As the northern frontier of the United States the Great Lakes, although at some distance from the decisive battles of the Civil War, were the scene of strong Confederate activity, especially in the last year of the struggle. In April, 1864, Jefferson Davis sent three men to Canada as “Special Commissioners of the Confederate Government.” They established quarters at Montreal and Toronto, and prepared themselves according to their written and verbal instructions to use in any way possible the feeling of hostility to the administration, which existed in the Northwestern states, and to organize this sentiment into definite opposition to the further prosecution of the war. That was where they began. The most daring Confederate leaders in Canada and the South had dreams of a Northwestern Confederacy which should come into being after a general uprising and should be matched by the Southern Confederacy and an Eastern Union. There were at this time probably one hundred escaped Confederate prisoners in Canada, as well as many Southern men and Confederate sympathizers who had come there when, for some reason, they were better able to serve their cause at this distance. Talk with Northern men who visited Canada disclosed to the commissioners the fact that there was in all the lake states a large body of disaffected men who did not support the administration. These were divided into two classes: first, the members of secret societies of a political and semi-military nature, of which the “Sons of Liberty” was the leading organization; and secondly, a large number who were actuated mainly by a general weariness and dissatisfaction with the war. Especially in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois the “Sons of Liberty” had great strength. It is difficult to find out the exact figures. In the three states it is thought they may have had one hundred and seventy-five thousand members. Chicago had a strong chapter of two thousand men, which was constantly adding to its numbers. The latter class, of those who were generally disaffected with the situation, was strengthened by Mr. Lincoln’s call in July of 1864 for five hundred thousand more men for the army. Indeed, it was along this line that the secret societies did most harm. When the time for definite action came, these men were not ready to strike a blow against the Union; but the sentiment of the bodies was against volunteering, and by reducing the numbers of ready volunteers they made drafting, with its attendant discontent, necessary in these last years, after these same states had sent out so many regiments of their best sons to serve gallantly on the field.