Invincible Club hall, and made secession speeches, declared they were all drunk, or were not in earnest, and other equally flimsy excuses;--these are the apologies members made to each other, presuming they were addressing the party who had surrendered them to the government. It was amusing to notice their trepidation. They were variously affected. Capt. P.D.

Parks, of the Invincible Club, really cried, like a whipped schoolboy, from fear; many ran away with all possible speed. Doolittle, the man of valor, who was to lead a party against Camp Douglas, was the first to run away, and from certain "surface indications," we rather think he is running yet. James A. Wilkinson, the valorous Past Grand Seignior, has gone to look after Doolittle; Silver has gone to Canada; Strawn has turned a summerset into the Republican party; S. Corning Judd helped to convict the prisoners in Cincinnati, although called by the defense; Amos Green, the Major-General of the Order in Illinois, has quietly subsided, and is no longer belligerent; Vallandigham gives the Order the cold-shoulder, and affects pious horror upon the recital of its aims and purposes--and, indeed, the whole organization, as formidable as it was in numbers, was soon in the most terrible condition, and died in great agony. The complications of the disease of which the order came to its death, would puzzle the most profound pathologist. It might, perhaps, be set down as a disease of the heart, induced by corrupt morals, with the following complications: Softening of the brain from the study of State sovereignty; extreme nervous debility from the reproach of a guilty conscience; injury to the spine by suddenness of fall; weakness of the limbs from bad whiskey, and impurity of the blood from contamination.

The child of secession is dead--as dead as the cause of the Southern Confederacy! Jeff. Davis' pet inst.i.tution was decently buried within the enclosure of Camp Douglas. There being no provision or service in the ritual for this occasion, we may only exclaim, as we look upon his last resting-place, "_Requiescat in pace._"

The arrest of General Walsh and others, and the discovery of a great number of revolvers, etc., all loaded and ready for use, and the rather unpleasant discovery that the Brigadier-General had actually employed a Government detective to go to his house and give instructions in making cartridges, were _rather_ mortifying to the order, and when it appeared that the Chairman of the Vigilance Committee, whose province was to take the balance of the arms, which we learned were in Walsh's barn, and with all possible haste remove them to a place of safety, and the Chairman (who makes this record for the edification of his const.i.tuents), deemed the safest place he could find the retired locality of Camp Douglas, and if the inquisitive eyes of Gen. Sweet, and his grasping propensities, should take possession of all the valuable carbines, Enfield rifles, muskets and revolvers, let them moderate their wrath, and find consolation in the thought that in their last hour it will be a pleasant reflection that all those bristling warlike implements fell into the hands of men who will not put them to base uses.

When it was announced, with all confidence, that beneath the hay in Charley Walsh's barn was a large number of firearms that must be speedily removed, a new idea of the value of ladies' hoops burst upon the world (not "The Wide-Wide World,") but the few who were present when James L. Rock, one of the editors of the Chicago _Times_ announced that his wife (and Mr. Rock ought to know), and some other ladies could quickly remove these weapons by concealing them under their hoops, Colonel Sweet, with his usual gallantry, spared the ladies the inconvenience and trouble, and removed them quite as well and as quickly.

After the first arrests, other followed, but after a time many of these worthies were liberated, not because of their innocence; and they may now one and all consider themselves on their good behavior.

After the first arrests, the hall of the "Temple" in Chicago was deserted. It was not thought to be exactly _safe_, and meetings were held occasionally wherever they could find a place of safety, where it was morally certain Gen. Sweet would not know of their gatherings or of their business, and where it would be a dead secret forever; and they one and all swore that whoever had exposed them to the Government _should die by a.s.sa.s.sination_. This was their fixed purpose, and when suspicion fastened upon Hull, no less than three persons _volunteered_ to do the deed, those men were Lewis C. Morrison, old Felton, the Outside Guardian, and, by his own confession, detective of the order, and James L. Rock, one of the editors o the Chicago _Times_.

Two of these "gentlemen" visited the office of the writer of this book during the progress of the trial, and used the following language. "If it be _true_, (he having inferred from Alexander's testimony that the writer had been in the interest of the General Government), a thousand times you had better be Charley Walsh than Dr. Ayer."

A project was considered to rally the order and carry out the original programme, but as well might an attempt have been made to infuse life into a body that had been buried a fortnight. A messenger who went to Lewiston, Ill., to "see what the order would do about it," were coolly told by their Grand Commander, S. Corning Judd, Esq., that "they wouldn't do a thing." This unsatisfactory report proved two things--that S. Corning Judd, Grand Commander, and candidate for Lieut. Governor of Illinois, (who might have got the election, if the "ballot and bullet" b.u.t.ternut machinery had only proved available), considered the inst.i.tution as "gone up," and 2d--that he was ungrateful to a people who had at least made him their nominee. Gentlemen who, by request, visited the different sections of the State and of the Northwest, all reported that immediately after it was known that the Government knew their secrets as well as they did themselves, they tacitly agreed not to regard themselves as a "secret" organization in future, and we have the best of reasons to believe the entire order is so completely uprooted that it can never again spring up to curse the land. Home traitors have been taught, and it is well if they profit by the lesson, they cannot form any society or order based upon treason, that can for any considerable time continue "secret." Its purposes will transpire, for the all-seeing eye of Him who reads the hearts of men, and will not suffer "a sparrow to fall to the ground without his notice," that G.o.d who hath decreed that this nation shall be re-united, shall be prosperous, free, happy, and truly great, will not suffer traitors to be successful, but will give them into the hands of those who reverence His mighty and terrible name; and their cunning shall be a reproach, and their machinations shall be known of all men, and they shall blush with burning shame that they were ever false to their country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JUDGE BUCKNER S. MORRIS

A prominent lawyer and citizen of Chicago, a bitter and strong advocate of Democratic faith and the peculiar notions of the Sons of Liberty.