The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1911-08-02

we're ~ the camp douglas prison ~ the i
time the conspiracy was formulated
and in reading the article last week. all |
OF them recalled the time and spoke Of !
the facts as set out in the article as
being true They all took the oath 10
stand by the leaders. and if providence
hadn' come in with its mysteries hand
to check the move, there would have
been hundreds of Yankee guards dead
as the result Of that would-be break for
liberty. Col. Holt in writing says.
All the circumstance Of their situation
rendered it reasonable to expect that
effort would be made to organize among
them body Of men sufficiently large TO
overpower The garrison. arm.themselves
from the garrisOn's supply of arms and
make their way to the nearest consider
able body OF Confederate troops.
Several attempts were made TO effect
such an organization, but all that be-
came at all important were merged into
the one that is the subject of this
sketch.
The organization which absorbed and
utilized all that was desirable in other
attempts of the same character, and
which has become known generally as
- The Camp Douglas Conspiracy, :"
was initiated by some of the leading
spirits Of Morgan's command. Utmost
cautiod was exercised in the enlistment
of members. No man was permitted to
enlist until after rigid and deliberate
scrutiny of his record in the field and in
prison, taking into consideration his
reputation for intelligence, honor and
patriotism. In force the organization
was strictly military, the member
ship composing the skeleton of
an army division Of two brigades, with
general, regimental and company officers
The total membership numbered about
], 800, or about 10 per cent of the entire
number of prisoners. while the organ
ization and distribution of command
gave reason TO hope that any active
movements would instantly carry with
it the whole body of prisoners.
The direction Of affairs was commit
ted to the supreme council" or the
committee of seven" composed OF
the following men: John H. Waller,
Harmon H. Barlow, Otway B. Noryell,
Clayton Anderson and Winder Monroe,
all Of Kentucky, John H. Heddleston,
of Missouri, and Augustus NJ. Cockrell,
of Alabama, all members of Gen. John
b. Morgan's command. The committed
selected John H. Waller as division
com mander; A. NJ. Cockrell was made
commander of the First brigade, and
John NJ. Heddleston commander of the
Second brigade. Others of the commit.
tee were appointed to regimental and
staff positions. Other appointment:
were made of regimental and company
officers, thus forming the nucleus of 8
military force which, it was hoped
could readily direct and control all ol
the $1,000 prisoners. Only five Of the
officers were authorized TO admit new
members and administer the oath at the
time of enlistment. The oath and al
orders and instructions were giveI
orally. nothing being committed e
writing.
The oath was singularly impressive
and in no case il is known that any vii
full or thoughtless violation of it evel
occurred. When one was suggested a
desirable TO have as a member of tn,
organization some members in th,
best position for the purpose were or
dered TO investigate his record anC
character and after performance of tina
duty, to report to the officer from whom
the order was received. This repor
was referred and acted upon by the com
mittee of seven. If the report wa
satisfactory the man was carefully ap
preached to ascertain his willingness Il
engage in such an effort as was cOntem
plated. So carefully was this done il
every case that no person, until at tn
very moments Of enlistment, knew de
finitely Of the organization as alresd,
existing, and even after enlisted. unless
assigned to some important command
or duty, he knew as members only th,
one by whom he was led to enlist, tn,
officer who administered the oath anC
the few to whose command he was i'm
mediately subject or with whom he wa
10 be intimately associated in duty
Thus gradually was built the framework
OF formidable military force.
After The process of organization
had reached stage giving REASONABLE
hope that it might at any time b
effectively employed the committee o
seven decided upon date in July, 1854
for the assault upon the garrison, which
at that time, was weaker than il was a
any subsequent period and was withou
suspicion of danger.
Had the blow been struck then i
seems not improbable that il wouli
have been successful. As said before
D the garrison was then weak in numbers
' 1t was composed almost entirely OF mel
who had never seen service in the fell
7 and had only brief period of militar
= instruction. A sudden and unexpecte'
t assault at the hour intended woul'
probably have reduced them TO helples
: panic, and such probably was increases
< by the fact that many of the men of tn
garrison were married and had witt
: them their wives and children. Beside
E this, the necessities of the Government
e had drawn to the front almost all o
I its available military force. Will
S telegraph and railroad lines destroyd j
t would have taken many days to NOV
b from the front enough troops to NEE
S the requirements of the situation.
But after the assaultupon the garriso
had been planned and shortly before
was TO be made, prisoner name,
Hines. Mississippian and member 0
I the conspiracy, received letter con
e tanning substantially the following
words: TON is in - III" (namin
the town., ION business and writes tina
he is doing WE'LL To the recipient o
the letter and the few others to whom j
e was shown these words seemed to hav
an important significance. All VIII
were consulted understood that '"rom'