Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-06-27

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| prlson-lenc9.
| A post-oiic6 was connected with the camp
aud tuis next received the Commandant's 8 atten.
ton. Everything about it appeared to be reg.
| llar. A vast number Of letters came and went
but they all passed unsealed, and seemed to con
! tain nothing contTaband. Many Of them how
ever, were short epstes on long pieces Of paper
a curious circumstance among correspondent
with whom stationary was scarce and grsenblnks
were not over-plenty. 0ne sultry day in June,
the Commapdant builded fire. aud gave these
letters warming and 10 presto the white
| spaces broke out into dark lines breathing
thoughts biacker than the fluid that wrote them.
| Corporal onOo6s Whispered TO hs wife, away
| down in r,1s, " The iorlhe OF july is comlo
| Sukey, 80 be man fur | IN gwlne ~ celebrate
! Pm gwne up loke rocket, OF ! does come
down loike stick. - And Sergeant Blower
said to John Copperhesd Of Chicago, Down
in old Virgnny | used to think the fourth Of
July humOUg, but this prison has made me a
patrot. Now I'd like to buIn an alfred sight
ol powder, and it you help aud God is williog
! snail do IL. 10 a similar strain wrote half a
score Of them.
| Such patriotism seemed altogether too wordy
TO be genuine. |, told nothing, but il darkly
/ hunted at dark events to come. The Command
ant beth0ught him that the Democratic Conven.
ton would assemble on the fourth VI July that
a vas. multitude Of people would congre gate at
/ Chicago 90 that OCCASION and that, ln ~ great
throng, 1t would be easy Tor the clans to gath.
er, attack the cam, and hberate the prisoners.
" Eternal vigilance is the price Of liberty ana
the young q mman1ant was ylgllant. Soon
] p frae a.
prisoners. Tney were genuine " Buttsrnuts, "
out at tbs knees, out at the elbows, out every
where in tact, and Of everything but 'heir senses.
| Ihose they bad snuRly about them. They FRA
teruizsd with Corpora SnoOks, Sergeant Blower,
and others Of their comrades, and soon learned
that grand pyrJtechuic display was arranged
10 come of On lnJeyendence day. huge bon
fire vas TO be buIlt outside, and The prisoners
were 10 salute the old h4g, but not with blank
cartridges
Bat who was to hight the outside bonfire !
THAT the mproylsed /" Butternuts failed to
discover, aud the COmmandant set his own wits
to working. lie soon ascertained that singu-
lar organzIu0n existed IN Chicago. Ii was
called " be Society Of the Him." and It's OBJ
jeet as SET forth by Its printed constitution, was
90 thu more perfect development Of the literary,
scientific, moral, physical, and social welfare VI
the conservative citizens oi Chicago The
C. mmaud mt knew conservative cluz.n whose
development vas 10. altogether perfect, and be
recommended him to join the organization The
society needed recruit, and intlation-iees, and
received the new member with open arms Soon
he WAS deep IN the outer secreis Of the order /,
but be could not penetrate its inner mysteries
"a .Ia
already attained to " perfect Development -
VI vllany. He learned enough however, to
verify The dark hints thrown out by the prison
ers. The society numbered some thousands Of
members, all fully armed, thoroughly drilled,
aud imlailertIy waiting signal to explode a
mine deeper than hat 10 front OF Petersburg.
Bot the assembling Of tue Chicago Convention
was postponed to the tweny-niuth of August,
and the fourth OF July passed away without The
bonfire und the fireworks.
The Commandant, however, did not sleep.
lie .ull Kept his wits a-working the bogus
&" Butteinuts still ate prisoners rations and
the red l,me still brought out black thoughts
on the white lett r-psper Qiietly the garri'
son Vas ienl1iced, quietly increasd vigilance
WAS erllnod upon the sentlnelI and the tran
qliI assured look Of the COmmandant told no
one that he was playing with hot Goals on a
barrel OF gunpowder.
So July rolled away into August, aud the
Commandant sent a letter giving his view Of the
state Of things to his commanding general. This
letter has allen into my hands, and ss might
sometimes makes right, shalt copy portion
Of il. II Is dated August II, and, in the formal
phrase customary among military men, begins
- | huy kn iul llv fn IN
relation TO the supposed organization at Toronto,
Canada, which was to come here in squads, then
cont bine, and attempt to rescue the prisoners Of
war ~ Camp Douglas, that there is an armed
organic ton IN this city Of Eve thousand men,
and that the rescue OF our prisoners would be
the signal for general instruction IN Indiana
AID linOis.
" There is little, IT any, doubt that an organ.
izarou hostile to the Government and secret IN
its workings and character e1isis in the States
OF Indiana and ILLINOIS, and that this organise
ton IL strong 10 numbers. IL would be easy,
perhaps, at any crisi, in public affairs, to push
this organization into acts Of open dIsloyslty, if
It's leaIers should 30 will
&" Except IN cases OF considerable emergency,
shall make all communications 10 your head.
quarters on this subject by mall
These extracts show. that, seventeen dsyC be-
fore the assembling OF the Chicago Convention,
the COmmanddnt lal become convinced that
mail-bags were safer vehicles Of communication
than telcgmph-Witcs that five thousand armed
traitors were then domlclled in Chicago that
they expected t. be joined by body Of rebels
from Canada thst the object OF tho combination
vas the rescue Of the prisoners at Camp Doug.
los MI n IN
he the signal Tor general uprising throughout
Indiana and Illinois. Certainly. tdis was no
httlc knowledge 30 gain by two months burrow.
ing IN the dark. But the conspiraors were not
fools They had neck, which they valued They
would no, plunge into open dls.oyalty until some
" oII,is in public affairs should engage the
attention OF tn; authorities, and afford lair
chance Of success Would the assembling Of the
Convention be such crIsis2 was now the ques
a0p.
The question was sooo answered. About this
time, Lieutenant Colonel b. II Hill, command.
lrg ,hc military district Of Michigan, received
a m,sslyc from person in Canada who repre-
nttd himself to be major IN the Confederate
service Tie expressed readiness to disclose
dangerous plot against the GJycrnment, pre-
,iird he were allowed to take the oath OF ale.
glance, and rewarded according to he value Of
his information. The Lieutenant Colonel read
the letter. tossed ii aside, aud went about bic
blsucss No good he had heard, ever came
out ol N.Earuh. Soon another misslvc, of the
same purp0rt, and IRON the same person, cam,
u HIM. he tossed this aside also, and went
again about his business Bat the Major was
a southern Yankee tho outes, " sort ol Yam
k,e lie had something to sell, and was bound
tn sell lt, even II he had to throw his neck into
t bargain. Taking his HE in his hand, he
crossed the frontier; and SO it came about, that
late o night, tall man, in a souched hat,