The Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling Details | Page 7

once devised, the effects of which are now seen in the capture of Richmond and the surrender of Lee.
Earlier than this date in the progress of the struggle, however, it became manifest that the wheel of fortune would eventually turn against the cause of the South in consequence of her comparative weakness to contend against a power so amply provided with the material of war as the government at Washington. Then it was that the project of enlarging the area of the rebellion, first fell upon the Southern mind as indispensable to their cause, now fast becoming desperate in the extreme. Hurried raids into border northern states gave to the prowess of southern arms but momentary eclat, and little or no enduring strength was added to the stability of the Richmond government, beyond the plunder obtained in the line of march. On the contrary, these raids, instead of being evidence of the power of the South to maintain the standard of independence, were looked upon by the military chieftains of the North, without apprehension further than the demoralization, consequent upon the particular neighborhoods and districts thus invaded. In fact each recurring raid gave additional grounds for the confident belief on the part of the North, that the downfall of the rebellion was but a question of time, much sooner to be solved than many people of both sections supposed. These symptoms of the distress of the cause meantime did not escape the sagacity of the leaders of the rebellion, and as an expedient remedy, the plan of secretly organizing traitors in the northern states was determined upon as early as 1862, by the political representatives and agents of the confederate states, the attempt, character and success of which project will be the subject of the next chapter.

CHAP. III.
ARENA OF THE REBELLION EXTENDED--SECRET ORGANIZATION--PLAN OF FORMATION--KNIGHTS OF GOLDEN CIRCLE--TRANSPORTS ON THE RIVERS BURNED--EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES--SUPREME COUNCIL IN NEW YORK--DEGREES OF THE ORDERS.
As above intimated, early in 1862 the Richmond Government foresaw the necessity of bringing to its aid the hitherto comparatively dormant resources of treason in the Northern States, and the enlargement of the arena of the Rebellion. Raids having ominously failed in their design to arouse the lethargic spirits of Northern sympathizers and advocates, to rush to the standard of the misguided South, it was immediately determined to prolong the war, at least, to the date of the next Presidential election, and then through the agencies of secret organization and equipment, seize upon the excitement of the people in a hotly contested election, to force a rebellion against the administration elect in the North, as had been done in the South in 1860.
The executive part of this object was at once given into the hands of such trustworthy men, both North and South, as were deemed suitable to the enterprise, and the work of secret political organization was vigorously begun in Northern Missouri and Kentucky, from thence it gradually spread, until it was firmly rooted in the political tenets of the minority party in the States of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and portions of other adjoining States.
Much dissimilarity existed in the operative structure and formation of the various organizations, from time to time thus instituted. To give the public a full and complete description of these organizations, would be foreign to the writer's time, space and purpose, but in order that some record of their character may be made, a general description of each in its order in point of time, with a reference to the features in which radical dissimilarities appear, would seem indispensible to the poor perfection sought to be obtained by the author of these sketches.
Upon the discovery by Southern leaders that their cause must fail unless "fire in the rear" was at once instigated in the North, the Order of the Knights of the Golden Circle, an old Southern institution, was infused with life, and began its pilgrimage Northward, one additional creed having been ingrafted upon it.
It will be remembered that this Order was originally composed of the wealthiest planters, merchants and professional men of the South, and had for its sole object the inculcation of treason against the United States. It was simply an institution to educate the Southern mind to the required standard of rebellion. But when the Order was introduced into the North, it was found feasible to give it a double capacity, first that of an educational capacity, and second that of an incendiary capacity, which comprised the destruction of government property, and the houses and property of leading loyal citizens of the North, known to be strong advocates of the suppression of the rebellion. But this organization in name and cardinal purpose was short-lived, its career having subserved but a meagre benefit to the South, in a practical point of