The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-07-21

add TO the seeming Insecurity. near
I ~ every Office in the camp was flied
with these prisoners. They served
out rations and distributed clothing
to their comrades, dealt out ammu.
milton TO the guards, aud eycn kent
4 the records in the quarters Of the
commandant. In fact, the prison
was in charge of the prisoners, not
the prisoners in charge OF the prison
This state Of things underwent sad
den change With the exception of
] a very few, whose characters recon.
mendod thcm 10 peculiar confidence,
all were at once placed where they he
loDPcd--on the inner side OF the pris-
Oh fence.
a post-oilice was connected with
The camp, and this next received tho
CommandanCs attention E,cry-
thing about appeared TO he regular.
A vast number OF letters came and
went, bat they all passed unscaled.
and seemed to contain nothing con
traband. Many Of them, however.
were short cpistlcs on long pieces Of
paper, q curious circumstance AMONG
correspondents with whom stationery
was so great an object Tins arous-
ed the suspicious Of the commandant,
and, having q fire at hand, took The
letters and subjected them to the
heat, when each sheet was found
written full. In one OF which was
found the following, and others con
tanned matter simular in character
limiting at the dark deeds about to bc
perpetrntcd "Down in odd Virgin
my | used 10 think the fourth Of july,
/ Il humbug, but this prison has made
me patriot. Now, I'd like to burn
an all fred Sight Of powder, and if
you help, and Col is willing, shall'
do il" In u similar strain wrote Il
hale a score Of thcm.
Such patriotism seemed altogether
too wardy to he genuine. IT told
nothing. bat it darkiy hintcd at dark
events TO come. The Commandant
bethoupht him Chat the Democratic
I Convention would assemble on the
/ fourth of July; that vast multitude
of people would congrc2atc at Crica-
90 on that OCCASION; and that, in so
great throng, it would be easy for
/ the clans TO gather, attack the camp,
and lihcratc TIE prisoners. External
/ vigilance is the price OF liberty" and
I The vounT Commandant was vi9ilant.
Soon Prison Square received li'es h
mstallncnt of prisoners. They were
genuine "ButtCrnuts,' out ut the
toes, out at the knees, ont ut the ell
bows, out everywhere, in fact, and
| of everything but their senses 49,
These they had snugly about them.
They lratcrniZed with Corp. Snooks,
Sergeant Blower, and others Of their
comrades and soon learned that Il
grand pyrotechnic display was ar
ranged to come oil on Independence
day. y huge bonfire was to be buiit
outside, and the prisoners were to
salute the old dag, but not with blank
cartridges.
Bat who was TO light the outside
bonfire? That the improyised 'But-
ternGts failed to discover. and the
Commandant set his own wits to
working. He soon asccrtaned that
a singular organization existed in
Chicago. 1t was called "fhe Socic.
/ ty of the Illini," and It's object, as
sent forth by its printed constitution,
was "the more perfect development
Iot the literary, scientific, moral,
physical, and social welfare of the
/ conservative citizens of Chicago. -
The Commandant knew a conscrya-
tive citizen whose development was
not altogether perfect, and he rec
commended him to join the organiza.
ton. The society needed recruits
and imitation itcs, and received the
new member with open arms. Soon
he was deep in the outer secrets of
the order; but he could not penetrate
its inner mysteries. Those were open
to only an elect few who had alrea iy
attained to perfect development
OF yllainy. He learned enough,
however, to verify the dark hints
thrown out by the prisoners. The
society numbered some thousands of
members, all fully armed, thoroughly
drilled, and impatiently waiting to
explode mine deeper than that in
front Of Petersburg.
But the assembling of the Chicago
Convention was postponed to the 25th
of August, and the 4th of July passed
away without the bonfire and fire
works.
The Commandant, howeyer,did not
sleep. He still kept his wits a,work.
ing; the bogus "Butternuts" still ate
prisoners rations; and the red flame
still brought out black thoughts on
the white lettcr-paper. Quietly the
garrison was REINFORCED, quietly in
creased vigilance was cnioined upon
the sentinels; and the tranquil as.
sured look of the Commandant told
no one that he was playing with hot
Goals on barrel of gunpowder.
So July rolled away into August,
and the Commandant sent a letter
giving his Wow Of the state of things
to his commanding general This
letter has fallen into my hands, and,
as might sometimes makes right,
shall copy portion oft. 1t is dated
August ~, and in the formal phrase
customary among military men, be-
0inS: