CHAPTER XLIII.

THE FIRE IN THE REAR.

On being sworn in secretary of war, Stanton found the family of a leading general who held a confidential position in Washington imparting valuable military information to "friends in Richmond"; an arsenal foreman an outspoken secessionist; an ordnance officer in correspondence with a Confederate commander; many members of the National Volunteers, an organization formed to prevent the inauguration of Lincoln, occupying positions in the War Department; some of the leading clerks robbing the Government by collusion with contractors for army supplies; the Department mails used for carrying damaging information to the insurgents, and the fluctuations of the Treasury, the progress of recruiting, proposed army movements, and even cabinet discussions reported promptly and accurately in Richmond.

He dismissed the postal messenger in the War Department and detailed his own confidential clerk (A. E. H. Johnson) to succeed him, thereby stopping, as he wrote to C. A. Dana, many "rat holes."

*

The Knights of the Golden Circle, Sons of Liberty, Circle of Hosts, Union Relief Society, and kindred oath-bound orders of numerous membership, weakened the Government and harassed Stanton almost as much as the armed enemies at the front. Their extent and power were surprising. When C. L. Vallandigham was

*"On January 30, 1862," says Major A. E. H. Johnson, "I was ordered to take charge of the mails. Before that the bags were the daily vehicle for the letters of Washington rebel sympathizers to their friends in the South, the letters being collected in a pouch in the hall so that anybody could use it. The mail was also opened upon a table in the hall, and distributed by the messenger. I had charge of the mails two months, and during that time, secured evidence on which clerks were dismissed, army officers arrested for fraud, and a very high civilian official sent on a mission from which he never officially returned. As he was departing, the President, who was present, inquired where he was going, and the reply was, 'Up in a balloon.'"

at the head of the Golden Circle he claimed to have initiated two hundred thousand "copperheads" capable of bearing arms, and the allied orders in 1864 were said to number eight hundred thousand, North and South. During McClellan's campaign for the presidency they were known as the "McClellan Minute Guards." Their oaths varied slightly and the central name was changed from time to time, owing to exposure of their officers and rituals by Stanton's secret service. Their purpose may be inferred from their oaths, a sample, given in the Federal court of Indianapolis, being in part thus:

I, do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God that I will go to the aid of all true and loyal Democrats and oppose the confiscation of their property either North or South. I further promise and swear that I will not reveal any of the secret signs, passwords, or grips to any not legally authorized by this order, binding myself under no less penalty than having my bowels torn out and cast to the four winds of heaven; so help me God. I promise and swear that I will do all in my power to bring all loyal Democrats into this Circle of Hosts. I further promise and swear that I will do all in my power against the present Yankee-abolition-disunion administration; so help me God.

Subscribers to the oath of the Union Relief Society, as disclosed in the Federal court at Des Moines, were compelled to swear: "I will resist draft either by State or Federal authorities; I will resist all orders issued by the present administration; and I will do all in my power to unite the States of the Northwest with the Southern Confederacy."

This tremendous army of sedition, partially armed and drilled, was practically beyond Stanton's reach. However, when captured papers disclosed that one of his personal friends and a member of the court of claims in Washington was a high official of the disloyal order, he instructed Colonel W. P. Wood to lay the inculpating documents personally before the judge. Court was in session, but Wood strode up to the bench saying: "I am directed by the Secretary of War to deliver this package to you in person and to say that

*Governor Morton telegraphed to Stanton, January 3, 1863, that the Indiana legislature contemplated "acknowledging the Southern Confederacy, and urging the States of the Northwest to dissolve all constitutional relations with the New England States. The same thing is on foot in Illinois." C. L. Vallandigham stated in Canada that the Knights of the Golden Circle proposed to seize the governments of the Northwestern States, and, joining with the South, dictate terms of peace,

it relates to a matter demanding immediate attention." Court was hastily adjourned; the frightened judge proceeded quickly to the War Office, where he finally took the oath of allegiance and gave such information as enabled Stanton to break up the order in the District of Columbia and cripple its power everywhere. That information disclosed that one of the chief purposes of the order was to destroy the Government arsenals and war stores, which fact was confirmed by documents filed by Allan Pinkerton. Thereupon, in September, 1862, Stanton issued an order to General Ripley, chief of ordnance:

You will give immediate and strict attention to the officers in charge of all the arsenals, armories, and magazines of the United States. There is reason to believe that an organized design is on foot for their destruction.

So thoroughly was this order carried out that no arsenals were destroyed, although not less than fifty attempts were made upon the Indianapolis arsenal alone. But Stanton was not equally successful everywhere, although in every community throughout the North, Union Leagues, Orders of the Stars and Stripes, Loyal Legions, Sons of Patriots, and similar clubs were organized under oath to offset the doings of the "copperheads." All were in secret communication with Stanton, as the following incident, related by George B. Smythe of Newark, Ohio, will show:

The Union League in Columbus, a secret organization, sent information to Secretary Stanton. Lists of prominent people alleged to be disloyal were thus forwarded and Stanton ordered their arrest.

The late Allen G. Thurman and myself arranged to have two men join, and, neither knowing what the other was doing, report its proceedings to us. They reported a list of names that had been made up to forward to Mr. Stanton, among them those of Thurman and myself. We took the postmaster, a mutual friend, into our confidence. When time came to make up the Washington mail he told his clerks that he himself would attend to it. Later his action leaked out and he lost the post-office.

Mr. Stanton narrowly escaped being a victim of his own kind of machinery. For a time during the war his mother resided at Gambier. Coming West to see her, he stopped at Newark. Joe Griffith, marshal, noticed a stranger walking up the middle of the street alone and arrested him as a suspicious character. Mr. Stanton was able to demonstrate that he was the Secretary of War and Griffith conducted him to the American House where, without registering, he remained until night, incognito. Later a message came from the hotel to my office saying that the Secretary of War would like to see me. The memory of severe criticisms which I had made being fresh, I had not the courage to meet Mr. Stanton, and I sent