Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1864-11-03
PLYMOUTH. IND,
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1864.
JUDGE H0LT'S REPORT.
The Western Reasonable
Conspiracy.
ITS PURPOSES AND OPERATIONS.
The Testimony Of the Wit
ncsScS.
(Continufd from last tretk }

From the principles Of the Order a. thus Sc
forth. its general purpose of co operating with th,
rebellion may be readily be inf, rred, and, IN fac
those principles could logically lead to no othe
result. This general purT indeed, j. distinct ],
set forth in the personal Stat, meits and confess
ions OF It's members, aud particularly OF ils promi
nent officer, who have been induced tn make dis
closures TO the Government. Among the mos
significant oil these confessions are those alread,
alluded to. oi Hunt, DUN and Srnith--Ihc head:
OF the order in Missouri. The latter. whose state
ment Is iul and explicit, SAWS: AT the time
joined the ordcI understood that its object wa:
to aid and assist the Confederate Government, anC
endcavor to destroy the Union as il was prior tC
the rebellion. lie adds: "The Order il hostile in
every respect TO the General Government, anC
/ friendly To the sO-cacd Confederate Government
! Ii is exclusively nude up of disoyal pcrsons--o
all Democrat. that dcsrous ot securing the in
dependence OF the Confederate States, with view
OF restoring the Union as it was"
| 1t would be idle TO comment such gibbcrisl
as the statement That ''the ntcpen,ence of the
Conf, deratc States" was TO Lr used as the mcans
OF restoring "the Union as il was" and vet un
der the maIipulaiions of these tratorous jugglers
doubtless tie brains of many have been so al
mudded To accept this shameless d, clara;on as
true.
But to proceed to tho specifc purposes OF the or.
der, which its leaders have had in view from the
beginning, and which, it wil be seen. il has
been able. in many cases, TO carry ont with very
considerable success, the following are found to
be most poin.cdly pres ,nted in the testimony:
/. Aiding SOldnrs 10 Dcs6Tt, and UdrbOrinq
and Protecting Desertcrs.-Early in It's history the
Order cssaycd TO unGeI Imne such portions of the
army as were exposed its insidious approaches
Agents wcre sent by the Ia. G. c.. into the camps
to Introduce the order among the soldiers, and
those who became members were instructed 10 in
Ia. II -
g, sert. and for this purpose the latter furnish
ed by the order with money and citizens cloIhing
Soldiers who hesitated at dcserun, tut desired To
leave the Amy, were Introduced To lawyers who
engaged to furnish them some quasi legal Iretcxt
Tor SO doing, and a certain attorney of lndauapo-
lis. named Walpole, who particularly conspic-
ucus liz furnishing facilities Of this character To
soldiers who applied TO him, has boas,cd that he
has thus aided tve hundred enlisted men to escape
from their contracts Tl,rou Ia the schemes of the
Order IN Indiana, whole companies were broken
up;a large detachment of battery company, for
instance descrtins TO the enemy with two OF its
guns, and the camps were imbucd with spirit oi
0scontent and dissatisfaction with the service
Some estimate of the number ut this time may be
derived from report OF The AGITtant General of
Indiana, OF January, in 1863, setting forth that the
number of dcscrtcrs and absentee returned to the
army through the post OF indianapolis alone. du
ring the month Of December, 1862, IVES nearly two
Thousand six hundred
As soon us arrests of these dcscrters began to be
generally made, wris of kaJeas corpus were issued
in their ca> Is by dsloya judges, and consdera-
bic number were discharged thereon. In il
staIce in Indians, where an officer in charge OF a
dcserer, properly refused to obey the wrir after it
had been suspended in such cases by the President,
his attachment Tor contempt was ordered by the
Chiei Jusic, oi the State, who declared that tn
streets oi indianapolis might run with blood but
that he would enforce his authority against the
Piesid, nt's order" On another occasion. certain
United States officers. shn had made the arrest Of
dcserrer- in l!Iusis themselves arrested for
Scnappins, End held to trial bya dIsIoyal judge,
who at the same time discharged the dcsertcrs,
though acknowledging them 10 be such.
Soldiers upon destrtlbe, were assured Of immu.
nifty from punishment. and protection the part
OF the orccr, and were Instructed 10 bring away
with them th,ir ms. and, il mounted, their hOr
ses. Details sent 10 arrest them by the military
authorities. ere in several cases iorcibly stcd
and, where not unusually strong in numbers, were
oriv cn back by large bodies oil men, subsequently,
generally asccran,d d TO be me mbcis ol the order.
Where arrests were Effected, troops were open.
ly attacked and fired upon on their return. In
star.ccs oi snch attacks occurring in Morgan and
Rush COUNTIES, Indiana are especially noticed by
Gen Carrngton. In tie case oi the outbreak in
Morgan county, j. ). Bingham editor of the In
dianapoii- Sentinel, mcmb,r friend of the Or
der sought to forward to the disloyal newspapers
oi the West false and infammatory lelc.raphic dis
patches III regard TO the ailar, to the effect that
cavalry had been sent 10 arrest ali the democrats
in the county. that they had committed gross out
RACES, and that several citizens had been shot; and
adding: Ten thousand soluiers cannot hold the
men arrested this night. Civil war and boodsh, q
are inevitable" The assertions in the dispatch
were entirely false, and nay serve to illustrate
Il
r sentalion in regard to the acts of ia govern
mel, aud is officers is part OF the prescribed du-
~ oi the members OF the orGcr. Ii is To be added
that seven OF the party in Morgan county who
made the attack on our troops were convicted of
their offense by State Upon their trial ie
was proved the party WAS composed of members of
the X. G. G.
One Of the most pointed instances OF protection
furnished to dcscrtcrs occurred i'm a case in InGi.
ana. where seventeen deserters entrenched them.
selves in log cabin with ditch and palisades
and were furnished with provisions aud sustained
IN their defense against our military authorities for
a considerable period by the Order or its friends.
! .. Discouraging Enhstnenfs aud Resisting tn.
Drof--lt is especially iEculcated by the order to
oppose the reinforcement Of our armies, either by
volunteers or drafted men. In 1862 the knight
ei the Golden Circle organized generally TO resist
the dsat in the Western States, and were strong
enough in certain localities TO greatly cmbarras IS
the Government. In this year and early in 1863
number Of enrolling officers were shot in Indiana
and Illinois. In Blackiord County, Indiana, an
attack was made upon the Court House, and the
books connected with the draft were DESTROYED
In several counties OF the State a cons ucrahle
military force was required for the protection o
the United States officials, and large numbcr,o ,o
arrests were made, including that Of one Reynolds
an ex-senator OF the Legislature, for publicly urg
ing upon the populace TO resist the conscripton-
an Ofiense OF the same character, i'm fact, rs tha
upon which Vallandigham was apprehended il
Ohio. These outbreaks were, no doubt, in mos
cases. melted by the order, and engaged in by it
members In Indiana nearly two hundred person
were indicted tor conspiracy against the Govern
; ment, resisting the diait &C.. and about sixty
these were convicted.
Where members Of the order were forced int
the military by the draft they were instructed, i
case they were rcveBted from presently escaping
and we're obliged to 20 to the field, 10 use thei
arms in battle against their fell w-solders, rathe
than the enemy, or, if possible, to desert to tn
enemy, by whom through the signs OF the ordel
they would be recognized and received as friends
Ii is 10 be added that whenever member volur
teered in the army, he was at once expelled fror
the order.
3. Circulation Of Disloysi and TrcasonabLe Put
Hcations.-The Order, especially in Missouri, hi
secrctely circulated throughout the country gres
quantity OF reasonable publications, as a mean
OF extending its own power and influence as We
as OF giving encouragement 10 the disloyal an
Iinciting them to treason OF these. soure of ~