Wide Awakes The Wide Awakes was a paramilitary campaign organization affiliated with the Republican Party during the United States presidential election of 1860 . Similar organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party were called the " Douglas Invincibles " , " Young Hickories " , " Earthquakes " , and even " Chloroformers " ( in reference to the " Wide Awakes " ) . Southern organizations were called the " Minute Men " . In the mid - 1850s , an entirely separate group called the " Wide Awakes " existed in New York City . This was a political club loosely associated with the Know Nothing movement . Overview . In 1856 , across the North , the new Republican party organized young men ' s marching clubs called " Rocky Mountain Clubs " , " Wide Awakes " , " Freedom Clubs " , and " Bear Clubs . " The term " Wide Awakes " became popular in the 1860 campaign . In Chicago on October 3 , 1860 , 10 , 000 Wide Awakes marched in a three - mile procession . The story of this rally occupied eight columns of the " Chicago Tribune " . In Indiana , as one historian reports , 1860 was the most colorful in the memory of the Hoosier electorate . " Speeches , day and night , torch - light processions , and all kinds of noise and confusion are the go , with all parties , " commented the " independent " " Indianapolis Locomotive . " Congressman Julian too was impressed by the " contrivance and spectacular display " which prevailed in the current canvass . Each party took unusual pains to mobilize its followers in disciplined political clubs , but the most remarkable of these were the Lincoln " Rail Maulers " and " Wide Awakes , " whose organizations extended throughout the state . Clad in gaudy uniforms the members of these quasi - military bands participated in all Republican demonstrations . The " Wide Awakes " in particular were well drilled and served as political police in escorting party speakers and in preserving order at public meetings . Party emulation made every political rally the occasion for carefully arranged parades through banner - bedecked streets , torchlight processions , elaborate floats and transparencies , blaring bands , and fireworks . In 1860 , the New York " Herald " estimated that there were over 400 , 000 drilled and uniformed Wide - awakes , nationwide . Rituals . Uniform and tactics . The standard Wide Awake uniform consisted of a full robe or cape , a black glazed hat , and a torch six feet in length to which a large , flaming , pivoting whale - oil container was mounted . Its activities were conducted primarily in the evening and consisted of several night - time torch - lit marches through cities in the northeast and border states . The Wide Awakes adopted the image of a large eyeball as their standard banner . Chapter organization . Little is known about the national organization of the Wide Awakes , if indeed any formal governing body existed at all . The clubs seem to have been organized by city into local chapters . Surviving minutes of the Waupun , Wisconsin Wide Awakes chapter restrict membership to males age 18 and older . The member had to " furnish himself with the style of uniform adopted by this Club . " The chapter had a military - style officer system consisting of a Captain and 1st through 4th Lieutenants . The Captain shall have command of the Club at all times ; in his absence the Lieutenants shall have command in the order of their rank . Every member of this club shall attend all the meetings whether regular or special ; and when on duty or in attendance at the meetings , shall obey the officers in command , and shall at all times perform such duties as shall be required of him by the officers in command . Social dimensions . Whatever their names marching clubs of both parties often had bands and fancy uniforms . The social dimensions have been described : The young men and boys who joined the Wide - Awakes , Invincibles , and other marching clubs were sold inexpensive uniforms and taught impressive march maneuvers . In Marion the Wide - Awake uniform consisted of an oil cloth cape and cap and a red sash , which along with a lamp or torch cost $ 1 . 33 . Their “ worm fence march ” can be imagined , as can a nice connection to Lincoln as rail splitter — a connection that does remind us of the log - cabin and hard cider symbolism of earlier days [ of 1840 ] . The more important connection to be made , however , is to the “ militia fever ” of the 1850s . Many Americans north and south delighted in military uniforms and titles , musters and parades , and the formal balls their companies sponsored during the winter social season . Their younger brothers no doubt delighted in aping them , so far as $ 1 . 33 would allow , while their parents were provided with a means by which youthful rowdyism was , for a time , channeled into a military form of discipline . The regular campaign clubs , meanwhile , were given a different attraction . One of the first items of business , once the club was organized , was to invite “ the ladies ” to meetings . Many members were single young men , and the campaign occurred during a relatively slow social season following the picnics , steamboat excursions , and other outings of the summer , and preceding the balls sponsored by militia companies , fire companies , and fraternal lodges during the winter . Campaign clubs helped to extend and connect the social seasons for single young men and women , and gave both an occasion for high - spirited travel . “ Coming home there was fun , ” wrote the Democratic editor of a Dubuque Republican club excursion to a rally in Galena . “ There were frequent ‘ three cheers for Miss Nancy Rogers . ’ … Captain Pat Conger was the best looking man on the ground and we can only say that it is a pity he is not a Democrat . ” Mission statement . Typical Wide Awakes chapters also adopted an unofficial mission statement . The following example comes from the Chicago Chapter : Stone ' s Prairie Riot . In August 1860 a political rally was scheduled to be held at Stone ' s Prairie in Adams County , Illinois , near the modern village of Plainville . This area , in far western Illinois , was familiar to two of the Presidential candidates . Although the Republican candidate , Abraham Lincoln , was known in the area , his Democratic opponent , Stephen Douglas , had practiced law nearby . In addition to local animosity , Adams County was close to the border with Missouri , a slave state . The rally was organized by the Republicans . When it was initially announced , there was an invitation to Democratic speakers . Although the invitation was later withdrawn , this fact was not widely disseminated , resulting in confusion as to whether this was to be a Republican rally , or a debate between Republican and Democratic supporters . During the 1860 campaign , it was a common practice for settlements to raise poles , as much as 150 feet ( 50 meters ) high . The political parties hung flags , and effigies of the candidates they opposed , from the poles . On the way to the rally , the Quincy Wide Awakes passed through Payson , the residents of which had erected a pole with an offensive effigy of Lincoln astride a rail . The Wide Awakes , however , carried a banner with an equally offensive depiction of a drunken Douglas falling over a pile of rails . An early confrontation was avoided , with the Wide Awakes proceeding to Stone ' s Creek . The August 25 , 1860 , rally involved around 7000 participants . Democrats appeared , expecting to hear their candidates in a debate . They were instead treated to a podium of Republicans , whom they heckled . The Wide Awakes defended the speakers , and a general melee resulted , involving several hundred men . After the rally , the Wide Awakes returned through Payson , where they found a hundred Democrats guarding their pole . Although Wide Awakes avoided confrontation , shots were fired at them while leaving town . The Wide Awakes ' flag was pierced by shots , and several were reported to have been injured . Southern reaction . In 1860 , Texas Senator Louis T . Wigfall alleged falsely that Wide Awakes were behind a wave of arson and vandalism in his home state of Texas . Historians have found no evidence whatever of any such conspiracy , but they do report that in Texas , in 1860 , a statewide hysteria over nonexistent slave revolts led to the lynching of 30 - 100 slaves and whites in the so - called " Texas Troubles " . The Wide Awakes never marched anywhere in the South , in 1860 , but they represented the South ’ s greatest fear , an oppressive force bent on marching down to their lands , liberating the slaves and pushing aside their way of life . Their outfits and equipment only further incited this fear with beliefs that “ they parade at midnight , carry rails to break open our doors , torches to fire our dwellings , and beneath their long black capes the knife to cut our throats ” . To the South , the Wide Awakes were only a taste of what was to come if Lincoln were to be elected . The North would not compromise , and would , if need be , force themselves upon the great South . “ One – half million of men uniformed and drilled , and the purpose of their organization to sweep the country in which I live with fire and sword . " This mindset was not appeased any by the wide acceptance of the Wide Awakes in the North . On October 25 , 1858 , Senator Seward of New York stated to an excited crowd , “ a revolution has begun ” and alluded to Wide Awakes as “ forces with which to recover back again all the fields … and to confound and overthrow , by one decisive blow , the betrayers of the constitution and freedom forever . ” To the South , the Wide Awakes and , thus the North , would only be content when the South was fully dominated . The South recognized the need for their own Wide Awakes , and thus started a movement to create “ a counteracting organization in the South ” , dubbed the " Minute Men " . The South viewed the Wide Awakes as the North ’ s private army , and thus they determined on creating their own . They would no longer entertain the “ abhorrence of the rapine , murder , insurrection , pollution and incendiarism which have been plotted by the deluded and vicious of the North , against the chastity , law and prosperity of innocent and unoffending citizens of the South ” . The Minute Men was the South ’ s unofficial army . Like that of the Wide Awakes , they were expected “ to form an armed body of men … whose duty is to arm , equip and drill , and be ready for any emergency that may arise in the present perilous position of Southern States . ” The fear of the Wide Awakes resulted in Minute Men companies forming all over the South . Like their enemy , they too held torch rallies and wore their own uniforms , complete with an official badge of “ a blue rosette … to be worn upon the side of the hat . ” Wartime activities . After Lincoln called out all the militia in April 1861 , the Republican Wide Awakes , the Democratic " Douglas Invincibles " , and other parade groups volunteered en masse for the Union army . In 1864 , reports of political rallies note that " The Northwestern Wide Awakes , the Great Western Light Guard Band , and the 24th Illinois Infantry " were at a Chicago meeting . On November 5 , the Chicago Union Campaign Committee ( the name of Lincoln ' s party that year ) declared , Defense of St . Louis . In early 1861 , the Wide Awakes chapter of St . Louis became involved in paramilitary operations at the outbreak of the Civil War . Aided by Francis Preston Blair , Jr . and army Captain Nathaniel Lyon , the St . Louis Wide Awakes smuggled armaments into the city and trained secretly in a warehouse . The purpose was to prepare them for defense of the federal St . Louis Arsenal , which Confederate supporters wanted to seize . Lyon employed his political connections through Blair to obtain an appointment as commanding officer over the arsenal and , having received his promotion , promptly moved the St . Louis Wide Awakes into the arsenal under cover of night . Lyon ' s Wide Awakes , newly mustered into the Federal army , were used on May 10 , 1861 to arrest a division of the Missouri State Militia near St . Louis in what would become known as the Camp Jackson Affair . As the captured militia men were marched toward the arsenal later that day a riot erupted in which scores of civilians were shot or killed . This event marked the effective beginning of Civil War violence in Missouri .