The Great North Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details

I >> I. Windslow Ayer >> The Great North Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

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 harrassing 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 classes
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 furnishing them information and associating 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 REHEARSED--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 Saturday 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 principal 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 assistants. 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 gratitude 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 worshiping 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 assemblage
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 assembled 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 butternut 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 amusement of
the members of the higher degree, to whom the men in butternut 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 entitled 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 assistant, 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 God 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 asserted 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 "butternuts," 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 classes, 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 mass 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 assault 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
assailants. 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 associates 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
institution 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 constituents), 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
assassination_. 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_.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12