THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO RELEASE THE PRISONERS OF WAR AT CAMP DOUGLAS--THE
CHARACTER IN WHICH THEY CAME--UNDER THE LEAD OF CAPT. HINES--THE REASONS
WHY THEY FAILED TO EFFECT THEIR OBJECT--REBEL OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS
DRILLING COPPERHEADS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.
It is the writer's intention to speak first of two expeditions to
Chicago, for the release of the prisoners confined there. The first of
these took place during the Chicago Democratic Convention, when it was
hoped that the rebels from Canada and their sympathizers from Missouri,
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, who came armed to assist them in their
projects, would be enabled to go quietly into the city without fear of
detection, in the vast crowds who were then assembling there, from all
parts of the United States, and under the guise of friendly visitors,
were to be ready at a moment's notice whenever their leaders called upon
them to spring out before the people in their true light, and effect
the release of those rebels confined at Camp Douglas. As early as the
twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth of August last, at the request of Jacob
Thompson, secretly and quietly circulated all through the Canadas, Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick, all the Rebels, Skedadlers, Refugees, and
others who could be relied upon to take part in the expedition, began to
assemble in Toronto, Canada West, at the different hotels and boarding
houses; of these, at that time, it was generally reported that there
were about three hundred; but so far as positive evidence goes, out
of this number only about seventy-five men were induced to join this
expedition and go to Chicago. At Toronto the objects of the expedition
were made known to nearly all of them, and arms furnished them--_arms
manufactured in New York city and shipped to Canada for that express
purpose_. The details of the affair were only known to a few of the
leaders, who maintained the strictest silence upon the subject, and
enjoined upon the men the most implicit obedience to their orders,
pledging themselves for their safety and the feasibility of their plans.
On the nights of the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth of
August, these men began to leave Toronto, by all the different routes
leading to Chicago, in squads of from two to ten, and began to arrive
at the Richmond House in that city, as early as the Saturday before the
Convention. They were all pledged to fight to the last, and never under
any circumstances surrender, as their lives would be forfeited, if
caught. The whole expedition was under the charge of Capt. Thomas H.
Hines, who had a commission as Major-General in the Rebel army, to take
effect and date from the release of the rebel prisoners of war at Rock
Island or Camp Douglas. Hines is the person who is said to have effected
the escape of General John H. Morgan himself, and others from the
penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, and although it is not generally known
in the North or South how Morgan escaped, and there not being one word
of truth in his report, he has enjoyed for a long time the reputation of
having been the author of it, and of being a desperate shrewd character.
The real facts in the case were (and it does not do the service of the
United States much credit to mention them,) that General John H. Morgan
"_was bribed out_." It was absolutely necessary however for General
Morgan to make some report of his escape to the public, that would
hoodwink the United States Government and save the officers, whom his
friends in the North had bribed to let him out, from punishment by
the authorities, and therefore a very romantic tale was made up, and
Morgan's pet _Capt. Hines_, was made the hero of it; and it was the
object of the rebel government in sending Hines to Canada to give an air
of truth to this romantic tale, to secure the United States officials
who have failed in their duty to their country. Hines was assisted in
his efforts by Col. St. Leger Grenfel an English adventurer of great
military experience, personal bravery and daring, who has had a romantic
connection with nearly every important war in America, Europe, Asia and
Africa for the past thirty years, and served in the Southern army with
the rank of Col., as Adjt.-Gen. to Morgan, and afterwards on General
Bragg's staff; but who pretended to have resigned his commission in the
rebel army and was living quietly in Canada; also by one Capt. Castleman
of Morgan's command, from Kentucky, who acted as Quartermaster of the
party, and about seventy-five, rank and file, (nearly all of whom were
officers) of the rebel army from Canada. These men were to be met here
in Chicago by parties from nearly all the middle, western and border
States, who came armed like themselves and for the same purpose. Of
those citizens who came to Chicago, armed and ready like the rebels,
there were over a thousand persons organized and officered, camped in
this city, just waiting for the command, and there were in the vast
throng then assembled in Chicago five or six thousand, who, while they
would not attach themselves to any organization, and were afraid to risk
the first attempt, yet if the first attempt had been successful
they would have joined the others in their work of devastation and
destruction. The above is most too low an estimate of the number of
these malcontents who did not join any military organization, but would
have eventually joined if it had been successful; for rebel officers
have been heard to say in Canada, after the Convention was over, that if
they could have "_started the thing right,_" they would have had an army
of twenty-five thousand in a week. With such a force, or even a force
of ten thousand, in possession of the city of Chicago, almost every city
and large town where there were many Democrats, and where the Sons of
Liberty, the Illinois Societies, Illini, &c., had full sway in Missouri,
Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, were to raise the insurrectionary
cry, and endeavor to bring all peace men and Democrats under their
banners. They were also to endeavor to maintain themselves in their
respective neighborhoods, districts, States, etc., were to seize upon
all the railroads and public buildings, and in the event they were not
strong enough to hold all the country, they were to rally around the
liberated rebels and their friends at Chicago, Camp Chase, Camp Morton,
and other places, after destroying all the public works, railroads,
etc., that would be of any service to the Government, in following them
up, or baulking their movements. In the meantime, however, the military
authorities in Chicago had not been idle, and the rebels and their
abettors looked with dismay upon every fresh arrival of troops and
artillery, as it was reported in their headquarters by spies, who had
the temerity to go to the observatory just opposite the camp, from
which they could see almost all over it, and send up hourly reports of
everything taking place inside.
[Illustration: JAMES A. WILKINSON, Past Grand Seignior of the Chicago
Temple of the Sons of Liberty, and one of those who brought the
"Butternuts" 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 assist 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 Washington 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 wishing 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.