Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1887 — A PERIOD OF TERROR. [ARTICLE]

A PERIOD OF TERROR.

Chicago Times: The people who remember the year 1864 in the history of Chicago will recall a time scarcely less frightful in many particulars than the reign of terror in France at the close of the last century. It was a year when the fortunes of the North had reached the lowest depths, and when nie triumph of the seceding States was almost one of the probabilities of the situation. It was also a presidential year, and the Democrats were presenting General McClellan as their candidate. The administration in power was determined to perpetuate itself, and to th s end it spared no effort. It is not in the least an exaggeration nor an untruth to assert that a very large, element in the party that supported the reelection ;of Mr. Lincoln preferred his success to that of the union cause. There is excellent and potential reasons for believing that had they been offered the choice of (he success of the confederates and that of McClellan they would

have chosen the former. It was Lincoln, power, public plunder, everything, before the success of the Federal arms. Hence, there was a persistent and vigorous effortjto accomplish the defeat of the Democratic candidate. The same effort—that of defeating the Commander of the Army of the Potomac —had been commenced in 1862, when McClellan was wading thro ( the swamps of the Chickahominy. The’fear that he would then come before the people as a presidential candidate had taken possession of tne Washington regime and its followers throughout the North, and it continued to influence their action up to the date of his nomination in Chicago in 1864. The fear then culminated in what was beyond question one of the most curious and startling events in the history of w«.r. It ’s asserted that during *he mrnth of August, in which the Democratic convention met, a conspiracy was exposed which had for its purpose the releasing of the Confederate prisoners at Camp

Douglas. It is alleged that the movement began several months letere in Canada under the management of Jacob Thompbun; that several days before the assembling of the convention, large gatherings of rebel sympathizers, soldiers, and escaped prisoners took place in Canadtf, who, under guise of vis;tors to the convention were to reach Chicago. There they were to be joined by membvrs of the Sons of Liberty, Knights of the Golden Circle, and the American Knights, already organized through the West and Northwest, which force, aided by the discontented elements, was to inaugurate insurrection releas the prisoners, and burn and plunder Chicago. Such was the alleged programme of the alleged conspirators. It is added in the so-called history of this affair that the commandant at Camp Douglas became informed of the movement through agents in Canada, and that, on learning w hat was intended, he telegraphed for reinforcements, in response to which two regiments were sent her&, which remained during the session of the Democratic convention. It is aserted that the conspirators, seeing the preparation for their reception, abandoned their schemes, and no insurrection or disturbance of any kind occurred.

There were still further conspiracies. In October of the same year the Confederate prisoners made an attempt to escape from Camp Douglas, but were defeated, owing to the fact that they were betrayed by some of their own numbers A few of them did escape—not more, however, than a score. In November still another conspiracy was unearthed which originated in Canada, and which was to be commanded by the same Captain Hines who is alleged to have been assigned to t e conduct of th original movement. Concerning its character and purposes, a so-called historical account says: “It was composed of the same elements as before, and was to bn put into execution on the day of the presidential election, November 8. According to the confession of rebel officer v. nd others, the design was to attack Camp Dougla , to release the prisoners there; with them to seize the polls, allowing none but the copperhead ticket to be voted, and stuff the boxes sufficiently to secure the city; then to utterly sack the city, burning and destroying every species ov property except what they could appropriate to their own use and that of their Southern brethren—to lay the city in waste and carry off its money and stores to Jeff Davis’ dominions.”

Such was the programme. Rebels from the South and copperheads li’ing in Chicago were to seize the polls, stuff the b llotboxes with copperhead votes, and then burn down the city. What use in controlling the votes of a city that was doomed to immediate destruction? And, again, what part was to be played by the copperheads of the ci y, many of whom were large property-owners? They are credited with conspiring to burn their own houses and destroy the homes of their wives and children. In this work of first stuffing the ballot-boxes and then destroying the city the command was to be given to “Brigadier General Chas. Walsh, of the Sons of Liberty.” All will recall the result of the military commission which assemin Cincinnati and tried the Chicago conspirators. The men who were tried were Charles Walsh, Buck er S. Morris, Vincent Marmaduke, G. St. Leger Grenfel, and B. T. Semmes. In all, there were five of these conspira.ors, of whom two were citizens of Chicago. Of the five, two were found not guilty. This reduces the actual number of m m engaged in it to three. These three were sentenced —one to death and two to short terms of imprisonment. In the case of these three none of the sentences were carried into effect.

This finding three men guilty cut of the five, and hen discharging of these three without any punishment, was the outcome of the third great “conspiracy” which occurred in 1864 in the Garden City. Can anything more trivial and contemptible be imagined than this outcome of conspiracies which were to release prisoners, con.rol the vote of a great city, annihilate Chicago, and innaugurato insurrection in the North? And yet this was all there was of this gigantic movement, and which, according to some authorities,except for the vigilance of the loyalists on at this point, vould have given Chicago over to destruction, created a revolution ila the West, and might have eventuated in the establishment of the independence of the South. That there was a conspiracy at the time will not be disputed; but as to the auth rs of it there is opportunity for a diversity of opinion. The facts and logic of the situation amply justify the conclu - sion that such a conspiracy as there was concocted to defeat McClellan, and not in the least for the purpose ostensibly claimed, or as “confessed by rebel fficers and others.” How far this view of the case is plausible will be shown in the course of this article. Much apparent stress is laid by those who affect to believe there was a real conspiracy cr the existence of a secret order in < hicago. There was an order, it is true, but there has never been produced on e particle of evidence that its pur - poses were inimical to the union.. As a matter of fact its formation had no connection whatever with national affairs. It ’j>as known as the American Knights, wnd in it were some of the b 'st citizens of Chicago, among whom were such men as Buckner S. Morris, John Garrick, the present Postmaster, S Corning Judd, and others equally above suspicion of being tainted with treason. The order was instituted solely with reference to local abuses. It took no cognizant of national affairs; it concerned itself onl ✓ with issues and events having bearing on matters in and about Chicago. One not personally informed of the condition of affairs in Chicago during the years of the war can not pcssibly have any adequate idea of the persecutions, the insolences, the exactions, and the insults which prevailed. To be a Democrat was an offense as rank as treason. Such a man was a “copperhead,” a “secessionist,” a “traitor,” and all else that was vile. He was tabooed in society and boycotted in business. He was abused in the public prints and was the subjset of constant vituperation on the part of public speakers. A case of business boycott may be mentioned as illustrative of the spimt which prevailed, One of the prominent men of that period was John Garrick, a well-known lumbe. merchant, and who was successful as a business man. He is a man against whose integrity there has never been a suspicion, and whose private and business lite has always been above reproach.— He was a Democrat when the war I roke out, and continued to be so to the end, and is probably still firm in the faith at the present date. While a Democrat he was not a disuniomst. He believed and argued—for he was an excellent public speaker—that slavery could be disposed of and all the difficulties involved in the war of secession could be settled and the Union preserved without a resort to coercion. For this he was made a ta±get by the loyalists of Chicago. One of the headlines of the leading ‘loyal’ newspaper of the city headed a report of ore of Lis sp.eches with black letters like those of a poster: “Garrick* the Traitor! Spot him !’■ When Lincoln was assassinated a meeting of the; lumbermen was called to take action in the case of Garrick, and it was formally resolved by that body “that we will neither sell to, nor buy from said John Garrick, and that we pledge

ourselves to do all in our power to drive him from the lumber market of Chicago.” Only one man, S. B. Gardiner, opposed this boycott. It is related by Garrick that not long after this he procured a heavy contract for the supply of ties for a railway company, and that then it was a common thing for the chaps who had boycotted him to come to hinj and beg him to give them a cargo of ties for shipment. It may be added that since the period of the meeting each of the members had apologized to Garrick for his action in the matter. Democrats were assaulted on the streets without any provocation, and the acts were excused by public opinion on the ground that they were the punishment of treason. The editor of the Times, in coming one day out of the Sherman House, was struc down to the sidewalk by a Republican ruffian, named “Horse-Eddy,” without a single wor I being uttered save a blasphemous curse by the “loyal” thug as he launched his fist. All this persecution, which, by the way, was exclusively the work of the stay-at-home patriots, extended, as said, into business, private life, social relati ms, and more especially into politics. It was at this point that the Order of the American Knights was instituted. It was for the protection of its members at the polls and in the enjoyment of their political rights as citizens and voters. To this end citizens organized. They ha'gto do something to dam the waves of fanaticism which threatened to overwhelm everything Democratic. They had the entire right to do this, and they had the further right to purchase and store arms, with whose aid the ’ proposed to defend their rights. It was a period when the righteous laws of self-defense demanded that these men should be ready ta resist to the death the outrages to which they were subjec ed. Thus, one element in the alleged conspiracy, so far as the oath-bound order of American Knights is concerned, may be regarded as eliminated.

A little investigation into the character of the men who composed the alleged conspiracy may afford some light as to its real character. One of the prominent men was Buckner S. Morris, than whom no more honorable man or citizen ever had existence. This fact is not denied even by the fanatics who were engaged in persecuting all who differed from them in their views of the conduct of the war. Insurrection, bloodshed, the horrors of an internecine contest were as repellant to the gentle nature of Mr. Morris as woul .i »e the taste of carrion to a dove. He was sensitive, benignant, charitable, / and, supported by his excellent wife, occupied himself in efforts to relieve *he condition of the Co federate prisoners in Camp Douglas. At this point it may be said that this generation is not fully n?r correctly informed as to the treatment which was extended to the prisoners held in this city. It is generally believed that it was ' u Thane, phristianlike and beyon 1 re.

proach. Such was its superficial appearance; at the bottom there is reason for beli-ving that outrages and iniquities prevailed that were fully as infamous as those charged to the account of Andersonville. The death-, ate among the prisoners was enormous, far larger, in fact, than in the worst prison pens in the South. Extortion without limit vas practiced on the prisoners, on »form of it being the charging of 2s cents for a postal-stamp, and other prices in proportion. Said a well-known and entirely reliable citizen: “I had the handling of a great deal of money collected for the benefit of the Confederate prisoners, and I have since learned from conversation with many of them that at least 50 per cent, of the amount sent them by me was stolen!” Another citizen wao spent some time in traveling in the South sin e the war, and who saw and conversed with many exConfederates who were confined in Camp Douglas, asserts that th 21 narrations of many of these men were horrifying in the extreme, and that Wirtz, the tool of the Confederate authorities,was in no sense worse than some of the officials who controlled the Chicago pen. — It was to alleviate the hardships endured by these people that Judge Morris gave much of his time. It was this sympathy with suffering of “rebel” prisoners that drew on him the suspicion of the “loyal” stay-at-homes in Chicago and led to an attempt to inculnate him in a conspiracy. Many people when they hear mentioned the name of Charles AValsh, the indicted conspirator, immediately create in their minis a fierce, truculant Irishman, with the appearance of a brigand and the bloody tendencies of a pirate. He was known as “Brigadier-Gen-eral Walsh, commander of the Sons of Liberty,” and the conspirtor whose outhouses were filled witn muskets and pistols, and whose family occupied its time in making cartridges. Such, at leas!, was the testimony of detectives who ppeared on this trial.

Let us glance, for a moment, at this formidable cabalist, traitor, conspirator, and criminal. At that time he was a man of about forty years of age, with a mild blue eye, light complexion, and a gentle expression. He was a man of a warm, sympathetic nature, hating wrong of all kinds, affable in his neighborly relations, unflinching in his friendships, and an honorable business man. Is this the kind of material of which conspirators, plotting unholy insurrec-ions, are made ?

Mr. Walsh owned and occupied a capacious and pleasant home in the southern part of the city, not far from th s camp containing the Confederate prisoners. He had a family of seven children, of whom two were chronic invalids. Now, is it very probable that, occupying such a locality, and with a family of young children, he would deliberately plot an encounter which would necessarily bring tne waves of battle directly over his hearthstone? Only a fool or a blind fanatic would assert or believe any such improbable charge. Professor Rodney Welch was, at the time of the alleged conspiracy, the principal of a public school in the immediate vicinity of the Walsh residence. He was a familiar and .i.requent visitor, and h surely would have seen some or the cartridge-making and the other warlike preparations alleged to have been in progress, had there been any such t mg in existence. He states that he was in the habit of visiting the family frequently and at different hours, calling when desire prompted and opportunity offered, and yet he never saw anv indications unlike fiiose presented in the average household. In fine, there is every reasonable probability that Charles Walsh vas no conspirator; that the arms which he accumulated were in part those belonging to a disbanded military company which he once commanded, and in part those which weie purchased by the American Knights to protect themselves in thei • political rights in Chicago. lhe real facts m the cases of the alleged conspiracies in Chicago, in the au.uuin of 1864, have never been g yen to the put lie. Fur years after the pretended occurrence the person who dared even to hint that Walsh, Morris and the others wer not vile conspirators and traitors, and deservi g of death, was liable to be mobbed.— Tne time has not yet come when the passions of the “loyal” masses .a this viciui.y have

cooled to permit a complete, unbi" ased investigation of the occurrences of that period. When that time shall come it will possibly be found that there was a conspiracy, b t not among the men nor for the purpose heretofore charged. It may be elicited that the conspiracy was one to influence popular sentiment; to create feeling against Dem crats, and thus encompass the defeat of McClellan. It is not in the least msstating the logic of the situation to assert that on the surface the conspiracy was the result of federal machinations, into which a few Confederates and some extreme Democrats were inveigled, the intentionbeing to explode the. cheme so as to influence the November presidential elections. Were John AVentworth to tell all he knowsaoncerning this conspiracy, which was “exposed” two days before the national election, he would probably say that he was pi ivy to it, and was a prime mover in giving it shape and in bringing it to its consummatior. It is not doubted in the least by many that the strange people who came into the city, and whose appearance, skillfully worked up by the Republican newspapers, created intense alarm, were imported here by that long-headed as well as long-

legged politician. He had more to do with creating apprehension than ail the rebels from Canada, and beyond question, should the truth ever prevai l in this matter, it will be fixed in history that he and his political conferee were the real originators of the cons firacies of 1864.