St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-09-10
MISCELLANY.
A SECOND RAID PLANNED.
How a Plan to Raid Burlington wa.
Discovered and Prevented.

"a
How a Plan to Raid Burlington was
Discovered and Prevented.
In the August number of the
North American Review Hon. Charles
A. Dana, editor of the New York
Sun, has an article that is of special
interest to Vermonters. Mr.. Dana
learned the facts detailed in his posi-
ton as assistant secretary OF war,
and now gives them as unpublished
history" He says that in the spring
of 1864 a slim young man OF good
address, who was employed in one
of the departments, applied fora sort
of commission as spy in the con-
federacv, that after consideration he
was given a horse, a small sun of
money and a pass which would take
him through our lines, and that he
began a series of Journeys between
Richmond and Canada, c-Ommunicat-
ing with Jeff Davis and other con-
tolerate officers at one place and
with Clement c. Clay and other
rebel representatives on the vicinity
of Niagara Falls at the other. The
dispatches he carried back and forth
were all taken to the war depart
ment, and some were passed with
out being opened, upon the young
mans assurance that they contained
nothing of Importance, but others
were opened and resealed. Mr..
Dana speaks of the difficulty ex-
perienced at the war department in
replacing the broken dispatches in
their original shape, thus
During the summer of 1864 the
activity of Grants campaign and
the fighting which prevailed along
the line Somewhat impeded our
young mans expeditions, but did not
stop them. All his dispatches, how
ever, whether coming from Rich
mond or from Canada, were regular
ly brought to the war department
and were opened, and in every case
a copy of them was kept. As 1t was
necessary to break the seals and
destroy the envelopes in opening
them, there was some difficulty in
sending them forward in what
should appear to be the original
wrappers. Coming from Canada,
the paper employed was English,
and there was a good deal of trouble
i'll procuring paper of the same aP-
pearance. | remember also that n
important dispatch, which was
sealed with Mr.. Clay's seal, had to
be delayed somewhat while ne had
an imitation seal engraved; but
these delays were easily accounted
for at Richm nd by the pretense
that they had been caused by &C
cidents upon the road and by the
necessity of avoiding the federal
pickets. At any rate, the confidence
of confederates in our agents, and in
their copy never seemed to be shaken
by any of these occurrences.
Finally a dispatch disclosed a
scheme for burning New York and
Chicago by setting a number of fires
in each city at the same time. The
fires were actually started in New
York, but such precautions had been
taken, thanks to the warning, that
no harm was done. There seems to
have been nothing done at Chicago.
And in the fall of 1864 a dispatch
Later in the fall, after the military
operations had substantially ter
minated for the season., a dispatch
was brought from Canada signed
by Mr.. Clay and addressed to Mr..
Benjamin., as secretary of state in
the confederate government, convey
ing the information that d new and
really formidable expedition against
northern Vermont, particularly
against Burlington, if l am not mis-
taken, had been organized and fitted
out in Canada, and would make its
attack as soon as practical. This
was after the we'll known attack on
St. Adams and Lake ~Champlain,
and promised to be much more in
furious. \ dispatch reached Wash
ington one Sunday morning and
was brought to the a department
as usual but its Importance in the
eyes of the confederate agents had
led to its being prepared for its
transportation with uncommon
care. 1t was placed between two
thicknesses of the pair of REINFORCED
cavalry trousers which the messenger
wore, and sewed up SC that when he
was mounted 1t was held between
his thigh and the saddle.
Having been carefully ripped out
and opened it was Immediately
carried to Mr.. Stanton, who was
confined to his house by a cold. He
read it. This is serious. Go
over to the White house and ask the
president to come here" Mr.. Lin
coin was found dressing to go to
church and he was soon driven to
Mr.. Stanton's house. After discuss
ing the aspect and considering
thoroughly the probability that to
keep the dispatch would put an end
to Communications by this channel,
they determined that it must be
kept. The conclusive reason for