My name is Benjamin J. Sweet; I am and was, during the months of
September, October, and November of last year, Colonel of the 8th
Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps; I was also, and still am, Commandant
of the Post of Chicago, including Camp Douglas. The post I command
extended, I suppose to the limits of the surrounding posts.
_The Judge Advocate_.--What are the geographical limits of the command
of the Post of Chicago.
Mr. Asay objected to the question, as involving a matter of law and not
of evidence, but his objection was overruled by the Court.
_Witness continued_.--My jurisdiction extends to the limits of the posts
north at Madison, Wisconsin, southwest to Rock Island, south, or almost
south, to Springfield, and east to Detroit, Michigan. The Commandant
has jurisdiction over everything pertaining to military affairs in the
jurisdiction, over the command of all troops, and for the protection of
the property of the Government and of the people. Chicago is one of the
first military depots of supplies in the country. There are ten
depots in charge of a Colonel, and Chicago is one of them. The Depot
Quartermaster at that time was Colonel Potter. From the commencement to
the latter end of August, the number of troops under my command, fit for
duty, was from 800 to 900. Towards the end of August, I was reinforced
by about 1,200 men, consisting of four companies of one hundred days'
men, and the 196th Pennsylvania Regiment, which numbered 750 men, also
one hundred days' men; these remained with me sixty or seventy days. I
telegraphed for these reinforcements. There were between 8,000 and 9,000
prisoners in camp up to November. On the 6th of November, the morning
report shows 796 men, rank and file, fit for duty. There were always on
duty in Chicago about sixty men acting as provost guard; this left
736 men in camp to do guard duty. The sixty men in the city performed
service in looking after deserters, guarding property, &c. The depot for
supplies is in the city, and is in charge of the depot quartermaster.
Troops were used for doing camp duty, and guarding prisoners of war, and
forwarding deserters to various camps. The entire guard in Camp Douglas
was about 500 men, 250 on duty at a time, and 250 off. These were
changed every other day. The camp is within the city limits, and is
about three miles from the Court House.
The conveniences to reach the camp are by way of street cars. There were
buildings on the north side of the camp; on the opposite side of the
street, also on the east side, there was a hotel and other dwellings.
Walsh's house was about one-fourth of a mile from the camp, with
three or four houses between Walsh's house and the camp. My duties are
two-fold; I have to report to Gen. Cook, at Springfield, commanding in
the State, and to Gen. Hooker, at Department headquarters. In relation
to prisoners of war, I am under the instructions of the Commissary
General of prisoners at Washington. These prisoners were arrested at my
order. Messrs. Walsh, Cantrill and Daniels were arrested by Lieut. Col.
Skinner and a detachment of troops, at Walsh's house. Grenfel and the
witness Shanks were arrested at the Richmond House, and Mr. Marmaduke
was arrested at the residence of Dr. Edwards, No. 70 Adams street.
Judge Morris was arrested by Mr. Keefe and members of the police.
These arrests were made on the 6th of November. They were arrested upon
information which led me to believe that there was on foot a conspiracy
to release the prisoners, and get up a revolution in Indiana and
Illinois. I regarded the emergency as immediate, and therefore acted
promptly. I dared not trust the telegraph and the railroad, for I
understood that the Sons of Liberty had men employed upon them. There
were one hundred and fifty men arrested in all. They were principally
from the South and Central Illinois, and had lately arrived in Chicago.
These were mainly from Fayette and Christian counties, Illinois. These
were arrested in grog-shops, boarding-houses, under the pavements, and
in every part of the city. All of these men were arrested from their
appearance and description, and by their looks were taken to be
vagabonds. There were but few of them armed. They asserted that they
came to Chicago to see the city. Some of them stated that they belonged
to the Sons of Liberty, and some from the Southern army; about one tenth
came from the Southern army. These bushwhackers were arrested partly by
the city police, partly by citizens, and some by soldiers.
I have heard of such an organization as Klingmen's men. Most of them
coming from Christain and Fayette counties. It was chiefly made up of
deserters from the Federal army and those who ran away from the draft,
and was intended to resist the draft and all the operations of the
Provost Marshal and the General government in the prosecution of the
war. I succeeded in capturing the Captain and Lieutenant, and the
principal men of the organization. It was not an organization under the
United States or State law. I received all of these men up to the 8th of
November, and all being strangers, I took them in.
I do not know the exact size of Camp Douglas, but believed it comprises
from 60 to 70 acres of land. The prisoners square proper, covers about
20 acres. In November last it was enclosed by a board fence 12 feet in
height and made of lumber an inch and a quarter in thickness. The
boards were placed endways and were nailed from the inside. The outside
sentinels were stationed on a parapet about three feet from the top
of the fence on the outside. The camp was more easily assailable from
without and less defensible than if the attack was made from inside.
The Judge Advocate here exhibited to the witness a plan of the camp
found on the person of one of the conspirators.
_Colonel Sweet_.--The map is very roughly drawn and is a little out of
proportion in detail, but is a correct drawing of the camp as it was in
August and September of last year. The outlines are precisely the same.
As shown on the map there were then 40 barracks in the prison square.
This number is now increased. The Guard-house and small tents on the
west side of the camp are also moved now. The barracks marked "Yankee
Barracks" is the correct position of the barracks occupied by the
garrison in Garrison Square. The building marked "Douglas House" on the
South side of the camp is, I suppose the Douglas University. It is a
magnificent building and is located about eighteen or twenty rods from
the camp fence, and overlooks the entire camp. One hundred men, or even
fifty men, stationed in that building, would command Camp Douglas,
and almost make it untenable to any force. During the session of the
Democratic Convention, and until the danger was over, I stationed two
companies near that building. I had in my charge a prisoner named John
T. Shanks at that time; he was there when I assumed the command of the
camp, on the second of May, 1864. He was a clerk in the office for the
commissary of prisoners. He applied to me to take the oath of allegiance
during the summer. His application went through me to the Commissary
General of Prisoners with my approval. I never approved these
applications unless I was fully convinced that the applicant was
desirous of becoming a loyal citizen. The application was not granted,
but I made it the basis of communication to Commissary General that
Shanks desired to serve the United States, and to take the oath. In this
camp there were some men who were more largely entrusted than others.
Shanks was a paroled prisoner, having the freedom of Garrison Square
during the day time. There were others there in the same condition--a
man named Grey, and clerks in the medical department. Shanks was allowed
to go to the city two or three times in company with an officer. The
prisoners are never permitted to have any funds. I gave Shanks a dollar.
Shanks never used a nomme de plume that I am aware of. The prisoners
were not allowed to have any money, nor did they possess any unless they
obtained it secretly. Shanks, however, had, I believe, one dollar,
which I gave him. When a prisoner is brought to camp he is thoroughly
searched, and any money taken from him is placed in bands of the
Prisoner's Accountant, to be drawn, if required, in provisions from the
sutler. Letters are all opened, and any money they contain similarly
applied. I sent Shanks to the house of Judge Morris on the 3rd of
November, because five men had just escaped from the camp, and I traced
them, I believe, to that house. I asked Shanks if he would not like to
do the government a service. He replied that he would, when I told him
that I wanted him to go to the house of Morris and represent that he had
violated his parole and escaped, and if possible must be secreted with
the other prisoners. I then sent for Keefe, and the two went to the city
in a buggy. I followed on the street cars, and went to my office, No
90 Washington street, where I had told Shanks to report if he could not
find the prisoners. After I had been there a short time, Shanks came to
me and gave me $30, which he said Mrs. Morris had given to him, with the
exception of one dollar. I do not think he had any money when he went to
her house.
I know Maurice Langhorne. He introduced himself to me on the 5th of
November, by showing me a letter from Secretary Seward to Secretary
Stanton, recommending that he be allowed to take the oath of allegiance.
He gave me some information regarding the plot, but I did not know
whether or not to take him into my confidence. At a subsequent meeting,
the next day, however, at the Tremont House, I determined that he was an
honest, reliable man, and one who could be trusted. He has been of
great value to me, and his information was ever correct. On the 12th of
November, after the first arrests were made, I first offered to employ
him. I asked him to identify all who he remembered having seen in
Canada, in connection with the conspirators, and arrest them. He
personally arrested the witness, John Maughan, at the Tremont House. He
gave me information of the ammunition in Walsh's house, and subsequent
facts proved that his information was perfectly correct. I gave him the
fictitious name of Johnson. He never acted as a detective, but simply
aided in arresting men he had known before. Shanks worked for the
Government ever since I knew him. Up to the 12th of November, he
received no pay, and after that got $100 a month as his salary. I
believe, however, that I previously gave him one month's salary, to
purchase some citizen's clothing. Of the arms seized at Walsh's house I
have the shot guns at camp. The pistols were entrusted to Col. Hough to
arm a citizens' patrol, and he has not returned them. I do not know the
exact number of arms we captured. There were about 354 revolvers and 200
double barreled guns found in his house, and thirty cavalry carbines
in his barn in the city; the latter weapons were not loaded, but those
found in his dwelling were. There were also from 14,000 to 15,000 rounds
of cartridges, and some roughly made buckshot cartridges, the number of
which I do not remember. We also obtained some arms from other persons
arrested, I mean the bushwhackers. I do not think that any arms were
found on any of the prisoners at the bar, except, possibly, Grenfell.
It will be interesting to the citizens of Chicago, if not in other
localities, to peruse the following report from a newspaper, which
has perhaps done more than any other in the United States, to aid and
promote the interests and cause of the rebels--a paper, the baneful
influence of which Gen. Burnside well knew, and would have crushed out;
but the editor of that print was suffered to proceed on his dirty and
devilish work, and most industrious has he been. The most loathsome
reptiles, as we see in the economy of nature, have their uses; "the
toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head;" the
spider, cunning and fierce, is not without his uses; the wily serpent
has his office, the viper was not made in vain, and as the mighty plan
of the Great Creator of the Universe is above the comprehension of man,
we may wonder at, but never understand why beings in the guise of men,
were ever formed, who know no patriotism, no gratitude, none of the
nobler attributes of man, and whose mission seems but destruction to his
race, and deadly enmity to his country. The Times, who in these days of
victory and triumph of Union arms, would "steal the livery of heaven to
serve the devil in," and prate of its devotion to the Union, furnishes
us some information it were well for good citizens to know, and which we
will presume is (unlike most statements in that concern) reliable.
THE LIST OF McCLELLAN ORGANIZATIONS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
We extract the following from the Chicago Times of October 20, 1864. It
will do to keep for reference. The comments which preface the list are
from the pen of the editor of that delectable print. The only comment we
need make is, that almost every man whose name is upon the list, was a
member of the Chicago Temple of the Sons of Liberty, in good and regular
standing with the order:
"There is at present a thoroughly organized and efficient McClellan
club in nearly every ward in the city. The good that has resulted to the
democratic party from these organizations is more than can be readily
imagined. They have done much to stimulate men to an interest in the
issues of the day which never would have been felt but for the exertions
of the clubs. In those wards where these organizations have not already
been formed, meetings are appointed to take place this week for the
purpose of forming them, and by the next Sabbath there will be one in
every ward in the city. Ordinarily the clubs meet once a week, but they
convene oftener for special purposes. There are always speakers ready to
address these meetings, being local candidates, speakers residing in the
wards where the meetings are held, or speakers from abroad. Below will
be found a list of the McClellan clubs now in effect, together with the
names of their officers:"