The National tribune., 1885-12-17

execution of the plot. But one of the principal
agents OF the conspirators, appalled, at its mag
nitude and atrocity, coupled as it was with
midnight arson and assassination, resolved,
rather than have it succeed, to betray his &C
completes The Nations history was thus
spared the preparation of a deed which would
have remained forever on its pages as Stigma
only equalled by the maniacal homicide which
in the following April deprived it OF its vener-
ated Chief Magistrate.
The plot was exposed on the night OF Nov z
and on the night of the 9th, the very eve of the
intended outbreak Col. Sweet succeeded In ar
resting in Chicago upwards of 100 OF the rebel
officers and guerrillas concerned in 1t, ana from
that moment the hopes of the conspirators were
forever crushed.
On the day of this arrest there were at Camp
Douglas 796 Union soldiers guarding 1852 rebel
prisoners mere handful to oppose the plot,
could it have once been put into execution.
That the nature Of the peril thus averted was
fully appreciated at the time in Chicago, is evil
dent from the following extract from an edi-
torial article which appeared in the Tribune OF
that city on Nov. 6, written, doubtless, IN the
excitement of the fresh revelation: Who can
picture the horrors to follow the letting loose of
5000 rebel prisoners upon sleeping city, all
unconscious of the coming avalanche? With
arms and ammunition stored at convenient
locations with ConfederateS distributed here
and there ready for the signal of conhagratlon,
the horrors of the scene could scarcely be paral-
leled in savage history. One hour of such
catastrophe would destroy the creations of a
quarter of century, and expose the homes of
nearly 100000 souls to every conceivable form
of desecration." Nor was the Government un-
mindful, after the proyerbial manner OF Re
publics, of the meritorious conduct OF Col.
Sweet. He was soon afterwards commissioned
a Brigadier- General, and after the war he was
continued in high civil position until his death
in 1873.
have thus briefly sketched in outline the
purposes and collapse of the Chicago conspiracy,
for the purpose of introducing to the reader one
of its chief instigators and the most daring of
its leaders in Col Sweets official report of the
affair, telegraphed from Camp Douglas on the
night of Nov. z, the first person whose capture
he reports is Morgan's Adjutant-General,
COL. C. ST. LEGER GRENFELL."
This man, with his high-sounding name sug-
gestiye of aristocratic ancestry, was one OF the
host of soldiers of fortune whom the war at
tracted to this country from abroad, and proba-
bly, in that entire host there were few moro
conspicuous, and certainly there were none
more brave. His history from early manhood
to the sudden termination of his career was
full Of romantic incident. He belonged to a
WE'LL born English family with titled connec-
tions, and he had followed the profession of a
soldier and adventurer from his boyhood. in
Lancers, winning his way from the ranks to
subaterns commission. With the moral fiexi-
bility of his class he is next found i'll the serv-
ice of Abd-el- -kader. under which renowned
chieftain he fought against the French during
four or five years. At later period of his ca
reer he fitted out yacht and carried on a pri-
vate war of his own against the Riff pirates.
He was Brigade Major in the Turkish con-
tingent in the Crimean war; and had some en-
ployment in the English service during the In
dian mutiny. European politics becoming too
tame for his aggressive disposition, he proceed
ed to South America, where he participated act
lively in the military operations OF several OF
the Republics of that disordered country. The
Southern States rebellion fired his fancy and
ronsed his adventurous ambition, and soon
after its beginning he ran the blockade
and Joined the Confederates, among whom,
by his experience and reckless daring, he
speedily gained position. He was Adjutant-
General TO John Morgan, the famous guerrilla.
and afterwards InspectorGe of Cavalry in
the army commanded by Gen. Bragg. 1t was
said of him that in battle he was thunder
bolt--lightning harnessed, and inspired with
the will of devil" A fellow-countryman, an
officer of the Coldstreams, who, in 1863, en-
coustered him in Tennessee serving on Gen.
Bragg's staff, describes him as being the ter
TOR of all commanding officers who are unable
to produce for his inspection the number of
n0rSeS 1Or WHICH IilbY nave Dee0 uTdN1flP
age" The writer continues: " He looks about
as, but in reality he is 56. He is rather tall,
thin, wiry and active, with jovial English
expression of countenance; but his eyes have
the wild, rowing look which is common among
the Arabs. When he came to ME he was dress
ed in an English staff blue coat and red cav
airy forage cap, which later Gen. Polk told me
he always wore in action, so making himself
more conspicuous"
His ilnpetuous temper brought him into fire.
quent collisions with his associates, and on one
occasion he was arrested in his bed by the civil
authorities on the double charge of horse steal
ing and conniving at the escape of negro slave
He was bailed, however, through Gen. Bragg's
interposition, and jefferson Davis, upon hear
ing of the occurrence, expressed his regret, re-
marking that Grenfell was gallant man, and
was serving the Confederacy in
A 'DIsINTEREsTED AND LOYAL MANNER
At the time of his capture Grenfell claimed to
have left the Confederate service on account Of
dispute with the Commander in Chief An
INSCRIPTIONS renegade, he proved himself a
fitting instrument for the diabolical scheme for
which he was apprehended. He was tried be-
fore q military commission in Cincinnati in
1865, and being convicted, was sentenced to be
hung. The sentence was commuted to impris-
onment for life al hard labor.
AT this point the history Of st. Leger Gren-
fell passed out of public notice. The rest lies
buried ia the archives of the several military
posts in which he was confined, and in some
fragmentary remains of his self-communings,
in the shape Of diary, with which he occas-
ionally beguiled his prison leisure, and which
lies before me as / am at present writing. This
imperfect record was evidently not intended
for other than its writer's eyes. The absence
Of system and want of coherent sequence in the
entries show il to be the jotiing down of cur
sorry impressions rather than an attempt at any
philosophical introspection. Its style is nervous
and replete with the rude vigor of an energetic
nature and the character of the man-ambitious,
unfxed, beartless and of boundess egotsm-
is clearly enough disclosed under the vail of the
impatiencc which characteriZes its pages. Its
chief interest, however, lies in its beug the ut
tered lamentatiOn Of a crushed ambition and
the portrayal of the mental experiences of q
man doomed to hopeless captivity. Not that
he tamely considered his case hopeless. Such
resignation to fate was totally foreign to his
impulsive and sanguine temperament. In fact,
the only settled idea he appears TO have enter
tained after his arrest was the hope of escape.
1t is touching TO mark throughout the diary
written during his confinement at the Dry
Tortugas, the mute evidence of this hope which
nothing could extinguish 1t is displayed in
rude drafts OF the shape of the fort, together
with the bearings of the neighbOring coral keys
or islands; efforts TO depict the course of the
channels 10y which boat could be conveyed
beyond the network of coral reefs which Ell.
compass the fort; tables Of distances to Flor.
ida, 10 Cuba, to New Orleans as though Fort
Jefferson We're the focus from which radiated
every path 10 freedom. Every fact bearing