The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-05-04
4 REMARKABLE SPY.
BY CHAS. 4. DANA.


employment as q spy within the Con
fedeEate lines. The main body of the
army OF northern Virginia was ther
/ lying at Gordonville, and the head
quarters Of the Army of the Potomac
were at the Culpeper court house
General Grant had not yet come from
the west to take command Of the mo
mentOus campaign which finally open
ed with his movement into the Wilder
ness III the beginning of May.
The young man who sought this
terrible service was well dressed and
intelligent and professed to be ami
mated by motives purely patri otic.
He was clerk in the treasury Depart
ment or the Interior Department, or
possibly in one Of the bureaus of the
War Department: [ don't remember
which. All that he asked was that he
should have a horse and an order
which would carry him safely through
the Federal lines: and in return he
undertook to bring information from
Gen. Lees army and from the govern
ment Of the Confederacy in Richmond
He understood perfectly we'll the
perilOus nature Of the enterprise he
/ proposed.
Finding that the applicant bore a
! good character IN the office where he
was employed, it was determined to
accept his proposal, He was furnish
/ ed with a horse, and an order that
would pass him through the Union
lines and also / believe with moder-
ate sum Of money; aud then he de-
| parted. Two or three weeks later he
reported at the WarDepartment. He
| had been IN Gordon5ville and Rich
mond; had obtained the confidence
Of the Confederate authorities, and
was a bearer Of a letter from Mr.. Jef-
| ferson Davis to Mr. Clement 9. CLAY.
the agent Of the Confederate govern
ment in Canada, then known to be
! stationed at 81 GATHERINGS, not far
from Niagara Falls Mr.. Clay had as
his official Jacob Thompson Of Missis-
sippi, who had been Secretary Of the
Interior in the cabinet Of President
Of Buchanan, and Ike Mr.. Clay had
been serving the Confederate govern
ment ever since its organization The
exhibited, but only the outside of the
envelope was examined. The ad-
dress was III the handwriting Of the
Confederate chief. and the statement
Of our young adyenturer that it was
merely letter Of recommendation ad-
vising Messrs. Clay al Thompson that
they might repose confidence in the
bearer, since he was ardently devoted
to the Confederate cause and anxious
to serve the great purpose that it had
III view, appeared entIreIy plo'-,-'-i-
and the young man was allowed to
proceed to Niagara Falls and Canada.
He made some general report upon
the condition Of the rebel army at
Gordonsville, but it was of no par
ticular value, except that in its more
interesting features it agreed with our
information from other sources.
He was not long in returning from
St. GATHERINGS with a dispatch which
was also allowed to pass unopened up
on his assurance that it contained
nothing Of importance. In this way
he went back and forward from Rich
mOad to st GATHERINGS once or twice.
We supplied him with money to a
limited extent, and also with one or
more horses. He said he had got
some money from the Confederates,
but had not thought it prudent to
accept from them anything more than
very small sums, since his professed
zeal for the Confederate cause forbade
his receiving anything for his travel
ing expenses beyond what was ALSO
lutely necessary.
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, however,
whether coming from Richmond or
from Canada, were regularly brought
| TO the War department., and were
! opened, and in every case copy Of
1 them was kept As it was necessary
| to break the seals and destroy the en-
velopes in opening them, there was
some difficulty in sending them for
ward in what should appear to be the
original wrappers, Coming from Can
/ ada. the paper employed was English,
and there was a good deal of trouble
in procuring paper of the same ap-
! pearance. [ remember also, that one
/ important dispatch, which was seal
ed with Mr.. Clay's seal. had to be de
/ layed somewhat while we had an i'm
itation seal engraved; but these de
laws were easily accounted for at Rich
mond by the pretense that they had
been caused by accidents upon the
road and by the necessity of avoiding
the Federal pickets. At any rate the
confidence Of the Confedrates in our
agent. and theirs, never seemed to be
shaken by these occurances.
Finally our dispatch bearer report
ed one day at the War Department
with q document which. he said was
of extraordinary consequence. 1t was
found to contain an account of a
scheme for setting fire to New York
and Chicago by means OF clock-work
machines that were to be placed in
several of the large hotels and places
Of amusement, particularly in Bar
. NUNS museums in New York and
to be set off simultaneously Y, so that
. the fire department in each place
would be unable to attend to the great
number of calls that would be made
upon it, on account Of these confeder
ate conhagarations in so many differ
ent quarters, and thus these cite:
might be greatly damaged, or even de
stroyed.
This despatch was duly sealed ul
again and was taken to Richmond
and q confidential officer was at one.
sent to New York to warn Genera
Dix: who was ii command there. o
the confederate project. The gener
al was very unwilling 20 believe tha
any such design could be seriously en-
tertained, and Mr.. john \. Kennedy