St. Paul daily globe., 1894-05-06

~ COLONEL JOHN B. CASTLEMAN.
If the design or the weakness of the execu-
ZION. Before Lincoln was inaugurated, and
while he was yet on his way to Washington, a
conspiracy was formed to kill him as he passed
through Baltimore, and after he became
president there were five additional plots
against his life, the last of which, unfor-
tunately for the nation, proved successful.
OF these conspiracies, may write at some.
future time; indeed, there is enough material
to make more than one volume, but for the
present I must content myself with looking
into the great plot of 1864, which had for it's
purpose the freeing of the confederate pris-
oners at Johnston's Island, Fort Douglass
and other points near the Canadian frontier.
This plot must not be confused with that of
Colonel George st. Leger Grenfel, General
John Morgan's chief of staff, which had for
its purpose the freeing of the thousands of
prisoners near Chicago, the sacking of the
city, and their escape into Canada.
In looking at the records of those daHEsk
even the non-military reader is amazed at
the facility with which people of all classes
were permitted to pass through the country
without any investigation or passport, and
to settle down in any community without
license. In the summer of 1864 confederate
[ soldiers under skillful officers were per-
mitted to doff their gray uniforms, put on
the attire of citizens and to make their homes
in New York, Chicago and Detroit, without
exciting the suspicion or comment of those
with whom they were brought into contact.
In studying these records one is startled to
find that confederate officers, their positions
in the Southern confederacy being concealed,
boldly entered the States of Indiana, Illinois,
and the North vest, and established organi-
Kations known as the s'Sons of Liberty" and
the s'Knights of the Golden Circle" which
had for their avowed purpose the perpetua-
ton of slavery. the aid of the south, and the
overthrow of the Republic; yet such was the
case. These societies were secret and oath
bound, and such of the records as yet re-
rnain show the names of many citizens
lonored and respected at the time, some of
whom are still living with regulations if not
aor patriotism, at least without having at
sached to them any suspicion of treason or
disloyalty.
While confederate em;ssaries were thus
undermining the allegiance of citizens in the
states named there was band of s'confeder-
ate commissioners" as they called them
! selves, established in Canada, who spent their
time and the money of their employers at
; Richmond in planning forays that came to
naught against our lake cities.
Prominent among these commissioners
I was Colonel Clay. of Kentucky, a son OF the
redoubtable ''Harry of the West.'' and the
. well-known Jacob or "Jake' Thompson.
That these men had more money than dis
cretion can be inferred from the fact that
they purchased and kept stored along the
frontier in Canada thirty thousand stand of
arms and corresponding amount of ammu-
milton, with which to equip the men from
Johnstons Island and Fort Douglass after
they had made their escape. Looking back
upon this grand fiasco now, we can see that
there never was case which better illustrates
the folly of counting chickens before they are
Matched. There were not too many arms for
the prisoners, had their plans worked, for at
this time there were confined nearly forty
thousand men at Rock Island, Chicago and
Sandusky.
While Clay and Thompson were working
hard from the Canadian basis, Judge Kinds
and Major Castleman, of the same state. had
their headquarters in Chicago, from which
point they visited every point of the country,
for the purpose of fostering the discomfort
against the draft and establishing lodges of
the 'sSons of Liberty They lodged at one