The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-10-22
THE "BAT'ILE-FIELDS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES.
The Blue and the Gray Review Incl
dents Of the Late War, and in a
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell of Camp, March and Battle.
BOyntOn's Close Call.

10 Al SlolN tlit VI ihS
stories are of a character to raise a
laugh in the postroOm, but he has a
store Of serious and sentimental mes
as well. Knowing that be had served
under Colonel John G. Clark when
that officer was provost marshal for a
portion of Wisconsin. l asked him TO
tell me one Of his best secret service
stories.
II guess it's all right to talk about it
now, more than thirty years after it
occurred said the Colonel, and then
he told this thrillingly interesting bit
OF personal experiences:
Colonel Clark had convinced himself
that there was a powerful influence ex
erting itself against enlistmentS in the
southwestern portion Of the State to
meet Lincoln'S text to last call for
troops, and he had every reason to
believe that it was the result Of oppo-
sition to the war felt by a society which
called itself the Golden Circle. He
called me to his office and said: 4
want you to visit Benton and ascertain,
if possible, who the moving spirits are
in the Golden Circle lodge there, so
that we may arrest them | was liv-
ing at Monroe at the time. My brother
in-law, General +. +. Bryant. Of Madi-
son. had just been appointed lieutenant
colonel of one of the new regiments. |
told him my mission. He said it was
rather risky work. and that he would
rather go into battle than TO undertake
such a task, and warned me to be very
cautious and to always be prepared
TO fight for my life. | had two good re-
v~olvers. every barrel loaded. and was
otherwise well prepared, and set out
on the journey with both nerve and
confidence. | was a duly authorized
and equipped organizer Of the regular
Golden Circle Association. for that par
ticular trip. Reaching Benton, l reg
istered under an assumed name, took
a o in the only hotel in town, got
dinner and sauntered out on the street.
| first visited a saloon. 1t didn't take
long to discover that the proprietor
stood on the platform Of anything to
put an end to the war. While | was
not a drinking man, l INDUCED in a
number of drinks that afternoon with
the saloon-keeper for a special pur-
pose. | took small doses and the man
behind the bar large ones.
Toward evening my friend was
quite mellow. and | learned from him
that he was a member OF an antiwar
society they had in town. | warmly
. -, ,p, 4n1, ,nI III. ,-I 49, -
to him that | had been sent there to
regularly organize them into a society
Of the Golden Circle. This greatly
pleased him. He proposed TO take me
right over to the hall in which he and
his friends had been meeting for some
months. We went He showed me
the records, and l explained to him
how much better it would be for them
to have frequent brotherly communica-
ton with hundreds Of other societies
than to exist as a lone society. We
went around and saw several Of the
members. and they were all pleased
at the prospect Of becoming regulars
in the great army opposed to enlist
ments and the Lincoln war.
1T was arranged that l should visit
their meeting that Saturday evening.
The presiding officer was out of town,
but would be home in time to take
charge. Twenty-Five or thirty men
were present. | was called upon to
talk and | did it, as | thought, in a
way to ward off all signs of suspicion.
Yet | noticed that the presiding ge-
nius kept his eyes on me nearly all
Of the time, and when he said he
thought it best to postpone organizing
for Il week or so 1 was sure that he
suspected that l was not a genuine
Golden Circle organizer.
81 had managed, from in~troductions
and other means, to get the names Of
all present, and as soon as | returned
to the hotel copied them in my secret
book.
Il had just gotten into a deep slum-
DER when some one raped on the door
aud said: Get away from here and
save your life
The party disappeared before l
could speak. | quickly dressed, exam
incd my revolvcrs and awaited results.
AS nothing t%ranSpired in the next ten
minutes | went out into the hall, soft
~ walked to the end Of ii and sat down
by the raised window. A short dis
lance away from the house l heard
several men talking in a low ton They
We're planning to dispose of the Lincoln
hireling. A couple Of young fellows
proposed to break into my room, take
me out, and the society was to have
a night hanging. The presiding gent
us objected to the plan and asked them
to leave it to him. That was agreed
10.