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.