_He discovereth deep things out of darkness;
And bringeth out to light the shadow of death._
JOB. XII., 22.
In the early part of 1866, or nearly a year after the close of the war of
the rebellion, there was organized in the Southern States, a secret order,
known as the "Constitutional Union Guards," having a constitution,
by-laws, oaths of allegiance, modes of recognition and approach, and a
ritual, all of which were legendary and unwritten. Its places of meetings
were styled Camps. Its officers were: a "Commander," "South Commander,"
"Grand Commander," "Chief of Dominion," and "Grand Cyclops," or supreme
head of the order.
The Commander is the chief officer of a local Camp. He issues the call
for, and presides over, all its meetings. Initiates members; administers
the oath; invests them with the signs, grips, and passwords necessary in
making themselves known as members of the Order; and imparts to them the
signal code of sounds by which they are governed in their excursions, and
at times when, for obvious reasons, it is not expedient to utter words of
command.
The South Commander is, to all appearances, a lay member of the Camp. His
power, however, when he chooses to exercise it, is superior to that of the
Commander. He is an officer without apparent function, and yet it is a
portion of the oath attached to the second, or supreme degree, that he
shall be obeyed in preference to any other known or constituted authority.
He can prorogue the Camp, or dissolve it altogether, whenever he deems
fit, and is amenable to no one inside of the Camp of which he is a member.
The office of this functionary is not an elective one. Whenever a Camp is
formed, the authority under which it works assigns to it a South
Commander, and he is the only person through whom communications can be
received from, or made to, that authority. All the doings of the Camp, the
number and names of its members, the warnings issued, the persons visited,
and all other proceedings, are carefully noted by the South Commander, and
reported by him to the Grand Commander of the District in which the Camp
is located, and he is the only member of the Camp who has knowledge of
that officer. The South Commander is not permitted to know any Grand
Commander save the one to whom he reports, nor does he know to whom his
superior is amenable.
The Grand Commander has charge of a District comprising a certain number
of Camps (usually seven), from the South Commanders of which he receives
reports as above stated. It is his duty to condense these reports into
cypher, which he transmits to the officer above him, known as the Chief of
Dominion, and from whom he receives the general instructions and orders to
be transmitted to the various Camps of his District through the South
Commander. He in turn is not permitted to know any Chief of Dominion save
the one to whom he reports; and, like his inferiors, is in utter ignorance
as to whom his superior is amenable.
The Chief of Dominion has charge of all the operations of the Order in
some State assigned to his care. He receives reports from the Grand
Commanders thereof; and transmits the same to the "Grand Cyclops," or
supreme head of the Order, and President ex-officio of the "Supreme Grand
Council." This Supreme Grand Council is composed of the Chiefs of
Dominions, and from them emanate the instructions which, being decided
upon in the conclave of the Council, are promulgated to the rank and file
through the Grand Commanders, South Commanders, and Commanders of Camps.
By this peculiar system of organization the moving spirits of the Order
are conversant with all that transpires below them, while their own
identity is carefully concealed from the masses whom they design to move
for their own vile purposes. The objects of the Order are somewhat
covertly set forth in the oaths administered to the members, but previous
to this time the grand designs intended to be accomplished were known only
to the members of the Supreme Grand Council. The initiation is comprised
in two degrees, the first or probationary degree being intended to test
the members, and the second or supreme degree for those of the first who
have been found worthy of advancement. The signs, grips, &c., are the same
in both degrees, with the exception of one test word, and a supplementary
ritual hereafter to be explained.