The Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling DetailsAyer, I. Winslow
History
The Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling Details
Ayer, I. Winslow
Knights of the Golden Circle; Northwestern Conspiracy, 1864
Those who were at Invincible
Club hall, and made secession speeches, declared they were all drunk,
or were not in earnest, and other equally flimsy excuses;--these are the
apologies members made to each other, presuming they were addressing
the party who had surrendered them to the government. It was amusing
to notice their trepidation. They were variously affected. Capt. P.D.
Parks, of the Invincible Club, really cried, like a whipped schoolboy,
from fear; many ran away with all possible speed. Doolittle, the man of
valor, who was to lead a party against Camp Douglas, was the first to
run away, and from certain "surface indications," we rather think he is
running yet. James A. Wilkinson, the valorous Past Grand Seignior, has
gone to look after Doolittle; Silver has gone to Canada; Strawn has
turned a summerset into the Republican party; S. Corning Judd helped
to convict the prisoners in Cincinnati, although called by the defense;
Amos Green, the Major-General of the Order in Illinois, has quietly
subsided, and is no longer belligerent; Vallandigham gives the Order the
cold-shoulder, and affects pious horror upon the recital of its aims and
purposes--and, indeed, the whole organization, as formidable as it was
in numbers, was soon in the most terrible condition, and died in great
agony. The complications of the disease of which the order came to its
death, would puzzle the most profound pathologist. It might, perhaps, be
set down as a disease of the heart, induced by corrupt morals, with the
following complications: Softening of the brain from the study of State
sovereignty; extreme nervous debility from the reproach of a guilty
conscience; injury to the spine by suddenness of fall; weakness of the
limbs from bad whiskey, and impurity of the blood from contamination.
The child of secession is dead--as dead as the cause of the Southern
Confederacy! Jeff. Davis' pet institution was decently buried within the
enclosure of Camp Douglas. There being no provision or service in the
ritual for this occasion, we may only exclaim, as we look upon his last
resting-place, "_Requiescat in pace._"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account